FULTON FERRY-BOAT, WM. CUTTING
Built in 1827
The section of the town of Brooklyn, commonly known by the name of the Fire District, and contained within the following bounds, namely: "Beginning at the public landing, south of Pierrepont's distillery, formerly the property of Philip Livingston, deceased, on the East River, thence running along the public road leading from said landing to its intersection with Red Hook Lane, thence along said Red Hook Lane to where it intersects the Jamaica Turnpike Road, thence a northeast course to the head of the Walleboght mill pond, thence through the centre of said mill pond to the East River, and thence down the East River to the place of beginning,"—was incorporated as a village, by the name of the Village of Brooklyn; and by the act the village was constituted a road district, and declared exempt from the superintendence of the commissioners of highways of the town of Brooklyn, and the Trustees of the village were invested with all the powers over the road district, and subjected to all the duties in relation thereto which by law were given to or enjoined upon the said commissioners, etc.[21]
The Trustees were required to make a survey and map of the village, to be kept by the clerk, subject to the inspection of the people, "in order that no resident might plead ignorance of the permanent plan to be adopted for opening, laying out, leveling, and regulating the streets of said village." In pursuance of the requirements of this law, the Trustees caused to be made a survey and map of the village, which was adopted by them on the 8th of April, 1819. By a law passed in 1824, the Trustees were authorized to "widen and alter all public roads, streets, and highways, already laid out ... to such convenient breadth, not exceeding sixty feet, as they should judge fit;" also to lay out new roads and streets. In 1827 the village was divided into five districts.
The first Trustees of the village were Andrew Mercein, John Garrison, John Doughty, John Seaman, and John Dean.
The first named of these Trustees appears as one of the principal founders of a Sunday School which was "in operation in the village of Brooklyn" in 1816. This school seems to have been designed and operated on broad grounds. While combining "moral and religious instruction with ordinary school learning," parents or guardians were privileged to say "what catechism" they wished the children to study. As a result of this school movement the Brooklyn Sunday School Union Society was afterward organized. The school met for a time in Thomas Kirk's printing-office on Adams Street, but found the schoolhouse quarters on the same street to be more desirable.
Previous to 1814 there were two markets in Brooklyn: one at the foot of the old Ferry Street (which began to acquire the name Fulton Street, after the steamboats began running and Fulton Street had been named on the New York side); the other at the foot of Main Street. Both were taken down in 1814.
The Long Island Bank was incorporated in 1824, with a capital of $300,000, divided into 6000 shares. In the same year the Brooklyn Fire Insurance Company came into existence.
On the village map adopted April 8, 1819, sixty-seven streets appear, besides a number of alleys. Several of the streets were sixty feet wide. Doughty Street was the narrowest, being only twenty feet wide.
In 1820 the population of the town had increased to 7175. The village population was 5210.