The Trustees of the village of Brooklyn deemed a debtors' prison a very important addition to the city. On the 19th of February, 1829, Joseph Sprague, president of the Board of Trustees, made a report on the subject of fitting up under the market a prison-room for debtors. In accordance therewith a lockup was provided and cells built under the market. These cells were oftentimes crowded, and but little provision was made for the comfort of the occupants. The Bridge approach now passes over the old lockup.
During those early days prisoners were also confined in cells in the almshouse, then situated on the south side of Nassau Street, between Bridge and Jay streets. The building is still standing, and has been converted into dwellings.
The agitation relative to the removal of the court house still continued. The Supervisors took the matter in hand. They were empowered in 1829 to raise by tax a sum of money for the purchase of lots, and the erection of a suitable building in Brooklyn to accommodate the courts and jail when completed. It may well be supposed that Flatbush did not relish the idea of the removal, and, being anxious to retain her precedence among the towns, her representatives strenuously opposed the change, and their votes for a short time delayed the inevitable. The elements, however, aided those who urged the removal, by the burning of the jail and court house, as heretofore stated, and the way was opened for a new building. The next year an act was passed by the Legislature providing for the building of a jail and court house in Brooklyn.
Under the provisions of this law three commissioners were chosen to purchase a suitable site for the buildings. The act also provided that when the court house was finished and ready for occupancy, a certificate to that effect should be obtained from the first judge of the county, and that thereafter all terms of the court of common pleas and general sessions of the peace should be held in the new building, and that all processes and writs should be made returnable thereat. It might be stated that subsequent to the fire at Flatbush, and prior to the occupation of the new building, the courts were temporarily held at the Apprentices' Library, and were removed to Hall's Exchange Building. Baily, writing in 1840, says: "The Kings County courts are held in the large building called the Exchange, situated on the corner of Cranberry and Fulton streets. It is a plain brick building without any extraordinary architectural beauty." The court-room was on the second floor. On the first floor of the building was Bokee & Clem's hardware store. David A. Bokee was an influential politician of the Whig school. His store for a time was the headquarters of the Whigs, who would assemble almost daily for consultation. Bokee ran for Mayor in 1843 against Joseph Sprague, the latter being elected by 311 majority. The Whigs elected him an Alderman, and he served during the years 1840–43, 1845–48. He was state senator in 1848 and 1849, congressman from 1849 to 1851, and naval officer from 1851 to 1853. Mr. Bokee was one of the leading members of the First Baptist Church.
The Apprentices' Library Building, where the courts were held, was a notable structure. One of the principal sources of its fame arose from the fact that its corner-stone was laid on the 4th of July, 1825, by that earnest and zealous friend of American institutions, Lafayette. It was taken down in 1858 to make room for the Armory, which was afterward sold. Previous to the erection of the City Hall it served as the municipal building. The Common Council and Board of Education met there. The municipal court also held its sessions in the building, and it afforded room for the post office and county clerk's office. On the 1st of May, 1828, an act was passed by the Legislature providing for the erection of a fire-proof county clerk's office in Brooklyn. The Legislature, on the 25th of April, 1833, passed an act for the erection of a court house and jail in Kings County. By this act Losee Van Nostrand, Joseph Moser, and Peter Canaver were appointed commissioners to purchase a suitable site or sites in the village of Brooklyn for the same. To defray the expenses to be incurred in erecting the buildings, the supervisors were authorized to create a public stock to the amount of $25,000. A building committee of five persons was directed to be appointed by the Supervisors of the county, and the president and Trustees of the village, within sixty days after the passage of the act. The act also provided that when the court house and jail, or either of them, should be so far completed as to permit either of them being used for the purpose intended, that the first judge of the county should sign a declaration to that effect, and file the same in the office of the clerk of said county. The clerk thereupon was to publish the notice in the papers printed in the county, and from and after this publication the terms of the court of common pleas and general sessions should be held in the court-room, and from and after such declaration relating to the jail it should become the common jail of the county. This act was amended February 17, 1834, so as to declare that the second section of the act of 1833 authorized the Supervisors to create stock, not only for the purchase of a site, but also for erecting buildings.
Meanwhile the village had been flourishing in other directions. Its general growth was marked not only by the increase in population, but by the increase in the number of commercial institutions, churches, and schools. A second bank was chartered. A "night boat" began running on the ferry. There was an effort to establish a theatre; and a building for this purpose, subsequently abandoned, was erected, in 1828, on Fulton Street, between Nassau and Concord. The Brooklyn "Evening Star" began daily publication, and continued to be a daily paper for six months, when insufficient patronage made it necessary to suspend daily issue. Stone walks were laid. The movement resulting in the formation of the Brooklyn Gaslight Company was begun. A second bank was chartered. A temperance society, a dispensary, a tract society, and a literary association (the Hamilton) were organized. There began to be talk of water-works and of railroads. Fulton Street was widened, boats appeared on the South Ferry, and the boom in real estate indicated the growing popularity of the village.
The movement for the incorporation of Brooklyn as a city met the determined opposition of a large proportion of New York's inhabitants, who maintained that the propriety of natural growth demanded that Brooklyn and New York should become one city. From the earliest days of their common existence New York had grudged Brooklyn an independent life. The "water-rights" quarrels occupy much space in the early records. Under the early charter New York claimed ownership in the East River, and of Brooklyn land to low-water mark, and afterward to high-water mark. This brought many disputes in the matter of ferry rights,[22] and the spirit of this early dispute survived in the later attitude of New York. In the year 1824 the town on Manhattan Island received an income of over eight thousand dollars from the East River ferries. The legislative provision for Brooklyn's harbor-master had been declared to be an encroachment on the rights of New York.[23]
Despite strong opposition, Brooklyn triumphed at Albany, and in April, 1834, became a full-fledged city.