{"id":2662,"date":"2023-12-22T19:43:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-23T00:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brooklyn-yes.com\/?p=2662"},"modified":"2023-12-22T19:43:02","modified_gmt":"2023-12-23T00:43:02","slug":"george-hall-brooklyns-first-mayor-since-the-citys-independence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brooklyn-yes.com\/en\/eternal\/george-hall-brooklyns-first-mayor-since-the-citys-independence","title":{"rendered":"George Hall – Brooklyn\u2019s first mayor since the city\u2019s independence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The explosive expansion of settlements in Kings County made the state grant a charter to the city of Brooklyn in 1834. Thus, the county would include one city and five official communities, namely Bushwick, Flatbush, Flatlands, Gravesend and New Utrecht. But in the next few years, they were united in the process of development and annexation. Subsequently, Williamsburg vied for dominance, but it did not grow as fast as Brooklyn and was taken over in the 1850s. From 1896, all the area within Kings County was called Brooklyn. Two years later, Brooklyn was consolidated with New York and the latter became the dominant city. This is the story of Brooklyn in a nutshell. However, the newly established city appeared to be under a lot of pressure in 1834. Influential landowners rushed to reshape the areas to attract new citizens and enterprises. George Hall became the man who was chosen by the municipal charter by the General Council to occupy the \u201cdriver’s seat”. More information you can read at brooklyn-yes<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mayor who came from Irish immigrants<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Hall was born in Flatbush into an Irish family. He was a merchant, painter and glazier whose success in the fast-growing city made him a perfect candidate for an elected office. Initially, he was appointed the village alderman, and then, he became the first mayor. In 1834, 20,000 people lived in Brooklyn. However, outside the city center, most roads were gravel (around Fulton Ferry). There were two banks, two insurance companies, one savings bank, fifteen churches and three public schools in the city. Sixteen streets were illuminated by lanterns. The mayor provided the city with omnibuses and improved the water supply system. Working with city officials, he also acquired a plot of land that will become the future site of Brooklyn City Hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The physical expansion of the rapidly developing Brooklyn was not the only thing Hall was concerned with. Conscious of the fine line between commerce and morality, George Hall closed illegal shops that sold rum and restricted the practice of releasing pigs, which was an inconvenient but widely employed method of street cleaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A triumphant return<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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More than twenty years later, when the city of Brooklyn expanded and merged with Williamsburg, the citizens re-elected Hall to a two-year term from 1855 to 1856.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his acceptance speech, Hall glowed with pride for the significantly expanded city that chose him. Considering its growing process, Brooklyn had a population of approximately 145,000 at that time. When three towns, namely: Brooklyn, Williamsburg and Bushwick joined together, it became a municipal corporation. The city became the third largest in the country in terms of size and population. About 200,000 people lived there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

37 Livingstone Street\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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During Hall’s leadership, the most visible and dangerous crisis in Brooklyn was a widespread outbreak of cholera that almost claimed the life of the mayor. He lived the rest of his life at 37 Livingstone Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When George died in 1868, Henry Ward Beecher, one of Brooklyn’s most respected individuals, volunteered to deliver a stirring speech to the thousands of mourners who flooded the streets of Brooklyn Heights. This is how George was laid to rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More information and historical facts about Brooklyn’s first mayor, George Hall, one can find at the Center for Brooklyn History. In addition to his photo, there are a lot of interesting items as well. By the way, after that, you can take a walk along Hall Street in Fort Greene, which is named in his honor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The explosive expansion of settlements in Kings County made the state grant a charter to the city of Brooklyn in 1834. Thus, the county would include one city and five official communities, namely Bushwick, Flatbush, Flatlands, Gravesend and New Utrecht. But in the next few years, they were united in the process of development and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":291,"featured_media":2480,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[497],"tags":[885,888,883,882,887,889,886,890,884],"moimportance":[101,104],"motype":[491],"moformat":[89],"class_list":{"0":"post-2662","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-about-the-mayor","8":"tag-37-livingstone-street","9":"tag-a-triumphant-return","10":"tag-during-halls-leadership","11":"tag-george-hall-brooklyns-first-mayor-since-the-citys-independence","12":"tag-hall-glowed-with-pride-for-the-significantly-expanded-city-that-chose-him","13":"tag-hall-was-born-in-flatbush-into-an-irish-family-he-was-a-merchant","15":"tag-painter-and-glazier-whose-success-in-the-fast-growing-city-made-him-a-perfect-candidate-for-an-elected-office","16":"tag-the-most-visible-and-dangerous-crisis-in-brooklyn-was-a-widespread-outbreak-of-cholera-that-almost-claimed-the-life-of-the-mayor-he-lived-the-rest-of-his-life-at-37-livingstone-street","17":"moimportance-golovna-novyna","18":"moimportance-retranslyacziya-v-agregatory","19":"motype-eternal","20":"moformat-vlasna"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brooklyn-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brooklyn-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brooklyn-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brooklyn-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brooklyn-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2662"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brooklyn-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2664,"href":"https:\/\/brooklyn-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662\/revisions\/2664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brooklyn-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brooklyn-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brooklyn-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brooklyn-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2662"},{"taxonomy":"moimportance","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brooklyn-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moimportance?post=2662"},{"taxonomy":"motype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brooklyn-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/motype?post=2662"},{"taxonomy":"moformat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brooklyn-yes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moformat?post=2662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}