Editing Flatbush

{{short description|Neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City}}
{{about|the neighborhood in New York City}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Merge from|Fiske Terrace, Brooklyn|date=February 2025|discuss=Talk:Fiske Terrace, Brooklyn}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name                     = Flatbush
| native_name              = 
| native_name_lang         = <!-- ISO 639-2 code e.g. "fr" for French. If more than one, use {{lang}} instead -->
| settlement_type          = [[Neighborhoods in Brooklyn|Neighborhood of Brooklyn]]
| image_skyline            = File:RPDC Flatbush jeh.JPG
| image_alt                = 
| image_caption            = [[Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Flatbush]], founded in 1654
| nickname                 = 
| motto                    = 
| image_map                = {{maplink|frame=y|plain=yes|frame-align=center|frame-lat=40.705|frame-long=-73.975|zoom=9|type= point|coord={{coord|40.645|-73.960}}}}
| map_alt                  = 
| map_caption              = Location in New York City
| coordinates              = {{coord|40.645|-73.960|type:city_region:US-NY|display=inline,title}}
| coor_pinpoint            = 
| coordinates_footnotes    = 
| subdivision_type         = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
| subdivision_name         = {{flag|United States}}
| subdivision_type1        = [[U.S. state|State]]
| subdivision_name1        = {{flag|New York}}
| subdivision_type2        = [[City]]
| subdivision_name2        = [[New York City]]
| subdivision_type3        = [[Borough (New York City)|Borough]]
| subdivision_name3        = [[Brooklyn]]
| subdivision_type4        = [[Community boards of Brooklyn|Community District]]
| subdivision_name4        = [[Brooklyn Community Board 14|Brooklyn 14]]<ref name="NYCPlanning">{{cite web|title=NYC Planning {{!}} Community Profiles |url= https://communityprofiles.planning.nyc.gov/brooklyn/14| website=communityprofiles.planning.nyc.gov| publisher=New York City Department of City Planning|access-date=April 7, 2018}}</ref>
| established_title        = Founded
| established_date         = 1651
| founder                  = Dutch colonists
| unit_pref                = Imperial
| area_total_km2           = 2.64
| population_footnotes     =<ref name=PLP5/>
| population_total         = 105,804
| population_as_of         = [[2010 United States Census]]
| population_density_km2   = auto
| population_demonym       = 
| population_note          = 
| timezone1                = [[Eastern Time Zone|Eastern]]
| utc_offset1              = −5
| timezone1_DST            = [[Eastern Time Zone|EDT]]
| utc_offset1_DST          = −4
| postal_code_type         = [[ZIP Code]]
| postal_code              = 11226
| area_code_type           = [[Telephone numbering plan|Area code]]
| area_code                = [[Area codes 718, 347, and 929|718, 347, 929]], and [[Area code 917|917]]
| iso_code                 = 
| website                  = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
| footnotes                = 
| official_name            = 
}}

'''Flatbush''' is a neighborhood in the [[New York City]] [[Borough (New York City)|borough]] of [[Brooklyn]]. The neighborhood consists of several subsections in central Brooklyn and is generally bounded by [[Prospect Park (Brooklyn)|Prospect Park]] to the north, [[East Flatbush, Brooklyn|East Flatbush]] to the east, [[Midwood, Brooklyn|Midwood]] to the south, and [[Kensington, Brooklyn|Kensington]] and Parkville to the west. The modern neighborhood includes or borders several institutions of note, including [[Brooklyn College]].

The area was home to the [[Canarsee]] people before contact with Europeans; many of the tribe's paths would become important roads through the region. Flatbush was originally chartered as the Dutch Nieuw Nederland colony town of Midwout, also called Vlachte Bos. It was one of the six original European towns on Long Island. The town remained primarily Dutch and rural in character until the latter half of the 19th century, when increasing rail and road connectivity to other parts of New York made it an attractive [[suburb]] to Brooklyn and New York City. The town was consolidated into the [[City of Greater New York]] in 1898 and was further connected to the rest of the city with the development of the [[New York City Subway]] in the early 20th century. Post-World War II, the neighborhood underwent tremendous demographic shifts, becoming home to increasing numbers of immigrants from the Caribbean, Asia, and elsewhere. In the late 20th century and 21st century it has continued to see changes due to [[gentrification]] and new immigrants.

Flatbush is part of [[Brooklyn Community Board 14|Brooklyn Community District 14]]. It is patrolled by the 67th and 70th Precincts of the [[New York City Police Department]]. Politically, Flatbush is represented by the [[New York City Council]]'s 40th and 45th Districts.<ref>[http://www.nyc.gov/html/dc/downloads/pdf/brooklyn.pdf Current City Council Districts for Kings County] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131103455/http://www.nyc.gov/html/dc/downloads/pdf/brooklyn.pdf |date=January 31, 2017 }}, [[New York City]]. Accessed May 5, 2017.</ref>

==History==

===Colonial period===
In the 16th century, western [[Long Island]] was inhabited by the [[Canarsee]] people, who called it Sewanhacka.<ref name="bpl_dutch frontier">{{cite web|url=https://lefferts.brooklynhistory.org/brooklyns-dutch-frontier/|title=Brooklyn's Dutch Frontier|series=An American Family Grows in Brooklyn|website=Lefferts Family Papers|publisher=[[Brooklyn Historical Society]]|access-date=December 20, 2023}}</ref> The Canarsee and related [[Lenape]] tribes lived semi-nomadic lives, moving seasonally to follow food sources. Their crisscrossing trails through the area formed some of the early roads for the modern region.{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|pp=7–8}} One of their primary settlements was located roughly at the current intersection of [[Flatbush Avenue]] and [[Kings Highway (Brooklyn)|Kings Highway]], named Keskachane or "council fire".{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|pp=9–10}}

[[Henry Hudson]] is reported to have landed on the island in 1609.{{sfn|Campanella|2019|pp=15–16}} Hudson was an Englishman working for the Dutch East India Company, and the Dutch established trading posts and settlements in their new colony of [[New Netherland|Nieuw Nederland]] thereafter, buying up land from the Canarsee (who did not share the Dutch's view of property rights, viewing the sales not as final but essentially leases.){{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|pp=9–10}} One of the Dutch settlements was Midwout (alternatively ''Midwoud'' or ''Medwoud'',) Dutch for "middle wood". Midwout was established inland, in a forested area bounded by hills to the north and flat open spaces to the south,{{sfn|Strong|1842|pp=10–11}} which had been managed by the natives for cultivation and game purposes.{{sfn|Campanella|2019|p=16}} The geography was created by the ancient glacier that once covered the area, leaving behind as it retreated the hills of the [[terminal moraine]] and a large outwash plain beyond.<ref name="nytimes_2018-06-05">{{cite news|last=Broad|first=William|date=June 5, 2018|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/05/science/how-the-ice-age-shaped-new-york.html|title=How the Ice Age Shaped New York|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=December 20, 2023|page=D1}}</ref> Midwout was settled between 1630 and 1636, and received a patent of township by 1652.{{efn|The exact dates for Flatbush's settlement are unclear. Reverend Thomas M. Strong, in his 1842 history of Flatbush, cites the earliest known land deeds for lands lying in Flatbush and nearby Flatlands as June 6, 1636, but concludes "it is not improbable, however, that considerable settlements were made before any formal grants or Patents of lands were obtained." The original patents for Flatbush's township were lost.{{sfn|Strong|1842|pp=10–13}}<!-- specify other dates -->}} In the following years it would also be known as Vlachte Bos or Flackebos ("wooded plain"), and the various names and spellings of the town were used interchangeably for nearly a century.{{sfn|Gody|1939|p=493}}{{sfn|Vanderbilt|1899|p=32–35}}

A church was built in 1654, replaced by another structure in 1698.{{sfn|Gody|1939|p=493}} The early settlement was enclosed by a palisade wall for protection.{{sfn|Gody|1939|p=493}}{{sfn|Strong|1842|p=16}} By 1658, it was the location of the courts and seat of Justice for the County.{{sfn|Strong|1842|p=14}} There were records of schoolmasters in the town from 1659.{{sfn|Vanderbilt|1899|p=21}} The north end of Midwout was called Steenraap, the main business center the Dorp, and the south end Rustenburgh or resting-place.{{sfn|Vanderbilt|1899|p=34–37}} Among the early colonists in Midwout who would rise to prominence was Leffert Pietersen Van Haughwout. Van Haughwout's family, later known as the Lefferts, would build a homestead in the 1680s in the north of town, now part of [[Prospect Lefferts Gardens]].<ref name="brownstoner_2010-12-07">Spellen, Suzanne. [https://www.brownstoner.com/brooklyn-life/walkabout-the-l-3/ "Walkabout: The Lefferts Family, Flatbush Branch"], ''[[Brownstoner Magazine]]'', December 7, 2010. Accessed February 25, 2024.</ref> Other Dutch families would ultimately lend their names to the streets of the modern city.<ref name="nytimes_2015-05-10"/> In its early years, Midwout came into conflict with its neighboring town of New Amersfoort over its borders, as well as with the local natives; in 1670 the Rockaway Indians challenged the Dutch claims, saying the Canarsee had no authority to sell the land. Midwout's leadership bought the land again to avoid trouble. By the end of the century most of the natives in the region were either dead by war or disease, or dispossessed of their ancestral lands; a few remained in Midwout as farmhands or servants for the Dutch.{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|pp=9–10}}

In 1664, the English captured nearby [[New Amsterdam]], and New Netherland was ceded to the English, remaining permanently in their hands after 1674 as New York.{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|p=14}} The towns of Long Island were united as [[Brooklyn|Kings County]] in 1683.{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|p=8}} The borders of Midwout were fixed in 1685 in a new charter granted by [[Thomas Dongan]], the English governor of New York province. The English "Flatbush" gradually supplanted the Dutch names for the town.<ref name="standardunion_1928-08-27">{{cite news|date=August 27, 1928|series=1 of 3|title=Flatbush Avenue, With new Flash of Building Activity, Presents Scene of Dash, Vitality and Progressiveness|work=[[Brooklyn Times-Union|Brooklyn Standard Union]]|page=9}}</ref> The Dutch character of Flatbush remained despite the English takeover; Dutch landowners continued to exert political control, and Dutch remained the dominant language until the latter part of the 18th century. Marriage outside of Dutch social circles was discouraged, which helped retain Dutch culture and kept the inhabitants "clannish", in the words of one historian.{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|pp=14–15}}

Early Dutch settlement of the area had focused on farming, which proved lucrative as nearby [[New York City]] grew. The need for labor spurred the importation of African slaves, making New York one of the largest slaveholding regions in the northern English colonies.{{sfn|Campanella|2019|p=28}} Dutch slavery was less rigid and repressive than that of the [[Southern Colonies]], but as the English assumed control of the region, harsher legal codes came into effect.{{sfn|Campanella|2019|pp=30–32}} The slave population swelled through the 18th century. In 1738, 29% of Flatbush's recorded population of 539 were slaves, jumping to 41% by 1790.{{sfn|Campanella|2019|p=28}}{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|pp=16–17}} The enslaved labor pool was also supplemented by [[indentured servitude|indentured servants]] from the British Isles or Germany.{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|pp=18}}

During the [[American Revolution]] (1775–1783), Flatbush demonstrated conflicting loyalties to either the loyalist or patriot causes.{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|pp=20–21}} Patriot troops burned houses and farmland early in war to deny the British the resources.{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|pp=22–23}} Landowners in Brooklyn were concerned that a full conflict between the Colonies and the British would result in loss of their critical source of slave labor.<ref>''The Ordeal of Kings County'' by Edwin G. Burrows as part of Tiedemann and Fingerhut (editors) ''The Other New York: The American Revolution Beyond New York City'' 2005</ref> Parts of the [[Battle of Long Island]] took place in Flatbush; the patriots checked the British advance north at what is now known as [[Battle Pass (Brooklyn)|Battle Pass]], until they were surprised by a flanking attack. The town of Flatbush was occupied by the British for seven years, with British troops and American prisoners of war billeted in area homes.{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|pp=22–23}} Some Flatbush residents maintained their loyalist sympathies: the King's Arms, for example, appeared in the town's inn for a half-century after the conclusion of the conflict.{{sfn|Gody|1939}}<!-- page no. needed -->

For several decades after the Revolution, New York merchants and farmers continued to engage in the slave trade. The Gradual Emancipation Law of 1799 emancipated people of African descent born after July 4, 1799. Men and women escaping enslavement often went to Manhattan, where they could live within the community of free blacks. Slavery was fully abolished in 1827, though many former slaves continued to work as sharecroppers under their former owners.{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|pp=27–30}}
<!-- mention the construction of the new church, Erasmus, etc. for turn of the century stuff -->

===19th century===
[[File:Copy of the Map of the Town of Flatbush in Dr Strongs History, 1842.jpg|thumb|Flatbush Old Town in 1842. The triangular intersection at the edge of the town is roughly at the current-day intersection of Flatbush Avenue and East New York Avenue.{{sfn|Vanderbilt|1899|p=236}}]]
Into the 19th century, Flatbush remained a slow-growing farming community.<ref name="standardunion_1928-08-27"/> The opening of the [[Erie Canal]] shifted cultivation away from grains and towards market produce, with Kings County being the second-largest largest provider of produce in the country until the end of the century after Queens County.<ref name="bpl_farming">{{cite web|url=https://lefferts.brooklynhistory.org/farming-brooklyn/|title=Farming Brooklyn|series=An American Family Grows in Brooklyn|website=Lefferts Family Papers|publisher=[[Brooklyn Historical Society]]|access-date=December 20, 2023}}</ref> It remained isolated from the growing Brooklyn by open country. [[Prospect Park (Brooklyn)|Prospect Park]] was developed from land partially in Flatbush, though it was wholly claimed by Brooklyn.<ref name="standardunion_1928-08-27"/> The rural character of the town, however, would not last. In the second quarter of the century, a street grid was laid out, and the main north-south road was established as Flatbush Avenue.<ref name="lpc_1973-10-16"/> A stream of Irish and some German immigrants arrived in the area, comprising the majority of the rural labor force by 1860.{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|pp=32–33}} Though Flatbush and Kings County did not support [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s presidency in 1860, after the [[American Civil War]] broke out, Flatbush residents raised funds and soldiers for the war effort. Blacks fleeing the violence of the [[New York City draft riots]] found refuge in Flatbush and nearby [[Weeksville, Brooklyn|Weeksville]].{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|pp=33–35}}

Flatbush built a [[Flatbush Town Hall|Town Hall]] in 1875, a few years after Flatbush and the other towns of Kings County avoided annexation by Brooklyn.<ref name="lpc_1973-10-16">{{cite web|date=October 16, 1973|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0770.pdf|title=Flatbush Town Hall, 35 Snyder Avenue|publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]]|access-date=December 20, 2023}}</ref> The [[Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railway]], established 1878, connected Flatbush to the pleasure spots at [[Coney Island]] and the Atlantic Coast to the south, and downtown Brooklyn and Manhattan to the north.<ref name="bpl_developing"/> The railways and the opening of bridges connecting Brooklyn to Manhattan began transforming Flatbush into a [[suburb]].<ref name="lpc_1978-07-11">{{cite web|date=July 11, 1978|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0989.pdf|title=Albemarle-Kenmore Terraces Historic District |publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]]|access-date=December 20, 2023}}</ref> Towards the end of the century, the land was worth more if used for real estate than farming, and large landowners began selling off plots.<ref name="bpl_developing"/>{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|p=40}} John Lefferts divided his family's Flatbush homestead into 516 parcels, restricted by covenant to only be developed into single-family housing.<ref name="bpl_developing">{{cite web|url=https://lefferts.brooklynhistory.org/developing-brooklyn/|title=Developing Brooklyn|series=An American Family Grows in Brooklyn|website=Lefferts Family Papers|publisher=[[Brooklyn Historical Society]]|access-date=December 20, 2023}}</ref> These formed Lefferts Manor, containing possibly the neighborhood's earliest [[row house]]s.<ref name="lpc_2020-11-17"/> Another early development was Vanderveer Park, formed from 65 acres of the Vanderveer family's holdings.{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|p=40}} Like Lefferts Manor, Vanderveer Park traded on the Dutch history of the region to attract buyers. The developers of the new housing pitched Flatbush as a country oasis offering respite from the "cliff-dwelling" vertical living of Manhattan.<ref name="nytimes_2008-03-16">{{cite news|last=Lerner|first=Evan|date=March 16, 2008|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/nyregion/thecity/16vict.html|title=Peaked Roofs, Crossed Fingers|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=December 20, 2023}}</ref>{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|p=40}} Much of the development focused on the areas immediately south and east of Prospect Park, with the farther-flung areas remaining mostly rural and dotted with wood-framed houses.<ref name="lpc_2020-11-17">{{cite web|last=Caratzas|first=Michael|date=November 17, 2020|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2647.pdf|title=East 25th Street Historic District|publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]]|access-date=December 20, 2023}}</ref>

[[File:Robinson's atlas of Kings County, New York LOC 2011594778-5 (Flatbush crop).jpg|thumb|Flatbush and surrounding Kings County in 1890, shortly before it was annexed into Brooklyn to the north. The irregular and infrequent Flatbush streets have been replaced with a street grid, and its borders have been encroached upon by Green-Wood Cemetery and Prospect Park.]]
Amid the construction of houses and the infrastructure to support them, Flatbush's population tripled in the decades before 1900.{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|p=43}} In the face of increasing urbanization, some community leaders wished for Flatbush and the outlying Kings County towns to retain their rural character.{{sfn|McGee|2005|p=31}}{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|p=39}} Resident and amateur historian Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt, writing in 1881, correctly predicted a coming merger with Brooklyn, and lamented that the Dutch character of the town was gone.<ref name="bpl_chronicling">{{cite web|url=https://lefferts.brooklynhistory.org/chronicling-brooklyn/|title=Chronicling Brooklyn|series=An American Family Grows in Brooklyn|website=Lefferts Family Papers|publisher=[[Brooklyn Historical Society]]|access-date=December 20, 2023}}</ref> The only remaining signs of its presence to her were "the reminiscences and traditions, while the old family names mark the localities still, as the projecting peaks mark the submerged rock."{{sfn|Vanderbilt|1899|p=9}}

In 1894, Flatbush was successfully annexed into Brooklyn. A reception hosting Brooklyn mayor [[Charles A. Schieren]] was held at the Midwood Club House, where Schieren called the former town "the prettiest and most fascinating suburban village of Kings County."<ref name="brooklyneagle_1894-05-20">{{cite news|date=May 20, 1894|title=Music, Speeches, Good Cheer, All Combined, at the Flatbush Annexation Celebration|work=[[The Brooklyn Daily Eagle]]|page=24}}</ref> Brooklyn itself was merged into New York City in 1898, a move opposed by many in Brooklyn and passed by just 277 votes.{{sfn|Campanella|2019|pp=8–9}}

===20th century===
In the early 20th century, Flatbush changed even more rapidly as further transit improvements spurred additional development.<ref name="bpl_chronicling"/><ref name="lpc_2020-11-17"/> The course of the Brooklyn, Flatbush & Coney Island Railroad (now called the Brooklyn & Brighton Beach Railroad) was electrified in 1901 and run over the [[Brooklyn Bridge]], connecting Flatbush more directly with lower Manhattan. This was followed by further improvements to the line in the subsequent years, including the addition of more tracks and removal of at-grade crossings. The railways lived alongside five trolley lines that ran to Williamsburg in north Brooklyn and the Lower East Side in Manhattan.<ref name="lpc_2020-11-17"/> Development of the north end of Flatbush was helped along with the construction of [[Ebbets Field]], home of the [[Brooklyn Dodgers]] baseball team.{{sfn|McGee|2005|p=76}}

Construction across Brooklyn slowed as Europe and then America became embroiled in [[World War I]]; the cost of construction spiked, and the city emerged from the war years having gone from a surplus of housing a decade earlier to a dire shortage.{{sfn|Campanella|2019|pp=300–301}} The response from the government was a slew of housing and tenant bills, with one allowing the city to exempt new residential construction from property taxes until 1932. The ordinance spurred a housing boom across the borough, with significant development in the much cheaper land of southern Brooklyn and Flatbush, which was increasingly connected to the rest of the city via new infrastructure projects.{{sfn|Campanella|2019|pp=302–303}} Extant homes—including the neighborhood's earliest suburban development—were converted to multifamily dwellings or demolished for new homes or apartments,<ref name="lpc_2020-11-17"/><ref name="nytimes_2008-03-16"/> which came in an array of architectural styles.{{sfn|Campanella|2019|pp=304–307}} Alongside the residential construction came commercial developments, from movie palaces like the [[Loew's Kings Theatre]] to department stores like [[Sears Roebuck & Company Department Store (Brooklyn)|Sears Roebuck & Company]]. An entertainment and commercial district developed in the vicinity of Church and Flatbush Avenues,<ref name="lpc_2012-05-15">{{cite web|author=Postal, Matthew|date=May 15, 2012|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2469.pdf|title=Sears Roebuck & Company Department Store|publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]]|access-date=August 2, 2020|archive-date=September 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210919022200/http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2469.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> with another developing at the intersection of Flatbush, Avenue H, and Nostrand Avenue, known as the Junction.<ref name="nytimes_2007-12-02"/>

As six-story [[Art Deco]] and [[Colonial Revival architecture|Colonial Revival]] elevator apartment houses alongside stylistically analogous walk-ups were developed on Ocean Avenue and throughout its periphery,<ref>{{cite book | last=Allbray | first=N.C. | title=Flatbush: The Heart of Brooklyn | publisher=Arcadia Pub. | series=Making of America series | year=2004 | isbn=978-0-7385-2453-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1L2mNAil4BsC | access-date=June 21, 2020 | page=124}}</ref> Flatbush nurtured a socioeconomically diverse population of [[Irish Americans]], [[Italian Americans]] and [[American Jews]]; according to anthropologist Ansley Hamid, occupants ranged from "merchants [and] professionals" to "skilled [and] manual laborers."{{sfn|Hamid|2002|p=128}} By 1930, one-third of Flatbush's residents were Jewish.<ref name="lpc_2020-11-17"/> The new residents ultimately displaced the remaining Anglo-Dutch, who decamped to farther-off suburbs in Long Island or New Jersey.{{sfn|Campanella|2019|pp=9}}

By the [[Great Depression]], Flatbush had a population of 400,000, and boasted fifteen theaters, rail and trolly lines, dozens of schools, fifty-four churches, and five newspapers.{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|pp=49–50}} New York greatly benefited from [[New Deal]] policies and funds,<ref name="golway_2009-04-15">{{cite web|last=Golway|first=Terry|date=April 15, 2009|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/nyregion/long-island/19Rwpa.html|title=W.P.A. Projects Left Their Stamp on the Region|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=August 22, 2023|archive-date=August 22, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230822144101/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/nyregion/long-island/19Rwpa.html|url-status=live}}</ref> which helped build [[Brooklyn College]] in 1935.{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|p=50}} During [[World War II]] the "soldier from Flatbush" became a symbol of the All-American soldier.{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|p=53}}

After the war, Flatbush saw demographic shifts along with the rest of the city. Owners and renters from the interwar years aged, and their children moved out of the neighborhood; from 1950 to 1960 children under six in Flatbush dropped 14 percent, while the number of seniors over 65 rose 42 percent.<ref name="nytimes_1968-02-14"/> The Dodgers left Brooklyn, and Ebbets Field was torn down.<ref name="nytimes_2013-04-04">{{cite news|last=Anderson|first=Dave|date=April 3, 2013|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/04/sports/baseball/ebbets-field-is-gone-but-memories-of-brooklyn-dodgers-endure.html|title=Echoes of Ebbets Field as It Turns 100|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=March 26, 2024|page=B13}}</ref> In the 1960s, poorer African Americans and Puerto Ricans began moving into the corridor along [[Nostrand Avenue]], where the subway offered access to job opportunities, while middle-class African Americans bought up row houses to the west. [[Blockbusting]] encouraged white residents to sell and leave the neighborhood, and properties fell into disrepair while crime increased.<ref name="nytimes_1968-02-14">{{cite news|last=|first=|date=February 14, 1968|url=https://nyti.ms/3RvJaJh|title=After Era of Stability, Flatbush Yields to Change|work=[[The New York Times]]|pages=49, 54}}</ref>{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|pp=58–59}} The population of the neighborhood shifted from 89% white in 1970 to 30% white in a decade. The white and Jewish residents were replaced by Hispanic, Asian, and black ones, and the commercial properties shifted to reflect the change.<ref name="nytimes_1983-01-30"/> Afro-Caribbean immigrants joined African Americans in moving from traditional neighborhoods like Harlem to Flatbush, particularly Haitians fleeing the dictatorial rule of [[François Duvalier|François]] and [[Jean-Claude Duvalier]].<ref name="lpc_2020-11-17"/> One resident who moved to the area in 1971 recalled that his building gradually shed staff and maintenance was neglected as the decade wore on, amid a wider drop in city services following the [[History of New York City (1946–1977)#Fiscal crisis of 1975|city's financial crisis]].{{sfn|Hamid|2002|pp=127–129}}

Parts of the neighborhood in the west and to the south of Prospect Park continued to attract a sizable number of wealthier homeowners, and doctors still resided and practiced on a stretch of Parkside Avenue immediately adjacent to Prospect Park. By the mid-1980s, however, the neighborhood had numerous abandoned or semi-abandoned buildings, many of which had fallen into a state of disrepair. The eastern parts of Flatbush were particularly affected.<ref name="nytimes_1983-01-30"/>{{sfn|Hamid|2002|pp=127–129}} Crime worsened significantly during the 1970s and 80s,<ref name="nytimes_1983-01-30"/> alongside a rise in drugs.<ref>{{cite web | last=Rohde | first=David | title=Where Has Your Neighborhood Drug Dealer Gone? | website=[[The New York Times]] | date=August 17, 1997 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/08/17/nyregion/where-has-your-neighborhood-drug-dealer-gone.html | access-date=February 3, 2017|at=Section 13, page 1}}</ref><!-- this talks about the police presence in Flatbush, but less specifically about the drugs and scale of the problem in the neighborhood. Should find a better ref. --> A number of stores on Flatbush and Church Avenues fell victim to looting during the [[New York City blackout of 1977|1977 blackout]].<ref>{{cite web | author=Moritz|first=Owen|title=Looters prey on the city during the blackout of 1977 | website=[[New York Daily News]] | date=July 12, 2015 | url=http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/looters-prey-city-blackout-1977-article-1.2284260 | access-date=February 3, 2017}}</ref>

Tenants rights organizations and neighborhood associations formed to fight back against the neighborhood's decay. The Flatbush Development Corporation, one of a number of [[community development corporation]]s that formed in poorer areas of the country starting in the late 1960s, sought to revitalize the community. The FDC investigated bad landlords and agitated for loans to developers willing to refurbish old buildings.{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|p=60}} Other groups worked to protect threatened buildings and neighborhoods as [[historic landmark]]s.{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|pp=62–63}} In the 1980s, families and young couples priced out of areas like [[Park Slope]] and looking for cheaper real estate moved into the homes in the historic areas.<ref name="nytimes_1983-01-30"/> Residents started buying their houses and forming block associations;<ref name="lpc_2020-11-17"/><ref name="newyorkmag_1987-05-04"/><!-- that ref is for a single one, use the western ones as well, mention preservation efforts, CORTELYOU  --> the high percentage of buyers who were middle-class black residents made it atypical from other gentrification waves on the time in the city that displaced the current residents.<ref name="nytimes_1989-04-16">{{cite news|last=Peterson|first=Iver|date=April 16, 1989|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/16/realestate/co-op-waves-washing-over-flatbush.html|title=Co-op Waves Washing Over Flatbush|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=January 26, 2024|at=Section 10, p. 1}}</ref> Owners in the [[Prospect Park South]] neighborhood hired private security to patrol the neighbhorhood.<ref name="newyorkmag_1987-05-04">{{cite magazine|last=Tyre|first=Peg|date=May 4, 1987|title=Flatbush; Touches of the Dutch and Turn-of-the-Century Grandeur|magazine=[[New York Magazine]]|volume=20|issue=18|pages=64–66}}</ref> Residents lobbied commercial business to return to the area.<ref name="nytimes_2002-07-07">{{cite news|last=Kugel|first= Seth|date=July 7, 2002|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/07/nyregion/neighborhood-report-flatbush-victorian-area-is-tired-of-being-discounted.html|title=Neighborhood Report: Flatbush; Victorian Area Is Tired of Being Discounted|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=February 25, 2024}}</ref> Local merchants, the city, and the Flatbush Development Corporation worked to revitalize the neighborhood's commercial core. The Flatbush Avenue Business Improvement District was founded in 1990, and by 1996 included 195 merchants on the stretch of road between Parkside Avenue and Cortelyou Road.<ref name="nytimes_1996-11-03">{{cite news|last=Kershaw|first=Sarah|date=November 3, 1996|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/03/nyregion/flatbush-ave-renaissance-brings-hope-for-kings.html|title=Flatbush Ave. Renaissance Brings Hope For Kings|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=December 18, 2023|at=Section 13, p. 10}}</ref>

===21st century===
[[File:1024x768-dsc04118.jpg|thumb|Church and Flatbush, 2013]]
In the 2000s, Flatbush began to shed its poor reputation, and residents came to the area for its cheaper prices, attractive housing stock, and retail.<ref name="nytimes_2007-12-02"/> The Junction was redeveloped with the addition of [[Target Corporation]]'s largest-ever store.<ref name="nytimes_2008-09-02">{{cite news|last=Siwolop|first=Sana|date=September 2, 2008|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/realestate/commercial/03junction.html|title=Big Stores in Odd Shapes Arriving in Brooklyn|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=December 21, 2023}}</ref> The demographics of the neighborhood continued to shift; new Jewish residents from Syria arrived alongside Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Russians, and Chinese.{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|pp=64–68}} The Muslim community was hit hard in the aftermath of the [[September 11 attacks|September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks]]; an estimated 20,000 residents left voluntarily or otherwise after immigration crackdowns.{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|p=68}} Recognizing the changed makeup of the eastern part of the neighborhood, the city designated two areas "Little Caribbean" and "Little Haiti" in 2017 and 2018, respectively.<ref name="nytimes_2018-04-17">{{cite news|last=Mays|first=Jeffrey|date=April 17, 2018|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/17/nyregion/brooklyn-little-haiti.html|title=In Brooklyn, Push for a Special Haitian District Hits Resistance|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=December 21, 2023|at=Section A, p. 17}}</ref><ref name="nytimes_2018-07-05">{{cite news|last=Mays|first=Jeffrey|date=July 5, 2018|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/05/nyregion/little-haiti-flatbush-brooklyn-street.html|title=What's in a Name? Plenty, When It's a Street in Brooklyn's 'Little Haiti'|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=December 21, 2023|at=Section A, p. 17}}</ref>

The ''Times'' featured the neighborhood in 2016 as one of four in the city where real estate was expected to take off, as buyers looked for more affordable options.<ref name="hot">{{cite news|last=Higgins|first=Michelle|date=February 26, 2016|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/realestate/new-yorks-next-hot-neighborhoods.html|title=New York's Next Hot Neighborhoods|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929073223/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/realestate/new-yorks-next-hot-neighborhoods.html |archive-date=September 29, 2017|url-status=live|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=December 22, 2023|page=RE1}}</ref> Flatbush was disparately impacted by the [[COVID-19 pandemic]] compared to higher-income parts of the city.<ref name="bklyner_2021-08-13">[https://bklyner.com/brooklyn-census-2020/ "What Does the New Census Data Tell Us About Brooklyn?"], [[Bklyner]], August 13, 2021. Accessed February 25, 2024.</ref> As housing prices have increased,<ref name="gothamist_2022-09-02">Ibrahim, Shamira. [https://gothamist.com/news/flatbush-residents-cautiously-optimistic-about-west-indian-day-parades-return-after-two-year-hiatus "Flatbush residents cautiously optimistic about West Indian Day parade’s return after two-year hiatus"], ''[[Gothamist]]'', September 2, 2022. Accessed February 25, 2024.</ref> the neighborhood's predominantly black population has begun to shrink.<ref name="cuny_2023-01-20">{{cite web|last1=Mollenkopf|first1=John|last2=Blair|first2=Zulema|last3=Hum|first3=Tarry|last4=Lipsitz|first4=Keena|last5=Rivera-Burgos|first5=Viviana|last6=Romalewski|first6=Steven|last7=Bauer|first7=Valerie|date=January 20, 2023|url=https://nycoi2023.commons.gc.cuny.edu/nyc-communities-of-interest-report-2023/|title=How Communities of Interest Are Evolving in New York City Today|website=[[City University of New York]]|access-date=December 22, 2023}}</ref>

The neighborhood continues to face issues as a lower-income neighborhood compared to the city, with a 2016 [[WNYC]] reporting finding the neighborhood was disproportionately the target of [[Vision Zero]] traffic safety enforcement compared to whiter neighborhoods like [[Williamsburg, Brooklyn|Williamsburg]] and [[Greenpoint, Brooklyn|Greenpoint]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Santore|first=John|date=August 26, 2016|url=https://patch.com/new-york/ditmaspark/flatbush-activists-want-know-where-nypd-stopping-brooklyn-drivers |title=Flatbush Activists Want to Know Where the NYPD is Stopping Brooklyn Drivers |website=[[Patch Media|Patch]] |access-date=February 6, 2018 |archive-date=February 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180207005130/https://patch.com/new-york/ditmaspark/flatbush-activists-want-know-where-nypd-stopping-brooklyn-drivers |url-status=live }}</ref> A 2023 ''[[Gothamist]]'' analysis of 311 data revealed the neighborhood was one of the largest problem areas in the city for illegal waste dumping.<ref name="gothamist_2023-01-31">{{cite web|last=Chang|first=Sophia|date=January 31, 2023|url=https://gothamist.com/news/illegal-dumping-trashes-nycs-lower-income-areas|title=Illegal dumping trashes NYC's lower-income areas|website=[[Gothamist]]|access-date=January 2, 2024}}</ref>

Little remains of the original Flatbush village and its surroundings. The 18th-century [[Lefferts Historic House|Lefferts family house]], which resided in Flatbush, was moved in 1918 from its original location to Prospect Park along Flatbush Avenue.<ref name="nytimes_2015-05-10"/> Near the Lefferts house is a former toll booth from the 19th century that once sat along the Flatbush Turnpike leading to Brooklyn.<ref name="brownstoner_2018-04-23">{{cite web|last=De Vries|first=Susan|date=April 23, 2018|url=https://www.brownstoner.com/architecture/prospect-park-flatbush-avenue-tollbooth-brooklyn-history/|title=The Quirky Wooden Relic of Brooklyn's Transit Past in Prospect Park|website=[[Brownstoner Magazine]]|access-date=December 20, 2023}}</ref> Other historic houses nearby include the [[Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead]], built 1766,<ref name="nytimes_2015-05-10">{{cite news|last=Pollak|first=Michael|date=May 8, 2015|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/nyregion/surviving-remnants-of-the-village-of-flatbush.html|title=FYI: Surviving Remnants of the Village of Flatbush|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=December 20, 2023|page=MB3}}</ref> and the [[Wyckoff House]], built on Twiller's Flats.<ref name="lpc_1965-10-14">{{cite web|date=October 14, 1965|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0001.pdf|title=Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House, Clarendon Road and Ralph Avenue|publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]]|access-date=January 11, 2023}}</ref> A marker in Prospect Park marks the site of Battle Pass. The [[Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church Complex|Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church]] remains at the historic center of Flatbush at Church and Flatbush Avenues.<ref name="nytimes_2015-05-10"/>

==Geographic boundaries==
{{maplink|frame=y|frame-align=right|zoom=12|type=shape|from=Neighbourhoods/New York City/Flatbush.map|text=Map of Flatbush, including subsections}}
<!-- bit about historical flatbush as a large area, and the town being centered on Flatbush/Church -->When Flatbush merged with Brooklyn, the old town became coterminous with the 29th [[Wards of New York City|ward]].<ref name="standardunion_1928-08-28">{{cite news|date=August 28, 1928|series=2 of 3|title=Flatbush Avenue, With Acres of New Apartment Buildings, is Historic Town With Old Traditions Being Retained|work=[[Brooklyn Times-Union|Brooklyn Standard Union]]|page=3}}</ref> There are no official boundaries for the modern neighborhood,{{efn|New York City deliberately does not have official neighborhood borders, with a spokesperson for the city's planning department saying in 2023 that the city leaves the delineation "up to New Yorkers themselves."<ref name="nytimes_2023-10-29">{{cite web|last=Buchanan|first=Larry|date=October 29, 2023|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/10/29/upshot/new-york-neighborhood-guide.html|title=An Extremely Detailed Guide to an Extremely Detailed Map of New York City Neighborhoods|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=December 18, 2023}}</ref>}} which is smaller than the old boundaries of the town, and have long been disputed.<ref name="standardunion_1928-08-27"/><ref name="nytimes_2007-12-02"/> In 1928, the ''[[Brooklyn Times-Union|Brooklyn Standard Union]]'' gave an expansive definition of Flatbush as running from [[Ocean Parkway (Brooklyn)|Ocean Parkway]] in the west to Schenectady Avenue in the east, and from Prospect Park in the north as far south as [[Sheepshead Bay]].<ref name="standardunion_1928-08-27"/> By the 1960s, the northern region of the neighborhood was now considered part of [[Crown Heights, Brooklyn|Crown Heights]] instead.<ref name="nytimes_1968-02-14"/> 1980s ''New York Times'' articles, following the definition of the Flatbush Development Corporation, outlined the narrow boundaries as Parkside Avenue to the north, Bedford Avenue to the east, Avenue H to the south, and [[Coney Island Avenue]] to the west. However they also noted that some residents still considered Midwood part of Flatbush, and the historic definitions had it stretch from Ocean Parkway to New York Avenue.<ref name="nytimes_1983-01-30">{{cite news|last=Motyka|first=Joan|date=January 30, 1983|url=https://nyti.ms/3vcm6aF|title=If You're Thinking Of Living In: Flatbush|work=[[The New York Times]]|page=R9}}</ref><ref name="nytimes_1989_06_04">{{cite news|last=Lyons|first=Richard|date=June 4, 1989|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/04/realestate/if-you-re-thinking-of-living-in-flatbush.html|title=If You're Thinking Of Living In: Flatbush|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=December 18, 2023|at=Section 10, p. 11}}</ref> By the 2000s, the ''Times'' had shifted the boundaries eastward, with New York Avenue the eastern border and Ocean Avenue the western one;<ref name="nytimes_2007-12-02"/><ref name="nytimes_2015-05-06">{{cite web|last=Konrad|first=Walencia|date=May 6, 2015|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/realestate/flatbush-brooklyn-a-fit-for-many-tastes-and-budgets.html|title=Flatbush, Brooklyn, a Fit for Many Tastes and Budgets|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=December 18, 2023}}</ref> the paper also noted that the area is one with fuzzier boundaries, compared to neighborhoods with sharp, widely-agreed-upon delineations.<ref name="nytimes_2023-10-29"/> The borders roughly coincide with [[Brooklyn Community Board 14|Brooklyn Community District 14]], which also includes portions of Midwood and Kensington.<ref name="Brooklyn Community Board 14">{{cite web |title=District Map |url=https://cb14brooklyn.com/about/district-map/ |access-date=December 19, 2023 |website=Brooklyn Community Board 14|date=February 4, 2023 }}</ref>

<!-- the following needs much better citing -->
Over time, neighborhoods once considered part of Flatbush have gained their own distinct identities.<ref name="nytimes_2007-12-02">{{cite news|last=Bleyer|first=Jennifer|date=December 2, 2007|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/realestate/02livi.html|title=Note to City Dwellers: Steals Available Here|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=December 21, 2023}}</ref> These include the planned communities of [[Prospect Park South]],<ref name="nytimes_1983-01-30"/> the [[Beverley Squares]] (Beverley Square East and Beverley Square West),{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|p=5}} [[Prospect Lefferts Gardens]],<ref>{{Cite news|last=Besonen|first=Julie|date=February 1, 2017|title=Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn: Diverse, Historic and Convenient|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/realestate/prospect-lefferts-gardens-brooklyn-diverse-historic-and-convenient.html|access-date=December 24, 2023|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> [[Ditmas Park, Brooklyn|Ditmas Park]],<ref name="nytimes_1983-01-30"/> [[Fiske Terrace, Brooklyn|Fiske Terrace]],<ref name="nytimes_2011-07-29">{{cite news|last=Berger|first=Joseph|date=July 29, 2011|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/30/nyregion/victorian-flatbush-area-protests-very-modern-pole.html|title=In an Early 1900s Neighborhood, a Glimpse of '2001'|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=December 19, 2023|page=A19}}</ref> [[Victorian Flatbush]], and [[Albemarle-Kenmore Terraces Historic District|Albemarle-Kenmore Terrace]].<ref name="nytimes_1983-01-30"/>{{sfn|Back|Morrone|2008|p=5}} Bordering Flatbush on the north is Crown Heights, to the east is [[East Flatbush, Brooklyn|East Flatbush]], to the west is Kensington and Parkville, and to the south is Midwood.

==Landmarks==
[[File:Ebbets Field aerial.JPG|thumb|right|An aerial view of [[Ebbets Field]]]]
Well-known institutions within Flatbush include [[Erasmus Hall High School]], the [[Prospect Park (Brooklyn)#Recreation|Parade Ground]], the [[Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church]], and [[Brooklyn College]]. The [[Kings Theatre (Brooklyn)|Kings Theatre]], listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]], operated from 1929 to 1977;<ref>Gray, Christopher. [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/11/realestate/11SCAP.html?ex=1331182800&en=7b5298d6ba1f36c1&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink "The Kings Is Dead! Long Live the Kings!"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161229072247/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/11/realestate/11SCAP.html?ex=1331182800&en=7b5298d6ba1f36c1&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink |date=December 29, 2016 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'' Accessed March 11, 2007</ref> it reopened as a live show venue in February 2015 after extensive renovations.<ref>The Neighborhood News, ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'', February 4, 2013, p. 10</ref>

==Demographics==
[[File:Flatbditmasjeh.JPG|right|thumb|[[Victorian Flatbush]], at Ditmas Avenue east of Coney Island Avenue]]

Based on data from the [[2010 United States Census]], the population of Flatbush was 105,804, a decrease of 5,071 (4.6%) from the 110,875 counted in [[2000 United States Census|2000]]. Covering an area of {{convert|1038.56|acres}}, the neighborhood had a population density of {{convert|101.9|PD/acre|PD/sqmi PD/sqkm}}.<ref name="PLP5">[http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/data-maps/nyc-population/census2010/t_pl_p5_nta.pdf Table PL-P5 NTA: Total Population and Persons Per Acre - New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas*, 2010] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610175331/http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/data-maps/nyc-population/census2010/t_pl_p5_nta.pdf |date=June 10, 2016 }}, Population Division - [[New York City]] Department of City Planning, February 2012. Accessed June 16, 2016.</ref>

The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 19.9% (21,030) [[White (U.S. Census)|White]], 48.6% (51,470) [[African American (U.S. Census)|African American]], 0.3% (281) [[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]], 9.2% (9,712) [[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]], 0.0% (26) [[Pacific Islander (U.S. Census)|Pacific Islander]], 0.5% (575) from [[Race (United States Census)|other races]], and 1.9% (2,051) from two or more races. [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]] of any race were 19.5% (20,659) of the population.<ref name="PLP3A">[http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/data-maps/nyc-population/census2010/t_pl_p3a_nta.pdf Table PL-P3A NTA: Total Population by Mutually Exclusive Race and Hispanic Origin - New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas*, 2010] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610170733/http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/data-maps/nyc-population/census2010/t_pl_p3a_nta.pdf |date=June 10, 2016 }}, Population Division - [[New York City]] Department of City Planning, March 29, 2011. Accessed June 14, 2016.</ref>

The entirety of Community Board 14, which comprises Flatbush and Midwood, had 165,543 inhabitants as of [[New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene|NYC Health]]'s 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 82.4 years.<ref name="CHP2018">{{Cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/data/2018chp-bk1.pdf|title=Flatbush and Midwood (Including Ditmas Park, Flatbush, Manhattan Terrace, Midwood, Ocean Parkway and Prospect Park South)|date=2018|website=nyc.gov|publisher=NYC Health|access-date=March 2, 2019}}</ref>{{Rp|2, 20}} This is slightly higher than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods.<ref name=":21">{{Cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/tcny/community-health-assessment-plan.pdf|title=2016-2018 Community Health Assessment and Community Health Improvement Plan: Take Care New York 2020|date=2016|website=[[government of New York City|nyc.gov]]|publisher=[[New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene]]|access-date=September 8, 2017}}</ref>{{Rp|53 (PDF p. 84)}}<ref>{{cite web | title=New Yorkers are living longer, happier and healthier lives | website=New York Post | date=June 4, 2017 | url=https://nypost.com/2017/06/04/new-yorkers-are-living-longer-happier-and-healthier-lives/ | access-date=March 1, 2019}}</ref> Most inhabitants are middle-aged adults and youth: 25% are between the ages of 0–17, 29% between 25–44, and 24% between 45–64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 9% and 13% respectively.<ref name="CHP2018" />{{Rp|2}}

As of 2016, the median [[household income]] in Community Board 14 was $56,599.<ref name="CB14PUMA">{{cite web|url=https://censusreporter.org/profiles/79500US3604015-nyc-brooklyn-community-district-14-flatbush-midwood-puma-ny/|title=NYC-Brooklyn Community District 14--Flatbush & Midwood PUMA, NY|work=Census Reporter |access-date=July 17, 2018}}</ref> In 2018, an estimated 22% of Flatbush and Midwood residents lived in poverty, compared to 21% in all of Brooklyn and 20% in all of New York City. One in eleven residents (9%) were unemployed, compared to 9% in the rest of both Brooklyn and New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 57% in Flatbush and Midwood, higher than the citywide and boroughwide rates of 52% and 51% respectively.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}}

As according to the 2020 census data from [[New York City Department of City Planning]] showed a diverse racial population, though the concentrations of each racial groups varied between different sections of Flatbush. Western portions of the community had between 10,000 to 19,999 White residents, 5,000 to 9,999 Black residents, and each the Hispanic and Asian populations were between 5,000 to 9,999 residents. Eastern portions of the community had between 30,000 to 39,999 Black residents, 10,000 to 19,999 Hispanic residents, and 5,000 to 9,999 White residents.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/planning-level/nyc-population/census2020/dcp_2020-census-briefing-booklet-1.pdf|title=Key Population & Housing Characteristics; 2020 Census Results for New York City|publisher=[[New York City Department of City Planning]]|date=August 2021|access-date=November 7, 2021|pages=21, 25, 29, 33}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Map: Race and ethnicity across the US | website=CNN | date=August 14, 2021 | url=https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2021/us/census-race-ethnicity-map/ | access-date=November 7, 2021}}</ref>

== Community organizations ==
The bustling business district and neighborhoods of Flatbush are supported by several community organizations. The Flatbush Avenue Business Improvement District provides services to keep Flatbush Avenue from Parkside Avenue to Cortelyou Road clean, safe and profitable for its businesses. Every year, the Flatbush BID organizes the Flatbush Avenue Street Fair,<ref>{{cite web | title=Flatbush Avenue Street Fair | website=Flatbush Avenue BID | date=July 7, 2016 | url=http://www.flatbushavebid.com/announcements/flatbush-avenue-street-fair/ | access-date=February 3, 2017 | author1=Flatbid }}</ref> an event that celebrates the cultures of the community.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} The Flatbush Development Corporation hosts events and programs that are aimed to support the "vitality, diversity and quality of life" in the Flatbush community.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} [[CAMBA, Inc]]. is a Flatbush-based nonprofit that since 1977 has provided housing, youth education and development, legal services and healthcare services to residents of Flatbush and beyond.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} [[Flatbush Cats]], a non-profit rescue organization, has a large social media following.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Ellison|first=Rachel|date=April 15, 2020|title='Hundreds and hundreds of kittens': the volunteers saving strays as Covid-19 closes shelters|url=http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/apr/15/stray-cats-rescue-coronavirus-new-york|access-date=December 29, 2020|website=the Guardian|language=en}}</ref>

==Police and fire==
Flatbush is covered by two precincts of the [[New York City Police Department|NYPD]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Find Your Precinct and Sector - NYPD | website=www.nyc.gov | url=https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/bureaus/patrol/find-your-precinct.page | access-date=March 3, 2019}}</ref> The 70th Precinct is located at 154 Lawrence Avenue in  Parkville  and serves Ditmas Park, Prospect Park South, and Midwood,<ref name="NYPD 70th Precinct">{{Cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/bureaus/patrol/precincts/70th-precinct.page|title=NYPD – 70th Precinct|website=www.nyc.gov|publisher=[[New York City Police Department]]|access-date=October 3, 2016}}</ref><ref name="CS-Midwood"/> while the 67th Precinct is located at 2820 Snyder Avenue and serves East Flatbush.<ref name="NYPD 67th Precinct">{{Cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/site/nypd/bureaus/patrol/precincts/67th-precinct.page|title=NYPD – 67th Precinct|website=www.nyc.gov|publisher=[[New York City Police Department]]|access-date=October 3, 2016}}</ref><ref name="CS-EastFlatbush"/> The 70th Precinct ranked 30th safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010,<ref name="CS-Midwood">{{Cite web|url=https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/crime-safety-report/brooklyn/midwood/|title=Midwood, Ditmas Park & Prospect Park South – DNAinfo.com Crime and Safety Report|website=www.dnainfo.com|access-date=October 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170415055738/https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/crime-safety-report/brooklyn/midwood|archive-date=April 15, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> while the 67th Precinct ranked 40th safest.<ref name="CS-EastFlatbush">{{Cite web|url=https://www.dnainfo.com/crime-safety-report/brooklyn/east-flatbush|title=East Flatbush – DNAinfo.com Crime and Safety Report|website=www.dnainfo.com|access-date=October 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306111529/https://www.dnainfo.com/crime-safety-report/brooklyn/east-flatbush/|archive-date=March 6, 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref>  {{As of|2018}}, with a non-fatal assault rate of 42 per 100,000 people, Flatbush and Midwood's rate of [[violent crime]]s per capita is less than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 372 per 100,000 people is lower than that of the city as a whole.<ref name="CHP2018" />{{Rp|8}}

The 70th Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 89.1% between 1990 and 2018. The precinct reported 6 murders, 27 rapes, 162 robberies, 273 felony assaults, 173 burglaries, 527 grand larcenies, and 75 grand larcenies auto in 2018.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs-en-us-070pct.pdf|title=70th Precinct CompStat Report|website=www.nyc.gov|publisher=[[New York City Police Department]]|access-date=July 22, 2018}}</ref> The 67th Precinct also has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 79.9% between 1990 and 2018. The precinct reported 6 murders, 43 rapes, 246 robberies, 601 felony assaults, 225 burglaries, 586 grand larcenies, and 98 grand larcenies auto in 2018.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs-en-us-067pct.pdf|title=67th Precinct CompStat Report|access-date=July 22, 2018}}</ref>

In 1997, officers from the 70th Precinct restrained and sexually assaulted innocent suspect [[Abner Louima]] in the precinct's restroom. Louima received a settlement from the city of $8.7&nbsp;million, at that time the largest individual payment for an NYPD brutality case. Approximately $1.6&nbsp;million of the settlement money came from the police union, which allegedly tried to help cover up the crime.<ref>''[https://www.wnyc.org/story/twenty-years-later-look-back-nypd-assault-abner-louima-and-what-it-means-today/ WYNC News: Twenty Years Later: The Police Assault on Abner Louima and What it Means] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221210193547/https://www.wnyc.org/story/twenty-years-later-look-back-nypd-assault-abner-louima-and-what-it-means-today/ |date=December 10, 2022 }}''</ref>

Flatbush is served by three [[New York City Fire Department]] (FDNY) fire stations:<ref>{{Cite FDNY locations}}</ref>

* Engine Co. 255/Ladder Co. 157 — 1367 Rogers Avenue<ref>{{cite web |website=FDNYtrucks.com |title=Engine Company 255/Ladder Company 157 | url=http://www.fdnytrucks.com/files/html/brooklyn/e255.htm | access-date=March 2, 2019}}</ref>
* Engine Co. 281/Ladder Co. 147 – 1210 Cortelyou Road<ref>{{cite web |website=FDNYtrucks.com |title=Engine Company 281/Ladder Company 147 | url=http://www.fdnytrucks.com/files/html/brooklyn/e281.htm | access-date=March 2, 2019}}</ref>
* Engine Co. 248/Battalion 41 – 2900 Snyder Avenue<ref>{{cite web | website=FDNYtrucks.com | title=Engine Company 248/Battalion 41 | url=http://www.fdnytrucks.com/files/html/brooklyn/e248.htm | access-date=March 2, 2019}}</ref>

== Health ==
{{As of|2018}}, [[preterm birth]]s are more common in Flatbush and Midwood than in other places citywide, though births to teenage mothers are less common. In Flatbush and Midwood, there were 99 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 17.1 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide).<ref name="CHP2018" />{{Rp|11}} Flatbush and Midwood has a relatively high population of residents who are [[Health insurance coverage in the United States|uninsured]], or who receive healthcare through [[Medicaid]].<ref name=":14">[http://www.health.ny.gov/health_care/medicaid/redesign/dsrip/pps_applications/docs/maimonides_medical_center/3.8_maimonides_cna.pdf New York City Health Provider Partnership Brooklyn Community Needs Assessment: Final Report] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180723064434/https://www.health.ny.gov/health_care/medicaid/redesign/dsrip/pps_applications/docs/maimonides_medical_center/3.8_maimonides_cna.pdf |date=July 23, 2018 }}, [[New York Academy of Medicine]] (October 3, 2014).</ref> In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 16%, which is higher than the citywide rate of 12%.<ref name="CHP2018" />{{Rp|14}}

The concentration of [[particulates|fine particulate matter]], the deadliest type of [[air pollution|air pollutant]], in Flatbush and Midwood is {{convert|0.0077|mg/m3|oz/ft3}}, lower than the citywide and boroughwide averages.<ref name="CHP2018" />{{Rp|9}} Ten percent of Flatbush and Midwood residents are [[Smoking|smokers]], which is slightly lower than the city average of 14% of residents being smokers.<ref name="CHP2018" />{{Rp|13}} In Flatbush and Midwood, 28% of residents are [[Obesity|obese]], 13% are [[Diabetes mellitus|diabetic]], and 31% have [[hypertension|high blood pressure]]—compared to the citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively.<ref name="CHP2018" />{{Rp|16}} In addition, 21% of children are obese, compared to the citywide average of 20%.<ref name="CHP2018" />{{Rp|12}}

Eighty percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is lower than the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 77% of residents described their health as "good", "very good", or "excellent", slightly less than the city's average of 78%.<ref name="CHP2018" />{{Rp|13}} For every supermarket in Flatbush and Midwood, there are 21 [[convenience store|bodegas]].<ref name="CHP2018" />{{Rp|10}}

Major hospitals in close proximity to Flatbush include [[Kings County Hospital]] and [[SUNY Downstate Medical Center]].<ref name=":14"/> The facilities are located in neighboring [[East Flatbush]] just east of New York Avenue.

==Government and education==
Flatbush is covered by [[ZIP Code]]s 11203, 11210, 11225, and 11226.<ref>{{cite web | title=NYC Neighborhood ZIP Code Definitions | website=New York State Department of Health | date=November 7, 2014 | url=https://www.health.ny.gov/statistics/cancer/registry/appendix/neighborhoods.htm | access-date=March 5, 2019 | archive-date=March 27, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327233549/https://www.health.ny.gov/statistics/cancer/registry/appendix/neighborhoods.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref>

Flatbush and Midwood generally has a similar ratio of college-educated residents to the rest of the city {{as of|2018|lc=y}}. Though 43% of residents age 25 and older have a college education or higher, 18% have less than a high school education and 39% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 40% of Brooklynites and 38% of city residents have a college education or higher.<ref name="CHP2018" />{{Rp|6}} The percentage of Flatbush and Midwood students excelling in math rose from 43 percent in 2000 to 68 percent in 2011, though reading achievement remained steady at 48% during the same time period.<ref name=":17">{{Cite web|url=http://furmancenter.org/files/sotc/BK_14_11.pdf|title=Flatbush / Midwood – BK 14|date=2011|publisher=[[Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy]]|access-date=October 5, 2016}}</ref>

Flatbush and Midwood's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is about equal to the rest of New York City. In Flatbush and Midwood, 18% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per [[school year]], compared to the citywide average of 20% of students.<ref name=":21" />{{Rp|24 (PDF p. 55)}}<ref name="CHP2018" />{{Rp|6}} Additionally, 75% of high school students in Flatbush and Midwood graduate on time, equal to the citywide average of 75% of students.<ref name="CHP2018" />{{Rp|6}}

Flatbush is home to a number of elementary and intermediate schools, as well as the [[Erasmus Hall High School]] campus.  Founded in 1786, it has a long list of famous alumni.  Its building has been expanded numerous times, and is notable for its relatively unique architecture.  Since 1994, the building has been divided internally into five smaller high schools, each concentrating on a different academic area.

Brooklyn College (one of the four-year colleges in the [[City University of New York]] system) occupies a {{convert|35|acre|adj=on}} campus shared between the neighborhoods of Flatbush and [[Midwood, Brooklyn|Midwood]].<ref>[http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/about/campus/visit.php Maps and Directions] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161026171951/http://www.brooklyn.cuny.edu/web/about/campus/visit.php |date=October 26, 2016 }}, [[Brooklyn College]]. Accessed October 25, 2016. "Brooklyn College is located on a 35-acre campus in the Midwood / Flatbush neighborhoods. The college is easily accessible by car and public transportation."</ref>

Several Jewish yeshivas are in the neighborhood, including the [[Mir Yeshiva (Brooklyn)|Mir Yeshiva]], [[Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin]], [[Yeshiva Torah Vodaas]], [[Yeshiva Torah Temimah]], [[Yeshiva Tiferes Yisroel]], and the [[Yeshivah of Flatbush]]. Combined, they form a major center of Jewish learning.<ref name="Orthodox Jews in America">{{Cite book | title=Orthodox Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary and Sourcebook| author=Moshe D. Sherman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cgMCSrDxKGAC| isbn=9780313243165| year=1996| publisher=Greenwood Publishing}}</ref><ref name="Jews of Brooklyn">{{Cite book |title=Jews of Brooklyn|editor-last1=Abramovitch|editor-first1=Ilana |editor-last2= Galvin|editor-first2=Seán |year=2001|publisher=Brandeis University Press|location=New York City|isbn=978-1-58465-003-4}}</ref><ref name="Imagining the American Jewish Community">{{Cite book |title=Imagining the American Jewish Community|editor=Jack Wertheimer|year=2007|publisher=Brandeis University Press|location=New York City}}</ref> The area had an estimated total enrollment of 14,500 students in 2004.<ref name="Where do New York's Jewish kids go to school? Public, private or Jewish">{{Cite web|url=http://www.jcrcny.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/where-do-new-yorks-jewish-kids-go-to-school.pdf|title=Where do NYC Jewish Kids Go To School|access-date=January 1, 2018}}</ref>

=== Libraries ===
The [[Brooklyn Public Library]] (BPL) has three branches in Flatbush. The Flatbush branch is located at 22 Linden Boulevard east of Flatbush Avenue. It was built in 1905 as a [[List of Carnegie libraries in New York City|Carnegie library branch]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bklynlibrary.org/locations/flatbush|title=Flatbush Library|date=August 22, 2011|website=Brooklyn Public Library|access-date=February 21, 2019}}</ref> The Clarendon branch is located at 2035 Nostrand Avenue south of Farragut Road. It was founded as a deposit station with a small circulating collection in 1913. The branch moved into its current building in 1954, and it was renovated in 1990.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bklynlibrary.org/locations/clarendon|title=Clarendon Library|date=August 19, 2011|website=Brooklyn Public Library|access-date=February 21, 2019}}</ref> The Crown Heights branch, located on the border with Crown Heights, is located at 560 New York Avenue near Maple Street.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bklynlibrary.org/locations/crown-heights|title=Crown Heights Library|date=August 19, 2011|website=Brooklyn Public Library|access-date=February 21, 2019}}</ref>

==Transportation==
[[File:Brooklyn College–Flatbush Av IRT td (2019-05-24) 02.jpg|thumb|[[Flatbush Avenue–Brooklyn College (IRT Nostrand Avenue Line)|Flatbush Avenue]] station]]
Flatbush is served by the [[BMT Brighton Line]] ({{NYCS trains|Brighton}}) and [[IRT Nostrand Avenue Line]] ({{NYCS trains|Nostrand}}) on the [[New York City Subway]]. The Junction is the location of the Nostrand Avenue Line's termination at [[Flatbush Avenue–Brooklyn College (IRT Nostrand Avenue Line)|Flatbush Avenue–Brooklyn College]] station.<ref>{{NYCS const|map}}</ref>

The {{NYC bus link|B6|B8|B11|B12|B16|B35|B41|B44|B49|prose=y}} are [[MTA Regional Bus Operations]] routes that serve the neighborhood; some of them also have limited-stop variants, and the B44 also has a [[Select Bus Service]] variant. In addition, the {{NYC bus link|B103}}, a wholly limited-stop bus, runs through Flatbush, while the {{NYC bus link|Q35}} makes limited stops in Brooklyn, connecting Flatbush with the Rockaways. Additionally, the {{NYC bus link|BM1|BM2|BM3|BM4|prose=y}} express buses serve Flatbush.<ref>{{Cite NYC bus map|B}}</ref>

The major roadways through Flatbush include Flatbush Avenue, Nostrand Avenue and Ocean Avenue, which are North-South corridors, and Linden Boulevard, Church Avenue and Caton Avenue, which are East-West corridors.<ref name="NYCityMap">{{Cite web|title=NYCityMap|url=http://maps.nyc.gov/|access-date=March 20, 2020|website=NYC.gov|publisher=[[New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications]]}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
{{More citations needed section|date=April 2021}}
*Flatbush is mentioned in ''[[The Lords of Flatbush]]'', a 1974 film set in 1958. The ''Lords of Flatbush'' title was later used by local gothic metal band [[Type O Negative]].
* The neighborhood is featured in [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]'s 1976 unaired except for its [[pilot]] episode sitcom, ''Flatbush Avenue J'', based somewhat on the 1974 [[dramedy]] [[movie]], ''[[The Lords of Flatbush]]'', only with its titular former 1950s teenagers now mid 1970s adults in their 30's, some of whom having moved away while the "cream of the crop" have stayed, with one of them becoming a [[New York City Police Department|NYPD]] officer living locally.<ref>Terrace, Vincent. [https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Radio-Programming/Complete-Encyclopedia-of-Television-Programs-1947-1979-Vol-1-A-to-L.pdf#page=19 ''The Complete Encyclopedia of Television Programs: 1947-1979, Volume I''], p. 19. A. S. Barnes and Co., 1979. {{ISBN|0498021777}}. Accessed March 12, 2024. "Pilot Films. Proposed comedy series for the 1976-1977 season. Included: Flatbush/Avenue J. The episode, set against the background of Brooklyn, New York, focuses on the misadventures of newlyweds Stanley and Frannie Rosello."</ref>
* The neighborhood is also in [[CBS]]'s [[Flatbush (TV series)|eponymous 1979 sitcom]], also based somewhat on ''[[The Lords of Flatbush]]'' movie but with five modern day newly [[high school]]-graduated 18-ish year olds.
*The Mario Brothers, [[Mario]] and [[Luigi]], from the [[Mario (franchise)|Mario]] video game franchise, are said to be from Flatbush. In the animated TV series ''[[The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!]]'', as well as the ''[[Super Mario Bros. (film)|Super Mario Bros.]]'' Hollywood movie, Mario and Luigi's business, "Mario Brothers Plumbing Services", is operated out of Flatbush.
*[[Philip J. Fry]], from the TV series ''[[Futurama]]'', is originally from Flatbush.
*Flatbush is the setting of the TV series ''[[Flatbush Misdemeanors]]''.
*Flatbush is one of the principal locations featured in [[William Styron]]'s novel ''[[Sophie's Choice (novel)|Sophie's Choice]]''. The protagonist, Stingo, takes up residence there in 1947.  He befriends Sophie and Nathan, and soon learns of Sophie's tortured history.
*Claudius Lyon, the parody of the fictional detective [[Nero Wolfe]] created by [[Loren Estleman]], lives in a brownstone in Flatbush as part of his efforts to mimic Wolfe's lifestyle.
* In ''[[The Incredible Mr. Limpet]]'' (1964), Bessie ([[Carole Cook]]) tells her husband Henry ([[Don Knotts]]) that "if you paid half as much attention to me as you do those fish I'd be the happiest wife in Flatbush."

==Notable residents==
Notable residents of Flatbush have included:
[[File:NeilDiamondHWOFAug2012.jpg|thumb|100px|[[Neil Diamond]]]]
[[File:Ruth Bader Ginsburg 2016 portrait.jpg|thumb|100px|[[Ruth Bader Ginsburg]]]]
[[File:Dmitry Salita.jpg|thumb|100px|[[Dmitry Salita]]]]
[[File:Bernie Sanders.jpg|thumb|100px|[[Bernie Sanders]]]]
<!-- Please keep the list alphabetical -->
*[[Michael Badalucco]] (born 1954), actor<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Cahill|first=Gloria|date=Fall 1998|url=http://www.radiancemagazine.com/issues/1998/fall_98/badalucco.htm|title=Michael Badalucco|magazine=Radiance|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304214706/http://www.radiancemagazine.com/issues/1998/fall_98/badalucco.htm |archive-date=March 4, 2016|quote="Badalucco grew up in the working-class neighborhood of Flatbush, Brooklyn."}}</ref>
*[[Joseph Barbera]] (1911–2006), animator<ref>{{cite news|last=Itzkoff|first=Dave|date=December 19, 2006|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/19/arts/19barbera.html|title=Joseph Barbera, Half of Cartoon Duo, Dies at 95|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=May 20, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111216163426/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/19/arts/19barbera.html |archive-date=December 16, 2011 |quote="Born Joseph Roland Barbera on March 24, 1911, in the Little Italy section of Manhattan and raised in Flatbush, Brooklyn, Mr. Barbera tried his hand at banking, playwriting and amateur boxing before the successful sale of a sketch to ''Collier's'' magazine encouraged him to pursue a career as a cartoon artist."}}</ref>
*[[Dane Clark]] (1912–1998), actor<ref>Bartnett, Edmond J. [https://www.nytimes.com/1946/05/26/archives/kid-from-flatbush-or-how-dane-clark-went-from-the-prize-ring-to.html "Kid From Flatbush; Or How Dane Clark Went From the Prize Ring to Movies in a Few Easy Steps"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191020032115/https://www.nytimes.com/1946/05/26/archives/kid-from-flatbush-or-how-dane-clark-went-from-the-prize-ring-to.html |date=October 20, 2019 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', May 26, 1946. Accessed October 19, 2019. "A Giant rooter born in Flatbush, a former boxer, baseball player, highway laborer, soda jerk, sculptor's model and lawyer, to say nothing of a movie star--that sounds like a lot of different people."</ref>
*[[Roz Chast]] (born 1954), cartoonist for ''[[The New Yorker]]''<ref>[[John Leland (journalist)|Leland, John]]. [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/nyregion/roz-chast-cartoonist-new-yorker.html "Roz Chast Is New Yorkier Than You"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531000209/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/nyregion/roz-chast-cartoonist-new-yorker.html |date=May 31, 2019 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', October 11, 2017. Accessed October 19, 2019. "Ms. Chast in person is exactly what you'd expect from her cartoons: a little neurotic, a lot New Yorky, openly phobic, smallish, with chunky glasses and a Brooklyn accent that could probably be traced to a single census tract in Flatbush.&nbsp;... Ms. Chast grew up in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, the only child of parents who rarely left the neighborhood."</ref>
*[[Al Davis]] (1929–2011), owner and general manager of the [[Oakland Raiders]]<ref>[[Ian O'Connor|O'Connor, Ian]]. [http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/oconnor/2003-01-25-oconnor_x.htm "Root for Raiders, but don't pull for Davis"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128195517/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/columnist/oconnor/2003-01-25-oconnor_x.htm |date=November 28, 2016 }}, ''[[USA Today]]'', January 25, 2003. Accessed November 28, 2016. "Davis grew up in Flatbush and saw Walter O'Malley forever steal a piece of Brooklyn's soul, yet he had no problem running the Raiders out of Oakland and hitting a resistant league in court for $49.2&nbsp;million in damages."</ref>
*[[Neil Diamond]] (born 1941), singer<ref>Egan, Barry. [http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/music/neil-diamond-ive-waited-70-years-for-happiness-30702468.html "Neil Diamond: I've waited 70 years for happiness"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161129021905/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/music/neil-diamond-ive-waited-70-years-for-happiness-30702468.html |date=November 29, 2016 }}, ''[[Belfast Telegraph]]'', November 11, 2014. Accessed November 28, 2016. "Neil Diamond - whom I've an appointment to see - grew up in vaguely impoverished circumstances above a shop (not Harrods, a butcher's shop) in Flatbush, Brooklyn, where he would be woken up in the night to the sound of the mousetraps going off."</ref>
*[[David Draiman]] (born 1973), vocalist for [[Disturbed (band)|Disturbed]]<ref>Ewing, Jerry. [https://www.loudersound.com/features/my-life-story-disturbed-s-david-draiman "Disturbed's David Draiman: My Life Story"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191020032118/https://www.loudersound.com/features/my-life-story-disturbed-s-david-draiman |date=October 20, 2019 }}, ''[[Metal Hammer]]'', August 9, 2016. Accessed October 19, 2019. "Where and when were you born? 'I was born on March 13, 1973. It was in a hospital in Flatbush, which is a suburb of Brooklyn in New York.'"</ref>
*[[Richard Fariña]] (1937-1966), folksinger, novelist and poet<ref>[[David Hajdu|Hajdu, David]]. ''Positively Fourth Street''. p. 39. "In truth, Fariña was born and raised in a pleasant Irish Catholic pocket of Flatbush, Brooklyn".</ref>
*[[Patrick Fitzgerald]] (born 1960), attorney.<ref>Stephey, M. J. [https://content.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1865756,00.html "Patrick Fitzgerald"], ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', December 11, 2008. Accessed October 19, 2019. "Born to Irish immigrants in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn."</ref>
*[[Sol Forman]] (1903–2001), restaurateur, owner of [[Peter Luger Steak House]]<ref>Martin, Douglas. [https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/27/nyregion/sol-forman-98-owner-of-famed-steakhouse.html "Sol Forman, 98, Owner of Famed Steakhouse"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220513183511/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/27/nyregion/sol-forman-98-owner-of-famed-steakhouse.html |date=May 13, 2022 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', November 27, 2001. Accessed May 14, 2022. "His daughter Marilyn Spiera said that he lived in his home of 60 years in Flatbush, Brooklyn, until the day he died."</ref>
*[[Flatbush Zombies]]<ref>{{cite web | last=Stevenson | first=Iman | title=Flatbush Zombies' Guide to Flatbush | website=The New York Times | date=May 3, 2018 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/03/nyregion/flatbush-zombies-guide-to-flatbush.html | access-date=August 17, 2024}}</ref>
*[[Ruth Bader Ginsburg]] (1933–2020), United States Supreme Court Justice<ref>Wolfe, Jonathan. [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/27/nyregion/new-york-honoring-ruth-bader-ginsburg.html "Today's New York News: Honoring Ruth Bader Ginsburg"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191020032118/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/27/nyregion/new-york-honoring-ruth-bader-ginsburg.html |date=October 20, 2019 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', September 27, 2018. Accessed October 19, 2019. "Justice Ginsburg grew up in Flatbush, Brooklyn, during the Depression."</ref>
*[[Susan Hayward]] (1917–1975), actress.<ref>[[Howard Thompson (film critic)|Thompson, Howard]]. [https://www.nytimes.com/1952/04/20/archives/flatbush-to-kilimanjaro-and-back.html "Flatbush To Kilimanjaro And Back"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191020032116/https://www.nytimes.com/1952/04/20/archives/flatbush-to-kilimanjaro-and-back.html |date=October 20, 2019 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', April 20, 1952. Accessed October 19, 2019. "Miss Hayward was a native of Brooklyn? 'Flatbush,' came the husky reply, in two distinct syllables."</ref>
*[[Leona Helmsley]] (1920–2007), businesswoman<ref>Saulny, Susan. [https://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/29/nyregion/leona-helmsley-on-the-stand-the-moment-they-waited-for.html "Leona Helmsley on the Stand: The Moment They Waited For"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191020032116/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/29/nyregion/leona-helmsley-on-the-stand-the-moment-they-waited-for.html |date=October 20, 2019 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', January 29, 2003. Accessed October 19, 2019. "Mrs. Helmsley was asked simple biographical questions that highlighted her roots in Flatbush, Brooklyn."</ref>
*[[John Jea]] (1773–unknown), writer best known for his autobiography describing his time in slavery in Flatbush<ref>{{cite web | last=Miller | first=Bill | title=Brooklyn's 'Harshest Slave Code' Rivaled the South, Researchers Say | website=The Tablet | date=June 17, 2022 | url=https://thetablet.org/brooklyns-harshest-slave-code-rivaled-the-south/ | access-date=August 17, 2024}}</ref>
*[[JPEGMafia]] (born 1989), rapper and record producer<ref>Michael, Michael Love. [https://www.papermag.com/jpegmafia-all-my-heroes-are-cornballs-2640309333.html "JPEGMAFIA Is Doing It All Wrong"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190915205015/https://www.papermag.com/jpegmafia-all-my-heroes-are-cornballs-2640309333.html |date=September 15, 2019 }}, ''[[Paper (magazine)|Paper]]'', September 13, 2019. Accessed October 19, 2019. "When JPEGMAFIA, the rapper known to fans and friends as Peggy, hops on the phone, he quickly admits he's got the munchies. The fluid conversation that follows speaks to how he, an Iraq War veteran raised in Flatbush, Brooklyn before moving to Alabama then Louisiana, is more thoughtful shape-shifter than mindless stoner."</ref>
*[[Eric Kaplan]] (born 1971), television writer and producer<ref>[[Claudia Dreifus|Dreifus, Claudia]]. [https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/10/science/on-the-big-bang-theory-helping-physics-and-fiction-collide.html "A Conversation With: On ''The Big Bang Theory'', Helping Physics and Fiction Collide"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191020032118/https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/10/science/on-the-big-bang-theory-helping-physics-and-fiction-collide.html |date=October 20, 2019 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', September 10, 2013. Accessed October 19, 2019. "[Q] You grew up in Brooklyn, right? [A] I grew up in Flatbush. My mother was a biology teacher at Erasmus Hall. My father was a storefront lawyer."</ref>
* [[Donald Keene]] (1922–2019), historian, teacher, writer and [[Japanologist]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kilgannon |first=Corey |date=2011-04-26 |title=Columbia Professor's Retirement Is Big News in Japan |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/columbia-professors-retirement-is-big-news-in-japan/ |access-date=2022-10-21 |website=City Room |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Alvin Klein]] (c. 1938–2009), theater critic for ''[[The New York Times]]''<ref>Staff. [https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/07/theater/07klein.html "Alvin Klein, Times Theater Reviewer, Dies at 73"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831175155/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/07/theater/07klein.html |date=August 31, 2017 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', March 6, 2009. Accessed June 7, 2016. "The son of immigrants from Poland, Mr. Klein was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and grew up in Flatbush."</ref>
*[[Talib Kweli]] (born 1975), rapper, entrepreneur and activist.<ref>Christian, Tanya A. [https://www.essence.com/entertainment/talib-kweli-kicked-off-valentines-weekend-with-a-love-note-to-brooklyn/ "Talib Kweli Kicked Off Valentine's Weekend With A Love Note To Brooklyn"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191020032119/https://www.essence.com/entertainment/talib-kweli-kicked-off-valentines-weekend-with-a-love-note-to-brooklyn/ |date=October 20, 2019 }}, ''[[Essence (magazine)|Essence]]'', February 17, 2019. Accessed October 19, 2019. "'I was the only African-American on my block in Flatbush. That's a real story,' Kweli joked about his upbringing in Kings County."</ref>
*[[Jackie Loughery]] (born 1930), actress and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned [[Miss USA 1952]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19551111&id=GD4eAAAAIBAJ&pg=1833,2087099|title=Beauty From Flatbush Now Rides The Range|date=November 11, 1955|newspaper=Sarasota Herald-Tribune}}</ref>
*[[Joe Paterno]] (1926-2012), football coach<ref>{{cite web | title=New York Public Radio, Podcasts, Live Streaming Radio, News | website=WNYC | date=November 10, 2011 | url=https://www.wnyc.org/story/169812-blog-brookyn-born-paterno-leaves-penn-state-under-cloud/ | access-date=August 17, 2024}}</ref>
*[[Red Cafe]], rapper<ref>{{cite web | title=Red Cafe | website=NTS Radio | date=November 27, 2014 | url=https://www.nts.live/artists/30849-red-cafe | access-date=August 17, 2024}}</ref>
*[[Chubb Rock]], rapper<ref>{{cite web | title=Chubb Rock On Flatbush, Hitman Howie Tee and How Racism Inspired "Treat 'Em Right" | website=rock the bells | date=September 17, 2022 | url=https://rockthebells.com/articles/chubb-rock-brooklyn-hitman-howie-tee-treat-em-right/ | access-date=August 17, 2024}}</ref>
*[[Bernie Sanders]] (born 1941), politician and activist<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/25/us/politics/bernie-sanderss-100-brooklyn-roots-show-beyond-his-accent.html|title=Bernie Sanders's '100% Brooklyn' Roots Are as Unshakable as His Accent|first=Jason|last=Horowitz|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 24, 2015}}</ref>
*[[Mimi Sheraton]] (born Miriam Solomon; 1926–2023), food critic and writer<ref>Witchel, Alex. [https://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/12/dining/at-lunch-with-mimi-sheraton-undisguised-pleasures-of-a-former-critic.html "At Lunch With/Mimi Sheraton; Undisguised Pleasures Of a Former Critic"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007195216/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/12/dining/at-lunch-with-mimi-sheraton-undisguised-pleasures-of-a-former-critic.html |date=October 7, 2022 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', May 12, 2004. Accessed October 7, 2022. "When Mimi Sheraton was growing up in Flatbush, Brooklyn, back when she was still Miriam Solomon, she had great plans."</ref>
*[[Sheff G]] (born 1998), [[Brooklyn drill]] rapper<ref>{{cite web | last=III | first=Robby Seabrook | title=The Break Presents: Sheff G | website=XXL Mag | date=February 12, 2020 | url=https://www.xxlmag.com/sheff-g-interview-the-break/ | access-date=August 17, 2024}}</ref>
*[[Richard Sheirer]]<ref>{{cite news|first=Bruce|last=Weber|title=Richard J. Sheirer, Official in Charge of Sept. 11 Rescues, Dies at 65 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/nyregion/richard-j-sheirer-official-in-charge-of-sept-11-rescues-dies-at-65.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 19, 2012 |access-date=February 4, 2012}}</ref>
*[[Keeth Smart]] (born 1978), Olympic sabre fencer<ref>[https://brooklyn.news12.com/road-to-rio-keeth-smart-former-olympic-fencer-34772448 "Road to Rio: Keeth Smart, former Olympic fencer"], [[News 12 Networks]], August 4, 2016. Accessed August 21, 2023. "Flatbush native Keeth Smart made three trips to the Olympics, finally earning a silver medal in fencing in Beijing in 2008."</ref>
*[[Barbra Streisand]] (born 1942), singer and actress<ref>[[Joseph Berger (author)|Berger, Joseph]]. [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/11/nyregion/barbra-streisand-comes-home-to-a-changed-brooklyn.html "Changed Brooklyn Awaits Streisand’s Homecoming"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', October 10, 2012. Accessed August 21, 2023. "Barbra Streisand is set to give her first concert ever in her hometown of Brooklyn. A 1981 documentary about her upbringing in Flatbush has a new moment of relevance."</ref>
*[[Bruce Sudano]] (born 1948), musician and songwriter<ref>Benitez-Eves, Tina. [https://americansongwriter.com/bruce-sudano-tells-a-cautionary-tale-on-american-sunset/ "Bruce Sudano Tells a Cautionary Tale on ''American Sunset''"], ''[[American Songwriter]]''. Accessed August 21, 2023. "Where Vol. 1 was stocked in bluesy reflections of his New York roots, growing up in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, a la the nostalgic thump of 'Back in the Neighborhood' or Sudano's ruminations on his own mortality on 'See You When I Get There,' Spirals' second part retains it introspection, exploring new love—Sudano was married in February—and reveals a lush, poetic brew of folk- and pop-driven narrations seeped in the country’s current socio-political climate."</ref>
*[[Paul Sylbert]] (1928-2016), [[production designer]], [[Art director#In film|art director]] and [[set designer]].<ref>Grimes, William. [http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/movies/paul-sylbert-dead-oscar-winner-heaven-can-wait.html "Paul Sylbert, Oscar-Winner Who Gave Movies Their Look, Dies at 88"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161129191320/http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/movies/paul-sylbert-dead-oscar-winner-heaven-can-wait.html |date=November 29, 2016 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', November 25, 2016. Accessed November 29, 2016. "Paul Sylbert was born on April 16, 1928, in Brooklyn, and grew up in the Flatbush neighborhood.&nbsp;... After graduating from Erasmus Hall High School in 1946, he served in the same Army unit in Korea as his brother."</ref>
*[[Don Vultaggio]], billionaire co-founder of [[Arizona Beverage Company]]<ref>{{cite news |last1=Peterson-Withorn |first1=Chase |title=Inside Arizona Iced Tea: How Don Vultaggio Beat Snapple, Became A Billionaire And Nearly Lost It All |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2017/10/17/inside-arizona-iced-tea-how-don-vultaggio-beat-snapple-became-a-billionaire-and-nearly-lost-it-all/ |access-date=October 14, 2018 |work=Forbes |date=October 17, 2017}}</ref> 
*[[Devin Wenig]] (born 1966), business executive, president and CEO of eBay, CEO of Thomson Reuters Markets<ref name=Crains>{{cite web|title=Where is Devin Wenig now?|url=http://mycrains.crainsnewyork.com/40under40/profiles/2005/devin-wenig|website=Crains|access-date=November 4, 2014}}</ref>
*[[Angela Yee]] (born 1976), radio personality<ref>Ogunsola, Jennifer. [https://www.bkmag.com/2018/04/03/angela-yee-got-the-juice/ "I Got A Story To Tell: Angela Yee Got The Juice"], ''[[Brooklyn Magazine]]'', April 3, 2018. Accessed August 21, 2023. "[Q] When you think of Brooklyn, what is the first thing that comes to mind? [A] Flatbush, because that’s where I grew up. All I knew was Flatbush, Brooklyn and Montserrat—the island my mother’s from—for a long time."</ref>
<!-- Please keep the list alphabetical -->

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}
{{reflist}}

==References==
*{{cite book |last1=Back |first1=Adina |last2=Morrone |first2=Francis |author-link2=Francis Morrone |date=2008 |title=Flatbush Neighborhood History Guide|publisher=Brooklyn Historical Society}}
*{{cite book|last=Campanella |first=Thomas J|year=2019|title=Brooklyn: The Once and Future City|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-16538-7}}
*{{Cite book|date=1939|editor-last=Gody|editor-first=Lou|title = New York City Guide; A Comprehensive Guide to the Five Boroughs of the Metropolis: Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Richmond|url = https://archive.org/stream/newyorkcityguide00federich|publisher=Random House|series=American Guide Series|oclc=1049906483}}
*{{cite book | last=Hamid | first=Ansley | title=The Ganja Complex: Rastafari and Marijuana | publisher=Lexington Books | year=2002 | isbn=978-0-7391-0360-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lyoqwS_89ckC | access-date=June 21, 2020 }}
*{{cite book|last=McGee|first=Bob|date=2005|title=The Greatest Ballpark Ever: Ebbets Field and the Story of the Brooklyn Dodgers|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-3600-2}}
*{{cite book|last1=Merlis|first1=Brian|last2=Rosenzweig|first2= Lee A|date=2009|title=Brooklyn's East Flatbush|publisher=BrooklynPix/Israelowitz Publishing|isbn=978-1-878741-81-3}}
*{{cite book|last=Strong|first=Thomas Morris|date=1842|title=The History of the Town of Flatbush in Kings County, Long-Island|publisher=T.R. Mercein, Jr|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IPpHAQAAMAAJ}}
*{{cite book|last=Vanderbilt|first=Gertrude Lefferts|date=1899|title=The Social History of Flatbush, and Manners and Customs of the Dutch settlers in Kings County|url=https://archive.org/details/socialhistoryoff00vand/page/n7/mode/2up|publisher=D. Appleton and Company|oclc=1157222868}}
<!-- https://www.brownstoner.com/neighborhood/flatbush/affordable-housing-flatbush-brooklyn-caton-flats-carribbean-marketplace-800-flatbush-avenue/ https://www.bkreader.com/featured-news/flatbush-african-burial-ground-coalition-looks-for-answers-in-face-of-stalled-talks-harassment-7579556 https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1947/07/05/87775950.html?zoom=15.32&pageNumber=10 -->

==External links==
{{Commons category|Flatbush, Brooklyn}}
*{{wikivoyage inline|Brooklyn/Bedford-Stuyvesant and Flatbush|Bedford-Stuyvesant and Flatbush}}
*[http://longislandgenealogy.com/histflat.html Early history of Flatbush, pre-1842] Accessed 2008-11-17

{{Brooklyn}}
{{Ethnicity in New York City |state=collapsed}}
{{Former towns of New York City}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Flatbush, Brooklyn| ]]
[[Category:1651 establishments in the Dutch Empire]]
[[Category:Populated places established in 1651]]
[[Category:Caribbean-American culture in New York City]]
[[Category:Neighborhoods in Brooklyn]]
[[Category:Former towns in New York City]]