October 19, 2022
Owen Ullmann, author of Empathy Economics, a new biography of treasury secretary Janet Yellen, discusses her career and childhood in Bay Ridge.
Order the book from the Bookmark Shoppe or Amazon.
September 21, 2022
Professor Stephen Rolandi discusses the political, economic, social and economic forces that led to the merger of the cities of Brooklyn and New York in 1898.
June 15, 2022
Jeff Richmond discusses his new book, Building the Brooklyn Bridge, which contains new insights and unseen photos.
May 18, 2022
Eymund Diegel discusses the original topography and waterways of Brooklyn and Bay Ridge and how they influenced and continue to influence our community.
April 18, 2022
This meeting was canceled due to scheduling conflicts.
March 15, 2022
Ed O’Donnell tells the story of how a French reformer named Édouard de Laboulaye conceived of the Statue of Liberty, how sculptor Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi created the monumental structure, and how it almost ended up somewhere in the U.S. other than New York harbor. He’ll also explain how the Statue was gradually transformed into an immigration icon and a very powerful and pliable political symbol.
December 15, 2021
Thomas J. Campanella, author of Brooklyn: The Once and Future City, discusses the extraordinary, decades long, ill-fated plan to turn Jamaica Bay into a great world harbor.
November 17, 2021
Historian Frank Scaturro discusses Revisiting Reconstruction and the role of President Grant.
October 20, 2021
Justin Batt, curator of Fort Hamilton’s Harbor Defense Museum, tells the story of First Class Gunner Angelo A. Rizzo and his unit the 59th Coastal Artillery Corps (C.A.C.) during World War I, using Rizzo’s diary and a museum-created map.
September 15, 2021
Board members and trustees of the Society present its Samuel Winter Thomas photographs, taken of Bay Ridge at the turn of the 20th Century. His pictures captured the disappearing world of rural Bay Ridge as it transitioned into an urban setting.
May 19, 2021
Robby Schwach, deputy chief of staff and community liaison for Councilmember Eric Ulrich, discusses the first transatlantic flight, undertaken by navel flyers out of Jamaica Bay—eight years before Charles Lindbergh.
April 21, 2021
Victoria Munro discusses her work as executive director of the Alice Austen House on Staten Island, the preserved home of the pioneering American photographer.
Zoom, 7:30pm. Register here.
March 24, 2021
Joshua B. Freeman, professor at Queens College, discusses his book Behemoth: A History of the Factory and the Making of the Modern World, which the New York Times calls “rich and ambitious…More than an economic history, or a chronicle of architectural feats and labor movements.”
(N.B. this meeting was on the fourth Wednesday of the month, to avoid a conflict with St. Patrick’s Day.)
Zoom, 7:30pm. Registration information to come.
February 24, 2021
Miriam Sicherman presents her book Brooklyn’s Barren Island: A Forgotten History, about “a swampy speck in Jamaica Bay where a motley group of new immigrants and African–Americans quietly processed mountains of garbage and dead animals starting in the 1850s…until their eviction by Robert Moses, in the name of progress, in 1936.” Today it’s part of Floyd Bennett Field.
This meeting will be held via Zoom.
N.B. this meeting was held on the fourth Wednesday of the month.
January 20, 2021
A presentation of Samuel Winter Thomas‘s photographs of Bay Ridge at the turn of the twentieth century. Hosted by board members and trustees of the Historical Society.
Virtual. 7:30 pm. Zoom. It’s free.
September 16, 2020
UPDATE: This event has been canceled because of COVID-19. We will work to reschedule it for a later date.
Dave Elligers, president of Friends of Historic New Utrecht, discusses the history of the New Utrecht Dutch Reform Church (to which many early Bay Ridge residents belonged) and the phenomenon of Liberty Poles, one of which exists at the church today.
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
June 17, 2020
UPDATE: This event has been canceled because of COVID-19. We will work to reschedule it for a later date.
Victoria Munro discusses her work as executive director of the Alice Austen House on Staten Island, the preserved home of the pioneering American photographer.
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
May 20, 2020
UPDATE: This event has been canceled because of COVID-19. We will work to reschedule it for a later date.
Miriam Sicherman presents her book Brooklyn’s Barren Island: A Forgotten History, about “a swampy speck in Jamaica Bay where a motley group of new immigrants and African–Americans quietly processed mountains of garbage and dead animals starting in the 1850s…until their eviction by Robert Moses, in the name of progress, in 1936.” Today it’s part of Floyd Bennett Field.
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
April 22, 2020
UPDATE: This event has been canceled because of COVID-19. We will work to reschedule it for a later date.
(note: this meeting will be on the fourth Wednesday of the month and not the third)
Robby Schwach, deputy chief of staff and community liaison for Councilmember Eric Ulrich, discusses the first transatlantic flight, undertaken by navel flyers out of Jamaica Bay—eight years before Charles Lindbergh.
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
March 18, 2020
UPDATE: This event has been canceled due to the recent public-health crisis. We will work to reschedule it at a later date.
Joshua B. Freeman, professor at Queens College, discusses his book Behemoth: A History of the Factory and the Making of the Modern World, which the New York Times calls “rich and ambitious…More than an economic history, or a chronicle of architectural feats and labor movements.”
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
December 18, 2019
William Finlayson, former president of the Civil War Roundtable of New York, will discuss the USS Monitor, a Civil War ironclad warship constructed in Brooklyn. Two of his ancestors were on board during the famous battle. He will present slides and bring items from his collection of Monitor-related historic prints, newspapers and memorabilia.
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
November 20, 2019
Forgotten New York‘s Kevin Walsh discusses the construction of the Verrazano Bridge, which he witnessed growing up in Bay Ridge and which his father documented in photos.
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
October 16, 2019
Historical Society president Thomas McCarthy leads a presentation and discussion of Samuel Winter Thomas’s photographs of Bay Ridge from the turn of the twentieth century.
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
September 18, 2019
Historical Society vice president Henry Stewart reads from his new book, How Bay Ridge Became Bay Ridge, a comprehensive history of the neighborhood, from the Native Americans to the R train riders, from Shore Road to McKinley Park. He will have copies for sale, which he will sign.
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
June 19, 2019
Retired professor and long-time Bay Ridge resident Edward Marlatt will discuss Othmar Amman, the civil engineer who designed the Verrazano–Narrows Bridge and worked on various other bridges in New York City and beyond—including as a consultant on the Golden Gate Bridge.
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
May 22, 2019
SPECIAL EVENT: Historical Society vice president Henry Stewart will host a presentation of Samuel Thomas’s photographs of old Bay Ridge from the turn of the twentieth century.
Owl’s Head wine bar, 479 74th Street, 7:30pm
May 15, 2019
Historical Society vice president Tom Hilton will discuss the subject of his master’s thesis and his subsequent research over the last forty years—Maj. Gen. Henry Slocum, one of the most notable figures in nineteenth-century Brooklyn and one of the more accomplished and successful Army commanders in the Civil War.
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
April 17, 2019
The Historical Society will meet offsite this month at the Harbor Defense Museum, on the Fort Hamilton armybase, where curator Justin Batt will talk about the history of the fort and the museum.
N.B. If you are interested in attending, please email us, bayridgehistory@gmail.com; there is a form you must fill out and file by April 10 in order to be admitted to the base. Attendees must agree to submit to a background check; they must also have a state ID and social security number.
Harbor Defense Museum, 230 Sheridan Loop, Fort Hamilton Armybase, 7pm (note the earlier time)
March 20, 2019
Constitutional-law expert Frank Scaturro discusses President Ulysses Grant, just weeks after the 150th anniversary of Grant’s first inauguration, at a time of much scholarly reevaluation of his presidency. As a college student, Scaturro spearheaded the restoration of Grant’s Tomb in Riverside Park and in 1999 published a reassessment of his presidency, President Grant Reconsidered, which will be for sale.
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
December 19, 2018
Marianna Randazzo gives a presentation on the Italian–American immigrant experience and the optimism, heroism and determination that peppered the streets of her beloved Brooklyn. She’s the author of Italians of Brooklyn, a pictorial study of the lives of Italian–Americans and their assimilation into New York City.
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
December 16, 2018
SPECIAL EVENT: Celebrate the 165th anniversary of the naming of Bay Ridge. A brief ceremony will include an invocation by Rev. Lawrence DeLion, pastor of Christ Church, where many of those instrumental in the establishment of Bay Ridge worshipped. Remarks will be followed by coffee, birthday cake and perhaps a bit of champagne.
Bay Ridge Public Library, 7223 Ridge Boulevard, 12pm
November 21, 2018
World War I uniformed Doughboy reenactor Marc Hermann and World War I nurse reenactor Lily Tjomsland join us just ten days after the 100th anniversary of the Armistice that ended World War I.
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
October 17, 2018
Larry Racioppo will share with us photos from his new book, Brooklyn Before: Photographs, 1971-1983, which captures the enduring spirit of our hometown in those years.
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
September 19, 2018
The September meeting was canceled in deference to Yom Kippur.
June 20, 2018
The Historical Society will present its most treasured possession: the Samuel Winter Thomas photographs of Bay Ridge from the late nineteenth century. Led by Lawrence Stelter.
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
May 16, 2018
The New York Naval Militia, founded in 1891, is the oldest in the nation. Retired NYNM Admiral John Ingram will host a presentation about “the state’s own navy.” (This event was originally scheduled for March and canceled due to snow.)
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
April 18, 2018
Historical Society First Vice President Henry Stewart will celebrate the publication of his book True Crime Bay Ridge with a reading about Charley Ross, a kidnapped child, decades before the Lindbergh baby, whose case captivated the country—until his kidnappers were shot to death outside a Shore Road mansion on the site today of Fort Hamilton High School.
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
March 21, 2018
THIS EVENT WAS CANCELED DUE TO SNOW; ADMIRAL INGRAM WAS RESCHEDULED
The New York Naval Militia, founded in 1891, is the oldest in the nation. Retired NYNM Admiral John Ingram will host a presentation about “the state’s own navy.”
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
December 20, 2017
Bay Ridge lawyer Mike Connors discusses Civil War Generals.
He is managing partner at the law firm Connors and Sullivan; hosts the radio program Ask the Lawyer with Mike Connors, on AM970 and AM570; and is the president of the Civil War Roundtable of New York.
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
November 15, 2017
Archivist Diana Bowers-Smith, of the Brooklyn Public Library, discusses the incredible collection in the “Brooklyn Room” at the main branch at Grand Army Plaza, sharing her insights into its massive collection of documents and artifacts.
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
October 18, 2017
Dick Zigun discusses the history of Coney Island.
He founded the Coney Island Sideshow and is known to many as “The Mayor of Coney Island.” He has been instrumental in many programs, including the Mermaid Parade.
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
September 20, 2017
Bay Ridge Historical Society President Thomas McCarthy explains the history of banking in the United States.
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
June 21, 2017
Ranger Daniel Prebutt discusses the residences of Theodore Roosevelt.
(Rescheduled from March, when it was canceled due to weather.)
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
May 17, 2017
Teacher and historian Jeff Cobb discusses Greenpoint’s forgotten past, specifically “The King of Greenpoint,” Peter McGuinness.
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
April 19, 2017
Henry Stewart discusses the Crescent Athletic Club, which for many years was on the present site of Fort Hamilton High School.
Shore Hill Community Room, 9000 Shore Road, 7:30pm
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