Lebanon Avenue

bodiam

Would anyone know where Lebanon Avenue used to be? I cannot find it on any maps or seach engines. Uncle lived at 220 Lebanon Avenue, Brooklyn in 1917. Imagine it was in either Brownsville or East New York. Thanks for any help.

jack krohn

I have a map of Brooklyn from 1939 and could not find a Lebanon Ave in Brownsville or ENY. Some of the streets in Brownsville had different names back then (e.g. Strauss St was called Douglass St, Legion was called Barrett), but, again, no Lebanon. I searched ENY streets and every one I saw had the same name that it does today. Another section of Brooklyn whose streets underwent many names changes was Williamsburg/Greenpoint, so maybe Lebanon was there? Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

bodiam

Thanks for the reply Jack and your taking time to look it up. I presume it was Brownsville/ENY because that's where the family continued to live up into the 1950's - last address was on Malta. Maybe there was an urban renewal in the 1920's and Lebanon Ave disappeared. The address was listed in a benevolent society directory so it did exist at one time. A mystery. Again, thanks for your help.

Regards,
Steve M.

jack krohn

Hey, no problem. I'll keep on it and let you know if I stumble across something. You might consider contacting the Brooklyn Historical Society. Brownsville underwent major urban renewal in its time. Dozens of city blocks were demolished to make way for the public housing high rise buildings that are there today. There's a cool book about the subject called by a history professor named Wendell Pritchett:

http://www.powells.com/biblio?isbn=9780226684475

And also a documentary (2nd title down):

http://www.jewishfilm.com/jz24.html

And finally, here's a page from forgotten ny about Brownsville and ENY:

http://www.forgotten-ny.com/NEIGHBORHOODS/brownsville/brownsville.html

By the way, there is a Lebanon Street in the Bronx, but I assume that the document was clear that your grandfather was living in Brooklyn at the time.