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History of Hasidim in Brooklyn

When did Hasidic communities first move to the different parts of Brooklyn? In researching my own ancestry, I found that my great and great great grandparents lived in parts of Brooklyn that are very Hasidic today…but to my knowledge they only belonged to reform synagogues.

(I found their addresses in the Flatbush/Flatlands/Prospect Park/Williamsburg/East Williamsburg/Crown Heights areas at various parts of their lives, from 1890-1940. I visited some of the areas and saw my Hasidic brothers and sisters walking around everywhere! 😛 )

What is the history of people inhabiting these parts of Brooklyn? Was it always Hasidic? Were there other Jewish communities?

One of my great grandparents at one point lived just a block away from the World Chabad Headquarters in Crown Heights…but I read that headquarters was only constructed in 1940, after he had long moved away. In some of the Hasidic areas, were there non-Jews at any point? I remember my grandmother once recounting that a lot of Blacks and Latinos might have moved into one of the areas her parents once lived. (she moved to the suburbs of course!)

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Source: Reditt