Lindsay Triangle

Lindsay Triangle sits at the intersection of Throop Avenue, Lorimer Street, and Broadway as a small sliver of public land. While it covers less than one twentieth of an acre, this site has remained public property for over one hundred and fifty years. Sarah Ann Wyckoff, a descendant of one of the area's earliest seventeenth century settlers, donated this land to the City of Williamsburg in eighteen sixty-eight. Her original deed included a firm requirement that no building could ever be constructed on the lot. During the turn of the twentieth century, this triangle hosted water troughs used to sustain the horses that provided the primary means of transportation through Brooklyn. As the city modernized and the elevated train line was built directly over the property, the site became difficult to maintain as a green space. By the nineteen thirties, the city paved over the area to accommodate the changing needs of a transit-heavy neighborhood. In nineteen ninety-eight, the city officially renamed the plaza to honor John Vliet Lindsay, who served as the mayor of New York City from nineteen sixty-five to nineteen seventy-three. This renovation also introduced seating and better accommodations for the commuters who wait for buses and trains at this busy junction today.