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Municipal Electric was formed in 1884 to electrify Williamsburg and provide street lighting. The company constructed three power plants in the area - Ainslie Street, 308 Penn Street (right) and South 5th Street near Bedford. The Bedford plant was demolished at the turn of the 20th century as part of the construction of the Williamsburg Bridge. The Penn Street building and the Ainslie building both survive. What sets Ainslie Street apart, though, is the fact that was designed as a power station, not like the typical commercial building of the day (as Penn Street was).

Now known as Most Holy Trinity and St. Mary*, the parish was originally founded as the German Church of the Holy Trinity in 1841. It was the first National parish in the Brooklyn diocese, and the second Catholic parish in Williamsburg (Sts. Peter and Paul being the first). It was also the mother church for a host of other German parishes over time.

At the turn of the 20th Century, south Williamsburg was home to at least two of the country's largest printing houses. The larger of these was D. Appleton & Co. on Kent Avenue between Hewes and Penn Streets; the building was taken down for the construction of the BQE. The second publisher - McLoughlin Brothers - was located on South 11th Street between Wythe and Berry.

The one-block long Fillmore Place was not part of the original Williamsburgh street grid. It was created by Alfred Clock and Ephraim Miller, local merchants, real estate developers and prominent citizens of the Village of Williamsburgh. The two appear to have been active in Williamsburgh real estate as early as 1838, and by the 1850s were prominent citizens of the City of Williamsburgh.

Fillmore Place was not part of the original Williamsburgh street grid. It was the creation of Alfred Clock and Ephraim Miller, local merchants, real estate developers and prominent citizens of the Village of Williamsburgh. The two appear to have been active in Williamsburgh real estate as early as 1838, and by the 1850s were prominent citizens of the City of Williamsburgh.

Fillmore Place is a rare example of a nearly intact collection of mid-19th century flat houses. The block-long street that forms the core of the proposed district was carved out of the Williamsburgh street grid in 1852, and developed by Alfred Clock & Ephraim Miller over the course of the following four years.

Arion Hall, once home to the Arion Singing Society, is one of many remnants of Bushwick's once-thriving German population. The building sits on Arion Street (formerly Wall Street), between Broadway and Bushwick Avenue/Beaver Street. While the building today is no match for its past glory, its recent renovation as the Opera Lofts is a vast improvement over the sorry state it was in only a few years ago.

Once upon a time, Williamsburg and Greenpoint were divided by a rather large creek and surrounding marshland - as seen below in an 1833 map of the Village of Williamsburgh. The creek was originally called Norman Kill, after one Dirck de Noorman, or Dirk the Norseman – the first European settler in this part of Brooklyn. Later renamed Bushwick Creek, this waterway was at one point navigable by boat as far inland as Grand and Rodney.