John Dereszewski served as the District Manager of Bushwick’s Community Board 4 during the time of the 1977 blackout and has written and lectured extensively about Bushwick’s past and current history.

In 2025, the boundary between Brooklyn and Queens in the Bushwick/Ridgewood area marks its 100th anniversary. This obscure yet significant event deserves recognition by the powers that be in Brooklyn and Queens, as well as the communities of Bushwick and Ridgewood. Let’s take a moment to appreciate this historical marker by reflecting on its transformation from a simple straight line to the intricate boundary we see today.

As we approach the onset of 2025 with mixed feelings of hope and dread – unfortunately more the latter than the former – it makes sense to divert our attention from more weighty matters and recognize the 100th anniversary of an event that would otherwise escape our attention. Specifically, 2025 marks the year when the border between Brooklyn and Queens in the Bushwick/Ridgewood region was transformed from a very neat straight line into the rather jagged boundary we all know today.

Before the change, the borough lines aligned seamlessly with the street grid, starting at the intersection of Flushing and Cypress avenues. The line extended down Cypress to Menahan Street, then turned onto St. Nicholas to Gates Avenue, followed by a left turn onto Wyckoff Avenue before turning right on Eldert Street. Finally, the line continued down Irving Avenue until reaching the cemeteries. This seemingly straightforward boundary was only about fifty years old at that time, replacing a much different configuration.