Spring Creek, previously called Spring Creek Basin, is a neighborhood within the East New York section of Brooklyn in New York City. It roughly comprises the southern portions of East New York between Flatlands Avenue to the north, and Jamaica Bay and the Gateway National Recreation Area to the south, with the Brooklyn neighborhood of Canarsie to the west and the Queens neighborhood of Howard Beach to the east. It is named after Spring Creek, one of several creeks that formerly ran through the area and drained into Jamaica Bay.
For most of its history, the neighborhood of Spring Creek was considered the place where "the city came to an end", consisting of undeveloped marshland used as illegal dumping grounds, and hosting several large landfills and an incinerator during the 20th century. Much of the area was designated as the Fresh Creek Urban Renewal Area in 1967. The area has since seen several major development and restoration projects, including the Starrett City apartment complex, the Gateway Center shopping complex, several affordable housing communities, and Spring Creek Park. Spring Creek had the largest net gain in population in Brooklyn between 1940 and 2010, an increase of 330%.
Spring Creek is part of Brooklyn Community District 5, and its primary ZIP Codes are 11207, 11208, and 11239.
Location
Spring Creek comprises the southeastern section of East New York, located to the south of New Lots. It is bounded to the north by Flatlands Avenue, to the east by Fountain Avenue (at the former drainage basin of Spring Creek and Betts Creek on the Brooklyn-Queens border), and to the west by Schenck Avenue, Gateway Drive and Hendrix Creek. To the south is the Shore Parkway portion of the Belt Parkway, the Gateway National Recreation Area, and Jamaica Bay. Including Starrett City (which is physically separated by Hendrix Creek), the neighborhood extends west to Louisiana Avenue and Fresh Creek at the boundary with Canarsie. Several areas north to Linden Boulevard, between Fountain Avenue to the west and 78th Street to the east, are also considered part of Spring Creek; this area was formerly known as Plunders Neck. Linden Boulevard was previously considered the northern boundary of Spring Creek.
To the south of the Belt Parkway are the Pennsylvania Avenue and Fountain Avenue Landfills (PAL/FAL). The two landfills were high man-made peninsulas created from former marshland and open water. The Pennsylvania Avenue Landfill opened in 1956 while the Fountain Avenue Landfill was opened in 1961 respectively. The Fountain Avenue Landfill (also simply called the Spring Creek Landfill) served as one of five major city facilities for regular refuse during its operation, along with the Fresh Kills and Brookefield Landfills in Staten Island; a facility in Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx; and another one in Edgemere, Queens. The landfills closed around 1985. The two sites have since undergone restoration and are now part of Shirley Chisholm State Park and Spring Creek Park.
Most of Spring Creek and Starrett City fall under the 11239 ZIP Code, but some portions of Spring Creek north of Flatlands Avenue, as well as the Brooklyn Developmental Center, fall under the 11207, and 11208 ZIP Codes.
History
Early settlement
Prior to European colonization, what is now Spring Creek consisted of salt marshes and several creeks, which drained into Jamaica Bay. The namesake creek itself ran north as far as Atlantic Avenue and Eldert Lane, near Highland Park (at the north end of Brooklyn) and Forest Park, forming the border of Brooklyn and Queens. The northern shores of Jamaica Bay were inhabited by the Jameco, Canarsee, and Rockaway Native American groups (for whom the Jamaica, Canarsie, and Rockaway areas would be named). In the 1650s, Dutch colonists began settling in the eastern sections of Brooklyn, forming the towns of Flatbush and New Lots (the latter the predecessor to East New York). The area, along with the rest of Brooklyn and modern New York City, was ceded to the British Empire in 1664.
The first development in the Spring Creek area took place in the 1890s, a farm built by the Cozine family, the likely namesake of Cozine Avenue. This farm included a house and stable at the modern-day intersection of Elton Street and Vandalia Avenue. Plunders Neck, then a peninsula between Betts and Spring Creeks, took its name from pirates who occupied the waters and "plundered." In the late 19th century it hosted a small community of wooden houses housing around 50 families who fished and farmed in the area. A hotel was erected along Mill Pond, near the basin of the creeks, at what was called Forbell's Landing. Otherwise, the area remained uninhabited.