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Where They Lived
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Only select individuals are mentioned here and only
their residences in 1880 and 1900 are included.
Prior to 1880, census takers were not required to note addresses,
just the city ward. In some cases there are street notations, but
they are rare. In addition, May 1st was moving day in the City in
the nineteenth century, for this was the day every rental lease
expired, and one can only imagine the what it was like to move one's
family and possessions through the streets on carts. Thus people moved regularly during before 1900,
but are often found living only one or two blocks away from a
previous residence.
1880 RESIDENCES
In 1880 we find the following family members all living within an 8
block area in the Lower East Side of New York City.
 1
245 E. 3rd St. Valentine Stritzky
2 521 E. 6th St.
Frederick Bissinger
3 715 E. 6th St.
August Schroeder
4 123 E. 4th St.
Henry Blank
5 262 E. 2nd St.
John D. Muller Sr.
6 332 E. Houston St.
Michael Stritzky
7 184 Rivington
Johan Hajek
Our people resided primarily north of East Houston Street, with
the exception of the Johan Hajek and his family who lived on
Rivington. The living conditions of our people were much
better than the poorer people living in the 10th Ward south of
Rivington. Originally the Lower East Side was the area along
the East River from about Manhattan Bridge and Canal Street to 14th
Street, and bounded on the west by Broadway. Today, the area
north of Houston Street is known as the East Village.
1900 RESIDENCES
In 1900 the only relation who was still living in the Lower East Side was
Frederick Bissinger who had
moved across the street to 524 6th Street. The rest of the families
dispersed to Brooklyn/Queens or the Bronx. During the 1890s many
eastern Europeans immigrated to New York City, taking up residence
in the Lower East Side. The Germans who had immigrated earlier
tended to move out, either Uptown, to the Bronx or across the East
River to Brooklyn or Queens. Mass
transportation made it possible for those who moved out of the
area to continue to work in New York City, although others worked
nearer their homes. As the suburbs became more populated brownstone
row houses were built to accommodate the new urban middle class, who
desired housing that was not only affordable, but also more
sophisticated than the tenements they had lived in. Brownstone, a
form of sandstone was imported from the quarries in New Jersey and
Connecticut and was used to face the brick foundations.
Some of our people rented, but others purchased their homes,
sometimes carrying a mortgage. Those that rented their homes usually
moved on, while some who purchased their homes might move further out
to the suburbs in later years. Thus their addresses still changed,
but rarely as often as when they lived in the Lower East Side.
BROOKLYN AND QUEENS
In 1900 our people were living in Bushwick, Bedford Stuyvesant,
Ridgewood, and South Brooklyn (today Sunset Park)
Bedford Stuyvesant,
Brooklyn
 1
190 Hart St. John D. Muller, Jr.
2 688 Park Ave.
August Schroeder
3 247 Throop Ave.
Frank Senters
With the advent of
electric trolleys and the
Brooklyn Bridge in
the last decades of the nineteenth century Bedford Stuyvesant became
a working class and middle class community for people who worked in
downtown Brooklyn or Manhattan. At that time the old wooden homes
were replaced with brownstone row houses, and a number of apartment
buildings were built.
Bushwick and
Ridgewood, Brooklyn
 1
196 Moffat St. Emil Baumgartel
2 Bleecker St.
Emil Roth
3 56 Cedar
Henry Blank
Starting in the 1880s a continuous building boom began in Bushwick
due to the numerous advances in transportation. Elevated lines were
erected along Myrtle Avenue and Broadway, followed by electric
streetcars which connected Bushwick and Ridgewood to downtown
Brooklyn and to Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge. Two to six family
houses were built throughout the area. Bushwick Avenue, developed
between 1880 and 1915, was a street of mansions. Bushwick was known
for it’s considerable brewery industry, which gave it the nickname
“The Beer Capital of the Northeast.” In 1890 there were 14 breweries
in a 14 block area.
The Ridgewood community is part in Brooklyn and part in Queens and
borders Bushwick. A majority of the neighborhood is built on a large
hill. Streets are narrow two-lane roads upon wich were built
Renaissance and Romanesque Revival row-houses and tenements.
South Brooklyn, Sunset Park
 1 51
47th St. Henry Wick
2 1056 3rd Ave.
John D. Muller Sr.
The Sunset Park neighborhood grew up around the Brooklyn waterfront
established in the nineteenth century. The Bush Terminal, a model
industrial park was completed in 1895. Originally known as South
Brooklyn, it was later considered part of Bay Ridge. John David
Muller, Sr. moved to this area before 1889, where he continued
working as a cooper.
BRONX
Morrisania
 1
1355 Webster Ave. Michael Stritzky
2 782 E. 173rd St. Philip Miller
3 1368 Brook Ave.
George Stritzky
4 700 166th St.
Edward Frey
During the early nineteenth century much of the Morrisania area
consisted of farm land and dairies which sold their produce in the
city. When the railroad tracks were laid village centers cropped up,
including Morrisania, established in 1855. Many Germans settled in
this area and became shopkeepers, brewers and saloon keepers.
Edward Frey was a saloon keeper here
in 1900. In 1863 the Janes and Beebe ironworks (later Janes and
Kirtland) at 149th Street and Brook Avenue produced the dome for the
Capitol in Washington. It may have been here that the Stritzky men
were employed. In 1888 the 3rd Avenue elevated railroad was extended
to 132nd Street and the area grew very rapidly. In 1904 the subway
was built under 149th Street providing additional rapid transit for
the residents.
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