Boiler Installation in Canarsie, NY

The coastal lands around Jamaica Bay, including present-day Canarsie, were originally settled by the Canarsie Indians. The present-day neighborhood of Canarsie was one of the Canarsie tribe’s main villages. They probably lived near the intersection of present-day Seaview and Remsen Avenues. Cornfields grew from the shore to as far inland as Avenue J, and were centered around East 92nd Street. The Canarsie Indians grew cornfields on three flats within the area. As late as the 1930s, “immense shell heaps” could be found at the site. These shells might have served as planting fields.

In 1624, the Dutch Republic incorporated much of the current New York City area into the colony of New Netherland. In 1636, as the Dutch was expanding outward from present-day Manhattan, Dutch settlers founded the town of Achtervelt (later Amersfoort, then Flatlands) and purchased 15,000 acres (6,100 ha) around Jamaica Bay. Amersfoort was centered around the present-day intersection of Flatbush Avenue and Flatlands Avenue. Canarsie Indian leaders such as Penhawitz had signed three land agreements with Dutch settlers between 1636 and 1667, handing ownership of much of their historic land to the Dutch. Many of the tribe’s members started moving away, and Dutch settlers rented the cornfields that had formerly belonged to the Indians. Much of the remaining land was located in the present-day neighborhood of Canarsie. The first European settler in the area was Pieter Claesen Wyckoff, a former indentured servant who built a house in Flatlands circa 1652. Wyckoff’s house still stands along Clarendon Road, and it is believed to be the oldest structure in New York State.

In 1660, present-day Canarsie Point was given the name Vischers Hook (“fishers’ hook”). The name referred to Hoorn, a Dutch fisherman who had built a house at that location. At the time, a group of islands extended into Jamaica Bay south of Canarsie, up to and including Barren Island.