Brooklyn Centre is a neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio. It was separated from the village of Brighton by a creek. These two villages were connected to other settlements such as Albion and Strongville by the Cleveland and Columbus road.
History
It was founded in 1812 by James Fish and became the first settlement west of the Cuyahoga River. Two years later, around 200 people lived at Brooklyn Centre. Of mixed heritage today, the original settlers of the area were Connecticut residents who had purchased land from investors of the Connecticut Western Reserve. By 1812, Brooklyn Centre became a township. German immigrants moved in starting in the late 19th century They were followed by the Polish and the Irish by the early 20th century who settled at the eastern end of Brooklyn Centre. These new settlers relocated to the area so that they would be close to the factories in and around the Cuyahoga River such as the tanneries and steel mills. In the early 1960s the neighborhood was changed dramatically with the construction of I-71. Entire streets were lost and new cul-de-sacs and dead ends were created, changing the fabric of the neighborhood. In 1984, the City of Cleveland created the Brooklyn Centre Historic District, recognizing the location's historic and architectural importance. In November 2004, The Brooklyn Centre Historical Society published Reflections from Brooklyn Centre: Presentations and Oral Histories from The Brooklyn Centre Historical Society. In November 2008, Brooklyn Centre became a National Wildlife Federation registered Community Wildlife Habitat Site, and was among the very first city neighborhoods to obtain the designation. The eastern portion of Brooklyn Centre is known as Barbarowa. Brooklyn Centre is bordered on the east by the Cuyahoga River I-176/The Jennings Freeway. The west border is I-71. The border to the south is Big Creek which runs through the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and is the largest tributary that flows into the Cuyahoga. The northern border is a city street named Trowbridge.
