New York Times Article on the history of horseriding in the area.
\nSpecial thanks to Emily for convincing and encouraging the Times to do
\nthe piece. <\/p>\n
When the Horsemen Passed By<\/a> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n YOU can smell the horses before you can see Kensington Stables, No one remembers exactly when the Because stables may change their name as often as Residents past and present recall Art Goldberg, 57, a ”During ”In those days there were 150 horses down there, ”The horses more and more became the ”We were inner-city kids. Many came from the downtown Joel Vincent, 69, a guide at Kensington Stables, grew up in Midwood, Brooklyn, and lives in Manhattan near Gramercy Park. <\/p>\n ”I ”When people John Davenport, 74, a retired security director, grew up in Windsor Terrace and still lives there. <\/p>\n ”The ”I would come home Walker Blankinship, 37, the owner ”For the first few years Muriel Bissell, 74, a homemaker, lives in the Windsor Terrace house where she grew up. <\/p>\n ”The ”There George Bissell, 74, a retired banker, moved to Windsor Terrace from Flatbush in 1959, when he married Muriel Ferrari. <\/p>\n ”I <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New York Times Article on the history of horseriding in the area. Special thanks to Emily for convincing and encouraging the Times to do the piece. When the Horsemen Passed By THE VOICE; When the Horsemen Passed By … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-c16-in-the-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stablebrooklyn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stablebrooklyn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stablebrooklyn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stablebrooklyn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stablebrooklyn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.stablebrooklyn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stablebrooklyn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stablebrooklyn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stablebrooklyn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} THE VOICE; When the Horsemen Passed By<\/h1>\n
\nthem, although if you’re walking off the overpass that straddles the
\nbusy Prospect Expressway in East Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, the pungent
\nodor of hay and manure seems out of place among the warehouses,
\nsemidetached row houses and passing cars. <\/p>\n
\nat Caton Place and East Eighth Street, is the last stable remaining at
\nan intersection that was once home to several such enterprises. In
\ntheir heyday, at the beginning of the 20th century, hundreds of horses
\nwere stabled there. But the Depression and the automobile transformed
\nhorseback riding from a necessity into a hobby, one soon overtaken by
\nother leisure activities. <\/p>\n
\nchanges started to take place — around the 1930’s or 40’s, old-timers
\nsuggest. The first stable to disappear was converted into a
\nroller-skating rink, which later became a warehouse. The second was
\nconverted into a bowling alley, which later gave way to a giant church,
\nthe Calvary Cathedral of Praise. A third stable, known as the Little
\nGray Barn, was torn down last year and is being replaced by
\ncondominiums. <\/p>\n
\nthey change owners, it’s hard to say how many such businesses have come
\nand gone. Kensington Stables, too, is struggling with the challenges of
\nmaintaining an agrarian sort of business in a crowded urban setting. A
\nrecently formed group called Stable Brooklyn is trying to preserve
\nremnants of the neighborhood’s equestrian past and to resist high-rise
\ndevelopment in the area. <\/p>\n
\nlong-departed landmarks like Prospect Park Stables, Harry Goldstein’s
\nand Jimmy Seelandt’s. Those were places to which New Yorkers traveled
\nfrom throughout the city to ride in nearby Prospect Park, places where
\nlocal children would feed and exercise the horses in exchange for a
\ndollar or, even better, a free ride. <\/p>\n
\nretired subway union executive, grew up on Cortelyou Road in Kensington
\nand now lives in Pennsylvania, in the Poconos. <\/p>\n
\nthe early days in the 1950’s, all they had on television was cowboys,
\nand I identified with the loneliness and the hard work they did. I
\nbegan saving money to buy a pony when I was 5 years old. I started
\nworking at Harry Goldstein’s stable in 1960 when I was 12, taking care
\nof the horses and taking people out in the park. I was paid a dollar a
\nday for that. <\/p>\n
\nor more. With the bowling alley and the roller-skating rink, it was a
\nreal gathering point for hundreds of people. There was also the bridle
\npath from Prospect Park to Coney Island, and people could ride horses
\ndown Ocean Parkway. <\/p>\n
\ncenter of life, and it was a real alternative to some of us who felt
\nthere really weren’t too many options. It was a real ego boost and gave
\nus something to look forward to: taking care of the horses and being in
\ncharge of something. It gave us a focus, and it helped a lot of lost
\nkids. <\/p>\n
\narea, and we didn’t have too much opportunity to experience animals or
\nto be around a park. So being out with the horses and being in the park
\nwas like being in another world.” <\/p>\n
\nwould get the trolley to the stables with my aunt and uncle from Coney
\nIsland Avenue. I would go riding maybe 10 times in a year, so it was a
\nrare treat. They had a system of guides that would take you into the
\npark, just as I take people in the park today. <\/p>\n
\nask how did I fall in love with horses growing up in Brooklyn, that’s
\nalways a puzzle for me. Maybe it’s just they were more observable in
\nthe street. Because of the war and rationing, there was a lot less
\ndriving going on, and they were using horses more for doing work like
\npulling delivery wagons and milk wagons. And somehow or other, these
\nbig, fascinating creatures intrigued me.” <\/p>\n
\ntrolley used to end over here, and we used to get off and come down
\nhere to make a little bit of money. The owners would bring their horses
\nback from the park all lathered up, and that’s where I would make my
\ntips, by walking the horse up and down the block until he got his
\ncomposure back and started breathing right. <\/p>\n
\nall sweated up, and we didn’t have air-conditioning in those days. My
\nmother used to make me take my clothes off and leave them in the hall
\nafter a day down here.” <\/p>\n
\nof Kensington Stables since 1997, grew up in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens,
\nBrooklyn, and still lives there. <\/p>\n
\nafter I took over the barn, quite a few people would come in telling
\nstories, but now they’re all gone. Usually the stories were tragedies,
\nlike the one about a fire here in the late 40’s. One man who used to
\nlive around here said that when they put a horse down, they would use
\nit for anatomy classes. He remembers sitting on a dead horse right
\noutside here eating a sandwich while they dissected the legs for a
\nlesson.” <\/p>\n
\npolice stabled their horses here, and they used to line up like
\nsoldiers all in a row every morning and go down to different areas of
\nthe city. My sister used to bring the horses apples every day. <\/p>\n
\nwas a terrible fire once, and I saw the horses being shot because they
\nwere all badly burned. I was a kid, and all I remember is hearing the
\nsound go off and the horse falling. They had to take them out on
\ngarbage trucks. It went on for days.” <\/p>\n
\nreally miss the police horses. We used to see them in action, and the
\nguys always had a few yarns to tell. There was one guy who chased a man
\nwho had committed a robbery. The robber was in a car, and this police
\nofficer was on horseback chasing him down Parkside Avenue and taking a
\nfew shots at him. Just like the old West.” <\/p>\n