Brooklyn

The establishment of Riverside Cemetery on the west side of the Naugatuck River brought developers' attention to the area between the river and the Town Plot ridge. Soon streets were laid out south of the cemetery and small cottages were built there to house workers of the nearby brass mills: Holmes Booth & Haydens, Waterbury Farrell Foundry, Benedict and Burnham and the Waterbury Button Company were all within an easy walk. With the arrival of the railroad in 1849, Brooklyn was poised for growth as the factories grew.

Filled with an abundance of triple-deckers, six-family blocks and multi-unit tenements, Brooklyn attracted many of the city's newest arrivals. Irish, Poles, Russians, Lithuanians, Jews and Italians lived in the neighborhood, supporting a vibrant mix of grocers, bakeries, and shops catering to distinctive ethnic traditions. The Lithuanian community flourished, establishing the first Lithuanian church in New England in Brooklyn in 1894, and organizing over 20 associations to serve Lithuanian interests in the area, including Lithuanian Girl Scouts, political clubs, choirs, bands, sports teams, saloons and a Lithuanian chapter of the Chamber of Commerce.