Espiritu Tierra Community Garden
1939-1940 Tax Photo
Date of Construction: 1990s
Architect: community gardeners and volunteers
Original Owner: Jacob Schwarz
Type: Public Park
Espiritu Tierra is a community garden located at 201-203 South 2nd Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of a project lead by the local community group El Puente, who works with the New York Department of Parks and Recreation to provide the South Williamsburg community with a public green space.
The community garden was founded on a vacant lot, but the site can be traced back to early Dutch farmers. In 1825, Garrit and Grover C. Furman purchased land in South Williamsburg to use as farmland.
They were the first to parcel the land into property lots. They leased and sold the lots as single family homes until 1911 when an application for the erection of two, six story, brick tenements was filed, consolidating the four lots into two. Jacob Schwarz owned and supervised these two tenement buildings, which were were mixed commercial and residential use, and housed 35 families with storefronts on the first floor. Most of the tenants were Eastern European families, their presence documented through the 1930s.
The tenement buildings remained intact and under the ownership of the
Schwarz family until the 1980s when it was foreclosed and became property of the
City of New York. The buildings were destroyed sometime between the 1980s and
1990s, the latter date marking the time local youth began to clear away rubble
and debris that had accumulated on the site. Since its inception as a public
space in the 1990s, Espiritu Tierra has partnered with several organizations to
do work on the site so they may continue providing the community with green
space.
Schwarz family until the 1980s when it was foreclosed and became property of the
City of New York. The buildings were destroyed sometime between the 1980s and
1990s, the latter date marking the time local youth began to clear away rubble
and debris that had accumulated on the site. Since its inception as a public
space in the 1990s, Espiritu Tierra has partnered with several organizations to
do work on the site so they may continue providing the community with green
space.