Metropolitan Avenue began as the Williamsburgh and Jamaica Turnpike.
In 1814 the Williamsburgh Turnpike Company was chartered to turn an old Indian trail from Jamaica to the East River into a road; the work was carried out in 1816. The toll road linked the then villages of Williamsburgh and Jamaica. A segment in Williamsburg was successively Bushwick Street, Woodhull Street and North Second Street before joining Metropolitan Avenue around 1858.