Recalls New Utrecht, a Dutch town established here in 1652.
In 1652 Cornelius van Werckhoven, born in Utrecht in the Netherlands, took over land here; after his death in 1655, Jacques Cortelyou was allowed to sell lots to create a town and named it Nieuw Utrecht after Werckhoven's hometown. Utrecht's own name goes back to Traiectum, a Roman fort at a crossing of the Rhine. One of Kings County's six original towns, New Utrecht was annexed by Brooklyn in 1894.