Bensonhurst

Understanding Bensonhurst

New Utrecht was one of the six towns that became Brooklyn. Its cemetery stayed near the old village center when the congregation built a new church two blocks away in 1828. Seeing the sites separately helps explain that change in the community's center.

Syrian Jewish families moved from Manhattan and Williamsburg to southern Brooklyn in the early twentieth century. Magen David’s 1920–1921 building is a concrete record of that migration and community formation near Twentieth Avenue.

Places to explore

• Magen David Synagogue exterior

  2017 67th Street

  Round-arched windows, patterned brick and a tiled roof distinguish the 1920–1921 synagogue building, a record of Syrian Jewish community life.

• New Utrecht Reformed Church

  18th Avenue at 83rd–84th streets

  This later church site is separate from the old cemetery. Seeing the two locations explains how the congregation changed its center while preserving the burial ground.

Planning a visit

Choose the church or synagogue address before checking current transit. New Utrecht Library is a separate nearby stop in Bath Beach.

Treat both buildings as exterior stops unless the congregation confirms an interior visit. The landmark designations do not establish public tours. New Utrecht Library is a separate nearby indoor institution in Bath Beach.