Overview
Brooklyn is the most populous borough of New York City, It borders the borough of Queens at the southwestern end of the same Long Island, and has several bridge connections to the nearby boroughs of Staten Island and Manhattan.
Brooklyn is both residential and industrial and also handles a vast amount of oceangoing traffic. It is a western terminus of the Long Island Rail Road. There are many educational institutions, including Pratt Institute (1887) and branches of the Polytechnic University, the City University of New York, the State University of New York, and Long Island University. Several colonial churches (including Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims, where Henry Ward Beecher preached), Coney Island, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Arboretum, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Brooklyn Children’s Museum are in the borough. Famed native sons include composer George Gershwin, lyricist Ira Gershwin, filmmaker Woody Allen, and writers Arthur Miller and Norman Mailer.
