4. Parkville is a micro-neighborhood of Kensington that breaks from the grid system
Parkville is a micro-neighborhood of Kensington that has long confused some locals. Parkville stretches from 18th Avenue to Foster Avenue, though it breaks from the grid system of the rest of Kensington. Parkville’s streets are distinctively diagonal. A librarian at the Brooklyn Public Library. described the streets as “peculiar” and “wonky.” The numbered streets continue on the other side of Parkville as though Parkville’s diagonal streets were imposed over years later. Parkville was established after the construction of the Coney Island Plank Road, which opened in 1850 and was graded in 1860.
The community was originally called Greenville and was purchased by the Freeman’s Association in 1852. The neighborhood constructed a public school in the 1870s, as well as St. Rose of Lima church which still is open today (and was where Mary Tyler Moore attended Sunday school). The Brooklyn Public Library article outlines a number of rather disturbing events in Parkville, such as the death of hotel owner Mortimer Tunison and the tragic demise of Mabel Robinson at Tunison’s hotel. Today, Parkville is home to quite a few Pakistani and Mexican eateries, a Tashkent Supermarket location, and community gardens including Newkirk.