The post-Civil War years were a period of great change in American society. For the first time, an ever-growing middle class emerged, one that had more leisure time than ever before and money to spend. Brooklyn was a manufacturing city back then. Its industrial hubs along the East River and further inland were supported by factories churning out all kinds of goods like furniture, glass, and porcelain, as well as foodstuffs, linens and lace, timepieces, and home furnishings. While many jobs were low-paying factory gigs, a white-collar class of workers emerged from this new economy — bookkeepers, brokers, middle management, professionals, teachers and much more — and they made the most of it.<\/p>\n
Because the new middle classes had more time on their hands, this new society championed all sorts of new activities. Concert halls and theaters were being built in every neighborhood, shops and stores abounded, especially downtown, and people young and old were going to the new parks and enjoying the outdoors. Winter brings cold temperatures, treasured holidays, and winter sports. I’ve written often about Brooklyn\u2019s charitable giving during the holidays, as well as treasured holiday traditions, but not much about the many sports Brooklyn\u2019s citizens enjoyed during the winter.<\/p>\n
Skating’s long tradition<\/strong><\/p>\n %<\/span><\/span> | %<\/span><\/a> | %<\/span><\/a> | %<\/span><\/a> | %<\/span><\/a> | %<\/span><\/a> | %<\/span><\/a> | %<\/span><\/a> | %<\/span><\/a> | %<\/span><\/a> | %<\/span><\/a> | %<\/span><\/a> Single Page<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Organized skating began during the Civil War years, and Brooklyn\u2019s earliest baseball fields were its first public skating ponds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11099,"featured_media":510377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"schneps_byline":"","schneps_post_style":"","schneps_post_source":"","schneps_syndicated_read_more":"","schneps_post_source_sitename":"","schneps_syndicated_thumb_html":"","schneps_syndicated_thumb_src":"","schneps_post_source_shortname":"","schneps_post_source_url":"","schneps_post_source_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7646],"tags":[35092,35093,2597,15120,35091,6635,4631,35090],"districts":[],"class_list":["post-509673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","tag-108-willow-street","tag-287-sackett-street","tag-featured","tag-ice-skating","tag-locust-grove","tag-sports","tag-suzanne-spellen","tag-wildfire"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"A Winter Wonderland: Ice Skating and Frosty Frolics in 19th Century Brooklyn","url":"http:\/\/www.brownstoner.com\/history\/history-ice-skating-winter-sports-brooklyn-19th-century-capitoline-grounds-union-pond\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.brownstoner.com\/history\/history-ice-skating-winter-sports-brooklyn-19th-century-capitoline-grounds-union-pond\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.brownstoner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/brooklyn-skating-carnival-1862-harpers-weekly.png?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.brownstoner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/brooklyn-skating-carnival-1862-harpers-weekly.png"},"articleSection":"History","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Suzanne Spellen"}],"creator":["Suzanne Spellen"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Brownstoner","logo":""},"keywords":["108 willow street","287 sackett street","featured","ice skating","locust grove","sports","suzanne spellen","wildfire"],"dateCreated":"2023-12-20T18:17:15Z","datePublished":"2023-12-20T18:17:15Z","dateModified":"2023-12-20T19:17:52Z"},"rendered":"