East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are roughly the Cemetery Belt and the Queens borough line to the north; the Queens borough line to the east; Jamaica Bay to the south, and the Bay Ridge Branch railroad tracks and Van Sinderen Avenue to the west. Linden Boulevard, Pennsylvania Avenue, and Atlantic Avenue are the primary thoroughfares through East New York. East New York was founded as the Town of New Lots in the 1650s. It was annexed as the 26th Ward of the rapidly growing city of Brooklyn in 1886, and became part of New York City in 1898. During the latter part of the twentieth century, East New York came to be predominantly inhabited by African Americans and Latinos. East New York is part of Brooklyn Community District 5, and its primary ZIP Codes are 11207, 11208, and 11239. It is patrolled by the 75th Precinct of the New York City Police Department. New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) property in the area is patrolled by P.S.A. 2. Coverage by the Fire Department of New York is provided by Battalions 39 & 44. Politically it is represented by the New York City Council's 37th and 42nd Districts. History Early history and development At the northern edge of what is now East New York, a chain of hills, geologically a terminal moraine, separates northwestern Long Island from Jamaica and the Hempstead Plains, the main part of Long Island's fertile outwash plain. The southern portions of the neighborhood, meanwhile, consisted of salt marshes and several creeks, which drained into Jamaica Bay. These areas were originally settled by the Jameco Native Americans, and later used by the Canarsee and Rockaway tribes as fishing grounds. In the 1650s Dutch colonists began settling in what are now the eastern sections of Brooklyn, forming the towns of Flatbush, Bushwick, and New Lots (the predecessor of East New York). The area along with the rest of Brooklyn and modern New York City was ceded to the British Empire in 1664. A few 18th-century roads, including the ferry road or Palmer Turnpike from Brooklyn to Jamaica, passed through the chain of hills; hence the area was called "Jamaica Pass". During the American Revolutionary War, invading British and Hessian (German) soldiers ended an