Bonnie Nilsen

A House and Its Family: 8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, New York

Frank Nilsen Sr. and his wife Hazel B. Putt Nilsen moved into this house in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn in 1921. In 1930 it was worth $16,000 according to the census. In 1940, after The Depression, it was worth $9,000.

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1920-25

Lizzie Hale and Viola Burroughs Putt on the front steps.
Notice that there is no wall behind the garage.
You can see the roof and gable window of the large house on 88th St. before the six row houses were built.

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1920-25

Viola Burroughs Putt and her niece Margaret Johnson Burroughs (Sis)

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1920-25

Lizzie Hale, Verna Miller, Hazel Putt Nilson, Carrie Putt, and Frank Nilsen,Jr.

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1920-25

Backyard this time.
Although this is a rather poor image taken from a negative, I've included it because of the car in the driveway.
Frank Nilsen, Sr. had a Cadillac, but I don't know if this is it.

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1920-25

How could that kid even walk with all that padding?

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1920-25

Frank Jr. and sister Dorothy.

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1920-25's

This one had me confused at first. Which corner of the house could this be?
Then it dawned on me, this was the corner of the garage -- with nothing behind it! Those are houses on 87th St. off in the distance.
Frank Jr. with Frank Sr.

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1920-25

Frank Jr. at about 3 years old, so 1924 or so.
This is not in front of 8719 but in front of the corner house.
It looks like the row houses across 88th St. on Colonial Rd. have not been built yet.

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1920-25

And here is Frank a couple of years later and the row houses across 88th St. have just been finished and are up for sale.
Online data I found says they were built in 1925.

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1920-25

Frank and Hazel on the front steps.

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1920-25

With Hazel on the front grass.

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1920-25

And now to the back again, and the row houses on 88th St. are now in place and the back of the garden is shut off.
Online data I found says they were built in 1930.

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1920-25

Dorothy Nilsen

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1925-30

Lizzie Hale holding Dorothy, Frank Jr.

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1925-30

Frank Nilsen, Jr. in front of the garage, in I think, a Boy Scout uniform.

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1925-30

With this family group on the front steps we have jumped ahead 10 years or so and Frank is in a different uniform going away to the war in Europe.
Left to right: Frank Nilsen, Sr., Frank Nilsen, Jr., Harvey Putt, Dorothy Nilsen, Hazel Putt Nilsen.

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1940-45

Left to right: Harry Putt, Hazel Putt Nilsen, Frank Nilsen, Jr., and in front of him his sister Dorothy with the dog.
Unknown friend of Frank's with Adeline Putt, and in the very front Frank Nilsen, Sr.

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1940-45

And now it's the late 1940's. Frank, Jr. is back from the war and has married an English girl, Marjorie (Midge) Flower.
This is the christening of their first born daughter(me), Bonnie in 1948.

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1940-45

Left to right: Dorothy Nilsen, Frank Nilsen, Sr., Midge Flower Nilsen holding Bonnie Nilsen, Hazel Nilsen and Verna Miller.

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1950-60

Midge and Frank with their daughters Sharon and Bonnie.

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1950-60

The family from Long island in for a visit, maybe Christmas 1950.
Left to right: Dorothy Nilsen holding Sally Feuerstein, Jim Parant, Art Feuerstein, Hazel Nilsen, Frank Nilsen, Sr., Geraldine(Gerri) Parant Feuerstein, Midge Nilsen, Anna Nilsen Parant holding Sharon Nilsen. In the center, Susan Feuerstein, behind Bonnie Nilsen.

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1950-60

Snow in Bay Ridge, late 1950's. Sharon and Bonnie Nilsen on the snow pile.
That's Anna Sorentino, next-door neighbor with the shovel. More Snow Pictures.

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn

May 1965.

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 1980

Not sure of the date on this one - 1980's?

8719 Colonial Road, Brooklyn, 2008

Fall 2008. My parents Frank and Midge sold the house in the mid-90s.