Editing Brooklyn (section)

===New York City borough===
{{further|History of New York City (1898–1945)}}
[[File:1897 Brooklyn map.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.15|Brooklyn in 1897]]
In 1883, the [[Brooklyn Bridge]] was completed, transportation to Manhattan was no longer by water only, and the City of Brooklyn's ties to the City of New York were strengthened.

The question became whether Brooklyn was prepared to engage in the still-grander process of consolidation then developing throughout the region, whether to join with the county of [[Richmond County, New York|Richmond]] and the western portion of [[Queens|Queens County]], and the county of [[Manhattan|New York]], which by then already included [[the Bronx]], to form the five boroughs of a united City of New York. [[Andrew Haswell Green]] and other progressives said yes, and eventually, they prevailed against the ''[[Brooklyn Eagle|Daily Eagle]]'' and other conservative forces. In 1894, residents of Brooklyn and the other counties voted by a slight majority to merge, effective in 1898.<ref>
{{citation |url=http://www.nyc.gov/html/nyc100/html/classroom/hist_info/100aniv.html |title=The 100 Year Anniversary of the Consolidation of the 5 Boroughs into New York City |publisher=City of New York |access-date=January 31, 2008}}</ref>

Kings County retained its status as one of New York State's counties, but the loss of Brooklyn's separate identity as a city was met with consternation by some residents at the time. Many newspapers of the day called the merger the "Great Mistake of 1898".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Brooklyn – and how it got that way|last1=McCullough|first1=David W|last2=Kalett|first2=Jim|date=1983|publisher=Dial Press|isbn=0385274270|location=New York|page=58|language=en|oclc = 8667213}}</ref>