- Named after Charles Carroll, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Carroll Street and Carroll Park influenced the later naming of the surrounding neighborhood. Carroll led a Maryland regiment that defended the Old Stone House at Gowanus in the Revolutionary War.
- Henry Street was originally an Indian trail.
- In 1865, at the funeral of prominent Freemason Charles L. Church, 4,000 Masons in full regalia followed the coffin from the Hamilton Avenue Ferry to Green-Wood Cemetery through the edge of what is now Carroll Gardens.
- The area now known as Carroll Gardens was considered a part of Red Hook until the 1960s.
- In 1981, restauranteur Nick Monte, tired of the dilapidated appearance of the Carroll Street Bridge, decided to have it painted at his own expense. After a battle with city government, Monte succeeded in having a new coat of red, white and green paint applied to the bridge. "It's an Italian neighborhood," Monte explained.
- The first official dog run in Brooklyn opened in 1997 at the south end of the DiMattina Playground in Carroll Gardens.
- In 2001, a 22-ton boulder dug up during a water main project was moved to Carroll Park to serve as a linchpin for a revitalization project.
- In 2003, Charlene de Luca, owner of 750 pairs of shoes, left Carroll Gardens for Florida, taking only 300 pairs with her. She sold many of the remaining shoes at a yard sale in front of her house.
- The splendid front yard Christmas decorations in Carroll Gardens draw visitors from many other neighborhoods during the holiday season.
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