Q. There is a small triangular park in the Brownsville neighborhood in Brooklyn called Zion Triangle. Why the odd name?

A. In 1911, when the Board of Aldermen renamed the triangle Zion Park (right) after the biblical city of David, the neighborhood was largely Jewish. But the piece of land has had many names, serving as a microcosm of a changing Brooklyn.

The property, bounded by Pitkin and East New York Avenues and Legion Street at the junction of Eastern Parkway, was donated to Brooklyn in 1896 by Peter L. Vandeveer and was first known as Vandeveer Park, according to the Department of Parks and Recreation. The city initially envisioned it as a place where bicycle riders could rest. A World War I monument was built there in 1925. Brownsville had been named for Charles S. Brown, a 19th-century developer. After train service was extended to Brownsville, it attracted Manhattan garment workers. The W.P.A. Guide to New York City reported in the 1930s that there were more than 70 Orthodox synagogues in Brownsville.

In 1930, the park was renamed Loew Square, and the Loew’s Pitkin Theater towered over it across Pitkin Avenue. After World War II, older residents began moving to the suburbs and the area became largely African-American. In 1987, the parks commissioner, Henry J. Stern, restored the name Zion, and in 1997 it became Zion Triangle. As for the long-dormant Art Deco movie palace, work is under way to preserve its exterior while the interior is transformed into a charter school and retail spaces.