Mara d'asra and member of the Crown Heights Beis Din
Rabbi Yehuda Kalman Marlow and the Historical Practice in Crown Heights
Rabbi Yehuda Kalman Marlow served as a mara d'asra and member of the Crown Heights Beis Din. During his tenure, Crown Heights had no neighborhood eruv accepted by the Beis Din, and public carrying was not the practice.
The public practice during his tenure
Crown Heights residents walked to shul, meals, farbrengens, and simchos without carrying through the streets on the strength of a neighborhood eruv. Keys, seforim, food, and children's needs were arranged before Shabbos.
That was not merely a private chumra observed by a circle of individuals. No neighborhood eruv had been established for public reliance under the authority of the Beis Din.
The neighborhood Beis Din
Rabbi Marlow's role was communal. A public eruv would have changed the Shabbos conduct of the neighborhood and required the Beis Din to accept responsibility for its halachic basis and continuing operation.
The later route was not presented during his lifetime for the signed ruling issued in 5776. His name therefore should not be placed on that later page. His relevance is the established Crown Heights practice during the years he served as mara d'asra.
The same practice before and after the later proposal
After Rabbi Marlow's passing, the practical guidance of the Beis Din continued to state that Crown Heights had no eruv. The Tishrei 5776 guides said so before the new route was publicized.
When the route was announced the following spring, the Rabbonim then serving issued their own direct psak: carrying was absolutely forbidden and the publicized eruv was treated as nonexistent.