By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Whoa! Some historic maps and illustrations show aspirations not reality; media then and now can make mistakes, planners and real estate developers can misrepresent Red Hook. This is the start of a feature article. To see the full essay click here:...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
William Perris was a first in producing fire insurance maps for Brooklyn. The Great fires in 1835 and 1845 that destroyed large sections of the New York City made it clear to insurers the utility of knowing what buildings were made of and what...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
The large Red Hook, Brooklyn estate of Jordan Coles was put up for sale on June 2nd, 1836, following his death. The map shows the Gowanus Creek, before it was turned into a canal; mills and mill ponds; scattered houses and a mansion, not aligned...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
At 480 Van Brunt Street at Beard Street stands a block long red brick warehouse that was home from 2006 to 2020 to a Fairway Market on its ground floor and residential and commercial tenants on the upper floors. The modification of the building won...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
The area between Erie Basin and Columbia Street was home to a makeshift shantytown community known as Tin City, made up largely of unemployed and under-employed maritime workers in the 1920s and 30s. In the winter of 1932, the Brooklyn Eagle...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Maps showing the current property lines of IKEA, Thor Equities, and the Erie Basin Bargeport in the Erie Basin. We include these to show how there can be private property under water in general, and that the Erie Basin waterspace is not a public...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
This article from The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Sunday, March 12, 1911, recounts the winter-time lives of Erie Canal barge families who winter in Erie Basin. Colonies of Cozy Canal Boats Cluster for Winter City of Inland Navigators Prepares for Annual...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Soon after this photo is taken, the area at the left of the composite photo with just a few scattered houses in an uneven field will become the Red Hook Ball Fields and recreational area. Part of this area had been home to a shanty town, which went...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
In the early 1920s, the international freight trade collapsed leaving as many as 1,000 Norwegian seamen unemployed and unable to get back home. With little to no income many of them made shelters on a large area of landfill and rubble just north of...
Columbia Street, west side, north of Verona Street. At the left is seen the American Can Co. on Dwight Street, between Delevan and Verona Streets. Also note sign in background reading "Hardwood Lumber". The structure for the American Can Company is...
Street address: Columbia Street & Verona Street, Brooklyn, NY
