PortSide was engaged to work with the 2020 Spring semester of Columbia University's graduate Historic Preservation studio which used Red Hook as a study area. At the bottom of this page, is an audio tour PortSide gave along this...
Three views of Erie Basin, George Bradford Brainerd photos, ca 1870
Three photographs of Erie Basin by George Bradford Brainerd (1845-1887). Brainerd was a civil engineer who worked for the city of Brooklyn as Deputy Water Purveyor from 1869 to 1886. His book The Water Works of Brooklyn: A Historical and Descriptive...
Dock at the foot of Court Street, ca. 1870.
Photo by George Bradford Brainerd
Men sit along a wooden dock, at the foot of Court Street and a sailboat floats near the next pier in photograph by George Bradfor Brainerd taken sometime in the 1870s. The photograph is by George Bradford Brainerd , 1845-1887. He was a civil...
Strike Busting: Swedes and Norwegians willing to work for less at Finlay's Stores, Atlantic Dock, 1885.
On Saturday March 14, 1885, workers at Finlay's Stores were told that they hourly rate would be cut to 20 cents an hour, down from twenty-five. They refused to work for less pay and the company replaced them with about fifty Swedes and Norwegians....
Finlay Stores and two men in a dinghy, Atlantic Basin ca. 1870
Finlay's Stores were described in 1889 as consisting "of thirty-two lots of land and sixteen large double storehouses, eight of which lie on either side of the entrance to the basin... Four of the storehouses are five stories in height and the other...
Ambient Sounds from the MARY A WHALEN - AUDIO FILE
Of Ships and Social Life: Wintering Over in Erie Basin, 1900
Complete text of article The Brooklyn Daily Eagle , Sunday March 4, 1900. Beautiful Yachts Which Will Soon Awaken From Their Winter Sleep In The Erie Basin . Pleasure Craft, All Swathed in Canvass, Dormant in Gowanus Bay—Set Apart from the Humble...
Brooklyn Wire Mill - The scandalous story of the making of the cables for the Bridge Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is a suspended by four main steel wire cables. It became the first major bridge of its kind when it opened for service in May 1883 and it's unique design remains essentially the same today. The concept of suspending a bridge with...
Who was the eponymous Mary A Whalen?
"Reliable was owned by Harold Tabeling of Brooklyn, N.Y. and he named the vessel after his Mother." from Carl E. Eklof, Sr. The short answer is Mary Agnes Whalen was Captain John Tabeling’s wife and mother of James Harold. James and John ran the...
Columbia Kingdom Hall Jehovah's Witnesses
Columbia Kingdom Hall Jehovah's Witnesses also known as Red Hook Kingdom Hall Jehovah's Witnesses 423 Columbia Street Brooklyn, NY 11231 (718) 237-0026