Col. Daniel Richards witnessed the construction of the Erie Canal and understood that there was great potential for a shipping hub in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The Atlantic Dock Company was chartered by New York State on May 6, 1840 with a plan for a protected deepwater basin for ships, docks and large warehouses. Richards became secretary of the company with James De Peyster Ogden as the first president. A little over a year later, June 3, 1841, construction on the first docks began. Stone warehouses, hoped to be fireproof, began going up in 1844. A steam powered grain elevator – the first of it's kind – was erected by Richards in 1846 to move large stores of grain to and from the ships and warehouses. By 1851, Col. Richards was no longer listed on the Board of the company. Soon thereafter James S. T. Stranahan became president and was still in charged around 1895 when the company merged with the other Brooklyn shipping piers and warehouse companies joined to form a trust called the Brooklyn Wharf and Warehouse Company.

A prospectus of the Atlantic Dock Company was published by the US Secratary of the Treasury in 1849 as part of their report on the Warehousing System a successful example that might be reproduced in other American ports.  

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For more information on the Atlantic Dock Company beyond what can be found in Red Hook Waterstories, the archives of the Center for Brooklyn History is a place to turn.  Their Atlantic Dock Company collection (call # 1978.151) has material from 1840-1886.