Reflection #6: Hypothesizing Vinegar Hill 1870-1920

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My group and I created hypotheses about Vinegar Hill during the 1870-1920. We focused predominantly on how technological developments impacted Vinegar Hill as a place. During the time period we were given, Brooklyn was becoming much more connected to the rest of New York City. The Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridge were completed in 1883 and 1909. These bridges directly attached Downtown Brooklyn to Manhattan. The construction of these bridges impacted Vinegar Hill in a few ways. One way Vinegar Hill was affected was many of it’s streets and buildings were demolished to make room for the Manhattan Bridge.

Bridges were not the only way Vinegar Hill was becoming more attached to the rest of the city. In the 1904 the first subway was opened. Shortly after 1904, many more subway routes were created providing thousands of people with easy and affordable transportation. In addition, cars were becoming more commonplace towards the 1920s.  All of these factors made it easier for people to come and go from Vinegar Hill. Before the bridges, subways, and cars, people would not travel very far distances. Because of that there was a sense of dependency on the shops and industries in Vinegar Hill. That dependency faded away when people were given more ways to access Manhattan.

Hypotheses about Vinegar Hill 1820-1870, Reflection # 5

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Me and my group was given time period of 1820 to 1870, in technological developmental part, we realized that still in vinegar hill houses reflect Italian styles brown stones, iron railings and boot scrapers. We found some signs of ferries paths which were leading to industries as well, some traces of gas lamp and form of electricity  also found. Not only that we also found few transportation development in 1830 by civil and military engineer David Bates Douglas, who introduced traffic sic lanes, one for carts, one for light carriages and third one for pedestrians in two directions. For Civic & Private Organization part we found that the name today Brooklyn used to call “The Government Of Village Of The Brooklyn”. Secondly we found that information they used to capture in Brooklyn library, information like taxes, land record etc.

100 word reflection 3/7/16 class:Frank Smith

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My group was given the Vinegar Hill area in the time period of 1870-1920. In that time period there were many changes to Brooklyn most notably the change from Brooklyn being a city, to it be acquired into New York City, The Manhatten bridge was also built during this time period. The Manhatten bridge changed the landscape of downtown brooklyn extremely it change many streets in the neighborhood, so the people of the neighborhood were had more accessibility. Some of the key names in Brooklyn at this time were James Howell the mayor from 1872 to 1882, Patrick Keely who was an architect who greatly shaped brooklyn during this time period.

Reflections #6: Hypothesizing Vinegar Hill during the 1920’s-1960’s

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In the 1920’s- 1960’s Technology stimulated infrastructural growth, as well as the growth of the manufacturing industry. Examples of infrastructural growth would pertain to the addition of the BQE, and the extension of the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridge Extension Conditions. Growth of the manufacturing industry is also transparent through the use of the Navy Yard and through the structural methodology of steel and glass in architecture. Forms of technology that facilitated documentation during this growth period ranged from visual sources to verbal sources. Visual sources consist of photographs, varying from either aerial views or views at eye level as well as maps drawn from government agencies such as NYCHA or the Mayor’s Committee. Verbal sources consist of radio broadcasts and newspapers. Today, Vinegar Hill participates in the Brooklyn Tech Triangle, which is prevalent through it’s preservation of technologies and reinvention of construction and manufacturing methodologies i.e, CNC milling or 3D printing ship parts to design experimentation for facades etc.

Vinegar Hill has several entities contributing to it’s development, such as NYCHA, the Mayor’s Committee, Mayor LaGuardia and Robert Moses. Other agencies which participated in the growth of urbanism in Vinegar Hill would be the Department of Transportation, Department of Parks and the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Each of these entitites are drivers whom revitalized vinegar hill, by created new infrastructures, parks, housing complexes etc. Today, transportation has been made much more accessible through the addition of buses and trains, as well as projected bike paths. The power authority has also continued it’s presence through the utilization of the Con Edison properties. 

Information that may have not been captured around this time period probably related to agricultural exports, imports or inventory as well as energy simulation through gas or electricity. We hypothesized that water and food quality were also not surveyed around this time.