Telling Brooklyn Stories Toggle navigation

(DUMBO is an acronym for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass)  Journal of Urban Design, Vol. 7, No. 2, 171–199, 2002 .http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=2f7e123a-6fd4-4216-8a6d-80d187bdd51b%40sessionmgr13&vid=5&hid=101 Uzair B.

The land that now comprises DUMBO was among the earliest in Brooklyn developed for

residential use. By the 1830s the character of the neighborhood began to change as residential

structures were replaced by commercial buildings and multi-story factories and warehouses. The

owners of these structures were attracted to the area because of its proximity to the East River

and the presence of ferry lines providing convenient connections to New York City. Among the

earliest commercial structures in the district are the c. 1850 66-72 Water Street and c. 1855 64

Water Street, which both take the form of Greek Revival style counting houses.

The neighborhood became increasingly industrial in the decades following the Civil War.  (e.c)

http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/DUMBO_Designation_Report.pdf Patrick Abraham

The primacy of the waterfront in the movement of goods and raw materials made a location along the river vital for industrial facilities.  Industrial production on the East River’s eastern shore grew  particularly to the north of the warehouse-dominated waterfront of South  Brooklyn, from the Navy Yard through the adjacent villages of  Williamsburg and Greenpoint, along the subsidiary waterway of Newtown  Creek, and into Hunter’s Point, Queens. Brooklyn historian Henry Stiles  also credited the clearing of the treacherous rocks of the Hell Gate  narrows, creating a viable route into the East River corridor accessible  from Long Island Sound for the northward growth of industrial activity.

The Fulton Ferry neighborhood is named for a prominent ferry line  crossing the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn, and is also the  name of the ferry slip on the Brooklyn side. Brooklyn Heights, to the  southeast of Fulton Ferry, is widely called New York’s first commuter  village—its existence was made possible by ferry service, with  warehouses lining the waterfront and townhomes for wealthy New Yorkers  appearing further inland.

The concrete monoliths that line the South Brooklyn waterfront next to  Sunset Park mark one of the few major points of industry still active on  the New York City port. At one point during World War II, half the cargo destined for Europe  from the East Coast left from this spot, and ultimately around three  million troops departed the port for overseas on the hundreds of boats  that set sail from its docks. Even Elvis Presley would deploy out of the  Brooklyn Army Terminal for Germany in 1958, and there is still an  exhibit in the BAT lobby with photographs of the King and his fellow  G.I.s. When the United States formally entered World War I on April 6, 1917, Congress appropriated funds for massive terminals to be built along the  Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, assuming that the war would continue for at  least another two years. The Brooklyn Army Terminal was to be the  largest of these terminals, and would be constructed next to Bush Terminal, an existing complex taken over by the military as a naval  port.

http://brooklynbased.net/email/2012/03/brooklyn-history-the-south-brooklyn-waterfront/ -MJ

New Yorkers’ understandable thirst for greenswards along the city’s 578-mile waterfront has coaxed a series of administrations in City Hall and Albany to begin building the 65-acre Hudson River esplanade and to mull the open-space potential of the 173-acre Governors Island. Yet even as the city embarks on its most ambitious round of park development since Olmsted and Vaux built Central Park, a breathtaking opportunity onBrooklyn’s East River waterfront has languished. More than 60 acres of piers, just south of the Brooklyn Bridge, could be transformed into a harborfront park whose vistas alone would make it a required destination for residents and visitors alike. Brooklyn’s 2.3 million inhabitants, like Manhattanites, are starving for open space. With only 1.87 acres of greensward for every 1,000 residents, Brooklynites have much less space for active and passive recreation than New Yorkers in the Bronx (5.65 acres per 1,000), Queens (3.64 acres) and Staten Island (16.77 acres). Equally important, the four huge piers — much like Battery Park and Governors Island — offer a panoramic view of the harbor and a window on the city’s Revolutionary and Civil War history. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER] Copyright of New York Times is the property of New York Times and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder’s express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. Noarranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

(American Medical Assoc.)

Reference List

Brooklyn’s Underused Waterfront. New York Times [serial online]. July 5, 1998:10. Available from: Academic Search Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed October 3, 2012. – Pimp c

During the afternoons, particularly during the warm-weather months, dozens

of people use the site at any one time. At sunset, crowds often exceed 100

people. Through observations and conversations with site users, it is apparent

that those who use the site are of all ages and racial/ethnic backgrounds.

Most live in or near the surrounding areas, although people from other parts of

the city and tourists also visit the site.Journal of Urban Design, Vol. 7, No. 2, 171–199, 2002

Brooklyn’s Vernacular Waterfront Uzair B.

“For decades, people in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, have lived  with the possible health hazards from oil spills in their industrial  waterfront. Up to 30 million gallons of petroleum — almost three times  the amount dumped off the Alaskan coast by the Exxon Valdez in 1989 —  made their way into Newtown Creek and surrounding neighborhoods from  dozens of refineries over more than a century.

Now residents have a new anxiety: Toxic gases may be rising into  their homes from below, the legacy of dry-cleaning plants, foundries and  other manufacturers that once operated in this hub, which has long been  home to immigrants and, more recently, artists and young professionals.”http://waterandwork.wordpress.com/.(chris)

The construction of the Brooklyn Bridge started in 1869 and took 14 years to     complete.

    At the time many saw the construction of such a large bridge as a folly.

  The driving force behind the whole project, John Roebling, was a German immigrant who had worked for the Prussian government as a bridge and road builder. He launched the idea of building a bridge across the East River after he had taken a ferry across the river that ended up stuck in the ice.

    John Roebling would never get to see the bridge he had     designed: he died     after crushing his foot in an accident. He wasn’t the only one to lose his life during the construction: 20 of the in total 600 workers died while working on the bridge. The son of John Roebling, Washington Roebling, took over the leadership of the project     but he suffered from the caisson-disease as a result of the works on the pillars of the bridge and was on his deathbed during the inauguration.

Brooklyn Bridge Tower

That day, May 24, 1883, about 150,000 people     crossed the bridge.

    Roebling had not just made a bridge that looked incredibly strong, it also turned out to be just as strong in reality. A mesh of cables of which the four strongest have a diameter of 11 inches are anchored in the ground and keep the bridge from collapsing. But even if the four strongest cables would snap, the other cables would still be sufficient to support the bridge. Roebling even claimed that the bridge wouldn’t collapse without any cables, it would merely sag.

But even after the inauguration, many New Yorkers were not convinced the bridge was safe. So as to prove the doubters wrong, P.T. Barnum led a caravan of circus animals – including a herd of 21 elephants – across the bridge in 1884.

Brooklyn Bridge Tower

The Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge ranks as one of the greatest engineering feats of the 19th century and remains one of New York’s most popular and well known landmarks.

  The impressive bridge spans the East river between Brooklyn and Manhattan and stretches for a length of 5989 ft, about 1.8 km. The length between the large  towers is 1595.5 ft (486 meter). This made the Brooklyn bridge the world’s largest suspension bridge.

  The most noticeable feature of the Brooklyn Bridge are the two masonry towers to which the many cables are attached. The towers with large gothic arches are 276 ft tall (84 meter), at the time making them some of the tallest landmarks in New York. Roebling claimed that the monumental towers would make

The Footpath

  the bridge a historic monument. He was proven right when the bridge officially became a national monument in 1964.

Footpath

An elevated pedestrian path not only gives you the opportunity to cross the river without being bothered by the traffic that rushes past a level below, but it also offers a great view of the bridge’s towers as well as downtown Manhattan’s skyline. The views alone attract millions of visitors to this bridge each year.

Brooklyn

Brooklyn, founded by Dutch settlers in the 17th century was an independent city until 1898 when Brooklyn decided in a close vote to become a borough of New York. At that time the Brooklyn bridge had connected the two cities for 15 years.

http://www.aviewoncities.com/nyc/brooklynbridge.htm MM

Brooklyn’s industrial waterfront, declared one of America’s eleven most endangered historic places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2007. Teshanee Catlyn

(Angel)

11 Most Endangered Historic PlacesBrooklyn’s Industrial Waterfront

Year Listed: 2007

  Location: Brooklyn, New York

   Threat: Development, Poor Public Policy

Significance

Once a booming 19th-century industrial waterfront supported by  generation of immigrants, Brooklyn’s heritage is at risk as historic  dockyards and factories are being demolished by developers anxious to  cash in on the area’s newly hip status. For more than a century, the New  York City region was one of this country’s dominant manufacturing hubs.  Due to its location on the East River and the New York Harbor, Brooklyn  was the city’s industrial center with scores of maritime operations,  factories, warehouses and sugar refineries. In the second half of the  twentieth century, industry declined, and what’s left of that striking  architectural and historical legacy is now at risk. Also at risk are the  places that make Brooklyn work, the buildings and sites that house  manufacturing and industrial jobs.

http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/11-most-endangered/locations/brooklyns-industrial-waterfront.html (accessed 10/3/2012)

Once a booming 19th-century industrial waterfront supported by  generation of immigrants, Brooklyn’s heritage is at risk as historic  dockyards and factories are being demolished by developers anxious to  cash in on the area’s newly hip status. For more than a century, the New  York City region was one of this country’s dominant manufacturing hubs.  Due to its location on the East River and the New York Harbor, Brooklyn  was the city’s industrial center with scores of maritime operations,  factories, warehouses and sugar refineries. In the second half of the  twentieth century, industry declined, and what’s left of that striking  architectural and historical legacy is now at risk. Also at risk are the  places that make Brooklyn work, the buildings and sites that house  manufacturing and industrial jobs.

In the spring of 2000, a series of rock sculptures were constructed (and were

destroyed soon after) (see Figure 17). Made mostly of granite paving stones,

In the spring of 2000, a series of rock sculptures were constructed (and wer

destroyed soon after) (see Figure 17). Made mostly of granite paving stones,

precariously piled on top of each other into slender towers, they stood mocking

the Manhattan skyline in the distance. Experiencing these installations, it was

hard not to feel as if they represented some alternative take on contemporary

urban life. Their impermanence and frailty provides us with a reminder of the

more ephemeral qualities of our city, culture and environment.Journal of Urban Design, Vol. 7, No. 2, 171–199, 2002

Brooklyn’s Vernacular Waterfront -Uzair B.

DANIEL CAMPO

The Brooklyn Bridge Park is an 85-acre post-industrial waterfront site  stretching 1.3 miles along Brooklyn’s East River edge. The site spans  from the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges in the north to Pier 6 and  Atlantic Avenue in the south. The site is long and narrow with a  crenulated edge formed by the piers.

The park, designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, includes  Piers 1-6, Empire Fulton Ferry and Main Street. In addition, two  historic properties, the Civil war-era Empire Stores and the Tobacco  warehouse, will be integrated into the park. This park features many activities for one to pursue including “playing fields, sport courts, playgrounds, lawns, and running and  bicycle paths”, also a  “calm water area is available for kayaking and canoeing.”

Before 1984, the Brooklyn Bridge Park served as an area of cargo operations, but in 1984, the operations was stopped and the are was closed down by the port authority, in order to sell it for commercial-based operations to take part of this great piece of land. Instead this caused “a re-evaluation of the site’s value as a public resource”.

 In 1998 the Downtown Brooklyn Waterfront Local Development  Corporation was created to undertake a public planning process for  Brooklyn Bridge Park. The result of that effort was the September 2000  Illustrative Master Plan, which presented a conceptual framework for a  waterfront park.

On May 2, 2002, Governor George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a Memorandum of Understanding  (MOU) dedicating state and city funding for the park’s construction and  providing for the creation of Brooklyn Bridge Park Development  Corporation (BBPDC) to oversee the design and construction of the park.  An important mandate of the MOU was that, once built, the park is  required to be economically self sufficient with respect to its own  ongoing maintenance and operations. Therefore, revenue producing  development is a necessary component of the project to support its  annual maintenance and operations.

In 2004, BBPDC hired the landscape architecture team of Michael Van  Valkenburgh Associates to lead the extensive development of the  Brooklyn Bridge Park. In 2005, “the Master Plan was  released, environmental reviews for the project were completed and the General Project Plan was approved (and subsequently modified in 2006 and 2010)” Ground was broken on the park in February 2008.

Recently in the summer of 2012, the developments of “Pier 1″. The pier would include: ” a 200-room hotel, 159 residential  units, 16,000 square feet of restaurant space, 2,000 square feet of  retail space, a 6,000 square-foot fitness center and 300 parking spaces. The development of “Pier 1” isby the joint venture the Starwood Capital Group and Toll Brothers City Living. This project is expected to be finished in the Summer of 2013. -O.G.

http://www.brooklynbridgepark.org/the-park       -O.G.

Did you know a ticket for the steamboat ferry in 1814 only cost 4 cents? Now thats a budget.

<iframe src=”http://blip.tv/play/hYh%2BgebKbwI.html?p=1” width=”550″ height=”443″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe><embed type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” src=”http://a.blip.tv/api.swf#hYh+gebKbwI” style=”display:none”></embed>   Restorationof the Brooklyn park and waterfront  MM

Red Hook in Brooklyn is a surprising neighborhood tucked along an old industrial waterfront.

 It’s chock-a-block with refreshing views of both the water and southern  tip of Manhattan, dedicated local residents, and interesting venues.   Red Hook makes for a great day trip from Manhattan for tourists and  visitors, and an interesting place for Brooklyn residents to explore.

  Red Hook in Brooklyn is more than your typical Brooklyn neighborhood.  It’s a work in progress, defined by a mixture of light industry, open  space, residential enclaves and a still palpable sense of urban  pioneering. The population density here is lower than in most of  Manhattan, so it can seem, by comparison, very quiet.  http://brooklyn.about.com/od/brooklynneighborhoods/ss/Views-And-Directions-To-Red-Hook-Brooklyn-By-Car-Subway-Bus-And-Ikea-Ferry.htm  ( Tifany W. )

Brooklyn Greenway to Go Through Dumbo Waterfront August 25th, 2006

The Brooklyn Greenway Initiative is a project to create a connection between numerous waterfront communities now divided by highways and transit infrastructure for waterfront access, bike trails along 14 miles of Brooklyn waterfront.

The planned pathway spans from Greenpoint to Navy Yards, Vinegar Hill, and Dumbo down to Red Hook. For joggers, bikers, and pedestrians, the route through Vinegar Hill and Dumbo would give a good view of the bridges and the waterfront:

Route in Vinegar Hill – Ideal route for Brooklyn Bridge Park and proximity to waterfront is Gold St. to John St. to the Jay St. park gateway. This could result in a segment of unique character through an historic neighborhood.

Looks like the project may finish by the time the Brooklyn Bridge Park is scheduled to finish around 2010. http://dumbonyc.com/2006/08/25/brooklyn-greenway-to-go-through-dumbo-waterfront/ (Kenny.C)

 BY: T. Azad

 The Brooklyn Bridge ranks as one of the greatest engineering feats of  the 19th century and remains one of New York’s most popular and well  known landmarks.

  The impressive bridge spans the East river between Brooklyn and  Manhattan and stretches for a length of 5989 ft, about 1.8 km. The  length between the large  towers is 1595.5 ft (486 meter). This made the  Brooklyn bridge the world’s largest suspension bridge.- One of the Brooklyn’s waterfront landmarks Teshanee Catlyn

The mound of  salt in the Red Hook Marine Terminal soars over the waterfront, as white  and dry as the sands of Coney Island and as tall as the four-story  brick tenements across the street.

  Salt piles,  while not common, have been seen over the years in the neighborhood,  which is on the border, roughly, of Red Hook and Cobble Hill. But  residents said that this heap, at the corner of Kane and Columbia  Streets, had risen dramatically over the past week. Not only that, they  added, the constant breezes off the East River leave a gritty coating of  salt on parked cars, plants, benches and apartment windows.Now Growing in Brooklyn, A Waterfront Pile of Salt- Uzair B.

BYLINE: By COLIN MOYNIHAN

SECTION: Section A; Column 0; Metropolitan Desk; Pg. 19

LENGTH: 511 words

 “Nearly all large urban waterfront redevelopments have a significant recreation

component. In fact, the public justication of these projects often hinges upon

increased recreational opportunities at the water’s edge. But if it is the quest for

recreation or park space that ultimately drives the plans for these large-scale

developments or ensures their passage through an often-arduous public approvals

process, there may be better, more informal alternatives.”   – Brooklyn’s Vernacular Waterfront, Daniel Campo (kochatorn boonmark)

 With an okay by the New York City Council in May, industrial North Brooklyn will soon become the hub of a major redevelopment effort, and possibly set a striking precedent for affordable housing.  A rezoning plan by the city will allow residential and commercial  development within 175 blocks of Greenpoint and Williamsburg, gritty  neighborhoods whose manufacturing sectors have declined in recent  decades. The area boasts dramatic views of Manhattan across the East River. The proposal includes over 10,000 new units of housing, with a third of those affordable. If they provide enough affordable units, developers would be permitted to build up to 35 stories  The plan also calls for 54 acres of parkland, including a waterfront esplanade. Though some locals are concerned with the prospect of apartment towers looming over the much lower-density waterfront, most public officials have been enthusiastic about the plan                    – By Ilan Kayatsky (kochatorn boonmark)

 http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=4&hid=3&sid=c45b3915-cd5d-446c-94d7-e821e77d950b%40sessionmgr14&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=17689974

Brooklyn waterfront is located under the brooklyn bridge and across from the southern tip of Manhattan. it is a very tourists attraction and people mostly go there for the view and picnicing activitiesduring a nice summers day.

there is more access to the East River waterfront in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. After a ribbon cutting ceremony that  was held for WNYC Transmitter Park. There is also a newly built recreational pier which will open at the end of the year. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz quips that it also offers stunning views of “the outer borough of Manhattan.”  http://online.wsj.com/article/APf4cd7254de6449cc917bd52bf9f5e8bc.html

Cool fun fact/ story: As legend has it, the northernmost tip of Brooklyn was given the name  “Greenpoint” by 17th-century sailors who oriented themselves by its  forested headland, which jutted out into the East River amid wetlands  and saltwater marshes. Greenpoint has evolved dramatically from forest  to farmland to industrial waterfront to its latest iteration: a rapidly  gentrifying neighborhood of dense, low-rise residential and commercial  property. Its waterfront is crowded with little-used industrial  buildings and loading docks http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443864204577623563383441508.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

  – Flor  Santacruz

http://www.rpa.org/library/pdf/RPADOTBWGbrooklyngreenwayprospectus.pdf,     chalice

Albert Anastasia, born in 1902 in Italy, became a naturalized citizen in  1943 while serving in the United States Army. Mr. Anastasia allegedly  controlled racket business ran strong arm activities on the New York  City waterfront and was a strike buster. He was also a leading figure in a criminal group located in Brooklyn,  New York referred to as “Murder, Incorporated”. Mr. Anastasia faced a  deportation hearing in 1953 due to his criminal activity. On October 25,  1959, he was killed by a masked gunman while sitting in a barber’s  chair at the Hotel Park Sheraton located at 7th Avenue and 55th Street  in New York City.

As industrial users moved to other sites, the Brooklyn and Queens  waterfront was eyed by the city as a place to shift facilities unwanted  in Manhattan, such as Consolidated Edison power plants in Vinegar Hill,  Ravenswood, and Astoria in the 1920s. In 1966, ConEd built Big Allis, an  enormous power plant that dominates the Queens East River skyline  today. Public housing projects were sited in the area, as cheap and  marginal land was desired for slum clearance and redevelopment. In 1939,  the large Queensbridge public housing project opened in Ravenswood,  followed in the 1950s by housing projects in Astoria, Vinegar  Hill/DUMBO, and another massive complex in Ravenswood. In the late  1950s, Robert Moses led the charge for construction of the  Brooklyn/Queens Expressway, a significant swath of highway cutting  through Brooklyn and Queens. The road effectively cut off portions of  waterfront neighborhoods from their interior neighbors. Patrick Abraham

The BAT was decommissioned in 1960 and later bought by the City of New  York in 1981, operating it as an industrial park. The departure of the  military left the South Brooklyn waterfront with an imposing vacancy,  the cobblestone streets cut with unused train tracks and shrouded in the  shadows of the warehouses, the vast interior acres of the complexes  almost entirely empty. Bush Terminal was designed by London-born architect William Higginson,  who was responsible for many of the early 20th century industrial  buildings in New York, and named for Irving T. Bush, founder of the Bush  Terminal Company. When it was completed, it was the largest  multi-tenant complex in the United States, employing 25,000 people.  Several of its major buildings had already been finished by 1911,  construction was ongoing until 1926. It now sprawls over the area  between Second Avenue and Upper Bay between 28th and 50th streets. In  recent years the once-empty space has been rechristened as Industry  City, and some of it square-footage is now being used as offices for the  creative industry and also as art studios and galleries.

Before the world wars and the industrial expansion of the  neighborhood, the South Brooklyn waterfront had already been a center  for jobs in the maritime industry, including shipbuilding and seafaring.  A huge population of Scandinavian immigrants settled in the area and  many lived behind the docks and brick warehouses of what would become  Bush Terminal. The area was appealing as one of the few waterfront  industry centers not dominated by the mob connected to the  Longshoremen’s Union. Ambrose Park on the waterfront was large enough to  host traveling entertainment, including Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show,  which set up camp in 1894.

When the Gowanus Expressway was completed in 1941, replacing the  elevated Culver Line which rumbled down Fifth Avenue and part of Third  Avenue, bringing masses of laborers to the area by public  transportation, the road effectively sliced off the industrial center  from the rest of the surrounding Sunset Park neighborhood, and put an  end to any residential qualities it still had. The Robert Moses project  greatly contributed to the current ghost town feel of much the South  Brooklyn industrial area, where on bright weekend mornings you can find  yourself entirely alone in the canyons of the towering warehouses,  catching glimpses of the water in a silence that was once a cacophony of  industry.

  http://brooklynbased.net/email/2012/03/brooklyn-history-the-south-brooklyn-waterfront/

  M.Kwan

FUN FACTS Fun Facts About the Brooklyn Bridge

Bridge Style of the Brooklyn Bridge: Suspension Bridge.

What River Does the Brooklyn Bridge Cross: East River

Who maintains the Brooklyn Bridge: New York City Department of Transportation

Who Designed the Brooklyn Bridge: John Augustus Roebling

 Is there a toll to cross the Brooklyn Bridge: No, it’s free both ways

Tower Structureof the Brooklyn Bridge: Stone masonry

Distance of roadbed above water of the Brooklyn Bridge: 135 feet

Height of Towers above high waterof the Brooklyn Bridge: 276½ feet

Height of Towers above roadway of the Brooklyn Bridge: 159 feet

Height of Tower Arches above roadway of the Brooklyn Bridge: 117 feet

Number of Suspension Cables: four 15 3/4? diameter wire ropes.

Number of Strands in each cable: 19

Total Length of Wire for the Brooklyn Bridge in cables: approximately 3600 miles

Miles of wrapping wire on each cable: 243 miles 943 feet

Number of Suspenders on the Brooklyn Bridge: 1520

Number of Diagonal Stays on the Brooklyn Bridge: 400

Tested cable wire strength of the Brooklyn Bridge: 160 ksi

Maximum load on single cable of the Brooklyn Bridge: 6,000 kips

Ultimate strength of cables of the Brooklyn Bridge: 24,600 kips

Brooklyn Bridge East River Span: 1595.5 feet

Length of Brooklyn Approach: 971 feet

Length of New York Approach: 1562½ feet

What is the official length of the Brooklyn Bridge: 5,989 feet, 1.13 miles.

Width of the Brooklyn Bridge Floor: 85 feet

Total Weight of the Brooklyn Bridge, excluding caissons, towers, anchorages: 14,680 tons

How much did it cost to build the Brooklyn Bridge: $15,100,000

What is the architectural style of the Brooklyn Bridge: Gothic

When was the Brooklyn Bridge added to NRHP: 1966

NRHP Reference# for the Brooklyn Bridge: 66000523http://www.thefreeresource.com/the-brooklyn-bridge-facts-history-timeline-and-resources-about-its-construction

MM

The things you could do in the Brooklyn Waterfront is go to Brooklyn Borough Hall , Brooklyn Borough Park, Brooklyn Heights Promenade, Brooklyn Historical Society (which we have visited for class), DUMBO Arts center,  New York Transit Museum, Plymouth Church, and Smack Mellon- TC

The ever growing industrialization of the areas near the waterfront have caused the general area to experience economic deterioration. Patrick Abraham

/sites.google.com/site/brooklynqueenswaterfront/overall-history

https:/

Title: NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: BROOKLYN WATERFRONT; A Shipyard’s Rebirth, Guided by the Past.

Authors: Kurutz, Steven

Source: New York Times; 10/8/2006, p11, 0p

Info: THE Brooklyn Navy Yard is in the early stages of a more than $100 million renovation, one its overseers hope will give a further boost to the long-neglected former shipbuilding site, which has bounced back in recent years and now has more than 200 tenants. Demolition is to begin early next year on Building 128, a former machine shop as big and hulking as an airport hangar; three new buildings are planned in its place. Elsewhere in the 300-acre industrial park, which sits along the river between Williamsburg and Dumbo, a half-dozen projects are in the works. There hasn’t been this much activity here since the mid-1960’s, when the Navy pulled up stakes and the yard became caught up in a tangle of local politics. But before any work is done, engineers and architects must consult the plans: 32,000 engineering and architectural drawings, some dating to the 1800’s, that make up the Navy Yard’s archive. Housed in a tiny room overlooking the Williamsburg Bridge, the documents form a kind of bolts-up history of the yard, which dates to 1801, boomed during World War II and today, with its brick warehouses and cobblestone roads, resembles nothing so much as a 19th-century factory town. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

T.Azad

There have been federal investigations of corruption on the waterfront for almost as long as there have been an FBI and an International Longshoremen’s Association. But the latest two-year probe into racketeering at East Coast and Gulf ports has a new wrinkle:  some targets of the investigation have been keeping abreast of the  agents’ findings by reading their secret progress reports to the Justice  Department.http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=9&hid=4&sid=fc2bbac4-a750-41ae-8284-7936e5d25ecf%40sessionmgr10&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=53522106(chris)

Brooklyn (bro?k?l?n), borough of New York City (1990 pop. 2,300,664), 71 sq mi (184 sq km), coextensive with Kings co., SE N.Y., at the western extremity of Long Island; an independent city from 1834, it became a New York borough in 1898. Brooklyn has the largest population of the city’s five boroughs.  Among its manufactures are machinery, textiles, paper products, and  chemicals; it is also a center of foreign and domestic commerce and has  extensive waterfront facilities. The Brooklyn (1883), Manhattan, and Williamsburg bridges span the East River, connecting Brooklyn with Manhattan; beneath the river are the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel (vehicular) and subway tunnels. The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge connects the borough with Staten Island.

 Neighborhoods and Points of Interest

Brooklyn  is a borough of well-defined neighborhoods, from the gentrified  brownstone communities of Park Slope and Cobble Hill to  Bedford-Stuyvesant, the largest African-American neighborhood in the  city. Brighton Beach has a large community of  Russian Jews, and there are also neighborhoods of Caribbean blacks,  Hispanics, Italians, Poles, Hasidic Jews, Arabs, Chinese, and others.

Among educational institutions in the borough are Brooklyn College of the City Univ. of New York, Polytechnic Institute of New York Univ., Pratt Institute, St. Joseph’s College, and Long Island Univ. Near Prospect Park, scene of fighting in the American Revolution (see Long Island, battle of), is the main building of the Brooklyn Public Library. Nearby are the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and the renowned, innovative Brooklyn Academy of Music.

In the “City of Churches,” the Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims, where Henry Ward Beecher preached, is perhaps best known. Other points of interest include Coney Island, with its beach, amusement park, and New York Aquarium; Green-Wood Cemetery; and the Lefferts Homestead (1777). Fort Hamilton (1831) overlooks the Narrows of New York Bay. Marine Park and parts of Jamaica Bay are included in Gateway National Recreation Area.

 History

The Dutch and English  settled the area (previously home to the Canarsie) in 1636 and 1637;  about nine years later Dutch farmers established the hamlet of  Brueckelen, near the present Borough Hall. By 1664, six towns had been established: Breuckelen (later anglicized to Brooklyn), Bushwick, Flatbush, Nieuw Amersfoort (Flatlands), Gravesend, and New Utrecht. Kings county was established in 1683; the Brooklyn Ferry area was incorporated as the village of Brooklyn in 1816, and the entire town was chartered as a city in 1834. In the 1830s Brooklyn Heights became perhaps the first modern suburb, accessible to New York City by ferry.

Brooklyn steadily absorbed neighboring settlements.  After annexing Williamsburg and Bushwick in 1854, it became the third  largest city in the United States, and continued to absorb other towns,  including Flatbush, New Utrecht, and Gravesend, until it became  coextensive with Kings County in 1896. In 1898, when it became a New York City borough, its population was 830,000. Immigration doubled its population in the next twenty years.

The New York Naval Shipyard (popularly, the Brooklyn Navy Yard) was located on the East River from 1801 until its closing in the late 1960s, when Brooklyn was declining as a port. The Daily Eagle, published in Brooklyn from 1841 until 1955, had Walt Whitman as one of its early editors. The borough is also famed as home to the Brooklyn Dodgers (at Ebbets Field), until the baseball team moved to Los Angeles in 1957.

 Bibliography

See H. C. Syrett, The City of Brooklyn, 1865–1898 (1944,repr. 1968); R. F. Weld, Brooklyn Is America (1950,repr. 1967) and Brooklyn Village, 1816–1834 (1932,repr. 1970); D. W. McCullogh, Brooklyn (1983); E. Willensky, When Brooklyn Was the World (1986); K. Jackson, The Neighborhoods of Brooklyn (1998); M. Linder and L. S. Zacharias, Of Cabbages and Kings County (1999).

Copyright  of Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition is the property of  Columbia University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed  to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder’s  express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.

(Angel)

The Waterfront Revitalization Program 2012 WRP Revisions – Summary  of Proposed Revisions

Policy 1 Residential and Commercial Redevelopment

Support and facilitate residential and commercial redevelopment in areas well suited to such development

GOALS OF REVISION

Incorporate climate change and

Jane’s Carousel was created in 1922, the heyday of the American  Carousel, by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (P.T.C.). Designated as  P.T.C. No. 61, it was originally installed in Idora Park in Youngstown,  Ohio, then a prosperous steel-making city. The Carousel has been fully  restored back to its original elegance. (e.c)

reasons for the brooklyn bridge water front- http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=0f152e4e-4cc2-4c33-87fa-87b066cd42fb%40sessionmgr15&vid=8&hid=1

Waterfront in the past http://youtu.be/bZNh3YEo04A and the waterfront now http://youtu.be/TKNn0PRqaLs MM

creunis –Brooklyn Bridge Park is an 85-acre (340,000 m2) park on Brooklyn’s East River Shoreline. The park has revitalized 1.3-mile (2.1 km) of Brooklyn’s post-industrial waterfront from Atlantic Avenue in the south, under the Brooklyn Bridge, to Jay Street north of the Manhattan Bridge.[1] The site includes Brooklyn Piers 1-6, the historic Fulton Ferry Landing, and the preexisting Empire Fulton Ferry Park and Main Street Park. Two Civil War-era structures, Empire Stores and the Tobacco Warehouse, will also be integrated into the park[1].

For as Geography without History seemeth a carkasse without motion, so History without Geography wandreth as a Vagrant without a certaine habitation.   Captain John Smith, General Historie of Virginia.  Cited in “A History of Exploration” (1961). by Sir Percy Sykes  (Justin)

WAYS TO ENTER THE WATERFRONT

Brooklyn Army Terminal—Pier 4 Designated Above Large open pier; mostly parking;

access water ferry service; city owned

52nd Street End Informal access See water Must pass security guard in tower

to get to water; area active during

weekday due to warehouses and

adjacent garbage transfer facility

Columbia Street Pier Designated Above City-owned, long narrow

access water breakwater of Erie Basin; with

parking and active recreation

lane; distribution facilities and

police tow pound

Van Brunt Street Pier/Beard Street Designated Above Warehouses have craft

Warehouses (Red Hook Piers) access water industries/artist space, informal

marina on Henry St Basin;

events; trolley run under

construction; privately owned

Conover Street Pier (Red Hook Piers) Designated Above Floating barge museum; garden;

access water seating

Pier 41/Coffey Street Pier (Red Hook Designated Touch Warehouse—craft industries,

Piers) access water artist space; Žshing, seating,

small boat launch

Louis Valentino Pier/Park Park Touch New recreation pier, Žshing,

water seating, beach/boat launch area

Fulton Ferry Landing Park Above Large open pier, interpretive

water signage detailing history, ferry

service planned; to be

incorporated into planned

Brooklyn Bridge Park

Empire Stores/Fulton Ferry State Park Park Above State park with boardwalk, picnic

water area and historic warehouse,

special events, historic

warehouse; to be incorporated

into Brooklyn Bridge Park

Main/Washington Streets (part of Designated See water Short paved walk around parking

DUMBO Waterfront) access lot, gated/limited hours, seating;

will be redeveloped into

Brooklyn Bridge Park

Manhattan Bridge Anchorage/Adams Informal See water Perimeter of open unpaved

Streets (part of DUMBO waterfront) access parking lots (two), fences have

holes/are often open; part of

planned city park

Jay Street (part of DUMBO waterfront) Informal access See water Street end, fenced; part ofhn

building

Bushwick Creek Informal See water Inlet with tanks, industrial

access facilities, fenced

Kent Street Informal – TC

 http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=6&hid=4&sid=1166d3b4-c8c9-4a2f-a39b-7e210891bb0e%40sessionmgr4

The concrete monoliths that line the South Brooklyn waterfront next to  Sunset Park mark one of the few major points of industry still active on  the New York City port. This stretch of massive warehouses, including  the Bush Terminal and the Brooklyn Army Terminal, as well as older brick  buildings in various states of decay, have quieted significantly since  serving as a major hub for the early 20th century American military  complex. http://brooklynbased.net/email/2012/03/brooklyn-history-the-south-brooklyn-waterfront/