PortSide Interview: Don Horton's Memories of Red Hook, 1940-50
Don Horton worked with his family on barges from the age of 10 to 18. This meant that during WWII, his family was part of the merchant marines, doing dangerous work since German U-boats were attacking American commercial vessels trading along our coast. His brother, while a minor, died when a tug was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the Virginia coast. In September 2014, PortSide interviewed him as we took him around Red Hook to reminisce about his wartime memories of the place. He accidentally meets Sunny Balzano, and they share memories.
Don is a leader in the movement to have the women, children, elderly and disabled merchant mariners of WWII be recognized for their service. He succeeded in getting his mother to be the first woman to gain veteran status in the US Merchant Marine while serving on a US vessel, and his sister as the second, the only mother-daughter pair who served and gained this status, as of Veteran's Day 2018.
[Sad update: On Monday, August 7, 2023 James Donnell Horton, passed away at the age of 91, a year after his wife of 58 years Norita B. Horton.
The Great Dry Docks at Erie Basin
Red Hook once had two graving docks and many floating dry docks. This wonderfully illustrated article from the January 13, 1883 edition of Scientific American explains how graving docks at what became Todd Shipyard work. The shipyard site is now owned by IKEA, where you see the outline of the former graving dock in cobblestones in the parking lot. The dry dock's caisson (the door that you close to keep the water out) is still floating at the end of the dock area.
Overview of Resiliency Plans for Red Hook
YES, post hurricane Sandy, Red Hook has been, and still is being, intensely studied by the city, state and federal government; and it is being studied by many academic projects as well. Here is a quick overview of multiple government-funded plans and how they interrelate (or don't).
Puerto Rican Presence in Columbia Street: Community Park turned Shantytown
Puerto Rican Presence in Columbia Street: Community Park turned Shantytown
When the first wave of Puerto Ricans traveling by steamship arrived in Brooklyn, lamplighters could still be seen at dusk lighting the street lamps along Columbia Street. This, at a time when urban areas in Puerto Rico had electricity, was the first impression of political and social activist Joaquín Colón López when he arrived in 1918. Over the next years Columbia Street became the center of the first Puerto Rican colonia, reaching its peak in the 1940s, struggling for survival from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, and abruptly and completely ending in 1990s. In a neighborhood where the Puerto Rican presence is all but completely forgotten, this paper tells the story of the last efforts of the pioneros of the community in trying to preserve their way of life against the rapid urban development that erased their history. It is the story of the Puerto Rican Village Park/Plaza that occupied the empty lots on east Columbia Street in front of Irving Street and later became, and is now solely remembered as, The Shantytown. But first, to better understand the reasons and ultimately the significance of the Puerto Rican Village, it is necessary to know the context of its history, starting in 1917…
Red Hook Container Terminal
Ever wonder what's going on behind the containerport fence? This article explains how the place works. Red Hook gets one of its signature icons – gantry cranes at sunset – from the neighborhood’s largest maritime facility, the Red Hook Container Terminal (RHCT) operated by the company Red Hook Terminals. They handle more than containers.
Walking Tour of Historic Red Hook
A walk around Red Hook starting at PortSide New York's MARY A. WHALEN, in Atlantic Basin, meandering to Red Hook's NYCHA houses and then ending up at the restaurants of Van Brunt Street.