Italian Laborers at Pier 30, 1918
Photo of three mustachioed Italian dock workers reported to be taken at Pier 30, Red Hook, Brooklyn on November 6, 1918. (photographer unknow to us)
Red Hook Water Stories in Literature: Charles Yale Harrison
Charles Yale Harrison best known for his anti-war novel Generals Die in Bed set his second novel A Child is Born (1931) among the poor of Red Hook. He focused on society's ills in hopes of effecting change. A reviewer in the Brooklyn Eagle...
Red Hook Water Stories in Literature: John Dos Passos
Joe was reeling himself. He stuck his head in a bucket of water and cleaned up the cabin and threw the bottles overboard and started working on the claxon regularly. To hell with ‘em, he kept saying to himself, he wouldn’t be a plaster saint for...
Ballast from overseas becomes Red Hook landfill & introduces foreign seeds, 1879-1880
Cargo ships are designed to carry heavy weights, and without it they ride too high in the water and are unstable. Ships not laden with enough goods would take on ballast, often in the form of sand or gravel to allow them to safely sail. ...
Growing discrimination against Black sailors, 1903
At the beginning of the 19th Century, one out of five American sailors were black; at the start of the 20th Century, Black sailors in Brooklyn were facing severe job discrimination. The Brooklyn Eagle reported in 1903 that: The race question...
The ship chandlery cat
“Next to killing a cat on board ships, is to maltreat a cat in a ship's chandlery. The ship chandlery cat is a beautiful specimen that is stroked by every seaman who comes in. Its function in life is to take care of the big rats that come from the...
Inspecting Fort Defiance, 1776
July 7 - We breakfasted with General Putnam, who we found to be rough in his manner and speaking, but cheerful. He offered us his barge and D Morgan accompanied us to Governor’s Island, Red Hook and a Neck that joined Long Island. The works at...
On Buttermilk Channel, etching by Henry Farrer (1844-1903)
Henry Farrer was born in England in 1844 but moved to America, ending his career in Brooklyn in 1903. He was known for his tonalist watercolor landscapes and etchings. His listed works include On Buttermilk Channel, At Red Hook (1880) and...
A view of Red Hook's shanties, c. 1930
Newspaper photo of the shacks of Red Hooks "Tin City" or shanty towm (It went by several other names, such as Hoover City, and Orkenen Sur). The large building on the right is the Sapolin Paint Company factory (now Treasure Island) on...
The Fibre Disintegrating Company
The Fibre Disintegrating Company had large factory in Red Hook making paper from bamboo during the period after the Civil War. Schooners sailed the bamboo from Jamaica to Brooklyn. The Journal of the Society of Arts reported that at...