Around 1895, the several and various Brooklyn dock and warehouse companies, including the Atlantic Dock Company, merged into a trust called the Brooklyn Wharf and Warehouse Company. Old monied names such as Pierrepont - there is a street named after...
Columbia Street Waterfront District: Shoreline from the 1940s to Present
This essay includes the a contextual history of the Columbia Street Waterfront, as well as a specific site histories of Block 334, 51 Union Street, and 60 Sackett Street.
India Wharf Brewing Company, 1880 -1920s
The India Wharf Brewing Company was formed in 1880 to brew beer, ale, and porter. Their initial capitalization was $1,000,000. According to Wine and Spirit Gazette of that year, the company was formed with a plan to share profits with liquor dealers...
Dry Agents Seize Liquor-Laden Ship, 1922
During Prohibition (1920 -1933), the many, bustling working piers of Red Hook made this neighborhood a good place for smugglers to move large quantities of alcohol, often using innovative speed boats to evade federal agents. On June 3, 1922, at the...
The New York Dock Company v. The India Wharf Brewing Company, 1908.
In 1908, the New York Supreme Court ruled in a dispute between the India Wharf Brewing Company and the New York Dock Company. The case provides some insight into the business of dock companies. The basic facts of the case were: The India Wharf...
"The Small Boy Goes 'Crabbing," 1892
" All day naked youngsters are perched on these logs, watching their bait, chasing each other over the slippery lumber or diving and paddling in the water." A story about naked boys in the late 1800s who fish for crabs among the millions of...
Ramberg Iron Works buys property from failed Atlantic Dock Company, 1918
Ramberg Iron Works paid $650,000 to the receivers of the Atlantic Dock Company for eight and three quarter acres fronting the Buttermilk Channel at the foot of Coffey, Dykman, Sullivan and Wolcott Streets in 1918. The site was within the free...
Ad: Coastwise Lumber & Supply Co., 1910 -1920
In 1910-1920, Coastwise Lumber & Supply Company was a wholesaler and retailer of lumber, including cordwood, dunnage boards and dunnage mats, advertising "steamship trade a specialty." They had two yards in Brooklyn: one at the foot of Clinton...
Red Hook Subway Plans, 1922
In 1922, New York City Mayor John F. Hylan, a strong advocate for expanding the subways, held public hearings on the topic. George T. McQuade of Coastwise Lumber & Supply Co. supported a line that would run down Hicks and Lorraine Streets in Red...
Ad: Red 'D' Line, 1920
In 1920, the Red 'D' line advertised that it would sail weekly from Pier 11, Red Hook Brooklyn, carrying passengers and freight between New York, Puerto Rico, Curacao and Venezuela. The line, established in 1838, was owned by Bliss,...