By The Red Hook WaterStories team
The discovery of germ theory at the second end of the 19th century, following the close of the industrial revolution, brought hygiene to the front of people’s minds. As a result, when they organized committees and groups to keep their communities...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
In the summer of 1850, an African-American woman was abducted and brought to Red Hook Point - just below the Atlantic Dock - to be put on a schooner and brought to a Southern slave state. The captors told suspicious workers in the area that the...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
In 1866, two men and a dog from Red Hook, set sail in a metal life-boat rigged like a sailing ship. Captain Hudson and Mr. Fitch were out to prove the seaworthiness of the lifeboat , RED WHITE AND BLUE, designed by Brooklyn's Oliver Roland...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Frank Schmidt, known to the police as "Dutch Frank," a junk dealer operating in and around Red Hook Point faced trial for dealing in stolen goods, October 1855. Junk dealers made their living buying spare sails, ropes and old iron from...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
A building boom was expected for Red Hook Point in 1851. New streets were being constructed and a cotton mill was planned. Cotton was grown in the South but since the opening of the Atlantic Docks, in 1845, shiploads were coming to Red Hook to...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
In 1851, John Meddiger of Red Hook Point was employed as a sailmaker. In the 1850s most of the ships using Red Hook's ports, as elsewhere, were tall masted, wind powered vessels. "Meddiger John, sailmaker Red Hook Point"
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
In the 1800s oil for candles and light was big business. In 1855 both the Atlantic Oil Company and the New York Oil Company had their works in Red Hook Point taking advantage of the easy access to the water. Atlantic Oil Company. Incorporated May...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
A fire destroyed the property of five families living in shanties by the water at Red Hook Point, June 23, 1873. "The locality in question is a low section of made ground lying between King, Columbia and Richard streets, and is built upon by...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
On June 11, 1852 a prize fight was waged between Michael Welsh and James Cramer on Red Hook Point. It was attended by a crowd of approximately 600-700 people. The one police officer on the scene realized that he could not stop the event by himself...
