The issue of affordable housing is always an issue in the greater Red Hook, Brooklyn area, as it is elsewhere, but it is particularly relevant at the time of this writing (Spring 2025) when the NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC) is pushing...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
This 1859 map shows the established Atlantic Basin in Red Hook, and a neighboring "Proposed Basin" that was not built as shown. The large Erie Basin, however, was built closer to the Gowanus in the mid-1860s. The towns of Bushwick and Williamsburg...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
This 1850 map of the City of Brooklyn produced by J. F Harrison and published by M. Dripps shows the Red Hook waterfront in transition. The map shows a street grid where Coffey Park is today, but the park did not yet exist at the point...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
The large expanse of Brooklyn Red Hook property of John Dikeman and others was mapped in preparation of it sale on Monday, August 29, 1836. The map shows the waterline of Red Hook of the time and the projected land, roads and park noting that: ...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
The large Red Hook, Brooklyn estate of Jordan Coles was put up for sale on June 2nd, 1836, following his death. The map shows the Gowanus Creek, before it was turned into a canal; mills and mill ponds; scattered houses and a mansion, not aligned...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
William Perris was a first in producing fire insurance maps for Brooklyn. The Great fires in 1835 and 1845 that destroyed large sections of the New York City made it clear to insurers the utility of knowing what buildings were made of and what...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
The large Red Hook, Brooklyn estate of Jordan Coles was put up for sale on June 2nd, 1836, following his death. The map shows the Gowanus Creek, before it was turned into a canal; mills and mill ponds; scattered houses and a mansion, not aligned...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
A hand-drawn map of Brooklyn from the 1770s, showing Red Hook, "the road to the new ferry" and distances from Flatbush.
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
Maps showing the current property lines of IKEA, Thor Equities, and the Erie Basin Bargeport in the Erie Basin. We include these to show how there can be private property under water in general, and that the Erie Basin waterspace is not a public...
By The Red Hook WaterStories team
This 1892 map by the Corps of Engineers, titled Improvement of Gowanus Bay , New York Harbor shows, in addition to the existing Atlantic and Erie Basins, a proposed basin between Hicks and Clinton streets.
