GREENPOINT WATERFRONT HISTORY AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Greenpoint was merely rural farmland until the mid 19th century when population and economic growth in Manhattan forced shipbuilders beyond the island’s borders. Greenpoint, handsomely situated on the East River, drew the attention of several prominent shipbuilders, who not only acquired land for their new shipyards but also for their new estates, replacing the sprawling farmland cultivated for centuries.

Although the eastern waterfront of the East River was a natural extension of the Manhattan shipping core, Greenpoint, or Groen Hoek as the Dutch settlers christened it in the 1600’s, was a particularly isolated enclave. Disconnected from Manhattan and the rest of Brooklyn by waterways navigable only by boat and with no reliable roadway to Queens, transportation to and from Greenpoint was a looming obstacle. Resourceful businessmen began constructing bridges, building roads and establishing ferry service. In 1838 the first bridge was built over Bushwick Creek followed by the first regular ferry service to Manhattan in 1852. These transportation advancements transformed Greenpoint into a viable location for New York City’s growing industrialization.

Wooden shipbuilding was the first burgeoning industry to in Greenpoint. Between 1850 and 1870, dozens of shipyards peppered the waterfront between the Newtown Creek to the north and the Bushwick Creek to the south. As shipbuilding matured, contributory industries flourished including lumber, rope and pitch, all supplying integral resources to the shipyards.

Oil also gained a foothold along the Brooklyn banks of the East River and Newtown Creek. Lead by Charles Pratt and his Astral Oil Works, oil refineries on the East River benefited from proximity to the new shipbuilding industry, where new ships were constructed to transport crude oil prior to the construction of pipelines and adjacency to Manhattan, the countries most active and lucrative international port.

Continued industrial growth beyond Manhattan Island brought many craftsmen, first contributing to the shipbuilding trades, then establishing other highly skilled craft industries such as porcelain works, glassblowing and iron foundries. The proliferation of these various industries diversified the industrialization of Greenpoint while simultaneously effecting economic and ethnic stratification among neighborhood residents. Not only prominent shipbuilding families and wealthy businessmen inhabited Greenpoint but also craftsmen and labors, who were primarily new immigrants arriving in waves from Eastern and Western Europe and supplanting themselves in the new rowhouses affronting the residential streets of Greenpoint.

Just as shipbuilding began the industrial trend and residential development of Greenpoint, it was responsible for solidifying Greenpoint’s place in history. Early in Greenpoint’s nautical history, clipper ships and ferry boats of unsurpassed magnitude were produced for owners around the United States. In 1866, the largest wooden ship of the day, the Great Republic, was built along the Newtown Creek.

Spurred by the demands of the Civil War, Greenpoint shipbuilders harnessed the newest technology in construction and warfare, retrofitting many shipyards once focused solely on wooden boat production with iron foundries and plate manufacturing to produce iron warships. In 1862, the Union’s first ironclad vessel was launched from the Continental Ironworks shipyard, adjacent to the Bushwick Creek Inlet. The Monitor, designed by John Ericsson, was built in less than four months, and became the precedent upon which a host of iron naval vessels were designed and built to aid both the Union and Confederate cause throughout the war.

The end of the Civil War began the decline of Greenpoint’s shipbuilding prominence. Wooden shipbuilding was relegated to the past, and although many Greenpoint shipyards were retrofit to meet the wartime demands of iron shipbuilding, the shipyards and available land adjacent to the shipyards could not expand enough to compete with the copious landmass available throughout the flourishing mid-United States. Aquatic proximity was overshadowed by the development of rail travel, allowing landlocked areas to transport iron and steel commodities, including merchant and military ships, anywhere in the nation. As a result, most shipyards in Greenpoint dwindled as the 19th century proceeded toward the 20th.

In an effort to maintain an industrial foothold, some Greenpoint shipyards grasped at new industrial ventures. Companies once dedicated to shipbuilding branched out into the thriving realm of New York City’s growing infrastructure. The Sneeden and Rowland Shipyard, the first shipyard to produce iron vessels and later called the Continental Ironworks, constructed pipes for the High Bridge Aqueduct, a vital link between New York City and the Croton Reservoir, the sole source of drinking water for the city. Also, in 1871, the Webb and Bell shipyard fashioned the massive caissons for the Brooklyn Bridge. Unfortunately these alternate avenues did not prove to be sustaining as the Greenpoint industrial base was undercut by cheaper production in the mid-Atlantic and mid-west.

Greenpoint’s industry would never thrive as it had throughout the 1800’s. Faster, accessible transportation as well as the bountiful land available from western expansion, turned investor’s eyes to business and industrial opportunities beyond the banks of the East River. Left in the wake of 50 years of artisans and refined crafts were “smoking skies, blazing blasts from fiery furnaces, the never ceasing machinery in hundreds of factories, where thousands of laborers spent their busy days…” (William Felter, Historic Greenpoint 1919, reprinted in Greenpoint Neighborhood History Guide, p.19) Remaining industry scraped by for several years but with little hope of regaining prominence in the economy of the nation. Cancellation of ferry service from Greenpoint to Manhattan in February 1933 symbolized the end of Greenpoint’s involvement in American industry.

Today Greenpoint is a neighborhood mired by its history. The unregulated industry begun in the 1800’s left a lethal mark in the community, the worst offender being the oil refineries and oil storage tanks. Today, Greenpoint boasts the largest oil spill in the country, 17 million gallons encompassing about 52 acres, in the form of an underground lake. Removal of this massive environmental disaster did not begin until the mid-1990’s and is expected to take at least 20 more years to complete.

The polluting oil refineries vacated Greenpoint in the mid-1960’s and were replaced by another environmental burden; wastewater treatment and handling plants, bringing ghastly smells to the neighborhood. Ironically, the wastewater plants resulted in environmental improvement for the neighborhood, significantly reducing the amounts of raw sewage freely flowing into the East River. Their presence also brought government attention and began resolution of lingering environmental problems, such as the pollution of Newtown Creek, left in the wake of over 100 years of heavy industry.

The constitution of Greenpoint remained deeply rooted in its past. Craftsmen still call Greenpoint home. The Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center, located at the terminus of Manhattan Avenue, the major retail artery of the community, is a non-profit organization where independent craftsmen including 72 small businesses, mostly woodworkers, practice their artisanal vocation. Also, the presence of European immigration is still felt today, as many dubbed Greenpoint “Little Poland”, Greenpoint having the largest concentration of Polish- Americans in the country.

Today this community is actively attempting to reclaim their waterfront. A myriad of community organizations actively lobby against businesses that might contribute to the environmental decay of the already suffering waterfront. These groups also work closely with local and state government agencies to institute environmental improvements like the eradication of the subterranean oil spill. Finally, the community resolutely works to reclaim the waterfront for community use, such as parks and walking paths

Ever indebted to its historic development but conscious of the its tenuous future, Greenpoint strives to recapture the waterfront that figured so prominently in community development and beckons to become the catalyst for the community’s future.