Brooklyn, first settled by the Dutch in the 1630s, was incorporated as a city in 1834. During the nineteenth century it gradually absorbed the nearby towns of Williamsburgh, Bushwick, New Lots, Flatbush, Gravesend, New Utrecht and Flatlands, and grew to encompass nearly 80 square miles. When construction of the Brooklyn Bridge began in the late 1860s, Brooklyn was a bustling city of nearly half a million residents. It boasted a flourishing maritime industry, many cultural institutions, Prospect Park and its own newspaper, the “Brooklyn Eagle,” whose best known editor was Walt Whitman. In 1898, against the wishes of the many proud Brooklynites who wanted the city to remain independent, Brooklyn became a borough of Greater New York.
The Atlantic Basin
By the late 1860s, the six-mile stretch of Brooklyn’s waterfront between Greenpoint on the north and Red Hook on the south was solidly lined with docks and warehouses. Here merchant ships from around the world came to trade fruit, sugar, tea and other goods for American products. Brooklyn’s oldest shipping facility is the Atlantic Basin, in Red Hook which dates from 1841. Originally, the 40-acre protected basin served as the end destination for boats that brought grain from the Midwest via the Erie Canal and the Hudson River. On the wharves that edged the basin, the grain was cleaned, sorted and loaded onto ships for export. Although its days as a grain depot are long gone, the Atlantic Basin remains an active maritime facility.
(Bridges & Viaducts • Industry & Commerce • Waterways & Vessels) Includes location, directions, 7 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
