| The Columbia Gazetteer of North America. 2000. |
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| Gowanus Canal |
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| Gowanus Canal, industrial canal, SE borough of Brooklyn, N.Y. city, SE N.Y.; 40°40'N 74°00'W. Heavily polluted, it runs S from Hamilton Ave. at head of Gowanus Creek to Degraw St. in S. Brooklyn, where it empties into Gowanus Bay on E side of N.Y. Harbor’s Upper Bay. Named after Gonwane, a Canarsie Indian. In the 17th cent., the Dutch found it to be a pristine tidal inlet bordered by rich saltmarsh from which foot-long oysters were supposedly taken; in 1774 the Colonial Assembly enacted a law to widen the creek, draining and filling adjacent marshes. By 1885 industrial use as a canal supported oil refineries, machine shops, chemical plants, wagon makers, cement and soap makers, and tanneries. In 1911 a system was opened to flush out the canal by bringing fresh water in via a tunnel from N.Y. Harbor, threreby getting the stagnant industrial waste and sewage moving; it worked for 50 years, but then broke down and was not repaired. The canal is sometimes referred to as “Lavender Lake” because of its floating chemicals and filth. Construction of the Gowanus Expressway through Brooklyn and subsequent increased use of trucks diminished the canal’s importance, though some ships still use it today. Al Capone grew up nearby at Garfield Place and 4th Ave., robbing many banks in the area. |
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| | | The Columbia Gazetteer of North America. Copyright © 2000 Columbia University Press. |
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