| The Columbia Gazetteer of North America. 2000. |
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| Red Hook |
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| Red Hook, section of SW Brooklyn borough, N.Y. city, SE N.Y., bounded on NE by Gowanus Expressway, on S by Gowanus Bay, on W by Upper N.Y. Bay, and on NW by Buttermilk Channel bet. Brooklyn shore and Governors Isl. and leading into SW entrance of East R.; 40°40'N 73°59'W. Part of former South Brooklyn. Settled in 1636 and named after the red soil and shape of the landform [Du.=Roode Hock]. A marshy backwater in colonial times, rapid industrial maritime and residential development began in 1850s centered on activity through and about Gowanus Canal (completed in 1864) and the Erie Basin. At the time, neighborhood was Ital. in character, but it was modified by a strong Middle Eastern contingent. Along with Brooklyn Heights, it had 1st row houses in Brooklyn. Red Hook Houses, built in 1936 for the families of dockworkers, was one of N.Y. city’s 1st immense housing projects. Construction of Gowanus Expressway (1946) and completion of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and its connection to the Belt Parkway (1950) had a severe negative impact on the neighborhood; it was cut off from the waterfront on 1 side and from the rest of the city on the other. Most of breakbulk shipping (the area’s major employer) has moved to N.J. This port area was one of the world’s busiest shipping centers from 1850s through World War II, and was the world’s leading port 1900–1950. When the container port facilities were developed on the N.J. side in the 1960s, the Brooklyn sect. of the port declined precipitously, and many of the brick warehouses lining the wharf were abandoned or demolished. Some of the pier facilities are now being developed for light industrial use. The 79-acre/32-ha Red Hook Terminal (opened in 1981), a containerized cargo facility, has not compensated much for the loss of breakbulk shipping activity. Red Hook has lagged well behind the gentrification of brownstones that hasoccurred in surrounding neighborhoods. Principalthoroughfares are Atlantic Ave. and Court and Smith Streets. Ethnically the neighborhood is mostly Afr.-Amer. and Hispanic. Red Hook served as the setting for Elia Kazan’s film On the Waterfront. |
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| | | The Columbia Gazetteer of North America. Copyright © 2000 Columbia University Press. |
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