Greenpoint Over Time

In Greenpoint’s history, the waterfront has always played a central role. On our walk with tour guide Geoff Cobb, we will visit sites that trace the development of the area’s waterfront including the site of the area’s first European settlement, the dozens of shipyards that once lined West Street, the site where the first ironclad battleship, the Monitor, was constructed and discuss the controversial plans for a museum honoring this historic ship, and will talk about the area’s thousands of longshoremen and explain organized crime’s deep connection to the Greenpoint waterfront.

As we continue through Northern Brooklyn, you will see the American Manufacturing Company building, reputedly the largest hemp rope maker in the world, and talk about how women working there fought a pitched battle with the police during their 1910 strike. Geoff will point out the sites of buildings that were candidates for landmarking and talk about the suspicious fire that destroyed these buildings. Finally, he will talk about the many new towers altering the skyline and how Greenpoint is the most rapidly gentrifying area in the city.