During much of the 19th century, most of Red Hook east of Dwight Street was basically underwater. Even while they built up the criss-crossing grid of streets, the lots between graded roads were dominated by marshes and tidal pools. To fill it in, the owner, William Beard, leased it out to “carters,” who would pick up people’s garbage and the […]
History
Red Hook History: Red Hook Houses originally slated for the ballfields, by Connor Eugene Gaudet
With rents increasing and condos popping up like mushrooms all around us, Red Hook seems to be changing more and more rapidly. It probably feels this way because we have become accustomed to the landscape around us, the neighborhood that we know and love. But Red Hook has always been susceptible to change, and just as decisions and events are […]
Red Hook History: When graft was “honest” – the story of Coffey Park, by Connor Gaudet
In his folksy 1903 memoir Plunkitt of Tammany Hall, the very skilled ring democrat George Washington Plunkitt eloquently defended the manner in which so many politicians got rich off of taxpayer dollars. He states, “My party’s in power in the city, and it’s goin’ to undertake a lot of public improvements. Well, I’m tipped off, say, that they’re going to […]
Red Hook History: Leveling Carroll Gardens to fill in Red Hook – a 19th century project, by Connor Gaudet
I occasionally fancy myself a runner, and for whatever reason, many years ago, I decided that 3rd Street is as good a route to run as any. So my bi-monthly jogs take me from my Red Hook apartment, over the Hamilton Avenue footbridge, through Carroll Gardens and down 3rd to wherever I happen to be in Park Slope when I […]
Go To Marietta’s to See How It Used to be Around Here, by Elizabeth Graham
This article ran in the August 2011 edition of the Red Hook Star-Revue. We reprint it today as a tribute to younger brother Mat, whose funeral is this Saturday in Howard Beach. Floor to ceiling, he’s surrounded by racks, shelves and boxes full of clothing. But Joe Chirico goes straight to the spot behind a cluttered display stand where […]
The story behind the Clement Garage, by Clarissa Sauter
Walking or driving past Rapelye and Hamilton, one might never give the corner adjacent to the BQE a second glance. What most don’t know is that it was once home to Salvatore “Buddy” Scotto’s grandfather, his three garages, and his eight family building, many years before the BQE was constructed. Don Vincence Clementi, known later as Vincent, arrived in America […]