By the time I snapped this formidable smokestack once belonging to the Peter Van Iderstine glue factory along Newtown Creek in the spring of 2017, operations had long ago moved to Newark, NJ, and thus the malodorous smells of rendering horseflesh had dissipated. Located on Railroad Avenue, an unsigned road along the LIRR Montauk Branch near the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge, the Van Iderstine plant was established in 1855, though this brick smokestack was likely built in the early 20th Century.
Fats from dead animals were boiled down, turned into tallow and used to make soaps, glues and even fertilizer. In addition to processing scraps from butcher shops in Manhattan, this company processed dead horses collected from the streets of NYC and even had a contract for handling elephants that died when the circus was in town. Eventually the City shut the facility down after receiving thousands of odors complaints, as well as charges of illegal dumping into Newtown Creek. [GCE Fund]
Don’t look for the Van Iderstine smokestack today. It was torn down in 2022, a good 40+ years after the glue factory moved to Newark in 1977. It was a reminder of what once went on by the noxious and noisome Newtown Creek.
Sick transit, Gloria!
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2/9/23