In December 2023 I entered Brooklyn for the first time in what I estimate was three years, a borough I lived in for 35 years; Covid-19 and then a succession of ailments kept me confined mostly to eastern Queens with occasional trips to Manhattan. I made straight for DUMBO, once a sleepy industrial neighborhood occupied only on weekdays that has been transformed (similar to the Meatpacking in Manhattan) into one of the hottest residential and recreational areas in NYC. A full page on the new and old buildings I visited remains unwritten; but this building, one of my favorites, has recently been repointed and is looking fabulous.
The Hanan Company was among the first to stamp the firm’s name on every shoe it produced, a daring idea at a time when most people still sought shoes handmade by the dealer. The firm was successful and in 1888 Hanan began opening retail stores to sell the factory’s product directly to consumers.
This factory, facing Bridge between Front and Water, was built in 1893. By 1913 the company employed 1,131 people in its Brooklyn factory (871 men, 210 women, and 50 office workers). John Hanan also owned shoe companies in other cities and served as president of the National Boot and Shoe Manufacturers’ Association.
Hanan went bankrupt in 1935 and the building was used by other manufacturers until its recent conversion to residential.
Streets in this area were named prosaically. “Front” and “Water” for the nearby East River. Bridge Street was named long before either the Manhattan or Brooklyn Bridges were built, for a proposed to cross the East River at where Bridge street meets the East River.
Many of the loft and factory buildings in DUMBO were built for the inventor of the corrugated paper box, Scotsman Robert Gair, whose name can be seen on some of the buildings. Suzanne “Montrose Morris” Spellen has the complete story.
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10/24/24