Greenpoint

I’ve found something og a mystery at the SW corner of Franklin and Oak Streets in Greenpoint… a chiseled sign showing Oak as Madison. As mentioned on a previous Greenpoint…

Odd how I had missed out on this one, since I’m a candy store aficionado (though I limit purchases to once or twice  a year, lest I become a bigger…

After Greenpoint’s grid street system was laid out by developer/entrepreneur Neziah Bliss in the mid-1800s, east-west cross streets were named simply, A through Q Streets from north to south. Greenpoint Avenue was…

Ancient painted words on Freeman Street near West say “Pierce Steam” something. I’d say it was likely Pierce Steam Heating, founded by John B. Pierce and Joseph Bond in 1881.…

At the capital of Greenpoint, at Manhattan and Greenpoint Avenues, the former is identified as Charno Way on a lightpole. Investigating this anomaly I discovered that Manhattan was co-named Charno…

I have visited Greenpoint a great deal for FNY pages, and have conducted two FNY tours in the Garden Spot of Brooklyn over 15 years. My last major survey, though,…

I have visited Greenpoint a great deal for FNY pages, and have conducted two FNY tours in the Garden Spot of Brooklyn over 15 years. My last major survey, though,…

Believe me, this page has been a long time coming. It’s not that it’s been heavily researched and photographed; no more so than most FNY pages. These photos were taken…

Greenpoint’s spine, Manhattan Avenue, was once called Union Avenue, likely named for the  1863 Union Baptist Church on Noble Street or the  Union Porcelain Works, founded by Thomas Smith in…

In late summer 2013 I was again wandering in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, because the changes going on in these neighborhoods is accelerating to a breathtaking pace. What was once a…

In 1887, developer James Sparrow built a row of 21 four-story brick buildings along the south side of Greenpoint Avenue, just east of Franklin Street. Probably soon after that, a…

Here’s a close up look of the remaining wood block sidewalk on West Street near Oak Street in Greenpoint. It’s likely the only remaining place in the city where you…