The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I, Part 159

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1114

USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I > Part 159

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But, aside from these, there are two large oil refiner- ics belonging to Bush and Denslow; five or six large lumber yards at the Gowanus Canal and Erie Basin ; two coal yards of great extent; two rosin yards; eight ship yards, four of them with dry docks, those of Messrs. William Camp & Son being the largest in the world, and one with an immense marine railway, suffi- cient to accommodate the largest ocean steamships; six piers for steamship lines landing their passengers and freight in Brooklyn; three inspection yards, one for tobacco, and two for pork, etc .; five large ferry slips for the Hamilton, South, Wall street, and the two An- nex ferries, to which should be added the Fulton ferry slip and the Bridge pier ; the two great flouring mill piers of F. E. Smith and Jewell Brothers, and one of the Knickerbocker Ice Company's piers. There are, moreover, extensive foundries, iron works, and pump- ing engine works, which ship their products from these wharves and piers. There is no separate record of the number of vessels which discharge or receive their car- gocs at these piers and wharves, for the arrivals and clearances are all made at the Naval Office in New York, but there must be several thousands every year. We cannot obtain any definite statistics of the business transacted or the moneys received in these various commercial houses, but in some of them we know that it amounts to many millions.

If we go back one or two streets from the water front, we shall find, for nearly the whole distance, great manufactories, machine shops, iron foundries, etc., etc., whose products are all shipped from these wharves and piers.

Northward and north-eastward from Fulton Ferry to Hunter's Point, the piers and wharves loaded with merchandise, and the numberless vessels loading and unloading indicate that the commerce is very nearly as

635

THE COMMERCE OF BROOKLYN.

extensive as below that ferry, though of a somewhat different character. In the region we have already described, there were three artificial and one natural water courses and basins, stream and bay, to increase the water-front, viz. : the Erie and Atlantic Basins, Gowanus Bay and Creek, and Gowanus Canal. In the northern division (north of Fulton ferry), there are the Wallabout Bay, Basin and Canal, Bushwick Creek, and Newtown Creck and Canal. Of these, the first three and the last two add greatly to the water front of this portion of the city.

There are six ferries to New York on this portion of the water front, some of them having two or three termini in that city. It is noteworthy, also, that in this part of the water front, numerous and important as are the commercial houses directly fronting the water, the great manufactories, for two or three streets back from the shore, contribute an equal, or nearly equal, amount of their products to the commerce of the city.

Above the Fulton ferry and the Bridge pier, we have, first, two extensive coal-yards, and then long blocks of warehouses, known as the Fulton and Em- pire Stores. On the next street east are Tobacco In- spection Stores, the Fulton Sugar Refinery, Iron Works, Artificial Ice Machine Works, an extensive Brewery, etc. Next on the river front are cooperage and stave yards, Arbuckle's immense coffee and spice warehouses, and behind them, Taylor's foundry and engine works, Bliss' immense press and die works, Hardick's steam pump factory ; next on the river are Benton's steam and gas pipe works, Nathan's coal yards, the Jay street stores, the offices of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Co., Crabb and Wilson's sugar refinery, Poillon's ship yard, and above these, the At- lantic white lead works, and the Brooklyn Gas Com- pany. On Plymouth and Water Streets, immediately behind these establishments, are a host of great manu- factories, all of them sending immense amounts of their products abroad, from the wharves below and the other piers and wharves of Brooklyn. Among these, are the great color house of Sondheim, Alsburg & Co., the paint, color and varnish works of J. W. Masury & Son, the Averill Paint Co., C. T. Reynolds & Co., In- gersoll & Co., etc., etc., the Somers decorated tin works, the Paris white, whiting and cork works of Truslow & Co., Rochow's stationary engine works, one or two large brewcries, Clayton's steam pumps, &c., &c.

Beyond Gold street, the Navy Yard occupies an ex- tensive tract fronting on Wallabout Bay, but the Wal- labout basin and canal redeems a considerable district for commerce and manufactures. The Navy Yard in- directly makes a considerable addition to our com- merce, in the extent of supplies of all sorts required, and brought thither from various quarters, in the arrival and departure of vessels belonging to the flect,

and of school-ships, and in the coming of ships from the navies of other nations, cither on friendly visits or for repairs.

But aside from these, the Wallabout basin and canal have two very large gas-works, a stationary elevator and mill, a large coal yard, and an oil works, a dis- tillery, the sugar refineries of Moller, Sierck & Co., and of DeCastro and Donner, the largest retail lumber yard in the United States, that of Cross, Austin & Co., the Knickerbocker Ice Co.'s largest depot, and a very large lath and brick yard. Back of these again are numerous large manufactories, the great book factory of Messrs. Appleton & Co., steam pump works, several stone and marble works of great extent, particularly that of Gill & Baird; the Royal Baking Powder Co., an immense establishment, the New York Tartar Co., etc., etc.

The extensive ferry-house of the Roosevelt and South Seventh street ferries occupy a considerable space, but are succeeded immediately by the great sugar refineries of Havemeyer & Elder, the Brooklyn, the Long Island, another of Havemeyer & Elder's, and Dick & Meyer's refinery. Sugar refining is the largest manufacturing industry of Brooklyn, its annual pro- duct exceeding $100,000,000, and most of it is concen- trated in this district. The sugar refineries are also important in this commercial aspect, as more than nineteen-twentieths of the sugar which they refine is imported direct for them, and a large proportion of their products are exported or transported by our ship- ping to other Atlantic ports. Here are also two or three large lumber yards, one shipping yard, one large cooperage, four stave yards, the Philadelphia and Read- ing Coal and Iron Co.'s yard, a gas-light company, and the immense oil works of Charles Pratt & Co. The ferry-house of the Grand street ferry is also in this district, and at the northern limit of the district, Bushwick creek enters the East river. At its junction, the Quay street Continental iron works are situated, an immense establishment for building and fitting steam- ships, supplying boilers, engines, shafts, &c. Here, also, is John H. Engles & Son's great ship yard, and the Manhattan Compress and Pipe Factory. The Green- point ferry, having two termini in New York, comes next. From this to Newtown creek, are mostly lumber yards, spar and box yards and factories; and Hara- way's extensive dye works. Along the Brooklyn side of Newtown creek are the Devoe Manufacturing Co., and Empire oil works, the Greenpoint glass works, very extensive, and Charles F. Havemeyer's sugar refinery, as well as some other lumber yards, a Bohemian glass manufactory, the vast chemical works of Martin Kalb- fleisch's Sons, and the L. Waterbury & Co. ropewalk, said to be the largest in the world.

The warehouses and great manufactories along the East river and Newtown creek, above Fulton ferry, have an annual business of more than $250,000,000.

636

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

It remains for us to speak of the basins, canals, and smooth water navigation, which give the city so great an advantage over New York for commercial pur- poses, and the dry docks and marine railway, which draw hither the largest ocean steamers needing repairs.

There are four or five basins, all of large size, on the Brooklyn water-front, viz .: the Erie and Brooklyn Basins, spoken of, eolleetively, as the Erie Basin ; the Atlantic Docks and Basin ; the Wallabout Basin and Canal, and adjacent to it, and generally considered a part of it, the Kent Avenue Basin. Aside from these, there are the Improvements of the Brooklyn Im- provement Co., and others around Gowanus bay, creek, and canal, and branches ; the, as yet not fully com-

rendered a second application to the Legislature neees- sary, and work was commenced in June, 1841. At the time Col. Richards conceived this idea, forty-four years ago, the whole tract southwest of Hamilton avenue, and mueh of that between Third avenue and Gowanus bay, was a swampy marsh, without sufficient water on its surface to be navigable anywhere for any- thing more than very small boats, and inuch of it was uneovered at low water, and often sent up the odors of deeaying vegetation. A few squatters oceupied the more elevated hummoeks, but it was valueless for building or commercial purposes. Col. Richards de- voted himself to the work with great energy and amid many discouragements for five years, when he turned

ATLANTIC DOCKS AND BASIN.

pleted improvement, Bushwick inlet; and the extensive wharves, docks, and eanals, on the Brooklyn side of Newtown ereek.

Our limits do not permit so full a deseription of these great works as we would like to insert, but we will endeavor to give a brief account of each of them, premising that the most advaneed of them are but just completed, while others are yet in progress.

Atlantic Docks .- Treating the subjeet ehronologi- eally, we find that the Atlantic Docks and Basin were the first of these improvements projeeted, and were the first to be completed. Col. Daniel Richards was the originator of the plan, and his surveys, sound- ings, &e., were made in 1839, and the Atlantie Doek Company was incorporated, in May, 1840, with a eapi- tal of $1,000,000 ; but a slight ehange in their plans

his attention to other enterprises; and Mr. James S. T. Stranahan became interested in the Atlantie Doeks, of which, by subsequent purehases from the other stoek- holders, he became the principal proprietor.

For several years the company met with many dis- couragements and disappointments; and it was not till 1847, six years after its commencement, that its sue- eess began to be assured. The corner-stone of the first warehouse was laid in 1844, but it was not until 1847 that the first steam grain elevator was ereeted for a warehouse on the north pier. There are now eight elevators, having a total storage capacity of 7,500,000 bushels in the warehouses on those doeks. The basin has an area of forty aeres water surface, and the ware- houses surrounding and enelosing it cover more than twenty aeres. It is entered by a passage-way two

637

THE COMMERCE OF BROOKLYN.

hundred feet wide, and has wharf room for one hun- dred and fifty vessels. It has a depth of more than twenty feet of water at low tide, so that very large ocean steamers can be loaded or unloaded there. The first cost and present value of this property exhibits very clearly the progress of Brooklyn in commercial greatness within forty years. "The land and water rights for this great property " (which included land ex- tending to or beyond Hamilton avenue), were purchased for $158,000, payable in stock, and the circumference was apportioned into 540 lots, valued at from $400, for the front lots, to $250 for those in the rear, the whole aggregating 8640,000, which was the contemplated cost of the docks.

As we have said, there are now more than twenty acres of warehouses and eight elevators on these docks, but independent of the value of these, or any buildings on this property, the present value of the land and water rights execeds twelve million dollars.

The Erie and Brooklyn Basins were next in order of time. These, also, originated in the fertile and enterprising brain of Col. Richards, though their actual designing and building were the work of Jere- miah P. Robinson; and the construction of both the basins and their warehouses has been under the super- intendeney of William Beard. The owners of the Erie Basins and the land bordering on it are J. P. & G. C. Robinson and William Beard, and they and Franklin Woodruff, and one or two other parties, also own the Brooklyn Basin and the lands adjacent.

The two companies own, or did own, at the beginning of their enterprise in 1856 or 1857, with the exception of some small tracts nearest to Hamilton avenue, the entire territory bounded by Van Brunt street, Hamil- ton avenue, Gowanus Creek, south of Hamilton avenue, and the water rights now bounded by the piers and wharves of the Erie Basin. Much of this territory was under water at high tide, and most of the remainder was inhabited by squatters, even as late as 1864, when the immense excavations having been completed, the foundations of the docks were commeneed by the driv- ing of piles, 25 feet in length, close to each other, driven even with the surface, and bedded with concrete. On this foundation were reared massive superstructures of solid stone, faced at the water fronts with granite. The first of the dry-docks was completed in October, 1866, and a vessel admitted to it. There are now three of these dry-docks, capable of receiving the largest steam- ships and merchant vessels afloat, even when loaded. Large warehouses have been erected upon both sides of these docks for the reception of the cargoes of laden vessels seeking the use of the docks, and for general storage. There are now 52 of these warehouses around the Erie Basin, most of them four stories or more in height, 132 feet in depth, and 29 feet in breadth, which are occupied by Messrs. J. P. & G. C. Robinson alone for their extensive warehouse and storage business.

Many others are occupied by other firms engaged in the same business. The whole water area of the two Basins (the Brooklyn and Erie) is 100 acres, of which 60 are included in the Erie and 40 in the Brooklyn Basin. The owners secured in the beginning 1,000,000 square feet of submerged territory, beside all the land which they purchased, and most of which was filled up from excavations made for the Basins.

JEREMIAH P. ROBINSON,-The career of this widely-known gentleman is another illustration, as well of the benefits which our free institutions and unlimited privileges to law- abiding citizens vouchsafe to the diligent, active, faithful and honest workers in the land, as it is to the fact that with- out earnest labor and unceasing toil no great credit or suc- cess can be attained.

Mr. Robinson commenced his business life a poor boy, and has gained an en viable reputation and an abundant fortune; and is now entitled to spend the remainder of his days in peace and quietude, if he so desires, without further strug- gles with the problems of life than those which will come to him in his works of kindness and charity to his fellows.

True, he had the advantage of a long line of ancestors, both paternal and maternal, noted for honorable and praise- worthy conduct; and this alone always endows the youth about entering upon the career of manhood with an inde- pendent and fearless spirit. He now looks back to the his- tory of his ancestors, so far as he is able to trace it, and can find no smell of fire upon their garments and no blot upon the family escutcheon. Among the first settlers of Rhode Island, those ancestors were contemporaneous with Roger Williams, who settled in Providence in 1636; since which time their descendants have been known in all parts of the land, in the pulpit, in the forum, on the bench, and in al- most every branch of business.

On the Robinson side, William Robinson, six generations removed from the subject of our sketch, was a prominent man in Rhode Island. Sturdy and industrious, he became well known in the province as one of its most thrifty and valued citizens, and was frequently called to positions of high official responsibility. It is not important for the pur- poses of this sketch to trace fully the characters of all his progenitors. It is sufficient here to say that Governor Wil- liam Robinson was the great-grandfather of Christopher Robinson. a prominent and wealthy man of his time in Rhode Island. Christopher was the father of George C. Robinson, the father of the subject of this sketch.

George C. Robinson was a young man of great energy, courage and commercial enterprise. As many of the most promising of the youths of that period in that locality chose to follow the sea as a profession, George cast his lot in that direction. So marked were his ability, integrity and manly qualities (for none could attain the position without all of these recommendations in those days) that he soon became captain of a ship in the East India trade, and pushed his prow to the shores of countries as remote from his native land as any who sailed the then almost unknown seas. He married the daughter of Jeremiah Niles Potter while quite young, and was suddenly stricken down, while at Canton, China, at the age of thirty-two, leaving five small children fatherless, and without direct parental means of support. Of these five children, Jeremiah P. Robinson was the eldest.

Having briefly alluded to his progenitors on the mother's side, it seems proper to state that the American progenitors of the families of Niles and Potter were among the first set-

638

HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

tlers of Rhode Island, and were of the highest respectability and standing. Jeremiah Niles was a man of large posses- sions, and was for many years Judge of the Superior Court, holding commissions from both kings, George II. and III., some of which are still extant and in the possession of Jere- miah P. Robinson and his son. He also held other important offices of trust, and those who came after him have ever been proud to trace to him the lineage of the families to which they belonged. John Potter, whose family was also among the original settlers of Rhode Island, was a man of consider- able wealth and high character. One of his sons married into the Niles family, and had a son named Jeremiah Niles Potter, who was the father of Mary Niles Potter, the wife of Captain George C. Robinson and the mother of Jeremiah Potter Robinson. It will thus be seen that Mr. Robinson traces his lineage on both his father's and his mother's side back through many generations of honorable men and women; and his Christian names are taken from the two dis- tinguished families on his mother's side.

As before stated, upon the death of his father the mother and children were left in straitened circumstances; but the mother's father, Jeremiah Niles Potter, quite a large landed proprietor, took his daughter, with her five helpless children, under protecting care at his home in South Kingstown, near the present village of Wakefield, Rhode Island, and gave his grandchildren such limited advantages for education as at that time were afforded in that locality, until they were pre- pared to undertake the struggle of life for themselves, the mother remaining at the old homestead until her death.

JEREMIAH POTTER ROBINSON was born on the 18th day of August, 1819, in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, and is now (1883) sixty-four years of age. It would seem that he early developed an independent and fearless spirit. When about twelve years of age, having been used to the labor and toil to which farmers' boys of that period were subjected, and having had but limited opportunities for obtaining an educa- tion, he went to Newport and entered the grocery store of his uncle, Stephen A. Robinson, where he attained the posi- tion of accountant. Here he remained about two and one- half years, when he returned to bis grandfather's farm for a short time. In 1836, at the age of sixteen, he went to New York. Parental affection and anxiety interposed objections to his undertaking, at that early age, to " paddle his own canoe," but the boy was mildly persistent, and finally ob- tained permission to go.

New York was then a comparatively small city, but to the adventurous boy it was his ideal of an opportunity to make himself a man, and his fondest hopes have been more than realized. He applied to various business houses for employ- ment, visiting nearly all parts of the city, but failed to dis- cover anything which met his idea of properly starting upon his business career; until, after long and weary search. he was employed by the firm of E. P. & A. Woodruff, jobbers in fish, salt and provisions. Under this engagement he was to be boarded in the family of his employers, for which he was to give his labor for two years, he clothing himself. He entered upon the performance of his duties with a will, and soon exhibited the possession of those sterling qualities which, as step by step he has advanced through life, have borne him ever on to success. His pay was steadily in- creased. He was prudent, economical and painstaking. His strict attention to business, steady habits and pleasing de- meanor drew the attention of many leading business men to him, and flattering offers were made to him to leave his old employers; but he steadfastly stood by them, attending to their affairs so faithfully that, at the end of his fourth year's service, he was offered and accepted a partnership in the

firm of the Messrs. Woodruff. From this time on he has held a high place in the business world. He immediately took charge of some of the most important business interests of the concern. After a few years, Mr. E. P. Woodruff died, and the style of the firm was changed to A. Woodruff & Robinson. This firm soon added the warehousing and stor- age departments to their other business, thus becoming the pioneers in this line, and prosperity marked their course un- til, a few years later, Mr. Woodruff retired from the firm, and the business was continued under the firm name of J. P. & G. C. Robinson. Thus, in a comparatively short time, Mr. Robinson rose from the boy working for his board to the head of one of the oldest, largest and most prosperous busi- ness concerns of its kind in the metropolis. G. C. Robinson of this firm is a younger brother of his.

It is a fact worthy of note, that, with the exception of two years, when the offices of the concern were in Front street, his business desk has stood within seventy-five feet of where it now stands for forty-five years; and he has, nearly all his life, done business on what is almost literally the site of the old house of the Messrs. Woodruff, when he entered their service as a poor boy. Sometime about the year 1843 he began to look with much interest across the East river, from his then home in New York, upon the growing city of Brooklyn, and soon began to purchase large blocks of real estate on the Brooklyn river front, and to improve the same by building warehouses and piers at the foot of Congress and Warren streets. He was among the early pioneers of the great warehouse business of Brooklyn, which exists to-day to the benefit of the city. A few years later, in company with WIL- LIAM BEARD, he became interested in water front in South Brooklyn, and they began the work of planning and con- structing the great Erie Basin and the adjoining basins, building piers and warehouses until at this time there is a wharfage and dockage of several miles, where vessels may be laden and unladen at this vast receptacle. It is the largest and most comprehensive dock system in the world under one management, and is one of the most important improvements made for the city, and it is predicted that in the near future it is destined to play an important part in the commercial interests of both Brooklyn and New York. Mr. William Beard, with whom Mr. Robinson has been so long associated, is still largely interested in these land and harbor improvements, and the firm of Beard & Robinson are still carrying on gigantic improvements which must inure to the public benefit; and both patrons deserve great credit for their energy, courage and sagacity, in bringing into use the waste lands and sand beaches of Brooklyn's water front.

In this connection it is proper to say that Mr. Robinson has ever taken great pains in looking after the rights and interests of laboring men. Whenever he has had oppor- tunity to ameliorate their condition, either by counsel with those who had control of works where labor was employed, or in his own business, which in many directions necessi- tates the employment of many laborers, he has shown, in theory and practice, his desire and willingness to elevate and assist the honest laborer. In the great warehouse busi- ness, both at Mr. Robinson's Congress street stores and at the Erie Basin, where Mr. Beard and he are together inter- ested, great care is taken to pay each laborer and employé liberally for any extra service ; the result of which is that the laborer is pleased with his employers, and the employers are able to retain for many years faithful men who have their interests at heart. Thus should it be with capital and labor everywhere.

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The civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the county of Kings and the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., from 1683 to 1884 Volume I, Part 159

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1114

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909, ed. cn; Brockett, L. P. (Linus Pierpont), 1820-1893; Proctor, L. B. (Lucien Brock), 1830-1900. 1n
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1114