The Places that Formed Williamsburg
What made Williamsburg what it is today? Well, many different places in the neighborhood did that throughout the years. The Domino Sugar Factory, Williamsburg Bridge and Brooklyn Navy Yard just to name a few. These different areas throughout Williamsburg formed it’s diverse peopling and drastic changes to the area. Below is a history on a few of the many places that created the Williamsburg that we know today.
The Domino Sugar Factory
Post Civil War America and New York is booming in refined sugar production and distribution. Active from 1856 to 2004, the Domino Sugar Factory in Williamsburg plays a huge role in this success. Immigrants become attracted to this area in pursuit of factory jobs during this time and at one point the Domino Factory sports 4,000 workers. (brooklyn.about.com) By 1883, millions of pounds of sugar were being put out per day by the factory. (ny.curbed.com) Throughout its years in operation, the factory attracted many different types of immigrants and gave way for other factories to come about. At first attracting European immigrants in the late 1800s to early 1990s, in the 1960s many Puerto Ricans and Hispanics also became attracted to these factories with the new immigration patterns. This factory was one of the last to close in the area in 2004 and with the closing of so many other factories in the 1990s, many of the Hispanic Immigrants who had originally taken up residence in Williamsburg due to the abundance of factories, were put out of jobs due to the closing of so many during this time. (bklynlibrary.org) When the Domino Sugar Factory closed in the early 2000s, immigrants were again put out of jobs including many Polish, Italians and Caribbeans as well as African American Workers. Today, with real estate booming, the Domino Sugar Factory has closed and been bought by realtors. It is under the process of being converted into lofty, expensive apartment buildings and controversy has arisen over the removal of the sign on the front of the building in order to do so. Many residents feel that this removal attempts to remove the rich history of people who have passed through the walls of the place, the people who have made their move to America and who have made their living through employment at the Domino Sugar Factory and Refinery. (theatlantic.com)
The Williamsburg Bridge
In 1903, the Williamsburg Bridge is opened after the residents of the neighborhood petition for their own bridge amidst the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge around the same time frame. Upon opening, thousands of residents migrate over the bridge in pursuit of home and work in Williamsburg. Poles, Italians and Slavs cross the bridge in pursuit of Williamsburg, but the most prominent group to immigrate during this time is the Jewish population. The bridge even gets nicknames “the Jew’s highway” due to the vast amount of immigration of the Jewish people during this time. (ny.curbed.com) They come to the neighborhood from the Lower East Side of Manhattan. This is the time in which the population of Williamsburg doubles, welcoming all different diverse immigrants into its borders. (bklynlibrary.org) Today the bridge contributes to the immigration of people due to the opposite direction. Instead of migration from Manhattan, the bridge is a selling point in the proximity of Williamsburg to Manhattan. Many people who have moved to Williamsburg in the last 20 years have moved there because it is easy to cross the bridge by bike, foot or car and get from home to work in the city in a quick amount of time, without living in the city itself. Realtors have caught onto this idea and prices have hiked in the area in the past decade.
