Location:
The community of Williamsburg-Greenpoint is located at the northwestern end of Brooklyn along the East River Waterfront. The neighborhood’s north and east sides are bound to the Newton Creek, whereas its southern end is marked by Flushing Avenue.
History
19th Century – Growth of industries
In the nineteenth century, Williamsburg-Greenpoint was an industrial hub. Huge industrial corporations like Continental Iron Works, Astral Oil Company, Pfizer Pharmaceutical, Brooklyn Flint Glass, and Domino have at one point in time occupied spaces in Williamsburg-Greenpoint (GWAPP). However, after World War II industry began to decline in the neighborhood.
20th Century – Decline of industries
By 1930, the Great Depression caused most of the remaining industries in the area to close down leaving many factories abandoned. During this time, most of the neighborhoods most affluent residents left, while Polish and Puerto Rican immigrants moved in. The economic situation of the neighborhood continued to decrease for the next several decades. Consequently, the government ignored the area and let it decay. In fact in 1957, under the order of Robert Moses, the Brooklyn Queens Expressway was constructed in Williamsburg-Greenpoint, destroying 2,200 households.
21st Century – Gentrification: residential and commercial growth
In the 1980s the economic situation of Greenpoint began to increase. Due to its proximity to Manhattan, one train stop on the L from the Lower East Side, young professionals and artists began migrating to Williamsburg-Greenpoint. The new residents renovated previously abandoned warehouses and transformed them into lofts, studies, and galleries. By the 1990s, there was an increase in cafes and restaurants. In fact between 1998 and 2004 the city authorized 4,695 building permits in the area, about a six-fold increase from those given in 1991-1997. Gentrification in the area continued with much help for the rezoning pushed through in 2005 by Mayor Bloomberg.
