Early history Mill Creek The Gowanus neighborhood originally surrounded Gowanus Creek. It consisted of a tidal inlet of navigable creeks in original saltwater marshland and meadows that contained wildlife. The
Dutch government issued the first land patents within
Breukelen (modern-day Brooklyn), including the land of the Gowanus, from 1630 to 1664. In 1636, the leaders of
New Netherland bought the area around the Gowanus Bay. In 1639, the inhabitants swapped land claims with each other to build a tobacco plantation.
Farms and oyster fishing In 1699, a settler named Nicholas Vechte built a farmhouse of brick and stone now known as the
Old Stone House. In 1776, during the
Battle of Long Island, American troops engaged
British Army troops at the house, enabling General
George Washington to relocate his troops behind American lines. This house sat at the southeastern edge of the Denton's Mill pond. Brower's Mill, also known as Freeks Mill or Brouwer's Mill, was located at the present-day intersection of Union and Nevins Streets. It can be seen in drawings depicting the
Battle of Brooklyn. Throughout this period, a few Dutch farmers settled along the marshland and engaged in
clamming of large
oysters that became a notable first export to Europe. The Gowanus Bay's
tides pushed
brackish water further into the creek, creating an environment where large
bivalves thrived. In succeeding generations, negative
artificial selection slowly reduced the size of the bivalves, since smaller bivalves were better adapted to the creek's water. Larger bivalves were less likely to survive, and thus, less likely to reproduce. In 1774 the Government of New York enacted a law to widen the creek into a canal, to keep the watercourse in good condition, and to levy taxes on people who used land near it. Wealthier residents tended to live inland and uphill to avoid the smells and "discomforts" of lower areas. Industries, which needed water for processing, transport, and disposal of wastes, gravitated toward sites along the shoreline. In 1849, under a decree by the
New York Legislature, the Gowanus Creek was deepened so it could be used as a commercial waterway connected to
Upper New York Bay. The creek's dredging was completed in 1860. In the same decade, a developer named Edwin Litchfield undertook a project to straighten the creek into a canal. canal was built, several designs were proposed for it. Some included lock systems that would have allowed daily flushing of the whole waterway. However, these designs were considered too expensive. After exploring numerous alternative (and some more environmentally sound) designs, the final plan was chosen for its low cost.
United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Major David Bates Douglass was hired to design the canal, which was essentially complete by 1869. The cost of the construction came from assessments on the local residents of Brooklyn and State money.
Industrial heyday and massive pollution Despite its relatively short length, the Gowanus Canal was a hub for Brooklyn's maritime and commercial shipping activity. At its busiest, as many as 100 ships a day transported cargo through it. In addition, the industrial sector around the canal grew substantially over time to include stone and coal yards;
flour mills; cement works, and
manufactured gas plants;
tanneries, factories for paint, ink, and soap;
machine shops;
chemical plants; and
sulfur producers. All of these industries emitted substantial
water and
airborne pollutants. Chemical fertilizers were manufactured along the canal soon after the
Civil War. By 1889, pollution in the Gowanus Canal had become so bad that the Legislature appointed a commission to study ways to ameliorate the canal's condition. It concluded that the canal would be best off if it were closed to commercial traffic and then covered-over. The commission also called the canal "a disgrace to Brooklyn" because of the foul smells arising from the waterway.
Attempts to lessen pollution The first step to ameliorate the canal's pollution was the 1890s construction of the Bond Street sewer pipeline that carried sewage out into the harbor. This proved inadequate. In the first attempt to improve flow at the northern, closed end of the canal, the "Big Sewer" was constructed from Marcy Avenue in
Prospect Heights to Green and 4th Avenues in Gowanus. It then entered the canal at an inflow point near Butler Street. The area the sewer ran through was known as the "Flooded District". The tunnel was completed by 1893, but Brooklyn residents complained their sewage outputs were not connected to the Big Sewer. The
Brooklyn Daily Eagle initially hailed the sewer's size and extent. However, the newspaper declared it an "engineering blunder" in 1898, saying the Big Sewer caused sewage to go back into the Gowanus Canal, rather than its intended purpose of draining sewage from it. During the first decade of the 20th century, up to 700 structures were built in South Brooklyn every year. Compounding the problem, area property owners sued the city for damages related to the flooding issues that plagued the canal. By 1910, complaints were being made about the canal's water being almost solid waste, On May 30, 1904, the body of an unknown man was found in the Gowanus Canal, The same year on December 20, the body of an unknown man was found in the Gowanus Canal and the body of a man who had been missing for three weeks was also found in the canal on December 19, 1908. Two bodies were found there May 7, 1909. Several people have died after driving into the canal; examples include one man on January 2, 1919; Police Officer Daniel J. Grennan on December 9, 1920; two people on July 25, 1921; and two men on January 30, 1928. There is an
urban legend that the Gowanus Canal served as a dumping ground for the
Mafia. Some cases are on record: news reports state that the bodies of a Brooklyn racketeer in the 1930s and a president of the Grain Handlers Union in the 1940s were found in the canal. In
Lavender Lake, a 1998 documentary about the canal, two
New York City police officers discussed how two fishermen had recently pulled from the canal a suitcase containing human body parts. There have been reports of vessels lost in the canal. For instance, on January 2, 1889, the tugboat "Hugh Bond" sank in the canal during a gale, though the crew escaped. On May 10, 1892, the canal boat
Alpha sank with a cargo of coal. On December 31, 1903, a dredge was found sunk in the canal, and an unnamed engineer/nightwatchman was reported missing and believed to be drowned. On August 13, 1918, a policeman found 28 sections of a submarine boxed in sections on the banks of the canal.
Economic decline With six million tons of cargo hauled annually though the waterway after
World War I, the Gowanus Canal became the nation's busiest commercial canal, and arguably the most polluted. The heavy sewage flow into the canal required regular dredging to keep the waters navigable. By the 1950s, Brooklyn's fuel trade was already converting from coal and artificial gas to petroleum, which was served by the wider and deeper
Newtown Creek, and natural gas, which arrived by
pipeline. In 1951, with the opening of the elevated
Gowanus Expressway over the waterway, easy access for trucks and cars catalyzed industry slightly. The expressway carried 150,000 daily vehicles, which unloaded tons of toxic emissions into the air and water beneath. The intake fan that brought Buttermilk Channel water into the flushing tunnel broke in 1963, leading to its closure. A year later, the
Verrazzano–Narrows Bridge opened, eliminating the need for industrial boats to use the canal at all, since trucks could use the bridge and
Interstate 278 to ship goods from around the country to the Gowanus area. With the failure of the city sewage and pump station infrastructure, the Gowanus Canal was used as a derelict dumping place. It remained in that condition for almost three decades. By 1993, a single company was actively using the Gowanus Canal as a shipping channel, and three of the drawbridges along the canal would only retract to let that company's boats pass. The few remaining barges mostly carried fuel oil, sand, gravel and scrap metal for export. The canal still serves as a port moving goods in and out of Brooklyn. ==Environmental cleanup==