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Brooklyn History Photo of the Week: Wallabout Market

Written by Emily Reynolds on June 29th, 2011

Wallabout Market, ca. 1890, v1973.5.2520; Photography Collection; Brooklyn Historical Society.

Wallabout Market was located just north of Flushing Avenue, between Washington Avenue and Ryerson Street, and developed in the late 1800s because of its location close to the docks in Wallabout Bay, as well as the factories and warehouses that populated nearby streets. The distinctive market buildings seen in the photograph were built in the mid-1890s, and were designed by architect William Tubby, also responsible for many buildings in the nearby Pratt Institute. At its peak, Wallabout was the second-largest market in the world.

Wallabout Market was closed in 1941, when the Navy Yard took over the land in order to support the war effort, moving market activity to the new Brooklyn Terminal Market in Canarsie.

Interested in seeing more photos from BHS’s collection? Visit our online image gallery. Use this database to search for individual photographs. Currently a small number of our images are available online, but we regularly add new photographs. You can also visit BHS’s Othmer Library Wed-Fri, 1-5 p.m. to search through our entire collection of images.

Posted in Brooklyn Past & Present, Library & Archives | 1 Response »
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Who’s a Brooklynite? Oral Histories from Inventing Brooklyn

Written by Samantha on June 14th, 2011

Inventing Brooklyn Postcard FINAL2Inventing Brooklyn: People, Places, Progress, now open at Brooklyn Historical Society, traces the evolution of Brooklyn into the place we know today. From Native American roots and lasting Dutch colonial influences to icons such as the Brooklyn Bridge and the Dodgers, Inventing Brooklyn looks at how various peoples, places, and historical events have shaped the development of the borough. 

Brooklyn’s diversity has long been a point of local pride and continues to define the borough today.  The oral histories featured in the exhibit speak to the diversity of Brooklyn’s people, neighborhoods, and many immigrant experiences. 

Paul Mak  was born in Hong Kong and immigrated here with his family.  He is the founder of the Brooklyn Chinese-American Association, which serves the Chinese-American population of Brooklyn, and specifically Sunset Park.  In this clip, Paul recalls his experience at James Madison High School where he witnessed the influx of Chinese immigrants as a student in the 1980s.

8th Avenue Sunset Park Oral History Collection (1993-1994)

Interview date: March 26, 1993

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Encarnacion Armas, a well-educated and well-traveled resident of Brooklyn, describes her involvement with the Puerto Rican community in Brooklyn in the 1940s.  In this clip, Armas reminisces about moving to Bay Ridge as a teenager and shares her experiences serving the Puerto Rican community.

Puerto Rican Oral History Project (1973-1976)

Interview Date: October 21, 1974

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Milton Wurtzel  was born in Manhattan and grew up in the Bronx and in Stuyvesant Heights, Brooklyn on Kosciusko Street. Wurtzel worked at Lieberman Shoe Factory as a foreman and at a slipper factory before he began his job as a welder at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. In this clip, Wurtzel discusses the ethnic diversity at the Navy Yard during the 1940s.

Brooklyn Navy Yard Oral History Project (ongoing)

Interview Date: February 12, 2009

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Inventing Brooklyn: People, Places, Progress was created by the high school students in Brooklyn Historical Society’s Exhibition Laboratory program.  From archival research to writing labels to selecting these oral history clips, the 2011 Ex Lab students worked closely with BHS staff, consulting historians, and professional exhibit designers over the course of the spring in order to make Inventing Brooklyn come to life.

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Dropping Anchor in Brooklyn

Written by Sady on March 30th, 2010

Watch this great video of a giant anchor arriving home to the Brooklyn Navy Yard where it will soon become part of the exhibition at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at Building 92.  

Since 2007, BHS and BNYDC have partnered on an oral history project documenting the important work that happens in the Navy Yard.  We are currently interviewing people who worked in they Yard in the 1950s and 1960s and for any of the private shipbuilders after the 1966 decommissioning.

You can listen to some clips from WWII-era interviews here.  And to suggest someone we should interview please contact the BHS Oral History Program.

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Brooklynite Howard Zinn

Written by Sady on February 9th, 2010

In memory of Howard Zinn (1922-2010) and in appreciation of his life’s work, the Brooklyn Historical Society and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation would like to share these excerpts from an interview we conducted with Howard Zinn on December 8, 2008.

Howard Zinn was an historian, activist, playwright, and author of more than twenty books including A People’s History of the United States.

In these (very) roughly edited clips, Howard Zinn talks about growing up in Brooklyn, working as an apprentice shipfitter in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and his first date with his future wife Roslyn (who had passed away 7 months prior to this interview).

This interview was conducted by Daniella Romano, Director of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Archive, on December 8, 2008.

More excerpts from this interview will be used in a forthcoming exhibition at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at Building 92, scheduled to open in fall 2011.

The full interview is available at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Archive and the Brooklyn Historical Society’s Othmer Library.

Photo of Howard and Roslyn Zinn courtesy of The Boston Globe: boston.com

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More Brooklyn Navy Yard Stories

Written by Sady on August 26th, 2009
Building 128; Image courtest of BNYDC Flickr

Building 128; Image courtest of BNYDC Flickr

Here are a few more clips from the BHS Brooklyn Navy Yard Oral History Project:

Abraham Weintraub (b 1910) worked as a chipper and a caulker in the Navy Yard during WWII. This clip is from an interview conducted in 2008:

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Frank Siragusa (b 1928) started working as a painter n the Navy Yard during WWII when he was just 16 years old because he was too young to join the Navy. This clip is from an interview conducted in 2008:

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Leonard Beck (b 1928) describes his father’s work as a tailor in the Navy Yard during WWII. This clip is from an interview conducted in 2008:

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And here’s another clip from a 2008 interview with Ida Pollack (b 1922) and Sylvia Honigman Everitt (b 1921) who grew up together in the Bronx and worked together as welders in the Navy Yard during WWII:

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These, and over 40 more interviews from the Brooklyn Navy Yard Oral History Project will soon be available for listening in the Othmer Library.  Also, some of these oral histories will be featured in the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s new visitor center opening in 2011.

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