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Historical Context

Brooklyn Wharf and Warehouse Company was founded by men whose names were closely interwoven with the history of Brooklyn — Pierrepont, Woodruff, Clinton, McCormick, Dows, Martin, Fay, Robert, Prentis and others.

These men, representing the old aristocracy of Brooklyn, and all of them residents of "the Heights," originally owned each a strip of waterfront with a pier for bathing, fishing and pleasure boats, within easy reach of their homes. As the traffic in the river grew the use of these piers was gradually changed to commercial purposes. Eventually the owners consolidated their shore properties and organized the Brooklyn Wharf and Warehouse Company, whose chief business was to be the handling of grain. Large grain elevators were built and for a while the company prospered. But soon the commerce in grain at this port began to decline owing to increased terminal facilities at other Atlantic ports and lower rail rates to those points, and the company failed.

The New York Dock Company was then organized and acquired all the property of the Brooklyn Wharf and Warehouse Company.

For the next 55 years, the company controlled a three-mile stretch of Brooklyn waterfront on the East River from the the foot of Main Street above the Brooklyn Bridge to Red Hook Point and the Erie Basin. Not only did the property include the piers and all fixtures, but it also included lands under water, warehouses, elevators, and numerous stores, including Empire, Watson, Harbeck, and Robert stores.

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