Greenpoint

Greenpoint is the northernmost neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. It is bordered on the south by Williamsburg at the Bushwick inlet, on the East by The Brooklyn Queens Expressway and East Williamsburg , on the north by Long Island City, Queens at the Pulaski Bridge, and on the west by the East River.

Nestled in the most northern reach of Brooklyn and surrounded by waterways on three borders, this waterfront neighborhood lies only a short distance from both Manhattan and Queens.

On May 11th, 2005 the city passed a mammoth rezoning of the North Side and Greenpoint waterfront which will permit high rise luxury residential development and possibly the creation of some open waterfront park space. This "Manhattanization" of the community will include luxury highrises, high-end retail, a proposed waterfront park, and privately owned riverfront promenades. The projected increase in the area population tops 40,000 new residents. The plan noticeably does not include provisions for new public transportation or public safety infrastructure to accommodate these projected new residents. The now underutilized properties destined to become these high rises - currently zoned for low-rise manufacturing and smaller scale housing - will be irrecoverably transformed. The jury remains out on whether this sea change in the Williamsburg / Greenpoint landscape will enhance or obliterate the existing neighborhood community.

Greenpoint, in the nineteenth century, established itself as a center of shipbuilding and waterborne commerce. The homes built for the merchants and the buildings erected for their workers sprang up along streets that lead down to the waterfront. Today, this area is on the National Register of Historic Places as Greenpoint’s Historic District.

Greenpoint’s waterfront holds the maritime history of the community. The buildings which formerly manufactured the ropes for the shipbuilding industry are still there. The launch site of the Monitor ironclad warship lies on Bushwick Creek. Long a site of shipbulding, the neighborhood’s dockyards harbored the construction of the USS Monitor- the Union’s first ironclad fighting ship which turned the tide of the Civil War. The Monitor, together with seven other ironclads, was built at the Continental Ironworks in Greenpoint. Greenpoint’s shipbuilding, printing, pottery, glassworks and foundries were staffed by generation after generation of hardworking immigrants.

Greenpoint is largely middle class and multi-generational; it is not uncommon to find three generations of family members living in this community. Many more are moving into the area due to its proximity to Manhattan.

Parks in the community are McCarren Park, originally named "Greenpoint Park" and Greenpoint's largest greenspace, and Greenpoint's smaller park, McGolrick Park, which contains both the landmarked Shelter Pavilion (1910) and a monument (1938) to the U.S.S. Monitor ironclad ship.

Of architectural interest in Greenpoint are the Astral Apartments (1886) on Franklin Street; the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Transfiguration of Our Lord (1921) on North Twelfth Street; the Oliver Hazard Perry School (P.S. 34) (1867) on Norman Avenue; the Green Point Savings Bank (1908) on Manhattan Avenue, and the Saint Stanislaus Kostka Roman Catholic Church (1896) on Humboldt Street.

Greenpoint is also known for being NYC's largest concentration of Poles (Greenpoint is sometimes nicknamed "Polonia" or Little Poland) who constitute 40% of the community's population. There are also smaller groups of Hipsters and Artists who trickle over from the nearby neighborhood of Williamsburg, as well as good-sized Latino population, and long-standing residents of Italian descent.

Notable individuals born and/or raised in Greenpoint include actress Mae West and pop singer Pat Benatar.

External Links

• A.O.H. Greenpoint, Brooklyn (http://www.geocities.com/aohkings6)
• greenpunkt.com: guide to Greenpoint, Brooklyn (http://www.greenpunkt.com)
• Greenpoint, Brooklyn (http://greenpointpoint.com)
• Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center (http://www.gmdconline.com/)