Vinegar Hill is a
neighborhood in the
borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle A ...
of
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
on the
East River
The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...
Waterfront between
Dumbo
''Dumbo'' is a 1941 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The fourth Disney animated feature film, it is based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl, ...
and the
Brooklyn Navy Yard
The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex located in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a semicircular bend ...
.
The neighborhood is locally governed by
Brooklyn Community Board 2 and is policed by the
New York City Police Department
The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...
's 84th Precinct. The large Irish-American population in Vinegar Hill made it one of several New York City neighborhoods once known colloquially as Irishtown.
Etymology
![The Last remaining Smoke Stack in the Con-Ed Hudson Avenue Substation](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/The_Last_remaining_Smoke_Stack_in_the_Con-Ed_Hudson_Avenue_Substation.jpg)
Vinegar Hill gets its name from the
Battle of Vinegar Hill
The Battle of Vinegar Hill ('' Irish'': ''Cath Chnoc Fhíodh na gCaor'') was a military engagement during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 on 21 June 1798 between a force of approximately 13,000 government troops under the command of Gerard Lake an ...
, an engagement near
Enniscorthy
Enniscorthy () is the second-largest town in County Wexford, Ireland. At the 2016 census, the population of the town and environs was 11,381. The town is located on the picturesque River Slaney and in close proximity to the Blackstairs Mountain ...
during the
Irish Rebellion of 1798
The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influenced ...
.
Vinegar Hill was commonly known as "Irishtown" in the 19th century, one of
several places in the New York area with that moniker because of its sizable population of
Irish immigrants
The Irish diaspora ( ga, Diaspóra na nGael) refers to ethnic Irish people and their descendants who live outside the island of Ireland.
The phenomenon of migration from Ireland is recorded since the Early Middle Ages,Flechner and Meeder, The ...
.
Character
Vinegar Hill stretches from the
East River
The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...
waterfront to Front Street and from the
Brooklyn Navy Yard
The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex located in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a semicircular bend ...
to Bridge Street, roughly comprising a six block area. Before the construction of the
Brooklyn-Queens Expressway
Interstate 278 (I-278) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in New Jersey and New York in the United States. The road runs from US Route 1/9 (US 1/9) in Linden, New Jersey, northeast to the Bruckner Interchange in the New York ...
in the 1950s, Vinegar Hill's area was significantly larger, extending south to Tillary Street, including what is now known as
Bridge Plaza.
The neighborhood also includes the
New York City Housing Authority
The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is a public development corporation which provides public housing in New York City, and is the largest public housing authority in North America. Created in 1934 as the first agency of its kind in the U ...
's
Farragut Houses
The Farragut Houses is a public housing project located in the downtown neighborhood of northwestern Brooklyn, New York City, bordering the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Farragut Houses is a property of New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). The houses ...
. Most of Vinegar Hill consists of 19th-century
Federal Style and
Greek Revival
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...
style homes mixed with industrial buildings. Hudson Avenue and Plymouth, Water and Front Streets are made of
Belgian Blocks, although residents mistakenly refer to them as cobblestones.
Vinegar Hill has been described as a very quiet neighborhood where its residents know one another. According to a ''New York Times'' article published in 1999, some residents of Vinegar Hill are opposed to making any changes to the small neighborhood.
The Vinegar Hill area includes the Vinegar Hill Historic District and is home to the
Con Edison
Consolidated Edison, Inc., commonly known as Con Edison (stylized as conEdison) or ConEd, is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the United States, with approximately $12 billion in annual revenues as of 2017, and over $62 ...
Hudson Avenue Substation.
The substation is not very productive and there are many debates as to what the substation should be converted to.
On the corner of Evans and Little Streets is
Quarters A
Quarters A, also known as the Commandant's House, is a historic house on Evans Street in the Vinegar Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. Built beginning in 1805, with a number of later alterations, it remains a prominent example of Fed ...
(the Commandant's House), a
Federal Style mansion next to the Navy Yard which was once home to
Commodore
Commodore may refer to:
Ranks
* Commodore (rank), a naval rank
** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom
** Commodore (United States)
** Commodore (Canada)
** Commodore (Finland)
** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore''
* Air commodore ...
Matthew C. Perry
Matthew Calbraith Perry (April 10, 1794 – March 4, 1858) was a commodore of the United States Navy who commanded ships in several wars, including the War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). He played a leading role in the o ...
. This house was built in 1805.
91 Hudson Avenue in Vinegar Hill is the location of the former first burial place and monument of the
Prison Ship Martyrs of the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
.
History
Pre-colonial
The Canarsee
Indians were the first inhabitants of what is now western Brooklyn.
The Canarsee were members of the
Algonquian who occupied the
Atlantic seaboard
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Eastern United States meets the North Atlantic Ocean. The eastern seaboard contains the coa ...
from
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
to
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
. They were an autonomous band of the
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
(Leni Lenape) Indians. They established their villages close to the water including the higher ground near the
Wallabout Bay
Wallabout Bay is a small body of water in Upper New York Bay along the northwest shore of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, between the present Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges. It is located opposite Corlear's Hook in Manhattan, acros ...
that they called Rinnegokonck.
They lived communally in several settlements in western
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, including one located on the high ground near the present-day Vinegar Hill Historic District, called Rinnegokonc. In the seventeenth century, European explorers arrived on the land and started doing business with Native Americans.
Settlement
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
settlers began arriving in 1637 along the waterfront area up, up to
Fulton Street.
When the Dutch settlers arrived in the early seventeenth century, the Canarsee, already weakened by disease, hunger, and warfare, began to sell their land to the settlers and commenced on a long westward
migration
Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration
* Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another
** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...
that would take them as far as Illinois territory.
The land was sold by the Indians to
Joris Jansen Rapalje.
Rapelje acquired the land for farming purposes; it was renamed to
Breuckelen circa 1646. The first
ferry began operating from the northern point of
Fulton street few years earlier in 1642. It connected the land of
Breuckelen with
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, the route spanning the
East River
The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...
.
In 1674 the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
subjects, under the rule of
King Charles II, took control over the land during the events of the
Third Anglo-Dutch War
The Third Anglo-Dutch War ( nl, Derde Engels-Nederlandse Oorlog), 27 March 1672 to 19 February 1674, was a naval conflict between the Dutch Republic and England, in alliance with France. It is considered a subsidiary of the wider 1672 to 1678 ...
. Then,
Kings County consisted of six regions:
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
Bushwick,
Flatbush,
Flatlands, Gravesend,
New Utrecht
New Utrecht ( nl, Nieuw Utrecht) was a town in western Long Island, New York encompassing all or part of the present-day Bath Beach, Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, Dyker Heights and Fort Hamilton neighborhoods of Brooklyn, New York Cit ...
. The Vinegar Hill district was part of the region of Brooklyn.
18th century
![Ratzer fasimile, NYC map, 1767](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Ratzer_fasimile%2C_NYC_map%2C_1767.JPG)
Commissioners of Forfeiture took hold of the land from
Joris Jansen Rapalje and sold the area of Gold Street to
Comfort
Comfort (or being comfortable'')'' is a sense of physical or psychological ease, often characterized as a lack of hardship. Persons who are lacking in comfort are uncomfortable, or experiencing discomfort. A degree of psychological comfort c ...
and
Joshua Sands in 1784. The Sandses were planning to develop the land as a summer place for New Yorkers. They built a lot of blocks for a community that was called "Olympia" in 1787.
In the late eighteenth century John Jackson bought 100 acres around of the waterfront area near the
Wallabout Bay
Wallabout Bay is a small body of water in Upper New York Bay along the northwest shore of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, between the present Williamsburg and Manhattan Bridges. It is located opposite Corlear's Hook in Manhattan, acros ...
from Remsen estate and built there his own
shipyard. He also built houses for the shipyard workers.
The historical reminder of the
Sands family and Jackson are still seen on the maps as names of the streets in the Vinegar Hill area.
19th century
In the first years of the nineteenth century, Jackson sold to the United States government for the
Brooklyn Navy Yard
The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex located in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a semicircular bend ...
, and then built additional housing for Navy Yard personnel.
[Revilla, Beatriz Pineda. "Vinegar Hill, the History of 'Irishtown" , THE SIXTH BOROUGH, , REDEFINING BROOKLYN'S WATERFRONT, . N.p., n.d. Web. May 25, 2016.] Jackson named the area in honor of the Battle of Vinegar Hill, the last battle of an Irish-English conflict,
with the hope of attracting Irish immigrants to the area, although Germans, Norwegians and Poles also settled there.
[Hughes, C. J. (March 6, 2020]
"The Neighborhood Name Game"
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''
The Sands family, who had amassed a fortune as merchants and speculators, laid out their land, located west of Jackson's property, into blocks and lots for a community to be called "Olympia” as early as 1787.
The brothers expected Olympia to become a summer retreat for New Yorkers because of its hilly topography, plentiful water, and refreshing breezes.
However, the Sandses' lots that are located within the historic district were not developed residentially until the mid-1830s to the early 1850s.
![Building on corner of Hudson and Plymouth](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Building_on_corner_of_Hudson_and_Plymouth.jpg)
In the 1800s and 1810s, the area started developing faster.
In the late 1830s and early 1840s, the heirs of John Jackson sold off their estate's remaining lots on Hudson Avenue, which were developed individually or in small groups in the 1840s and 1850s with houses that have
Greek Revival
The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...
and
Italianate
The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...
characteristics because of the associations with
Athenian democracy.
Classic Greek architectural forms were reinterpreted by the architects and builders of the new Republic in their designs for buildings both large and small, whether State Capitol or small row house.
Further residential construction occurred on a few remaining vacant lots on Hudson Avenue, Water Street, and Front Street in the years following the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
.
In the mid-19th century, the area became home to illegal distilleries producing moonshine known as "potheen" (from Irish ''
poitín
Poitín (), anglicized as poteen () or potcheen, is a traditional Irish distilled beverage (40–90% ABV). Former common names for Poitín were "Irish moonshine" and "mountain dew". It was traditionally distilled in a small pot still and the ...
'', "little pot"). Alcohol was legal but heavily taxed, and the moonshining trade pumped significant cash to the
working-class neighborhood. In Vinegar Hill, the potheen business was operated largely by a quartet consisting of John Devlin, John Whiteford, "Ginger" Farrell, and "Ned" Brady. The
Bureau of Internal Revenue, created in 1862 and desperate for funds after the costly
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
, would send in Army veterans to raid the neighborhood and destroy the stills.
On one occasion, in 1869, the Army destroyed stills that were capable of churning out 250 barrels of alcohol each day—a volume worth $5,000 in unpaid taxes (). The battles between the government and the neighborhood became known as the "Whisky Wars" and left the residents of Vinegar Hill suspicious of outsiders.
An 1894 article in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' recalled those days:
"The extent of the moonshine traffic was never fully known to outsiders. The whole neighborhood was a unit in defense of the still
A still is an apparatus used to distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic distillation apparatus, but on a much larger scale. Stills have been use ...
s. While from scores of cellars the smoke of illegal and surreptitious manufacture ascended, access was not easy and proof of guilt was difficult to obtain. The peasantry of the Wickford ''(sic)'' Mountains were never firmer in their sympathy with the makers of "potheen" than were these denizens of ancient "Irishtown." The wary intruder who passed that way had good reason to avoid suspicion of being a spy. The least intimation that he was inquisitively included would bring a rabble at his heels and insure him a cracked crown if not more grievous injuries."—''New York Times'', March 18, 1894
20th century to present
Some of the buildings in Vinegar Hill were originally warehouses, which since the early 2000s have been turned into
loft buildings or office spaces. One building being repurposed is the fire house on 227 Front Street, which was turned into a loft building.
When the Manhattan Bridge was being constructed in the 1900s, the main areas within Vinegar Hill had to be destroyed. The industrial growth caused the replacement of many houses by factories and warehouses. A vital moment was the construction of a large power plant on the East River waterfront in the 1920s by the Consolidated Edison Company. These major changes happened until 1961. The shutdown of the Navy Yard in 1966 ended up being a result of New York’s shift from an industrial economy to a more service-oriented economy. It was a sign of decline and a clear demonstration of the lost relation with the waterfront.
The area began a revitalization in the 1970s when an ethnically diverse group of newcomers, many of whom were artists, came to the area attracted by the views and proximity of Manhattan. These residents brought back the name Vinegar Hill for the area and helped preserve the Belgian block streets. The City of New York, petitioned by the residents of Vinegar Hill, declared the area a Historical District in the late 1990s.
Demographics
![Vinegar Hill Feb, 2017](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Vinegar_Hill_Feb%2C_2017.jpg)
Many Irish immigrants lived in Vinegar Hill and worked in the Navy Yard in 1798.
Before and following the First World War and the great migration of people from Eastern Europe to the United States, Vinegar Hill became predominantly a neighborhood of Lithuanian immigrants, reaching 75% by the
1930 Census.
The Lithuanian immigrant population of the area continued into the 1960s. In the shops on Hudson Avenue, the language spoken was Lithuanian. These immigrants brought their strong Roman Catholic religious beliefs with them and built a church on York Street, St. George R.C. Church. It was believed that the Lithuanians were not received by the two Irish churches, (St. Ann & St. Edwards) which is what led to the construction of the St. George R.C. Church.
Transportation
The neighborhood of Vinegar Hill is close to the
New York City Subway's
York Street
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a m ...
station () and the
High Street
High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...
station ().
Other modes of public transportation includes the
MTA Regional Bus Operations
MTA Regional Bus Operations (RBO) is the surface transit division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). It was created in 2008 to consolidate all bus operations in New York City operated by the MTA. , MTA Regional Bus Operations ru ...
'
B62 and
B67 buses.
Notes
References
Further reading
* Jackson, Kenneth T. & Manbeck, John B.
The Neighborhoods of Brooklyn'. New York: Citizens for NYC, 2004. Print.
* Snyder-Grenier, Ellen M. ''Brooklyn! An Illustrated History''. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996. Print.
External links
{{Brooklyn
Neighborhoods in Brooklyn
Irish-American culture in New York City
Irish-American history
Irish-American neighborhoods
1787 establishments in New York (state)