THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2020 – THE NEWTOWN CREEK
THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2020
The
118th Edition
From Our Archives
THE NEWTOWN
CREEK
The Newtown Creek is he border between Brooklyn and Queens
Newtown Creek
Is a 3.5-mile (6-kilometer) long tributary of the East River, is an estuary that forms part of the border between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, in New York City.
In the early days its shores presented a beautiful sight. The Creek’s natural sources were fresh water streams which flowed between wooded elevations and further along lowlands until they mingled with the salt water of the East River. When the tides met, the backing up of these tides caused the stream to overflow into marshes. The creek abounded with fish and shellfish and was also a favorite swimming spot. While the Creek once flowed through wetlands and marshes nearly the entire stretch of the creek now has bulkheads (retaining walls.).
Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries – European Settlement
The Creek has been used by man for hundreds of years starting with Native Americans whose village and fields were at the head of the Creek. Dutch explorers first surveyed the Creek in the seventeenth century. The Dutch, and then the English, used the Creek for agriculture and fledgling industrial commerce, making it the oldest continuous industrial area in the United States Farms and plantations lined both shores of the Creek from the mid-1600’s to the mid-nineteenth century.
The creek begins near the intersection of 47th Street and Grand Avenue on the Brooklyn-Queens border at the intersection of the East Branch and English Kills.
It empties into the East River at 2nd Street and 54th Avenue in Long Island City, opposite Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan at 26th Street. Its waterfront, and that of its tributaries Dutch Kills, Whale Creek, Maspeth Creek, and English Kills are heavily industrialized.
A Polluted Waterway
Up until the latter part of the 20th Century, industries along the creek had free rein over the disposal of unwanted byproducts. With little-to-no government regulation or knowledge of the impact on human health and the environment, it made business sense to pollute the creek. The legacy of this history today is a 17-30 million gallon underground oil spill caused by Standard Oil’s progeny companies, copper contamination from the Phelps Dodge Superfund site, bubbling from the creek bed in the English Kill reach due to increases of hydrogen sulfide and a lack of dissolved oxygen, and creek beds coated with old tires, car frames, seats and loose paper. Nearly the entire Creek had the sheen and smell of petroleum, with the bed and banks slicked black.
The shores of the Newtown Creek in Greenpoint contain some of the most polluted industrial spaces in the United States, befouled by more than a century of oil spills and toxic waste. Soon, they will also be home to a collection of new parks and green spaces, which will open up sections of the waterfront to the surrounding community for the first time in generations.
In recent months, several projects have launched that will radically transform the isolated shoreline of the creek, which is a federal Superfund site. These include the expansion of the Newtown Creek Nature Walk, the impending groundbreaking for the North Brooklyn Community Boathouse, and the launch of the designs for the Under the K park and the Gateway to Greenpoint.
Each of these projects is a direct result of one of the most complicated and successful environmental justice movements in the city, which has resulted in tens of millions of dollars being granted to a host of ecological restoration projects and new public spaces. After many decades of struggle, the residents of Greenpoint may now begin to see some of the largest environmental projects in their neighborhood finally come to fruition.
NYC DEP WATER TREATMENT PLANT
The Visitor Center is open for education programs by appointment only. If you would like to learn about public tours, please visit the Digester Egg Tour webpage. Located at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, the Visitor Center at Newtown Creek is the only facility within the five boroughs where you can experience New York City’s water infrastructure. Through guided education programs, students can discover the journey our drinking water takes to get to our taps, the process of cleaning our wastewater before it is released into surrounding waterways, and stewardship opportunities.
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EDITORIAL
When I decided to write about the Newtown Creek, I started reading about the pollution and environmental disaster this waterway has been. For over a century it was a dump site with everything imaginable.
Years ago I took a boat ride on the then be-fouled canal, surely not a pleasant voyage.
In the last decade change is slowly coming to the creek. It may be far from perfect but the efforts of many groups should be recognized:
Check out the NEWTOWN CREEK ALLIANCE
UNTAPPED CITIES
CURBED NEW YORK
NYC DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Judith Berdy
Text by Judith Berdy
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c)
Roosevelt Island Historical Society
WIKIPEDIA (C)
UNTAPPED CITIES
CURBED NEW YORK
NEWTOWN CREEK ALLIANCE
NYC DEPT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
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