Used as a dumping area for tanneries, soap yards, factories and raw sewage for the past century, the once-quaint creek in South Brooklyn is now crying for a good flush. Check out the canal’s amazing transformation from resourceful to resentful, where now, not even a whale is strong enough to shake off its slime.
1600s
Dutch farmers settled along the banks of Gowanus Bay and shipped “oysters the size of plates” back to Europe, making Gowanus oysters Brooklyn’s first export.
1849
Edwin Litchfield constructs an artificial, navigable waterway extending from what is now Hamilton Avenue to Douglass Street
1884
The former creek is transformed into an industrial waterway that aided the commercial development of Red Hook. The banks quickly become crowded with coal, lumber, brick and ink factories, and flour, plaster and paint mills.
1893
The now-defunct Brooklyn Daily Eagle dubs the Canal an “open cesspool” and locals call it “Lavender Lake,” referring to its dark purple waters and unbearable stench.
1911
A flushing tunnel is built to bring in somewhat clean water from New York Harbor. It would break down in 1961 and not be repaired for decades.
1972
Live hepatitis, typhoid and a virulent strain of cholera is found in the canal .
1975
Canal bottom is dredged for the last time.
2007
Cyanide, Lead and Gonorrhea found in canal. A lost Minke whale gets stuck in the Gowanus and dies.
2009
EPA considers Gowanus Canal for Superfund designation. The Bloomberg administration responds with its own plan, which it claims will be faster and cheaper. Would-be developers threaten to pull out of their projects if Superfund designation goes through.
Tuesday
Superfund designation goes through, the mayor grumbles and a major developer does indeed pull out.
— Lara Gross
