Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant to the south; Bushwick and East Williamsburg to the east; and the East River to the west. The southern portion of Williamsburg is commonly referred to as South Williamsburg, a term used for the area along the East River south of Division Avenue. It was an independent city until 1855, when it was annexed by Brooklyn; at that time, the spelling was changed from Williamsburgh (with an "h") to Williamsburg.
Williamsburg, especially near the waterfront, was a vital industrial district until the mid-20th century. As many of the jobs were outsourced beginning in the 1970s, the area endured a period of economic contraction which did not begin to turn around until activist groups began to address housing, infrastructure, and youth education issues in the late 20th century. An ecosocial arts movement emerged alongside the activists in the late 1980s, often referred to as the Brooklyn Immersionists.The Williamsburg Avant-Garde: Experimental Music and Sound on the Brooklyn Waterfront by Cisco Bradley, Duke University Press, 2023, p. 27 The community-based scene cultivated a web of activity in the streets, rooftops and large warehouses, and attracted both the national and international press.Steinberg, Claudia, "Vis a Vis Manhattan," Die Zeit, September 19, 1997, p. 77 Small, locally owned businesses began to return to the neighborhood during this expansion of creative urbanism in the 1990s.Rose, Mark (March 6–12, 1991). "Brooklyn Unbound". The New York Press. p. 10.
In the 21st century, the city provided zoning changes and tax abatements to corporate developers which shifted the area from a creative, slow growth revival to an economy that was dominated by high rises and chain stores. Despite the rise in the cost of living that followed, and the loss of the original creative community that had rejuvenated the district, a new contemporary art scene and vibrant nightlife emerged that catered to new residents. The intensity and innovations of the Immersionist era in Williamsburg has continued to project the district's image internationally as a "Little Berlin". During the early 2000s, the neighborhood became a center for indie rock and electroclash. Numerous ethnic groups still inhabit enclaves within the neighborhood, including Italians, Jews, Hispanics, Poles, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans.
Williamsburg is part of Brooklyn Community District 1, and its primary ZIP Codes are 11206, 11211 and 11249. It is patrolled by the 90th and 94th Precincts of the New York City Police Department. Politically, it is represented by the New York City Council's 33rd District, which represents the western and southern parts of the neighborhood, and the 34th District, which represents the eastern part.Current City Council Districts for Kings County , New York City. Accessed May 5, 2017. As of the 2020 United States census, the neighborhood's population is 151,308.
History Founding
In 1638, the Dutch West India Company purchased the area's land from the Lenape Native Americans who occupied the area. In 1661, the company chartered the Town of Boswijck, including land that would later become Williamsburg. After the English takeover of New Netherland in 1664, the town's name was anglicized to Bushwick. During colonial times, villagers called the area "Bushwick Shore", a name that lasted for about 140 years. Bushwick Shore was cut off from the other villages in Bushwick by Bushwick Creek to the north and by Cripplebush, a region of thick, boggy shrub land that extended from Wallabout Creek in the south to Newtown Creek in the east. Bushwick residents called Bushwick Shore "the Strand".
Farmers and gardeners from the other Bushwick villages sent their goods to Bushwick Shore to be ferried across the East River to Manhattan for sale via a market at present day Grand Street. Bushwick Shore's favorable location close to New York City led to the creation of several farming developments. In 1802, real estate speculator Richard M. Woodhull acquired near what would become Metropolitan Avenue, then North 2nd Street. He had Colonel Jonathan Williams, a U.S. Engineer, survey the property, and named it Williamsburgh (with an h at the end) in his honor. Originally a development within Bushwick Shore, Williamsburg rapidly expanded during the first half of the 19th century and eventually seceded from Bushwick and formed its own independent city. Abraham J. Berry was the first mayor of the independent city of Williamsburgh; the "h" at the end of the name was dropped in 1855.
Incorporation of Williamsburgh
Williamsburg was incorporated as the Village of Williamsburgh within the Town of Bushwick on April 14, 1827. In two years, it had a fire company, a post office, and a population of over 1,000. The deep drafts along the East River encouraged industrialists, many from Germany, to build shipyards around Williamsburg. Raw material was shipped in, and finished products were sent out of factories straight to the docks. Several sugar barons built processing refineries, all of which are now gone, except the refinery of the now-defunct Domino Sugar (formerly Havemeyer & Elder). Other important industries included shipbuilding and brewing.
On April 18, 1835, the Village of Williamsburg annexed a portion of the Town of Bushwick. The Village then consisted of three districts. The first district was commonly called the "South Side", the second district was called the "North Side", and the third district was called the "New Village". The names "North Side" and "South Side" remain in common usage today, but the name for the Third District has changed often. The New Village became populated by Germans, and for a time was known by the sobriquet of "Dutchtown".
In 1845, the population of Williamsburgh was 11,500.
On April 7, 1840. reflecting its increasing urbanization, Williamsburg separated from Bushwick as the Town of Williamsburg. Edmund Smith Driggs (1809–1889) was a Williamsburg resident and was elected the first president of the Village of Williamsburg in 1850. He was also president of the Williamsburg City Fire Insurance Company and built a row of houses on South Second Street. Driggs Avenue is named after him.
In 1851, the municipality became the City of Williamsburgh (it would discard the "h" in 1855), which was organized into three wards. The old First Ward roughly coincides with the South Side, and the Second Ward with the North Side, with the modern boundary at Grand Street. The Third Ward was to the east of these, stretching from Union Avenue east to Bushwick Avenue, beyond which is Bushwick (some of which is now called East Williamsburg).
Incorporation into the Eastern District
In 1855, the City of Williamsburg, along with the adjoining Town of Bushwick, was annexed into the City of Brooklyn as the so-called Eastern District. The First Ward of Williamsburg became Brooklyn's 13th Ward, the Second Ward Brooklyn's 14th Ward, and the Third Ward Brooklyn's 15th and 16th Wards.
During its period as part of Brooklyn's Eastern District, the area achieved remarkable industrial, cultural, and economic growth, and local businesses thrived. Wealthy New Yorkers such as Cornelius Vanderbilt and railroad magnate Jubilee Jim Fisk built shore-side mansions. Charles Pratt and his family founded the Pratt Institute, the great school of art & architecture, and the Astral Oil Works, which later became part of Standard Oil. Corning Glass Works was founded here, before moving upstate to Corning, New York. German immigrant, chemist Charles Pfizer founded Pfizer Pharmaceutical in Williamsburg, and the company maintained an industrial plant in the neighborhood through 2007, although its headquarters were moved to Manhattan in the 1960s.
Brooklyn's Broadway, ending in the ferry to Manhattan, became the area's lifeline. The area proved popular for condiment and household product manufacturers. Factories for Domino Sugar, Esquire Shoe Polish, Dutch Mustard, and many others were established in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many of these factory buildings are now being (or already have been) converted to non-industrial uses, primarily residential.
The population was at first heavily German, but many Jews from the Lower East side of Manhattan came to the area after the completion of the Williamsburg Bridge in 1903. Williamsburg had two major community banks: the Williamsburgh Savings Bank at 175 Broadway (chartered 1851, since absorbed by HSBC); and its rival, the Dime Savings Bank of Williamsburgh one block west (chartered 1864, now known as the DIME, has remained independent). The area around the Peter Luger Steak House, established in 1887, in the predominantly German neighborhood under the Williamsburg Bridge, was a major banking hub, until the City of Brooklyn united with the City of Greater New York.Bernardo, Leonard and Jennifer Weiss. Brooklyn by Name: How the Neighborhoods, Streets, Parks, Bridges, and More Got Their Names. New York. NYU Press:2006. One of the early high schools in Brooklyn, the Eastern District High School, opened here in February 1900.Staff. "New E.D. High School Open; Lessons Were Given Out And Pupils Assigned to Classes – 182 Present" , Brooklyn Daily Eagle, February 5, 1900. Accessed May 12, 2016.
Incorporation into New York City
In 1898, Brooklyn became one of five boroughs within the City of Greater New York, and the Williamsburg neighborhood was opened to closer connections with the rest of the newly consolidated city. Five years later, the opening of the Williamsburg Bridge in 1903 further opened up the community to thousands of upwardly mobile immigrants and second-generation Americans fleeing the over-crowded slum tenements of Manhattan's Lower East Side.The Physical Landscape , Lower East Side Tenement Museum. Accessed May 12, 2016. "Built in 1903, the Williamsburg Bridge had a greater effect on the ability of immigrants to leave the Lower East Side. In the early 20th century, the bridge was seen as a passageway to a new life in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, by thousands of Jewish immigrants fleeing the overcrowded neighborhood." Williamsburg itself soon became the most densely populated neighborhood in New York City, which, in turn, was the most densely populated city in the United States.Williamsburg , Brooklyn Public Library. Retrieved November 20, 2008. "By 1917, the neighborhood had the most densely populated blocks in New York City." The novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn addresses a young girl growing up in the tenements of Williamsburg during this era.
Brooklyn Union Gas in the early 20th century consolidated its coal gas production to Williamsburg at 370 Vandervoort Avenue, closing the Gowanus Canal gasworks. The 1970s energy crisis led the company to build a syngas factory. Late in the century, facilities were built to import liquefied natural gas from overseas. The intersection of Broadway, Flushing Avenue, and Graham Avenue was a cross-roads for many "inter-urbans", prior to World War I. These light rail trolleys ran from Long Island to Williamsburg.