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Greenpoint is the northernmost neighborhood in the
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
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 Ag ...
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 the U.S. state of New York. It is bordered on the southwest by Williamsburg at Bushwick Inlet Park and McCarren Park; on the southeast by 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 ...
and
East Williamsburg East Williamsburg is a name for the area in the northwestern portion of Brooklyn, New York City. East Williamsburg consists roughly of what was the 3rd District of the Village of Williamsburgh and what is now called the East Williamsburg In-Plac ...
; on the north by Newtown Creek and the neighborhood of Long Island City in
Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
; and on the west by 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 ...
. The neighborhood has a large Polish immigrant and Polish-American community, containing many Polish restaurants, markets, and businesses, and it is often referred to as Little Poland. Originally farmland – many of the farm owners' family names, such as Meserole (Messerole) and Calyer, are current street names – the residential core of Greenpoint was built on parcels divided during the
Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
and late 19th century, with rope factories and lumber yards lining the East River to the west, while the northeastern section along the Newtown Creek through East Williamsburg became an industrial maritime area. Greenpoint has long held a reputation of being a
working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...
and immigrant neighborhood, and it initially attracted families and workers with its abundance of
factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. ...
jobs, heavy industry and
manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...
,
shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to bef ...
, and
longshoreman A stevedore (), also called a longshoreman, a docker or a dockworker, is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes. After the shipping container revolution of the 1960s, the number ...
or dock work. Since the early 2000s, a building boom in the neighborhood has made the neighborhood increasingly a center of nightlife and
gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ...
, and a 2005 rezoning enabled the construction of high density residential buildings on the East River waterfront. There have also been efforts to reclaim the rezoned East River waterfront for recreational use and also to extend a continuous promenade into the Newtown Creek area. Greenpoint is part of Brooklyn Community District 1, and its primary ZIP Code is 11222. It is patrolled by the 94th Precinct of 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 Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act i ...
.


History


Early colonization and agricultural era

At the time of European settlement in New York, Greenpoint was inhabited by the Keskachauge (Keshaechqueren) Indians, a sub-tribe of the
Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory inclu ...
. Contemporary accounts describe the area as remarkably verdant and beautiful, with
Jack pine Jack pine (''Pinus banksiana'') is an eastern North American pine. Its native range in Canada is east of the Rocky Mountains from the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories to Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, and the north-central and ...
and oak forest, meadows, fresh water creeks and briny marshes. Water fowl and fish were abundant. European settlers originally used the "Greenpoint" name to refer to a small bluff of land jutting into the East River at what is now the westernmost end of Freeman Street, but eventually it came to describe the whole peninsula. In 1638, the Dutch West India Company negotiated the right to settle Brooklyn from the Lenape. The first recorded European settler of what is now Greenpoint was Dirck Volckertsen (Batavianized from ''Holgerssøn''), a Norwegian immigrant who in 1645 built a -story farmhouse there with the help of two Dutch carpenters. It was built in the contemporary Dutch style just west of what is now the intersection of Calyer Street and Franklin Street. There he planted orchards and raised crops, sheep and cattle. He was called Dirck de Noorman by the Dutch colonists of the region, ''Noorman'' being the Dutch word for "Norseman" or "Northman." The creek that ran by his farmhouse became known as Norman Kill (Creek); it ran into a large
salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...
and was later filled in. Volckertsen received title to the land after prevailing in court one year earlier over a Jan De Pree, who had a rival claim. He initially commuted to his farm by boat and may not have moved into the house full time until after 1655, when the small nearby settlement of Boswyck was established, on the charter of which Volckertsen was listed along with 22 other families. Volckertsen's wife, Christine Vigne, was a Walloon. Volckertsen had had periodic conflicts with the Keshaechqueren, who killed two of his sons-in-law and tortured a third in separate incidents throughout the 1650s. Starting in the early 1650s, he began selling and leasing his property to Dutch colonists, among them Jacob Haie (Hay) in 1653, who built a home in northern Greenpoint that was burned down by Indians two years later. Jan Meserole established a farm in 1663; his farmhouse at what is now 723 Manhattan Avenue stood until 1919 and last served as a Young Women’s Hebrew Association. The Hay property and other holdings came into the possession of Pieter Praa, a captain in the local militia, who established a farm near present day Freeman Street and
McGuinness Boulevard McGuinness Boulevard is a boulevard in Greenpoint, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It runs between Interstate 278 (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway) in the south and the Pulaski Bridge in the north, which connects to Queens an ...
, and went on to own most of Greenpoint. Volckertsen died in about 1678 and his grandsons sold the remainder of the homestead to Pieter Praa when their father died in 1718; the name of Norman Avenue remains as testimony to Volckertsen's legacy.Felter, William L., ''Historic Green Point'', Green Point Savings Bank: 1918. pg. 19. Cited i
"A Greenpoint Perspective"
by Frank J. Dmuchowski
Praa had no male heirs when he died in 1740, but the farming families of his various daughters formed the core of Greenpoint for the next hundred years or so. By the time 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 ...
, Greenpoint's population was entirely five related families: * Abraham Meserole, a grandson of Pieter Praa, and his family lived on the banks of the East River between the present day India and Java Streets; * Jacob Meserole (brother of Abraham) and his family farmed the entire south end of Greenpoint and built a house between present day Manhattan Avenue and Lorimer Street near Norman Avenue; * Jacob Bennett, son-in-law of Pieter Praa, and his family farmed the land in the northern portion of Greenpoint and built their house near present day Clay Street roughly between present day Manhattan Avenue and Franklin Street; * Jonathan Provoost, son-in-law of Pieter Praa, and his family farmed the eastern portion of Greenpoint, and lived in the house built by Praa; * Jacobus Calyer, a grandson-in-law of Pieter Praa, and his family farmed the western portion of Greenpoint, and lived in the house built by Volckertsen. The
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...
had an encampment in Greenpoint during the
American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
, which caused considerable hardship for the families; Abraham Meserole's son was imprisoned on suspicion of revolutionary sympathies. Throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries, the farms were quite isolated from the rest of Brooklyn, connected only to one another by farm lanes and to the rest of Bushwick Township by a single road, Wood Point Road (now Bushwick Avenue). The families used long boats to travel to Manhattan to sell their farm produce. Little historical information exists about this period of Greenpoint's history other than the personal papers and recorded oral history of these five families.


19th-century industrialization

Greenpoint first began to change significantly when entrepreneur Neziah Bliss married into the Meserole family in the early 1830s after purchasing land from them. He eventually bought out most of the land in Greenpoint. In 1834 he had the area surveyed, and in 1839 opened a public turnpike along what is now Franklin Street. He established regular ferry service to Manhattan around 1850. All of these initiatives contributed to the rapid and radical transformation of Greenpoint, which was annexed to the
City 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, beh ...
in 1855. In the years that followed Greenpoint established itself as a manufacturing district. Its largest industries were shipbuilding, porcelain and pottery, and glassworks, but the area had other industrial concerns such as brass and iron foundries; breweries; drug plants; book, furniture, box, and boiler makers; sugar refineries; and machine shops. Germans and Irish arrived in the mid-19th century and large numbers of Poles began arriving before the turn of the century. 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 The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
as the Greenpoint Historic District. Greenpoint's East River waterfront holds the maritime history of the community. The buildings that formerly manufactured the ropes for the shipbuilding industry are still there. Long a site of shipbuilding, the neighborhood's dockyards were used to build the USS ''Monitor''—the Union's first ironclad fighting ship built during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...
. It was launched on Bushwick Creek. The ''Monitor'', together with seven other ironclads, was built at the Continental Ironworks in Greenpoint. In 1866, the largest wooden ship ever built up to that time, ''The
Great Republic When launched in 1853, ''Great Republic'' was the largest wooden ship in the world. She shared this title with another American-built ship, the steamship ''Adriatic''. She was also the largest full-rigged ship ever built in the United States. She ...
'', was built along Newtown Creek. Glass-making was also a large industry in Greenpoint, and by the 1880s the neighborhood housed 18 of the 20 glass makers in the city of Brooklyn, as well as all of the porcelain and pottery manufacturers in the city. Charles Pratt's Astral Oil Works also opened on the Greenpoint waterfront in the 1860s. Pratt sold his interest to John D. Rockefeller's recently formed
Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co- ...
Trust in 1874. By 1875 Greenpoint had some 50 refineries. The
Astral Apartments The Astral Apartments is an apartment building located at 184 Franklin Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York City. The Astral was built in 1885–1886 as affordable housing for employees of Charles Pratt's Astral Oil Works. It is a block-long br ...
were built as housing for workers at Astral Oil in 1886. An American manufacturer of porcelain wares who operated between 1862 to 1922, the Union Porcelain Works, had their factory located at 300 Eckford Street in Greenpoint. According to the
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...
designation report the company was "one of the most famous in the country, both for its innovative approach to the manufacture of porcelain and for the quality of its products which was highly regarded on both sides of the Atlantic" and was "a major force in shaping an American stylistic tradition for ceramics and porcelain".


20th and 21st centuries

The petroleum industry continued to expand, despite the occasional catastrophe. On September 13, 1919, the Standard Oil refinery caught fire and soon spread flaming liquids into neighboring oil works and Newtown Creek. In 1933 Greenpoint gained access to the
New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October ...
, with the opening of the IND Crosstown Line (currently serving the ), running under Manhattan Avenue from Nassau Avenue to Queens. In 1937 the line was extended to Downtown Brooklyn, providing direct access from Greenpoint to points south. The manufacturing industry of Greenpoint declined after
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. Eberhard Faber's pencil factory, once the largest manufacturer of lead pencils in the United States, operated on West Street from 1872 until 1956. The company's former buildings were designated a historic district by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2007. The Greenpoint Historic District was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1983.


Environmental difficulties and litigation

Greenpoint community residents and activists have periodically banded together, sometimes with the aid of their local representatives, to fight highly polluting facilities and practices in the neighborhood. Such organization led the city to close the huge Greenpoint incinerator in 1994, which was out of compliance with all city, state and federal regulations. In the late-1980s, after an increasing series of highly odorous releases from the Sewage Treatment Plant which served a good portion of Lower Manhattan, a local group formed calling itself GASP (Greenpointers Against Smell Pollution) that compelled the city to control the outflows and to plan a vastly expanded facility that took 20 years to build. The mid 1980s saw a great increase in the number of trucks driving through the neighborhood with municipal waste, often toxic waste, to be held at "transfer stations." During the 1950
Greenpoint oil spill The Greenpoint oil spill is one of the largest oil spills ever recorded in the United States. Located around Newtown Creek in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, between of oil and petroleum products have leaked into the soil ...
, at the time the largest oil spill in United States history, of oil spilled into Newtown Creek. Oil is believed to have been seeping into the groundwater since then. Groundwater in this area is not used as drinking water, as all of New York City's drinking water presently comes from upstate reservoirs. However, local activists have been campaigning ever since to clean up the spill. On October 20, 2005, residents near the oil recovery operation, which is located in the predominantly commercial/industrial eastern section of Greenpoint near the
East Williamsburg East Williamsburg is a name for the area in the northwestern portion of Brooklyn, New York City. East Williamsburg consists roughly of what was the 3rd District of the Village of Williamsburgh and what is now called the East Williamsburg In-Plac ...
Industrial Park, filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil, BP and Chevron Corporation in Brooklyn State Supreme Court, alleging they have suffered adverse health consequences. ExxonMobil, which has been slowly removing oil from its former facilities in the area, have denied liability for the oil leaking into Newtown Creek and suggested fault lies instead with Chevron. The Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) "Newtown Creek/Greenpoint Oil Spill Study Brooklyn, New York" states that vapor concentrations in "some commercial establishments" were found "above the Upper Explosive Limit"; i.e. there was so much vapor that no explosion could ignite. The same EPA study said, "A review of the data collected by the NYSDEC shows that, in general, chemicals were detected at all locations in each home, but not in a pattern that would typically represent a vapor intrusion phenomenon.""Newtown Creek/Greenpoint Oil Spill Study Brooklyn, New York"
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, September 12, 2007


2005 rezoning

On May 11, 2005, New York City's Department of City Planning approved a rezoning of 175 blocks in Greenpoint and Williamsburg. According to the project's Environmental Impact Statement, the rezoning is expected to bring approximately 16,700 new residents to the neighborhood by 2013 in 7,300 new units of housing. of new retail space are projected, along with a corresponding loss of just over of existing industrial capacity. The rezoning also includes a waterfront park. Included in its requirements are provisions for a promenade along 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 ...
, built piecemeal by the developers of existing waterfront lots. An inclusionary housing plan was included in the resolution and provides height bonuses along the waterfront and in Northside Williamsburg for developers providing apartments at rates considered affordable for low-income households (below 80% of the area's median income); on the waterfront, these bonuses could allow for up to seven-story height increases. The rezoning was a dramatic change in scale to a previously low-slung, industrial neighborhood. The proposed changes were the subject of much debate, including a letter written by activist
Jane Jacobs Jane Jacobs (''née'' Butzner; 4 May 1916 – 25 April 2006) was an American-Canadian journalist, author, theorist, and activist who influenced urban studies, sociology, and economics. Her book ''The Death and Life of Great American Cities'' ...
to mayor Michael Bloomberg criticizing the proposed development. Other organizations, including the city government and various advocacy groups such as the Manhattan Institute, argued that residential construction in underused manufacturing zones is essential to meet growing housing demand. Rezoning promised double-digit percentage growth in the number of housing units, leading these groups to claim that it would help to alleviate the city's housing shortage and possibly slow rent increases. Critics argued that the existing community's character would be changed as existing residents were forced to move, and, further, that public transportation and public safety infrastructure would be unable to accommodate the projected 40,000 new residents. A boom in construction followed the rezoning, leading to complaints from neighborhood residents and their elected representatives. The zoning plan was modified on March 2, 2006, to include anti-harassment provisions for tenants and add height limits in portions of upland Williamsburg. Neighborhood organizations made differing opinions known: the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Association for Parks and Planning expressed approval of the proposal (with reservations), but many neighborhood residents and members of Community Board 1 continue to voice their objections. One of the largest developments to be built after the rezoning was Greenpoint Landing, which includes ten residential towers containing 5,500 units, a public elementary and middle school, and of parkland. Greenpoint Landing began construction in 2015 and is expected to be completed before 2027. By spring 2017, one building had opened.


Demographics

Greenpoint's population is largely working class and multi-generational; it is common to find three generations of family members living in the community. The neighborhood is sometimes referred to as "Little Poland" due to its large population of Polish immigrants and Polish-Americans, reportedly the second largest concentration in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
after
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
. Although Polish immigrants and people of Polish descent are present in force, there is a significant Latino population living mostly north of Greenpoint Avenue, and Greenpoint has a significant number of South Asian and North African residents. Based on data from the
2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators serving ...
, the population of Greenpoint was 34,719, a decrease of 3,102 (8.2%) from the 37,821 counted in 2000. Covering an area of , the neighborhood had a population density of .Table PL-P5 NTA: Total Population and Persons Per Acre - New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas*, 2010
Population Division -
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
Department of City Planning, February 2012. Accessed June 16, 2016.
The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 76.9% (26,691)
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
and 14.7% (5,099)
Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...
or Latino. Other ethnicities include 1.2% (433)
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0.1% (48) Native American, 4.9% (1,689) Asian, 0.0% (10)
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
, 0.5% (161) from other races, and 1.7% (588) from two or more races.Table PL-P3A NTA: Total Population by Mutually Exclusive Race and Hispanic Origin - New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas*, 2010
Population Division -
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
Department of City Planning, March 29, 2011. Accessed June 14, 2016.
The entirety of Community Board 1, which comprises Greenpoint and Williamsburg, had 199,190 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 81.1 years. This is about the same as the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are middle-aged adults and youth: 23% are between the ages of 0–17, 41% between 25–44, and 17% between 45–64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 10% and 9% respectively. As of 2016, the median household income in Community Board 1 was $76,608. In 2018, an estimated 17% of Greenpoint and Williamsburg residents lived in poverty, compared to 21% in all of Brooklyn and 20% in all of New York City. Less than one in fifteen residents (6%) were unemployed, compared to 9% in the rest of both Brooklyn and New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 48% in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, higher than the citywide and boroughwide rates of 52% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, , Greenpoint and Williamsburg are considered to be gentrifying. As according to the 2020 census data from
New York City Department of City Planning The Department of City Planning (DCP) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for setting the framework of city's physical and socioeconomic planning. The department is responsible for land use and environmental review, p ...
, there were between 20,000 to 29,999 White residents and between 5,000 to 9,999 Hispanic residents, meanwhile each the Asian and Black populations were each under 5000 residents.


Political representation

Politically, Greenpoint is in New York's 12th congressional district. It is in the
New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan comp ...
's 18th and 26th districts, the
New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Ass ...
's 50th districts, and the New York City Council's 33rd district.


Police and crime

Greenpoint is patrolled by the 94th Precinct of the NYPD, located at 100 Meserole Avenue. The 94th Precinct ranked 50th safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010. , with a non-fatal assault rate of 34 per 100,000 people, Greenpoint and Williamsburg's rate of violent crimes per capita is less than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 305 per 100,000 people is lower than that of the city as a whole. The 94th Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 72.9% between 1990 and 2018. The precinct reported 1 murder, 6 rapes, 63 robberies, 115 felony assaults, 141 burglaries, 535 grand larcenies, and 62 grand larcenies auto in 2018.


Fire safety

The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) operates two fire stations in Greenpoint. Engine Co. 238/Ladder Co. 106 is located at 205 Greenpoint Avenue and serves most of the neighborhood. The southern part of Greenpoint is served by Engine Co. 229/Ladder Co. 146, located at 75 Richardson Street.


Health

,
preterm birth Preterm birth, also known as premature birth, is the birth of a baby at fewer than 37 weeks gestational age, as opposed to full-term delivery at approximately 40 weeks. Extreme preterm is less than 28 weeks, very early preterm birth is betwee ...
s and births to teenage mothers are less common in Greenpoint and Williamsburg than in other places citywide. In Greenpoint and Williamsburg, there were 54 preterm births per 1,000 live births (the lowest in the city, compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 16.0 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide). Greenpoint and Williamsburg has a relatively low population of residents who are uninsured, or who receive healthcare through
Medicaid Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and per ...
.New York City Health Provider Partnership Brooklyn Community Needs Assessment: Final Report
New York Academy of Medicine The New York Academy of Medicine (the Academy) is a health policy and advocacy organization founded in 1847 by a group of leading New York metropolitan area physicians as a voice for the medical profession in medical practice and public health ...
(October 3, 2014).
In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 7%, which is lower than the citywide rate of 12%. The concentration of
fine particulate matter Particulates – also known as atmospheric aerosol particles, atmospheric particulate matter, particulate matter (PM) or suspended particulate matter (SPM) – are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. The ter ...
, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in Greenpoint and Williamsburg is , higher than the citywide and boroughwide averages. Seventeen percent of Greenpoint and Williamsburg residents are smokers, which is slightly higher than the city average of 14% of residents being smokers. In Greenpoint and Williamsburg, 23% of residents are obese, 11% are
diabetic Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level (hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...
, and 25% have high blood pressure—compared to the citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively. In addition, 23% of children are obese, compared to the citywide average of 20%. Ninety-one percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is greater than the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 79% of residents described their health as "good," "very good," or "excellent," more than the city's average of 78%. For every supermarket in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, there are 25 bodegas. There are medical clinics in the Greenpoint area, though no hospitals are located in the neighborhood. The nearest large hospitals are
Woodhull Medical Center Woodhull Medical Center, branded as NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull, is a health care system located in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York City, United States. Its focus is on preventing disease and promoting healthy lifestyl ...
in Bedford–Stuyvesant and Mount Sinai Queens in
Astoria, Queens Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City to the southwest, Sunnyside to the southeas ...
.


Post office and ZIP Code

Greenpoint is covered by ZIP Code 11222. The
United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the ...
operates the Greenpoint Station post office at 66 Meserole Avenue.


Education

Greenpoint and Williamsburg generally has a higher ratio of college-educated residents than the rest of the city . Half of the population (50%) has a college education or higher, 17% have less than a high school education and 33% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 40% of Brooklynites and 38% of city residents have a college education or higher. The percentage of Greenpoint and Williamsburg students excelling in reading and math has been increasing, with reading achievement rising from 35 percent in 2000 to 40 percent in 2011, and math achievement rising from 29 percent to 50 percent within the same time period. Greenpoint and Williamsburg's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is slightly higher than the rest of New York City. In Greenpoint and Williamsburg, 21% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per school year, compared to the citywide average of 20% of students. Additionally, 77% of high school students in Greenpoint and Williamsburg graduate on time, higher than the citywide average of 75% of students.


Schools

Greenpoint contains the following public elementary schools which serve grades PK-5: * PS 31 Samuel F Dupont * PS 34 Oliver H Perry * PS 110 The Monitor The following public middle school serves grades 6-8: * John Ericsson Middle School 126 The following public high schools serve grades 9-12: * Automotive High School * Frances Perkins Academy


Library

The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL)'s Greenpoint branch is located at 107 Norman Avenue near Leonard Street. The site originally housed a Carnegie library that opened in 1906, but it was replaced in the 1970s. The library closed in mid-2017 for a two-year renovation, which would necessitate the replacement of the existing building with a new facility called the Greenpoint Library & Environmental Education Center. The renovation of the Greenpoint branch was originally supposed to be completed in late 2018, but was delayed because of safety violations during construction.


Transportation

Greenpoint is served by the
Greenpoint Avenue Roosevelt Avenue and Greenpoint Avenue are main thoroughfares in the New York City boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn. Roosevelt Avenue begins at 48th Street and Queens Boulevard in the neighborhood of Sunnyside. West of Queens Boulevard, the ro ...
and Nassau Avenue stations on the IND Crosstown Line () of the
New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October ...
. It is served by the New York City Bus routes. In June 2011, NY Waterway started service to points along the East River. On May 1, 2017, that route became part of the NYC Ferry's East River route, which runs between Pier 11/Wall Street in Manhattan's Financial District and the East 34th Street Ferry Landing in Murray Hill, Manhattan, with five intermediate stops in Brooklyn and Queens. Greenpoint is served by the East River Ferry's India Street stop, which is temporarily closed. There are plans to build the
Brooklyn–Queens Connector The Brooklyn–Queens Connector, abbreviated the BQX, is a proposed streetcar line in New York City. It is planned to operate 24/7 on a north–south corridor along the East River between the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn. A previous pla ...
(BQX), a light rail system that would run along the waterfront from Red Hook through Greenpoint to Astoria in
Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
. However, the system is projected to cost $2.7 billion, and the projected opening has been delayed until at least 2029.


Landmarks and attractions


Street grid

When Neziah Bliss created Greenpoint, he named the east-west streets in alphabetical order from north to south. Originally, these streets were simply given lettered names such as "A Street" and "B Street", but in the mid-19th century, the streets were given longer names. This system persists today with a few exceptions: Ash, Box, Clay, Dupont, Eagle, Freeman, Green, Huron, India, Java, Kent, Greenpoint (Avenue), Milton, Noble, Oak, Calyer, and Quay Streets. Greenpoint Avenue was formerly named Lincoln Street. There would have been a street starting with the letter "P" between Oak and Quay Streets, but it was named Calyer Street early in Greenpoint's history, after the patriarch of a nearby family.


Parks

Parks include McCarren Park (formerly known as Greenpoint Park), the neighborhood's largest green space, and the smaller McGolrick Park (formerly known as Winthrop Park), which contains both the landmarked Shelter Pavilion (1910) and an allegorical monument to the ironclad ship USS ''Monitor'' (1938). On the East River,
WNYC Transmitter Park WNYC Transmitter Park is a 6.61-acre public park located in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, where Greenpoint Avenue dead-ends by the East River shoreline. The site was acquired by the public radio station WNYC in 1935 as ...
opened in 2012 on the site of a former radio transmission antenna. A small playground called "Right Angle Park" is located at Commercial, Dupont, and Franklin Streets, so named because the park is located on a city block that is shaped like a right triangle.


Architectural and historic landmarks

The Greenpoint Historic District is roughly bounded by Kent, Calyer, Noble, and Franklin Streets, Clifford Place, Lorimer Street and Manhattan Avenue. Of architectural interest in Greenpoint are: the Episcopal Church of the Ascension (1853), the oldest church in Greenpoint on Kent Street; the
Astral Apartments The Astral Apartments is an apartment building located at 184 Franklin Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York City. The Astral was built in 1885–1886 as affordable housing for employees of Charles Pratt's Astral Oil Works. It is a block-long br ...
(1885) on Franklin Street; the Saint Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church (1875) on Manhattan Avenue; the Eberhard Faber Pencil Factory on Greenpoint Avenue at Franklin Street; the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of the Transfiguration of Our Lord (1921) on North 12th Street; PS 34, the Oliver H. Perry School (1867) on Norman Avenue (the oldest continuously operating public school building in New York City); the Capital One (formerly Green Point) Savings Bank (1908); the Saint
Stanislaus Kostka Stanisław Kostka S.J. (28 October 1550 – 15 August 1568) was a Polish novice of the Society of Jesus. He is venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Stanislaus Kostka (as distinct from his namesake, the 11th-century Bishop of Kraków ...
Roman Catholic Church (1896) on Humboldt Street, which serves as a Catholic shrine for the Polish community; and the synagogue building of Congregation Ahavas Israel (1903) on Noble Street (the sanctuary, with stained glass windows and a
Torah ark A Torah ark (also known as the ''Heikhal'', or the ''Aron Kodesh'') refers to an ornamental chamber in the synagogue that houses the Torah scrolls. History The ark, also known as the ''ark of law'', or in Hebrew the ''Aron Kodesh'' or ''aron ha- ...
with turn of the century wood carvings, is currently open only during services on Saturday mornings). A commercial building called Keramos Hall, on Manhattan Avenue, was restored and won a Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award from the New York Landmarks Conservancy in 2013. The conservancy wrote: "Picturesque features had been hidden under asbestos shingles for decades, but when owners discovered a vintage photograph, they began putting funds aside for this work. Now, the revelation of the Stick Style façade, Italianate roof tower, and Swiss Chalet brackets stops passersby in their tracks." The Kickstarter headquarters, located in Greenpoint, is housed in the former Eberhart Faber Pencil Factory on Kent Street, which was renovated in 2013–2014. The restoration received a Moses Preservation Award as well as a MASterworks Award from the
Municipal Art Society The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) is a non-profit membership organization for preservation in New York City, which aims to encourage thoughtful planning and urban design and inclusive neighborhoods across the city. The organization was ...
. St. Cecilia's Roman Catholic Church and School, on Monitor Street between Richardson and Herbert Streets, has served the community since 1871. The school, which dates to 1906, was closed in June 2008. The current church building dates to 1891.


Notable people

Notable individuals who were born in or lived in Greenpoint include: * Awkwafina (born 1988), rapper and actress. *
Pat Benatar Patricia Mae Giraldo ('' née'' Andrzejewski, formerly Benatar; born January 10, 1953), known professionally as Pat Benatar, is an American rock singer and songwriter. In the United States, she has had two multi-platinum albums, five platinum al ...
(born 1953), pop singer * Ralph Albert Blakelock (1847–1919), painter * Margaret Wise Brown (1910–1952), children's book author who wrote '' Goodnight Moon'' and '' The Runaway Bunny'' * Bull Dempsey (born 1988), professional wrestler * Joseph Di Prisco (born 1950), poet, novelist, memoirist, book reviewer and teacher. * John Franzese (1917-2020), mobster. * Charles Evans Hughes (1862–1948), statesman, politician and jurist who served as the 11th Chief Justice of the United States from 1930 to 1941. *
John Mulvany John Mulvany (c. 1839 – 1906) was an Irish born American artist best known as an artist of the American West who painted the first large (11ftx21ft) image of General Custer’s defeat by the Oglala Sioux Indians at Little Big Horn in 1876. ...
( – 1906), artist best known for his paintings of the
American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...
. *
Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the ...
(1920–2014), actor * Mae West (1893-1980), actress.


In popular culture

Greenpoint is a popular filming location for New York TV and film productions due to its varied architecture, waterfront access, mixed zoning and relatively low street traffic, and because it is also the primary home of two of New York's film and TV stage companies,
Broadway Stages Broadway Stages, Ltd. is one of New York’s full-service film and television production companies, with its headquarters in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Broadway Stages’ studios can be found throughout Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. As of 2018 it ...
, and CineMagic Studios. Several TV shows house their permanent soundstages in the neighborhood's industrial area between Greenpoint Avenue and Norman Avenue east of McGuinness Boulevard. Television * The HBO show '' How to Make It in America'' has a character who lives in Greenpoint: Ben Epstein. * The HBO series '' Girls'' *
MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
's ''
I Just Want My Pants Back ''I Just Want My Pants Back'' is an American comedy-drama that premiered with a special sneak peek on August 28, 2011 on MTV, with the series airing the new episodes beginning on February 2, 2012. The series is based on David J. Rosen's 2007 novel ...
'' * The animated series '' Lucas Brothers Moving Company''. * The main boardwalk set for ''
Boardwalk Empire ''Boardwalk Empire'' is an American period crime drama television series created by Terence Winter and broadcast on the premium cable channel HBO. The series is set chiefly in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era of the 1920 ...
'' – a show about
Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.
 – was built on the Greenpoint waterfront, until it was exploded as part of the plotline in season three of the series. * '' Rescue Me'' was filmed in a warehouse in Greenpoint and on the neighborhood's streets. * '' The Black Donnellys'' was also filmed in a warehouse in Greenpoint and on the neighborhood's streets. * '' Lipstick Jungle'' was also filmed in a warehouse in Greenpoint and on the neighborhood's streets. * '' Third Watch'' * ''
Person of Interest "Person of interest" is a term used by law enforcement in the United States, Canada, and other countries when identifying someone possibly involved in a criminal investigation who has not been arrested or formally accused of a crime. It has no le ...
'' * '' Fringe'' * '' Ray Donovan'' * '' Stella'' * '' Life on Mars'' * '' Lie to Me'' * '' The Good Wife'' * '' Blue Bloods'', which has a studio on Greenpoint Avenue * '' Law and Order: Special Victims Unit'' * '' Homeland'' * '' The Punisher'' * ''
Daredevil Daredevil may refer to: * A stunt performer Arts and media Comics * Daredevil (Lev Gleason Publications), a fictional 1940s superhero popularized by writer-artist Charles Biro * Daredevil (Marvel Comics character), a Marvel comic book superhero ...
'' * '' Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt'' Films * The park scene in '' Going In Style'', the original with George Burns, Art Carney, and Lee Strasberg, was filmed in McGolrick Park in Greenpoint. *''
Donnie Brasco Joseph Dominick Pistone (born September 17, 1939), is an American former FBI agent who worked undercover as Donnie Brasco between September 1976 and July 1981, as part of an infiltration primarily into the Bonanno crime family, and to a lesser ...
'', based in part on Greenpoint native Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano * ''
The Sitter ''The Sitter'' is a 2011 American dark comedy film directed by David Gordon Green and written by Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka. The film follows a slacker college student who, after being suspended, is forced by his mother to fill in for ...
'' * '' Anger Management'' * ''
The Departed ''The Departed'' is a 2006 American epic crime thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan. It is both a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film '' Infernal Affairs'' and also loosely based on the real-life Boston Win ...
'' * '' Sleepers'' * ''
Dead Presidents ''Dead Presidents'' is a 1995 American crime film co-written, produced and directed by the Hughes Brothers. The film chronicles the life of Anthony Curtis (Larenz Tate), focusing on his teenage years as a high school graduate and his experienc ...
'' * ''
All Is Bright ''All Is Bright'' (released as ''Almost Christmas'' in the UK) is a 2013 comedy-drama film directed by Phil Morrison. It stars Paul Giamatti and Paul Rudd, with Sally Hawkins and Amy Landecker in supporting roles. The film debuted at the 2013 ...
'' * '' Romeo Is Bleeding'' * '' In the Mix'' * ''
Street Trash ''Street Trash'' is a 1987 American black comedy body horror film directed by J. Michael Muro (credited as Jim Muro). It won the Silver Raven at the Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film. The film has acquired a status as a cult classic ...
'' * '' The Siege'' * '' On the Waterfront'': An early cultural reference to Greenpoint is found in the first minutes of the film, in which a minor gangster, after holding back money from Johnny Friendly, is told to "go back to Greenpoint." * '' The Meyerowitz Stories'' Music videos * The scene of Jay-Z playing basketball against LeBron James in "
D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune) "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)" is a song written by American rapper Jay-Z. It was produced by No I.D. The song was released as a digital download on June 23, 2009, and as the first single from Jay-Z's 11th studio album, ''The Blueprint 3''. The s ...
" was filmed here. * Jedi Mind Tricks's "Heavy Metal Kings" Other * The lead singer of Franz Ferdinand, Alex Kapranos, lived for a time in Greenpoint, and the neighborhood is mentioned in the song " Eleanor Put Your Boots On". * Greenpoint hosts New York City's Nuit Blanche festival. The first two festivals were held along the neighborhood's waterfront in 2010 and 2011, and it was held in a Greenpoint event space in 2012. * The book series '' The Mortal Instruments'' has a main character named Magnus Bane who resides there. * The neighborhood is the location of a memoir by Tommy Carbone.


See also

*
Greenpoint Renaissance Enterprise Corporation The Greenpoint Renaissance Enterprise Corporation (GREC) is a consortium of neighborhood organizations in North Brooklyn that serves to facilitate and advocate the activities for city initiatives, as well as coordinate community involvement in ...


References


External links


Forgotten New York: Greenpoint


{{authority control Neighborhoods in Brooklyn Polish-American culture in New York City Polish communities in the United States 1661 establishments in the Dutch Empire 1661 establishments in North America Establishments in New Netherland New York City designated historic districts New York City Designated Landmarks in Brooklyn Historic districts in Brooklyn