1. Prohibition Booze Was Stored and Disposed at the Terminal
The Brooklyn Army Terminal served as one of the Federal Government’s alcohol storage and disposal warehouses during Prohibition, confiscating alcohol from the speakeasies in the city and along the “Rum Line,” where ships stored with booze were anchored in international waters. As Andrew Gustafson of Turnstile Tours writes, “At any given time, it is estimated that [BAT] held around $20 million worth of contraband – well over a quarter billion dollars in today’s money.”
Gustafson also writes that confiscated bottles would be crushed and the alcohol dumped into the harbor off of Pier 2, which no longer exists, where some desperate bootleggers would collect a nasty mix of booze from metal baskets under the pier and remix it into more bootleg alcohol. At the end of Prohibition, the confiscated alcohol was auctioned off–but not all of it.
Today, 3.1 million square feet of the 4 million available at the Brooklyn Army Terminal have been repurposed. 100 businesses operate out of there, employing 3,700 people on a daily basis. Economic development of the former military complex is the main goal for the NYCEDC, but the type of business activities encompass a wide range, from tenants like Jacques Torres chocolate, dye factories, the AIDS facility, to Chashama art studios. Next year, startups will be welcomed into the space, further contributing to the revival of the Sunset Park waterfront.
Join us for the next Behind the Scenes NYC Tour Series with NYCEDC of Hunts Point Distribution Center. Also check out our ongoing Untapped Cities tours and events.