8. The East Side of Manhattan Was Once Full of Breweries

Image via New-York Historical Society

The waterfront on both sides of the East River in Manhattan and Brooklyn were full of breweries. By the mid 1800s, the Turtle Bay cove had been infilled and was packed with breweries, slaughterhouses, industrial uses and slums, and was one of the most polluted places in the city. This land would be purchased and redeveloped into the United Nations. George Ehret, at one point the largest brewer in the country, opened in 1866 uptown at 92nd Street. Even further inland, Carnegie Hall was built on the land of a former brewery.