The Newtown Pentacle

-photo by Mitch Waxman

In 1894, George Roeschman (an employee of Hardy, Voorhies and co.- a lumber yard on Grand St. in Williamsburg) was accosted by 3 men as he was trying to cross the Grand St. Bridge over the Newtown Creek. He was struck over the head, had a sack pulled over him, and roughly thrown to his fate in the inky waters. After scrambling up the slimy banks, Roeschman didn’t report the crime to Police officials immediately for fear of retribution by these highwaymen. Four bodies had recently been found along this branch of the Newtown Creek, all were victims of a similar modus operandi.

-photo by Mitch Waxman

In the same year, on October 16, the body of a 40 year old man was found nearby. His identity was never ascertained and he has lain in centuried silence at the City’s potter’s field since.

-photo by Mitch Waxman

Nearby, a scoundrel named Pete Hess and his friend Schulz once buried a baby, alive, in the mud of the Newtown Creek. Both men received lengthy stretches at Sing-Sing for the murder of “Baby Wertheimer”.

There is a long history of criminal derring-do associated with the Newtown Creek. Check out this NYtimes article from 1996 for the story of Captain Lau and the Barones.

enormous stitched panorama, Pulaski Bridge- photo by Mitch Waxman- (click images for larger views at flickr, worth it)

Over the last several weeks- I have been honored to encounter an interesting community of historians, photographers, and maritime enthusiasts. A lot of these people asked me how I got so into this whole history thing. My standard answer has been “Newtown Creek”.

My long suffering wife has often been reduced to a stupor by my endless musings over the deeper meanings represented by the curious location of some manhole cover I found on Northern Blvd, or speculations about the carefully obscured origins of our modern city.

If you are religious, pray for her strength and tenacity against these spouse inflicted irritations to her infinite patience, if you’re not a churchgoer- raise a glass in her name and toast- to our lady of the Pentacle.

Newtown Creek, NYC panorama, Queens museum of art- photo by Mitch Waxman

Since I found the place, (like most New Yorkers, I had no idea that Newtown Creek even existed a few years ago) the Newtown Creek has had some kind of hold on me. My actual first reaction was:

Putrid, this dripping eidolon of unwholesome revelation which sits between Brooklyn and Queens is an abomination- a comfirmation of all that is unclean- unholy- and detestable. A ghoulish shade of decay, antiquity, and dissolution hanging about it- the Newtown Creek has that awful bearing which, in any sane world, a merciful earth should not have to endure.  

Newtown Creek- photo by Mitch Waxman

My inclinations and interests have always tended to touch upon those subjects ignored and shunned by the madding crowd. After all, have I wandered through nitre choked graveyards in winter, and amidst the cloaking shadows of the urban wastelands in the hellish inferno of a New York heat wave for any reason other than joy? What drew me to the story of the Newtown Creek, at first, was the quivering green immensity of the place- the horror- which is nepenthe to me. The esthetics of the place began to infiltrate and infect me.

Rail Bridge near the junction of the Dutch Kills and the Newtown Creek- 3 exposure HDR photo by Mitch Waxman

I started reading up on the Newtown Creek, and found the Newtown Creek Alliance, and saw youtube videos from Riverkeeper, and read the history (Greater Astoria Historical Society‘s LIC book is a must have), and followed Forgotten-NY around the place (via their gold standard website). I found my long walks less and less of a burden, and I became mezmerized by the idea of exploring this strange and horribly exciting place. Camera in hand, I set out on foot. If you want to see anything in New York, you have to be on foot.

Petro history- from Newtown Creek Alliance tour of the Newtown Creek- photo by Mitch Waxman

There is a beauty to this cradle of the industrial revolution that contemporary reading would call Dickensian. Its the wide open skylines (squat, most buildings are under 3 stories, and loading docks are set back from the street to allow trucks to berth), the maddening shadows dropping off the elevated highway whose roadways- in some places- are over 10 stories above, and the sudden drop-offs whenever fenced off bulkheads signal the presence of water. Its the supernal way that the oddly colored water dapples reflected orange or green light up into the underpinnings of those highways, or the constant appearances of rail tracks both active and abandoned. Perhaps- its just the counterpoint of a shining city hanging over the miasmic occlusion rising off of the Newtown Creek.

from Metropolitan Avenue Bridge- (click images for larger views at flickr, worth it)- photo by Mitch Waxman

Maybe its the sure knowledge that change and progress have arrived in Long Island City again, and that in the near future all of this will be gone- buried under towering apartment houses and obscured by cosmetic improvements meant to obscure the past and hide what it is that may still lurk down here.

LIE- stitched panorama photo by Mitch Waxman- (click images for larger views at flickr, worth it)

From Queens Borough, New York City, 1910-1920; the borough of homes and industry, a descriptive and illustrated book setting forth its wonderful growth and development in commerce, industry and homes during the past ten years … a prediction of even greater growth during the next ten years … and a statement of its many advantages, attractions and possibilities as a section wherein to live, to work and to succeed (1920)

Published in 1920, by the New York, L. I. Star Pub. Co.

Found at archive.org, download the 33 megabyte pdf scan of the book here

NEWTOWN CREEK

Newtown Creek, which is known as the “busiest waterway of its size in the world,” is a tidal arm of the East River, dividing the Boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn for a distance of four miles. It empties into the East River directly opposite 34th Street, Manhattan. The importance of this stream is strikingly shown by comparing its activities with those of the Mississippi River, which from New Orleans to St. Paul is 1,000 miles in length and flows through the heart of a great industrial section. According to recent figures, 5,500,000 tons of freight are carried annually on the upper and lower reaches of this longest river in the world. While for the three years 1915-16-17, the tonnage on the four miles of Newtown Creek averaged 5,620,000 tons. The value of the tonnage on the Mississippi River is approximately $100,000,000 per annum, while on Newtown Creek, it has averaged more than $200,000,000 per annum for the past ten years. The chief commodities transported on this surprising waterway are copper ore and its products, petroleum, lumber, coal, chemicals and building materials.

In 1917, 517,601 tons of copper ore and copper manufactures were transported on Newtown Creek a tonnage valued at $230,000,000, which is an amount greater than the total value of all the manufactured products of either Kansas City, Minneapolis or San Francisco, and greater than the value of exports from Boston or Philadelphia. Huge oil refineries on both sides of the stream ship annually 250,000,0000 gallons of petroleum. There is still room for growth both in the commerce on the stream and the manufacturing plants which now line its borders. There are large undeveloped tracts in Queens adjoining this stream such as the Degnon Terminal with huge industrial plants that have been erected during the past seven years, and where many more will be erected during the coming ten years. One of the largest undeveloped tracts of land at the head of the stream is the 150 acre tract of the Palmer Waterfront Land and Improvement Company, in the Maspeth section, which is served by rail as well as water, and on which several large manufacturing plants have been located within the past few years. The character of tonnage on this waterway can best be shown by the following table for one recent year,

1917 : Article Estimated Value Net Tons

1. General Merchandise
   $8,734,301     or     132,602 VNT
2. Coal and other fuel and cord wood
   $4,337,378     or     1,373,035 VNT
3. Lumber, railroad ties and piles
   $6,940,388     or     443,027 VNT
4. Steel and products
   $1,254,557     or     32,369 VNT
5. Copper ore and products
   $180,275,507     or     413,837 VNT
6. Petroleum $15,744,584     or     868,464 VNT
7. Brick, (building and fire) $722,197     or     242,734 VNT
8. Crushed stone
   $130,041     or     155,309 VNT
9. Gravel and sand
   $450,198     or     656,908 VNT
10. Cement, lime, etc
    $1,855,511     or     306,519 VNT
11. Paving blocks
    $32,275     or     31,164 VNT
12. Plaster, whiting, sulphur, chalk, etc
    $506,505     or     58,262 VNT
13. Fertilizer and steam bone
    $632,702     or     88,109 VNT
14. Ice
    $141,279     or     47,093 VNT
15. Ashes, cinders and slag
    $85,670     or     100,890 VNT
16. Molasses
    $528,000     or     48,768 VNT
17. All other materials
    $490,916     or     155,404 VNT
18. TOTAL . . . $226,862,015 or
    5,154,500 VNT

The Federal Government is now starting dredging operations which will provide for a channel varying from 250 to 125 feet in width, and 20 to 18 feet in depth, at mean low water, from the East River to the head of navigation in the creek. The mean range of tide is 4^ feet. More than 1,475,000 cubic yards will be dredged from the channel. The appropriation of $510,000 for this work, included in the Rivers and Harbors Bill of 1919, was secured through the joint efforts of the Queensboro Chamber of Commerce and Congressman Charles Pope Caldwell. The tonnage and value for the 10 years 1908 to 1918 inclusive is given in the following table :

Year Tonnage Value

• 1908- 4,181,528     or     $229,994,000 
• 1909- 5,113,628     or     $253,003,000 
• 1910- 3,861,852     or     $139,378,000 
• 1911- 5,435,016     or     $191,747,000 
• 1912- 4,921,843     or     $225,416,000 
• 1913- 5,141,516     or     $226,962,000 
• 1914- 4,445,556     or     $147,739,000 
• 1915- 5,756,102     or     $147,086,000 
• 1916- 5,915,150     or     $201,581,000 
• 1917- 5,215,820     or     $294,701,000 
• 1918- 4,369,136     or     $322,960,000 
• TOTAL . . . .
  ‘ 54,337,197     or     $2,380,567,000 
• AVERAGE PER YEAR. . .
  5,433,719     or     $238,056,700

Some further idea of the immense commerce of this waterway can be obtained from the figures compiled by the Department of Plant and Structures of New York City, which show that during the year 1918, 59,389 boats passed through the Vernon Avenue Bridge, 56,735 passed through the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge, 27,000 through the Meeker Street Bridge and 5,007 through the Grand Street Bridge. Steamers schooners and unrigged vessels are the principal freight carriers. Their drafts range from 5^ to 20 feet; 2 to 19 feet; 2 to 18 feet respectively. Some steamers of still larger draft lighter in their cargoes.

Among the larger plants on the Queens shore of Newtown Creek are the National Sugar Refining Company, Nichols Copper Company, National Enameling and Stamping Company, General Chemical Company, Standard Oil Refineries. American Agricultural Chemical Company, and the Wrigley Chewing Gum Company.

DUTCH KILLS CREEK During 1914 bulkhead lines were established by the United States Govern- ment for Dutch Kills Creek, a tributary of Newtown Creek, thus putting this stream under the jurisdiction of the War Department. The bulkhead lines as approved on October 29, 1914, give a width varying from 200 feet at its junction with Newtown Creek to 150 feet at the head of the stream, and include a large basin in the Degnon Terminal where car floats can be docked. The widths of the channel to be dredged under the appropriation of $510,000 mentioned previously, range from 160 feet at Newtown Creek to 75 feet at the turning basin. The Long Island Railroad plans to establish at this point a large wholesale public market, estimated to cost nearly $5,000,000.

Among the larger industrial plants in the Degnon Terminal served by this stream are : Loose Wiles Biscuit Company, American Ever Ready Works, White Motor Company, Sawyer Biscuit Company, Defender Manufacturing Company, Pittsburg Plate Glass Company, Marcus Ward, Brett Lithograph Company, Waldes, Inc., Norma Company of America, Manhattan-Rome Company, American Chicle Co. and The Palmolive Co.

Know this spot?

Long Island City -photo by Mitch Waxman 

It’s a backroad, by LIC standards.

It’s 51st Avenue and what would be 21st street, and it smells heavily from the garbage bins of a commercial fish butcher just up the block on the corner of 23rd street. During the festering heat of the late summer in New York, crossing the street- if not avoiding the block all together- is advisable. Across the street are fallow lots of illegally dumped industrial garbage and the Crows picking it over. 

Crows are metal collectors, usually immigrants who have a tradition of “ship-breaking” or “shanty towns” in their country of origin. They see value in what others see as trash.

Metal buyers in Long Island City and especially Greenpoint and East Williamsburg pay, by the pound, for the collected materials. If copper wire is found, the collector is expected to burn off the insulation, despite the toxicity of doing so. Its not the buyers problem, he just wants the commodity. Want to see it in action- hang out on the corner of Greenpoint avenue and Moultrie St. in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. This is recycling. 

Pretty darn close to 51st Avenue and what would be 21st street- It’s the Circus Train!!! -photo by Mitch Waxman 

In 1908, a fire at the nearby Blanchard Building- which housed the works of J.F. Blanchard, makers of fireproof doors and shutters- was started by an inferno at the Pratt & Lambert varnish works next door. The fire soon began to spread and a great crowd watched as groups of firemen tried to battle the out of control blaze. The great fear was that the nearby Columbia Paper Bag company would be set alight, which would provide ample fuel for an inferno that might spread beyond Borden Avenue and to the shores of the Newtown Creek. 

nytimes archive article here:

“LONG ISLAND CITY FIRE A SIGHT FOR THOUSANDS; A Varnish Plant and Door Factory Are Destroyed. MANY TRAINS ARE HELD UP Poor Water Supply Responsible for $300,000 Loss, Says Croker — Fireman Badly Hurt.“

There is a Blanchard Building on the site today, and it does seem quite fireproof, although Blanchard is long gone. J.F. Blanchard eventually merged with the John W. Rapp company and became the United States Metal Products Company.

View the  Blanchard Building in a google map, clicking streetview- from the LIE- its the large structure with the two billboards. 

Blanchard manufactured hollow, sheet-metal, fireproof doors. Their Type A and Type B were endorsed by the National Board of Fire Underwriters in Chicago. Installation of thee doors would reduce fire insurance costs by a significant margin. A major influence on the bottom line here in the dense agglutination of industry here on the Newtown Creek.

Down under the Long Island Expressway- DULIE -photo by Mitch Waxman 

51st avenue dead ends at the Long Island Railroad tracks, and what would be 21st street is a pedestrian rail bridge (which Forgotten-Ny once christened “the 21st street Bridge“) that goes over the train tracks and under the Highway, which channels the constant stream of vehicular traffic (some 83,900 cars and trucks a day) flowing east out of the toll plaza at the Midtown Tunnel to the highways threading out through Queens and ultimately to Long Island. 

note- this bridge has a lamppost which was one of the ones tagged with “occult” grafiti, as discussed in an earlier post.

LIRR crosses Borden Avenue -photo by Mitch Waxman

Nearby, the 800 pound gorilla crosses Borden Avenue at grade (street level). One of the few places in New York City that the Long Island Rail Road still does so.

These tracks lead between the Hunters Point Avenue station and the Long Island City station, and up until the 1950’s such grade crossings were a constant nuisance and mortal threat to the citizens of Long Island City- here in the Newtown Pentacle.