The Brooklyn waterfront was once decorated with a yellow Domino Sugar sign, affixed to an aging refinery along a row of deteriorating industrial structures facing the East River.
The Domino Sugar Refinery, completed in 1883 (replacing an older refinery after a devastating fire), was more than a factory. During the Gilded Age and into the 20th century, this Brooklyn landmark was the center of America's sugar manufacturing, helping to fuel the country's hunger for sweet delights.
But the story goes further back in time -- back hundreds of years in New York City history. The sugar trade was one of the most important industries in New York, and for many decades, if you used sugar to make anything, you were probably using sugar that had been refined in New York.
Sugar helped to build New York. Thousands and thousands of New Yorkers were employed in sugarhouses and refineries. And of all the sugar makers, there was one name that stood above the rest -- Havemeyer!
The Havemeyers were America’s leading sugar titans and by the 1850s they had moved their empire to the Brooklyn waterfront – and the neighborhood of Williamsburg. Their massive refinery helped establish the industrial nature of Williamsburg and led a rush of sugar manufacturers to Brooklyn, most of which would then be absorbed into the Havemeyer’s operation.
But this story is even larger than New York, of course. It encompasses the transatlantic slave trade, political influence in the Caribbean, Cuba-United States relations, and the sorry working conditions faced by Hayemeyer's underpaid employees.
PLUS: It's Dumbo vs Williamsburg in the Coffee and Sugar War of the 1890s!
Visit the website for more information and images of places from this week's show
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#147 Art Insanity: The Armory Show of 1913
#146 Herald Square
#145 Bicycle Mania! From Velocipede to Ten-Speed
Hurricane Sandy Update
#144 Mysteries and Magicians of New York
#143 Water for New York: Croton Aqueduct
#142 New York University (NYU)
#141 New York Beer History
#140 Rockaway Beach
#139 Brooklyn Academy of Music
#138: St. Mark's-in-the-Bowery
New York City and the World of Radio
#136 High Line Walking Tour
#135 The High Line
#134 St. Patrick's Cathedral
#133 Red Hook: Brooklyn on the Waterfront
#132 Electric New York: Edison and the City Lights
#131 The First Apartment Building
#130 Haunted Histories of New York
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