Before 1898, Brooklyn was a wealthy, independent city with its own government, police and fire departments, school system, and more. Throughout the 19th century as the city grew, commercial and cultural districts flourished. Brooklyn had its own theater district, government center, shopping quarter, and several industrial and manufacturing sections, to name a few. One of those busy industrial areas was Wallabout, along the East River in what is now Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.<\/p>\n
After the Civil War, businesses related to the grocery and food industry, such as bakeries, candy manufacturers, wholesale grocery warehouses, cold storage facilities, packaging factories and other food related businesses congregated heavily in Wallabout. It didn\u2019t hurt that the sugar refineries of Williamsburg were right next door either. The tantalizing smells of candy, sweets, and baked goods wafted through the air, along with the less pleasant smells of the area.<\/p>\n
The sugar refineries were not the only reason for this location to flourish for the food industries. It was very convenient for transportation. The streets were wide here. Ferries could transport goods across the East River to Manhattan, and after 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge made surface transport easier as well. <\/p>\n %<\/span><\/span> | %<\/span><\/a> | %<\/span><\/a> | %<\/span><\/a> | %<\/span><\/a> | %<\/span><\/a> | %<\/span><\/a> | %<\/span><\/a> | %<\/span><\/a> | %<\/span><\/a> Single Page<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nothing remains of the once-thriving industry that was fueled by Long Island\u2019s demand for fresh meat, the railroad, and the labor of hundreds of people. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11099,"featured_media":528471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"schneps_byline":"","schneps_post_style":"","schneps_post_source":"","schneps_syndicated_read_more":"","schneps_post_source_sitename":"","schneps_syndicated_thumb_html":"","schneps_syndicated_thumb_src":"","schneps_post_source_shortname":"","schneps_post_source_url":"","schneps_post_source_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7683,7646],"tags":[6521,4631],"districts":[],"class_list":["post-528163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fort-greene","category-history","tag-food-and-drink","tag-suzanne-spellen"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"How the Railroad Brought Meatpacking to Fort Greene","url":"http:\/\/www.brownstoner.com\/history\/fort-greene-meatpacking-district-history\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.brownstoner.com\/history\/fort-greene-meatpacking-district-history\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.brownstoner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/fort-greene-meat-market-south-elliott-hanson-place-nypl-1926.png?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.brownstoner.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/fort-greene-meat-market-south-elliott-hanson-place-nypl-1926.png"},"articleSection":"Fort Greene","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Suzanne Spellen"}],"creator":["Suzanne Spellen"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Brownstoner","logo":""},"keywords":["food and drink","suzanne spellen"],"dateCreated":"2024-07-10T14:00:00Z","datePublished":"2024-07-10T14:00:00Z","dateModified":"2024-07-11T00:53:25Z"},"rendered":"