West of Third and South of Allen in 1919
Because of the contemplated redevelopment of the Kaz site, attention to being given to the part of the city west of Third Street and south of Allen Street, an area that once was mostly South Bay.
Recently, while reading Common Council minutes from early 1919, I came upon a passage that provides a virtual inventory of the area a hundred years ago, when it was no longer a bay but was mostly industrial. The following is quoted from the Council minutes for January 30, 1919:
Alderman Finnigan stated that there were several matters which he desired to bring to the attention of the Council, the first one being the location of the police signal box on South Front Street. He stated that this box was located at the N[ew] Y[ork] C[entral] R[ail] R[oad] Station and that as a result police officers never went further than the box. He believed that this box should be placed further south on South Front Street and in neighborhood of its intersection with Power Ave. There were business interests in that section, which received no police protection, such as the Railway Steel Spring Co., the N.Y.C. Freight House, Cement Company Storage House, the C. A. Van Deusen Storage House, Conway Bros. Coal Yard, and the Hudson Iron and Storage Company. He moved that it be the sense of the Common Council that the patrol box located at the N.Y.C.R.R. Station should be moved to a point about 200 yards South of the intersection of Power Avenue and South Front Street, and that a copy of the resolution to forwarded to the Police Commission.
The motion was unanimously adopted.
For those who need it, this passage from the Common Council minutes is evidence the Power Avenue once extended from Third Street to South Front Street.
COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK
I wouldn't say that Power Avenue extended across South Bay, but that it once began at South Front Street in hopes of someday connecting up with its better half east of 3rd Street.
ReplyDeleteWhere it began at Front Street, the 1888 map shows Power Avenue as a mere stub which soon peters out, probably something like a short industrial driveway.
In keeping with the spirit of historical use it's time for Mr. Colarusso to run his trucks here and not on city streets.
ReplyDeleteML, if by "here" you mean running the trucks both ways on the causeway, which was the solution laid out in the multi-year waterfront program and finalized as the 2011 LWRP, then I don't know anyone who'd disagree with you except for the company itself. Having bought the land in 2014, they think they have a better idea which will be better for their bottom line. I suppose they'll hold our city streets hostage until they get what they want.
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