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The Red Hook Houses, built in 1938, were originally built for families of docworkers and are one of the first and largest Federal Housing projects in the country. The 1990 Census estimated the population at just fewer than 11,000 with more than a third under age 18. That same year the average income per household was under $10,000. Unemployment in Red Hook was estimated at 30 percent among men and 25 percent among women. Two other major events influenced Red Hook’s fate: the 1946 opening of the Gowanus Expressway and the 1950 opening of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel cut the neighborhood off from the rest of the borough. |
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| If the history of Red Hook is to some extent the retelling of what once was, because of its isolation much of the neighborhood was left unchanged. In the present the neighborhood continues to draw the curious from outside. Added to the trickle of tourists, however, are the residents of the Red Hook Houses, who along with a swell of activists and artists drawn to Red Hook over the last two decades by the low rents, industrial, old world charm and astounding views. The history of the neighborhood to the present day is also intertwined with the ill-conceived plans of state and city government. | ||
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