By the 1830s, inspired by the Erie Canal, Alderman Daniel Richards built the Atlantic Basin at Red Hook, which was followed by the Erie Basin. This was a massive success in terms of industrial activity and the home to the first grain elevator in the burgeoning Port of New York. At the time, 80% of grain in the state traveled through Brooklyn. By 1869, the Gowanus Canal — a project through which the natural Gowanus Creek was widened and adjacent swampland was dredged for factories and warehouses — was complete, and 700 buildings were constructed here per year for the next decade. The current Hamilton Avenue Bridge, seen in the far distance in this image, was built in 1942 and, like the Union and 3rd Street bridge, is a vascular bridge (where two leaves lift up to allow marine traffic through). Today the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway also towers over the Hamilton Avenue Bridge.

In this image you can see four structures above the Canal: in the foreground, the Hamilton Avenue Bridge; the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway; the 9th Street Bridge; and the Culver Viaduct, which carries the F and G trains. Built in 1927, the Viaduct stands 90 feet above the canal to avoid the need for tunneling under the canal, the 4th Avenue line, and the bedrock of Park Slope heading east. The Smith-9th Streets station, pictured far left, is the highest subway station in the world at 87.5 feet above the canal.

The world's busiest harbor was left at a standstill when 3,500 tug boat workers launched a strike on the docks of New York City. The halt of sea bound coal and oil left New York without fuel for over two weeks, forcing subways to be left unheated and the closure of schools, stores, and restaurants.