Spanning 219 acres, the Brooklyn Navy Yard was the largest shipbuilding facility in the country. It supplied the Navy with floating workshops, tank-landing ships (LSTs), aircraft carriers, and battleships. At the height of wartime production, the Yard operated 24 hours a day, employing 75,000 men and women.

Williamsburg Power Station on Kent Avenue, ca. 1905. The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company Power Station was completed in 1905, at the far northeastern corner of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. It provided power to BRT lines until 1950, when it was converted for use by Consolidated Edison. The station ceased operations in 1999 and was demolished in 2008, over the objections of preservationists.

Women in Brooklyn have been leaders of social change on every conceivable political front, from the fight for racial justice and the right to vote, to equality around labor and reproductive rights. Women have also been at the forefront of protest efforts against the Vietnam War and for environmental justice. In this story, the Center for Brooklyn History highlights Brooklyn women with powerful activist legacies, from ordinary women joining the workforce during World War II to the formation of a barmaids union to icons like Lena Horne.

In 1884, a market grew out of the bustling up-and-coming neighborhood adjacent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The wholesale market sold produce, meat, fish, and provisions until the 1940s when it was shut down. This was in part to make room for factories to produce weaponry and war materials for World War II, but also due to fear that spies could infiltrate the yard next door.

Wallabout Market was a wholesale produce, meat, fish, and provisions market that operated from 1884 until the 1940's. The market, designed by William B. Tubby, was the second-largest wholesale market in the world during its lifespan. Its Flemish stepped roofs and decorative spires reference the neighborhood's Walloon and Dutch past.

World War II was the largest military conflict in history. An estimated 70 million people died worldwide. Beginning with the rise of Hitler in Germany, the world plunged into war, just twenty years after the First World War. The United States was slow to join the conflict directly, finally declaring war on the Axis Powers after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941. However, prior to this formal declaration, the US government, while technically remaining neutral, sent military aid and equipment to the British through a law called the Lend-Lease Act. After Pearl Harbor, the United States directed their complete industrial and economic energy into the war effort. This approach to war, known as Total War, involved the vast majority of the American population in some form or another. The United States in general, and New York in particular, transformed during this conflict to meet the needs of the US military and its allies. As you read, consider the different ways New Yorkers stepped up to contribute to the war effort (8.6b, 11.8b) and how WWII can be considered a "Total War" (8.6b, 11.8b) For Teachers: Lesson Plan on WWII from home

Mark R. Wilson charts the history of the Brooklyn Navy Yard with the Gotham Center for New York City History.