On the heels of the decimation of Gowanus's iconic silos on Carroll Street, residents are tipping their hat in memoriam to another neighborhood token lost to the area's rapid gentrification: the Burns Brothers coal pockets on 6th Street, across from the neighborhood's brand new Whole Foods. The coal pockets operated on the banks of the canal between 1915 and 1938.
Coal pockets were used to move and store the coal from barges on the canal to wagons and, later, trucks for delivery. The eight pockets closest to the water were built between 1915 and 1924, and by 1938 there were 10 more. These 40- and 50-foot-tall structures are no longer used today but remain as relics of the canal's crucial transportation role. While the Carroll Street silo was cleared to make room for Lightstone Group's massive 12-story, 700-unit residential complex stretching between Carroll and Second streets, the coal pockets have presumably been razed to make room for a new office development that will overtake the neighboring bus depot. "It's the wild west. It's really unbelievable," PMFA's Katia Kelly, who has lived in the area for 29 years, said to Curbed contributor Nathan Kensinger earlier this week of the area's rapid gentrification "It's a neighborhood under assault."
· Another Gowanus Landmark Bites the Dust ... [PMFA]
· Visiting the Gowanus Canal's Under-Transformation 'Wild West' [Curbed]
· Lightstone Group Razes Gowanus Grove for 700-Unit Complex [Curbed]
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