GreenPoint history

So much so, that when slavery was abolished in New York State in 1824, these slaves, now free, choose to stay with the families of their former masters.

Before this, and unless you had your own boat on the river, the only way to get to New York was to travel down to Bushwick Shore (later in 1827 to become the city of Williamsburg) to take the ferry that was established there in the 1660’s.

So, in 1832 Bliss and Doctor Eliphalet Nott, the then famous president of Union College, purchased 30 acres of riverfront land from John Meserole.

In 1834, Bliss’ plan finally took a more formal shape.

To Green Point’s immediate south, the City of Williamsburg, incorporated in 1836 was taking shape.

The only public road in Green Point until 1838 was the Wood Point Road.

However, it appears the relationship between the troops and the Green Point families was less than favorable. Therefore, its geographical remoteness and inaccessibility allowed the families of Green Point to remain aloof and removed until the 1840’s.

When Kalbfleisch moved to Green Point from Connecticut in 1842, he apparently did not find the existing school acceptable.

In 1845, David Provost, a scion of one of the five ancestral families that farmed Greenpoint, built the first pier at the foot of Freeman Street.

In 1847, Doctor Isaac K. Snell, became Green Point’s first physician and druggist.

Around 1850, the Federal Government also built a dock and a gunpowder storage facility at the foot of Milton Street that was used more for swimming than anything else.

In 1851 Martin Kalbfleisch, who was instrumental in establishing the first public school in Green Point, was elected to the Board.

In 1855 the City Railroad Company, a precursor to the New York City Transit Authority, ran its cars through Williamsburg up to the bridge over Bushwick Creek built by Bliss.

The first Catholic parish, St Anthony of Padua was established in 1856.

Kalbfleisch was involved in drafting the charter for the consolidation of cities of Williamsburg and Brooklyn with their outlying towns, including Bushwick (Green Point included) and was elected its Mayor in 1861.

The USS Monitor, made at an iron works in Greenpoint, pictured here July 9, 1862, by Union photographer James F. Gibson.

Located at the northwest end of Brooklyn, Greenpoint was still a small, quiet community in 1868, when prominent local citizens received a state charter to establish The Green Point Savings Bank, a mutual thrift institution and the forerunner of GreenPoint Bank.

In 1888, the Noble Street pier was built by the city for the use of the many industrial concerns that covered Greenpoint, but it was not alone.

A map of Greenpoint from an 1896 survey.

By 1903 the factory had expanded to eight buildings, which were powered by a massive steam generator, which still survives today.

Deposits reached more than $5 million in 1905.

After moving several times, the bank, in 1908, settled into its own newly erected granite-faced building at Manhattan Avenue and Calyer Street.

my mother was born in greenpoint in 1914, she was a brooklyn girl. died at the age of 98. she relocated to hoboken at the age of 15

Employees at the Eberhard Faber pencil company in Greenpoint, circa 1915, courtesy Brooklyn Historical Society

Much of Felter's account of this period of Greenpoint's history was derived from these documents, and the oral history of the remaining decendent family members in 1918.

In 1928 Green Point opened a branch in another Brooklyn neighborhood, Crown Heights.

After merging with the troubled Home Savings Bank in 1931, however, Green Point moved this branch to Flatbush.

Relationship driven partner in agriculture since 1936

The American military placed huge orders in the mill during the First and Second World Wars, but after 1945 demand fell and the company left.

The bank opened a branch in Canarsie in 1952.

A rather ghastly look at Newtown Creek in 1960, from Apollo Street looking towards the East River.

Green Point Savings Bank had 168,765 depositors at the end of 1970, $588.6 million in assets, and $25 million in net profits for the year.

Since 1972 living on Greenpoint Ave and Manhattan with my parents and siblings.

Since opening in a neighborhood storefront in 1973, we’ve grown into a unique 38,000 square-foot learning facility with outreach programs at nearly 50 sites throughout New York City.

The number of depositors was 218,856, and assets were $1.18 billion, at the end of 1980.

The bank earned $7.6 million in 1982, a year in which 90 percent of all United States savings institutions were reporting losses because of high interest rates.

In 1983 Green Point was making more mortgage loans in Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau County than any other lender--even Citibank, which was 80 times bigger.

The bank had net income of $78 million in 1989, a year in which American Banker ranked it third strongest among the nation's 100 largest thrifts and the strongest on the East Coast.

Green Point Savings Bank to 1990

In 1992 a tenants group and David Sweeny, the director of economic development for the North Brooklyn Development Corporation, incorporated the Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center.

In early 1993, AFC created a financing subsidiary to finance the local cooperative member.

The bank itself, which dropped "Savings" from its title in 1995, was now a subsidiary of GreenPoint Financial Corp., a holding company established in May 1995.

The Barclay acquisition enabled GreenPoint Financial to take its mortgage loan business nationwide, at a pace of $2.4 billion in 1996, a 140 percent increase from the previous year.

The low-doc product was discontinued in February 1997.) Unlike many other thrift institutions, the company was holding on to all its mortgages instead of reselling them.

Also in December 1998, GreenPoint Financial moved to double its lending capacity by purchasing Headlands Mortgage Co. for $473 million.

In 1999, AFC joined forces with SouthFresh Farms in Indianola, Mississippi, to form SouthFresh Aquaculture, LLC that provides feed, fingerlings and processing for Alabama and Mississippi catfish farmers.

As of the census of 2000, there were 39,360 people, 15,865 households, and 8,744 families residing in the 11222 zip code, which is roughly coterminous with Greenpoint.

In 2003, Agri-AFC, LLC was formed when AFC and Agri-AFC teamed up to purchase for AFC cooperatives competitively priced crop protectants, crop nutrients and seed.

In 2005, AFC formed an LLC with Mossy Oak’s BioLogic division.

Since 2007, Greenpointers has been a neighborhood connector and hyperlocal resource for all things North Brooklyn covering the latest news, happenings, events, food and culture.

In 2011, the India Street pier was rebuilt to accommodate the renewal of East River Ferry service to our area.