(rshsdepot) Bushwick

["Paul Luchter" <luckyshow_@_mindspring.com>]

Charles,

The picture that is supposed to be Bushwick Depot doesn't look like 
Bushwick depot, it looks like one of the old buildings, warehouse, 
factories that bordered it, as a matter of fact if this is not those it 
is on the side street.

If so, it looks like the Bushwick Depot is totally gone....this doesn't 
look like it is collapsing, it looks like it is being demolished..

I don't go down near Newtown Creek anymore...it was my favorite place in 
some ways, so almost untouched..the 1908 drawbridge on Grand Street, the 
1890 LIRR draw bridge on Dutch Kills, the historic twin methane gas 
holders, the 1908 swing bridge on the Bushwick Branch over English 
Kills, the Evergreen Branch rails in the asphalt, the Flushing streetcar 
buried there as well, et., etc...

So much of this is being removed...I don't know what to make of 
it....this is not an area that has seriously been considered for 
something interesting..it is near nothing and it smells 
sometimes...unlike Gowanus Canal, which has neighborhoods near it, nice 
neighborhoods, near transportation, and even, unlike Newtown, has a 
tunnel and fans to the East River for flushing out.

So what I figure is these at least 150 year old buildings that were a 
totally unbroken wall, from the Bushwick station building on either side 
all the way down each side street surrounding the Bushwick yards (that 
is too intimidating for me, I never have gone that way, I just loved the 
alley to the drawbridge...

The yokels on the other side would chase me, here no one gave a toot..if 
it didn't smell so bad it would be a great place for a picnic...I always 
took visitors there...but I here it is replaced now and the gas tanks 
were imploded...will the LIRR just trash the old draw bridge without a 
care in the world as well?

So it looks very sad that this historic landmark super block is being 
destroyed without anyone knowing and few will care, and I figure it will 
be replaced by some reductive crap like a Caldors or K Mart or Home 
Depot, and a big flat unadorned and ugly parking lot, you know, what 
they call a mall now...

Sad, I hate looking at these places when everything is removed....

I am out of tune with what "the people" want...I am already in mourning 
for when they remove all the amazing railroad structures south of 
Javits, the New Century Buildings, the building with the huge arch where 
once steam engines went through, the B&O Warehouse (and what are they 
gonna do with the B&O Carfloat which after decades of non-use is now 
removed and parallel to the shore off where it used to be at West 
26th??)

Sad that the Bushwick Terminal last remnant is gone (it wasn't the 
original South Side RR one I don't think, is that right?)..it really 
sucks because I doubt they are really planning any improvements for that 
neighborhood, do you think? This is sad to hear, there aren't many of 
these solid wall blocks left, this old stuff that almost seemed 
descended from military fortifications and castle 
architecture...actually the industrial age for sure...

ah well, few have a feel for the history of their surroundings, I keep 
reading about plans to knock down 1832 buildings near South Street 
Seaport for a parking lot and how the mayor approves, anything that's 
good for business..I guess if there were profit in selling deceased 
people's remains as cat food that would be good too I don't know...

Seeing this, that Bushwick is not only gone but all reminder of what was 
there before seems to be gone, it will no longer be anything but an 
historical marker..at least nearby some of the breweries and mansions 
still stand.

[I realize that if somehow it did just totally collapse like that, after 
150 or so years of not doing so, that then all my froth above is mostly 
nothing but hot air.]



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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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