Red Hook Grain Terminal at Erie Basin in Red Hook, Brooklyn
Landscape photograph of the Red Hook Grain Terminal at sunset from the Erie Basin in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Built early in the last century the Red Hook Grain Terminal was designed to support the grain shipping business from the mid-western United States. Although the terminal never fully fulfilled its intended purpose, due uncompetitive labor costs in New York City and the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, it remains a monument to the drive and optimism of American culture at that time. It is considered a magnificent work of engineering at 12 stories with fifty-four – 120 foot tall (37 meters) grain silos. The Grain Terminal is next to the Erie Basin, at one time a great shipping port, and at the mouth of the Gowanus Canal, once the gateway to the industrial heart of Brooklyn. Abandoned in 1965 the building is now fronted by a baseball fields, as seen in the foreground of the image.