Thursday, April 28, 2016

Always A Treat To See: An Opened Carroll Street Bridge

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(photo credit: Elizabeth Kenney)

Maintenance work is being performed this week on the landmarked Carroll Street Bridge. Built in 1889, the retractable  bridge, one of only four such bridges left in the country, spans the Gowanus Canal.  
Friend and neighborhood resident Elizabeth Kenney took the photos above yesterday, when the bridge had been swung open so that maintenance work could be performed
She writes: "Always a treat to see."

Strangely, while crossing the bridge at Union Street, Elizabeth came across an FDNY Explosives team "They were walking over the Union Street Bridge and looking around, but then they continued to Bond Street. Not sure what they were up to."
Does anyone know something about this?

Thanks for sharing the photos, Elizabeth.

Below as a photo from 1900, showing the Carroll Street Bridge from the Municipal Archive.





4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well. If anyone has read The Fountainhead, it would be great if those FDNY men would follow suit.

Also, it seems that poor old bridge has lost its charm somehow with those huge boxes behind it. There's a story called "Little House" where the big dirty city rises around the Little House making it sad and broken. Until it is moved and restored back into the country. No such happy endings here.

Katia said...

I love that book and the happy ending. You are right. No such outcome in Gowanus.

Anonymous said...

In the background the spire of the original (red brick) St. Agnes Church which would be destroyed by fire after a lightening strike the same year. In just 13 short years the congregation would rebuild yet another magnificent gothic church which continues to be a beautiful architectural jewel in the neighborhood.

Katia said...

You know, I was wondering why the church looked so different than today's Saint Agnes. Thanks for the history lesson.