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Dumbo, Brooklyn: A Name Coined to Deter Developers

Dumbo, New York

Pictures from Dumbo

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The Manhattan Bridge from Washington Street Under the Manhattan Bridge overpass

In 1637 the Canarsee sold a large tract along the East River to the Dutch settler Joris Jansen Rapalje, whose descendants farmed it until the Revolutionary War, when the family's Loyalist sympathies cost them the land under New York State's 1779 Forfeiture Act. Comfort and Joshua Sands bought 160 acres of it for $12,000 in 1784 and had it surveyed in 1788 as a planned community called Olympia, laid out just east of the ferry landing at the foot of present-day Fulton Street. From the 1830s the rowhouses gave way to factories and warehouses drawn by the river and the ferries, and the district became one of the engines that made Brooklyn the fourth-largest manufacturing center in the United States. The acronym came much later: new residents coined 'Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass' in 1978, believing an unattractive name would help deter developers.

  1. A restored 1922 carousel, running in a glass pavilion by Jean Nouvel since September 2011.

  2. A weekend outdoor market under the Manhattan Bridge overpass, running seasonally through mid-to-late December.

  3. New York's oldest boxing gym, in Dumbo since the 1980s and at its Water Street address since 2016.

  4. About 91 warehouse and factory buildings on Belgian-block streets, designated a historic district in December 2007.

  5. The 1869 former warehouses at 53-83 Water Street, rebuilt in 2016-2017 as shops, offices and a food hall.

  6. The 1904 reinforced-concrete box factory that gave Gairville its name; Etsy's headquarters today.

  7. Pizza in a converted 1869 bank building at 1 Front Street, where Grimaldi's moved in November 2011.

  8. Coal-oven pies in Grimaldi's original storefront at 19 Old Fulton Street.

  9. A restaurant on a former coffee barge at 1 Water Street, open since 1977 apart from a post-Sandy closure.

  10. The chocolatier's Water Street factory and shop, open since December 2000.

  11. About twenty local vendors under one roof inside Empire Stores, open since May 2019.

Gairville and the factories on the water

The New, or Catherine Street, Ferry opened in 1795, connecting Catherine Street in Manhattan with Main Street in Brooklyn. Together with the Fulton Street line it made this stretch of shore worth building on, and from the 1830s the original residential rowhouses were steadily displaced by commercial buildings and multi-story factories.

The firms that ran them are a roll call of nineteenth-century American manufacturing: Arbuckle Brothers in coffee and sugar, Hanan & Son in shoes, Kirkman & Son in soap, John W. Masury & Son in paint, the Jones Brothers grocery business that became Grand Union, E.W. Bliss in machinery, and the Brillo Manufacturing Company in steel wool. Robert Gair, a Scottish immigrant who developed the pre-cut, mass-produced paperboard box in his Washington Street factory, became such a dominant landowner that the area was known for years as Gairville.

Rail served the warehouses directly. The Jay Street Connecting Railroad ran along the waterfront from about 1904 to 1957, from yards beneath the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges to spurs inside the buildings themselves, with a car float bridge on Bridge Street. The tracks were abandoned in 1959 and are still embedded in the district's granite Belgian-block streets.

Getting there

York Street, at York and Jay Streets in Dumbo, is served by the F at all times, with express service during peak-direction rush hours.

High Street serves Dumbo along with Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn, and carries the A at all times and the C except late nights.

NYC Ferry's East River route calls at the DUMBO/Fulton Ferry landing, at Old Fulton Street and Furman Street.

What the warehouses hold now

Empire Stores, the seven-building former warehouse complex at 53-83 Water Street, was built in 1869 with additions in 1885, abandoned in the 1960s, and rebuilt in 2016-2017 as mixed-use retail and office space; the Time Out Market food hall opened inside it in May 2019. Robert Gair's 1904 factory at 41-49 Washington Street — designed by William Higginson, built by Turner Construction, and among the earliest large-scale reinforced-concrete factory buildings in the country — is now Etsy's headquarters.

On the water, Jane's Carousel turns inside a glass pavilion designed by Jean Nouvel: a restored 1922 Philadelphia Toboggan Company machine, bought at auction in 1984 by Jane and David Walentas and opened to the public in September 2011. The Brooklyn Flea sets up on weekends under the Manhattan Bridge archway, seasonally through mid-to-late December, and Gleason's Gym — the oldest boxing gym in New York, where Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson trained — has been in the neighborhood since the 1980s.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get to Dumbo?
York Street, at York and Jay Streets in Dumbo, is served by the F at all times, with express service in the peak direction during rush hours. High Street, which serves Dumbo along with Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn, carries the A at all times and the C except late nights. NYC Ferry's East River route calls at the DUMBO/Fulton Ferry landing at Old Fulton Street and Furman Street.
What does the name Dumbo stand for?
Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. Artists and other new residents moving into the deindustrializing loft buildings coined the acronym in 1978, deliberately choosing an unappealing name in the belief that it would help deter real-estate developers.
Is Dumbo a landmarked district?
Yes. On December 18, 2007 the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the DUMBO Historic District under LP-2279 — roughly 91 buildings, bounded by John Street, Adams and Pearl Streets, York Street and Bridge Street.
Why are the streets still cobbled?
They are granite Belgian block, and they are part of what the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated. The rails of the Jay Street Connecting Railroad, which served the warehouses from about 1904 to 1957 and was abandoned in 1959, remain embedded in them.
Is there a hotel in Dumbo?
No verified hotel sits inside Dumbo itself. The nearest confirmed option is 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge, at 60 Furman Street, which is on the Brooklyn Heights side of the street and identifies itself as being in Brooklyn Heights.
Can you still get pizza where Grimaldi's started?
Yes, though not from Grimaldi's. Grimaldi's opened at 19 Old Fulton Street in 1990 and moved to 1 Front Street, a renovated 1869 former bank building, in November 2011 after losing its lease. Juliana's Pizza now occupies the original storefront at 19 Old Fulton Street.

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