Pier 41

175 VAN DYKE STREET, BROOKLYN, NY 11231

Pier 41 (also known as Merchant Stores) was built by Col. Daniel Richards in 1873. Richards is also credited with developing plans for both the Atlantic Docks (site of today’s Red Hook Container Terminal) and Erie Basin, the two waterfront improvements that brought about the emergence of Red Hook as a major shipping and warehousing center in the mid-19th century.

The property consists of two brick warehouses, a 3-story section to the west and a 2-story section to the east. In the early 20th century it was home to one of Red Hook’s largest employers, the Morgan Soda Co., later known as White Rock Beverage. There are still Red Hook old-timers who recall the lazy summers of their youth when they would swim up Buttermilk Channel to the pier, pinch a case of soda and float it back on an inner tube to Edison Beach at the foot of Dikeman St.