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Kings Park and the Education of an Explorer Every pursuit has a place where beginners go first. Skateboarders have their parking lots and curbs. Climbers have their local crags. And if you are just finding your way into the world of urban exploration on Long Island, sooner or later someone points you toward Kings Park. The former Kings Park Psychiatric Center has become, over the years, something like a finishing school for people who don't yet know they're enrolled. Getting onto the grounds is straightforward. Finding a way inside the remaining buildings, if you know where to look, is not much harder. Which is exactly why the Parks Police have written thousands of trespassing tickets here in a single calendar year, why security visibly tightens every Halloween, and why local photography groups have been known to show up with large, enthusiastic crowds of people who want to take what they call "creepy" photos of old hospital asylums. The place attracts everyone, which...
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Historic S.W. Bowne Grain Storehouse
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What had remained from the continuing demolition with the BQE highway in the background.
🌾 S.W. Bowne Grain Storehouse Update — July 2026
The historic S.W. Bowne Grain Storehouse, a landmark of Red Hook's industrial waterfront since 1886, was demolished during the summer of 2018. The demolition followed a significant fire that had severely damaged the structure, and was carried out over Labor Day weekend without a city permit or demolition order.
As of July 2026, the site at 595-611 Smith Street is now a construction storage lot, serving the ongoing development and redevelopment projects in the surrounding Red Hook and Gowanus neighborhoods. The property remains owned by the Chetrit Group.
Consisting of a two-block complex, this four-story 200 by 80-foot brick building featured end-gabled structures with a central transverse firewall and eight round-arched window bay openings. This storehouse was accompanied by a feed mill removed in 1904-1915 and a feed storage building also on the lot.
A warehouse that once fueled New York City's four-legged transports throughout the area. The warehouse was established in 1886 as a storehouse for grain, feed, and hay processing, which also included a feed mill. The large property owner and independent operator Samuel Winter Bowne became noted on the New York Produce Exchange as having the commercial capacity to store 600,000 bushels onsite.
Eventually, the storehouse complex no longer became a major economic engine for the City once in the 1930s, the city moved away from horses to cars and trucks as canal grain traffic started to dry up as grain processing started to shift away from canals to containerization, large-capacity grain floating elevators, and bulk railroad cars. For a time, the property was being used for cargo and stevedoring companies but became abandoned by 1960.
In 2018, a fire broke out on the property, causing severe damage to the storehouse. Unbeknownst to the city and preservationists, the building was demolished over the Labor Day weekend without a permit or demolition order from the city.
Today the property is owned by the Chetrit Group, which has developed several projects throughout Brooklyn, including Hotel Bossert in Brooklyn Heights, 9 DeKalb in Downtown Brooklyn, and M500 Hotel in Williamsburg.
🌾 Did You Work at or Remember the S.W. Bowne Grain Storehouse?
Were you a worker at this historic Red Hook grain facility, a local resident, or someone with photographs or memories of this iconic Brooklyn warehouse before its 2018 demolition? Share your stories of this waterfront landmark that once held 600,000 bushels of grain.
📩 Share Your Memory
or drop a comment below — full credit given to every contributor
⬇ Keep Reading — More Brooklyn Waterfront & Industrial History
🏙️ More Brooklyn & NYC Port Stories
From grain storehouses and oil terminals to breweries and warehouses — explore the changing face of Brooklyn's industrial waterfront.
Kings Park and the Education of an Explorer Every pursuit has a place where beginners go first. Skateboarders have their parking lots and curbs. Climbers have their local crags. And if you are just finding your way into the world of urban exploration on Long Island, sooner or later someone points you toward Kings Park. The former Kings Park Psychiatric Center has become, over the years, something like a finishing school for people who don't yet know they're enrolled. Getting onto the grounds is straightforward. Finding a way inside the remaining buildings, if you know where to look, is not much harder. Which is exactly why the Parks Police have written thousands of trespassing tickets here in a single calendar year, why security visibly tightens every Halloween, and why local photography groups have been known to show up with large, enthusiastic crowds of people who want to take what they call "creepy" photos of old hospital asylums. The place attracts everyone, which...
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