New York’s Lost Grain Terminals

[@edwardloomis887]

Regarding NYC grain business' decline, it probably didn't help when the St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, allowing international traffic to get into the Great Lakes and heart of the country.

[@here_we_go_again2571]

St. Lawrence Seaway hurt the Erie Canal.

[@MrToradragon]

@@here_we_go_again2571 On the other hand it has much greater capacity than Erie Canal that would be designed IV Class in Europe which can handle less than 1500 tons per barge given bit wider locks and greater draft of of ships on Erie canal, well maybe some 2500 tons per barge it could be. That is perhaps less than one freight train in North America and still about the same as one train in Central Europe. Tonnage of ships on Seaway is much greater.

[@togowack]

The grain terminals are thousands of years old. They were not part of the New World plan. People need to WAKE UP - we didn't build them.

[@Thedavidsavage]

@@MrToradragon excellent explanation Sir

[@pepin8277]

@@MrToradragon yes, it allowed invasive species to get into the great lakes, and as a result in all adjesent waterbodies! The government did a great job at ruining an entire eco-system!

[@johnpotter8039]

I did an energy audit at Industry City in Brooklyn, a series of warehouse/mixed-use buildings dating from the 1920s. I walked all of the tunnels between the buildings and operated and monitored the building boilers. There had been a central, coal-fired steam plant, now disused. Underground, I found steam-powered fire hydrant booster pumps, still in great condition. A wonderful tour of industrial archeology.

[@ryanbedford2985]

History of grain elevators in the US is incomplete without discussing the importance of Buffalo, NY. The city's grain storage capacity was comparable to Chicago, and major advancements in elevator design happened in Buffalo.

[@douglasharley2440]

he _does_ discuss buffalo's grain elevators.

[@iagrams9100]

My grandfather built grain elevators all over Iowa in the mid 1900’s. I know a lot about grain elevators! You did a great job.

[@rovvt1284]

ok thousands of grain elevators are unused though out amerika. why?

[@user-rovvt3]

enid has 50 of them, all empty

[@sapper_5126]

One of my favorite areas of Brooklyn. I deliver everyday to the area right across the street. I love hanging out there and seeing the grain silos and the ships.

[@byoxo77]

There are still a bunch of grain elevators in Buffalo NY . A lot of them are still being used. There’s also silo city . I love kayaking along these giant structures. If your ever near Buffalo NY I suggest you see them .

[@kevinhitchcock7062]

You can still smell the Cheerios still on the water front

[@alyssa2796]

They’re like man-made cliffs

[@TheTrainman888]

I used to drive past this thing while on the BQE all the time and always wondered what it was. This was very informative!!

[@siddiqahmad5193]

I used to drive the BQE all the time and always wondered when they'd repave it !

[@mikefagan6840]

​@@siddiqahmad5193😂😂😂

[@drscopeify]

One other major change is that grain exports out of the USA has shifted from the east coast to the west coast to Asia. The grain export hub is along the Columbia River and you can see the barges and ships coming and going on the river. The Columbia river runs in a deep Gorge so you can sit on a hill or cliff face a few hundred feet up and watch the activity below. Very cool area. The Gorge tends to get strong winds but it has been calm every time I visit in summer at least.

[@Liv1nMohawk]

Shipping of the grain in the east shifted to the great lake and st-lawrence

[@togowack]

The grain terminals were in large part for air ships. New York was the main North American air terminal for thousands of years. We didn't build them and they were not part of the new plan.

[@TunnelSnakesrule13]

@@togowack Thousands of years?

[@togowack]

@@TunnelSnakesrule13the earliest photos show our cities covered in mud from the mud flood and unoccupied. That would be the Flood of Noah - the re-population of the Earth - we are living in Genesis 1.

[@greenfuzz13]

@@togowack Please elaborate. You have my undivided attention.

[@julianalonso4194]

I currently go to Pratt's school of architecture and we're working with an organization in the area (you can see the barge they're based on in many of the pics used). Their director is actually the owner of the land that the Redhook grain elevator is on and he is so vehemently against building housing in the area! Apparently he threatened a lawsuit against a Columbia professor who posed a residential project on the land.

[@mcgusto82]

So what’s he thinking of putting there? ?

[@jackdbur]

Here in Sydney Australia several grain silos have been converted into apartment complexs . It is possible to keep the general outline & make them into nice apartments 😊

[@Scottocaster6668]

Its amazing that so many pictures are still available as a visual for these History videos. Great work!

[@anthonygallo3576]

Another great video. In the 1980's i was a security guard at Bushey shipyard, and revere sugar which was ajacent to thr grain terminal. Love to see a video on the lost gas tanks that were all over brooklyn and queens

[@ntatenarin]

I believe you're a time traveler. Your videos are so detailed it's like you were New York City and Chicago when these events happened!

[@delfrickintree775]

he forgot to remove his futureshades in this video, its how he sees the past & future

[@silverjohn6037]

I was in Bosnia in 2000 and visited a historic port city called Dubrovnik. They'd preserved their old fortified port from the 1400's along with the city walls and the most important civic building, the granary. It was big enough to hold a full year's supply of grain for the city and was considered a fundamental part of civic planning. Fast forward to present year and most towns would face a famine if the supply chain was cut off for a week.

[@nedludd7622]

Dubrovnik is in Croatia.

[@Tobi-ln9xr]

Ah yes, the typical Bosnian city of Dubrovnik. Right next to the Czech city of Amsterdam.

[@silverjohn6037]

@@Tobi-ln9xr As I said, I was in Bosnia (a six month visit for NATO;) but visited Dubrovnik.

[@joestrike8537]

The grain silos near the Ikea store in Red Hook Brooklyn were used as the backdrop for a scene supposedly taking place in the cornfed midwest in Julie Taymor's "Across the Universe."

[@kraizyace2612]

This reminded me of a grain elevator I would always see as a kid as we drove past it on the freeway. It always stood out to me because on top of it was some kind of spider-like structure with a long pipe stretching from that to a window on the upper portion of the building. Not only is it still there from when I last saw it in the late 90s, I believe it still operates to this day.

[@manonthemoog]

I enjoyed this very much. The history of grain storage was great to learn. I wasn't aware of the Hudson River grain terminals until watching this. I wish you included more photos of the Red Hook grain terminal and other terminals when they were still in operation. They were not the stone monoliths we see today. They were covered in a web of steel scaffolding, conveyer belts, elevators and other kinds of industrial structures. The maintenance of all these metal moving parts that contributed greatly to the expense of maintaining operations, especially as these are waterfront sites. Another factor in the Red Hook Grain Terminal's demise was prohibition in 1920. Upon its completion in 1923 it was already facing a rapidly declining need for grain. When prohibition was repealed in 1933, beer mugs and grain terminals alike found far fewer breweries in Brooklyn. While beer was illegal, some breweries went bankrupt, and others moved to the Midwest. The grain terminal never operated to its full capacity; its days were numbered even before they began.

[@peopleman14226]

Buffalo NY invented the grain elevator, and during WW2 the worlds largest grain elevator was built, it still stands to this day.

[@joustvaldez]

Yeah there is a lot of focus on Chicago when NY likely got it's grain silo inspiration from the place that invented it and was in the same state and canal as them

[@sarahpuff108]

I didn’t know that about Buffalo’s history - very interesting! Thanks for sharing!

[@kooldoozer]

At time 5:47 that is the Great Northern and Pillsbury/ADM grain elevator in Buffalo NY. I have been in both of them. ----Doozer

[@edwardpate6128]

The Great Lakes served as the transport conduit for that grain using bulk carrier freighters and before that sailing schooners.

[@Joedirt3349]

Indeed.

[@TheSevencharlie]

I drive past this thing every day. I've been wondering what the story with it was.

[@JM-pf3zv]

Love your content !! As a guy who grew up in the midwest (Illinois), In a rural area, I enjoy much of your content. At 15:10 the pic of 2 trains with a grain elevator, Id bet my last dollar that......THAT I NOW THAT PLACE !!! Its about 80 miles west of Chicago. Keep up the great work !!

[@crabtonia]

Your postings are so Valuable...thank you so VERY much...your Enthusiasm is Infectious...dgp/uk

[@5argetech56]

I used to live in Carroll Gardens, next to Red Hook. It has changed very much. Big Box stores and the IKEA changed everything!

[@ITSHISTORY]

Don’t even get me started!

[@mikefagan6840]

​@@ITSHISTORYi grew up in the same area, off the Gowanus canal, 70s & 80s. Loved it!❤❤❤

[@erickjuarez9097]

I love actually explored the inside of it several times!

[@kandipiatkowski8589]

There are lots of grain elevators in Kansas, so it's interesting to hear the history of them....as well as your continued comparison in "then and now" pictures. I always enjoy these comparisons, so much so that i actually own a few books that feature them (namely Kansas City and Omaha).

[@BrettAchey]

I live 15 minutes away from the Haysville one I was still 13 years old when it blow up I live 45 minutes away from the second-longest one in Hutchinson Kansas

[@vanpearsall]

I’m here in southwest Kansas. We call them, Kansas skyscrapers

[@Earl3333]

​@@vanpearsall garden city Kansas here we call the Windsor hotel our skyscraper

[@vanpearsall]

@@Earl3333 I’ve been by there many times love the architect when things were built the right way

[@AllFirstHand]

Louisville got rid of a big grain silo like that just a few years ago. It's interesting how something like that becomes obsolete.

[@molemanjupe]

I know what you're talkin about I'm from Louisville

[@AllFirstHand]

@@molemanjupe It had University of Louisville painted on it, and it was right on I65.

[@BoycottChinaa]

It's gone?!

[@joegordon5117]

This episode is making me think of the impressive, old grain elevators in the Port of Leith here in Edinburgh, which have been iconic industrial dockyard buildings for so many years, but they too are now surplus to requirement and likely to vanish.

[@htimsid]

Gkasgow lost hers, too. I suppose because they are extraordinarily difficult to re-purpose.

[@marques9392]

Interesting as heck like all your other videos

[@williamnessanbaum7464]

You can see this from the parking lot of the Ikea store in Red Hook. Awesome views lower Manhattan from here.

[@PelhamExpress]

I’m wondering about that old freighter tied to the dock. It’s been languishing in that area since the 1990’s.

[@el_puma_real]

You’re a history rockstar, the shades suit you. 🤟🏼

[@ITSHISTORY]

Music was my first love, I’m glad it can blend into YT a bit! Thanks 🙏

[@middletnpyro]

a blind history rockstar with those glasses 😂

[@bobelliott2748]

"accordingly the first significant grain storage in the united states were located in regions where agriculture thrived"....absolutely brilliant analysis. Blew me away...literally

[@Joedirt3349]

mmm...yes!

[@Josh-yr7gd]

10:18 During it's early years, the grain trade was "particularly for wheat imports from Canada". The closed caption said "weed imports". I had to take it back to make sure Ryan wasn't talking about some illegal stuff. 😂

[@openminds8765]

2:42 I had no idea you were blind...👓 but after seeing those "sunglasses" it all makes sense now👀

[@Cfink2013]

At 9:35 to 9:49 marks, you can still see some of the old wooden pier / pylons when the water level is low? I’m assuming from the tide. Did they just let it fall into the water or did they have to tear it down?

[@Ecosse57]

@2:36 speed recovery from the cataract surgery.

[@ITSHISTORY]

LOL

[@danmekeel7758]

Fine Job 1! you nailed part of American History.

[@meatpiman224]

Grain and oilseed milling industries have moved out of most major cities in the world, I see more and more of these port facilities closed. Trade flows have shifted significantly especially in the last 20 years, once well located facilities find themselves out of position.

[@walterwarren2402]

At 12:32 of the video the spot where you took the video from, on you right is where I was told agent orange was manufactured. That would be another topic I think you should consider. Nice job with this one. I thought the saint Lawrence Segway might have also contributed to its demise as less barges used the Erie canal

[@edwardpate6128]

Segway? I think you mean Seaway and that came much later after the Erie canal and the Welland Canal.

[@walterwarren2402]

@@edwardpate6128 yes. Thank you. I did mean Segway. My point was on the st Lawrence Segway replaced the Erie canal as a means of ship transport from the great lakes to the Atlantic. That in turn may have been a contributing factor in grain elevators demise. It was not mentioned in the video I learned the main use of storage was local grain use, I hadn't considered the loss of that in general to less demand for grain elevators in New York harbor

[@7hoursahead_C2N14]

I like this kind of material, keep it coming :)

[@barryobee1544]

Great video!

[@cuba3433]

Good Like!. Thank you.

[@jtgd]

Thank you

[@adifferenttake8351]

Great video. Love learning and seeing what life was like in certain cities before they became the high rise corporate centers that they now are. From looking at modern cities today like NYC or Toronto it is mind blowing that as late as 70 years ago they were more about shipping or manufacturing. Take the highline for example or the meatpacking industry. Really, in New York, freight trains? What's more, it all also points up the fact that the folks who lived in the cities were not office workers as much as they were factory workers, laborers, ship captains, shop workers, butchers, bakers and a whole lot of things that they no longer are. A very different group of inhabitants living very different lifestyles connected to the different kinds of jobs they performed or at which they earned a living..

[@Saywhatnow-o3w]

I worked right next to it in the construction of the Amazon warehouse. Lot of history in that neighborhood.

[@bxb590]

Many of the grain elevators still exist in Buffalo. I know, I live there.

[@Bumbazaurs]

I think this huge grain elevator, could be a great History monument!

[@shanekeenaNYC]

Better yet, build a baseball park around 50k-60k in capacity with the elevator as a background to the right outfield. Left outfield would open to the NYC skyline.

[@larsmeijerink5471]

Here in the Netherlands there are laws that say a building can't be unused for a long time. If its not maintained properly it needs to get down. That why you will never see things like this here😅

[@TomJosephi]

This an interesting page of history. I had no idea New York city had grain elevators. Hopefully, a nee use will be fould for this structure in Brooklyn.

[@counterfit5]

I'm not sure there's much else an old grain elevator could be repurposed for…

[@ITSHISTORY]

I love your optimism, but I believe the city will have them demolished. Most people consider abandoned buildings as an eyesore. Not to mention they tend to attract crime.

[@jebj1]

@@ITSHISTORY They could use them to put the migrants in. Just stack em up like pizza boxes !

[@JackSpeed]

Just explored inside this... super cool place

[@claraguzman6842]

Super interesting, thank you.

[@kevinhitchcock7062]

I guess Buffalo had nothing to do with grain travel. It must have been used a transfer place for grain before it was put on barges and shipped on the Erie Canal.

[@Beauxdimanches]

You would definitely love Montréal's story on Silo#5! An identical story of industrial rise and slow decay...

[@subparnaturedocumentary]

the futures so bright RYAN'S gotta wear shades.

[@dchamp1337]

He's too cool for school

[@subparnaturedocumentary]

@@dchamp1337 i would no joke say he's more informative than my highschool history teacher.

[@mikefagan6840]

There were many along the GOWANUS CANAL. Seen them as a kid in the 70s & 80s. Abandoned of course.

[@KennethStone]

There are a couple big old structures that look a lot like this around Ports 80 and 90 in San Francisco, and I was always curious what they might've been. SF was the main cargo port for the west coast from statehood in the 1850's until containerization took over in the 1950's and '60's and it all moved across the bay to Oakland.

[@RBMD2A]

Ryan, I hope your eye heals soon.

[@ITSHISTORY]

I see someone has been watching the live stream 🙏

[@lbz4life534]

Just to put in some prospective you said the terminal in NYC is about 2.5 million bushel of storage, my family farms about 8000 acres in mid Michigan and has about a million bushes of on farm storage. Oh how things change.

[@WallyTony]

Great video. I had no idea this existed

[@christopherflack7629]

Strange we have a similar thing in London near City airport. Amazing how similar London and New York are.

[@richardmeo2503]

Great info

[@daveh7989]

This is a great channel. It’s content is so interesting and it’s presented very well. Thank you for your videos.

[@ITSHISTORY]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@molemanjupe]

Sweet shades Socash. Badass last name too. Love your vids

[@ITSHISTORY]

We can thank the American immigration authorities of 1905 for the name change 🇺🇸 That’s a part of NY history that impacts me rather directly!

[@larry3034]

As the population has grown, one might think it prudent to preserve grain silo's. How quickly man forgets.❤

[@elhanson5426]

To what purpose? Those structures are built of thick concrete. Very difficult/expensive to modify. That is very expensive real estate, and difficult to access to be a museum that few people would go to see. New York would be better served to raze them and repurpose the land.

[@larry3034]

@@elhanson5426 We could stack criminals in them.

[@jamessveinsson6006]

I was born and raised in the city of Chicago and along the river you still see some of the structures yeah they’ve been tagged with gang graffiti but they’re still holding strong after 100+ years

[@adampdx]

Socash on vacation! Love those glasses.

[@Szydencer]

The Żuraw of Gdańsk is at 14:52 on the right-hand side.

[@NitroVII]

You should look in to the ship docker there, it has a wild history!

[@here_we_go_again2571]

Thx! 👍👍😊😊

[@Ryan-he2qz]

I believe better to repurpose build a hotel it has a very strong historical assets. Good view of the location . And the build look very strong

[@AdventureDriver]

Look at the Cape Town Silo Hotel and Zeitz Museum to see what can be done with a surplus grain elevator.

[@davidpi0717]

You have great videos, there is one that could be nice, the Domino Facilities in NYC.

[@njunderground82]

They should take a page from Minneapolis and turn them into condos and museums. Minneapolis has a great museum in an old elevator and at least one condo building.

[@juanmonge7418]

I read Stephen Ambrose’s book “Wild Blue”. It is about American airplane bombers during wwIl. In about 1943, they established a base in Italy. The town was called: (cheeriolla)sic. Can’t remember how to spell it. Anyway the claim was that the Romans had made large underground grain storage silos there. Supposedly the word cereal came from the name of the town.

[@surfer5352]

Nice indoor shades!

[@haroldb1856]

Very interesting.

[@73caddydaddy93]

I feel like there was a missed opportunity to end the video with "I'll be back" 😎

[@1Nanerz]

Buffalo sported the largest grain elevator in the world for a while.

[@mikederasmo7621]

new sub here and a proud New yorker,

[@WalterKiefer]

Chicagoans might know that our last major grain elevator on S. Damen just got purchased by a developer and will fall to the wrecking ball. Another one bites the dust

[@olafkliemt1145]

interesting POV - thanks ! if you want to know where all these beautiful buildings really came from maybe you should look into "Old World".

[@ITSHISTORY]

I’d love to do more videos from the old world.

[@WKRP187]

You realize this video was about the grain terminals in the US.. YES yes we know you exist over there we just don't care..

[@olafkliemt1145]

@@WKRP187 i did not mean Europe. i mean Tartaria. food for thought.

[@WKRP187]

@@olafkliemt1145 Well I don't go back any further than 5000 years because the bible says that's how old the Earth is so you're just making stuff up, just like dinosaur bones aren't real, they were put here by the devil to make you question God

[@WKRP187]

@@olafkliemt1145 PS Now I'm jumping on the bandwagon and making fun of Americans... See what you did to me!!! Although it is kinda ez at times.. lol

[@Dennan]

crazy to me that new york were all land is so important still have stuff like this taking up its area.

[@josephfitzgeraldnsw5794]

When I worked at AGP in Lincoln Nebraska, they had a fire

[@b1646717]

We have these next to the railroad tracks all over Eastern NM.

[@garyjust.johnson1436]

Great video! Can you use your investigative journalism skills to find out the status of the SS Ling submarine near hoboken new jersey? Last i heard it was going to be moved to make way for water front developement.

[@ITSHISTORY]

Funny you should ask, we already have that episode scripted!

[@josephpadula2283]

Hackensack Not Hoboken !

[@shadetreemechanicracing22]

My grandfather and father worked at a grain elevator their entire lives. I worked there one summer.

[@nickgibb4687]

whats with the sunglasses?

[@ITSHISTORY]

You’ll have to watch the recent live stream to find out …

[@nicodesmidt4034]

Too much

[@molemanjupe]

Cause he's cool like dat.

[@freetolook3727]

Watch live stream where?

[@danshustack2710]

"raised" not "rised". "Impact New York; not implicate." Otherwise; very interesting and very informative.

[@1L6E6VHF]

It could also be Razed, meaning dismantled.

[@freetolook3727]

@12:28 How can fire burn a concrete grain silo? 🔥😂

[@elhanson5426]

Hea from the grain fire damages and weakens the concrete.

[@dandydoodigery9854]

Dude, grain elevators don’t burn unless they are wood cribs. These old concrete ones only go down when they explode. The newer ones use external legal and conveyor systems with monitoring equipment to prevent this.

[@greenfuzz13]

Smoldering grain fires that suddenly reignite are a thing.

[@richardsonmark8876]

I was there a couple days ago and the first person I thought of was you "I hope he does an episode of this place" 🤣

[@ITSHISTORY]

Seriously?

[@KateMorganStyle]

I’m certain grain diversity could have helped this. I have some southern US almanacs and some wheat berry to Eincorn knowledge. We should just be filling centers with rice, wheat, quinoa, wild to cultivated amaranths and different colors of corn. I know where I can grow. The answer is we might want this on a better organized system than Kellogg’s the way it comes out as store brand organic food on “generic.”

[@greenfuzz13]

Are you warning us of the perils of monoculture agriculture? If so, I agree

[@PandaBear62573]

I went by the New York grain terminal a little over 2 weeks ago and there was construction happening.

[@davefroman4700]

Just another shining example of how financialization of the American economy has led to the collapse of its industrial infrastructure.

[@jadedrealist]

I wear my sunglasses at night, so I can, so I can... youtube.

[@weldingwolf2088]

It feel illegal to be this early!

[@russellhltn1396]

I suspect the only reason some of these still exist is no one wants the land badly enough to foot the bill to demolish them.

[@carlosz7208]

Is that what those are for? Always seen them when in Japan. They’re more for rice I guess. I may ask for a tour of one

[@SinaLaJuanaLewis]

I'm surprised it hasn't been turned into million dollar condos 😮

[@rockykesha]

nice