This book constructs a history of Newtown Creek's industrial expansion during the period that
began in the 1840s and continued through the early years of the 20th century. In that period
the production of reagent chemicals and refined materials near the center of modern-day New
York City grew steadily as practitioners alert to European advances in chemical science
developed and applied increasingly sophisticated technologies. Innovations in methods of
production ready access to domestic and international markets and sustained growth in volumes
of production at Newtown Creek in the late 19th century had profound consequences for the
practice of industrial chemistry in the United States and for the economic vitality of the City
of New York. Industrial practice progressed from the recovery of animal tissues to the refining
of crude petroleum and the production of high-purity copper and other metals from mineral ores.
With attention to each company's technical expertise and principal products this book examines
the interdependence of the chemicals- and materials-producing industries that thrived along
Newtown Creek's shores. The author recounts Newtown Creek's industrial history alongside the
stories of well-known New Yorkers - Peter Cooper Charles Pratt John D. and William
Rockefeller - and other less celebrated or less notorious characters. This book provides a
valuable account of New York's history in the manufacture of reagent chemicals and refined
fuels and metals and will appeal to researchers scholars and historians interested in the
early years of industrial chemistry.
