New York's Lost Domino Sugar Refinery

the sugar industry is one of the largest trades of consumable goods in the entire world and this can be seen by the sheer amount of products that use sugar with that in mind when thinking of the historical sugar trade and the world's largest producers of this prized crop your first inclination will probably be to imagine Tropical Islands or Scenic coasts like those in Cuba Jamaica Brazil or even the Philippines and while these nations are historically massive producers of sugar one of the largest refineries in the entire world was built right here in the United States the Domino sugar refinery located in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn this facility was owned by the havamere family's American sugar refining company where they manufactured the Domino brand of sugar for nearly 120 years in fact in its prime the Domino sugar refinery sometimes called Domino Sugar Factory produced nearly three million pounds of sugar daily that was about 60 percent of all sugar consumed by Americans during the 20th century which means that for years there's a good chance that any one of those famous yellow bags of Domino Sugar which were a commonplace item in grocery stores across the country was refined and packaged at the Domino sugar refinery in New York City however after over A Century of use the Domino sugar refinery ceased production in 2004 falling into an utter state of disparage this tale of Urban Decay holds many mysteries of America's past so join me as we discover the history of New York's Domino sugar refinery I'm your host Ryan silkash and you're watching its history thank you the story starts way back in the 18th century with the havemeyers a very wealthy and influential family who owed their success to Sugar refining the first have Amir to step foot in America was William havemere who immigrated from Germany in 1775. after learning how to refine sugar in London England William brought his skills to New York City convincing his brother to immigrate as well where they both opened their first refinery in what turned out to be a generational project they retired in the 1820s leaving the business to their respective sons who grew the Enterprise even larger the success of havamere's sugar refineries was so Grand that it allowed the family to gain political prominence within the city in fact William's son William Frederick have a mirror would actually retire in 1842 choosing to enter a political career where he would serve three terms as New York city mayor and as you might imagine he guarded his business interest all along the way although the family was initially established in Manhattan they began building refineries and plants in Williamsburg a neighborhood in Brooklyn around 1855. the reason for this location change was the close proximity to the East River Waterfront which allowed for easy transportation of the raw sugar coming in and the refined sugar being transported out at this point the company had the name havamere Townsend and Company but soon took on the title have Amir an elder their prominence was astounding with the new Crown Jewel being the brand new Williamsburg Refinery originally called the yellow Sugar House this large complex contained a five-story building two more single-story buildings and a lone smokestack and Grand as it was this was just the beginning the entire facility was expanded multiple times within the coming decades the rising success of the havamere company coincided with the global sugar trade which went through a series of economic booms in the 18th and 19th centuries there were many reasons for this but one major factor was the result of the Industrial Revolution you see many of these Innovations tie back to the old continent where due to the technological innovations of this pivotal era the European powers were now the strongest and most influential on the global stage with their expansive colonial empires but also through global trade the European superpowers were able to consolidate the most geopolitical influence through cultural financial and Military means and I need to point out that another interesting results of the Industrial Revolution was the way that European Society changed their daily eating habits by this point foods that use sugar like sweet teas jams preservatives can Andes and others became an essential part of the European diet thus making sugar a material in high demand consequentially the European Empires turned to their overseas colonies to provide sugar and the entire industry experienced exponential growth perhaps controversial from a modern perspective sugarcane was cultivated in Mass numbers in European colonies in the Caribbean South America the African coasts as well as the Pacific Islands but raw sugar cane cannot be consumed or used in food products until it's fully processed into the regularly seen granulated sugar commonly known simply as white sugar this procedure however requires a sugar refinery making them essential to the sugar industry as a whole in summary the main purpose of the sugar refinery is to process raw sugarcane or sugar beet to produce refined sugar products this process involves multiple stages starting with extraction of juice from the raw material this juice is then purified typically through heating cooling and chemical treatment to remove impurities and color after purification the sugar solution is concentrated by boiling causing the sugar crystals to form these crystals are separated from the liquid through centrifugation and remaining liquid known as molasses can be further processed for other uses the sugar crystals are then dried screened and packaged resulting in the final refined sugar products which can then be sold and transported elsewhere and turned into various food products by the 1880s the havemeyers built several other refineries in the surrounding Williamsburg neighborhood interestingly enough this made Brooklyn the world's largest Hub of sugar refineries as was mentioned before in this era the then so-called yellow Sugar House produced around 60 percent of all refined sugar in the United States each day over four thousand employees worked tirelessly to refine sugar a variety of sugar types underwent processing at the facility raw sugar arrived at Piers along the East River from 40 different countries as well as States within the U.S most notably Florida inside the filter house the raw sugar was blended with water then subjected to filtration from there it was pumped up to the 13th floor and deposited into 10 foot tall by eight foot wide circular containers referred to as blow-ups an intricate network of 50 Pipe types transported this mixture upwards subsequently it underwent filtration through quote bone black and canvas layers eventually reaching circular tanks standing at 20 feet in height 9 feet across the solution then progressed to the pan house where it was boiled at a temperature of 112 degrees Fahrenheit and vacuum pans measuring 32 feet in height by nine feet across afterwards the mixture passed through centrifuges to later be separated into sugar and molasses the sugar granules were then sent by conveyor belt to the finishing house where they underwent separation in granulating machines followed by roasting and drying this process yielded consumer-ready sugar products such as cubes tablets syrups or individual grains suitable for use in ingredients and various applications the finalized sugar products were subsequently packed into barrels and stored in nearby warehouses things were going very well and the business continued to grow hence the haymires decided to expand the facility yet again in 1881. this decision was taken despite the refinery already having the tallest buildings in Williamsburg yet the new plans included adding more stories to existing buildings constructing a new tower and utilizing the buildings from across the street which rival refineries had previously owned but as construction was underway the entire complex was severely damaged and the famous devastating fire that broke out in a storeroom in January of 1882 which surprisingly was not exactly unexpected you see Fires at Sugar refineries are a common danger given the high temperature steam produced in the refining process the potential Sparks that come off of the machinery and how flammable the sugar can be creates a pretty bad scenario unfortunately for the havemeyers the fire came at the mo most inopportune time it was speculated that the fire cost 1.5 million dollars in damage and almost 2 000 jobs were immediately eliminated as a result as the facility was being repaired a temporary refinery in Red Hook Brooklyn was built to continue operations a testament to the havemeyer and Elder company within the sugar industry but it should be pointed out that Sugar prices skyrocketed due to the great fire however there may have been a silver lining to This Disaster you see the plans to rebuild the facility aimed to develop an even bigger and more productive complex than was initially projected with the previous reconstruction plans and by 1884 the entire Refinery was back in business resuming full operations the new facility was so effective that it actually caused concern on a political scale after the Sherman Antitrust Act was passed in 1890 more restrictions were placed upon Commerce in America in particular artificial monopolies were made illegal to facilitate Fair economic competition and given that the havemeyer family controlled 98 of American sugar production they had to comply with this new law resulting in the formation of the American sugar refining company which also coincided with the creation of the Domino brand of sugar all by the havemeyers at this point the Williamsburg location began being referred to as the Domino sugar refinery then for the next three decades business continued as usual by the 1920s though the times began to change the American sugar refining company and its Domino brand of sugar had grown so popular that the company decided to expand operations outside of New York in 1922 a plant was built in Baltimore and in the following years new facilities including other refineries were built in Philadelphia and New Orleans this decreased the importance of the Williamsburg Refinery overall as they were no longer the lone source of American sugar refining other procedures besides the actual process of refining sugar were also outsourced to other locations further reducing the Domino Sugar refineries role as a central hub for the entire company's activity well the sugar trade remains a lucrative industry to this day it inevitably declined from its peak in the 1800s and this hurt the refinery seeing employment slowly fall over the years many plants and refineries across the country began to close down leaving the historic Domino sugar refinery is the only one of its kind still standing in Williamsburg by the 1970s also around this time the American sugar refining company was renamed amster only for the company to be purchased by the Tate and Lyle firm in the 1980s before American sugar now operating under their previous name brought back in the early 2000s throughout this period though the Domino Sugar brand remained and the refinery still held on to its famous title as the Domino sugar refinery crossing the century into the 2000s the necessity of the refinery continued to decline but now at a rapid Pace every year more and more workers were laid off and certain operations were reduced until in 2000 when the entire facility was eventually just shut down well the Domino sugar refinery stands as a testament to the culture and financial power of New York in the global sugar trade there is also a seemingly difficult side to the history that is not as widely known both about the refinery itself and those who built it as mentioned before the HEPA Myers were a wealthy and influential family who owed their success to the sugar trade below the surface though new historical Trends have shed a light on the havemeyers in a different context you see most of the controversy surrounds the aforementioned William F have a mayor who would eventually serve as the mayor of New York City after building his public character via his family's business by the time the Domino sugar refinery then called the yellow Sugar House was built in 1855 William had long since retired from the sugar trade to focus on his political career that being said he was still a valuable asset to to have a mayor and Elder as we looked at before sugar refineries like those in New York refined sugar cane or beet to be consumed however this obviously necessitates a source of the sugar and sugar became such an important commodity during the 19th century Spanish Cuba became the largest sugar cane producer due to its climate infrastructure and labor force but also largely due to the Haitian revolution which cut off Haiti from the global sugar trade meaning Cuba became more Central than it already was due to disease decimating the local Taino people the Spanish then relied on African slave labor for sugar cultivation which might I remind you is a grueling process overall by 1808 though both the United States and the United Kingdom abolished the transatlantic slave trade the latter of which eventually fought several military conflicts on the west coast of Africa stop the purchase and transportation of slaves across the ocean however the colony of Cuba could continue importing slaves until 1867 and they would not outlaw slavery domestically until 1886 even after slavery ended nearly 100 000 Chinese indentured servants were brought in a big part of the reason they were able to continue doing so was the massive profit of the sugar trade colossal sugar refineries like the one in New York required a constant supply of sugarcane and the generous profit allowed Cuba to continue bringing enslaves despite heavy restrictions it was The Wealth from this business that William F have a mayor and his family built an Empire introducing him to a world of Politics as the control of the company was passed down several Generations William's cousin Henry Osborne havemeyer oversaw the operation by the turn of the century at time when Cuba outlawed slavery and was even placed under American rule following the Spanish-American War during this period Henry Osborne was accused of exploiting Cuba particularly by building illegal monopolies which resulted in the aforementioned economic regulations within the Domino sugar refinery relatively similar accusations lie as working conditions are said to have been horrific due to the intense heat from the Summer sun but even more so from the Machinery several workers died as a result of this environment many recent immigrants from countries like Poland or the Caribbean were also hired as opposed to native born Americans due to their ability to be paid severely low wages throughout the years there has been a long history of strikes at the refinery very few of which were successful though in fact the Great Fire of 1886 which destroyed the refinery occurred shortly after another other unsuccessful workers strike leading some to suspect Foul Play though there is no hard evidence of this it must be said though that history is not black and white in fact many of the accusations placed upon the family may have very well been politically motivated meant to exaggerate or drum up their role in certain Global events and inevitable consequence of involvement in the New York political scene like the havemeyers were before any judgment is made context also matters greatly you see Cuba was not the only source from which the Domino sugar refinery received sugarcane nor was the Domino sugar refinery the only destination for Cuban sugarcane the Hava Mayors were also not directly the ones who brought transported or oversaw the use of slavery I'd also point out that when we take a deeper look at the big picture it's hard to pass judgment when you consider the global trait of any commodity today a and our participation in that many of the simple products that we use or consume daily involve a lengthy process spanning several Nations across the globe with many locations along the way utilizing exploitation of some sort all this to say that it doesn't make the havemeyers entirely guilty nor does it make them completely Guiltless I'd suggest that as with looking back on any past historical figure through the lens of modern conceptions of morality the answer lies somewhere in the middle if there's even a correct answer at all feel free to chime in in the comments obviously immediately after the refinery officials shut down operations many questions were raised about what came next there was even the possibility that it would be entirely demolished however that was prevented when the community preservation Corporation purchased the site they initially intended for the area to be converted into a series of apartment complexes affordable housing and schools still these plans fell through after pushback from the local community who opposed the potential Mass disruption to their lives that such a massive construction project like this would cause soon the site was bought by the development company two trees management who designed new plants alongside the architectural firm shop Architects expanding what the previous owners envisioned two trees aimed to build thousands of new apartments tall multi-purpose buildings and parks and by 2014 I up until recording this as of 2023 construction has been underway but if you were to take a trip to the Domino sugar refinery today what would you see well there still stands the massive Domino Sugar sign not much else remains of the famous Refinery unfortunately among the original structures the pan filter and finishing house stood between South Second and South third streets well the area between South Third and South 4th streets housed a six-story storehouse and a machine shop the block between South 4th and South 5th streets featured a seven-story Refinery building with the southern block containing a single story detached Storehouse today only the pan filter and finishing house remain from the original complex known by locals simply as the refinery it is now a New York City designated Landmark for its historical significance looking specifically at the refinery which is situated at 292 Kent Avenue the penthouse and finishing house sections soar to a height of 130 feet in contrast the filter house section reaches 155 feet including a chimney these interconnected buildings span a remarkable Pinnacle of 250 feet by 150 feet in fact the pan filter and finishing house used to rank among the tallest structures in Brooklyn rivaling the early skyscrapers and lower Manhattan's Financial District constructed primarily of reddish brick the complex boosts a thickness of four feet on the lower stories and two feet on the upper levels the facade on the Eastern side features vertical brick pilisters and the Western facade facing the East River incorporates bricks forming patterns like Chevrons and polygon months Bluestone was occasionally used in belt courses and keystones and most Windows feature brick arches as you might imagine the facility was powered by coal necessitating a 155 foot chimney for ventilation which was one of the tallest in the region at the time in the 1920s the chimney's top section was expanded with curved brick in 2017 Architects from practice for architecture and urbanism designed a conservation plan for the building envisioning the addition of a new glass facade with a barrel Vault behind the existing landmarked walls of the pan filter and finishing house originally the glass roof was proposed to be 224 feet high but plans changed in 2019 calling for a taller glass roof at 235 feet the new structure comprises 15 stories leading up to the barrel vault with a 30-foot Penthouse just below it the interior featured brick floors supported by Iron beams and 66 cast iron columns safety features like fire escapes fire extinguishers and electric lights were presented in the 2020s the interior was transformed into 460 000 square feet of office space during the renovation ceiling Heights on some floors were heightened while the ground floor was designated for retail and Domino Park Visitor restrooms a forty thousand square foot Fitness club with a gym and swimming pool was even planned floors 2-13 were allocated for office space and floor 14 was intended for a double height event space with a catering kitchen and service areas each story encompassed 30 000 square feet with the glass office structure set back 10 feet from The Landmark facade above the first story staircases were positioned between the landmarks facade and the glass structure and a Walled Garden was proposed between the new office structure and the landmark outside the refinery there were several other major features of the site that used to house the Domino Sugar Factory there are two large Tower complexes the 16-story 325 Kent Avenue and the one South First and 10th Grand Towers which include a 45-story building alongside a smaller 24-story building each Tower complex is split between residential Apartments both luxury styled and affordable housing running down the East River also sits Domino Park a public park with Gardens playgrounds Sports Fields Long walkways and even historical exhibits telling the story of the old refinery if you were to walk down the pathway running through the middle of domino Park you would see many structures along the Mass construction projects namely many different types of apartments and housing it may be hard to imagine but the surrounding area was once the central Hub of sugar refineries nearly a century ago unfortunately the Domino sugar refinery is a shell of its former self standing in despair with all its Machinery stripped out no more shipments of sugar going in and out of the bay and no more workers numbering by the thousands going about their daily routines well these images are a mere memory of the past what remains of the Domino Sugar Factory tells us a story going back centuries a story of a prominent New York family whose wealth survived being passed down multiple Generations a story of how the global sugar trade affected the entire world and a story of how the neighborhood of Williamsburg in Brooklyn once influenced the entire world thank you all for watching until next time this is Ryan silkash signing off

Channel: IT'S HISTORY

Views: 528,745

Keywords: domino sugar refinery, domino sugar, domino sugar factory, domino park, domino sugar brooklyn, domino sugar factory brooklyn, dominos sugar, domino sugar plant, domino park brooklyn, domino sugar williamsburg, domino, domino sugar plant brooklyn, domino sugar refinery brooklyn, domino sugar brooklyn refinery, domino sugar plant brooklyn nyc, domino park brooklyn new york, domino park nyc, domino sugar sign, sugar, domino sugar 1960's tv commercial

Id: p-D6lO0-RRw

Length: 25min 50sec (1550 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 21 2023