Просмотр кода страницы Английская Википедия:Barren Island, Brooklyn

{{Английская Википедия/Панель перехода}}
{{Short description|Former island in Brooklyn, New York}}
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{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox islands
| name             = Barren Island
| native_name      = <!-- or |local_name= -->
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| image_name       = Deep Creek Dead Horse jeh.JPG
| image_size       = 
| image_caption    = View of Barren Island from [[Dead Horse Bay]]
| image_alt        = A large bay in the foreground with a small land mass, Barren Island, in the background
| image_map        = {{infobox mapframe|frame=y|plain=y|zoom=12|frame-lat=40.5928827|frame-long=-73.8931918|type=point|coord={{coord|40|35|34|N|73|53|35|W|source:GNS}}}}
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| map_caption      = Interactive map of the former site of Barren Island
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| etymology        = Dutch for "Bears' Island"
| location         = [[Jamaica Bay]]
| grid_reference   = <!-- UK only -->
| archipelago      = [[Outer Barrier]]
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| country          = [[United States]]
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| country_admin_divisions            = [[New York (state)|New York]]
| country_admin_divisions_title_1    = City
| country_admin_divisions_1          = [[New York City]]
| country_admin_divisions_title_2    = Borough
| country_admin_divisions_2          = [[Brooklyn]]
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| population       = 1,500
| population_as_of = 1930s
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'''Barren Island''' is a peninsula and former island on the southeast shore of [[Brooklyn]] in [[New York City]]. Located on [[Jamaica Bay]], it was geographically part of the [[Outer Barrier]] island group on the [[South Shore (Long Island)|South Shore]] of [[Long Island]]. The island was occupied by the [[Lenape]] Native Americans prior to the arrival of Dutch settlers in the 17th century. Its name is a [[Language change|corruption]] of {{lang|nl|Beeren Eylandt}}, the [[Dutch language|Dutch-language]] term for "Bears' Island".

Barren Island remained sparsely inhabited before the 19th century, mainly because of its relative isolation from the rest of the city. Starting in the 1850s, the island was developed as an [[industrial complex]] with fish [[rendering (industrial)|rendering]] plants and other industries, and also as an ethnically diverse community of up to 1,500 residents. Between the mid-19th century and 1934, the island housed industrial plants that processed the carcasses of the city's dead horses, converting them into a variety of industrial products. This activity led to the still-extant waterbody on the island's western shore becoming nicknamed "[[Dead Horse Bay]]". A garbage incinerator, which became the subject of numerous complaints because of its odor, operated on the island from the 1890s to 1921.

The Barren Island community became known as '''South Flatlands''' during its final years. By the 1920s, most of the industrial activity had tapered off, and [[Land reclamation|landfill]] was used to unite the island with the rest of Brooklyn. While most residents were evicted in the late 1920s for the construction of [[Floyd Bennett Field]], some were permitted to stay until 1942, when the airfield was expanded as a wartime base of the [[United States Navy]]. No trace remains of the former island's industrial use. Since 1972, Floyd Bennett Field has been part of the [[Gateway National Recreation Area]], managed by the [[National Park Service]].

{{TOC limit|2}}

==Geography and ecology==
Barren Island was originally part of an [[estuary]] at the mouth of [[Jamaica Bay]] and acted as a [[barrier island]] for the larger [[Long Island]], located to Barren Island's north. The bay, in turn, was created during the end of the [[Wisconsin glaciation]].{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=15}} The edge of the glacier had been in the middle of Long Island, creating a series of hills across the island. The water from the melting glacier ran downhill toward a low-lying delta that adjoined the [[Atlantic Ocean]], which later became Jamaica Bay.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=16}} A body of water called [[Rockaway Inlet]], located south of the island, connected the bay with the ocean.<ref>{{cite map |publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]] |title=Brooklyn, NY Quadrangle |url=http://docs.unh.edu/nhtopos/Brooklyn.htm |year=1898 |scale=1:62,500 |series=15 Minute Series (Topographic) |section=SW |access-date=February 13, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100526100251/http://docs.unh.edu/nhtopos/Brooklyn.htm |archive-date=May 26, 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> By the late 17th century, Barren Island had {{convert|70|acre|ha|abbr=off}} of [[salt meadow]]s and {{convert|30|acre|ha}} of uplands,{{sfn|Black|1981|p=14}} as well as cedar forests.{{sfn|Seitz|Miller|2011|p=257}} Salt, reed grasses, and hay served as food for early settlers' livestock.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=13}}{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=20}}

[[File:Gateway National Recreation Area Jamaica Bay Unit map.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|alt=Map of the Gateway National Recreation Area's Jamaica Bay unit, with Barren Island depicted in the lower left corner as "Floyd Bennett Field"|Map of the [[Gateway National Recreation Area]]'s [[Jamaica Bay]] unit; Barren Island was located near where Floyd Bennett Field is now]]

Barren Island's geography was significantly altered by shifting tides and storms in the 19th century.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=17}} Originally, it was part of the [[Outer Barrier]], a series of barrier islands on [[South Shore (Long Island)|Long Island's southern shore]]. Barren Island, the Rockaways, Pelican Beach, and [[Plumb Beach, Brooklyn|Plumb Beach]] were separate barrier islands protecting Jamaica Bay.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=16}} In an 1818 survey of Long Island, Barren Island was described as having dunes and scattered trees.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=23}} By 1839, Barren Island, Plumb Beach, and Pelican Beach were a single island, separated from [[Coney Island]] to the west by Plumb Beach Inlet. By the end of the century, [[Gerritsen Inlet]] had formed, separating Barren Island from Plumb and Pelican Beaches.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=16}}

The neighboring island of [[Rockaway Beach, Queens|Rockaway Beach]] also had a large impact on Barren Island's geography. Originally, Rockaway was located to Barren's east, and the two islands' southern tips were aligned.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=16}}<ref name="Frank 2001" /> From the mid-19th century, Rockaway Beach was extended more than {{convert|1|mi|km|spell=in}} to the southwest after several [[jetty|jetties]] were built to protect manmade developments there.<ref name="Frank 2001">{{cite web |last=Frank |first=Dave |title=Geology and Ecology of National Parks: Geology of the New York City Region |publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]] |date=March 30, 2001 |url=https://3dparks.wr.usgs.gov/nyc/parks/loc69.htm |access-date=January 6, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180107061314/https://3dparks.wr.usgs.gov/nyc/parks/loc69.htm |archive-date=January 7, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> This caused changes to Barren Island's ecology,{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=17}} because during the early 20th century, it had contained sand dunes on the coasts and salt marshes inland.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=18}} As a result of the extension of Rockaway Beach, Barren Island was no longer a barrier island and its beach was washed away.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=17}}

By the late 1920s, industrial development on Barren Island's eastern side had transformed that area, with a small patch of dunes remaining. The western side of the island, containing dunes, woods, and wetlands, was largely untouched.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=35}} The southern coast contained a [[tidal creek]] stretching into the center of the island, where the tidal wetlands remained mostly intact. The wetlands were abutted by the human-made [[Mill Basin, Brooklyn|Mill Basin]] to the north. Tidal creeks also stretched across the island's marshes, although one of these creeks was bisected by the construction of [[Flatbush Avenue]] in 1925.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=35}} In addition, the water adjoining the northern and western coasts had become heavily polluted.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=35}} The entirety of the former island, covering {{convert|1300|acre|ha|abbr=off}}, was converted to a peninsula during the 1920s.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=2}} It is occupied by [[Floyd Bennett Field]],{{sfn|Historic Structure Report Volume 1|1981|p=13}}{{sfn|Wrenn|1975|p=18}} which in turn is part of the [[Gateway National Recreation Area]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nature.nps.gov/jbi/NSD.htm |title=North Shore District |work=National Park Service |publisher=Jamaica Bay Institute |access-date=February 13, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091016121404/http://www.nature.nps.gov/jbi/NSD.htm |archive-date=October 16, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Name==
<!--{{location map|USA New York City|caption=Location within New York City}}-->
The Barren Island area was originally the homeland of the [[Canarsee]], a group of [[Lenape]] Native Americans, who referred to the [[archipelago]] of islands near it by a name alternatively transcribed as "Equandito", "Equendito", or "Equindito", which means "Broken Lands".{{sfn|Seitz|Miller|2011|p=257}}{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=19}} This name also applied to several smaller islands in the area, such as [[Mill Basin, Brooklyn|Mill Island]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/lindower-park/history |title=Lindower Park Highlights |publisher=New York City Department of Parks and Recreation |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121071517/https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/lindower-park/history |archive-date=January 21, 2018 |access-date=January 20, 2018}}</ref> Throughout its existence, Barren Island has also been referred to as "Broken Lands" in English, as well as "Bearn Island", "Barn Island", and "Bear's Island".{{sfn|Black|1981|p=14}} The name "Barren Island" is a corruption of the Dutch {{lang|nl|Beeren Eylandt}};{{sfn|Seitz|Miller|2011|p=257}}{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=22}}<ref name="NYTimes-Dead-Horses-2000"/> it does not relate to the English word describing the geography of the island.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=22}}<ref name="NYTimes-Dead-Horses-2000"/>

==Settlement==
A [[State University of New York]] study stated that the indigenous Canarsee likely used Barren Island to fish.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=19}} In 1636, as [[New Netherland]] was expanding outward from present-day [[Manhattan]], Dutch settlers founded the town of Achtervelt (later Amersfoort) and purchased {{convert|15,000|acre|ha}} around Jamaica Bay north of Barren Island. Amersfoort was centered around the present-day intersection of Flatbush Avenue and [[Flatlands Avenue]], approximately {{convert|2|mi|km|abbr=out}} northwest of Barren Island.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=9}} In 1664, New Netherland became the English [[Province of New York]], and Amersfoort was renamed [[Flatlands, Brooklyn|Flatlands]].{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=20}}{{sfn|Black|1981|p=9}} The island, as well as nearby [[Mill Basin, Brooklyn|Mill Basin]], was sold to John Tilton Jr. and Samuel Spicer that year.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/historyoflongisl01ross |title=A History of Long Island, Vol. 1 |last=Ross |first=Peter |publisher=Lewis Publishing Company |year=1902 |isbn=978-3-84967-924-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyoflongisl01ross/page/27 27]-28 |language=en |access-date=January 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030040440/https://archive.org/details/historyoflongisl01ross |archive-date=October 30, 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Canarsee leaders had signed 22 land agreements with Dutch settlers by 1684, which handed ownership of much of their historic land, including Barren Island, to the Dutch.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/boroughs/indians-deeds-led-era-article-1.815023 |title=For Indians, Deeds Led To End Of Era |last=Liff |first=Bob |date=November 26, 1998 |work=New York Daily News |access-date=January 25, 2018 |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180125134719/http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/boroughs/indians-deeds-led-era-article-1.815023 |archive-date=January 25, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=20}} Barren Island was one of the first barrier islands to be settled because it was easily accessible. At low tide, people on mainland Brooklyn could walk across a shallow stream, while at high tide, small craft could access the northern coast and larger craft could dock on the southern coast.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=14}}

Barren Island, as well as nearby [[Mill Basin, Brooklyn|Mill Island]] and [[Bergen Beach, Brooklyn|Bergen Island]], were part of the Town of Flatlands. By the 1670s, all three islands were leased by a settler named Elbert Elbertse.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=11}} Records from 1679 indicate that Elbertse had complained that other settlers were going to Barren Island to let their horses graze on his land. The settler William Moore started digging sand from the island in the 1740s. Moore characterized the island as "vacant and unoccupied" in 1762,{{sfn|Black|1981|p=14}} and it remained as such until the end of that century, being used mainly as a grazing field.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=23}} Even during the first half of the 19th century, the island had few residents.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=14}} Circa 1800, a man named Nicholas Dooley established an inn and entertainment venue for fishermen and hunters on the east side of Barren Island;{{sfn|Seitz|Miller|2011|p=257}}{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=23}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Campanella |first=Thomas J. |title=Brooklyn: The Once and Future City |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-691-16538-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ceXDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA125 |access-date=March 23, 2020 |page=125 |archive-date=June 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614154022/https://books.google.com/books?id=9ceXDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA125 |url-status=live}}</ref> the house's ownership later passed to the Johnson family. Two more residences were built on the island before 1860, for the Skidmore and Cherry families. Maps from that time do not show any other human-made structures on Barren Island.{{sfn|Black|1981|pp=14–15}}

The [[National Park Service]] states that the pirate [[Charles Gibbs]] buried Mexican silver on the island {{circa|1830}}.<ref name="NPS 1979">{{cite book |author=National Park Service |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9T83AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA108 |title=Gateway National Recreation Area (N.R.A.), General Management Plan (GMP) (NY, NJ): Environmental Impact Statement |year=1979 |page=108 |author-link=National Park Service |access-date=January 17, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615112633/https://books.google.co.id/books?id=9T83AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA108&redir_esc=y |archive-date=2021-06-15 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Sicherman 2019"/> According to an 1839 account, some of the treasure was later recovered.<ref>{{cite book |last=Thompson |first=B.F. |title=History of Long Island: Containing an Account of the Discovery and Settlement; with Other Important and Interesting Matters to the Present Time |publisher=E. French |series=Cornell Library New York State Historical Literature |year=1839 |url=https://archive.org/details/historylongisla00thomgoog |access-date=January 17, 2018 |page=[https://archive.org/details/historylongisla00thomgoog/page/n458 450]}}</ref> A handbook from the ''[[Brooklyn Daily Eagle]]'' states that a portion of the treasure was retrieved in 1842, while the remainder was never found.<ref name="Sicherman 2019">{{harvnb|ps=.|Sicherman|2019|p=31}}</ref>

== Fish-oil and fertilizer plants ==
[[File:Brooklyn, Vol. 3, Double Page Plate No. 39; Sub Plan from Plate 38; (Map bounded by Barren Island, Part of Ruffle Bar; Including Duck Point Marshes, Pumpkin Patch Meadows) NYPL1703808 (cropped).jpg|thumb|alt=A 1916 diagram of Barren Island, showing the inlets on the island|A 1916 diagram of Barren Island, showing the inlets on the island prior to the 1920s filling operations]]
The naturally deep Rockaway Inlet, combined with the remoteness of Barren Island from the rest of the developed city, made the island suitable for industrial uses.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=24}}  An isolated settlement on the island was developed in the late 19th century.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=15}}{{sfn|Historic Structure Report Volume 1|1981|p=10}} From 1859 to 1934, approximately 26 industries had opened facilities on Barren Island, mostly on the eastern and southern coasts.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=25}}  Few [[industrial sector]]s were enticed to move to Barren Island, precisely because of its isolation: there were no direct land routes to the rest of the city.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=24}} [[Waste management]] was the sole industry for which Barren Island was an ideal location, and became its main industry.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=25}}

The island's first main industrial use was for fish [[rendering (industrial)|rendering]] plants, as well as for fertilizer plants that processed [[offal]] products.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=25}}<ref name=NYTimes-Bay-2011/> The fish rendering plants processed schools of [[menhaden]], a type of fish that was caught off the coast of Long Island, and turned them into fish oil or scraps.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=25}}{{sfn|Black|1981|p=27}} Meanwhile, the fertilizer plants turned horse bones into glue,<ref name="NYTimes-Bay-2011">{{cite news |title=Jamaica Bay: Wilderness on the Edge |first=Alan |last=Feuer |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/nyregion/jamaica-bay-a-wild-place-on-the-edge-of-change.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 29, 2011 |access-date=July 29, 2011 |url-access=limited |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630170531/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/nyregion/jamaica-bay-a-wild-place-on-the-edge-of-change.html |archive-date=June 30, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> as well as fertilizer, buttons, and materials for refining gold and sugar.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/clip/36118096/barren-island-animal-disposal/ |title=Barren Island |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=April 24, 1856 |page=2 |access-date=April 22, 2018 |via=[[Brooklyn Public Library]]; [[newspapers.com]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423101922/https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50251069/ |archive-date=April 23, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> The plants processed almost 20,000 horse corpses annually at their peak, leading to the nickname "[[Dead Horse Bay]]" for the still-extant water body on the island's western shore,<ref name="NYTimes-Dead_Horse_Bay-2017">{{cite web |last=Williams |first=Keith |title=When Dead Horse Bay Was True to Its Name |work=The New York Times |date=July 6, 2017 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/06/nyregion/when-dead-horse-bay-was-true-to-its-name.html |access-date=January 5, 2018 |url-access=limited |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180106072950/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/06/nyregion/when-dead-horse-bay-was-true-to-its-name.html |archive-date=January 6, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> since the waste processors on the island would simply dump the processed waste into that bay.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=25}} By the late 1850s, two plants had been built on the island.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=15}}  The plant on the eastern shore was operated by Lefferts R. Cornell and processed animal carcases; after the facility was destroyed by fire in 1859, Cornell moved his factory to [[Flatbush, Brooklyn|Flatbush]].{{sfn|Black|1981|p=26}} The other corpse-processing plant, on the western shore, was operated by William B. Reynolds and ceased operations during the 1860s.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=26}} These fertilizer factories were the first buildings on Barren Island for which the town of Flatlands imposed property taxes.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=25}}

Ownership of part of the island passed in 1861 to Francis Swift.{{sfn|Dubois|1884|p=78}}  No new factories were developed until at least 1868, when Smith & Co. opened a {{convert|45|acre|ha|adj=on}} fish-processing factory. Steinfield and Company operated a factory from 1869 to 1873, but its purpose is unknown.  A person named Simpson opened a factory on Barren Island in 1870, which closed two years later.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=26}}  Swift and E.&nbsp;P. White also created their own fertilizer factory in 1872, which operated until the 1930s.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=25}}{{sfn|Black|1981|p=26}}  A factory belonging to the Products Manufacturing Company, located where [[Flatbush Avenue]] is now, was reportedly the world's largest carcass-processing plant.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=25}}  Through the 1870s, eight more factories opened on the island, of which two operated only briefly.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=26}} Barren Island's factories, which were vulnerable to landslides, fires, or waves from high-tide, typically lasted for fleeting periods of time.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=26}}  White's factory burned down in 1878 and was soon rebuilt.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=27}}  By 1883, the island's oil factories hired a combined 350 men and collectively used 10 [[steamship]]s.{{sfn|Dubois|1884|p=79}}

The waste-processing factories on Barren Island supported a small but thriving community, which was clustered on the island's southeastern coast.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=26}} In a [[census]] conducted by the town of Flatlands in 1870, it was noted than 24 people, all single men who had immigrated from Europe, lived in a single residence and likely worked at an oil factory on Barren Island.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=26}} A subsequent census in 1880 counted six households that were entirely composed of single men, as well as 17 families,{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=26}}{{sfn|Black|1981|pp=26–27}} and found that 309 people resided on the island.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=26}}{{sfn|Black|1981|p=32}} That same year, it was recorded that the island had three [[fish oil]] factories and four fertilizer plants.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=27}}  The development of Barren Island continued in tandem with the population growth: in 1878, there were six large structures on the island's southern and eastern coasts, in contrast to the single hotel that had been reported in the 1852 map.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=30}}  By 1884, five hundred people worked on the island.<ref name="NPS 1979"/> The 1892 New York state census recorded four large "clusters" of laborers, from the same countries as the 1880 census, who resided in the same households on Barren Island.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=32}}

The Rockaway Park Improvement Company complained in 1891 that the "offensive" smells from Barren Island were ruining the quality of life for vacationers in the Rockaways, located across the Rockaway Inlet from Barren Island.  The [[New York State Department of Health|New York State Health Board]] composed a report about the status of the industries on Barren Island.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/clip/36118986/ |title=Barren Island; The State Health Board Reports Upon Its Industries |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=January 30, 1891 |page=1 |access-date=April 22, 2018 |via=[[Brooklyn Public Library]]; [[newspapers.com]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180424071339/https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50470552/ |archive-date=April 24, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> Subsequently, New York Governor [[David B. Hill]] declared four companies to be "public nuisances", ordering twice-weekly inspections of their factories to ensure that the companies complied with health regulations.<ref>{{Cite news |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1891/05/15/103307365.pdf |title=Barren Island Nuisances; Gov. Hill Orders the State Health Board to Supervise Them |date=May 15, 1891 |work=The New York Times |access-date=January 9, 2018 |url-access=limited |archive-date=June 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614153954/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1891/05/15/103307365.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Garbage processing==
[[File:Barren Island factory.jpg|thumb|alt=A black-and-white image of a factory on Barren Island, pictured circa 1911–1916|A factory on Barren Island, pictured {{circa}} 1911–1916]]
There had been a steep decline in the number of menhaden off Long Island by the late 1890s, which, combined with the [[Panic of 1893]], resulted in the closure of the fish-oil plants.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=28}}{{sfn|Seitz|Miller|2011|p=260}} The carcass-dumping continued: in one five-day span in August 1896, records show that 1,256 horse carcasses had been processed.{{sfn|Seitz|Miller|2011|p=260}}<ref name=NYTimes-Garbage-1896/> That year, the city government awarded the New York Sanitary Utilization Company a {{US$|1 million}} contract to operate on Barren Island,<ref name="NYTimes-Garbage-1896">{{cite news |title=To Use New-York Garbage; The Plant On Barren Island Will Soon Be Finished. The Contracting Company Headed by "Dave" Martin, the Philadelphia Politician – From the Garbage It Will Extract Valuable Oil and Matter for Fertilizers – The Latest Method Will Be Used – Position of Barren Islands and the Works |work=The New York Times |date=September 27, 1896 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1896/09/27/108250547.pdf |access-date=January 7, 2018 |url-access=limited |archive-date=June 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614153955/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1896/09/27/108250547.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> having unsuccessfully attempted to bury waste in [[Rikers Island]].{{sfn|Seitz|Miller|2011|p=260}} The company, which collected garbage from hotels around the city,{{sfn|Seitz|Miller|2011|p=260}} operated a [[garbage incineration|garbage incinerator]]<ref name=NYTimes-Garbage-1896/> that turned New York City's waste into fertilizer, grease, and soap.{{sfn|Seitz|Miller|2011|p=260}}<ref name="NYTimes-FYI-1999"/> Residents of nearby Brooklyn communities opposed the construction of the incinerator, without success.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/clip/7765443/ |title=Will Fight a Garbage Plant |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=June 10, 1896 |page=1 |access-date=April 22, 2018 |via=[[Brooklyn Public Library]]; [[newspapers.com]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423232703/https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50433102/ |archive-date=April 23, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> By 1897, the island was home to two garbage plants and four animal-processing plants.<ref name=BDE-ToCleanBarrenIsland-1897/> The same year, the town of Flatlands was subsumed into the [[City of Greater New York]], becoming part of the city's 32nd [[wards of New York City#Brooklyn|Ward]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Mark |last=Ash |title=The Greater New York Charter as Enacted in 1897: With Notes Indicating the Derivatory Statutes and References to Judicial Decisions Relating Thereto, Together with Appendixes ... and the English Colonial Charters |publisher=Weed-Parsons |year=1897 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DegTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA829 |access-date=March 23, 2020 |page=852 |archive-date=June 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614154004/https://books.google.com/books?id=DegTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA829 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Barren Island soon became known for its use as a garbage dump, receiving waste and animal carcasses from Brooklyn, [[Manhattan]], and [[the Bronx]]. New York City's other two [[Boroughs of New York City|boroughs]], [[Queens]] and [[Staten Island]], had their own garbage disposal sites.<ref name="NYTimes-Dead-Horses-2000">{{cite web |last=Johnson |first=Kirk |title=All the Dead Horses, Next Door; Bittersweet Memories of the City's Island of Garbage |work=The New York Times |date=November 7, 2000 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/07/nyregion/all-dead-horses-next-door-bittersweet-memories-city-s-island-garbage.html |access-date=January 6, 2018 |url-access=limited |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180107233029/http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/07/nyregion/all-dead-horses-next-door-bittersweet-memories-city-s-island-garbage.html |archive-date=January 7, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> The Sanitary Utilization Company disposed of glass bottles and other non-processable items on the northern coast of Barren Island.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=29}} Some valuable trash, such as jewelry, ended up on Barren Island.<ref name="NYTimes-Dead_Horse_Bay-2017"/> The island's residents did not mind the smell of the processed garbage,<ref name="NYTimes-Fading-1939"/> but the incinerator's scents were so noxious that residents of the rest of Brooklyn, {{convert|4|mi|km|spell=in|0}} away, could not stand the odors.{{sfn|Seitz|Miller|2011|p=257}}<ref name="NYTimes-FYI-1999">{{cite web |last=Schneider |first=Daniel B. |title=F.Y.I. |work=The New York Times |date=July 18, 1999 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/18/nyregion/fyi-634484.html |access-date=January 7, 2018 |url-access=limited |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913092545/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/18/nyregion/fyi-634484.html |archive-date=September 13, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1899, state and city lawmakers passed bills to reduce the stench,<ref>{{Cite news |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1899/04/05/117917838.pdf |title=Barren Island Nuisance; Senate Acts Favorably on a Bill Virtually Removing It |date=April 5, 1899 |work=The New York Times |access-date=January 9, 2018 |url-access=limited |archive-date=June 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614153956/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1899/04/05/117917838.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> but these bills did not progress because the governor and mayor opposed these actions.<ref name="NYTimes-Fading-1939" />{{sfn|Black|1981|p=31}} The incinerator was damaged by fire in 1904,{{sfn|Black|1981|p=30}} and two years later, another major fire caused {{US$|1.5 million}} in damage and burned down 16 buildings.<ref>{{cite news |title=$1,500,000 Fire Loss On Barren Island; 16 Structures Go |work=The New York Times |date=May 21, 1906 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1906/05/21/101779216.pdf |access-date=January 7, 2018 |url-access=limited |archive-date=June 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614154027/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1906/05/21/101779216.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> The unstable land along the coast caused numerous landslides from 1890 to 1907, which damaged factories on the island.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=30}}

By the 1900s, the island was receiving seven or eight [[garbage scow]]s per day, which collectively delivered {{convert|50|to|100|ST|LT t|abbr=off|sp=us}} of trash. A boat of dead horses, cats, cows, and other animals arrived daily at the island. Workers at the horse processing factories were paid more than those at the garbage incinerator.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=20}} As of the 1900 census, there were 520 Barren Island residents in 103 households, and all of the large "households" of male laborers had been dispersed.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=33}}{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=27}} Around this time, there were four main landowners: the Sanitary Utilization Company, the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn]], the government of Brooklyn, and the Products Manufacturing Company.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=28}}

Barren Island served as a residential community for the families of laborers who worked there, and at its peak in the 1910s, it was home to an estimated 1,500 people.<ref name="NYTimes-Dead-Horses-2000"/>{{sfn|Black|1981|p=25}}<ref name="NYTimes-Fading-1939">{{cite news |date=February 19, 1939 |title=Barren Island is Fading; Marine Park Squeezing Out Community On the Sand Dunes in Jamaica Bay |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1939/02/19/95760215.pdf |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=January 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615112942/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1939/02/19/95760215.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |archive-date=2021-06-15 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Most of these residents were either African-American laborers or immigrants from Italy, Ireland, or Poland, since few Americans were willing to work with the garbage-related industries;<ref name="NYTimes-Dead-Horses-2000"/> however, some farmers also resided on Barren Island.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=28}} Despite the racial differences, the island's residents coexisted relatively peacefully, as opposed to the high racial strife present elsewhere in the United States.<ref name="NYTimes-Dead_Horse_Bay-2017"/> The island had a public school, a church, a post office, a [[New York City Police Department]] precinct, hotels and inns, various stores and saloons, and three ferry routes to other Brooklyn neighborhoods.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=33}}{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=28}} A "Main Street" stretched east–west across Barren Island, lined with buildings that faced south toward Rockaway Inlet. The street grid in the island's central section was built haphazardly, based possibly on sand dune patterns.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=28}} A [[caste]] system divided the different types of workers on the island: "rag pickers" were at the bottom of the hierarchy, followed by metal-and-paper scavengers, then bone sorters. The island's African-American residents were considered to be part of the lowest caste.<ref name="NYTimes-Dead-Horses-2000"/> Students who lived on Barren Island were dismissed from school early so that they could help their parents scavenge.<ref>{{cite news |title=Good Work of School on Barren Island |page=7 |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |via=[[Brooklyn Public Library]]; [[newspapers.com]] |date=August 18, 1901 |url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/clip/7859682/ |access-date=January 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180108062444/http://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50356698/ |archive-date=January 8, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>  The island had no running water, [[sewage treatment]], or [[New York City Fire Department]] stations.<ref name="NYTimes-FYI-1999"/><ref name="Sicherman p. 21">{{harvnb|ps=.|Sicherman|2019|p=21}}</ref> An 1897 article in the ''Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' described pools of sewage around the school buildings and on the island's main street, as well as accumulations of trash scattered haphazardly across the island, and noted that "how any person manages to work on the island is a mystery".<ref name="BDE-ToCleanBarrenIsland-1897">{{Cite news |url=https://bklyn.newspapers.com/clip/4127478/ |title=To Clean Barren Island |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=September 17, 1897 |page=4 |access-date=April 22, 2018 |via=[[Brooklyn Public Library]]; [[newspapers.com]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423232720/https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50371855/ |archive-date=April 23, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Through the 1910s, as the odors became worse, more complaints were filed with the city government, and real estate developers in adjacent communities such as the Rockaways and Flatlands cajoled the city government to take action.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=27}} Residents in nearby neighborhoods blamed their illnesses on the smells,<ref name="NYTimes-Dead_Horse_Bay-2017"/> and one group from [[Neponsit, Queens]]—located in the Rockaways—claimed that 750,000 residents in an {{convert|8|mi|km|adj=on|spell=in}} radius were subject to the odors emanating from Barren Island.<ref>{{cite news |title=Will Continue War On Barren Island; Residents Of Neponsit Plan Meeting To Further Campaign Against Disposal Plants |work=The New York Times |date=November 6, 1915 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/11/06/105046156.pdf |access-date=January 7, 2018 |url-access=limited |archive-date=June 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614153959/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1915/11/06/105046156.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1916, New York City Mayor [[John Purroy Mitchel]] announced that a new garbage landfill would be built on Staten Island to replace the Barren Island landfill. Because of complaints from Staten Islanders, the location of the landfill was changed several times.{{sfn|Seitz|Miller|2011|p=262}} The city government eventually decided to build the landfill in [[Fresh Kills Landfill|Fresh Kills]], an isolated plain on [[Staten Island]] that was far away from the vast majority of Barren Island's residents. It had overruled several injunctions and formal complaints from Staten Island residents who did not want a landfill anywhere in the borough.<ref>{{cite news |title=Garbage Disposal Goes To Richmond; One Injunction Vacated And Second Reached Board Of Estimate Too Late |work=The New York Times |date=April 11, 1916 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1916/04/11/100202157.pdf |access-date=January 7, 2018 |url-access=limited |archive-date=June 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614154000/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1916/04/11/100202157.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Politicians from the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] accused Mitchel, a member of the rival [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]], of corruption. Mayoral candidate [[John Hylan]] said that if he were elected in the [[New York City mayoral election, 1917|upcoming year's mayoral election]], he would relocate the landfill off Staten Island.<ref>{{cite news |title=Hylan Makes Issue Of Richmond Garbage; Promises To Attack Disposal Plant Contract, If Elected, And To Cut Ferry Fares |work=The New York Times |date=October 28, 1917 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1917/10/28/102371592.pdf |access-date=January 7, 2018 |url-access=limited |archive-date=June 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614154001/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1917/10/28/102371592.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> Hylan ultimately won the election against Mitchel, and he threatened to revoke the Fresh Kills landfill operator's license. Hylan ultimately restored dumping operations at Barren Island, despite having denied rumors about the resumption of such operations. After political backlash, the city government started paying US$1,000 per day to the Sanitary Utilization Company to dispose of the city's trash.{{sfn|Seitz|Miller|2011|p=262}}

The city government started dumping its trash into the ocean in 1919, and the Sanitary Utilization Company closed its facility two years later.{{sfn|Seitz|Miller|2011|p=262}} Additionally, the advent of automobile travel reduced horse-drawn travel in New York City, and resulted in fewer horse cadavers being processed on Barren Island. By 1918, the island processed 600 horse carcasses per year; it had once processed the same number of corpses in 12 days.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=31}}{{sfn|Seitz|Miller|2011|p=263}} The Thomas F. White Company closed the E.&nbsp;P. White fertilizer factory by around 1921 and started demolishing the Sanitary Utilization Company facility around the same time.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=31}} The final horse processing plant closed in 1921.{{sfn|Seitz|Miller|2011|p=263}} The last garbage processing plant on Barren Island, the Products Manufacturing Company, was transferred to city ownership in 1933, and operations ceased two years later.{{sfn|Black|1981|p=32}}

==Seaport plans and decline of community==
[[File:Brooklyn, Vol. 3, Double Page Plate No. 39; Sub Plan from Plate 38 (cropped).png|thumb|alt=A colored map of Wards 31 and 32 in 1920, showing Barren Island under the text "Sections 38 and 39"|Map of Wards 31 and 32 in 1920, showing Barren Island under "Sections 38 and 39"]]

In 1910, developers began dredging ports within Jamaica Bay in an effort to develop a [[seaport]] district.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=29}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Marine Park Highlights |publisher=New York City Department of Parks and Recreation |date=June 17, 2003 |url=https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/marine-park/history |access-date=January 6, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180107061851/https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/marine-park/history |archive-date=January 7, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> Although the city approved the construction of several piers in 1918, only one was built. That pier, which was built to receive landfill for the other proposed piers, stretched {{convert|1|mi|km|spell=in}} northeast and was {{convert|700|ft|m}} wide.{{sfn|Black|1981|pp=77–79}}

By the 1920s, two factories and several residents remained on the island.{{sfn|Historic Structure Report Volume 1|1981|p=13}}<ref name="NYTimes-FYI-1999"/> A municipal ferry service to the Rockaway Peninsula and an extension of Flatbush Avenue were both opened in 1925.<ref>{{cite news |date=October 18, 1925 |title=Rockaway Ferry Opened By Hylan; Other City Officials Also Mark Start Of Line From Barren Island To Riis Park |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1925/10/18/104191823.pdf |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=January 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615113425/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1925/10/18/104191823.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |archive-date=2021-06-15 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=32}} The new modes of transportation were part of a proposal to develop Barren Island as a seaport. The creeks along Barren Island's coast were to be turned into canals, and the city had bought the western part of the island for use as parkland.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=32}} The new transport options provided some short-term benefits for the remaining residents, who could go to "mainland" Brooklyn to work and shop. Residents of "mainland" Brooklyn could go to the Rockaway beaches by driving to the end of Barren Island and taking the ferry.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=33}} Many of the buildings had been abandoned by 1928, though the public school and church remained.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=36}} Three years later, the city took possession of {{convert|58|acre|ha}} on the western side of the island, which comprised much of Main Street and the structures on the island's southwestern side. That plot was combined with a {{convert|110|acre|ha|adj=on}} tract owned by Kings County to create a public space called [[Marine Park (Brooklyn park)|Marine Park]].{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=51}}

During the island community's final years, a teacher named Jane F. Shaw (whom the press nicknamed the "Angel of Barren Island" and "Lady Jane") was hired at the island's public school.<ref name="NPS 1979"/>{{sfn|Seitz|Miller|2011|p=263}} Shaw later became the principal and lobbied on behalf of the island, persuading Senator [[Robert F. Wagner]] to rename the island "South Flatlands" in order to integrate it with the city. After a census in 1930 neglected to count Barren Island, Shaw cajoled the [[United States Census Bureau]] into counting the island's remaining 416 residents.{{sfn|Seitz|Miller|2011|p=263}} When New York City parks commissioner [[Robert Moses]] ordered the eviction of all residents in early 1936, Shaw persuaded him to move the eviction date to the end of June, so her students could complete their school year.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7346214/ |title=Miss Jane Shaw Will Retire as Fairy God Mother, Barren Island |work=Daily Messenger |date=July 24, 1936 |page=8 |access-date=April 22, 2018 |via=[[newspapers.com]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423101953/https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/21840826/ |archive-date=April 23, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Airport and park use==
[[File:Floyd Bennett Field from the North.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Aerial view of runways amid a grassy field, with a bay in the background|The decommissioned [[Floyd Bennett Field]], located on the former Barren Island site]]

The pilot Paul Rizzo opened the privately-operated Barren Island Airport in 1927.{{sfn|Seitz|Miller|2011|p=263}}{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=34}} The next year, the city's aeronautic engineer [[Clarence Chamberlin]] chose Barren Island as the site for the city's new municipal airport, which would become Floyd Bennett Field.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/highlight-for-xml?altUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspaper%252011%2FNew%2520York%2520Evening%2520Post%2FNew%2520York%2520NY%2520Evening%2520Post%25201928%2520Grayscale%2FNew%2520York%2520NY%2520Evening%2520Post%25201928%2520Grayscale%2520-%25204191.pdf |title=Airport Catches Chamberlin's Eye |work=New York Evening Post |page=2 |date=June 3, 1928 |access-date=December 15, 2017 |via=[[Fultonhistory.com]] |archive-date=June 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614154006/https://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2011/New%20York%20Evening%20Post/New%20York%20NY%20Evening%20Post%201928%20Grayscale/New%20York%20NY%20Evening%20Post%201928%20Grayscale%20-%204191.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Wrenn|1975|p=17}} The New York City Department of Docks was in charge of constructing the Barren Island Airport.{{sfn|Wrenn|1975|p=18}} A contract for the airport's construction, awarded in May 1928, entailed filling in or leveling {{convert|4,450,000|yd3|m3}} of soil across a {{convert|350|acre|ha|adj=on}} parcel. Sand from Jamaica Bay was used to connect Barren Island and adjacent islands, as well as raise the site to {{convert|16|ft|m}} above the high-tide mark. A subsequent contract involved filling in an extra {{convert|833000|yd3|m3}} of land.{{sfn|Historic Structure Report Volume 1|1981|p=13}}{{sfn|Wrenn|1975|p=18}} Floyd Bennett Field was formally completed in 1931,{{sfn|Wrenn|1975|p=13}}{{sfn|Historic Structure Report Volume 1|1981|p=30}}<ref>{{cite news |date=May 24, 1931 |title=Air Show Dedicates Floyd Bennett Field |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1931/05/24/107116305.pdf |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=December 28, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615113538/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1931/05/24/107116305.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |archive-date=2021-06-15 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> upon which about 400 people still lived on the island.<ref name="NYTimes-Fading-1939" />{{sfn|Black|1981|p=33}}{{sfn|Seitz|Miller|2011|p=263}}

In 1935, the city acquired {{convert|1822|acre|ha}}, including the entire island west of Flatbush Avenue, for Robert Moses's expansion of Marine Park.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=53}} Early the following year, Moses attempted to evict the remaining Barren Island residents, but they simply moved to a still-occupied portion of the island.<ref name="NYTimes-Fading-1939"/>{{sfn|Seitz|Miller|2011|p=263}} At the time, twenty-five people lived on a {{convert|90|acre|ha|adj=on}} spit at the southern end of the island.<ref name="NYTimes-Fading-1939"/>{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=53}} When the [[Marine Parkway–Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge|Marine Parkway Bridge]] to the Rockaways and [[Jacob Riis Park]] was completed in 1937, Flatbush Avenue was extended across Barren Island to connect with the bridge, and Barren Island was no longer isolated from the rest of the city.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=53}}<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 4, 1937 |title=New Riis Park Span Is Opened By Mayor; He Pays High Tribute to Moses at Dedication of Bridge Over Rockaway Inlet |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1937/07/04/94397468.pdf |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=December 9, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615113648/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1937/07/04/94397468.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |archive-date=2021-06-15 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Bennett Field was taken over by the [[United States Navy]] in 1941 and converted to [[Naval Air Station New York]].<ref>{{cite news |title=50,000 Watch As Navy Accepts Bennett Field |pages=[http://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/53519916/ 1], [https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/53519950/ 11] |work=Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=June 2, 1941}}</ref>{{sfn|Historic Structure Report Volume 1|1981|p=60}} The next year, the Navy expanded the airport's facilities to the southern tip of Barren Island, forcing the former island's last residents to move out.{{sfn|Seitz|Miller|2011|p=263}}{{sfn|Historic Structure Report Volume 1|1981|p=63}}<ref>{{cite news |date=January 6, 1942 |title=U.S. Takes Airport Tract; Gets 51 Acres to Expand Floyd Bennett Naval Air Base |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1942/01/06/85192831.pdf |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=January 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210615113908/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1942/01/06/85192831.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false |archive-date=2021-06-15 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> During its wartime upgrade of Bennett Field, the Navy burned and cleared all remaining structures on Barren Island, and eliminated its original landscape.{{sfn|Cody|2009|p=119}} No trace of the community remains,<ref name="NYTimes-Dead-Horses-2000"/> as Barren Island had been totally subsumed by Bennett Field.{{sfn|Seitz|Miller|2011|p=257}} In 1972, Bennett Field was turned over to the National Park Service as part of the [[Gateway National Recreation Area]]'s Jamaica Bay Unit.<ref name="NYTimes-Votes-Gateway-1972">{{cite web |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/09/27/archives/house-votes-bill-on-gateway-area-but-kills-housing-rockefeller-plan.html |title=House Votes Bill on Gateway Area But Kills Housing |last=Madden |first=Richard L. |date=September 27, 1972 |work=The New York Times |access-date=January 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180104013846/http://www.nytimes.com/1972/09/27/archives/house-votes-bill-on-gateway-area-but-kills-housing-rockefeller-plan.html |archive-date=January 4, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Act-92-592">{{cite book |chapter=Public Law 92-592, Act of October 27, 1972 |date=October 27, 1972 |title=An Act to establish the Gateway National Recreation Area in the States of New York and New Jersey, and for other purposes. |url=https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-86/pdf/STATUTE-86-Pg1308.pdf |language=en |publisher=U.S. Government Publishing Office |access-date=January 12, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170306034125/https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-86/pdf/STATUTE-86-Pg1308.pdf |archive-date=March 6, 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In the 1950s, Moses expanded the former island, by then a peninsula, to the west using garbage covered by topsoil. The layer of soil later eroded, and by the 2010s, garbage could be seen on the coast during low tide.<ref name="NYTimes-Dead_Horse_Bay-2017"/> The coast contains many exposed broken glass bottles and other [[Biodegradable waste|non-biodegradable]] material, and as such, the site has been used for [[beachcombing]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2014/01/06/dead_horse_bay_the_brooklyn_bottle_beach_covered_in_cool_vintage_trash.html |title=The Delights of Collecting Trash at Dead Horse Bay |date=January 6, 2014 |work=Slate |access-date=January 7, 2018 |language=en-US |issn=1091-2339 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180107233033/http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2014/01/06/dead_horse_bay_the_brooklyn_bottle_beach_covered_in_cool_vintage_trash.html |archive-date=January 7, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/fullpage/dead-horse-bay-yorks-hidden-treasure-trove-34504495 |title=Dead Horse Bay: New York's Hidden Treasure Trove of Trash |last1=Simon |first1=Evan |last2=Smith |first2=Olivia |date=October 26, 2015 |publisher=[[WABC-TV]] |language=en |access-date=January 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180108062503/https://abcnews.go.com/US/fullpage/dead-horse-bay-yorks-hidden-treasure-trove-34504495 |archive-date=January 8, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> In August 2020, the National Park Service announced that Dead Horse Bay would be closed indefinitely because of the presence of [[radiological]] contamination.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Adams |first=Rose |url=https://www.brooklynpaper.com/dead-horse-bay-closed-radioactive-materials/ |access-date=May 12, 2021 |website=Brooklyn Paper |title=Dead Horse Bay Closed Because of Radioactive Contamination |date=August 7, 2020 |archive-date=May 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512060027/https://www.brooklynpaper.com/dead-horse-bay-closed-radioactive-materials/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=NPS2020>{{cite web |title=Dead Horse Bay Environmental Cleanup Projects |date=August 6, 2020 |url=https://www.nps.gov/gate/learn/management/dead-horse-bay-environmental-cleanup-project.htm |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=May 12, 2021 |archive-date=May 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512150332/https://www.nps.gov/gate/learn/management/dead-horse-bay-environmental-cleanup-project.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> The contamination was identified as having come from two deck markers, though the risk of radiological exposure was considered low.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Adams |first=Rose |title=Dead Horse Bay Radioactive Contamination Not a Significant Health Risk: Feds |url=https://www.brooklynpaper.com/dead-horse-bay-radioactive-health-risk/ |date=August 31, 2020 |url-status=live |access-date=April 22, 2021 |website=Brooklyn Paper |archive-date=April 22, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422173534/https://www.brooklynpaper.com/dead-horse-bay-radioactive-health-risk/}}</ref>

==Media==
Carol Zoref's novel ''Barren Island'', about an Eastern European immigrant family's experiences on the island, was placed on the 2017 [[National Book Award for Fiction]]'s "longlist" and won the [[Association of Writers & Writing Programs]]' 2015 Award Series<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2017-fic-zoref-barren-island.html |title=Barren Island, by Carol Zoref, 2017 National Book Award Longlist, Fiction |publisher=[[National Book Award]] |access-date=December 4, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223193028/http://nationalbook.org/nba2017-fic-zoref-barren-island.html |archive-date=December 23, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.awpwriter.org/contests/awp_award_series_previous_winners/2015 |title=AWP: Award Series Winners |website=[[Association of Writers & Writing Programs]] |access-date=December 4, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612140450/https://www.awpwriter.org/contests/awp_award_series_previous_winners/2015 |archive-date=June 12, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> as well as a [[National Jewish Book Award]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Bernstein |first=Jesse |title=Announcing the Winners of the National Jewish Book Awards |website=Tablet Magazine |date=January 10, 2018 |url=https://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/252927/announcing-the-winners-of-the-2017-national-jewish-book-award-winners |access-date=October 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181028225714/https://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/252927/announcing-the-winners-of-the-2017-national-jewish-book-award-winners |archive-date=October 28, 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> In addition, in 2019, Miriam Sicherman published ''Brooklyn's Barren Island: A Forgotten History'', which described Barren Island's history.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.brooklynpaper.com/dirty-words-new-book-uncovers-brooklyns-garbage-filled-island/ |title=Dirty words: New book uncovers Brooklyn's garbage-filled island |last=Adams |first=Rose |date=November 21, 2019 |website=Brooklyn Paper |access-date=December 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191122153533/https://www.brooklynpaper.com/dirty-words-new-book-uncovers-brooklyns-garbage-filled-island/ |archive-date=November 22, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>
{{clear}}

==See also==
* [[List of smaller islands in New York City]]

==References==
{{notelist}}
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite web |last=Black |first=Frederick R. |url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/gate/jamaica_bay_hrs.pdf |title=Jamaica Bay: a History |publisher=[[United States Department of the Interior]], [[National Park Service]] |date=1981 |access-date=January 6, 2018 |archive-date=February 5, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205130111/https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/gate/jamaica_bay_hrs.pdf |url-status=live}}
* {{cite web |last1=Blakemore |first1=Porter R. |last2=Linck |first2=Dana C. |title=Historic Structure Report: Floyd Bennett Field; Gateway National Recreation Area, New Jersey-New York |volume=1 |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/gate/floyd_bennett_hsr1.pdf |publisher=[[United States Department of the Interior]], [[National Park Service]] |date=May 1981 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140911214633/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/gate/floyd_bennett_hsr1.pdf |archive-date=September 11, 2014 |url-status=dead |ref={{sfnref|Historic Structure Report Volume 1|1981}} }}
* {{cite journal |first1=Sarah K. |last1=Cody |first2=John |last2=Auwaerter |first3=George W. |last3=Curry |title=Cultural Landscape Report for Floyd Bennett Field |url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/gate/floyd_bennett_clr.pdf |website=[[National Park Service|nps.gov]] |publisher=[[State University of New York]], [[State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry|College of Environmental Science and Forestry]] |date=2009 |ref={{sfnref|Cody|2009}} |access-date=January 5, 2018 |archive-date=June 6, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170606005732/https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/gate/floyd_bennett_clr.pdf |url-status=live }}
* {{cite book |last=Dubois |first=Anson |title=A History of the Town of Flatlands, Kings County, N.Y. |year=1884 |publisher=Brooklyn, N.Y. [W.W. Munsell] |url=https://archive.org/details/historyoftownoff00dubo}}
* {{cite book |last1=Seitz |first1=Sharon |last2=Miller |first2=Stuart |title=The Other Islands of New York City: A History and Guide |publisher=[[Countryman Press]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-58157-886-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zRjMPZW4heMC&pg=PA257 |pages=257–264 |edition=Third |access-date=January 29, 2018 |archive-date=February 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180207115834/https://books.google.com/books?id=zRjMPZW4heMC&pg=PA257 |url-status=live}}
* {{cite book |last=Sicherman |first=Miriam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N6C4DwAAQBAJ |title=Brooklyn's Barren Island A Forgotten History |publisher=[[Arcadia Publishing]] |publication-place=Chicago |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-4396-6856-6 |oclc=1125108159 |access-date=December 4, 2019 |archive-date=June 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614154008/https://books.google.com/books?id=N6C4DwAAQBAJ |url-status=live}}
* {{cite web |last=Wrenn |first=Tony P. |url=http://www.npshistory.com/publications/gate/wrennreport.pdf |title=General History of the Jamaica Bay, Breezy Point, and Staten Island Units, Gateway National Recreation Area, New York NY |date=October 31, 1975 |access-date=January 5, 2018 |archive-date=April 14, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414013901/http://npshistory.com/publications/gate/WrennReport.pdf |url-status=live}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?&keywords=Barren+Island+(New+York%2C+N.Y.) Search results for "Barren Island (New York, N.Y.)"] at the [[New York Public Library]]
* {{GNIS|973540|Barren Island}}

{{New York City Islands}}
{{Brooklyn}}
{{Authority control}}
{{portalbar|Islands|New York City|New York (state)}}

[[Category:Former islands of New York City]]
[[Category:Islands of Brooklyn]]
[[Category:Islands of New York City]]
[[Category:Gateway National Recreation Area]]
[[Category:Neighborhoods in Brooklyn]]
[[Category:Barrier islands of New York (state)]]
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