Dutch settlers acquired portions of Sunset Park from the Canarsee in the 1640s and began farming along the waterfront.
Irish immigrants became the first wave of new settlers to the area in the 1840s when they were fleeing the potato famine. They were joined by Polish, Norwegian and Finnish immigrants in the late 1800s when nearly all of the neighborhood’s residential construction occurred.
Sunset Park was changed forever when Irving T. Bush purchased oceanfront property and opened Bush Terminal, nicknamed “Bush’s Folly,” because few thought it could compete with Manhattan’s ports.
Bush’s initial warehouse, single pier, tugboat and old railroad engine paved the way for what became the largely successful 200-acre complex of piers, warehouses, display rooms and factory lofts.
Italian dock workers settled in the area for the ample work from the terminal that expanded in 1902.
Later in 1919, the Brooklyn Army Terminal was constructed as a military ocean supply depot that operated through World War II.
The neighborhood eventually declined by the 1930s and into the 1940s, though, when the Third Avenue elevated line halted during the Depression.
Then, in 1941, the completion of the Gowanus Expressway virtually split the area’s industrial section from its residential, and workers began leaving, changing the nature of Sunset Park once again.
After World War II, many older residents moved to the suburbs, and their homes were filled with Puerto Rican immigrants eager to work, but corruption in the Federal Housing Administration and real-estate and banking industries led to the abandonment of homes.
In addition, much of the maritime industry began moving to New Jersey at the time.
Bush Terminal was renamed Industry City in the 1960s in a revitalization attempt.
Then, in 1969, the Lutheran Medical Center purchased an abandoned factory from the city for one dollar and spent more than $70 million renovating the property for a center that helped local nonprofit organizations renovate 500 housing units.
Sunset Park’s rebound was evident in the 1980s and 1990s when more immigrants from Latin America and Asia moved into the neighborhood.
Commercial revival increased when the Brooklyn Army Terminal, which was deactivated in the 1970s, was reopened in 1987 for light industry and bodegas. Restaurants and retail stores opened along the neighborhood blocks as well.
