Sixteen Mill Bakeshop
Two tidal grist mills on this old swampland used trapped and released water to grind local wheat in the Dutch colonial days.
By the middle of the seventeenth century, Dutch settlers had drained parts of the marsh and dug several ponds alongside the Gowanus Creek to power their tide mills. When full, the ponds would be closed off from the creek by a gate. Once the tide was low enough, the miller would open the gates, and the energy generated by the water flowing out would turn the mill stones.
Around 1660, Adam Brouwer, a mercenary soldier from the Dutch West India Company, built a mill on the banks of the Gowanus Creek. The tide mill, later renamed Freek’s Mill, was the first in New Netherland. Other mills like Denton's and Cole’s followed suit and soon, Gowanus was a hotbed of grain grinding activity.
To transport the vast quantities of flour, cornmeal and ground ginger these mills were producing, boats had to undertake a rather treacherous journey around the Red Hook peninsula through the Buttermilk Channel to lower Manhattan. In 1664, Brouwer successfully petitioned to carve a channel through the marsh directly to the East River, creating the first iteration of today's canal.
About Sixteen Mill Bakeshop: Sixteen Mill Bakeshop is a 100% vegan, gluten-free and refined sugar-free bakery. They opened on December 15, 2023. The owners are residents of Carroll Gardens, and they love their walk to work every morning and seeing the neighborhood change every day.
552 Union St. in the 1940s