BUSHWICK PAPER MILL

Built in 1927 during Bushwick's industrial heyday, 456 Johnson Avenue originally housed a paper manufacturing mill. Although the neighborhood in those days was known as "the beer capital of the Northeast," its cobble-stoned streets were peppered with paper goods factories, chemical producers, glass products plants, and textile mills. In the post WWII years, with cheaper transportation and the switch to the use of aluminum cans for beer, the neighborhood saw many of its once storied breweries close their doors. The textile industry remained strong, however, with Bushwick becoming increasingly known as one of America's major centers for textile and garment manufacturing. In fact, as recently as 2015, knitting machines on the first floor of 456 Johnson Avenue were still busy spinning yarn to create fabric sheets that were then sent up to third floor where they were expertly cut and finished into women's sweaters to be sold to some of the best known brands and department stores in the..

Primary location: United States