Domino Sugar Refinery

The Havemeyer family opened their first Williamsburg refinery in 1856, but after a fire destroyed the original structures, the current complex rose in 1882- at 155 feet, suddenly the tallest building in Brooklyn. Only 25 years later, the factory was refining more than half the nation’s sugar. At its peak, this facility processed a staggering 98% of all sugar consumed in the United States. By the 1920s, the operation could churn through 4 million pounds of sugar daily with a workforce of 4,500. The Havemeyers’ sweet empire stretched far beyond Brooklyn: Williamsburg refined such colossal quantities of Cuban sugar that it transformed “Cuba into an economic dependent of the United States”- a resentment that would simmer for decades. The refinery closed in 2004, the last major industrial operation still standing on Brooklyn’s formerly booming East River waterfront.