Image Credit: LaGuardia-Wagner Archives.

This photo captures Fort Greene Houses (now known as Whitman and Ingersoll Houses) exactly 70 years ago this week.  On January 19, 1944, the grounds of the recently completed development are filled with military personnel and civilians who were employed at the nearby Brooklyn Navy Yard.  During World War II, the Yard employed more than 70,000 people.  The recently complete public housing provided the much needed housing for this large surge in the neighborhood’s population.  It wasn’t until after the war that the buildings would fulfill their original purpose as affordable housing.

Visit the LaGuardia-Wagner Archies at LaGuardia Community College to learn more.

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