Album: Sanitation and Jamaica Bay: Past and Present

Gateway National Recreation Area

In Summer 2022, a Sanitation Museum Pop-up was held at Floyd Bennett Field — New York’s first municipal airport and currently one of its largest open spaces. Floyd Bennett Field was largely built on filled land in Jamaica Bay, an urban estuary central to the history of waste and sanitation in New York City. The exhibit celebrated this history through several themes. First, it told the story of the bustling working-class community of Barren Island, which once produced useful products from an enormous volume of animal carcasses and other solid waste produced by the growing city (photos 1-7). Second, it celebrated the ongoing contributions of the Department of Sanitation, whose training academy is located on the eastern edge of Floyd Bennett Field (photos 8-14). Finally, it explores the past and future of sanitary landfills around Jamaica Bay — including landfills that have been transformed into celebrated public spaces like Shirley Chisholm State Park (photos 15-20). This gallery invites visitors to take a moment to admire archival and present-day images of sanitation in Jamaica Bay as they consider their place in the past, present, and future of waste in New York City.