Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal - Owners

Owners

The BEDT was organized by the principals of Havemeyers & Elder, primarily Henry O. Havemeyer, (1847–1907). The BEDT was the successor to Palmer's Docks, which was a combined marine / rail operation, which was organized by Lowell Mason Palmer, (1845–1915). Palmer would partner with the Havemeyers in 1875 to expand the scope of operations of Palmer's Docks through 1905. In 1906, when Lowell Palmer took leave of the operation, the Havemeyer's re-incorporated the organization into the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal as a navigation corporation. It should be noted that the railroad operation was incorporated separately as the East River Terminal Railroad in 1907. In 1915 however, the railroad and the navigation corporation Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal were merged and reincorporated into the Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal as a freight terminal corporation.

The Havemeyers were widely recognized for their large and successful business interests in the sugar refining industry as "Havemeyer & Elder Sugar Refining" and then "American Sugar Refining" which were located in the New York metropolitan area. See Domino Foods, Inc.

The BEDT however was organized as a completely separate business entity from the sugar interests. Reasons for this are not definitive, but it is hypothesized that this railroad/marine operation was kept organizationally independent of the sugar interests due to several legal problems that the sugar operation was embroiled in.

The Havemeyer family would be directly involved in the administration of the BEDT right through the 1972, at which time the BEDT would be purchased by Petro Oil, (1972–1976), R.J. Reynolds (1976–1978) and finally New York Dock Properties (1978 through 1983).