…received freight via railroad cars ferried across the river from New Jersey. The increased shipping encouraged the expansion of the Washington Market – a wholesale produce market which opened in 1813 as “Bear Market” – from the original market building to building throughout its neighborhood, taking over houses and warehouses to use for the storage of produce. It included butter, cheese and eggs. In the mid-19th century, the neighborhood was the center of the dry goods and textile industries in the city, and St. John’s Park was turned into a freight depot. Later, the area also featured fireworks outlets, pets stores, radios – which were clustered in a district which was later displaced by the building of the World Trade Center.