Gowanus is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 6. It is situated roughly between Red Hook and Carroll Gardens on the west and Park Slope on the east. Bounded by Butler Street to the north, the neighborhood runs alongside and surrounds the Gowanus Canal, ending with the Gowanus Expressway to the south where Hamilton Ave meets 17th street. Smith and Bond Street are generally considered the western boundaries, with Fourth Avenue as the eastern boundary.[citation needed] The neighborhood is marked by the elevated Smith-Ninth Street subway station.[citation needed]

The Gowanus area has been an active center of industrial and shipping activity since the 1860s. It is zoned for light to mid-level manufacturing (M1, M2, and M3).

Recently, residential developers have been hindered by the industrial zoning and the problems of the sewage overflow through the canal water, but there have been rumors of rezoning by the New York City Department of City Planning.

In 1636, Gowanus Bay was the site of the first settlement by Dutch farmers in what is now Brooklyn.

The water and much of the land along the banks of the Gowanus Canal have been severely polluted from a combination of CSO's (combined sewer outflows) along the canal designed to relieve sewage and storm water when the sewer treatment plant is overwhelmed as well as from decades of industrial use and extensive coal gas manufacturing during the late 19th century. The Gowanus Canal was also an alleged Mafia dumping ground.

The F, G, and R trains run through Gowanus. Bike routes cross the canal on the Union Street and 3rd Street bridges.

The Carrol Street bridge is the oldest of the four remaining retractable bridges in the country. It was built in 1889. In 2004 the US Army Corp recommended the Gowanus Canal and the land along the banks for the National Register of Historic Places. Several additional buildings are under consideration for landmarking. One already added to the NYC Landmarks registry is the New York and Long Island Coignet Stone Company building, one of the first precast concrete buildings, on the corner of 3rd Street and 3rd Avenue and the canal turning basin.[citation needed]

ATURA  Barren Island  Bath Beach  Bay Ridge  Bedford  Bedford-Stuyvesant  Bensonhurst  Bergen Beach  BoCoCa  Boerum Hill  Borough Park  Brighton Beach  Brooklyn Chinatown  Brooklyn Heights  Brownsville  Bushwick  Canarsie  Carroll Gardens  City Line  Clinton Hill  Cobble Hill  Coney Island  Crown Heights  Cypress Hills  Ditmas Park  Downtown  Dumbo  Dyker Heights  East Flatbush  East New York  East Williamsburg  Farragut  Fiske Terrace  Flatbush  Flatlands  Fort Greene  Fort Hamilton  Fulton Ferry  Georgetown  Gerritsen Beach  Gowanus  Gravesend  Greenpoint  Greenwood Heights  Highland Park  Homecrest  Kensington  Little Poland  Madison  Manhattan Beach  Mapleton  Marine Park  Midwood  Mill Basin  Navy Yard  New Lots  New Utrecht  Ocean Hill  Ocean Parkway  Park Slope  Pigtown  Plum Beach  Prospect Heights  Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn  Prospect Park South  RAMBO  Red Hook  Sea Gate  Sheepshead Bay  South Park Slope  Starrett City  Stuyvesant Heights  Sunset Park  Vinegar Hill  Weeksville  White Sands  Williamsburg  Windsor Terrace  Wingate

Barren Island - Bath Beach - Bay Ridge - Bedford Stuyvesant - Bensonhurst - Bergen Beach - Boerum Hill - Borough Park - Brighton Beach - Brooklyn Heights - Brownsville - Bushwick - Canarsie - Carroll Gardens - City Line - Clinton Hill - Cobble Hill - Coney Island - Crown Heights - Cypress Hill - Ditmas Park - Downtown Brooklyn - DUMBO - Dyker Heights - East Flatbush - East New York - Farragut - Fiske Terrace - Flatbush - Flatlands - Fort Greene - Fort Hamilton - Fulton Ferry - Georgetown - Gerritsen Beach - Gowanus - Gravesend - Greenpoint - Greenwood Heights - Highland Park - Homecrest - Kensington - Madison - Manhattan Beach - Marine Park - Midwood - Mill Basin - New Lots - New Utrecht - Ocean Hill - Park Slope - Plum Beach - Prospect Heights - Prospect Lefferts Gardens - Prospect Park South - RAMBO - Red Hook - Rugby - Seagate - Sheepshead Bay - Spring Creek - Starrett City - Stuyvesant Heights - Sunset Park - Vinegar Hill - Weeksville - Williamsburg - Windsor Terrace - Wingate -