1950Brooklyn / New York CityCivic / Infrastructure

Owls Head Wastewater Treatment Plant

Joseph's 1950 sewage-plant job was part of the original construction of the Owls Head facility that still treats Brooklyn's wastewater today.

Aerial view of the Owls Head Wastewater Treatment Plant today. Not a construction-period photograph.

Undated · Photo: NYC Water (NYC DEP) · Reuse terms not verified. · Source

01The story

Why this project matters

Project identity: Verified
Kelly connection: Family source
Masonry scope: Probable

Rita’s list

Rita Bartscherer’s handwritten entry: Owlshead Sewage Plant — 1950

Transcription: Owlshead Sewage Plant — 1950

Recorded by Rita Bartscherer · Bartscherer family record

Entry

KM-009

Sheet

1 of two

As written

“Owlshead Sewage Plant — 1950”

NYC DEP says Owls Head was completed in 1952; Joseph's list places Kelly on the job in 1950.

Why it matters

A piece of postwar municipal infrastructure that has remained in continuous service for more than seventy years.

02What Kelly did

What Kelly did here

Kelly connection

Family source

Scope confidence

Probable

Likely: most likely heavy-duty CMU/concrete-block enclosure and equipment-room walls, interior partitions, shafts and masonry backup; specialized refractory/stone work should not be assumed without specifications.

This scope is recorded as probable, not documented. It is a disciplined reading of the building and the trade practice of the period, not a contract-level record of Kelly’s work.

03Who built it