Chelsea Market & The Nabisco Factory: The Birth of the Oreo

Why is it significant?

Look to your right as the High Line passes directly through the red-brick walls of the sprawling Chelsea Market complex at Fifteenth Street. Notice how the building arches right over the viaduct, with massive steel lintels and heavy industrial brickwork.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Look to your right as the High Line passes directly through the red-brick walls of the sprawling Chelsea Market complex at Fifteenth Street. Notice how the building arches right over the viaduct, with massive steel lintels and heavy industrial brickwork. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this was the worldwide headquarters of the National Biscuit Company, known today as Nabisco.

Did you know that the world's most famous sandwich cookie was born inside these walls? In nineteen twelve, Nabisco bakers invented the Oreo biscuit right here, consisting of two chocolate embossed wafers filled with sweet vanilla cream, alongside Animal Crackers and Saltines.

The relationship between Nabisco and the High Line was unprecedented. When the elevated rail line was constructed in nineteen thirty-four, the railway punched directly through the third floor of the bakery! Freight trains pulled straight inside the building to unload boxcars of white flour and sugar directly into baking vats, while outgoing trains were loaded with millions of fresh cookies straight off the cooling conveyor belts without ever touching rain or dust.

In the nineteen nineties, the abandoned factory was reborn as Chelsea Market, one of the world's greatest indoor food halls, while upper floors now house tech giants like Google. As you walk across the viaduct, the rich aroma of artisanal bakeries drifts upward, a delicious echo of the baking empire that built these brick arches.