Work crews in the Bronx last week stumbled onto some secret caves under the borough. NY1’s Dean Meminger got exclusive access to the caves and filed the following report.

It's a deep look into the past of the Bronx. Caves where beer was once stored have been uncovered by construction crews digging foundations for new homes in Melrose.

"I have been working in the dirt for 30 years now and have never run into anything quite like these,” said Charlie Cofrancesco, assistant supervisor at Joy Construction. “It was a fun discovery."

The man-made caves carved into a hill are located off of St. Ann's Avenue on land that used to be owned by the Ebling's Beer Company. Historians say the brewery, which opened in the late 1800s, took up several city blocks.

The company advertised its beer was aged in natural rock caves.

“They would keg the beer and then store it in here, because there is the advantage of constant temperature, about 58 degrees winter and summer,” said Cofrancesco.

Construction crews say they re-discovered seven well-built caves. Some even had electricity.

Although the company was started long before alcohol was banned by the government, old newspaper accounts report Ebling's was busted in 1922 for making products that had too high of a level of alcohol.

"During the time of the prohibition, when we believe they were sneaking alcohol around here because there were arrests that were maybe for violations of the prohibition,” said Joy Construction Safety Manager Steven Hanges.

"There might have been some impropriety,” Cofrancesco added. “I really don't know about that.”

More than 600 units of affordable housing are going up at this historic site.

Construction workers say in order to build the foundation for the buildings, they will likely have to break down the caves or fill them in.