Roebling Chacter Newsletter 3/2010.Indd
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March 2010 Vol. 19 No.1 CHAPTER EVENTS of 1812, when it became apparent that the U.S. was LiteBrite Neon poorly defended against foreign naval invasion. Dedi- th Thursday, April 8 , 2010, 11 AM cated in 1856 and armed with a total of 312 seacoast 232 Third Street, Brooklyn NY 11215 and garrison guns, six field pieces and 134 heavy ounded in 1997 as a studio to help produce art guns, Fort Schuyler is located at Throgs Neck (just Fobjects of neon, the company has now expanded east of the north bridge approach). This strategic to produce its own line of neon lamps and fixtures point at the southeastern tip of the Bronx where the for a worldwide client base. LiteBrite Neon has also East River meets Long Island Sound would protect branched into other areas, including illuminated and New York City from invasion by way of the Sound. It non-illuminated displays and art installations. The stu- is now on the campus of SUNY Maritime College. dio, which serves as a resource for artists and designers, The Maritime Industry Museum was established is located in the Old American Can Company Factory in 1986 by a former professor of transportation and which is home to Brooklyn’s first on-going Maker’s Mar- alumni, with a small collection of maritime artifacts. ket, where patrons can watch objects being made. For Since then, steamship lines, related maritime indus- further information visit www.litebriteneon.com. tries, and merchant marine historians have donated If time permits, we may visit the nearby Gowanus artifacts to become one of the largest collections of Canal and the rare retractile bridge at Carroll Street. maritime industry materials in the nation. The late Walter Meseck (RCSIA) donated his WWII U.S. The Hall of Fame for Maritime Service uniforms and artifacts from his Great Americans namesake tugboat. th The museum collection also serves as a deposi- Sunday, April 11 , 2010, 11 AM tory for maritime industry books, periodicals, docu- Bronx Community College ments, papers, prints, photographs, and steamship 2155 University Avenue, Bronx, NY 10453 company records. The collection includes 1,250 ship our guides Susan and Art Zukerman will show models, including many delicately crafted passenger Toff the our nation’s first Hall of Fame and the ship models by master model makers. One of the incredible Gould Memorial Library. Find out which most striking displays is the intricately designed and famous movies have been filmed here. The campus thoroughly detailed model of the Brooklyn Naval of the Bronx Community College including the Hall Yard during World War II, an exhibit that took eight of Fame is most conveniently reached by car. years to build. A brass ship’s propeller is among large Go to www.bcc.cuny.edu/hallofFame for further marine artifacts displayed on the lawns. information and to www.bcc.cuny.edu/directions/di- We may also go aboard the T.S. Empire State VI, rections.htm for directions. the training vessel owned by the Maritime College. During the Summer Sea Term, the ship provides Maritime Industry Museum cadets with hands-on, real-life, at-sea training at Fort Schuyler The Museum is best reached by car, but the BX 40 bus, which crosses the Bronx and its subway th Saturday, April 17 , 2010, 11 AM lines, arrives at the entrance to Fort Schuyler. Bring 6 Pennyfield Avenue, The Bronx, NY 10465 a bag lunch and water. For further information and ort Schuyler is one of a series of coastal fortifi- directions visit: http://www.sunymaritime.edu/ Fcations built along the East Coast after the War Maritime%20Museum/index.aspx Roebling Chapter – Society for Industrial Archiology Home Rubber Company both parking and access to public transportation. th This would bring the ROEBLING SYMPOSIUM to a Friday, April 30 , 2010 , 11 AM very appropriately historic place. In 1791, Alexander 31 Wolverton Street. Trenton, NJ 08611 Hamilton and others capitalized on the waterpower of our of 128 year-old Home Rubber Company the Great Falls of the Passaic River to establish the first Twhich makes custom structures that are hand planned industrial district in the U.S., the Society for built of rubber, fabric, wire, cord, and metal, and Useful Manufactures. Hope to see you in the fall, by then vulcanized in big autoclaves. Roebling Chapter the Falls. member Chuck Taylor arranged for the tour. The fac- tory is open 4 days a week, but is not in production Historic Preservation on Friday. However, we will hosted by their President, Committee Report Rich Balka, and we will also see a short video of op- By Mary Habstritt erations. If time permits, Chuck will lead another tour istoric preservation activity is reported below, of the old Star Porcelain factory at 101 Muirhead in roughly in reverse chronological order. Trenton, a short drive from Home Rubber. H Domino Sugar’s refinery in Brooklyn, once the See also www.homerubber.com world’s largest, returned to the news just a few Home Rubber is right across the street from the Cass weeks ago. The developer has begun the public pro- Street stop on the Light Rail which comes up from cess of getting the site re-zoned from manufacturing Camden and down from the Trenton train station. to residential. Aero Nav Laboratories, Inc. The three central buildings known as “The Re- th finery,” were landmarked by the city last year and Saturday, May 15 , 2010, 11 AM alterations including a glass addition to the top were 14-29 112th Street, College Point, NY 11356 approved. This month, the Draft Environmental Im- ero Nav is an environmental simulation testing pact Statement was released. Unfortunately, the State Acompany that offers a broad range of services Historic Preservation Office had already agreed that including fungal growth, solar radiation, salt spray, there is no alternative to demolition of all structures transportation, shock, vibration, temperature, humidi- except The Refinery. The developer has said that if ty, and many other conditions. The laboratory provides they do not receive approval for residential devel- developmental testing, while the company also offers opment, they will demolish everything except The contract manufacturing and engineering services. Refinery and would build for light industry instead. The facility is best reached by car. The Q65 bus out Since they would not need federal permits or re-zon- of Flushing stops nearby. ing to do this, there is no regulation over any of the Go to www.aeronavlabs.com for further information. non-landmarked structures. The residential development promises 30 percent CHAPTER BUSINESS affordable housing, a carrot that the neighborhood cannot resist. The proposed 40-story towers will ROEBLING CHAPTER SYMPOSIUM 2010 significantly impact many important industrial sites By Tom Flagg in the vicinity, including the Williamsburg Bridge. t the recent RCSIA Board Meeting, Gianfranco The developer claims that new, never-before-available AArchimede proposed that we move our annual views will be provided by the public waterfront es- Fall Symposium to Paterson. The ROEBLING SYMPO- planade to be built as part of the proposed complex. SIUM would be in a brand new facility at no charge Gowanus Canal. On November 12, 2009 at the be- to us. Of course there will still be expenses for lunch, audio-visual and other incidentals, but we may be hest of a concerned member, we wrote the New York able to lower the fee. The facility, which is only a few City Landmarks Preservation Commission about blocks from the Paterson Museum where we have the S. W. Bowne Grain Storehouse on the Gowanus had our annual meeting for a number of years, has Canal in Red Hook. This 19th century bulk-storage 2 March 2010 – Vol. 19 No. 1 Roebling Chapter – Society for Industrial Archiology warehouse differs in configuration from the typical 29th Annual Brooklyn store and we supplied a report from Chuck The Best Ever Parrott, a National Park Service Historian at Lowell, Drew Symposium By Jim Mackin and Lynn Rakos MA, as supporting documentation. We received a reply that the building would be considered as part he 29th Annual Drew Symposium on Saturday, of a potential city-designated Gowanus Canal His- TNovember 7, 2009, was cited by many attend- toric District. ees as the best ever. The New York – New Jersey Last year we reported on the residential develop- Roebling Chapter, Society for Industrial Archeology, ment that threatened the Carroll Street Bridge on and the Drew University Anthropology Department the Gowanus. The City Planning Department was co-sponsored the program for some 100 attendees. also pursuing a re-zoning of the entire canal corridor Allison Ratchiff and Tom Flagg introduced the day’s from manufacturing to mixed use with a portion proceedings and welcomed everyone. retained for industrial uses. Since then, the economy Meisha Hunter, FAAR, the Senior Preservationist declined and Congrewoman Nydia Velazquez pur- with Liz Saltzman Architects in New York City kicked sued Superfund designation to assure proper clean off the program with a presentation entitled “Stew- up before large numbers of people lived along it. The ardship and Sustainability of Historic Waterworks This month, the Gowanus Canal was added to the Infrastructure”. She proposed usable alternatives as EPA’s Superfund National Priorities List. feasible alternatives to abandonment and demolition. Last March, we wrote to the New York State De- Examples include, NYC’s Highline, the reuse of some partment of Environmental Conservation noting the Croton Aqueduct buildings, and the popularity of the potential for remnants of industrial history at the site Walkway Over the Hudson by Poughkeepsie. In sum- that was to become a Whole Foods market. The DEC mary, there is a need to establish uniform guidelines to had found that decontaminating the site would have accomplish the balance between the need for drinking no impact on any archeological resources.