Governors Island National Monument
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National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior History Program Northeast Region Governors Island National Monument New York, New York Historic Resource Study TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations …………………………………………………………...……………………v List of Acronyms …………………………………………………………….……………………ix Foreword …………………………….……………………………………………………………xi Acknowledgements ……..…………………………………………………………………...…xiii Preface …………………………………………..…………………………...……………………xv PART I: Governors Island in New York Harbor Chapter 1: Early History of Governors Island …………………………………………………1 Chapter 2: 1790-1815 at Governors Island …………………………………………………...19 Chapter 3: Bureaucrats, Soldiers and Families: Development of the U.S. Army Installation at Governors Island, 1815-1860 ……………………………………43 Chapter 4: The Civil War and Its Aftermath at Governors Island, 1861-1878 ……...……83 PART II: Governors Island in the Wider World Chapter 5: Governors Island as an Administrative Center, 1878-1917 ……………….…119 Chapter 6: Contested Ground: Debating Use and Control of Governors Island, 1888-1938 …………………………………………………………...…….137 Chapter 7: Prelude, War and Afterwards: The Era of World War I at Governors Island, 1909-1920 …………………………………………………………………167 Chapter 8: Governors Island, 1920s-World War II ………………………………..……….189 Chapter 9: World War II and After at Governors Island …………………………………211 Conclusions and Suggestions for Further Study …..............……………………………….225 Bibliography ….…………………………………………………………………………………229 Index …………………………………………………………………………………..…………245 Appendices: ……...……………...…………………..…………………………………………..253 Appendix A: Fort Jay Site Plan, February 1964 Appendix B: Governors Island, Former Building Use. Beyer Blinder Belle Consortium, September 1997 iii ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. 1639? Manatus Map. Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/ treasures/trm068.html (accessed December 4, 2005). …..............………………..5 Figure 2. First of two sheets, published by Jeffrey's and Faden in 1776, this extremely rare plan shows the city as surveyed by Bernard Ratzer a decade earlier. Parts of New Jersey and Brooklyn and all of Manhattan north to what was 59th Street appear. A fine view of New York from Governors Island extends along the bottom. A legend identifies important forts, churches, public buildings, markets and other points of interest. This map is currently published by Historic Urban Plans, Inc., Ithaca, NY, and is used by permission. …............................................................................…………………..10 Figure 3. John Montrésor. Design for Governor's Island. [1766?] Manuscript, pen- and-ink. At head of title, in pencil: No. 50. Map and Geography Division, Library of Congress....………………................……………….…..............……...…11 Figure 4. John Montrésor. Fortification Drawing, Governors Island. Map and Geography Division, Library of Congress. …..............……………..…………..…11 Figure 5. 1794 plan of original Fort Jay. Found in The Governors Island Club, Governors Island, 1637-1937, Its History and Development (New York: 1937), p. 25. Original source not identified. …..................………………………..25 Figure 6. Historic American Building Survey drawing of the sally port. Library of Congress HABS, NY,31-GOVI,1 http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ collections/habs_haer (accessed December 4, 2005). .…………………………...26 Figure 7. Jonathan Williams. http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/ history/coe.htm#6 (accessed December 5, 2005). …..............………………………………….……….27 Figure 8. Jonathan Williams’ Engineering Journal, October-December 1805. Williams, Jonathan mss. Lilly Library, Indiana University-Bloomington. .....…33 Figure 9. Drawing of Robins Reef and the rest of New York Harbor. Note the fort shape on Governors Island in the upper right-hand area. Jonathan Williams’ Engineering Journal, October-December 1805. Williams, Jonathan mss. Lilly Library, Indiana University-Bloomington. ......……………34 Figure 10. Map of Governors Island fortifications, ca. 1813. Record Group 77 - Fortification Files, Architecture and Cartographic Branch, National Archives. ......………………………………..……………………………………..…39 v Figure 11. Col. Henry Burbeck. Photo from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers History Web site. http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/history/coe.htm#5 (accessed December 5, 2005). ......……………………………………………………...…...…40 Figure 52. General Winfield Scott, Photo by Mathew Brady. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. .......………………………45 Figure 13. General Edmund P. Gaines. http://www.geocities.com/rodent70/html/ sem1836.html (accessed April 24, 2006). ..............................................................46 Figure 14. Building 135 is composed of the first structures built at the Arsenal in the 1830s. The officers’ quarters on the left are one of the original two quarters for those in charge of this unit at Governors Island. HABS-HAER Report.....50 Figure 15. 1839 map with some indication of the Arsenal in the upper left hand side of the drawing. HABS-HAER Report. ......………………………………………51 Figure 16. Building 104, with the clock replaced by a window in the tower. HABS-HAER Report. .....………………………………………………………...…53 Figure 17. Fort Jay barracks, Building 214. HABS-HAER Report. ......……………….....…58 Figure 18. Transverse drawing of Building 1. HABS-HAER Report. ......……………....…62 Figure 19. Building 3 photographed in 1864 when it was still a warehouse. HABS-HAER Report. ......………..………………………………………….…..…64 Figure 20. Building 3, as adapted for housing. Note the unchanged roofline on the left end of the building. HABS-HAER Report. ......………..………………....…65 Figure 21. Building 9 Post Hospital, 1864 Photograph. HABS-HAER Report. ....…..……67 Figure 22. 1839 hospital building, reused as officers quarters, Building 9. HABS-HAER Report. ......………..……………………………………………...…68 Figure 23. Post hospital floor plan, second floor, no date. HABS-HAER Report. ........…70 Figure 24. Wooden church that was replaced by the current stone one. Photo, 1905. http://www.correctionhistory.org/civilwar/governorsisland/ frame_main4.html (accessed October 27, 2006). .........................................……73 Figure 25. Dr. John McVickar, the volunteer vicar of Governors Island. Photograph found at http://beatl.barnard.columbia.edu/earlycc/images/mcvickar.htm...74 vi Figure 26. Governors Island, 1860. This is claimed to be the first photograph taken of the island. Photo included by courtesy of the New York Public Library in the Tercentenary Governors Island, New York program, June 13-20, 1937, MC PA Islands – Gov’s Island, Museum of the City of New York. ......………83 Figure 27. Shipment of Military Stores on Board the Steamship "Baltic" at New York, April 8, 1861. Harper's Weekly, April 20, 1861, p. 252. ......………..….…89 Figure 28. Parade of United States Troops on Governor's [sic] Island. Before Embarkation. Harper’s Weekly, May 4, 1861, p. 285. ......………..……….….…89 Figure 29. Mathew Brady photograph from the Civil War period at Governors Island. Brady Collection, Record Group 111: Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, 1860 – 1982 Still Pictures Branch, NARA II. .......…...…111 Figure 30. Castle Williams during the Civil War. Note the lack of a sea wall at this time. Brady Collection, Record Group 111: Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, 1860 – 1982 Still Pictures Branch, NARA II. .......…..…113 Figure 31. Building 16, Officers' Quarters, Nolan Park. HABS-HAER Report. ..........…121 Figure 32. Building 19, a duplex built to standard plans. HABS-HAER Report. ...…..…125 Figure 33. Building 403, Brick Row, built 1903-04 to standard plans. HABS-HAER Report. ......…………………………………………………………………...…..…126 Figure 34. Building 20, finished in 1902, was the last house built on Nolan Park. Originally built for one family, it was later modified to house two. HABS-HAER Report. ......…………………………………………………...…..…127 Figure 35. Building 140 is in the center of the photograph, next to the ferry slip. HABS-HAER Report. ......………...………………………………………..…..…128 Figure 36. Casemates in Castle Williams used as cells, 1880s. William H. Rideing, “Garrison Life At Governor’s Island, New York Harbor.” Scribners Monthly 21, no. 4 (February 1881). ......…………………………………...…..…130 Figure 37. Prisoners in Castle Williams 1880s. William H. Rideing, “Garrison Life At Governor’s Island, New York Harbor.” Scribners Monthly 21, no. 4 (February 1881). ......………………………………………………………...…..…130 Figure 38. 1908 map, First U.S. Army Engineers. HABS-HAER Report. ......………....…157 Figure 39. Wilbur Wright flying over Governors Island, New York 1909. Library of Congress. ......………………………………………………………………...…..…158 Figure 40. Wilbur Wright taking off from the air strip at Governors Island, September 29, 1909. Wright State University Archives. ......……….……...…169 vii Figure 41. Wilbur Wright and others on Governor’s Island, New York, n.d. George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress. ......…………………........…169 Figure 42. Ruth Law flew a salute to President Woodrow Wilson in 1916 in New York Harbor. Wilson was there to light the Statue of Liberty. ......……….…172 Figure 43. Cord Meyer, left, one of the graduates of the pilot training school at Governors Island in 1916, and J. Walter Struthers. Photo from collection of Rick Bjorklund, duplicated on the Early Birds’ web page, www.earlyaviator.com/ emeyer.htm (accessed January 2, 2006). …….…..…174 Figure 44. Map of World War I facilities at Governors Island. The railroad tracks run from the dock in the southeast corner into each individual warehouse. The temporary buildings are warehouses and barracks