Historic Bulkhead Unearthed Downtown

History nerds, rejoice. The Downtown Express has a neat little article on a recent finding in the Battery Park City landfill recently. Construction workers there uncovered a historic concrete bulkhead, which is actually on the State Register of Historic Places (this wasn't the first time a part of the wall has been exposed). It was put in place over 100 years ago when Civil War Gen. George McClellan launched the project "because silt and refuse was building up along the Hudson River shoreline and rotting piers, preventing ships from landing." Historic archeologist Joe Sopko allowed the workers to remove part of the slab, noting: “It’s just concrete." However, he points out it was one of the first examples of a large amount of concrete used in a construction project. [via Curbed]

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in News on January 15, 2010 5:19 PM

Comments [rss]

Snoopy

"General McClellan was appointed chief engineer of the New York City Department of Docks in 1870." So obviously it was he that created that great hunk of concrete.

Snoopy

All in all it's just a piece of plain concrete wall. It's not exactly like unearthing the foundation of NYC's first whore house where Velvet's ancestors worked when they first came to this country.

MrManhattan

"New York's first Whore House?"

Isn't that New Jersey?

Awesomer

I repeat: it was the same McClellan, the one who was the lousy Civil War general. He was some sort of civil engineer for the city after the war. Yes, his son (not grandson) was an NYC mayor later. Or is this some sort of attempt to create infinite recursion, and perhaps even perpetual motion? If so, I'm all for it!

DanielJ

Something tells me you're not talking about the Civil War general McClellan, but his grandson, who had the same name, and was mayor of the city at that time.

Awesomer

No, it's the McClellan who was the lousy general. The bulkhead is actually 140 years old or so.

Snoopy

"It was put in place over 100 years ago when Civil War Gen. George McClellan..." Uh Duh the Civil War was almost 150 years ago if you want to add some excitement to the slab of concrete. Plus McClellan was a lousy general. Perhaps the article was referring to his son of the same name who was mayor of NYC from 1903-09.

To add to "thefacts" list how about the Pantheon. Now that is the way concrete should be used.

thefacts

Has the historic archeologist forgotten about the Colosseum or the Roman aqueduct system? They were using concrete on large projects 2000 years ago.