The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-01
L0Na KRARF gOTNe To PTECEs.
N the PEads q new Haven md hunt q
Rocks from An Over the world.

-
n Q the Prade a New Haven n BuiIt u
Rocks from An Over the world.
New HAVEN, sept. Long wharf, for
generations the pride Of this city and tho
ionaect wharf in the United States, 10 going
20 pieces II IL S.s4S feet Iona. was two
hundred years In the building and has been
completed only . little more than q half
century. Shorter piers have taken away
It's business.
The passing Of the West India trade wal
ia death kneIl. Time was, q century ago,
when the richest merchants Of the city had
their warehouses built out into the harbor
on this wharf.
The building Of the wharf involved IeEis-
lative action for nearly two centuries A
grant was issued on November 70, 1853,
TO samuel Bache to build q warehouse
about atty or sixty feet long and AZ far
down into the rats a. he should see AZ to
build q wharf or dock. This was the be-
ginning Of the undertaking In which for
tunes were sunk.
Tho property soon changed hands and
additional grants were made and moro
property added. Then an attempt was
made TO interest the general public In the
wharf proposition, but in l7SS, seventy-hve
years after II was first started, only twcnty-
six rods had been completed. When the
century mark was reached thirteen moro
rods was added to the wharf.
In May, 100, the Union Wharf Company
was chartered and ten years later It started
10 build c pier on the edge Of the channel,
In direct line with the wharf but a third Of
a mile distant from its finished end. This
pier was erected Of stone and was more
costly than had been foreseen. so the General
Assembly was called upon for funds.
Money vas scarce but New Haven people
were willing TO give all they had, 50 instead
Of coin the promoters received barter and
able was turned into the company's Golfers.
In 1901 the hackers Of the project were dis
Outraged at the gap between the pier and
the wharf and announced that they were
through with It.
Others came forward and started to 20 on
with the work until In 1910 S2i 900 had been
sunk by private capitalists in the venture.
The present termination Of the wharf was
not reached until 1855. The greatest amount
OF work done by me man In its building
was accomplished by william Lawson, a
colored resident here, who in 1910 and 1911
built over 800 feet.
The wharf in material used is the most
cosmopolitan structure IN h world, being
built Of stone from every part OF the civilized
globe. Gibraltar and Malta contributed
parts oftbeir rock for it's formation, ballast
from Sicily and gravel from the harbor
Of Dublin were also thrown into the works,
while the Gulf Of Para M rocks, and
Bristol, England, contributed her share OF
stones.
Sand, rocks, stones and clay came from
the islands Of Santo Domingo, Porto Rico,
Guadalupe, Martinique, Trinidad, Antigua,
st. Vinoent's, st. Lucia, st. Eustatius and
st. Croix. On arrival here from foreign
ports boats dumped their ballast into the
wharf, which accounts for the heterogeneous
composition.
In ITO the aristocracy Of the wharf met
a serious loss when the British burned up
their warehouses. They built again, but
in 1920 all the stores were destroyed by fire
and the merchants colony forever dis
appeared.
Now an occasional tow ties I'D to the old
dock and the Government still maintains
a bell tower on its end, but il Ia fast falling
into decay. Its timbers are rotted and
unsafe and its sides are used as a public
dump. II 10 practically deserted now except
by the occasional fisherman, the small boy
and the wharf rat.