The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-01
LONG WHARF CONC 70 PIECES.
Onco the Pride o. New Haven and BuiIt q
Rocks From Al Over the World.

Once the Pride Os New Haven n Built .
Rocks From All Over the World.
NEW HAVEN, Sept. Long Wharf, 70
generations the pride Of this city and tn
longest wharf In the United States. 10 golni
to pieces II Ia s.s4s feet long, was ~,
hundred years In the building and has beel
completed only . little moro thar a hal
century. Shorter piers have taken awal
Its business.
The passing OF the West India trade wa
it's death knell. Time was. q century ago
when the richest merchants Of the city hac
their warehouses built out into tho harboI
on this wharf.
The building Of the wharf involved BeRis-
lative action for nearly two centuries A
grant was issued on November 20, 1858
to Samuel Bache to build q warehouse
about fifty or sixty feet long and 40 far
down into the fiats a. he should SO nc to
build a wharf or dock. This was the DO
ginning Of the undertaking In which for
tunes were sunk.
The 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 1873, seventy-fvo
years after 1t was first started, only twenty
six rods had been completed. When the
century mark wa reached thirteen moro
rods was added to the wharf.
In May. I700, the Union Wharf Company
was chartered and ten years later il started
to build a pier on the edge Of the channel,
in direct line with the wharf but q 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 was scarce but Kew Haven people
were willing to give all they had, 80 instead
OF coin the promoters received barter and
everything buyable, sellable or exchange
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 that they were
through with L..
Others came forward and started 10 20 on
with the work until in 1910 S2l 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 one man in it's building
was accomplished by William Lawson, a
colored resident here, who In 1910 and 1911
built over 500 feet.
The wharf in material used is the most
cosmopolitan structure in the world, being
built OF stone from every part Of the civilized
globe. Gibraltar and Malta contributed
parts Of their rock for its formation, ballast
from Sicily and gravel from the harbor
OF Dublin were also thrown into the works,
while the Gulf Of Para sent 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. Vincent's. st. Lucia, st. Euetatius and
st. Croix. On arrival here from foreign
ports boats dumped their ballast into the
wharf, which accounts for the heterogeneous
composition.
In ITO III a~ristocracy Of the wharf met
a mo 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 up to the old
dock and the Government still maintains
a bell tower on it's end, but IL lie fast falling
into decay. It's timbers are rotted and
unsafe and its sides are used as a public
dunno. II is practically deserted now except
by the occasional fisherman, the small boy
and the wharf rat.