Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1922-01-20
GOVERNORS ISLAND TO BE
IMPROVED

The war is over on governors
Island.
The Island, which is the headquart-
ers of the Second Corps Area, Major
General r. L. Billiard, commanding, is
to resume it's peace time appearance.
The Quartermaster General of the
Army has decided to sell many OF the
warehouses, most of the railroad, and
other features of the military post, at
public auction, to the highest bidder.
Offers to do the work had been re-
ceived from ten parties, according to
Captain George w. Armitage, who is
in charge of the work, under Lieut..
Col. Grayson V. Heidi, Corps Area
Quartermaster, among them the Erie
Railroad and the General Fire Extin-
guisher Company, the bids of all total
ling $45, 900, in addition to salvaging
all material and resurfacing the
ground. The material to belong to the
successful bidder. However, these Of
fers were not acceptable to Army
Headquarters in Washington and ord
ers to hold a public auction followed.
In time, as the commuters on the
Brooklyn and Staten Island boats pass
Governors Island they will see around
its perimeter a promenade, a bride
path, and a concrete driveway lined
with elm trees, and shading from the
view the athletic and drill fields and
the polo ground.
In view of the Importance of Cover
nor's Island as a reception place for
distinguished foreign visitors, it is emil
nently desirable that these improve
ments be made as rapidly as possible,
the island, at the present time, pre-
senting anything but an imposing ap-
p~earance.
During the war it was a place of
much Importance, for here were hand
thousands upon thousands of tons
of merchandise bound for the front, a
railway having been installed upon
what is known as the Fill" which
connected with all of the soon to be
disposed of warehouses and with a
floating railroad bridge. The bridge
and some few hundreds of yards of
track are to remain in preparation for
another emergency.
The total number of buildings to be
torn down is 80, and from them will be
obtained more than 3,262,5 0 B. M.
feet of lumber, 7SS,50O bricks, 400
doors and frames, 1850 windows and
frames; and SS4,5O0 square feet of cor
iron.
The warehouses are approximately
94S feet long by 60<feet wide, each of
which was equipped with an automatic
dry pipe sprinkler system which is
also to be sold, as are the more than
2S,500 feet of railroad track.
The vast range of the sprinkler sys-
tenn a be estimated by the fact that
over $500 heads were required to pro-
tect the buildings, "a dry pipe valves,
complete with gate valves and rotary
alarm gong, "a standard electric heat
ers of ITO V. 3 A, $50 Watts, and 4
air compressors of a capacity
of 10 cubic feet, one stage, 80 lbs.
pressure, operated by an induction
motor of a fuse rating of $3.50 am
peres.
In making these alterations to the
Island, many buildings will be left
temporarily for use as living quarters
for the Army, which will ultimately be
disposed of, as will the large dance
hall, gymnasium, roller skating floor,
and indoor ice skating rink, used by
the enlisted men, the garage and rail-
road .roundhouse, and the row of ware
houses facing the Statue of Liberty; :,
but, sooner or later, Governors Island
will become it's old self, a splendid and
imposing entrance to the greatest city
of our country.