page_title: Industry City
section_title: Use by Navy during World War I
hierarchical_section_title: Industry City / History / Expansion / Use by Navy during World War I
caption_attribution_description: A map of the Port of Embarkation Hoboken (1917-1918)
context_page_description: Industry City is a historic intermodal shipping, warehousing, and manufacturing complex on the Upper New York Bay waterfront in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. The northern portion, commonly called "Industry City" on its own, hosts commercial light manufacturing tenants across 6,000,000 square feet of space between 32nd and 41st Streets, and is operated by a private consortium. The southern portion, known as "Bush Terminal", is located between 40th and 51st Streets and is operated by the New York City Economic Development Corporation as a garment manufacturing complex.
  Founded by Bush Terminal Company head Irving T. Bush in the early 1900s, Bush Terminal was the first facility of its kind in New York City and the largest multi-tenant industrial property in the United States. The warehouses were built circa 1892–1910, the railroad from 1896 to 1915, and the factory lofts between 1905 and 1925. During World War I, Bush Terminal was used as a United States Navy base, though it returned to private ownership after the war.
context_section_description: On December 31, 1917, the United States Navy announced that it would take over the piers and warehouses of the Bush Terminal Company. Major General George Goethals, acting Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army, praised Bush Terminal as being among the best shipping facilities in the United States. The Navy proposed to build 6,000,000 square feet (560,000 m²) of storage space and four piers adjoining Bush Terminal. The United States Army also occupied warehouses within part of Bush Terminal, but it proposed to vacate that space so the Navy could use it. The U.S. Navy wanted to outright purchase Bush Terminal, and it was soon in negotiations with the Bush Terminal Company over the terminal's valuation.
  In June 1918, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and eventual President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote to Irving Bush to tell him that the navy would also be commandeering four of Bush Terminal's twelve manufacturing buildings. As a result, 64 manufacturers employing 4,500 people were ordered to vacate their spaces by the end of 1918. The eviction notice covered 276 total tenants in buildings 3, 4, 5, and 6. Although Bush reluctantly complied with the takeover, the Merchants' Association protested because the takeover would eliminate the jobs of a large workforce. Many companies at Bush Terminal also pushed back against the eviction order, citing the amenities at the terminal. The Bush Terminal Company recorded material losses the next year.
  The U.S. Navy tied its rail lines into those of the Bush Terminal. Irving Bush helped to design Bush Terminal's southern neighbor, the Brooklyn Army Terminal, which was completed in 1919. Because of the railroad connection between Bush Terminal and the Brooklyn Army Terminal, and then to the mainland U.S. via the New York Connecting Railroad, the U.S. Navy wanted to operate the Bush Terminal for the duration of the war, paying a fee for the takeover. The piers of the terminal became part of the United States Army's New York Port of Embarkation. At the war's end, the Port of Embarkation included eight piers in Brooklyn, including six Bush Terminal piers and two Army Supply Base piers; 120 Bush Terminal warehouses; twelve piers and seven warehouses in Hoboken, New Jersey; and three piers in the North River, Manhattan. A 1929 article in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle mentioned that during World War I, Bush Terminal handled about 70% of the ammunition, clothing, and food that went to American soldiers abroad.
  The federal government quietly returned Bush Terminal to private ownership after the war. It paid out claims to the Bush Terminal Company for the use of the terminal space, though the last of the funds was not allocated until 1943, twenty-five years after takeover. In October 1919, the Bush Terminal Company announced the creation of a department for sporting-goods manufacturers at Bush Terminal. The company was designated with selling off excess cloth from the Army and Navy, which were considered war surplus.
caption: Bush Terminal relationship within the Army's Port of Embarkation Hoboken (1917–1918).
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