Mill Rock
Borough Manhattan | |
Mill Rock is a small uninhabited island between
History
The island was originally two smaller islands when William Hallet bought them from the local tribes in 1664. In 1701, John Marsh built a mill on one of them and the islands came to be called Great Mill Rock and Little Mill Rock.[1]
During the War of 1812, the War Department built a blockhouse with two cannons on Great Mill Rock. This fortification was part of a chain of blockhouses that was intended to defend New York Harbor and protect the passage into Long Island Sound against the British Navy.[1]
The island was later
The United States Army Corps of Engineers started clearing rocks from Hell Gate in the late 19th century. In 1885, USACE detonated 300,000 lb (136,000 kg) of explosives on adjoining Flood Rock; that island had been the most treacherous impediment to East River shipping. It was, most likely, the most forceful explosion in New York City's history at the time; it was felt as far away as Princeton, New Jersey.[4][5] The explosion has been described as "the largest planned explosion before testing began for the atomic bomb",[6] although the detonation at the Battle of Messines in 1917 was larger. In 1890 the Flood Island remnants were used to fill the space between Great and Little Mill Rocks, producing Mill Rock.[4]
Mill Rock Park
The island is owned by the City of New York and maintained by the
References
- ^ a b c d "Mill Rock Park". New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.
- ^ Lossing, Benson (1868). The Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812. Harper & Brothers, Publishers. p. 973.
- ^ Cooke, Charles (1938-04-02). "Mill Rock". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
- ^ a b "Mill Rock Island - Historical Sign". New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. Retrieved 2009-04-12.
- ISBN 978-0-7546-5259-5.
- ^ a b Whitt, Toni (June 2, 2006). "The East River is Cleaner Now. The Water Birds Say So". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-04-12.