History
The property where the present day Ikea store in Red Hook is located was once the Todd Shipyard. This shipyard began in 1869 under the name Handren and Robins. The Todd Shipyard featured numerous historic buildings, the majority of which were built in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Over the decades nearly 70 ships were built at this shipyard, many of which were NYC ferryboats, and at least one Fireboat, the John J Harvey. The JJ Harvey was retired from active duty in 1994, and was temporarily brought back into service in the aftermath of the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center. This ship is one of the last, if not the last, ships constructed at the Todd shipyard to still exist today.
After Handren passed away in 1892, the company became known as the Robins Dry Dock and Repair Company. It merged with the nearby Erie Basin Dry Dock company (which was owned by a relative of Robins). William H. Todd worked for this company and bought it with and several other shipyards. Eventually the William H. Todd Corporation had amassed multiple construction and repair yards on the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, as well as the Gulf of Mexico. (Full source here)
Even during the start of the Great Depression, the Todd Shipyard was expanding it’s operations. Like so many other industries, a large number of women were hired here during the second world war. It wasn’t until the 1960s that the Todd Shipyard began to retrench. In 1965, they closed their Hoboken shipyard and concentrated all New York port work the Red hook facility. After the 1960s, the Todd Shipyard no longer built boats from scratch, and concentrated on repair work. The Red Hook shipyard closed in February of 2005, after 140 years of shipbuilding and repair.
Adventure
The Todd Shipyard was fairly well guarded after it closed, right up until demolition work began in the Spring of 2006. This short lapse in security enabled us to get in here pretty easily from an neighboring lot. There was no one around, except for an unknown person wandering the far side of the property (if he was security, he didn’t do a good job since we only noticed him after being inside for awhile). Red Hook itself was very different at the time – the streets were deserted, and the shipyard was even more desolate. We wandered through the buildings in awe of their sheer size. The wind coming in off the harbor blew through broken windows and caused some construction netting to flap ferociously in the wind. High above, the birds chirped.
It was a fairly sad occasion. We didn’t have nearly enough time to see everything. This was one of the last large industrial properties in NYC, and it was about to disappear forever.
Postscript: 2008, and some ‘good ole days’ ranting
Just after the Todd Shipyard was bulldozed, a massive Ikea store was built on the land. While the store has arguably made Ikea plenty of money and brought a few low wage service jobs to Red Hook, the lost of the graving dock has actually substantially hurt shipping in the port:
“CITY DOCK DEAL A $1B BLUNDER”
Four years after the Bloomberg administration allowed IKEA to turn a historic dry dock in Red Hook into a parking lot, a new study has found that the city desperately needs at least seven new docks just like the one it gave up.
The city-commissioned study, conducted by SUNY Maritime College, urges the construction of seven new dry docks by 2016. Three must be “graving docks,” such as the paved-over one in Red Hook, which can accommodate larger ships.
Industry experts say it would cost about $1 billion just to replace the 730-foot-long former graving dock that was converted into part of a parking lot for the IKEA store, which opened Wednesday.
“I knew it was big mistake for the city to allow IKEA to take the graving dock, but I didn’t realize just how big of a mistake it was until I saw the report,” said Lisa Kersavage, a policy director for the Municipal Art Society, which had fought to save the dock.
The closure and loss of this shipyard also meant the loss of good manufacturing jobs, which were replaced by low wage retail jobs. It also should have been seen as a bigger warning for real estate and the sustainability of NYC on a whole. Today, the waterways of NYC are once again booming – with an ever expanding system of ferries. Just as we need auto shops, gas stations and bicycle repair shops, ship yards are important infrastructure. Not having it means anything that needs to be repaired has to be towed far away, or wait in line. If a few ferries go down at once, service will be disrupted rather severely.
Removal of the Todd Shipyard resulted in one less dedicated industrial space within NYC.
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I am the Great Grandson of William H. Todd and I think it is a real tragedy to have lost this historical sight to a discount furniture store. It is my understanding that some of the original Iron Clads were refitted in that Yard after the Civil War. I also happen to know the USS Maine was in dry dock there just before it was sent to blockade Havana Harbor and was ultimately blown up starting the Spanish American War. It is a very Historical area that has unfortunately been wiped away by people who never spent the time to understand its significance.
Hello Peter, Im looking at evidence my father left the Dusenberg engine company and went to work for Todd Ship Yard in 1919-1921. He was an electrician for the yard. Can you confirm. Harry or Walter Mitchell? Billy
Right before the Ikea went in I left Red Hook. One of the few areas (no subway) where you can park your car and walk out of your apt and not see a soul was the appeal. I fear all of NYC is being swallowed up. I can barely stand to watch from 2,000 miles away. Yep my city is gone.
Around 1970 I was on a US NAVY ocean tug we towed a minesweeper from the Cooper River up from Charleston to Todd Shipyards They were the only shipyard on the east coast that was able to do antimagnetic work Minesweepers also had wooden decks
I was a maintenance mechanic for Todd in 1978 great job a lot of great memories.Worked there 5 years and than it closed.
My husbands dad worked at Todd’s for many years He designed ships. My son is named Todd, after the shipyard. SO sad this place is gone.
I too photographed the property… back in the ’90s. I talked my way in early one morning and wandered all over the place. (I only scanned some of the slides, so must look for the remaining ones.) A few of the photos are on display right now (and for the next few weekends) at the BWAC Art exhibit, right down the block from where the shipyards stood… 481 Van Brunt, Door 7 (Panel 149). If anyone’s in the area, please come: Weekends only, 1–6pm, until Sunday 8/20. The photos include the front (Shipyards Corporation, Brooklyn Division), the graving dock (numbers) and two ship painters working on a ship in dry dock. One day, I will do a book. ; )
I too photographed the property… back in the ’90s. I talked my way in early one morning and wandered all over the place. (I only scanned some of the slides, so must look for the remaining ones.) A few of the photos are on display right now (and for the next few weekends) at the BWAC Art exhibit, right down the block from where the shipyards stood… 481 Van Brunt, Door 7 (Panel 149). If anyone’s in the area, please come: Weekends only, 1–6pm, until Sunday 8/20. The photos include the front (Shipyards Corporation, Brooklyn Division), the graving dock (numbers) and two ship painters working on a ship in dry dock. One day, I will do a book. ; )
Very sad that nothing was saved to honor all the work done at Todd’s. Both my grandfather and father worded at the ship yard. Now, it is discount furniture and a winery.
Great pictures. Recognized the areas, but the buildings obviously are in ruins. Worked there in the summer of 1970 between college and law school. Amazing place. Remembered the minesweepers mentioned in another post, they were stripping them of materials for a rebuild and were pulling lots of asbestos off the piping and putting them in storage. As I recall, those workers weren’t very protected from the fibers. I used to talk naps during lunch on the large pipe like pieces they pulled off. Guess no one was thinking of mesothelioma back then. Many ships in the yard for repairs. Amazed how many of the older workers would drink lunch at a bar across the street and then go back to heavy, dangerous work. Some of the younger guys had other problems. Opened the eyes of a Long Island, white, middle class military college grad to a different world. One day one of the young guys I worked with came in talking about the new TVs his family and everyone in his neighborhood got the night before “off the truck.” I thought he was talking about some type of mobile P.C. Richards driving around and selling TVs, until they laughed at me. It was the mob, selling off TVs that came from hijacked truck. A lot of drugs among the younger men. Will never forget when one of the workers hit “the numbers” big (about $10K back then was big) and the runner made sure a lot of guys saw the payoff, but no one saw the “winner” ever again. After I left for school, I checked with my father’s friend who got me the job and the “winner” never came back to work, no one seemed to know what happened to him. Could have bolted on his wife, or something else. It was some place. Sad that such a large industrial property that was the heart of shipbuilding, ship repair in NY Harbor was allowed to turn into an IKEA.
MY Father,Daniel Olenyk,worked at Todds in the 60’s and 70’s for about 25 years and he gave them everything he had.At 73, I’m now getting nostalgic and very sorry to see that the Ol’ lady is gone.Rest in peace!!!!!
My Mother told me that her Aunt Lilly (My Great Aunt) married Mr. Todd. My Mother grew up in Brooklyn, New York. She was born in 1925. My Mother’s Mother (My Grandmother) left her husband and children during the early 1930’s. My Mother told me that when she was a child, her Aunt Lilly picked her up in a limousine (and that she wore a mink coat). She was driven to a beautiful and large home, where my Mother looked out of the windows and could not believe the life she was experienicing…it in that moment. Todd Shipbuilding was an amazing business.
Are there any drawings, plans, or other evidence of the Ironclads being prepared or serviced at Todd?
Catherine,
I am very interested in your genealogy, in particular what were your great Aunts and Grandmother’s maiden names?
Sir,
I believe my grandfather, Luigi Esposito, worked as a caulker in the Todd Shipyard somwhere between his arrival in the States in 1900 until he went back to Italy in 1920 or thereabouts. My grandfather was sick either due to asbestosis or rheumatoid arthritis or both.
Is there a record of those who worked for the shipyard ?
I would be grateful for any information…
Anita Metivet
My grandfather, Luigi Esposito, worked as a caulker in Todd Shipyard between 1900 and 1920.
Are there any records of those who worked for the shipyard ?
Anita Metivet
My family grew up in Red Hook. My Grandmother, Thelma, was the switchboard operator at Todd’s Shipyard. Literally moving plugs from one port to another to connect phone lines.
Bob Quinlan – as a curiosity, do you recall a rail system operating at Todd? I’m currently attempting research on it.
From January 1964 – till the end of March or maybe beginning of April 1964, my ship the USS Fort Snelling (LSD-30) now razor blades was dry docked there for repairs. It was fortunate for me as my home was in Long Island at the time and I got to see my old friends regularly, including the woman I ended up marrying. When i was working I was duty driver and mainly drove sailors on liberty to the Smith & 9th Street station or I ferried officers around on official business. I even had to retrieve a drunken senior officer from the Playboy Club.
Does anyone know whether Todd did ship work for the federal government during the Second World War on the Gowanus Canal?
I know Todd did work in the Erie Basin, but am interested only in work done on the Gowanus Canal.
My father was a diesel engineer during WW2. He’d taken a 6-month crash course in diesel and at age 23 became a chief engineer at Todd Shipyards in Hoboken, repairing troop ships. I was born in 1941. I remember my father hardly ever being home. He told us later that in 1943 he worked every single day of the year. He told us that at the end, as more and more of his workers were drafted, he was left with only old men who knew only steam and 17-year-olds. The chief engineer had a cabin. My mother told us kids that between shifts my dad would lie down for five minutes and then get up and work another 8-hour shift. I looked at this website because I’m reading a novel named Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, set in Seattle, about the Japanese internment. Todd Shipyards is mentioned. I read here about the expansion into Hoboken and Seattle after Todd took ownership. History is so very interesting.
Upon reflecting on my comment earlier today, I realized my father could not have worked on troop ships at Todd’s until the U.S. entered the War after Pearl Harbor. So it would have been 1942 when he was 25 that he started there as a diesel engineer.
My grandfather, Robert William Blake, worked at Todd’s for sometime. Wondering if there are any records.
My Grandfather worked at Todd Shipyard his name was Howard Kennedy aka Big Keno.
I have an ID card of my father working as an electrician at Todd Shipyards – Bklyn Division in 1943. What work was being done there during the war?
I am doing a family genealogy search for my grandfather. To make a long story short, My grandfather was a baby left at the “New York Foundling” in 1901, when only a few weeks old by a woman named “Delia O’neill” . His given name was to be John ( or Jack ) O’neill.
He goes through life until he needs his working papers, and I assume that means he had to get his ( then new) Social Security card). It is at this time he was told to go back to the Foundling to get his birth papers and then they told him his last name was “Gilmartin” . After that he got a job at the “Todd Shipyard” and later they sent him to the ” Aleitian Islands” for about a year.
I am trying to find a piece of history that helps me fill in the blanks.
1). I have no Social Security number for this man. If you can retrieve it, you can light up a path that I can pursue to find where he may be buried.
2). Because he changes his name upon getting a job, his past life as “Jack O’neill” is lost.
3). The Foundling states that they indeed had a fire and his records were lost and even if they could retrieve them I would need a death certificate, which I can’t get because I lose track of him from 1940 on.
My mom is 94, she would like to know what happened to her father. I have given you everything I have and learning more of this man’s history can’t be a bad thing.
if you can’t help at least tell me this is a dead end and I will pursue other avenues. Thank You in advance for your help. I am running out of ideas on how to track this man.
Oooooo wow. I suspect for the moment it’s a dead end but hopefully someone who worked there might chime in if they knew him?
Unfortunately I suspect any records the shipyard had of him (and others—sorry I didn’t get to reply to some of the above comments on this) were lost long ago. Another possible long shot would be to see if anyone at the Brooklyn Historical Society has any info specific to employees of that shipyard? My assumption is that if there were any good records, they ended up in BHS’s hands, or those of the Brooklyn Library.