- City:
- New York, New York City, Staten Island, NY
- Site Type:
- Infrastructure and Utilities, Maritime: Harbors, Ports & Lighthouses, Mass Transportation
- New Deal Agencies:
- Public Works Funding, Public Works Administration (PWA)
- Site Survival:
- No Longer Extant
Description
The federal Public Works Administration (PWA) financed part of the construction of ferry boats for the Staten island Ferry, to the tune of $1,397,500. The first boat, “Gold Star Mother,” was dedicated by Mayor La Guardia on May 7, 1937.
The project was unusual, as The New York Times reported: the “United States Attorney General had construed a ferryboat as a building in order to make the PWA loan possible.”
PWA Docket No. NY 1085-R.
Source notes
National Archives Record Group 135-SAR:
Prints: Photographs rejected for use in the Photographic Report to the President:
“Survey of the Architecture of Completed Projects of the PWA, 1939”;
Box 14: New York State; Folder 26: Miscellaneous.
The New York Times: "MAYOR DEDICATES A NEW FERRYBOAT," May 8, 1937 (pg. 8)
Site originally submitted by Evan Kalish on September 27, 2014.
Additional contributions by Frank da Cruz.
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Submit More Information or Photographs for this New Deal Site3 comments on “Staten Island Ferry Boats – Staten Island NY”
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Katherine Lappe
According to C.W. Short (p.600), the three Staten Island Ferries built with PWA money in 1937-38 were the Gold Star Mother, the Miss New York, and the Mary Murray.
I remember almost all these projects . I lived in 2 of them ,Marine Hospital and Quarantine Station Quarters. .It was a source of work for the many unemployed people on Staten Island .Welcome, but still scoffed at by any who were fortunate enough to be employed in Depression time.Have photos .
I would love to hear your stories and see your pictures as I’m researching an abandoned ferry that I ventured to in November 1996 that was moored half sunken behind an old abandoned warehouse.
Please respond as soon as you can. I realize the date of this post is 2018, but I’m looking for answers to solve my 25 year long mystery.
Thanks for your interest.
Katherine