In the 21st century, the castle is the property of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and is mostly in ruins. Following the fire, the island was placed off-limits to the public. ![]() However, on August 8, 1969, fire devastated the Arsenal, and the roofs and floors were destroyed. For a short time, tours of the island were given in 1968. The island and buildings were bought by New York State in 1967, which took possession after the old military merchandise had been removed, and the relics given to the Smithsonian. After the sinking of the ferryboat Pollepel, which had served the island, in a storm in 1950, the Arsenal and island were essentially left vacant. Bannerman's sales of military weapons to civilians declined during the early 20th century as a result of state and federal legislation. In August 1920, 200 pounds of shells and powder exploded in an ancillary structure, destroying a portion of the complex. Ĭonstruction ceased at Bannerman's death in 1918. The Army's 6-inch gun units in France primarily used former Army coast defense weapons none of these units completed training and thus did not see action. Thirty 6-inch (152 mm) 30-caliber ex-Navy guns were acquired by the Army, but sources do not indicate whether any of these were sent to France. In 1917, following the American entry into World War I, Bannerman sold a number of these weapons to the US Army, which intended to mount them on new carriages as field guns for the Western Front. Bannerman bought the old guns, presumably at scrap value. Ĭirca 1900–1910 the US Navy re-gunned a number of older ships. On the side of the castle facing the western bank of the Hudson, Bannerman cast the legend "Bannerman's Island Arsenal" into the wall. The castle, clearly visible from the shore of the river, served as a giant advertisement for his business. Most of the building was devoted to the stores of army surplus but Bannerman built another castle in a smaller scale on top of the island near the main structure as a residence, often using items from his surplus collection for decorative touches. Bannerman designed the buildings himself and let the constructors interpret the designs on their own. Because his storeroom in New York City was not large enough to provide a safe location to store thirty million surplus munitions cartridges, in the spring of 1901 he began to build an arsenal on Pollepel. ![]() īannerman purchased Pollepel island in November 1900, for use as a storage facility for his growing surplus business. Bannerman's illustrated mail order catalog expanded to 300 pages and became a reference for collectors of antique military equipment. The business bought weapons directly from the Spanish government before it evacuated Cuba and then purchased over 90 percent of the Spanish guns, ammunition, and equipment captured by the United States military and auctioned off by the United States government. The store on the 500-block of Broadway opened in 1897 to outfit volunteers for the Spanish–American War. In 1867 the business occupied a ship chandlery on Atlantic Avenue engaged in the purchase of worn rope for papermaking. The family moved to Brooklyn in 1858 and began a military surplus business near the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1865 purchasing surplus military equipment at the close of the American Civil War. ![]() His grandfather was from Dundee, Scotland where he worked as a 'linenman'. Bannerman's Castle įrancis Bannerman VI was born on March 24, 1851, in Northern Ireland, according to Civil Registration records for Ireland, and immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1854. General George Washington later signed a plan to use the island as a military prison however, there is no evidence that a prison was ever built there. Still, these obstructions did not stop a British flotilla from burning Kingston in 1777. Caissons from several chevaux de frise still rest at the river bottom. During the Revolutionary War, patriots attempted to prevent the British from passing upriver by emplacing 106 chevaux de frise (upright logs tipped with iron points) between the island and Plum Point across the river (see Hudson River Chains). Early history īy the Europeans during the first navigation of the Hudson River by early Dutch settlers in the Province of New York, at the "Northern Gate" of the Hudson Highlands. It covers about 6.5 acres (26,000 m 2), most of it rock. The island is about 50 miles (80 km) north of New York City and about 1,000 feet (300 m) from the Hudson River's eastern bank. Pollepel is a Dutch word meaning "( pot) ladle" Pollepel Island has been called many different names, including Pollopel Island, Pollopel's Island, Bannerman's Island, and Bannermans' Island.
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