Davids' Island (New York)

Davids' Island

view of the northern end of Davids' Island
Location of Davids' Island off the coast of New Rochelle
Geography
Location	Long Island Sound
Coordinates	40°53′00″N 73°46′13″W / 40.883417°N 73.770231°W / 40.883417; -73.770231Coordinates: 40°53′00″N 73°46′13″W / 40.883417°N 73.770231°W / 40.883417; -73.770231
Area	78 acres (32 ha)
Country
United States
State	New York
County	Westchester County
City	New Rochelle

Davids' Island is a 78-acre (320,000 m²) island off the coast of New Rochelle, New York, in Long Island Sound. Currently uninhabited, in the past it was the site of Fort Slocum. Plans are to preserve the island as public parkland under the Westchester County Parks system. The island is home to the endangered Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle, and rare birds such as osprey and least terns.^[1] Davids' Island also supports valuable wetlands, rare rocky intertidal areas, and sandy beaches. The waters surrounding the Island are home to winter flounder, Atlantic herring, and Atlantic silverside.^[2]

History of the name

The name is often given as David Hawk's or David Hawk, but neither is correct. The island is named after its next-to-last civilian owner before the Army acquired it; New York City ink manufacturer and Westchester County resident Thaddeus Davids. It was first leased (1861-1867), then owned (1867-1965), by the U.S. Government, and was known as Davids' Island Military Reservation until it was named Fort Slocum on July 1st, 1896. Previously it had been named after other owners, and was called successively: Bouteillier's, Rodman's, Myer's, Treadwell's, Hewlett's, Allen's, and Morse's Island.

Uses of the island

View from shore of Davids' Island

The island was rented by the U.S. Government in April, 1862, and was used for hospital purposes. Wooden structures were erected to house thousands of wounded prisoners from the battlefields of the American Civil War. A ferry connection was established from Neptune Island, under the control of Simeon Leland. At the end of the war, Congress authorized the island's purchase for military purposes and it was conveyed to the United States in 1867. From this date, the Federal government had operated its own ferry to and from Neptune Island.^[3] It was used until 1878 as a sub-depot for the recruiting service, and, in that year, it became the general recruiting depot. It was later converted to a coastal artillery defense post^[4] and was given the name Fort Slocum after Major General Henry W. Slocum, U.S. Volunteers. In 1921, the battery included 4 12-inch (300 mm) mortars, 4 3-inch (76 mm) pedestal guns, and 2 3-inch (76 mm) anti-aircraft guns.^[5] During World War I the island became one of the busiest recruiting stations in the country, processing 100,000 soldiers per year. The famous "Sound off, one, two" military cadence was invented at Fort Slocum in 1944.^[6] From 1946 to 1949, Fort Slocum housed Headquarters First Air Force. It was renamed "Slocum Air Force Base" in June 1949; this only lasted for a year before being turned back into an Army post in June 1950.^[7] From 1951 to 1962, Fort Slocum (Davids' Island) was the home of the U.S. Army Chaplain School and the US Army Information School.^[8][9]

From 1955 to 1960, Fort Slocum housed Nike Ajax air-defense battery NY-15.^[10] The missiles were stored in underground silos on Hart Island with the radar and control base on Davids' Island.^[11] In July 1960, after only five years of operation, Nike Battery NY-15 was closed. From 1956 to 1965, Fort Slocum was the site of the U.S. Army Information School, where Army soldiers and Air Force airmen were trained in journalism, public affairs, and photography. In 1965, the information school was moved to Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana and Fort Slocum was deactivated.

At one point the island was owned by Con Edison, which had plans to build a nuclear power plant on it.^[12] After those plans fell through in the late 1960s, it was used as a children's summer camp, named "July O Rama," for inner-city children during summers. The island was sold to the city of New Rochelle in 1967.

During the summer of 2008, the city of New Rochelle demolished all remaining structures on the island, including the iconic water tower on the northern end of the island, with plans to turn the island into a park.

Gallery

Photos of Davids' Island off the coast of New Rochelle, NY in Long Island Sound

See also

• Hart Island, New York
• List of Civil War POW Prisons and Camps

References

1. ^ Citizens Campaign for the Environment
2. ^ Northeast Coastal Areas Study - The Narrows Complex
3. ^ Army Appropriation Bill, 1921: Hearings Before Subcommittee No. 1 of the Committee on Military Affairs, House of Representatives, Sixty-sixth Congress, U.S. Government, page.322
4. ^ Coastal Defense Study Group
5. ^ [1]
6. ^ "The Cadence Page". http://users.erols.com/loriryan/history.html. 
7. ^ Joe McCusker's Air Force Base List
8. ^ [2]
9. ^ Westchester County property records
10. ^ NY-15
11. ^ [3]
12. ^ History of Westchester County, Scharf, Vol I., pp. 450-453

External links

• Citizens Campaign for the Environment page about Davids' Island
• Saving Davids Island: An Activist History
• Michael Cavanaugh's Fort Slocum page
• Historic Pelham blog entry, including entire text of a September 11, 1862 New York Times article about the soldiers hospital on Davids Island
• A Blast from the Past - by Tito Rosario Ft. Slocum Brat 1962 to 1965