Blacksmith Shop and Sail Loft
Datec. 1909-1918
MediumPhotography; Eastman Safety Kodak cellulose acetate negative, and printed photograph
Dimensions(a) Primary Dimensions (overall height x width of negative): 4 7/8 × 3 7/8in. (12.4 × 9.8cm)
(b) Primary Dimensions (overall height x width of photograph): 5 × 4in. (12.7 × 10.2cm)
(b) Primary Dimensions (overall height x width of photograph): 5 × 4in. (12.7 × 10.2cm)
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineBequest from the Estate of Elizabeth Beattie
DescriptionBlack and white photographic (a) Eastman Safety Kodak cellulose acetate negative and (b) photograph of the blacksmith shop and sail loft of Beattie Granite Works before the machine shop was built in 1894. A large building with trees in the background and stone in the foreground.
Object number2023.17.42a-b
CopyrightPublic Domain
Inscribed(.42b) Handwritten in pencil on reverse: “Old Blacksmith Shop / + sail loft / Before Machine shop was built / which was 1894 – 4 forges / 2 front + 2 back with brick / chimneys suspended from the / craneways. / Here is where Hector MacMillan / was blacksmith # 1. Joe Stranski / (Big Joe) and the Italian “Milano” / worked.”(.41-.42) Typed on envelope: QUARRY / BLACKSMITH SHOP AND SAIL LOFT / This is the sail loft and blacksmith shop / near the old office. There were six blacks / smiths when I first knew it. Hector / Mac Millan, Big Joe Stransky and Milano / were some of them. The shop was built in / the 1880 s when the N. Y. Bridge jobs and / Statue of Liberty pedestal job were / in progress. Only the quarry and boat / blacksmithing were done here, drill bit / sharpening, derrick and schooner hardware / and wagon and [error overtyped with capital Xs] galamander hardware / anchors and chains etc being some of it. / The office and store were located to / the left of the sail loft about 100 feet.”NotesSubject Note: John Beattie's granite quarry, situated in Guilford on the Long Island Sound, was well-positioned to distribute granite via a fleet of schooners to locations in Connecticut and New York. Notably, granite from Beattie's quarry was used in the pedestal at the base of the Statue of Liberty.
The quarry operated from 1869, when Scottish immigrant Beattie purchased 400 acres of land on Leetes Island, until about 1918, when Beattie's sons closed up shop 20 years after his death. At its height, the quarry employed 700 people, many of them immigrants from Scotland, Ireland, England, Finland, Sweden, and Italy.
On View
Not on view
1890
1890-1918
1890-1918
1890-1918
