THIS DAY IN 1918 IN THERECORD

Friday, March 8, 1918. “The organization of the South End Improvement League is one of the best things that has ever happened to South Troy,” stove manufacturer William Henry Warren says after opening the Fuller & Warren dock as a landing for ferry service between South Troy and the Watervliet Arsenal.

Warren makes the announcement tonight at Mayor Cornelius F. Burns’s office to representatives of the Improvement League and the city’s Chamber of Commerce. Ferry service will begin next week.

A ferry is considered essential if South Troy is to welcome thousands of workers who are expected to take wartime jobs at the arsenal this year. The Fuller & Warren dock is intended only as a temporary landing while the city develops a permanent landing at the foot of Monroe Street. The new landing is expected to open ten weeks from now.

Mayor Burns says “it is nothing more than the city’s duty” to build the Monroe Street landing. He tells the thirty people at tonight’s meeting work will begin immediately after he inspects the site tomorrow morning.

The ferry landing may be the beginning of an ambitious improvement program for the south end. Many South Troy residents want a waterfront recreation area to be part of the program.

P. J. Shields believes that “some street should be opened as far as the river so the South Enders could have a breathing spot during the summer time….Between 400 and 500 persons gather at the river bank on summer nights. Included in this number are many children. They should have some place to sit around and also be protected when they are crossing the [railroad] tracks on the return home.”

Shields envisions a bathing beach for South Troy, but the mayor explains that “the contemplated improvements to the river would not permit a bathing place because the water to the docks would be at least twelve feet deep.”

While a water commute will be helpful for arsenal workers, housing is essential if South Troy is to accommodate the expected throng. Improvement League president Michael J. Kilduff announces tonight that a team of women will shortly start a door-todoor canvass to determine how many buildings and rooms can be made available for new arrivals.

The city is going forward with plans to house arsenal workers temporarily in the old Troy Hospital and Samaritan Hospital buildings until the new Troy Development Corporation can acquire family residences. Mayor Burns urges South Troy residents to buy shares in the realty corporation.

“It is up to Trojans to show the government they are ready to do their bit,” the mayor says.