NYC’s Fort Tilden: If Reinforced Concrete Could Talk

4 min readDec 26, 2017

New Yorkers are always on the move, as is the great city they call home. Buildings go up, buildings come down, neighborhoods rise and fall in less time it takes to hail a taxi during rush hour — but there are a few exceptions to the ever changing landscape.

Within the city, are sites, urban ruins that remain as ghostly remnants of a bygone era; the treasures of a forgotten New York. Rockaway Beach’s Fort Tilden is a treasure indeed, one that refuses to be buried beneath the sands of time…

Some background history on Fort Tilden:

WWI

With the start of WWI, the US War Department began working on plans to fortify the Rockaway Peninsula. The Breezy Point site that was chosen had earlier been used to defend the young United States against the invading British during the War of 1812 and was deemed, once again, a prime location for a defense outpost.
1917, construction began on the fortification and surrounding structures. The facility was named Fort Tilden after the former New York Governor, Samuel J. Tilden.
Tilden is best known for his loss to Rutherford B. Hayes in the controversial 1876 Presidential Election. Much like a later Democrat, Al Gore, Tilden came out on the losing side of an electoral college controversy that threatened to tear the country apart. For more info on Governor Tilden, click here.
The defenses consisted of two batteries, each, armed with two 6-inch guns, known as East Battery and West Battery. A platform for a 12-inch mortar battery was also constructed on adjacent land in Naval Air Station Rockaway, today’s popular Jacob Riis Park.

Ft. Tilden located in Breezy Point, Queens on the Rockaway Peninsula.

Ft. Tilden is situated right outside Breezy Point, Queens, on the Rockaway Peninsula. In 1924, two 16-inch guns were installed; replacing the smaller 6-inch cannons. These units were the largest caliber guns in all of the US’s seacoast defenses and had a range of up to 30 miles.

WWII

In 1941, with war looming over the United States, Fort Tilden went from stationing a small unit to housing over one-thousand men. Construction and renovation of barracks and support buildings went into high gear in an attempt to facilitate the rapidly growing numbers and service requirements.
In 1943, the Battery’s guns were casemated in 200 ft long concrete structures as protection from a potential aerial attack. The structures were topped off with 6 feet of steel reinforced concrete on top of 2 feet of steel I-beams. New modernized features included a hanging rail system that could efficiently transport the one-ton artillery shells to the waiting 16-inch guns.

Declassified: Fort Tilden Fortification Plans

Cold War

In 1946, the Army allowed New York State to convert forty-six of Fort Tilden’s barracks into 350 housing units to facilitate the large number of returning WWII veterans.
In 1951, the housing units were converted back to barracks as the Cold War flared up on the Korean Peninsula. Plans called for one-thousand men to staff the 16 guns on the Rockaway Peninsula, forcing the Army to relocate 281 families.
With the rise of advanced jet fighters and bombers, the US now faced a new threat. Defense installations across the country replaced aging anti-aircraft guns with new state-of-the-art missile defense systems.
Nike Ajax Missiles were installed and eventually replaced by the Nike Hercules in 1959. They would remain on site until the army closed the doors to Fort Tilden. The Hercules variant was capable of carrying nuclear warheads with a range of up to 75 miles

Left: Four Nike Hercules missiles in launch position at Fort Tilden, 1960s (Jacob Riis Park in the background)
Right: Nike Hercules missile on display at Ft. Tilden

Present Day

In 1974, The Army decommissioned and turned over Ft. Tilden to the National Park Service. The 302 acres of land is now a small piece of the 26,000 acre Gateway National Recreation Area.