John Wolfe Ambrose

John Wolfe Ambrose (born in Newcastle West, Ireland on January 10, 1838) was a poor Irish immigrant boy who grew up to be a brilliant engineer and developer. Because of his efforts, channels within and leading into the New York Harbor were deepened and widened, to handle the largest transatlantic ships, thus allowing New York's commercial economy to boom.

In 1852, John and his family sailed to America and settled in New York. He was educated at New York University and Princeton University, with the intention of becoming a Presbyterian minister. However, upon graduating in 1862, he decided to work as a newspaper reporter for the Citizens' Reform Association.

A short time later, Ambrose became associated with a noted contractor, John Brown, who was responsible for the city's street cleaning. Under Brown's tutelage, Ambrose acquired the necessary knowledge of the Street Cleaning Department so that later when Mayor Hugh Grant decided to reorganize the Department, it was Ambrose who prepared a plan which was later adopted by the city. The plan involved subdividing the city into a district-block system, using uniformed street cleaners, and removing street garbage with hand carts.

This experience no doubt led to Ambrose's interest in improving and developing New York City. He set up his own contracting business and proceeded to accomplish some major pieces of work. Ambrose constructed all of the Second Avenue elevated railroad, from the Harlem River to Chatham Square, as well as part of the West Side elevated railroad between 75th and 189th Streets. He also laid the first eight miles (13 km) of pneumatic tubes in the United States under New York streets for Western Union Telegraph Company. In addition, he erected the gas works and laid ninety miles of gas mains for the Knickerbocker Gas Company. Between 1873 and 1880, he built many of Manhattan's uptown streets from Harlem swamp land.

In 1880, Ambrose became interested in developing Brooklyn's waterfront properties. Ambrose's life ambition involved a great scheme for developing New York. He set up the South Brooklyn Railroad & Terminal Company, the 39th Street South Brooklyn Ferry, and the Brooklyn Wharf & Dry Dock Company, all of which he was president. Ambrose's idea consisted of making the Battery become New York's great entrance and concentrating all of Long Island's railroad traffic to that area by means of his terminal railroad and ferry companies. Ambrose also hoped someday to construct six immense steamship piers, of varying lengths from 900 to 2,200 feet (670 m), to attract ocean liners to Brooklyn. Each pier was to have double railroad tracks between massive warehouses, along with a 5-acre (20,000 m2) storage yard. Although his scheme was never completely realized, as a consequence of his waterfront development in Brooklyn, large areas of farmland became a populous city neighborhood.

Because of his great scheme, Ambrose made his first trip to Washington, D.C. in 1881, to lobby Congress for money to dredge New York Harbor's inner channels, as well as deepen Sandy Hook Bar. Over the next fifteen years, Ambrose succeeded in obtaining $1,478,000 from Congress for improving the Bay Ridge and Red Hook channels. In 1898, after improving the inner harbor, Ambrose began urging the House of Representatives' Rivers and Harbors Committee for money to build an adequate channel starting at Sandy Hook, New Jersey and leading into the New York Harbor. The committee rejected his plan, but in the spring of 1899, just prior to his death, the Senate's Commerce Committee approved $6,000,000 for the project. The new channel made the shipping route shorter and safer, especially for the largest ships.

Ambrose died on May 15, 1899 from typhoid malaria. He never lived to see the completion of the new channel, which occurred in 1914. However, in recognition of his efforts, the New York State Legislature in 1900 officially expressed gratitude for Ambrose and named the channel and its lightship after him. Today, the Ambrose Channel still serves as the main entrance into New York Harbor for ocean vessels, and the Lightship Ambrose, a registered National Historic Landmark, is open to the public at New York's South Street Seaport museum. Also, a memorial bust monument of Ambrose was erected in his honor and originally unveiled at Battery Park in 1936 by his family and Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. Mayor La Guardia referred to Ambrose "as the pioneer of an idea. Mr. Ambrose was a man ahead of his time. He had vision and persistence to...continually press...his idea" (New York Times, June 4, 1936). Ambrose had the vision to see into the future enough to know that unless the New York Harbor was improved, New York would not be able to compete commercially in the world marketplace or remain an economic giant. Because of his efforts, John Wolfe Ambrose's futuristic vision of New York has been realized.

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