The Port Johnston Coal Docks were built on the
Kill van Kull
__NOTOC__
The Kill Van Kull is a tidal strait between Staten Island, New York and Bayonne, New Jersey in the United States. It is approximately long and wide and connects Newark Bay with Upper New York Bay. The Robbins Reef Light marks the ...
at
Constable Hook in
Bayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne ( ) is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is situated on a peninsula located between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill Van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east. As of ...
in 1864 by the
Central Railroad of New Jersey. The coal dock was named after the company's president
John Taylor Johnston. (The former Johnston Yard and today's
Johnston Avenue also bear his name). At the time of its completion in 1866, it was the largest coal dock in the world and employed 200 men, mostly
Irish immigrants. Their job was to empty coal from railroad cars onto barges for shipment across
Upper New York Bay to New York.
On July 26, 1877, the first full-scale strike occurred in Bayonne at the Port Johnston Coal Docks when workers walked off the job. The Lehigh and Wilkesbarre Coal Company, who had bought the coal docks from the Central Railroad of New Jersey in 1876, had cut the wages of the workers in an effort to save money. The Lehigh and Wilkesbarre Coal Company promptly fired all of the workers and brought in
German immigrants from
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to work. A threat of a riot was averted with the intervention of Bayonne Mayor
Henry Meigs, Jr. and Father Thomas Killeen of St. Mary's Church. After working a day at the lower wages, the German immigrants decided it was not worthwhile and quit. By early August, Meigs had worked out a solution with the company that ended the strike peacefully.
Port Johnston was the site of a
prisoner-of-war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...
camp for Italian soldiers during WW2.
The
tank farms
A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful en ...
and marine transfer operations around Port Johnston have been operated by Gordon Terminal Service since 1966.
References
{{coord, 40.651, -74.115, type:landmark_region:US-NJ, display=title
Bayonne, New Jersey
Docks (maritime)
History of New Jersey
Central Railroad of New Jersey
Ports and harbors of New Jersey
Historic districts in Hudson County, New Jersey
Port of New York and New Jersey
Piers in New Jersey
1864 establishments in New Jersey