The Red Hook graving dock, initially known as "Graving Dock One", was a

graving dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...

located at the

Vigor Shipyards Vigor Shipyards is the current entity operating the former Todd Shipyards after its acquisition in 2011. Todd Shipyards was founded in 1916, which owned and operated shipyards on the West Coast of the United States, East Coast of the United St ...

Red Hook, Brooklyn Red Hook is a neighborhood in northwestern Brooklyn, New York City, New York, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. It is located on a peninsula projecting into the Upper New York Bay and is bounded by the Gowanus Expressway and the Car ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. In its time, the dock was considered to have contributed to making Red Hook the "center of the shipping industry in New York" and was part of the city's largest dry dock and shipping dock. Construction on the dock was completed in 1866 and the unit was utilized as a repair dock for large vessels until its closure in 2005, when the lease held by Stevens Technical Services expired. Prior to its closure, ownership of the dock had been transferred from the initial owners, the

Todd Shipyards Todd or Todds may refer to: Places ;Australia: * Todd River, an ephemeral river ;United States: * Todd Valley, California, also known as Todd, an unincorporated community * Todd, Missouri, a ghost town * Todd, North Carolina, an unincorporated ...

, to Vigor after the merger of several shipyard companies. Shortly around the time of the lease's expiration, IKEA expressed their intent to purchase the property and turn it into a parking lot. Conservationists argued against the purchase, stating that the dock had been created at the end of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

and would be considered eligible for inclusion in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. In 2006 a comptroller for the city also noted that paving over the dock would be "premature". Efforts to salvage the property included protests and a lawsuit against the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

. These efforts were unsuccessful and the graving dock was filled in to create a parking lot. The move was met with more criticism after 2008 reports stated that New York was in need of seven graving docks similar to the Red Hook graving dock.

References

Transportation buildings and structures in Brooklyn Red Hook, Brooklyn {{Brooklyn-struct-stub