Castle Williams
Part of Governors Island
New York, New York
Seen from the harbor
Type	castle, Martello tower
Built	1807
Built by	Jonathan Williams
Construction materials	Sandstone, Granite, Brick
Height	40 feet
In use	1808-1840s
Current condition	Fair
Current owner	Public - National Park Service
Open to the public	Yes
Controlled by	United States of America

Castle Williams on Governors Island

Castle Williams is a circular defensive work of red sandstone on the west point of Governors Island in New York Harbor. This article is about Governors Island in New York For other uses see Governors Island (disambiguation Governors Island is a 172- Acre (69 ha island It was designed and erected between 1807 and 1811 under the direction of Lieutenant Colonel (later Colonel) Jonathan Williams, Chief Engineer of the Corps of Engineers and first Superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point. Jonathan Williams ( May 20, 1751 &ndash May 16, 1815) American businessman military figure politician and writer was born in Boston The United States Army Corps of Engineers ( USACE) is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 34600 Civilian and 650 Military personnel The castle was one component of a defensive system for the inner harbor that included Fort Columbus (later renamed Fort Jay) and the South Battery on Governors Island, Castle Clinton at the tip of Manhattan, Fort Wood on Liberty Island, and Fort Gibson on Ellis Island. Fort Jay is a harbor fortification and the name of the former Army post located on Governors Island in New York Harbor. Castle Clinton or Fort Clinton was once a circular sandstone Fort now located in Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan, New Liberty Island, formerly called Bedloe's Island, is a small uninhabited island in Upper New York Bay in the United States best known as the location of the Ellis Island, at the mouth of the Hudson River in New York Harbor

The castle was eventually named for its designer builder in an order issued on November 24, 1810 by Colonel Henry Burbeck, commanding the defenses of New York. "In future the Stone Tower on this Island (by the approbation of the Secretary of War) will bear the name of CASTLE WILLIAMS, in honor of the commandant of the United States Corps of Engineers, who designed and erected it.

During the Civil War, the casemates (bombproof vaults) of Castle Williams were used to imprison Confederate enlisted men and deserters from the Union Army, and as a barracks for the garrison. A casemate, sometimes rendered casement, is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which guns are fired originally a vaulted chamber in a Fortress. After 1865 it became a low- security military prison that was also used as quarters for recruits and transient troops. A military prison is a Prison operated by the Military. Military prisons are used variously to house Prisoners of war, Enemy combatants, those The castle was considered to be an aging and obsolete fortification by the 1880s, with pitted and crumbling walls. Improvements including the installation of central heating and plumbing were most likely made in 1895 when Castle Williams was designated as one of 10 military prisons in the U. S. Army.

A commitment to preserve the forts of Governors Island was made in the early 20th century by Secretary of War Elihu Root when landfill operations doubled the size of Governors Island between 1901 and 1912. Elihu Root ( February 15, 1845 &ndash February 7, 1937) was an American lawyer and statesman and the 1912 recipient of the The castle was fitted up as a model prison in 1903, and was most likely wired for electricity when it became available on the island in 1904. Remodeling of the angled gate walls occurred in 1912- 13 to create a two- story guardhouse, using stones from two demolished magazines within the courtyard. Castle Williams became the Atlantic Branch of the Fort Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks in 1915, and the Eastern Branch of the United States Disciplinary Barracks in 1921. Fort Leavenworth is a United States Army facility located in Leavenworth County Kansas (just north of the city of Leavenworth) in the upper northeast Expansion of the plumbing system occurred in 1916, and complete renovation of the plumbing, central heating, and electrical systems was carried out in the 1930s. The floors and roof were also reinforced with steel in the 1930s, and steel grating and solitary confinement cells were installed in selected casemates of the second and third tiers.

Extensive renovations were carried out in 1947-48, resulting in the industrial appearance of the courtyard today. Concrete balconies enclosed with steel sashes replaced existing wooden galleries, and a three- story brick addition enclosed a steel stair. Concrete floors and brick partitions were installed in the casemates of the second tier, and steel security sashes and doors replaced those made of wood. Castle Williams ceased operations as a military prison in 1966, when the US First Army left Governors Island. The First United States Army was a field army of the United States Army. The castle was then remodeled by the U.S. Coast Guard as a community center that included a nursery, meeting rooms for Scouts and clubs, a woodworking shop, art studios, a photography laboratory, and a museum. It ended its military career as a storage facility and landscape shop for the Coast Guard in 1997. In 2003, Castle Williams and neighboring fortification, Fort Jay, was transferred to the National Park Service to be administered as the Governors Island National Monument. The National Park Service ( NPS) is the United States federal agency that manages all National Parks, many National Monuments, and other conservation This article is about Governors Island in New York For other uses see Governors Island (disambiguation Governors Island is a 172- Acre (69 ha island

References

• Historical American Building Survey for Castle Williams