Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument - Timeline of Repeated Neglect and Restoration

Timeline of Repeated Neglect and Restoration

In February 1914, one of the eagles was stolen. The thieves attempted to sell it as scrap metal for $24. When police found it at a recycling yard, the wings of the eagle had already been removed and partially melted.

By 1921, the beacon was out. The twin helix stairways to the top of the monument, which visitors once paid a dime to climb, were closed. Until then, visitors could go to the top to get impressive views of Manhattan. In 1923, the bronze door to the crypt was "battered from its hinges" by vandals and the crypt was exposed. The New York Times report of the incident described how the monument provided a play area for neighborhood children: " score of children, white and black, who live in the neighborhood were using the granite coping of the walls leading to the crypt as a sort of 'chute the chutes.' The color line was sharply drawn. The slope of one side was used by the negro children while the slope of the other side amused the whites. The children of neither hue were concerned with the crime. They realized vaguely that something unusual had taken place, but it was not important enough to them to stop their daily sport." However, neglect and damage to the park required it to be renovated. The memorial had become so scarred by vandals and unkempt from lack of proper maintenance as to present a dilapidated appearance. Work was done to clean and preserve the site. A staircase and elevator were installed inside the large column and it was reopened in 1937 by Park Commissioner Robert Moses. Again, the park was neglected and restoration work was required. It began in 1948 to "keep the shrine from falling apart". The staircase and elevator that had been installed inside the large column in 1937 were both removed in 1949.

In the ensuing years, however, the park slowly decayed again and, by the 1970s, graffiti covered much of the base of the monument and vandalism was taking its toll. After being vandalized repeatedly, the four eagles were removed for repairs in 1966 and restored when $251,000 was spent to repair the monument about 1974, part of a larger $780,000 restoration of Fort Greene Park. They were again removed in 1981 and two of them are on display at the Central Park Arsenal, the administrative headquarters of the New York City Parks Department. They presently flank the third floor entrance.

In 1995, an examination of the vault reported it held bone fragments in 20 slate boxes, each two feet by two feet by seven feet. During this inspection in 1995 by the park system, Graffiti was noted to be on the crypt's interior walls. The graffiti is dated but the dates are in question as they reflect 1973, 1908 and, one tag was scribbled, 1776—before the tomb was even built, in 1908.

By the year 2000 the monument was missing plaques, the plaza was potholed, the crypt had a plywood door, and the eternal flame had long been extinguished.

During a site review on January 7, 2000, Park System workers raised the lid of the stone coffin of Benjamin Romaine. The interior of the coffin appeared to have contained a partially collapsed wooden coffin.

The city launched the renovation of the Prison Ship Monument with a $3.5 million budget in 2004.

A budgetary study was conducted from March 6, 2006 to September 5, 2008 on electrical improvements and the cost estimated to about $341,000. The restored monument was unveiled on November 15, 2008, a centennial celebration. That night, the column and urn were lit by a spectacular lighting scheme. The overall restoration cost for the monument from 2006 to 2008 was an estimated $5,100,000.