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Native Americans built NYC's Skyline. Or at least they were instrumental.
I was shocked to read this. I was even more shocked to read there was a Native American enclave in Brooklyn. I like when I first heard rumors of the Ramapo Indians in NJ. I do remember reading about this gangster named Willie Boy Johnson, an associate of John Gotti. He half Italian, and Native American.
I thought Italians dominated the construction trade.
"In Downtown Kahnawake, Mohawk community hubs included The Wigwam Bar at 75 Nevis St., which sported a sign’ “The Greatest Ironworkers in the World Pass Through These Doors,” and stocked Montreal beers to suit the tastes of its Canadian clientele. The Wigwam functioned as a post office, travel agency and employment office for ironworkers. Around the corner on Atlantic Avenue, at The Spar Bar and Grill, you could tuck into Mohawk Sunday Steak Dinner."
"When rumors circulated that a new pair of towers, which would be the tallest in the world, would be raised in New York, Mohawk men rose to the challenge and played a key role in the construction of the World Trade Center. The ironworkers signed the last beam, raised it on the South Tower, and topped out the job."
Native Americans built NYC's Skyline. Or at least they were instrumental.
I was shocked to read this. I was even more shocked to read there was a Native American enclave in Brooklyn. I like when I first heard rumors of the Ramapo Indians in NJ. I do remember reading about this gangster named Willie Boy Johnson, an associate of John Gotti. He half Italian, and Native American.
I thought Italians dominated the construction trade.
"In Downtown Kahnawake, Mohawk community hubs included The Wigwam Bar at 75 Nevis St., which sported a sign’ “The Greatest Ironworkers in the World Pass Through These Doors,” and stocked Montreal beers to suit the tastes of its Canadian clientele. The Wigwam functioned as a post office, travel agency and employment office for ironworkers. Around the corner on Atlantic Avenue, at The Spar Bar and Grill, you could tuck into Mohawk Sunday Steak Dinner."
"When rumors circulated that a new pair of towers, which would be the tallest in the world, would be raised in New York, Mohawk men rose to the challenge and played a key role in the construction of the World Trade Center. The ironworkers signed the last beam, raised it on the South Tower, and topped out the job."
Yup.
While Native American-owned firms counted or the MWBE participation subcontracts in public contracting, they were not eligible for so-called set-aside contracts, which are based on whether a minority is fairly represented in an industry relative to the minority population in a given area. There used to be several Native-owned contractors who did work in NYC, mainly in the steel erection industry. I don't know if that is still the case.
I worked high rise construction in the late 1960s. Mostly I remember the Native Americans worked walking the steel (iron workers). And they were physically built for it. They were a little shorter and stockier, and many were bottom heavy (as I recall). So they balanced well.
They were nice guys. The ones that I knew commuted from upstate NY every week. They would go home for the weekends.
I did not stay long in the industry as in the 1970s many in the trade unions were laid off. So I moved on. So, I do not know how the industry changed after that, nor how long the Native Americans remained as a factor.
The Jay Treaty of 1794 allows for the free passage of Aboriginal people who reside in Canadian territory , into the USA , with out let or hinderance. In the modern era, that means that " Status Indians " who hold a Canadian Band Card, can travel back and forth between the 2 countries, freely. That results in many people from the St Regis reserve working in and living in the USA, full time. The St Regis straddles territory in Ontario, Quebec, and New York State.
Because of the Jay Treaty, many Canadian Aboriginals have served in the US military in the past.
I knew a couple of these guys back in the 70s. They said they were steeplejacks. They lived upstate. Would come down to paint the bridges and other work. They said they weren't afraid of heights.
I worked on a number of film shoots on the Kahnawake and Kanesatake reservations over the years, one no later than last fall. One time driving through Kahnawake, I noticed that folks put up a sizable amount of US flags and few Canadian ones. The warrior flag is alao predominant. Mohawks around Montreal are btwn a rock and a hard place because historically, they became the allies of the English in the French Indian wars, and yet feel that the powers that be never respected their valor or their rights. Add to that the fact that the French consistently say the Iroquoians and Mohawks in particular were based in what is now New York State, which is only partially true. They also get contracts to rehab the Mercier bridge that straddles the reserve and Lasalle in Montreal.
Native Americans built NYC's Skyline. Or at least they were instrumental.
I was shocked to read this. I was even more shocked to read there was a Native American enclave in Brooklyn. I like when I first heard rumors of the Ramapo Indians in NJ. I do remember reading about this gangster named Willie Boy Johnson, an associate of John Gotti. He half Italian, and Native American.
I thought Italians dominated the construction trade.
"In Downtown Kahnawake, Mohawk community hubs included The Wigwam Bar at 75 Nevis St., which sported a sign’ “The Greatest Ironworkers in the World Pass Through These Doors,” and stocked Montreal beers to suit the tastes of its Canadian clientele. The Wigwam functioned as a post office, travel agency and employment office for ironworkers. Around the corner on Atlantic Avenue, at The Spar Bar and Grill, you could tuck into Mohawk Sunday Steak Dinner."
"When rumors circulated that a new pair of towers, which would be the tallest in the world, would be raised in New York, Mohawk men rose to the challenge and played a key role in the construction of the World Trade Center. The ironworkers signed the last beam, raised it on the South Tower, and topped out the job."
Why were you shocked? This is common knowledge. Natives, Poles, and Irish also worked in construction in NYC, not just Italians.
Wow, this is really cool stuff! Never knew about it!
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