Black Tom Island — Attraction in Jersey City

On July 30, 1916, 103 years ago, the massive Black Tom Explosion occurred on a pier in Jersey City, NJ. It was felt as far away as Philadelphia & Maryland. It was German sabotage.

Not long after, the US would finally enter World War I.

Black Tom was an island in New York Harbor, next to Liberty Island, that received its name from an early African American resident. By 1880, a railroad connected it to Jersey City & began its use as a shipping depot. By 1916, its mile-long pier housed warehouses for the National Dock & Storage Company.

In 1914 Imperial Germany sent Count Johann von Bernstorff to be its new US ambassador in Washington DC. But, von Bernstorff's staff of diplomats were not as they seemed, for these bureaucrats were a veritable army of undercover spies & saboteurs, arriving with millions of dollars to aid the German war effort by sabotage & illicit destruction.

Among their principal targets were the endless supplies of munitions that the neutral US was selling to Great Britain & France. In 1916, over 2,000,000 tons of explosives were in storage on Black Tom Island, ready to sail across the Atlantic. Lying in New York harbor, Black Tom soon caught the attentions of von Bernstorff & his saboteurs.

On the night of July 30, 1916, Black Tom island disappeared. Just after 2 am, slow burning pencil bombs planted by the German agents ignited an explosion so colossal it registered 5.5 on the Richter scale. As glass windows shattered in Times Square and St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the blast shook the Brooklyn Bridge. The Statue of Liberty felt the full impact and was showered with shrapnel, exploding bullets & shells.

FBI investigations named two guards at Black Tom as the likely culprits; the guards turned out to be German agents, Kurt Jahnke & Lothar Witzke, but both escaped. (An explosion in 1917 at the Mare Island naval shipyard in Vallejo, CA was also attributed to them.) When the US finally responded to German's secret war of attrition by declaring war in 1917, Jahnke & Witzke fled to Mexico.

Black Tom Island was reconstructed with landfill and is today the southeastern part of Jersey City's Liberty State Park. Today the park is a popular recreational area, with families taking advantage of the close-up views of the Statue of Liberty. But in the corner of the picnic area is a simple plaque, often overlooked, which reads, "You are walking on a site which saw one of the worst acts of terrorism in American history."

In addition, the Statue of Liberty’s torch has been closed to the public since that fateful day due to the structural damage sustained from the explosions.

The Black Tom site has a Certificate of Eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places - NPS. Photo courtesy of: NJ State Parks &...

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Black Tom Island, now part of Liberty State Park in Jersey City, holds a significant yet somber place in American history. I often bring friends and family here to share its story and underscore its importance.

In the early hours of July 30, 1916, Black Tom Island was the site of a massive explosion orchestrated by German agents aiming to disrupt U.S. munitions supplies to Allied forces during World War I. The blast detonated around two million pounds of explosives, resulting in shockwaves felt as far as 90 miles away. The explosion caused extensive property damage, including shrapnel marks on the Statue of Liberty, and tragically claimed several lives.

This act of sabotage marked a pivotal moment, influencing the United States' stance on neutrality and contributing to its eventual entry into World War I. Today, the area is a peaceful park, but the memory of that fateful day lingers. Visiting this site serves as a poignant reminder of the impact of global conflicts on domestic soil and the resilience of communities in the face of adversity.

By sharing the history of Black Tom Island with visitors, we honor those affected and ensure that such events are...