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History–Tours
191630 July 1916 · Liberty State Park, Jersey City

Black Tom explosion

Wrecked freight cars and splintered timbers on the Lehigh Valley pier at Black Tom after the 1916 explosion
Archival image: The New York Herald. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In the early hours of 30 July 1916, German saboteurs set off some two million pounds of munitions waiting on Black Tom pier in Jersey City for shipment to Britain and France. The blasts shattered windows across Lower Manhattan, damaged the Statue of Liberty and killed at least four people. The attack, made while the United States was still neutral, helped turn American opinion against Germany.

Sites

  1. Site 1: Black Tom marker, Liberty State ParkMarker near the old pier, looking across to the Statue of Liberty.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: Statue of Liberty Museum, Liberty IslandThe original torch; the arm has been closed to visitors since the blast.Map ↗

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More from the First World War

Read more: reference. Summary written by History-Tours.com.