The ''Titanic'' Memorial is a lighthouse at

Fulton Fulton may refer to: People * Robert Fulton (1765–1815), American engineer and inventor who developed the first commercially successful steam-powered ship * Fulton (surname) Given name * Fulton Allem (born 1957), South African golfer * Fult ...

and

Pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...

Streets in the

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...

of Lower Manhattan in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. It was built, due in part to the instigation of

Margaret Brown Margaret Brown (née Tobin; July 18, 1867 – October 26, 1932), posthumously known as "The Unsinkable Molly Brown", was an American socialite and philanthropist. She unsuccessfully encouraged the crew in Lifeboat No. 6 to return to the debris ...

, to remember the people who died on the ''

RMS Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...

'' on April 15, 1912. Its design incorporates the use of a

time ball A time ball or timeball is a time-signalling device. It consists of a large, painted wooden or metal ball that is dropped at a predetermined time, principally to enable navigators aboard ships offshore to verify the setting of their marine chron ...

History

The lighthouse was originally erected by public subscription in 1913. It stood above the

East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...

on the roof of the old

Seamen's Church Institute of New York and New Jersey The Seamen's Church Institute (SCI) of New York & New Jersey, founded in 1834 and affiliated with the Episcopal Church, serves mariners through education, pastoral care, and legal advocacy. With a budget of over $6 million, SCI is the largest, m ...

at the corner of South Street and Coenties Slip. From 1913 to 1967 the

at the top of the lighthouse would drop down the pole to signal twelve noon to the ships in the harbor. This time ball mechanism was activated by a telegraphic signal, from the

Naval Observatory United States Naval Observatory (USNO) is a scientific and military facility that produces geopositioning, navigation and timekeeping data for the United States Navy and the United States Department of Defense. Established in 1830 as the Depo ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

In July 1968 the Seamen's Church Institute moved to 15 State Street. That year, the ''Titanic'' Memorial Lighthouse was donated by the Kaiser-Nelson Steel & Salvage Corporation to the

South Street Seaport Museum The South Street Seaport is a historic area in the New York City borough of Manhattan, centered where Fulton Street meets the East River, and adjacent to the Financial District, in Lower Manhattan. The Seaport is a designated historic district, ...

. It was erected at the entrance to the museum complex, on the corner of

and

streets, in May 1976, with funds provided by the Exxon Corporation. In 2017, preservation efforts were initiated due to the state of the lighthouse under the auspices of Friends of Titanic Lighthouse Restoration, which was founded in 2019 and whose members include descendants of those aboard the Titanic. Plans under discussion as of 2022 include a potential Titanic museum on Pier 16, but restoration does not have the support of the museum.

Other memorials

Straus Park, away on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

at Broadway and West 106th St., is a memorial to Ida and Isidor Straus, who died on ''Titanic''. Additional memorials exist in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, and Washington, D.C.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1913 establishments in New York City Government buildings in Manhattan Lighthouses completed in 1913 Lighthouses in New York City RMS Titanic memorials South Street Seaport Time balls Transportation buildings and structures in Manhattan