By:Chris Munzing
The society was concerned that the site, on the Foundation Block at Riverside Boulevard, was being overlooked by the city after workers began removing overgrown shrubbery and makeshift shelters built by homeless people at the site last week. The cleaning was completed earlier this week, Acting City Manager Charles Theofan said.
Dr. Lowell Taubman, who has studied the military history of Long Beach, said that the remains of the tower and a few surrounding bunkers were once part of a fire-control tower for the 16-inch guns of Battery Harris at Fort Tilden in the Rockaways. Battery Harris was a series of gun locations, bunkers and lookouts established in New York and New Jersey to defend the East Coast against possible Nazi invasions.
Long Beach historian Roberta Fiore wants to make sure that the story is told and that a historical marker is placed. "We don't want this to be forgotten," she said.
Theofan spoke with Fiore about the idea of memorializing the site, and said he was excited about it. "I said that it was an absolutely great idea," Theofan said. "We spoke about putting a post with a sign or a plaque on the boardwalk to remember it."
Fiore and Taubman explained that during its use, there were several submarine sightings made from the 100-foot tall tower. Taubman in particular was excited to know that Long Beach had played a role in protecting the U.S. "Long Beach was part of America's defense during the war," he said. "The tower was important to this nation."
Fiore said that she was also interested in finding out more about the tower's role in everyday life in Long Beach after the war. "It has emotional appeal for people who were alive in the 1950s," she said. "It was a meeting place near the boardwalk - all the kids would go there. Kids would climb on it. It was fun. It should be remembered."
Taubman said that he would like to see the site fully excavated so that the remains of the structure, which he said are buried under several feet of sand, could be fully researched.
"It's a great World War II story," Fiore said. "To have actual sightings off of our island. We want to know about it. We want to document it. We have to have this story." She added that the Long Beach Historical Society is looking for anyone who might have stories or photographs of the tower so that it can be properly documented.
Fiore first learned about the tower when she was giving a tour of the city to members of the Long Beach Middle School class of 1955, which was in town last month for the opening of a time capsule from 1954. "We walked up onto the boardwalk, and one of the people asked what happened to the watch tower," Fiore said. "I said, 'What tower?' And now we have this great story."
Comments about this story? DMiller@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
