Keansburg Steamboat Comapny

The Keansburg Steamboat Company

The Keansburg ferry service company was founded in 1910 by William Alvin Gelhaus as a means of providing transportation for New Yorkers who were interested in buying homes or vacationing in Keansburg. Gelhaus understood that transportation is the cornerstone of any great city.  Keansburg at this time was a tranquil place of beauty but the roads leading to it were circumspect at best.  In many ways the ferry service ushered in the modern era for the town, spurring a period of economic growth.

In 1893, Gelhaus helped found the New Point Beach Company.  This real estate venture was established to attract wealthy people from the city, to buy vacation homes and perhaps, permanently settle here.  New York City was becoming quite crowded at this time with industrialisation and waves of immigration. (See Point Comfort Real Estate)

During this period the town known as Granville, mainly served as a conduit for grain and fresh produce to the bustling city via Tanner's Landing (where Main Street terminates at the beach).   In 1906, the company owned a large parcel of land in town with Jesse Sculthorp and Howard Roberts as partners.  Together, they laid out Beachway Avenue from Carr Ave and terminating at Pineview Avenue.  This promenade constituted the hub of this beach community with a view of sea and the great city beyond.

In 1909, the company bought its first steamboat, the Accomack in Norfolk, Virginia.  The company began regular service on July 1st of that year and would usually complete the trip in the unbelievable speed (at that time) of an hour and ten minutes.

The initial purpose of the service was to attract buyers for the real estate venture they had begun. Keansburg Heights Development, another real estate developer saw the wisdom of this service and purchased $1500 worth of tickets valued at 34 cents a piece.  This company owned another parcel of land that roughly encompassed Beachway Avenue from Pinewood Place west, towards Laurel Avenue. Soon, people from NYC were visiting the bayshore town daily as a retreat from the bustling city.


The Keansburg Steamboat Company owned several ships during its tenure.  A great many of them lost or damaged due to storm damage and ice.  Among the ships owned by the company were the "Keansburg" (different ship than the "City of Keansburg"), the "Mobjack" and "Pocahontas".  Pictures of these ships can be seen below and a complete list of ships is available at the end of the article.

However, the flagship of the line was undoubtedly The City of Keansburg.   She was the only steamboat that was built specifically for the Keansburg Steamboat Company.  Built in Newburgh, NY in 1926, she was 231 feet long.  The ship worked the NYC ferry route until a  hurricane destroyed the Keansburg pier, one final time in 1962 (Hurricane Donna).  The Gelhaus family sold the boat in 1968 for $65,000.  The boat then operated until 1971 on the Raritan Bay and lower Hudson river under various operators.  In 1974, the historic ferry sat in drydock in Perth Amboy, waiting to be auctioned off for scrap metal. A similar fate befell the historic Waackaack Rear Range Light (See Lighthouses of Keansburg )

City of Keansburg & City of New York at Battery Park NYC

In the 1950's and 1960's several storms wrecked the Keansburg Ferry Pier.  The heyday of ferry service ended when the cost of repair became prohibitive.  During this same period, the advent of a national highway system made transportation by car and bus cheaper.  The Gelhaus family purchased the Blue & White Line bus company as a replacement service for the ferry.  This early bus line was the precursor of today's Academy Bus Co, still in operation.  (See New Jersey Hurricanes)

The construction of the Garden State Parkway along with the development of commercial airports allowed people to travel farther afield from home than ever before.  Unfortunately, this development signaled the end of golden age of the Jersey shore.  Keansburg would be one of many small towns to suffer the loss of income as people began to travel farther from home for vacation and winter retreat.

Steamer Keansburg built in 1878 in Chelsea, MA., at 174.4 feet in length.  Destroyed by fire in 1928.

Steamer Mobjack built in 1899 in Newburgh,NY., at 180.2 feet in length.  Dismantled for scrap in 1939.

Mobjack

Mobjack

Mobjack leaving Battery NYC for Keansburg

Steamer Pocahontas

Ferry Service Schedule for 1932

City of Keansburg While Still in Service (1960)

City of Keansburg in Dry Dock

City of Keansburg Waiting To Be Scrapped in Perth Amboy

A newer photo of a rusting City of Keansburg, unknown origin.

Keansburg Ferry Pier in the 1950s with Miniature Train track visible.

Keansburg Ferry Pier with Miniature Train 1950's

Keansburg Ferry Pier with Miniature Train 1940's

Keansburg Ferry Pier before minature train was available 1930's

Keansburg Fishing Pier in 2011

Keansburg Fishing Pier after Hurricane Sandy 2012

Map of Modern Ferry Service to NYC from Belford & Atlantic Highlands

STEAMBOATS OWNED BY THE KEANSBURG STEAMBOAT CO.

CHRYSTENAH
Built in Nyack, NY 1866. 196.5 feet long. Bought by the Keansburg Steamboat Co. in 1912. Sank, crushed by ice, winter of 1919-1920.

CITY OF KEANSBURG
Built in 1926 and launched 1926 May 27 at Newburgh, NY. 231 feet long. In 1938 the company advertised three departures each way from New York and Keansburg and moonlight sails from the Battery. The ship was still in operation in May of 1944, but was sold by the company in 1968 for $65,000. Early in 1974 it had been purchased to be used as a restaurant in New York City, but the plans fell through and the ship was in drydock in Perth Amboy in November 1974, waiting to be auctioned off.

CITY OF NEW YORK
Built around 1926. Destroyed by a hurricane in 1953

KEANSBURG
Built in Chelsea, MA, 1878. 173.4 feet long. Originally named NANTASKET. Bought by the Keansburg Steamboat Co. from the Long Island Railroad Co. 1910 March 21, and renamed 1910 April 13. Destroyed by fire at Newburgh, NY 1928 April 16.

KEYPORT
Built in 1871 as the MARTHA'S VINEYARD. Bought by the Keansburg Steamboat Co. in 1913. Broken up in 1917.

LITTLE SILVER
Bought by the Keansburg Steamboat Co. from the Patten Line in 1929. Operated until 1932.

MARY PATTEN
Boughtby the Keansburg Steamboat Co. from the Patten Line in 1929. Operated until 1932.

MOBJACK
Built in Newburgh, NY 1899. 180.2 feet long. Bought by the Keansburg Steamboat Co. 1922 April 14. Dismantled 1939 November 17.

POCAHONTAS
Built in Wilmington, DE 1893. 195 feet long. Bought by the Keansburg Steamboat Co. 1922 April 18. Dismantled 1939 November 17.

POINT COMFORT
Built in Camden, NJ and Wilmington, DE 1886. 190 feet long. Originally named NANTUCKET. Bought by the Keansburg Steamboat Co 1913 July 2. Name was changed 1913 July 24. Stranded in the Hudson River, 1919 September 17.

SMITHFIELD
Built in Elizabeth, NJ for the Old Dominion Steamboat Co. of Norfolk, VA in 1891. 181.9 feet long. The name was changed from HAMPTON 1909 November 18. It was bought by the Keansburg Steamboat Co. 1922 April 18. The ship carried 1200 passengers and often made the New York - Keansburg run in one hour and ten minutes. It was dismantled 1947 December 29.

See Also:  Mike's Maritime Memoribilia; Monmouth County Historical Society; The Gelhaus Navy

Lighthouses of Keansburg

Lighthouses of Keansburg:  Keansburg had two lighthouses that operated in conjunction with one another.  The two lighthouses operated in a ranged line with a lower one (Bayside Beacon at 45') on the Raritan Bay and the higher one (Waackaack Light at 102') 3/4 of a mile inland on Creek Road.  

Ships in the harbor would set their course by lining up both lights in order to determine their position (using triangulation) in the bay.  The 1924 nautical map below details the position of both lights (Bayside Beacon is listed as Point Comfort Beacon).

Keansburg Ranged Lighthouses (Waackaack and Bayside Beacon)

The Bayside Beacon, originally built in 1856, was a wooden structure but this was replaced by a 45 foot metal tower in 1919.  The original wooden structure served as the light-keeper's home and was briefly a restaurant before being destroyed by fire in the early 1950's.

The Bayside Beacon tower still exists in Leonardo, as part of the Chapel Hill Channel Ranged Light House.  Also, known as the Old Orchard, Shoal Harbor Lighthouse, the tower was taken (read: stolen) by the US Army Corps of Engineers in 1941 to replace the aging octagonal tower, on the lower range in Leonardo, NJ.  The misappropriated tower is now known as Conover Lighthouse.  The lens from the lighthouse is on display in the Twin Lights Museum in Atlantic Highlands.


There is an online petition to return the Bayside Beacon to its rightful owners in Keansburg.  (The form can be downloaded in pdf and printed.)

Link:  Return The Keansburg Lighthouse Petition

Original Bayside Light House 

Bayside Beacon before 1919

Bayside Beacon with metal tower after 1919

Thomas Comton, one of the last lighthouse keepers at the Bayside Beacon.

The original Bayside Beacon boarded up before it burnt down.

Point Comfort Light Tower at the current location in Leonardo.

The metal tower resembles a submarine periscope.

The tower sits vandalized with graffiti.

The tower sits unused

The Waackaack Light Beacon was built in the 1860's to replace an existing wooden structure built in 1856.  No photographs were available of this original wooden structure.  This rear range light was the higher of the two range lights at just over 100 feet high.

The Waackaack Light was located near Creek Road, 3/4 of a mile inland from the Bayside Beacon (pictured above).  Waackaack structure can be seen in several photographs below, along with the light keeper's house.  Also known as Wilson's Light, it could also be aligned with the Great Bed's Light (constructed 1880) in the Raritan Bay near South Amboy.

The odd name derives from the original Leni-Lenape name for the area of Keansburg, meaning "Land of Plenty" (Waackaack).  The metal tower was dismantled for scrap in the 1950's after failing to be designated a historical landmark, foiled by bureaucracy and government red tape.  The light keeper's house still stands on Creek Road, obscured by high bushes.

The original light keeper's house still stands on Creek Road.

The view from atop Waackaack Light

All Major Lighthouse Installations Raritan Bay 1887

Lighthouse Triangulation Map

See Also:  Mike's Maritime Memorabilia; New Jersey Lighthouse Society

Books about Keansburg

Books about Keansburg: A few books have been written with Keansburg for the setting of the story.  Some of these stories are fictional and some are not.

• The Crystal Ballroom is the semi-autobiographical tale of the famed cartoon artist of the Marvel heroine "Red Sonja".  Frank Thorne is "one of the most respected and accomplished comic artists of his generation."  The illustrated story tells the tale of several teenagers growing up in the World War II era of the 1940's.  They all have the same ambition, to play jazz at the famed Crystal Ballroom in Keansburg, New Jersey.  The actual Crystal Ballroom was one of the premier music venues in the forties and fifties.

         Google Books Link:  The Crystal Ballroom

• Shoretown, a novel by Dan Milczarski, tells a sordid tale of several friends down on their luck in a poor beach resort area.  An interesting story that's poorly written by someone who obviously had a bad time growing up in a similar community.  The book cover shows a picture of the boardwalk area reflected in a dirty puddle, suggesting something ominous.  There are several references to corruption in the town, some very real and some imagined.

Google Books Link:  Shoretown

• Keansburg, Images of America, is part of a series documenting life in small towns across New Jersey.  The author Randall Gabrielan does a decent job of documenting life in the town from its beginning to the period just before Word War II.

Google Books Link:  Keansburg

New Point Comfort Real Estate

New Point Comfort Real Estate:  The town of Keansburg began as a Summer holiday resort and real estate venture.  

In 1893, William Alvin Gelhaus founded the New Point Beach Company with his partners Jesse Sculthorp and Howard Roberts.  This real estate venture was established to attract wealthy people from the city, to buy vacation homes and perhaps, permanently settle here. New York City was becoming quite crowded at this time with industrialisation and waves of immigration. 

On June 7th of 1914, a full page advertisement in the NY Tribune was taken out to display the opportunities available entitled "Jersey Coast Resorts".  

Link:  Jersey Coast Resorts at Fulton History.com

Songs of Keansburg

Songs of Keansburg:

Link:  Welcome to Keansburg by the Two Can Band

Link:  Pride of Keansburg by Roger 'Hurricane" Wilson