Monitor Memorial

You are approaching the Monitor Memorial in McGolrick Park, a site that marks Greenpoint’s pivotal role in the American Civil War. The neighborhood was home to the Continental Ironworks, where workers and engineers raced against time to construct the USS Monitor. This ironclad warship featured a radical design that included a low-profile iron hull and the first revolving gun turret in naval history. Launched into the East River in January eighteen sixty-two, the vessel fundamentally changed maritime warfare by proving that steam-powered, armored ships could render traditional wooden fleets obsolete.