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North German Lloyd Piers, Hoboken, N.J.,
Post marked 1906
View from the river.
The story was told in the Land family that Law Land and his son, Percy, had moved from Detroit, Michigan to
Hoboken to rebuild the piers after they had burned.
The problem with this story is that the Lands were living in
Hoboken by the 1890s and had already moved to Smithtown Long Island by the time the piers
burned in 1900. It is almost certain that Law Land returned from Long Island to work on the rebuilding of
the piers. It is known that he was in Hoboken in 1901 and 1902. The story also goes that Percy Land met his future
wife, Meta Petermann, in Hoboken. By the time the Lands moved to Smithtown in 1900 Percy was only 15
years old. Percy and Meta married in 1908. The rebuilding of the piers was completed just a few years after
they burned, probably too soon for Percy to have taken much of a part. However, the train terminal burned in
1905 and was rebuilt by 1907. It is highly likely that Percy met Meta when he returned to Hoboken to work on the rebuilding
of the train station. He is known to have been in Hoboken in 1906.
When the new train station was built, the use of wood and other combustible materials was kept to
an absolute minimum to prevent
a reoccurrence of fire. Most of the construction was metal and cement.
Law and Percy were carpenters by trade. Despite the major use of steel and concrete in the reconstruction of both the piers and train terminal there must have been a fair amount of work for carpenters.
In the building of the train station wood was used:
-
As a nailing surface for copper ornamentation under the cornices and gutters.
- For the bridges in the ferry house
- For the racks that the ferryboats used for docking
- For trim and floors in offices. Most of the furniture was made of metal.
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