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Sep 7, 2021 · Sep 07, 2021 — Mohawk ironworker Michael Mitchell working on cleanup at Ground Zero. 2001. Photo courtesy of Michael Mitchell. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 hit one North Country...
- Origins of The Mohawk Skywalkers
- Quebec Bridge Disaster
- Little Caughnawaga: Brooklyn’s Mohawk Community
- Riveting Gangs
- Heyday of Skyscraper Building
- Skywalkers at The World Trade Center
The Mohawk Skywalker tradition began in 1886 when some daring Mohawk men from Kahnawake took jobs helping build the Victoria Bridge across the St. Lawrence River, which borders their reserve near Montreal. Just as early European settlers had observed Mohawks walking fearlessly across rivers on narrow logs, early ironworkers showed an unusual aptitu...
The Skywalker tradition nearly came to an end in 1907 when 33 Mohawk men from Kahnawake died during a collapse of the Quebec Bridge near Quebec City. More than two-thirds of these men were married, leaving behind dozens of children and 24 widows. The resilient Skywalkers rebounded, but only after Mohawk women demanded that they not work together in...
By 1960 Atlantic Avenue and the Boerum Hill area of Brooklyn was home to about 800 Mohawk ironworkers and their relatives. Many frequented the Wigwam Bar and attended a church run by Rev. David Munroe Cory, who even learned the Mohawk language to give sermons in their native tongue. Storekeepers supplied ingredients for favorite Mohawk recipes like...
Skyscrapers of the ’20s and ’30s were framed with steel columns, beams and girders fitted together by four-man riveting gangs. One man called a “heater” fired the rivets in a portable forge until they were red-hot, tossing them to the “sticker-in” who caught it in a metal can or glove. The “bucker-up” braced the rivet with a dolly bar while the “ri...
Advances in metallurgy during the early 1900s had made it possible for architects to design much taller buildings using a skeleton of hardened steel, fastened by riveting gangs. During the 1920s, this led to a “race to the sky” as some of the most notable skyscrapers in Gotham began to take shape. Mohawks worked on the 1,046-foot Chrysler Building,...
Hundreds of Mohawk ironworkers went to work on the World Trade Centertowers in the late 1960s. Beauvais watched the towers rise from her mother’s kitchen window in Brooklyn. Her grandmother said not to visit the job site to see what the men do. “‘It’ll make you nervous,’ she said—and it does. I went to lower Manhattan later to see my brother Kyle B...
Several new items have rotated on view in the 9/11 Memorial Museum’s historical exhibition. Artifacts in this exhibition tell the story of the events of the day as well as demonstrate the tasks undertaken in the immediate aftermath.
Sep 8, 2021 · North Country Public Radio's Ana Williams-Bergen spoke with some Mohawk steelworkers as they look back to that fateful time 20 years ago. This segment aired on September 8, 2021. Here & Now's...
Sep 8, 2021 · courtesy of Michael Mitchell. Mohawk ironworker Michael Mitchell works on cleanup at ground zero in 2001. The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, hit one North Country community particularly...
Mohawk Ironworkers in the aftermath of 9/11. September 13, 2016 Carolyn Potts. Part 2 of the 9/11 story on APTN’s Mohawk Ironworkers continues tonight with the stories of three Mohawk...
Nov 16, 2018 · (Jessica Deer/CBC) For generations, Mohawk ironworkers have helped shape New York City's iconic skyline. Now that history of slinging steel is celebrated in Skywalkers: A Portrait of the...
