U Thant Island

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U Thant Island

U Thant Island (officially Belmont Island) is a tiny 100 x 200 foot (30 x 60 metre

Metre

The metre or meter is a Unit of measurement of length. It is the SI base unit of length in the metric system and in the International System of Units , used around the world for general and scientific purposes....
) artificial island

Artificial island

An artificial island is an island that has been constructed by humans rather than formed by natural means. They are created by expanding existing islets, construction on existing reefs, or amalgamating several natural islets into a bigger island....
in New York City

New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
's East River

East River

The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland....
, just south of Roosevelt Island

Roosevelt Island

Roosevelt Island, formerly known as Welfare Island , and before that Blackwell's Island, is a narrow island in the East River of New York City....
. It lies across from United Nations headquarters

United Nations headquarters

The United Nations Headquarters is a distinctive complex in New York City that has served as the headquarters of the United Nations since its completion in 1950....
at 42nd Street, and is legally considered part of the Borough of Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is one of the five borough of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.With a United States Census of 1,620,867 living in a land area of 22.96 square miles , Manhattan, coextensive with New York County, is the most population density county in the United States, w...
and New York County.

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U Thant Island (officially Belmont Island) is a tiny 100 x 200 foot (30 x 60 metre

Metre

Artificial island

New York City

East River

Roosevelt Island

United Nations headquarters

Manhattan

Nature reserve

A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora , fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for Conservation ethic and to provide special opportunities for study or research....
for migrating birds

Bird migration

Bird migration refers to the regular seasonal journeys undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather....
, including a small colony of Double-crested Cormorant

Double-crested Cormorant

The Double-crested Cormorant is a member of the cormorant family of seabirds. It occurs along inland waterways as well as in coastal areas, and is widely distributed across North America, from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska down to Florida and Mexico....
, and access is prohibited to the public.

History

The island has its origins in the 1890s as a side-effect of William Steinway

William Steinway

William Steinway, also Wilhelm Steinway, , son of Steinway & Sons founder Henry E. Steinway, was a businessman and civic leader who was influential in the development of Astoria, New York....
's construction of trolley

Tram

A tram, tramcar, trolley, trolley car, or streetcar is a railroad car, of lighter weight and construction than a train, designed for the transport of passengers within, close to, or between villages, towns and/or cities, on tracks running primarily on streets....
tunnel

Tunnel

A tunnel is an underground passageway. The definition of what constitutes a tunnel is not universally agreed upon. However, in general tunnels are at least twice as long as they are wide....
s under the river to link bustling Manhattan to his eponymous company town

Company town

A company town is a town or city in which all real estate, buildings , utilities, hospitals, small businesses such as grocery stores and gas stations, and other necessities or luxuries of life within its borders are owned by a single company ....
in Steinway, Queens

Queens

Queens is the largest in area, the second-largest in population, and the easternmost of the Borough which form the New York City. The Borough of Queens' boundaries are identical to those of the County of Queens , a Administrative divisions of New York#County of the State of New York in the Northeastern United States United States....
. The island was built up on the existing granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of Intrusion , felsic, igneous rock rock . Granite has a medium to coarse texture, occasionally with some individual crystals larger than the groundmass forming a rock known as Porphyry ....
outcrop Man-o'-War Reef using excess landfill

Land reclamation

Land reclamation is either of two distinct practices. One involves creating new land from sea- or riverbeds, the other refers to restoring an area to a more natural state ....
from a shaft

Shaft mining

Shaft mining or Shaft sinking refers to the method of excavating a vertical or near-vertical tunnel from the top down, where there is initially no access to the bottom....
dug down the reef

Reef

In nautical terminology, a reef is a Rock , bar , or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water .Many reefs result from abiotic processes?deposition of sand, wave erosion planning down rock outcrops, and other natural processes?but the best-known reefs are the coral reefs of tropical waters developed through biotic processes do...
to the tunnels. Steinway died before his tunnels' completion, and it was financier August Belmont, Jr. who finished the project in 1907, leaving the finished islet as a bonus.

The Steinway Tunnels are still in use as part of the 7

7 (New York City Subway service)

The 7 Flushing Local and 7 Flushing Express are rapid transit services of the New York City Subway, providing local and express services along the full length of the IRT Flushing Line....
-Flushing line in the New York Subway, and train

Train

A train is a connected series of vehicles that move along a track to rail transport from one place to another. The track usually consists of two rail tracks, but might also be a monorail or magnetic levitation train guideway....
s still pass directly beneath the island many times a day. Belmont Island, named after the financier, became the legal name of the island.

The small inconvenient island was unused and almost forgotten for nearly a century, until in 1977 it was adopted by employees at nearby UN headquarters following the guru

Guru

A guru is a person who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom and authority in a certain area, and who uses these abilities to guide others....
Sri Chinmoy

Sri Chinmoy

Chinmoy Kumar Ghose was an Indian spiritual teacher and philosopher who emigrated to the U.S. in 1964. An author, composer, artist and athlete, he was perhaps best known for holding public events on the theme of inner peace and world harmony ....
, who served as an interfaith

Interfaith

The terms interfaith or interfaith dialogue refer to cooperative and positive interaction between people of different religious traditions and spiritual or humanistic beliefs, at both the individual and institutional level with the aim of deriving a common ground in belief through a concentration on similarities between faiths, unde...
chaplain

Chaplain

A chaplain is typically a priest, pastor, ordained deacon, rabbi, imam or other member of the clergy serving a group of people who are not organized as a mission or church , or who are unable to attend church for various reasons; such as health, confinement, or military or civil duties; Laity chaplains are also found in other settings such...
there. The group, called Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations, leased the islet from the state of New York

New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
, greened its surface and unofficially renamed it after Burmese Buddhist United Nations Secretary General U Thant

U Thant

U Thant was a Burma diplomat and the third United Nations Secretary General of the United Nations, from 1961 to 1971. He was chosen for the post when his predecessor Dag Hammarskj?ld was killed in an aviation accidents and incidents in September 1961....
, a friend of Chinmoy. Although unofficial, U Thant Island has stuck as the common name for the island. The islet is now the site of a thirty-foot "oneness
Oneness

Oneness may refer to:* Divine oneness, the belief that God is without parts* Oneness Pentecostalism , a particular belief about the Godhead held largely by Oneness Pentecostalism...
arch
Arch

An arch is a structure that Span a space while supporting weight . Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture, but their systematic use started with the Ancient Rome who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures....
" preserving personal items of the island's namesake.

Trivia

During the 2004 Republican National Convention

2004 Republican National Convention

The 2004 Republican National Convention, the United States presidential nominating convention of the Republican Party of the United States, took place from August 30 to September 2, 2004 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York....
, NYC artist and film-maker Duke Riley, who has traveled to various "abandoned" islands around the New York City area, rowed a boat with a friend and a bottle of rum

Rûm

R?m, also Roum or Rhum , is a very indefinite term used at different times in the Muslim world to refer to the Balkans and Anatolia generally, and for the Byzantine Empire in particular, for the Seljuk Sultanate of R?m in Asia Minor, and for Greeks inhabiting Ottoman Empire or modern Turkey territory as well as for Greek Cypriots....
to the island under cover of darkness, proclaimed it a sovereign nation and hoisted a 21 foot long pennant depicting two electric eels from the island's tower. On their return voyage in daylight, they were apprehended by a United States Coast Guard

United States Coast Guard

The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the Military of the United States and one of seven Uniformed services of the United States. In addition to being a military branch at all times, it is unique among the armed forces in that it is also a Admiralty law agency and a Federal government of the United States regulatory agency....
boat, but were not arrested. The entire incident was videotaped for a piece Riley has entitled "Belmont Island (SMEACC)" ; the acronym standing for "Situation, Mission, Execution, and Command Control".

External links

-photos
-photos
-clear photo of arch
-Steinway's Queens company town

-recent reports on cormorant and gull nesting activity at U Thant Island

-their construction
-7 Line