In the early 1900s, the Electric Boat Company built a boatyard in Bayonne at the foot of North Street on the banks of Newark Bay. The Electric Launch Company, known as Elco, built its iconic vessels along these shores until the boatyard closed and relocated its operations in 1963. Originally made for the wealthy and later for a fast growing consumer industry, Elco’s crafts were owned by the likes of Thomas Edison, John Jacob Astor and Czar Nicholas II. During World War I, the British government contracted with Elco to produce sub-chasers to help to counter German submarine superiority in the North Atlantic. The Elco produced these boats in record time.

It was, however, World War II that solidified Elco’s place in Bayonne’s history. With Europe and Asia in the throes of war, the Elco Naval Division of the Electric Launch Company was formed in 1939. Working around the clock and under a sign that read “He who relaxes helps the Axis,” the men and women of Elco manufactured nearly 400 Patrol Torpedo (PT) boats in Bayonne. The U.S. Navy used these ships during World War II to combat German submarines. Nicknamed “Devil Boats” and the “Mosquito Fleet” because they were able to move silently and effectively, Elco’s PT boats have been credited with sinking 250,000 enemy shipments during the war. Notably, PT-109, commanded by future president, John F. Kennedy, was constructed in Bayonne while another Elco PT boat commanded by Lieutenant John Bulkeley was involved in the rescue of General Douglas MacArthur from the Philippines.

In 1949, Elco merged with its sister corporation, Electric Boat, and continued work under the name, ElectroDynamic. A fire destroyed the boatyard in 1963. The company then relocated to Avenel, New Jersey. The Boat Works, a waterfront community of townhouses, now occupies the site. In 2006, an original Elco crane which had been spared during two devastating fires, was relocated to Mayor Richard A. Rutkowski Park. These colossal cranes had been built to lift and to lower PT boats into Newark Bay.

The Elco Boatworks played a critical role in the history of Bayonne and the nation. It provided jobs and a purpose for generations of our residents while helping to bring pleasure to thousands of boat owners but we honor the work that took place at this site because of the role the Elco Naval Division factory played in our nation's victory in World War II. To those men and women of the Elco, we are eternally grateful.