In 1862, William Darling opened the island's first commercial ship building lot in city island and David Carll built the first shipyard on the island.
The Carll yard developed over time and in 1886 Henry Piepgras bought the yard. With his purchase, he introduced steel & iron ships to the island.
In 1900, Piepgras sold to Robert Jacob who brought in expert Ratsey.
They built the largest yacht to be built on the island - Caroline - in 1914, which was 187 feet long.
Augustus B. Wood opened a boatyard shortly after Carll. Wood's yard build the world's fastest yacht, Feiseen.
In WWI, the island was not very involved in building ships since it had poor access.
In 1907 (after WWI), Henry B. Nevins founded the Henry B. Nevins shipyard. This shipyard built 20 victory-class sailboats to revive yachting. *A number of the yachts were even built in the Great Depression.
In WWII, access to the island was better and so the island got many contracts building ships. So many in fact, that an influx of employees were hired.
After the war, the island's economy tanked. Fiberglass was introduced elsewhere and shipyards were moved further in the US or abroad for cheaper costs.
It is considered that the luxury-yacht era died with Henry B. Nevins in 1950.
After Henry B. Nevins' death, his widow sold the yard to Carl Hougard, who saw it as a hobby more than a business. However, the yard did build the Columbia, which won America's Cup in 1958. The yard closed in 1960.
Minneford was the last yacht yard on city island to closed down in 1983. It produced yachts that went to win 6 America's Cups between 1964 & 1980.
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