Originally called the Harding Plant, the Structural Fabrication Facility was built in 1940 after then-BIW President William S. “Pete” Newell received a telegram from Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox. It read, “Take immediate steps to expand your facilities with the view to greatly enlarged shipbuilding program.” BIW purchased the site of an old trotting park in East Brunswick, which was originally planned to be a steel storage facility but President Newell’s son, John Newell, envisioned the steel fabricating and galvanizing plant we all know today.
