Weehawken Terminal was the waterfront intermodal terminal on the North River (Hudson River) in Weehawken, New Jersey for the New York Central Railroad's West Shore Railroad division, whose route traveled along the west shore of the Hudson River. It opened in 1884 and closed in 1959. The complex contained five ferry slips, sixteen passenger train tracks, car float facilities, and extensive yards. The facility was also used by the New York, Ontario and Western Railway. The terminal was one of five passenger railroad terminals that lined the Hudson Waterfront during the 19th and 20th centuries; the others were located at Hoboken, Pavonia, Exchange Place and Communipaw, with Hoboken being the only one still in use. Today, the site is the location of

Weehawken Port Imperial Port Imperial is an intermodal transit hub on the Weehawken, New Jersey, waterfront of the Hudson River across from Midtown Manhattan, served by New York Waterway ferries and buses, Hudson–Bergen Light Rail, and NJT buses. The district lies ...

, an inter-modal transit hub used by New Jersey Transit buses, the Hudson Bergen Light Rail and

New York Waterway NY Waterway (or New York Waterway) is a private transportation company running ferry and bus service in the Port of New York and New Jersey and in the Hudson Valley. The company utilizes public-private partnership with agencies such as the Port ...

Weehawken Ferry

A patent for a ferry route from Weehawken to Manhattan was first granted by Governor of New York

Richard Coote Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont (sometimes spelled Bellamont, 1636 – 5 March 1700/01In the Julian calendar, then in use in England, the year began on 25 March. To avoid confusion with dates in the Gregorian calendar, then in us ...

in 1700. It was a sail and row service later superseded by steamboat service, notably at Hoboken in 1834. The route then operated sporadically for years, and became the object of a legislative investigation in 1870. It was purchased by the New Jersey Midland Railway in 1871. From 1913 until the 1927 opening of the Holland Tunnel, it was a component of the National Old Trails Road and the Lincoln Highway, two of the oldest transcontinental highways in the United States. Both began at Times Square, crossed the river and traveled up Hudson Palisades along Pershing Road. In addition to 42nd Street, boats also traveled to

Cortlandt Street Ferry Depot Cortlandt Street Ferry Depot was the main ferry terminal of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the West Shore Railroad on the North River (Hudson River) in lower Manhattan. The railroads operated ferries to their terminal stations on the Hudson River ...

in lower Manhattan. The ''Weehawken'' was the last ferry to the terminal on March 25, 1959 at 1:10 am, ending 259 years of continuous ferry service. In 2006, New York Waterway reinstated passenger ferry service to Weehawken with the construction of a new ferry terminal. Ferries travel to Pier 79,

Battery Park City Ferry Terminal The Battery Park City Ferry Terminal, is a passenger ferry terminal in Battery Park City, Manhattan, serving ferries along the Hudson River in New York City and Gateway Region, northeastern New Jersey. It provides ferry slip, slips to ferries, wa ...

. and Pier 11/Wall Street.

Railroad lines

The West Shore Railroad maintained extensive routes to the north and west. The

New York Central The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

bought the

New York, West Shore and Buffalo Railway The West Shore Railroad was the final name of a railroad that ran from Weehawken, New Jersey, on the west bank of the Hudson River opposite New York City, north to Albany, New York, and then west to Buffalo. It was organized as a competitor ...

on November 24, 1885 and reorganized its new acquisition as the West Shore Railroad on December 5, immediately leasing it for 475 years from January 1, 1886. Trains departed the terminal and traveled under Bergen Hill, as the southern portion of the Hudson Palisades is known, in the Weehawken Tunnel: a tunnel that had been built in the three preceding years. They traveled inland and north along the Palisade ridge between the competing Erie Railroad Northern Branch and Pascack Valley Line. At Haverstraw the route returned to the river and proceeded north to

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

and Albany, and eventually to Buffalo. Suburban service to the Northern Valley in

Bergen County Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Rockland County Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. It is about from the Bronx at their closest points. The county's population, as of th ...

included stops at Bogota, Dumont, Tappan, and Nyack. In the early 1990s there were studies made to consider the revival of service along the right-of-way to Nyack. The NYO&W mainline ran to Oswego, a port city on Lake Ontario. It had branch lines to Scranton, Pennsylvania and to

; Port Jervis; Delhi; Utica and Rome in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Using the same tunnel, the New York Central also operated the New Jersey Junction Railroad south to

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.New Jersey Shore Line Railroad The New Jersey Shore Line Railroad was part of the New York Central Railroad and ran along the Hudson River in New Jersey, from the West Shore Railroad (NYCRR) yards at Guttenberg, New Jersey, Guttenberg north to the Erie Terminals Railroad at t ...

north to Edgewater. The NYO&W last had passenger service to Weehawken on September 10, 1953. Portions of those

rights-of-way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

became part of Conrail's River Line and subsequently the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail.

Other transportation

Between 1892-1949

streetcars A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

, initially operated by the

North Hudson County Railway The North Hudson Railway Company built and operated a streetcar system in Hudson County and southeast Bergen County, New Jersey before and after the start of the 20th century. It was founded by Hillric J. Bonn who became the first President in 18 ...

and later the Public Service Railway as

lines Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Arts ...

19 Union City, 21 West New York, 23 Palisade, 25 Weehawken, ran along Pershing Road providing local access to the terminal. For a brief period in the 1890s the terminal was also served by a massive elevator structure which transported passengers to a trestle where they could board additional streetcars. The trestle streetcars serviced three well-known entertainment venues — the

Eldorado El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...

; a pleasure garden which overlooked the Eldorado; and

Nungesser's Nungessers is the name of the confluence of roads that meet at the Hudson and Bergen county line at North Bergen and Fairview in northeastern New Jersey. The area is the former site of the Nungesser's Gutenberg Racetrack, a late 19th-century gami ...

Guttenberg Racetrack.

Site

The Weehawken waterfront is located north of Weehawken Cove on a long narrow strip of land between the Hudson River and Hudson Palisades that, in the last centuries, has been transformed from an estuary flood zone once called Slough's Meadow to an extensive rail and shipping port. The site was redeveloped in the late 20th century into a residential and recreational area. The United Fruit Company once maintained the largest banana warehouse in the USA nearby, which has since been refurbished as commercial space. The Hudson River Waterfront Walkway is a partially-completed promenade along the bulkhead that was created as part of the redevelopment of the area. In 2009, the site was used by emergency services in the rescuing of passengers for US Airways Flight 1549, which made an emergency landing on the Hudson River.

References

External links

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Old Photo of TerminalStreet Terminal photo1882 description of site
{{NYC terminals Former railway stations in New Jersey Railway stations in the United States opened in 1884 Railway stations closed in 1959 Weehawken, New Jersey Former New York Central Railroad stations Railway stations in New Jersey Ferry terminals in New Jersey Weehawken Tunnel Railway stations in Hudson County, New Jersey Hudson River Transit hubs serving New Jersey Demolished railway stations in the United States 1884 establishments in New Jersey 1959 disestablishments in New Jersey Railway stations serving harbours and ports