The Chambers Street Ferry Terminal was the

Erie Railroad The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the northeastern United States, originally connecting New York City — more specifically Jersey City, New Jersey, where Erie's Pavonia Terminal, long demolished, used to stand — with Lake Erie ...

's main

ferry slip A ferry slip is a specialized docking facility that receives a ferryboat or train ferry. A similar structure called a barge slip receives a barge or car float that is used to carry wheeled vehicles across a body of water. Often a ferry intend ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and the point of departure and embarkation for passengers in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The terminal was one of several operated by ferry companies and railroads that lined the western shore of

during the 19th and 20th centuries. The

Pavonia Ferry The Pavonia Ferry was a ferry service on the North River (Hudson River), Hudson River which conveyed passengers between New York City and Jersey City. It was launched in 1854. It was sold to the Pavonia Ferry Company of Jersey City for what was co ...

operated for over 100 years from the terminal, which was demolished about three years after the Erie Railroad stopped its ferry service to Chambers Street in December, 1958.

History

The Erie Railroad's ferry service to Chambers Street began shortly after the construction of the railroad's line to Jersey City which opened in 1856. The Erie eventually would open

Pavonia Terminal Pavonia Terminal was the Erie Railroad terminal on the Hudson River situated on the landfilled Harsimus Cove in Jersey City, New Jersey. The station opened in 1861 and closed in 1958 when the Erie Railroad moved its passenger services to nearby ...

on the Western shore of the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

and its passengers used the ferries to travel across the river. Many streetcar systems began at the Manhattan side of the many ferries that at landed there. The

Metropolitan Street Railway The New York Railways Company operated street railways in Manhattan, New York City, United States between 1911 and 1925. The company went into receivership in 1919 and control was passed to the New York Railways Corporation in 1925 after which al ...

system began after the merger of the Chambers Street & Grand Street Ferry Railway and the

Houston Street Houston Street ( ) is a major east–west thoroughfare in Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs the full width of the island of Manhattan, from FDR Drive along the East River in the east to the West Side Highway along the Hudson River in t ...

West Street The Joe DiMaggio Highway, commonly called the West Side Highway and formerly the Miller Highway, is a mostly surface section of New York State Route 9A (NY 9A), running from West 72nd Street along the Hudson River to the southern t ...

& Pavonia Ferry Railroad, on January 30, 1891. The roads were capitalized for $800,000 and $250,000 respectively, totaling a combined capital of $1,050,000. A January 18, 1903, letter from a

Passaic, New Jersey Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 70,537, ranking as the 16th largest municipality in New Jersey and an increase of 656 from the 69,78 ...

reader to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', commented about the inadequacy of the boats of the Pavonia Ferry, which was then the property of the Erie Railroad. ''All their boats are old, small and entirely inadequate to accommodate the crowds during rush hours.'' The vessels then in use by the Erie Railroad, listed with first year of service, were Pavonia (1861), Susquehanna (1865), Delaware (1868), Chatauqua (1868), Passaic (1869), Ridgewood (1873), Paterson (1886), and J.G. McCullough (1891). 1879 Pavoniaferrymap

It was not until 1910 with the opening of

New York Tunnel Extension The New York Tunnel Extension (also New York Improvement and Tunnel Extension) is a combination of railroad tunnels and approaches from New Jersey and Long Island to Pennsylvania Station (New York City), Pennsylvania Station in Midtown Manhattan ...

that rail service underneath the Hudson River was achieved and several railroads had ferry terminals on the west side of Manhattan (e.g. the Central Railroad of New Jersey's

Liberty Street Ferry Terminal Liberty Street Ferry Terminal or Liberty Street Terminal was the Central Railroad of New Jersey's passenger ferry slip in lower Manhattan, New York City and the point of departure and embarkation for passengers travelling on the Central Railroad of ...

) so that their passengers could travel between New York City and their stations in New Jersey. The

New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (or New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad and also known as the Susie-Q or the Susquehanna) is a Class II American freight railway operating over 400 miles (645 km) of track in th ...

used Pavonia Terminal so its passengers also used the terminal along with other commuters. During the 1940s and 1950s it was estimated that 25,000 passengers used the terminal daily. Following a decline in passenger rail travel during the post-war years, the Erie Railroad closed its station at Pavonia in 1958 and on December 12, 1958 the last ferry left from Chambers Street Ferry Terminal. In 1962 Mayor Wagner allocated $162,000 to have the terminal demolished. Ferries continued to operate between New York and New Jersey until the 1960s when service was terminated, only for the service to be reestablished in 1989 with the founding of

NY 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 ...

Gallery

File:Chambers Street Ferry Terminal, c 1900.jpg, Passengers wait inside Chambers Street Ferry Terminal, c 1900 File:Ferry- Chambers Street from the Southwest, West Street, foot of Chambers Street, Manhattan (NYPL b13668355-482546) (cropped).jpg, View of Chambers Street Ferry Terminal from the Southwest, 1938 File:View of ticket office - Erie Railway, Chambers Street Ferry Terminal, Chambers Street, New York, New York County, NY HAER NY,31-NEYO,150-5.tif, View of the ticket office at Chambers Street Ferry Terminal

References

{{Adjacent stations, system=Erie Railroad, line=Pavonia Ferry, left=Jersey City Ferries of New York City Ferries of New Jersey Water transportation in New York City Ferry terminals in Manhattan Erie Railroad New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan 1856 establishments in New York (state) Transit hubs serving New Jersey

History

Gallery

See also

References