The Pennsylvania Railroad Station was the
intermodal passenger terminal for the
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
's (PRR) vast holdings on 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 New ...
and
Upper New York Bay in
Jersey City, New Jersey. By the 1920s the station was called Exchange Place. The rail terminal and its
ferry slips were the main New York City station for the railroad until the opening in 1910 of
New York Pennsylvania Station
Pennsylvania Station, also known as New York Penn Station or simply Penn Station, is the main inter-city rail, intercity railroad station in New York City and the List of busiest railway stations in North America, busiest transportation facilit ...
, made possible by the construction of the
North River Tunnels
The North River Tunnels are a pair of rail tunnels that carry Amtrak and New Jersey Transit passenger lines under the Hudson River between Weehawken, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, New York City, New York. Built between 1904 ...
. It was one of the busiest stations in the world for much of the 19th century.
The terminal was on
Paulus Hook
Paulus Hook is a community on the Hudson River waterfront in Jersey City, New Jersey. It is located across the river from Manhattan. The name Hook comes from the Dutch word "hoeck", which translates to "point of land." This "point of land" ...
, which in 1812 became the landing of the first steam ferry service in the world, and to which rail service began in 1834. Train service to the station ended in November 1961 and demolition of the complex was completed in 1963. Part of the former terminal complex is now the
PATH
A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail.
Path or PATH may also refer to:
Physical paths of different types
* Bicycle path
* Bridle path, used by people on horseback
* Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle
* Desire p ...
system's
Exchange Place Station while the
Harborside Financial Center was built upon part of the old site.
The station was one of five passenger railroad terminals 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 New ...
during the 19th and 20th centuries, the others being
Weehawken,
Hoboken,
Pavonia, and
Communipaw
Communipaw is a neighborhood in Jersey City in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. It is located west of Liberty State Park and east of Bergen Hill, and the site of one of the earliest European settlements in North America. It gives its nam ...
, with Hoboken being the only station still in use.
The PRR referred to the location simply as "Jersey City," and if necessary to distinguish it from other railroads' terminals, as the Pennsylvania station.
History
As early as July 1764 a ferry began operating from
Paulus Hook
Paulus Hook is a community on the Hudson River waterfront in Jersey City, New Jersey. It is located across the river from Manhattan. The name Hook comes from the Dutch word "hoeck", which translates to "point of land." This "point of land" ...
to the foot of Courtland Street (where
Cortland Street Ferry Depot would be built). The first steam ferry service in the world began between Paulus Hook and
Manhattan in 1812, and the
New Jersey Rail Road and Transportation Company opened a rail line from
Newark to Paulus Hook, then part of the newly incorporated
City of Jersey, in 1834. The PRR acquired the railroad in 1871 and replaced the terminal in 1876 and yet again in 1888-1892. Competition along the
Northeast Corridor between New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, principally between the PRR and
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the first common carrier railroad and the oldest railroad in the United States, with its first section opening in 1830. Merchants from Baltimore, which had benefited to some extent from the construction of ...
, was fierce. These railroads both used terminals in Jersey City, there being no tunnels or bridges to Manhattan, and for much of the 19th century, Exchange Place was one of the busiest rail stations in the world.
At Exchange Place passengers could move between the trains and ferries without going outside, and crossed the river on the
Jersey City Ferry to
Cortland Street Ferry Depot in lower Manhattan, to
34th Street in
Midtown Manhattan or via the
Desbrosses Street Ferry
The Desbrosses Street Ferry was a ferry route across the Hudson River (then called the North River) in the 19th and 20th centuries. It provided passengers with ferry service between the Pennsylvania Railroad's Exchange Place station at Jersey Cit ...
which connected to the
Metropolitan Crosstown Line and the
Ninth Avenue Elevated at
Desbrosses St.
In the 1870s the PRR began exploring ways to reach New York directly ''(see
New York Tunnel Extension).'' A number of realignments produced a straighter track, with the final realignment, a new passenger line from
Harrison
Harrison may refer to:
People
* Harrison (name)
* Harrison family of Virginia, United States
Places
In Australia:
* Harrison, Australian Capital Territory, suburb in the Canberra district of Gungahlin
In Canada:
* Inukjuak, Quebec, or "Po ...
to east of the new bridge (now the
PATH Lift Bridge) over the
Hackensack River
The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles (72 km) long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the subur ...
, opening in 1900. (The old freight line still exists as part of the
Passaic and Harsimus Line.)
In 1910 the PRR opened
New York Penn Station
Pennsylvania Station, also known as New York Penn Station or simply Penn Station, is the main intercity railroad station in New York City and the busiest transportation facility in the Western Hemisphere, serving more than 600,000 passengers p ...
in Manhattan. The new station used the North River Tunnels under the Hudson River to reach New York City, enabling direct rail access to New York City from the south for the first time. Penn Station's opening led to sharply reduced PRR traffic at Exchange Place. On October 1, 1911 the
Hudson and Manhattan Railroad
Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) is a rapid transit system in the northeastern New Jersey cities of Newark, Harrison, Jersey City, and Hoboken, as well as Lower and Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is operated as a wholly owned ...
, a
rapid transit system (now called
Port Authority Trans Hudson
Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) is a rapid transit system in the northeastern New Jersey cities of Newark, Harrison, Jersey City, and Hoboken, as well as Lower and Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is operated as a wholly owned sub ...
or PATH), began running over the PRR line west of Waldo Yard, connecting with the new
Manhattan Transfer station
Manhattan Transfer was a passenger transfer station in Harrison, New Jersey, east of Newark, west of New York Penn Station on the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) main line, now Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. It operated from 1910 to 1937 and consist ...
at Harrison. The
Lehigh Valley Railroad
The Lehigh Valley Railroad was a railroad built in the Northeastern United States to haul anthracite coal from the Coal Region in Pennsylvania. The railroad was authorized on April 21, 1846 for freight and transportation of passengers, goods, ...
, which had operated its ''
Black Diamond'' train from
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Southe ...
since 1896, ended service to Exchange Place in 1913. Ferry service at Exchange Place ended in 1949. The last PRR passenger train used the branch on November 17, 1961. The PATH continues to use the line through
Bergen Hill
Bergen Hill refers to the lower Hudson Palisades in New Jersey, where they emerge on Bergen Neck, which in turn is the peninsula between the Hackensack and Hudson Rivers, and their bays. In Hudson County, it reaches a height of 260 feet.
Rail
...
to the
Journal Square Transportation Center
The Journal Square Transportation Center is a multi-modal transportation hub located on Magnolia Avenue and Kennedy Boulevard at Journal Square in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States. Owned and operated by the Port Authority of New York and ...
and onward to
Newark Penn Station
Pennsylvania Station (also known as Newark Penn Station) is an intermodal passenger station in Newark, New Jersey. One of the New York metropolitan area's major transportation hubs, Newark Penn Station is served by multiple rail and bus carriers, ...
.
The Exchange Place terminal fell into disuse. The last of the buildings of the complex, along with the
elevated
An elevated railway or elevated train (also known as an el train for short) is a rapid transit railway with the tracks above street level on a viaduct or other elevated structure (usually constructed from steel, cast iron, concrete, or brick ...
portion of the rail line, were demolished in 1963.
"PRR Chronology, 1963."
June 2004 Edition. The former terminal complex is now split between the PATH system's Exchange Place station and the Harborside Financial Center, while the ferry slips have been replaced with J. Owen Grundy Waterfront Park. Hudson-Bergen Light Rail maintains two stations in the district while ferries are now served by the Paulus Hook Ferry Terminal
Exchange Place is a district of Downtown Jersey City, New Jersey that is sometimes referred to as Wall Street West due to the concentration of financial companies that have offices there. The namesake is a square, about 200 feet long, at the ...
. The trestle carrying PRR tracks above what is now Christopher Columbus Drive between Exchange Place and Waldo Yard was removed.
File:ExchangePlacePRRDepotColgateClock1920s.tiff, View from the Hudson, 1920s
File:PRR(1893) Railroad Lines NEW YORK, HARBOUR.jpg, PRR route to the terminal
File:(King1893NYC) pg124 PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD DEPOT, JERSEY CITY, INTERIOR OF TRAIN-HOUSE.jpg, The interior of the station's train house
File:PATH original plan.png, The original Hudson and Manhattan Railroad
Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) is a rapid transit system in the northeastern New Jersey cities of Newark, Harrison, Jersey City, and Hoboken, as well as Lower and Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is operated as a wholly owned ...
plan. Local usage eventually led both the terminal and the H&M station to be known as Exchange Place
File:PRR Embankment-Waldo Yard-Exchange Place line, Jersey City at Columbus (Railroad Ave).jpg, Elevated trestle along ROW met embankment at Waldo Yard
See also
*
*Exchange Place station (Hudson–Bergen Light Rail)
Exchange Place is a station on the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) located at Hudson Street, between York and Montgomery Streets, in Jersey City, New Jersey.
The station opened on April 22, 2000. There are two tracks, an island platform
An ...
* Greenville Yard (Port Jersey)
* Harsimus Stem Embankment
*List of ferries across the Hudson River to New York City
The following ferries once crossed the North River (Hudson River) between New York City and New Jersey. There was no ferry service between 1967 and 1989, when it was restarted by New York Waterway.
Row and Sail
Horse ferries
Team boa ...
*Railroad terminals serving New York City
The table below shows all railroad lines that have served New York City and what terminal they used. A red background indicates that the railroad owned a part or full share of the terminal.
See also
*North River (Hudson River)
*Bergen Hill
* ...
*Timeline of Jersey City area railroads
__NOTOC__
For the purposes of this article, the Jersey City area extends North to Edgewater (the Northern end of the line along the Hudson River), South to Bayonne and includes Kearny Junction and Harrison but not Newark. Many routes east o ...
References
External links
Exchange Place
- "Jersey City: Past and Present" ( New Jersey City University)
Photo of depot as seen from the Hudson River
Jersey City Landmarks Committee: ''Harsimus Branch Embankment'' and ''Pennsylvania Main Stem Elevated''
Photo of Exchange Place facing terminal and ferry slips, c. 1905
PRR system map 1899
Travellers description of cut 1800s
* ttp://www.worldshipny.com/elferry.shtml "November 1967 ~ The End of Trans-Cross Hudson Ferry Service, by Theodore W. Scull (World Ship Society)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Exchange Place (Prr Station)
Ferry terminals in New Jersey
Hudson River
Former railway stations in New Jersey
Former Pennsylvania Railroad stations
Transit hubs serving New Jersey
Railway stations in the United States opened in 1834
Railway stations closed in 1961
Railway stations in Hudson County, New Jersey
Transportation in Jersey City, New Jersey
Demolished railway stations in the United States
Frank Furness buildings
1834 establishments in New Jersey
1961 disestablishments in New Jersey
Railway stations serving harbours and ports