Babbitt, North Bergen

Last updated

Babbitt, North Bergen
Location map of Hudson County, New Jersey.svg
Red pog.svg
Babbitt, North Bergen
Coordinates: 40°48′35″N74°01′12″W / 40.80972°N 74.02000°W / 40.80972; -74.02000
Country Flag of the United States.svg  United States
State Flag of New Jersey.svg  New Jersey
County Hudson
Township North Bergen
Elevation
[1]
10 ft (3 m)
GNIS feature ID874439 [1]

Babbitt is a neighborhood in North Bergen Township in Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. [2] The area, located west of Tonnelle Avenue within the New Jersey Meadowlands District, is home to light manufacturing, warehouses, transportation facilities, and part of the wetlands preservation area known as the Eastern Brackish Marsh. [3] [4]

Contents

Babbitt's Best Soap

The name is taken from the company that produced Babbitt's Best Soap, named after its founder, Benjamin T. Babbitt. In 1904 the company purchased a tract of 87 acres (35 ha) between Granton and Fairview, [5] and in 1907 relocated from its former premises, a 22,000 square feet (2,000 m2) facility on West Street in Lower Manhattan. [6] to what was then one of the largest soap manufacturing plants in the world. [7]

Granton Junction and Babbitt station

Station circa 1910 Babitt(Erie-NYS&W)trackside.png
Station circa 1910
View west to NYSW and Northern Branch at grade crossings and West Shore viaduct at 83rd Street, which is slated for closure if the HBLR extension is built. BabbittNYSWmainline83rd.JPG
View west to NYSW and Northern Branch at grade crossings and West Shore viaduct at 83rd Street, which is slated for closure if the HBLR extension is built.
The Northern Branch Corridor passes under CSX River Division. BabbittNorthernBranchRiverLine4.JPG
The Northern Branch Corridor passes under CSX River Division.

The West Shore Railroad, the Erie Railroad's Northern Branch, and the New York, Susquehanna, and Western (NYSW) all passed through the area running parallel to each other. [8] Both Erie and NYSW maintained minor stations [9] nearby 83rd Street, which crossed under the right-of-way of the West Shore. Granton Junction was located just south of the stations and was where NYSW and Erie converged after the latter had also passed under the West Shore. [10] [11] For a time Granton was busy railroad junction used by both the Erie and NYSW, which shared track and stations, including the Susquehanna Transfer. The name Granton comes from a former quarry that later was the site of an important fossil find of a phytosaur. [12] Joint operations between the Erie and NYSW were controlled by GR Tower, which in 1959 was destroyed by fire, ending the relationship. [13] Originally the soap works were outfitted with rail spurs by the NYSW, but the soap company shifted more and more of its traffic to trucks, and in 1909 (apparently in retaliation for the loss of business), anonymous agents of the railroad removed the spur after temporarily imprisoning the factory's workers in a boxcar to prevent any interference. [14] In August 1922, a full Sunday evening Erie train heading south to Pavonia Terminal was struck by bombs thrown at it in what was considered an act of sabotage and an attempt to cause a collision. [15] [16]

CSX and HBLR Northern Branch 91st Street station

The West Shore subsequently became Conrail's River Line, and eventually the CSX River Subdivision which begins to the south at North Bergen Yard. Road access to its Little Ferry Yard is located in Babbitt.

The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail extension into eastern Bergen County known as the Northern Branch Corridor Project calls for the closure of the at-grade crossing at 83rd Street and creation of a new one at 85th Street. [17]

A 91st Street (HBLR station) is planned.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway</span> American freight railway

The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway is a Class II American freight railway operating over 400 miles (645 km) of track in the northeastern U.S. states of New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of Jersey City, New Jersey-area railroads</span>

For the purposes of this article, the Jersey City area extends North to Edgewater, South to Bayonne and includes Kearny Junction and Harrison but not Newark. Many routes east of Newark are listed here.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Branch</span>

The Northern Branch is a railroad line that runs from Jersey City to Northvale in northeastern New Jersey, and formerly extended further into New York State. The line was constructed in 1859 by the Northern Railroad of New Jersey to connect the New York and Erie Railroad's Piermont Branch terminus in Piermont, New York, directly to Erie's primary terminal in Jersey City, initially Exchange Place, later Pavonia Terminal. In 1870 the line was extended to Nyack, New York, and continued to provide passenger service until 1966. After the Erie's unsuccessful merger with the Lackawanna Railroad to form the Erie-Lackawanna, ownership of the line passed into the hands of Conrail upon its formation in 1976 from a number of bankrupt railroads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Jersey Midland Railway</span>

The New Jersey Midland Railway was a 19th-century predecessor to the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYS&W) that operated in Northern New Jersey and Orange County, New York.

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 to the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, but was soon taken over by that company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pavonia Terminal</span> Former intermodal terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey

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 Hoboken Terminal. The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway also ran commuter trains from the terminal and various street cars, ferries and the underground Hudson and Manhattan Railroad serviced the station. The station was abandoned in 1958 and demolished in 1961. The site was eventually redeveloped into the Newport district in the late 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bergen Hill</span> Lower part of the Hudson Palisades, New Jersey, United States

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Passaic–Bergen–Hudson Transit Project</span>

The Passaic–Bergen–Hudson Transit Project is a project under study by NJ Transit to reintroduce passenger service on a portion of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYSW) right-of-way (ROW) in Passaic, Bergen and Hudson counties using newly built, FRA-compliant diesel multiple unit rail cars. Plans call for service to run from Hawthorne south through Paterson, east to Hackensack and then southeast to North Bergen, where it would join the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (HBLR).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Bergen Yard</span>

The North Bergen Yard is freight rail yard and intermodal terminal in North Bergen, New Jersey parallel to Tonnelle Avenue between 49th and 69th Streets. Located within the North Jersey Shared Assets Area, the facility is part of CSX Transportation (CSXT) and the origination point of its CSX River Subdivision at the southern end of the Albany Division. On its west side, the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYSW) runs the length of the yard and operates a bulk transloading operation immediately adjacent to it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edgewater Branch</span>

The Edgewater Branch was a branch of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYS&W) that ran about 3.174 miles (5.108 km) through eastern Bergen County, New Jersey in the United States. Starting from a rail junction at the Little Ferry Yard, it went east through the Edgewater Tunnel to Undercliff to the Hudson Waterfront.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Ferry Yard</span>

Little Ferry Yard is a railyard and intermodal terminal in the Port of New York and New Jersey served by the CSX River Subdivision (CSXT), New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYSW), Norfolk Southern Railway and Conrail Shared Assets Operations (CRCX).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ridgefield Park station</span>

Ridgefield Park station, also known as West Shore Station, was a railroad station in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey at the foot of Mount Vernon Street served by the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad (NYSW) and the West Shore Railroad, a division of New York Central (NYCRR). The New York, Ontario and Western Railway (NYO&W) had running rights along the West Shore and sometimes stopped at Ridgefield Park. First opened in 1872 it was one of three passenger stations in the village, the others being the Little Ferry station to the south and Westview station to the north. Service on the West Shore Railroad began in 1883. The station house, built at a cost $100,000 opened in 1927. Southbound service crossed Overpeck Creek and continued to terminals on the Hudson River waterfront where there was connecting ferry service across the Hudson River to Manhattan. Northbound near Bogota the parallel NYSW and West Shore lines diverge and continue into northern New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and upstate New York. Passenger service ended in 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">91st Street station (Hudson–Bergen Light Rail)</span>

91st Street is a proposed station along the Northern Branch Corridor Project extension of Hudson-Bergen Light Rail in the Babbitt Section of North Bergen, New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hackensack station (New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad)</span>

Hackensack was a railroad station in Hackensack, New Jersey on the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway Main Line, which provided passenger service between the 1870s and 1960s. The station at Main and Mercer Streets opened in 1872; it was replaced with one at River Street in 1950. Public Service trolley lines served both stations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bogota station</span>

Bogota was a railroad station in Bogota, New Jersey, at Court Street/Fort Lee Road west of River Road and east of the Court Street Bridge over the Hackensack River. It was located on the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway Main Line, which provided passenger service between the 1870s and 1960s.

69th Street is a proposed interchange station in North Bergen in Hudson County, New Jersey. It would serve passengers on two lines under consideration by NJ Transit, the Passaic–Bergen–Hudson Transit Project and the Northern Branch Corridor Project, the latter of which is an extension of the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail. The station would located at-grade west the North Bergen Yard and Tonnelle Avenue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vince Lombardi Park & Ride</span>

The Vince Lombardi Park & Ride is located on the New Jersey Turnpike in the Meadowlands in Ridgefield, Bergen County, New Jersey. The park and ride and separate service area to south of it are dedicated to and named after Vince Lombardi. Located at the edge of the Little Ferry Yard it has been viewed as a potential rail station location since the 1990s and as of 2021, it is under consideration by NJ Transit as part of the Passaic–Bergen–Hudson Transit Project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broadway–Paterson station</span>

Broadway–Paterson was a New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad (NYS&W) station in Paterson, New Jersey near the level, or at-grade crossing south of Broadway at Ellison Place and Madison Avenue. Service by the New Jersey Midland, a predecessor to the NYS&W, had begun in 1873. It was originally known as Paterson, but was renamed after a junction of the railroad's mainline was created to build the Paterson City Branch. The station house, demolished in 1982, was situated between the two lines and served as the Susquehanna's headquarters for several years. Passenger service on the branch ended in 1960 and on the mainline in 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Bergen station</span>

North Bergen was a railroad station in North Bergen, New Jersey, United States known Homestead for most of its existence. It as built in the mid 19th century and served by the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (#1059) and the Erie Railroad's Northern Branch (#1903).

References

  1. 1 2 "Babbitt". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
  2. Locality Search Archived July 9, 2016, at the Wayback Machine , State of New Jersey. Accessed February 7, 2015.
  3. "USGS Map Name:Weehawken, NJ Map MRC: 40074G1". TopoQuest. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
  4. "Eastern Brackish Marsh". New Jersey Meadowlands Commission. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
  5. "To Abandon Down-Town Factory Site" (PDF). The New York Times. June 12, 1904. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
  6. "Big Downtown Sale" (PDF). The New York Times. April 17, 2010. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
  7. "In the Real Estate Field: New Babbitt Plant Mortgaged" (PDF). The New York Times. November 23, 1907. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
  8. "Appendix H: Historic Properties and Resources" (PDF). Northern Branch Corridor Project DEIS. New Jersey Transit. December 2011. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
  9. "List of Station Names and Numbers". Jersey City, New Jersey: Erie Railroad. May 1, 1916. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
  10. Sheppard, Bill (October 1977). "Granton Junction" (PDF). The Block Line. National Railway Historical Society (Tri-State Chapter). V (VIII). Archived from the original (PDF) on October 4, 2013. Retrieved October 2, 2013.
  11. Kaminski, Edward S. (2010), New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway in New Jersey, Arcadia Publishing, p. 9, ISBN   978-0-7385-7367-0
  12. Colbertz, Edwin (September 10, 1965). "A Phytosaur from North Bergen, New Jersey" (PDF). American Museum Novitates. American Museum of Natural History (2230). Retrieved September 30, 2013.
  13. Mohowski, Robert E. (2003), New York Susquehanna and Western, Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN   9780801872228
  14. "Seize Factory Hands Remove Its Track" (PDF). The New York Times. May 25, 1909. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
  15. "Bombs Strike Two Cars" (PDF). The New York Times. August 14, 1922. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
  16. "1922: North Bergen Train Bombing". www.hudpost.com. Archived from the original on September 25, 2020.
  17. "85th Street at Grade Realignment & Closure of 83rd Street" (PDF). Northern Branch Corridor. New Jersey Transit. Retrieved September 30, 2013.