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 City and Desbrosses Street in lower Manhattan where an elevated railway station at Ninth Avenue was located and where the Metropolitan Crosstown Line provided a connection to the Grand Street Ferry.
The Desbrosses Street Ferry opened in 1862 and ownership was transferred to the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1871. The ferry's route was longer, more circuitous and in a busier section of the river than most of the other ferries and as a result it suffered several accidents during its nearly 70 years in operation. [1]
After the Pennsylvania Railroad became the first (and only) mainline railroad to build a tunnel under the Hudson River to Manhattan in 1910, the railroad gradually shifted its services away from its station in Jersey City in favor of its stations in Newark and Manhattan. On January 21, 1930 the ferry ceased operations and passengers were redirected to the railroad's other ferry services across the river. [2]
North River is an alternative name for the southernmost portion of the Hudson River in the vicinity of New York City and northeastern New Jersey in the United States.
The Kearny Connection is a railroad junction in Kearny, New Jersey that allows passenger trains from New Jersey Transit's Morris and Essex Lines to enter/leave Amtrak's Northeast Corridor (NEC) and travel to and from New York Penn Station. The junction, which opened in 1996 and utilizes Swift Interlocking, is nearby the Sawtooth Bridges.
Paulus Hook is a community on the Hudson River waterfront in Jersey City, New Jersey. It is located one mile across the river from Manhattan. The name Hook comes from the Dutch word "hoeck", which translates to "point of land." This "point of land" has been described as an elevated area, the location of which today is bounded by Montgomery, Hudson, Dudley, and Van Vorst Streets.
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 foot of Montgomery Street at the waterfront of the Hudson River. This square was created by landfilling the shore at Paulus Hook, and has been a major transportation hub since the colonial era.
The Morris and Essex Railroad was a railroad across northern New Jersey, later part of the main line of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.
The New York, Ontario and Western Railway, commonly known as the O&W or NYO&W, was a regional railroad founded in 1868. The last train ran from Norwich, New York to Middletown, New York in 1957, after which it was ordered liquidated by a U.S. bankruptcy judge. It was the first notable U.S. railroad with its mainline entirely abandoned.
The Pennsylvania Railroad Station was the intermodal passenger terminal for the Pennsylvania Railroad's (PRR) vast holdings on the Hudson River 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, made possible by the construction of the North River Tunnels. It was one of the busiest stations in the world for much of the 19th century.
The Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal, also known as Communipaw Terminal and Jersey City Terminal, was the Central Railroad of New Jersey's waterfront passenger terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey. The terminal was built in 1889, replacing an earlier one that had been in use since 1864. It operated until April 30, 1967.
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.
Mountain Avenue is an active commuter railroad station in the township of Montclair, Essex County, New Jersey. Serving trains of NJ Transit's Montclair-Boonton Line, Mountain Avenue is one of six stops in the municipality. The next station to the south/east is Upper Montclair. The next station to the north/west is Montclair Heights. Mountain Avenue contains two low-level side platforms. The station depot built by the Erie Railroad stands on the inbound platform, offering a waiting room for commuters. Part of the depot is also leased by the municipality for a residence.
Weehawken Terminal was the waterfront intermodal terminal on the North 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.
The Pavonia Ferry was a ferry service on the Hudson River, operating between New York City and Jersey City, New Jersey. It was launched in 1854. It was sold to the Pavonia Ferry Company of Jersey City for $9,050 at New York City Hall in February 1854.
The Binghamton was a ferryboat that transported passengers across the Hudson River between Manhattan and Hoboken from 1905 to 1967. Moored in 1971 at Edgewater, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, the ship was operated as a floating restaurant from 1975 to 2007. In 2017, following ten years of damage that effectively rendered the boat unrestorable, the ferry was dismantled. No structural components were salvaged.
The Perth Amboy Ferry Slip, located on the Arthur Kill in Perth Amboy, Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States, was once a vital ferry slip for boats in New York Harbor. It was added to the New Jersey Register of Historic Places and National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The ferry slip was restored in 1998 to its 1904 appearance. A replica of the ticket office has been constructed and is used as a small museum.
The Chambers Street Ferry Terminal was the Erie Railroad's main ferry slip on Manhattan and the point of departure and embarkation for passengers in New York City. The terminal was one of several operated by ferry companies and railroads that lined the western shore of Manhattan during the 19th and 20th centuries. The Pavonia Ferry 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.
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 New Jersey, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Reading Railroad and the Lehigh Valley Railroad from the Communipaw Terminal across the Hudson River in Jersey City.
Cortlandt Street Ferry Depot was the main ferry terminal of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the West Shore Railroad on the North River in lower Manhattan. The railroads operated ferries to their terminal stations on the Hudson River waterfront in New Jersey at Exchange Place and Weehawken, respectively.
The Jersey City Ferry was a major ferry service that operated between Jersey City in New Jersey and Cortlandt Street in lower Manhattan for almost 200 years (1764-1949). The ferry was notable for being the first to use steam power which began in 1812. The ferry's history was closely tied to the Pennsylvania Railroad's station in Jersey City at Exchange Place, which gradually fell into disuse after the railroad opened the North River Tunnels and Penn Station in 1910. Ferry service from lower Manhattan to Jersey City continued via the even older Communipaw ferry which operated from the adjacent Liberty Street Ferry Terminal until this service was also discontinued in 1967. In 1986 ferry service was revived and today it is operated by New York Waterway.
The Communipaw Ferry was a major ferry service that operated between the village of Communipaw and Lower Manhattan, New York. The ferry began operations in 1661 after the Colonial Dutch administrators of New Amsterdam granted a charter to operate the ferry. soon after the establishment of Bergen atop Bergen Hill. It was the first reported ferry service established across the Hudson River and it remained active up until 1783 when New York City was captured by the British.