Downtown South

Downtown South

Jersey City's role as the region's prime railroad center was vital to the operation of the Port of New York and New Jersey. Goods shipped east by train were transferred to New York and New Jersey piers by lighters and by car floats, introduced in 1866, or else loaded onto some of the few freighters which docked on the New Jersey side of the port. The pictures shown here were taken in 1954, in the waning years of the city's railroad industry. In the 1960s and 1970s, the interstate highway system expanded truck transit and container shipping changes the requirements of port facilities, making the railyards of the Jersey City waterfront obsolete.

By the end of the 20th century, all traces of the railyards that defined the downtown Jersey City waterfront for a century had vanished, save for a couple of piers and the semi-submerged footings of several more. In their place are the modern developments that have redefined the city's "Gold Coast." 

Jersey City's municipal pier was located at Paulus Hook, where the City of Jersey City has its roots in the Federalist project of the Associates of the Jersey Company (here misidentified as "Associates of NJ"), near the sprawling Colgate factory complex. American Export Lines operated at Exchange Place and Harborside Terminal.

11/16/1954