The Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal at Liberty State Park is Jersey City's most-visited "destination" site and the state's largest urban state park. The railway station and nearby Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Immigration Station, reached by ferry, form "The Historic Trilogy," an incomparable location in all of the United States.
The Central Railroad of New Jersey (CRRNJ) developed the one-and-one-half-mile terminal complex along the Jersey City waterfront in the 1880s at Communipaw Cove, once known for its oyster beds and marsh grass. In 1661, during the Dutch settlement of New Netherlands, Communipaw Cove was the site of the first ferry service from the west side of the Hudson River to Manhattan. The railroad era during America's 1840s industrialization brought renewed interest to the Jersey City waterfront for freight and passenger service.
In April 1849, the origin of the CRRNJ came from the name change to the Somerville and Easton railroads after the earlier purchase of the Elizabeth and Somerville railroads to reflect the railway's regional operation. Passenger service from New Jersey to New York was established via ferry transport from Elizabethport. In 1860, the New Jersey legislature permitted the railroad to build a railroad bridge across Newark Bay to Bayonne and extend railway lines to the Hudson River, where the Pennsylvania Railroad operated in Jersey City. This transportation route proved profitable and significant for the movement of soldiers and war materials to the South during the Civil War. The railroad bridge over the Newark Bay and extension from Elizabethport to Communipaw Avenue was also opened for passenger traffic in 1864.
That same year, the CRRNJ constructed its first terminal on the Jersey City waterfront. It also brought in thousands of tons of garbage from New York City to fill the mudflats in Jersey City's south cove. The outcome was the construction of a freight yard into the tidewater level of the area, which was some four thousand feet into the Hudson River. It also began a "garbage war" with residents from the odorous fumes that wafted into downtown Jersey City.
Historic Landmark
By the 1880s, the CRRNJ purchased the Jersey City shore area near the Morris Canal basin, supplanted the canal business, and filled the canal for a new head terminal. The image of the Statue of Liberty, the nation's symbol of freedom, became part of the logo for the CRRNJ during World War II. The familiar Liberty herald replaced the "ball" logo of the railway in 1944-45.
The new three-story, eclectic Victorian Era-style head terminal opened in 1889. Designed by the architectural firm Peabody & Stearns of Boston in the French Renaissance style for its exterior massing and details, the red brick structure has (Henry Hobson) Richardson-style elements. They include a steeply pitched roof with dormers on the third floor, arched windows, an elongated-styled cupola, and a tower with a clock facing the waterfront.
The interior includes a concourse, ticket office, and waiting room of English buff-colored glazed brick walls on the first floor. Outside the terminal's front doors, iron and wood hydraulic bridges assisted commuters to the waiting ferries and possibly travel to New York City. Rustic red iron trusses in a starburst design support the ceiling of the waiting room. Red iron buttresses with a wreath design also appear under the balcony in the waiting room.
The terminal complex was expanded in 1914 with a double-deck ferry shed (subsequently razed). Designed by A. Lincoln Bush, a new Bush-type train shed, the largest ever to be constructed, replaced an earlier structure. The train shed of over 300,000 square feet, west of the head terminal, covers twenty tracks and twelve passenger platforms "through a series of pitched concrete roofs. With spans from 39-to-49 feet, the shed measures 390 feet by 815 feet" (Larkens 8). Rows of Ionic columns run the length of the train shed and support the roof. The Black Tom explosion of 1916, south of the terminal, damaged the train shed.
The opening of the new terminal occurred during the heaviest immigration to the United States from Europe. From 1890 to 1915, an estimated 9-to-12 million immigrants were processed at Ellis Island and entered the country via the terminal. Into the railway terminal complex also came freight cars with coal. Coal from Pennsylvania was shipped to the terminal piers and taken by barges to New York. Other facilities at the terminal complex were a marine repair yard, steamship piers, freight piers, storage yards, freight yards, and a roundhouse at Communipaw.
According to Robert Larkens, "The terminal was no mere train station. It was a railroad maritime passenger terminal, an inter-modal facility where people change from one mode of transportation to another" (7). Railway trains brought passengers to the terminal. They transferred to ferries to New York City's Liberty Street Ferry Terminal or buses to local New Jersey communities. Over the decades, the CRRNJ added new passenger lines into the terminal. In 1902, the "Queen of Valley" express passenger train began its run between Jersey City and Harrisburg, PA. The "Blue Comet" railway train traveled between Jersey City to Atlantic City from 1929 to 1941. The Blue Comet offered passengers the amenities of dining, baggage handling, and sleeping cars.
The terminal's peak usage reached 21 million passengers in 1929. In 1926 a new drawbridge over Newark Bay was opened for service. Passenger use began to decline with the Depression and World War II. By the end of the war, competition hurt railway services. Urban residents moved to the suburbs, cars and buses became the preference of commuters, the Hudson River tunnels and bridges picked up traffic, and trucking and air freight for cargo surpassed railway transport.
The CRRNJ continued to have financial crises and, in 1967, filed for final bankruptcy, closing the terminal in Jersey City on April 30th. In 1968, the terminal complex was purchased with state and federal funding. In 1976 the CRRNJ became part of the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail). That same year, residents Morris Pesin and Audrey Zapp convinced the state and federal governments to preserve the terminal with the development of Liberty State Park. After a renovation, the Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal was reopened to the public in 1980.
During Superstorm Sandy (October 2012), the railway station experienced structural damage from wind and storm surges. It was closed until funding for renovations, eventually costing approximately $20 million, could be secured. In the renovation, the mechanical and electrical equipment systems were elevated as a precautionary measure. After the completion of repairs to the cupola, windows, doors, and roof, the iconic building ceremoniously reopened on June 22, 2016.
The terminal remains the focal point of the historic Jersey City waterfront that it shares with Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. It serves as a visitors' center and exhibit hall for social and cultural events. The first-floor "Blue Comet" Auditorium, formerly a ladies' waiting room and part of the ticket office, is used for interpretive programs.