As early as July 1764 a ferry began operating from
Paulus Hook 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, 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 which connected to the
Metropolitan Crosstown Line and the
Ninth Avenue Elevated at
Desbrosses St. Another ferry to the
Fulton Ferry slip in Brooklyn also existed. 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 to east of the new bridge (now the
PATH Lift Bridge) over the
Hackensack River, 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 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, a
rapid transit system (now called
Port Authority Trans Hudson or PATH), began running over the PRR line west of Waldo Yard, connecting with the new
Manhattan Transfer station at Harrison. The
Lehigh Valley Railroad, which had operated its
Black Diamond train from
Buffalo, New York 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 to the
Journal Square Transportation Center and onward to
Newark Penn Station. The Exchange Place terminal fell into disuse. The last of the buildings of the complex, along with the
elevated portion of the rail line, were demolished in 1963. 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. 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 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 ==