Cortlandt Street Ferry Depot

Cortlandt Street Ferry Depot was the main ferry terminal of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the West Shore Railroad on the North River (Hudson 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.

Cortlandt Street Ferry Depot in the early 1890s

The depot was next to Liberty Street Ferry Terminal from which the Central Railroad of New Jersey operated its Communipaw ferry to Communipaw Terminal.

History
A map showing the Jersey City Ferry's terminal at Cortlandt Street, 1857

As early as July 1764[1]: 243–246  a ferry began operating from Paulus Hook to Mesier's dock which was located at the foot of Courtland Street (where Cortlandt Street Ferry Depot would be built).[2]: 64  Almost immediately and for several decades subsequently, a complicated series of legal battles broke out over who should operate the ferries, where the crossing(s) should be located and at what rate passengers and other cargo should be charged for the journey.[1]: 243–250 

The first steam ferry service in the world began operations in 1812 between Paulus Hook and Manhattan[3] and reduced the journey time to a then remarkable 14 minutes.[1]: 250  With the arrival of the railroad station at Paulus Hook in 1834 and the arrival of the Morris and Essex Railroad service on October 14, 1836[2]: 64  the number of passengers and the value of the Jersey City Ferry continued to increase.

The terminal was located one block west of the Ninth Avenue Elevated's Cortlandt Street Station which operated from 1874 until 1940.

See also
  • The Jersey City Ferry slip at the foot of Courtlandt Street, ca. 1860
    The Jersey City Ferry slip at the foot of Courtlandt Street, ca. 1860
  • Cortlandt and Liberty Street Ferries, ca. 1882
    Cortlandt and Liberty Street Ferries, ca. 1882
  • The New Brunswick one of the Pennsylvania Railroad's ferries across the Hudson,ca. 1905
    The New Brunswick one of the Pennsylvania Railroad's ferries across the Hudson,ca. 1905
  • Cortlandt Street Ferry Depot is visible underneath a pedestrian overpass at Liberty Street Ferry Terminal, 1938
    Cortlandt Street Ferry Depot is visible underneath a pedestrian overpass at Liberty Street Ferry Terminal, 1938

References
  1. History of the County of Hudson, New Jersey: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Charles Hardenburg Winfield, Kennard & Hay Stationery M'fg and Print. Company, 1874
  2. Railroad Ferries of the Hudson: And Stories of a Deckhand, by, Raymond J. Baxter, Arthur G. Adams, 1999, Fordham University Press, ISBN 978-0-82321-954-4
  3. Cudahy, Brian J. (1990). Over and Back: The History of Ferryboats in New York Harbor. New York: Fordham University Press. pp. 20–24, 360, 362. ISBN 0-8232-1245-9.

40°42′41″N 74°00′54″W

Preceding station New York Central Railroad Following station
Weehawken
Terminus
 Weehawken Ferry Terminus
Preceding station Pennsylvania Railroad Following station
Exchange Place
Terminus
 Jersey City Ferry Terminus
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