Destination Jersey City

Visit Central Railroads of New Jersey Terminal

District: Liberty State Park

Details

1 Audrey Zapp Drive

Jersey City, NJ

Description

Ferris to Manhattan served this area since Jersey City’s first permanent Dutch settlement in 1660. Built by Peabody & Stearns of Boston and the Central Railroad’s engineers, it is among the finest of all maritime railroad terminals. The vast colonnaded train shed, added in 1913, was the largest ever built. The shed spans twenty tracks covering an area larger than two football fields. Movie buffs may recall that scenes from Funny Girl were filmed here in the 1960s. At its peak, as many as 50,000 ommuters passed through the terminal every work day, riding on nearby 200 ferry runs and 400 trains. Approximately two-thirds of the twelve million immigrants who entered this country through Ellis Island traveled through the terminal to their new homes in America. Abandoned after the Central Railroad’s demise in 1967, the site was purchased and restored with state and federal funds. Today it has become the signature building of Liberty State Park, accommodating a broad range of community and statewide events.

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