Railroads of Hoboken and Jersey City (Images of Rail Series)

With over two hundred historical photographs, Railroads of Hoboken and Jersey City explores the cultural and commercial effects of railway travel in two important New Jersey cities. Because of their unique location directly across the Hudson River from Manhattan, Hoboken and Jersey City have long been centers of transportation activity. When the railway industry was booming in the early twentieth century, four major passenger terminals dotted the left bank of the Hudson from the Jersey Central to the Pennsylvania to the Erie to the Lackawanna. Thousands of people streamed through these terminals every day to the ferries that then took them across the river to New York City. Additionally, tons of freight were brought through the vast train yards along the waterfront.

Railroads of Hoboken and Jersey City tells the history of the railroads between the mid-1800s and the 1970s. It also explores how the once vibrant waterfronts of Hoboken and Jersey City went through tremendous decline and how, over time, the waterfront has been restored and redeveloped. New residential and commercial buildings have sprouted along the old Pennsylvania and Erie properties, the Lackawanna Terminal has been restored, and the Central Railroad Terminal is now part of Liberty State Park, one of New Jersey's most popular tourist destinations.

A native of Jersey City, Kenneth French is also the author of Jersey City, 1940-1960: The Dan McNulty Collection. He is the librarian at St. Peter's Preparatory School and the former head librarian at the New Jersey Room of the Jersey City Public Library. A longtime supporter of the preservation of local historic sites, such as the Loew's Jersey Theater, the Apple Tree House, and the Bergen Arches, Kenneth French is pleased to present this look at the railroads in Jersey City and Hoboken.