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Communipaw Terminal
Former Central Railroad of New Jersey station, Ferry Terminal, Train shed, Yard
The Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal at Liberty State Park in 2013
General information
Location	Liberty State Park Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.
Construction
Accessible	No
History
Closed	April 30, 1967
Electrified	No
Former services
Preceding station Central Railroad of New Jersey Following station Terminus Communipaw Ferry Liberty StreetTerminus Elizabethtoward Scranton Main Line Terminus Elizabethporttoward Scranton Greenvilletoward Somerville Somerville – Jersey CityLocal Claremonttoward Somerville Communipaw Avenuetoward Elizabethport Suburban service to Elizabethport Arlington Avenuetoward Newark Newark and New York Branch Claremonttoward Newark Preceding station Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Following station Elizabethtoward Chicago Main Line Terminus Elizabethtoward Philadelphia: Chestnut St. or Reading Terminal Philadelphia – Jersey CityLocal Preceding station Lehigh Valley Railroad Following station Jackson Avenuetoward Buffalo Main Line1913–1918 Terminus
Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
New Jersey Register of Historic Places
Show map of Hudson County, New JerseyShow map of New JerseyShow map of the United States
Location	Liberty State Park Jersey City, New Jersey
Coordinates	40°42′26″N 74°2′7″W / 40.70722°N 74.03528°W / 40.70722; -74.03528
Area	63 acres (25 ha)
Built	1889
Architect	William H. Peddle, Peabody & Stearns
Architectural style	Richardsonian Romanesque
NRHP reference No.	75001138
NJRHP No.	1513
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	September 12, 1975
Designated NJRHP	August 27, 1975

The Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal, also known as Communipaw Terminal and Jersey City Terminal, was the Central Railroad of New Jersey's waterfront passenger terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey. The terminal was built in 1889, replacing an earlier one that had been in use since 1864. It operated until April 30, 1967.

It also serviced the Central Railroad of New Jersey-operated Reading Railroad, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the Lehigh Valley Railroad during various periods in its 78 years of operation.

The terminal was one of five passenger railroad terminals that lined the Hudson Waterfront during the 19th and 20th centuries, the others being Weehawken, Hoboken, Pavonia and Exchange Place, with Hoboken being the only station that is still in use, as of 2024.

The headhouse was renovated and incorporated into Liberty State Park. The station has been listed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places and National Register of Historic Places since September 12, 1975. It also has been named a New Jersey State Historic Site.

Description

The terminal is part of Liberty State Park, and along with nearby Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty recalls the era of massive immigration through the Port of New York and New Jersey. It is estimated that around 10.5 million entered the country through the station. The area has long been known as Communipaw, which in the Lenape language means big landing place at the side of a river. The first stop west of the station was indeed called Communipaw, and was not far from the village that had been established there in 1634 as part of the New Netherland settlement of Pavonia. The land on which the extensive yards were built was reclaimed, or filled. The terminal itself is next to the Morris Canal Big Basin, which to some degree was made obsolete by the railroads which replaced it. The long cobbled road which ends at the terminal (once called Johnston Avenue for a president of CNJ) is named Audrey Zapp Drive, after the environmentalist active in the creation of the park.

The main building is designed in a Richardsonian Romanesque style. The intermodal facility contains more than a dozen platforms and several ferry slips. Arriving passengers would walk to the railhead concourse and could either pass through its main waiting room, by-pass it on either side, and take stairs to the upper level. The ferry slips have also been restored though the structure which housed them has been removed, as have the tracks. The Bush-type trainsheds, the largest ever to be constructed and designed by A. Lincoln Bush, were not part of the original construction, but were built in 1914 and have not been restored. The abandoned shed covered 12 platforms and 20 tracks.

Service

Trackage

The terminal, along with its docks and yards, was one of several massive terminal complexes (the other being the terminals of the Pennsylvania Railroad in Exchange Place, the Erie Railroad Terminal in Pavonia, the Lackawanna Railroad Terminal in Hoboken, and the West Shore Railroad Terminal in Weehawken) that dominated the western waterfront of the New York Harbor from the mid 19th to the mid 20th century. Of the two still standing, the Hoboken Terminal (the former Lackwanna Railroad Terminal) is the only one still in use. Lines from the station headed to the southwest. Arriving at the waterfront from the points required overcoming significant natural obstacles including crossing the Hackensack River and Meadows and Hudson Palisades, and in the case of New Jersey Central, traversing the Newark Bay. For its mainline, the railroad constructed the Newark Bay Bridge to Elizabeth. Its Newark and New York Branch cut through Bergen Hill and crossed two bridges at Kearny Point. Both rights-of-way in Hudson County are now used by the Hudson Bergen Light Rail, one terminating at West Side Avenue and the other at 8th Street station in Bayonne.

Ferries and ships

The Communipaw ferry constituted the main ferry route from the terminal and was operated by four ferries that crossed the North River to Liberty Street Ferry Terminal in lower Manhattan. Additional service to 23rd Street was also operated until the CRNJ went bankrupt in 1945 and scrapped its ferry boats used on the 23rd street route in 1947. In the early 1900s the B&O Railroad requested the CRNJ operate ferries for its luxury Royal Blue service passengers to Whitehall Terminal and this was accomplished for several years until the City of New York purchased the Staten Island Ferry from the B&O's subsidiary, the Staten Island Railway, and ended the service in 1905. Until the opening of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge there was also service to Brooklyn and Staten Island Other boats, among them the SS Asbury Park and SS Sandy Hook, which travelled to the Raritan Bayshore.

In 1941, the CRRNJ ferryboat fleet made 374 one-way crossings of the North River each day.

Railroad lines

Jersey Central's Blue Comet offered elaborate service to Atlantic City. The railroad's suburban trains served passengers to west and south, including the Jersey Shore. CNJ's long-distance service into Pennsylvania ran to Harrisburg, Scranton, and present-day Jim Thorpe, then known as Mauch Chunk.

The Reading Company used the terminal for its Crusader and Wall Street trains. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), whose Royal Blue was a premier passenger train to Washington, D.C., and offered train service to Chicago and St. Louis.

In April 1967, the opening of the Aldene Connection led to the end of passenger service to the station and the diverting of all remaining passenger trains to Penn Station in Newark. Since then, Hoboken Terminal has served as the main commuter rail station for Jersey City, and straddles the Jersey City/Hoboken line.

The timetable of 27 September 1936 shows 132 weekday departures, including 25 to CNJ's Broad St. Newark station, 25 that ran south from Elizabethport, two to Chrome and the rest to the NY&LB, and 19 Reading and B&O trains that turned southwest at Bound Brook Junction. Three trains ran to Mauch Chunk and two to Harrisburg via Allentown; the other 58 trains terminated along the main line between West 8th St in Bayonne and Hampton.

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Named passenger trains

Until April 1958, several long-distance trains originated at the station, and trains to Philadelphia lasted until 1967.

* With the closing of Baltimore & Ohio passenger service north of Baltimore in 1958 the Royal Blue was abandoned and the Capitol Limited, Metropolitan Special and National Limited were terminated east of Baltimore.

Post-railroad service uses

Following the Aldene Connection's opening in 1967, the terminal sat unused but maintained and guarded by the Central Railroad of New Jersey. When CNJ shops and engine facilities nearby closed in the early 1970s, the terminal sat abandoned.

A portion of the 1968 movie Funny Girl was filmed at the terminal. Numerous fairs, concerts, and other sponsored events (among them the Central Jersey Heritage Festival and the All Points West Music & Arts Festival) take place at the station and its grounds. It is a very popular place from which to view July 4 fireworks. In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, its parking lot was the staging area for dozens of ambulances that were mobilized to transport victims of the attacks.

Ferries to the Statue of Liberty National Monument, Ellis Island, and Liberty Island depart daily. No public transport options exist between the terminal and Hudson Bergen Light Rail's Liberty State Park Station. In 2009 Rutgers University students proposed building a trolley line to the terminal building and other points in the park from the light rail station to improve access.

The terminal was badly damaged by flooding during Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and was reopened in 2016.

On Election Day 2020, an episode of the political program Fox & Friends was filmed in a portable studio placed outside the terminal. Promotional footage for the episode frequently features the terminal.

Gallery

• Bush shed at Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey, the largest ever built
• Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal from the water in 2013
• The old ferry docks at the terminal
• The upper façade of the terminal
• The grounds on the north side of the terminal
• A reproduction of a tablet designator for the Blue Comet
• Memorial to the employees at milepost 0
• Overview of the terminal and train sheds
• The terminal in 1893
• Inside Communipaw Terminal
• Map showing the terminal facility in 1910
• Plans to extend the Hudson Tubes, which never materialized
• Map of lines approaching the Hudson waterfront from the south; the grey Central New Jersey line from Bayonne to Elizabeth was carried by Newark Bay Bridge

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Hudson County, New Jersey
• Operating Passenger Railroad Stations Thematic Resource (New Jersey)
• Timeline of Jersey City area railroads
• List of ferries across the Hudson River in New York City
• List of stations on the Central Railroad of New Jersey
• National Limited
• Central Railroad of New Jersey Freight Station
• Newark Bay, New Jersey rail accident
• Newark and New York Railroad Bridge

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
2. "New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places – Hudson County" (PDF). New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection – Historic Preservation Office. June 2, 2011. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 5, 2010. Retrieved June 20, 2011.
3. Coughlin, Bill (November 3, 2008). "The Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal". The Historical Marker Database. Archived from the original on July 26, 2011. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
4. ^ "Jersey City Past and Present". Archived from the original on February 1, 2010.
5. "New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places". New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Archived from the original on February 23, 2009. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
6. "New Jersey - Hudon County". National Register of Historic Places. Archived from the original on June 12, 2008. Retrieved December 3, 2008.
7. ^ "Liberty State Park: The Historic CRRNJ Train Terminal". New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Archived from the original on April 20, 2008. Retrieved June 20, 2008.
8. Kelly-Bly, Brianne. "Indian Place names in New Jersey". Rootsweb. Archived from the original on January 25, 2012. Retrieved November 20, 2009.
9. ^ French (2002), pp. 25–29.
10. Karnoutsos, Carmela (September 16, 2009). "Jersey City Past and Present". New Jersey City University. Archived from the original on February 1, 2010. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
11. "History of the Central Railroad of New Jersey Central Railroad Engine Terminal Complex, Jersey City New Jersey". Historic Structures. Archived from the original on March 2, 2019. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
12. ^ Baxter, Raymond J.; Adams, Arthur G. (1999). Railroad Ferries of the Hudson: And Stories of a Deckhand. Fordham University Press. p. 55. ISBN 978-0823219544.
13. French (2002), p. 30.
14. Railroad Magazine: 41. November 1941. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
15. ^ "Intercity passenger trains serving New York via New Jersey terminals in 1942, 1956, and 1971 immediately prior to the creation of Amtrak". New York's Passenger Trains of the Past. Retrieved February 13, 2012.
16. McKelvey, Bill (March 21, 2018). "New Jersey Transportation Chronology". Liberty Historic Railway. Archived from the original on January 6, 2019. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
17. "(home)". Railroad Heritage Festival. Archived from the original on December 12, 2009.
18. "Statue of Liberty: Ferry System Map". United States National Park Service. Archived from the original on June 29, 2014. Retrieved February 8, 2010.
19. Kaulessar, Ricardo (September 6, 2009). "Trolley through Liberty State Park?". Hudson Reporter. Hoboken. Archived from the original on July 12, 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2010.
20. Villanova, Patrick (June 20, 2016). "Iconic rail terminal in Liberty State Park set to reopen Wednesday". NJ.com. Archived from the original on June 21, 2016. Retrieved June 20, 2016.
21. "FOX & friends on Instagram: "Election Day is tomorrow. Tune in for complete coverage live from Liberty State Park!"". Instagram. Archived from the original on December 24, 2021. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
22. "Central Railroad of NJ Employees". The Historical Marker Database. Archived from the original on September 6, 2017. Retrieved September 5, 2017.

• French, Kenneth (February 24, 2002). Images of America: Railroads of Hoboken and Jersey City. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-0966-2.

External links

• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. NJ-27, "Central Railroad of New Jersey, Jersey City Ferry Terminal, Johnson Avenue at Hudson River, Jersey City, Hudson County, NJ", 37 photos, 52 data pages, 3 photo caption pages

v t e Peabody & Stearns
Buildings Colorado Cutler Hall (1877–1880) Glen Eyrie (1881–1882) Antlers Hotel (1883) Connecticut John Rogers Studio (1878) Georgia Dungeness (1896) Plum Orchard (1898) Maine Union Church of Northeast Harbor (1887) Drexel Estate (1903) Bangor High School (1912) Bangor Public Library (1912) Massachusetts Boylston Hall (1870) Bussey Institute (1870–1871) Matthews Hall (1871) Smith Academy (1872) Cathedral Church of St. Paul (1873) J. Murray Forbes House (1873) Frances M. McKay House (1875) Hotel Alexandra (1875) R. H. White Department Store (1877) Bromfield School (1878) Smith College Gymnasium (1879) Dupee Estate (1880) Shepherd Brooks Estate (1880) Saint Paul's Church (1880) Union Club of Boston (1880s) Saint Mary of the Assumption Church and Rectory (1880–1886) John Payson Williston Observatory (1881) Second Harrison Gray Otis House (1882) Henry Bradlee Jr. House (1882) First Congregational Church Parsonage and Carriage House (1883) Kragsyde (1883–1885) Bayley House (1884) Joseph Davis House (1884) Wigglesworth Building (1884) Groton School (1884–1902) Elm Court (1885) Divinity Hall (1886) Saint Paul's Rectory (1886) King's Chapel (1886–1922) Divinity Library (1887) First Parish Church (1888) Fiske Building (1888) Hasty Pudding Club (1888) Rev. William Lawrence House (1888) Exchange Building (1889–1891) Wheatleigh (1893) Russia Wharf Building (1897) Christ Episcopal Church and Parish House (1897–1902) Town Stable (1898) Worcester City Hall (1898) Trinity Episcopal Church (1898–1899) Newell Boathouse (1900) Chickering Hall (1901) Dudley Station (1901) Middlesex School (1901–1917) Soldiers' Memorial Library (1901) Dorchester Heights Monument (1902) Cotting School (1903) Norfolk Couunty Registry of Deeds (1905) Springfield Fire & Marine Insurance Co. (1905) Whitinsville High School (1905–1907) Union Trust Company Building (1907) Weld Boathouse (1907) Statue of George Frisbie Hoar (1907–1908) Egleston Substation (1909) Lechmere Viaduct (1910) Roslindale Substation (1911) Custom House Tower (1911–1915) George Thorndike Angell Memorial (1912) St. James Theatre (1912) Cambridge Memorial Flagstaff (1913) Mary E. Wells School (1916–1917) Minnesota James J. Hill House (1887–1891) Duluth Union Depot (1890–1892) Missouri St. Louis School of Fine Arts (1879) Unitarian Church of the Messiah (1880) Dr. George Ashe Bronson House (1885) Security Building (1890–1892) New Hampshire New Hampshire State House (1910) New Jersey Lawrenceville School (1884–1895) Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal (1889) New York Union League Clubhouse (1880) Pennsylvania Harvey Childs House (1896) Joseph Horne Department Store (1898–1900) East Liberty Market (1900) Rhode Island The Breakers (1878) Vinland Estate (1882–1883) Rough Point (1887–1892) Rockhurst (1891) Fairholme (1896) Providence Journal Building (1906) Vermont Daniel Webster Robinson House (1885–1886) Washington, D.C. Volta Bureau (1893) West Virginia Pinecrest (1892) Wisconsin First Unitarian Society Church (1885) Key: Denotes addition, alteration, or remodel
Architects Robert Swain Peabody John Goddard Stearns Jr. George A. Fuller Pierce P. Furber John Scudder Adkins Francis Richmond Allen Robert Day Andrews Charles L. Bevins Clarence H. Blackall Warren R. Briggs Henry Budden John Hutchins Cady Henry Ives Cobb Charles Collens Charles Sumner Frost Edward T. P. Graham Charles R. Greco S. Wesley Haynes Burnham Hoyt Charles Wilson Killam Westray Ladd Ellis F. Lawrence Ion Lewis Louis Christian Mullgardt Orlando Whitney Norcross Frederick Lincoln Savage A. C. Schweinfurth Julius A. Schweinfurth Timothy Walsh Joseph Morrill Wells Edmund M. Wheelwright Edmund Russell Willson Arthur H. Vinal
Media related to Peabody and Stearns at Wikimedia Commons

v t e National Register of Historic Places in Hudson County, New Jersey
Landmarks	Clark Thread Company Historic District Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company Warehouse Holland Tunnel Statue of Liberty National Monument
Districts	Buildings at 1200–1206 Washington Street Hamilton Park Harsimus Cove Historic District The Beacon Jersey City Reservoir No. 3 Lembeck and Betz Eagle Brewing Company District Morris Canal Paulus Hook Historic District Van Vorst Park West Bergen-East Lincoln Park Historic District
Places of worship	Church of Our Lady of Grace Church of the Holy Innocents First Baptist Church First Reformed Dutch Church of Bergen Neck Grace Church Van Vorst Monastery and Church of Saint Michael the Archangel Old Bergen Church Saint Ann Roman Catholic Church and Rectory St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church St. Patrick's Parish and Buildings St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church United Synagogue of Hoboken
Houses	Dr. William Barrow Mansion Hale-Whitney Mansion Van Wagenen House
Buildings	Association of Exempt Firemen Building Bayonne Truck House No. 1 Bayonne Trust Company Engine Company No. 2 Engine Company No. 3 Engine Company No. 4 Engine Company No. 5 Engine Company No. 6 Engine House No. 3, Truck No. 2 Excelsior Engine Co. No. 2 Firehouse Erie-Lackawanna Railroad Terminal at Hoboken Fairmount Apartments Ficken's Warehouse Hackensack Water Company Complex Highland Hose No. 4 Hoboken City Hall Hoboken Free Public Library and Manual Training School Hoboken Land and Improvement Company Building Hook and Ladder No. 3 Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Powerhouse Hudson County Courthouse Jefferson Trust Company Jersey City Central Railroad Terminal Jersey City High School Jersey City YMCA Keuffel and Esser Manufacturing Complex Labor Bank Building Loew's Jersey Theatre Morton Memorial Laboratory of Chemistry Pohlmann's Hall Edwin A. Stevens Hall William Hall Walker Gymnasium
Objects	Firemen's Monument
Structures	Dock Bridge Machigonne Pulaski Skyway Robbins Reef Light Station Route 1 Extension
See also: National Register of Historic Places listings in Hudson County, New Jersey and List of National Historic Landmarks in New Jersey

• Buildings and structures in Jersey City, New Jersey
• Ferry terminals in New Jersey
• Ferry terminals on the National Register of Historic Places
• Former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad stations
• Former Central Railroad of New Jersey stations
• Former Lehigh Valley Railroad stations
• Former railway stations in New Jersey
• Historic American Engineering Record in New Jersey
• Hudson River
• Museums in Hudson County, New Jersey
• National Register of Historic Places in Hudson County, New Jersey
• New Jersey Register of Historic Places
• Railroad museums in New Jersey
• Railway stations in Hudson County, New Jersey
• Railway stations in the United States opened in 1864
• Railway stations in the United States opened in 1889
• Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey
• Railway stations serving harbours and ports
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• Peabody and Stearns buildings
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