Exchange Place, Jersey City

Exchange Place is an urban area of Jersey City, New Jersey on the shore of the Hudson River, that is sometimes referred to as "Wall Street West". The Goldman Sachs Tower and other buildings are home to many financial corporations. The namesake is a minor street about 200 feet long on the Hudson River shore at the end of Montgomery St, which became well-known because it was a transportation terminal.

The neighborhood is served by the Exchange Place PATH station, which provides service to Newark, Hoboken, and Lower Manhattan. The area is also served by the Exchange Place station on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, which provides northbound service to Hoboken Terminal and Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen, and southbound service to West Side Avenue in Jersey City and 22nd Street in Bayonne.

Features

* A statue dedicated to the Katyn massacre is featured in front of the Exchange Place station.
* The Mack-Cali building is host to several nesting sites for Peregrine Falcons. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Fish & Wildlife, maintains a [http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/peregrinecam/ Jersey City Peregrine Cam] at some of the sites on the building.

Transport hub

Paulus Hook was the New Jersey side of the the Cortlandt St Ferry to New York, established in 1812 by Robert Livingston (1746-1813) and Robert Fulton. It was the first steam ferry service in New York Harbor and the world. [Brian J. Cudahy, "Over and Back". New York: Fordham University Press, 1990. p20-24,360,362.] The ferry dock stood at the head of the important highway to Newark (and points west and south) established in 1795. [John T. Cunningham, "Newark". Newark: New Jersey Historical Society, 1966. p84-85.] The ferry in turn influenced the location of the terminal of the New Jersey Railroad, which opened in 1838 running from the ferry dock via Newark to New Brunswick. The railroad purchased the ferry operation in 1853 [Brian J. Cudahy, "Over and Back". New York: Fordham University Press, 1990. p59.] and in 1858 built a much-needed larger intermodal terminal. After acquiring the railroad in 1871, the Pennsylvania Railroad replaced the terminal in 1876 and yet again in 1888-1892 [Carl Condit, "The Port of New York". Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980. v1 p46-52,152-168.] . Passengers could move directly between the trains and ferries without going outside (a similar plan can still be seen today at Hoboken Terminal). The railroad referred to the location simply as Jersey City, and if necessary to distinguish it from other railroads' terminals, as the Pennsylvania station.

It was probably the street railways, the local transportation in Jersey City, that first needed to identify the location more precisely as Exchange Place. Beginning with horsecars in 1860, the local network connected the ferry with neighborhoods in the city and nearby towns. An off-street terminal called "Exchange Place" was established in 1891. It was almost at the water's edge, across the street from the Pennsylvania Railroad terminal and with easy access to the ferries [John Harrington Riley, "The Newark City Subway Lines". 1987. p194.] . Cars with signs reading EXCHANGE PLACE could be seen all over town.

The Hudson and Manhattan Railroad opened its tunnels from Exchange Place to New York in 1910 [Carl Condit, "The Port of New York". Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980. v1 p247-254.] . Significantly, the station was at first called "Pennsylvania Railroad Station", not Exchange Place ["Official Guide of the Railways". January 1910, p.68.] , but by 1916 the name was expanded to include "Exchange Place" ["Official Guide of the Railways". June 1916, p.397.] . By 1926 the H & M station was simply "Exchange Place" ["Official Guide of the Railways". February 1926, p.308.] . The Pennsylvania Railroad did not officially give in until some years later, but all the stations, and the neighborhood, were firmly known as Exchange Place by the 1920s.

The ferry continued to run until 1949 [Brian J. Cudahy, "Over and Back". New York: Fordham University Press, 1990. p362.] , and while Pennsylvania Railroad service dwindled after the opening of Penn Station in New York in 1910, it did not end until 1962 [Carl Condit, "The Port of New York". Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981. v2 p228.] . Following the end of railroad service, the remains of the large terminal were demolished, leaving a large open space on the waterfront. This and the elimination of other railroad passenger and freight yards along the river during the 1960s and 1970s opened up the land that would be used for redevelopment. The continued use of the name "Exchange Place" was based on the Hudson and Manhattan station (PATH since 1962) and signs on the bus routes that had replaced the trolleys.

References