Nostalgia & History > [NJ] H&M power house in Jersey City

The Pennsylvania Railroad once operated extensive service into the riverfront of Jersey City, with Harborside Terminal / Exchange Place and Harsimus Cove as major presences. Underneath this complex of railroad yards and tracks, was the Hudson & Manhattan Power House, which powered the railroad's train operations until the 1920s.

There has been considerable concern about the enormous brick building, which had reached critical levels of decay by the 1990s. Thanks to a federal grant and Port Authority funding, repairs to the roof ended leaking, and windows were sealed or covered. The site had reached a level of notoriety among urban archeologists and several people had suffered minor injuries while trespassing or exploring.

Discussions continue about what to do with the more than a century old building. An arts center, film production venue, restaurant, condos (of course) have all been mentioned.

Here's what the power house looks like now. It's adjacent to the Harborside stop on the light rail, in an area filled with young bankers, media, computer, and financial types. Taco and Korean BBQ trucks, empanada makers, crepe sellers, etc. Definitely a different crowd than the dock workers, rail yard workers, and saloon keepers who inhabited the area into the 1950s


EDITED: The title originally said Pennsylvania Railroad's power house, which isn't supported by anything I've been able to find on the web, etc. I edited the title and some of the text to reflect that.

So, some of the following comments may not make sense. Or, maybe they will



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/11 06:19 by Lackawanna484.

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Interesting building... had no idea it was there...

I worked in the 10 Exchange building when it was brand new in 1989 and at one point had an office facing northwest. If I wasnt busy I would stare out in amazement at the bygone times around this area. At that time there was a parking lot off Montgomery st which still had the platforms from the PRR Exchange place station, but filled in and paved in between. of Course the power house was there and CR actually ran right down close the power house to clear Marion Jct to do the reverse move into Kearny. So much has changed you woould never know the rich RR history there. Actually I don't even think you can see much from what was my office because of the extensive development. Thanks for posting.

pal77 Wrote:
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> I worked in the 10 Exchange building when it was
> brand new in 1989 and at one point had an office
> facing northwest. If I wasnt busy I would stare
> out in amazement at the bygone times around this
> area. At that time there was a parking lot off
> Montgomery st which still had the platforms from
> the PRR Exchange place station, but filled in and
> paved in between. of Course the power house was
> there and CR actually ran right down close the
> power house to clear Marion Jct to do the reverse
> move into Kearny. So much has changed you woould
> never know the rich RR history there. Actually I
> don't even think you can see much from what was my
> office because of the extensive development.
> Thanks for posting.


The extensive rebuilding has cleared a lot of artifacts that were visible in the 1980s and 1990s in the downtown area.

Hijacking my own thread, I took a ride on the light rail down to Bayonne, and I was sad to see how much of the Lehigh Valley and Jersey Central has been swept away in the light rail and the separation of grades, and the road widening. If you didn't know that a huge concrete abutment was part of the CNJ coaling facility, there's little to give it away. Same with some of the bridge abutments and sidings that now go nowhere.

Suspect the power house produced no power
for PRR-- just H&M. (Until when?)

timz2 Wrote:
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> Suspect the power house produced no power
> for PRR-- just H&M. (Until when?)


curious why you speculate that (not that I know anymore, just wondering).

PRR was electrified into JC. They also were a co-owner of H&M of course (off topic, but interesting to those who don't know, the 1950s H&M cars were originally half called K cars and half called MP somethings - maybe MP38, can't recall for sure, to match PRR practices, as PRR had paid for them).

> PRR was electrified into JC.

Not when that powerhouse was built.

timz2 Wrote:
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> Suspect the power house produced no power
> for PRR-- just H&M. (Until when?)


1929, according to the Landmarks Conservancy.

There's an extensive article on their site about the ---Hudson & Manhattan---- Powerhouse. They also have pictures of the powerhouse before the stabilization work was undertaken. Although the site doesn't mention it, I believe the facility produced electric power for the Pennsy until the second World War. I'll see if Pennsy Triumph mentions anything about it.


http://www.jclandmarks.org/campaign-powerhouse.shtml

Wow - stopped using it as a powerhouse in 1929 and it's still standing. That's just amazing.

I have always heard it referred to as the Hudson & Manhattan Powerhouse. Aside from the (partial) PRR ownership of H&M I thought it was only for power for the "Tubes".

Tim

Lackawanna484 Wrote:

> I believe the facility produced electric
> power for the Pennsy until the
> second World War. I'll see if Pennsy Triumph
> mentions anything about it.

Nothing there?

So who said it produced PRR power? Did they
say it produced traction power?

Dunno what the plant originally produced--
was it 11 kV 25 Hz AC to H&M substations?