FERRIES, FOOT OF WEST 23RD STREET
DECEMBER 23, 1935. ABBOTT FILE 60

Trolley Car, 23rd Street Ferry Terminal, discarded image

Three railroads--Erie, Lackawanna, and Jersey Central--operated ferries from 23rd Street to New Jersey, sharing a monumental terminal built in 1907. The terminal was demolished in 1950, and the last ferry ran until 1967; a sister copper-clad ferry terminal in Hoboken remains. The 23rd Street piers south of the old ferry slips reopened in 1995 as Chelsea Piers, a sports and entertainment complex serving the Lower West Side's growing residential population.

Abbott photographed the terminal twice, first showing the Jersey Central and Lackawanna entrances on the southern side, and later the Erie Railroad entrance to the north. Both photographs include trolley cars, which were rapidly losing business to motorized buses. On her second visit to the site, Abbott aimed to document "New York's last street car," (McQuaid, 359), which closed in 1936.

Return to the Middle West Side