New York, Port Of Many Ports: Hoboken’s Piece of the Pie

June 28, 2009

Come to the Museum to learn about Hoboken’s role in the complex, interdependent working waterfront system of New York Harbor. Thomas Flagg, an instructor at the State University of New York and member and past director of the Society for Industrial Archaeology, will speak about “New York, Port of Many Ports: Hoboken’s Piece of the Pie.”

Because of its archipelago form, the Port of New York and New Jersey was composed of many separate waterfronts, with some 500 miles of shoreline. This resulted in heavy use of local water transport here, even by railroads, which evolved into NY Harbor’s characteristic “lighterage system” or “water belt line.” We will look at how Hoboken’s single mile of that waterfront participated in this system, in ways unique to Hoboken.