Title: Site History
(Picture 1)
Subtitle: Hudson Terminal Concourse
Text: The terminal of the Hudson and Manhat-tan Railroad, a commuter line from New Jersey, was not apparent from the street. It occupied three levels below grade, with the tracks and platforms at the second level, and the baggage handling, boiler, generating plant, and substation below. Just below street level were shops, services, waiting rooms, and ticket offices.
(Picture 2)
Subtitle: The Hudson Tubes
Text: Lead by William G. McAdoo, the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Company united several enterprises in 1904 to create a new commuter rail system that would carry passengers under the Hudson River. Paired round tunnels had a diameter of just over fifteen feet each, inspiring the nickname The Tubes. The southern set connected Jersey City and downtown.
(Picture 3)
Subtitle: The Cofferdam
Text: Because of the watery subsoil, engineers for the Hudson Terminal constructed a concrete cofferdam, much like a swimming pool. The buildings' foundations covered two acres and were said to be five times the area of any previously built. Sixty years later, the slurry wall of the World Trade Center that formed the "bath tub" would multiply the scale of the older foundations nearly fivefold.
(Picture 4)
Subtitle: Stock Certificate
Text: A trans-Hudson railroad tunnel had been planned as early as the 1870s. In 1888, construction of a pair of "tubes" began, but stopped due to lack of financing. In 1902, tunneling resumed and a series of twin tubes connecting Manhattan and New Jersey-now the PATH system-opened in 1908-09, constituting one of the great engineering feats of the age.
 |
|
 |
 |