Exchange Place is a district of Downtown Jersey City, New Jersey that is sometimes referred to as Wall Street West due to the concentration of financial companies that have offices there. The namesake is a square, about 200 feet long, at the foot of Montgomery Street at the waterfront of the Hudson River. This square was created by landfilling the shore at Paulus Hook, and has been a major transportation hub since the colonial era.
Vicinity
A high concentration of highrise office and residential buildings in the city are located in the district radiating from Exchange Place, which since the 1990s has overtaken Journal Square as Hudson County's major business district and become a major business center along the redeveloped waterfronts in the Port of New York and New Jersey. The Mack-Cali building is host to several nesting sites for peregrine falcons. The Hudson River Waterfront Walkway crosses Exchange, the other side of which is J. Owen Grundy Park, extending into the Hudson River.
The Katyń Memorial by Polish-American artist Andrzej Pitynski is the first memorial of its kind to be raised on American soil to honor the dead of the Katyń Forest massacre. In early May 2018, Holocaust survivor Edward Mosberg co-signed a letter asking Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop not to remove the Katyń Memorial from Exchange Place in the city, writing: "The memory of the Katyn massacre is an important part of the memory and memories of the Holocaust and we encourage you to reconsider your decision to remove this monument."
To the south are New York Waterway's Paulus Hook Ferry Terminal, and the two tallest buildings in New Jersey; the Goldman Sachs Tower and 99 Hudson. The Colgate Clock, promoted by Colgate-Palmolive as the largest in the world, faces Battery Park in lower Manhattan. The clock, which is in diameter with a minute hand weighing 2,200 pounds, was erected in 1924 to replace a smaller one that was relocated to a plant in Jeffersonville, Indiana. The riverfront promenade, which provides vistas of Lower Manhattan, continues along the Morris Canal Little Basin, part of Liberty State Park. To the north is the former warehouse now housing Harborside Financial Center.
History As early as July 1764History of the County of Hudson, New Jersey: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Charles Hardenburg Winfield, pg. 243-246, Kennard & Hay Stationery M'fg and Print. Company, 1874 a ferry began operating from Paulus Hook to Mesier's dock which was located at the foot of Courtland Street (where Cortland Street Ferry Depot would be built)Railroad Ferries of the Hudson: And Stories of a Deckhand, by, Raymond J. Baxter, Arthur G. Adams, pg. 64, 1999, Fordham University Press, 978-0823219544 and where Battery Park City Ferry Terminal is located today. The first steam ferry service in New York Harbor and the world was established in 1812 by Robert Livingston (1746-1813) and Robert Fulton and traveled between Paulus Hook and Cortlandt Street in Manhattan.Cudahy, Brian J. Over and Back New York: Fordham University Press, 1990. pp.20-24,360,362 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 1853Brian 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.American railroad Journal Vol 32, June 18, 1859 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. In 1901, the privately held land was given to the city by the PRR.
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.
For many years the location functioned similarly to Hudson Place, farther up the Hudson waterfront, as a terminus for the many trolley lines which crisscrossed Hudson County, as well as for those which traveled farther, from destinations such as the Newark Public Service Terminal, or the Broadway Terminal in Paterson. At one time more than ten lines operated by the Public Service Railway originated/terminated here. The substitution of rail lines with busses, colloquially known as bustitution, was completed in 1949.French, Kenneth, Images of Rail: Railroads of Hoboken and Jersey City, Arcadia Publishing, 2002, p125,
Ferry services were also discontinued in 1949,Brian J. Cudahy, Over and Back. New York: Fordham University Press, 1990. p362. and while the 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 service on the Jersey City Branch, 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.
Since 2000, both a trolley service, in the form of the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail, and a ferry service, provided by NY Waterway at the Paulus Hook Hook Ferry Terminal, have been restored. It is also the terminus for several New Jersey Transit and privately operated bus routes.
Transportation
Pennsylvania Railroad Station
PATH PATH service from Exchange Place runs east to the World Trade Center, north to Hoboken Terminal, and west to Journal Square and Newark Penn Station.
HBLR Three stations of the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail in the district are Harborside Financial Center, Essex Street and Exchange Place, where transfer to PATH and ferry are possible.
Paulus Hook Ferry Terminal
The ferry that started in 1764 became known as the Jersey City Ferry, but after nearly 200 years of service, the last regular ferry service across the Hudson ended in the 1960s. Service was revived in 1986, and today the Hudson's ferries are operated by New York Waterway. companyroutedestinationnotesNY WaterwayWest Midtown Ferry TerminalMidtown ManhattanPier 79 West Side Highway-West 39th StJavits Convention Centerfree transfer to Manhattan "loop" busesBattery Park City Ferry Terminalat World Financial CenterHudson River Park at Vesey StreetBattery Park Citypaid transfer to NYC Ferry, NY Waterway, Liberty Landing Ferry, and Seastreak routesWall StreetPier 11South Streetsouth of South Street Seaportpaid transfer to NYC Ferry, NY Waterway, and Seastreak routesBelfordRaritan BayshoreMonmouth Countyvia The Narrows & Upper Bay
Bus
Routedestinationmajor points1limited serviceNJTNewark-Ivy Hillvia Newark-Ironbound and Downtown NewarkWest SideLincoln Highway–Kearny PointFerry Street/Raymond BoulevardMarket Street9 NJTCountry VillageGrove Street StationVan Vorst ParkMcGinley SquareWest Side AvenueDanforth Avenueor
Journal Square
limited service64NJTLakewoodNewport Centre Mall Hoboken
Lincoln Harbor
Freehold
Old Bridge
Georgian Court University68NJTOld BridgeSouth River
Newport Centre Mall
Hoboken
Lincoln Harbor80NJTGreenvilleOld Bergen RoadNewark AvenueFive CornersIndia SquareJSQWest Side AvenueDanforth Avenue81NJTBayonnevia GreenvilleGrove Street StationCommunipaw JunctionDanforth AvenueCurries WoodsOcean Ave
Ave C82NJTGreenvilleregular serviceHudson County Correction Facilitylimited serviceNewark AvenueWest Side AvenueorLincoln Highwaylimited service86AM and PM peak serviceNJTBergenline StationGrove Street StationNewport Centre MallNewark Avenue9th/Congress StationWeehawken Water Tower Academy BusGarden State Arts Centerlimited peak service
In popular culture The views provided along the waterfront are often featured as background images of New York City and One World Trade Center that have been used for Gmail, WordPress, and Emporis. The EarthCam webcam for One World Trade Center, which is placed on top of the Hyatt Regency Hotel, is viewed by millions every week and is occasionally used by local TV news stations.
The 1998 film Godzilla used the area that the Goldman Sachs Tower currently occupies as the location for a military base. The Exchange Place PATH station was used to film an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and the ending of the film Sid and Nancy was shot in the vicinity of Exchange Place near Harborside.
A segment of MTV's "The Week in Rock" was filmed along the Exchange Place waterfront during an interview with Queen Latifah.
The pier and its New York backdrop is commonly used in the 2021 series The Equalizer as the location where Robyn and William privately meet.
The view of Lower Manhattan from Exchange Place has been used for shots in the music video for Demi Lovato's I Love Me and in the lyric video for Afrojack and David Guetta's song Hero.
See also List of Public Service Railway lines List of ferries across the Hudson River to New York City
References