Product Details
| Company |
New York and New Jersey Bridge Company of New York |
| Certificate Type |
General Mortgage Bond
|
| Date Issued |
March 23, 1892
|
| Canceled |
No
|
| Printer |
New York Bank Note Company
|
| Signatures |
Hand signed
|
|
Approximate Size
|
11" (w) by 7 1/2" (h)
|
Product Images
|
Show the exact certificate you will receive |
|
Authentic
|
Yes
|
| Additional Details |
NA
|
Historical Context
The New York and New Jersey Bridge Company was incorporated in New York in 1890 to construct a bridge over the Hudson River.
A previous New York and New Jersey Bridge Company had been incorporated in New Jersey in 1868, but never completed any construction and was later consolidated into the New York entity.
At the same time, the North River Bridge Company was formed as competition to the New York and New Jersey entity - each competing to earn the contract to build the bridge.
The proposed bridge was to be a combined cantilever and suspension structure, with a single river-span of 3,200 feet, two side-spans of 1,000 feet each, and a short span of 300 feet on the New York side, making a greater length than the present East River Bridge. The distance above high water mark was to be 150 feet, and at the middle of the structure 193 feet.
There were to be two main towers, 500 feet high, with bases 120 x 250 feet, extending about 250 feet below the water to hard rock. On the New Jersey side, the terminus was planned for Miles Avenue, Weehawken, and the New York end was originally planned between 70th and 71st Streets (it was later changed to be between 59th and 60th Streets) in Manhattan. From the latter point, a viaduct with four main railroad tracks and three lines of sidings, would run through private property to a point between Eleventh and Twelfth Avenues, and thence down-town to 39th Street. This viaduct, running all the way through the blocks between streets and avenues, would be built of steel and stone.
Grand Union Station, modelled after the St. Pancras Station in London, was to cover the blocks between Eighth Avenue, Broadway, and 37th and 39th Streets, 400 feet on Broadway and 1,300 feet back to the avenue.
Seventh Avenue and 38th Street was to be arched over, the grade of the depot being above the street level. The railroad offices were to be there, and also a great transferring mail station. The depot would house twenty tracks, and on the bridge there would be six tracks, with room to add four more. The bridge, which it was estimated would cost $40,000,000, was intended for railroad trains exclusively, and not for general traffic. It was planned to give the railroads, which were then compelled to bring passengers and freight by ferry into New York City, a route direct to the heart of the metropolis.
Unfortunately, the Panic of 1893 scuttle the plans, and neither company was able to build the structure.
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