Pennsylvania Station (Newark) - History

History

Designed by the renowned architectural firm McKim, Mead and White, the station is a mixture of Art Deco and Neo-Classical. The interior of the main waiting room has medallions illustrating the history of transportation, from wagons to steamships to cars and airplanes. The current building was dedicated on March 23, 1935; the first regular train to use it was a New York–Philadelphia express at 10:17 on March 24. The new station was built alongside to the northwest of the old station, which was then demolished and replaced by the southeast half of the present station, completed in 1937. Except for the separate, underground Newark Light Rail station, tracks are elevated above street level.

It was built to be one of the centerpieces of the former Pennsylvania Railroad's (PRR's) train network, and to become a transfer point to the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (now PATH), which was partially funded by the PRR, for travel to lower Manhattan. At the time, PRR operated 232 weekday trains (both directions) between Newark and New York Penn Station; after 1937, the 10-mile trip took an average of 16 minutes.

The station, the adjacent 230-foot Dock Bridge over the Passaic River (the longest three-track railway lift span in existence), the Newark City Subway extension and the realignment of the H&M cost $42 million, borne almost evenly by the PRR and the City of Newark. PRR and H&M were moved to the station on June 20, 1937, and the nearby Manhattan Transfer station and H&M Park Place and original Harrison stations were closed.

Newark Penn Station was extensively renovated in 2007, with restoration of the facade and historic interior materials (e.g., plaster ceilings, marble and limestone, windows, lighting fixtures), and train platform and equipment improvements.