Manhattan’s west side waterfront is rich with history. Beginning with its original inhabitants—the Native American Leni Lenape (Delaware Nation) tribe—, and then to Giovanni da Verrazzano, Henry Hudson, Robert Fulton, Herman Melville and countless others, the banks of the Hudson River have hosted people and events that have influenced the city, state, country and beyond.

For more than a century, New York’s port was the busiest port in the world, and the commerce it allowed was integral to the growth of the nation. In fact, prior to implementation of the federal income tax, a majority of the federal government’s income was generated here on the waterfront.

Adapting to change and continuing to flourish until the mid 1900’s, the waterfront began to decline when containerization and the need for deeper ports changed the commercial landscape in New York City. By the 1970s, commerce on the waterfront was all but dead, and the cash-strapped city was unable to maintain the aging port structures. Deteriorated piers were eventually condemned, and parking lots and other non-water-dependent uses took over the shorelines.

Not until the state and city teamed together to revitalize the waterfront did things began to change for the better. A new at-grade urban boulevard was built by the NYS Department of Transportation, and the Hudson River Park Act was passed in 1998, creating a new era for the piers and adjacent upland areas.

Today, the Hudson River Park Trust is in the process of constructing Hudson River Park.

From the first, park planners have recognized the significance of incorporating the area’s important river history into their thinking, and park plans include numerous historic and interpretive features intended to help keep that history alive. For example, “bow-notches” (areas where the bulkhead was excavated to accommodate longer ships, preventing them from blocking the river channel) are being preserved in Greenwich Village and Clinton, and the historic Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Float Transfer Bridge at 26th Street was carefully restored and opened for public enjoyment. (Float bridges once lined the riverbanks, and were used to enable train cars loaded with supplies and even live animals bound for the meat market to be transferred to and from train tracks on both sides of the river.) The historic bulkhead is also being preserved. Future park plans include development of a series of walking tours focused on the history of different geographic areas, as well as the creation of specially designed interpretive elements intended to educate park visitors about the waterfront’s history and ecology.