Harsimus Stem Embankment facts for kids
The Harsimus Stem Embankment, also called Sixth Street Embankment, is a half-mile-long historic railroad embankment, now abandoned and largely overgrown with foliage, in the heart of the historic downtown of Jersey City, New Jersey in the United States. The 27-foot-high (8.2 m) embankment runs along the south side of Sixth Street west from Marin Boulevard to Brunswick Street. It is the border between the Harsimus and Hamilton Park neighborhoods. The overhead tracks of the beam bridge west of Brunswick Street were dismantled but the stone abutments remain.
This elevated stone structure once carried seven tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad's Passaic and Harsimus Line to its freight yards and carfloat operations on the Hudson River at Harsimus Cove, and to its warehouse and distribution facility (now Harborside Financial Center). The line was part of the railroad's holdings on the waterfront, which included the Exchange Place passenger terminal and the Greenville Yard. The Embankment is listed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places, is eligible for the National Register, and is a Jersey City municipal landmark.
In 2010, a local citizens' movement lobbied local governments, chiefly Hudson County and the city of Jersey City, to acquire the land and convert the embankment to a public park. The developer who owns the land where the embankment is located is opposed. In September 2010 a federal court ruled that sale to the developer was legal and that the city has previously not exercised its first option to buy the right-of-way from Conrail. The decision meant the city could claim the structure through eminent domain. A $1 million grant request was not honored. The developer's proposals to sell portions of the land to the city were rejected in 2011. The case was brought to an appeals court, which found that the case against the developer could proceed. In January 2012 it was announced that a deal had been arranged whereby the city would purchase the property for $7 million. In September 2012 it was ruled that Conrail had not gone through the required process of "abandonment" and was not legally able to sell the property. Again in 2020, a deal was announced.
