The Central Railroad of New Jersey (CRRNJ) Terminal
Emigrant (Immigrant) Waiting Room
After passing the Statue of Liberty and being processed at Ellis Island, where did the new Americans go?
Once declared “clearly and beyond a doubt, entitled to land” almost two-thirds of the immigrants processed at Ellis Island bought train tickets from the Central Railroad of New Jersey (CRRNJ) ticket office on the island. They then boarded ferries which brought them here to the CRRNJ Terminal in Jersey City.
Upon arrival at the CRRNJ Terminal, the immigrants awaited their trains in the Emigrant Waiting Room.
The area in front of you, once enclosed within a ferry house, was the “Emigrant Waiting Room.” Here, in this small confined space, new immigrants were kept apart from the splendor of the main waiting room.
Remnant pipes, a slate urinal and tiles of the restroom floor are still visible today.
When it came time for their trains to depart, the new immigrants, many with their train tickets pinned to their clothing, were led to Track 1 through the North Baggage Tunnel (the arched opening behind you). Special immigrant trains, described as “somewhat resembling cattle cars,” took these new Americans on the next leg of their historic journeys.
Marker can be reached from Audrey Zapp Road, on the right when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
