Everything
about the system at Pavonia/Newport reminds the patron that PATH and its
predecessors have been around for a long time -- nearly a century.
The letter "E" on the brightly colored columns reflects the original
name for this stop: Erie Station. Upstairs that railroad's trains,
some destined to or arriving from as far away as Chicago, called at the busy station.
Erie service pulled out in the 1950s, when that line shifted its trains
to Lackawanna Station to the north. The underground station was renamed as
Pavonia, and for years the stop was very lightly utilized.
If one goes outdoors now, however, the rider finds
that this part of Jersey City has virtually completely shaken off its past.
Newport has been totally transformed with high rises,
hotels and shopping.
Hudson-Bergen light rail runs both north and south,
about a block away, on a route generally paralleling PATH between
Exchange Place and Hoboken. |
