FOR some reason, I failed to include this in the recent online zoom chat I gave regarding mosaic subway art. I’m unsure whether to post the rest in Forgotten NY, since they’re all so good, or save them in case I want to do the chat again in the future.
This plaque cannot be viewed in its station anymore, only in one preserved specimen at the Transit Museum. The IRT Cortlandt Street station opened in 1918 and was completely destroyed on 9/11/01. The MTA moved quickly to restore service on the #1 line, but the station was closed and completely rebuilt for several years: it now opens into the new Sergio Calatrava Oculus PATH station.
The boat in the mosaic isn’t Robert Fulton’s Clermont. Rather, it’s a ferry connecting the west end of Cortlandt Street with Paulus Hook in Jersey City. The mosaic was either designed by Squire Vickers or his associate Herbert Dole. Vickers served as the subways’ primary design chief from 1908 to about 1940.
According to NY Waterway, “The Jersey City Ferry was a major ferry service that operated between Jersey City in New Jersey and Cortlandt Street in lower Manhattan for almost 200 years (1764-1949). The ferry was notable for being the first to use steam power which began in 1812. The ferry’s history was closely tied to the Pennsylvania Railroad’s station in Jersey City at Exchange Place, which gradually fell into disuse after the railroad opened the North River Tunnels and Penn Station in 1910. Ferry service from lower Manhattan to Jersey City continued via the even older Communipaw ferry which operated from the adjacent Liberty Street Ferry Terminal until this service was also discontinued in 1967. In 1986 ferry service was revived and today it is operated by New York Waterway.”
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5/1/25