The Daily Graphic - 1875

The New York Daily Graphic did a story on Perth Amboy,NJ  on Friday, May 28th. 1875

Back in the day articles were thousands of words and very descriptive.

The Article speaks of Perth Amboy as a Summer Resort with rooms available at the 

Packer Hotel or The Brighton.

Also the Article takes you back when Perth Amboy was known as a

Fishing and Shell Fish Center and even mentions South Jersey's

Cranberry and Grape Crops and how Perth Amboy plays into it!

This is PART 1 with more to come......

Perth Amboy's Railroad - Part 2, Passenger Service

As most of you know, Perth Amboy was crisscross with railroad tracks. Most of them were use for Freight. I remember crossing railroad tracks almost everyday, no matter where we were going.

 

 
In this section, it's about the "other" railroad, Passenger Service. Some of us used the railroad to either go to "The City" or "Down the Shore"

 

 

 

The Railroad Station to the above, was the ordinal Passenger Station before being replaced with the current one in mid 1920's. Rumor has it that the "old" station was moved to Lewis Street and still is being used as a residence. As you can see from this post card, it was "street" level. One of the main reason it was replaced with a below grade (street) due to the many crossing hazards throughout the city, especially the June 15, 1921 accident which killed 9 firefighters of the Eagle Fire Company #4 while responding to a fire on South Second Street.

 

During the 1980's the current station was placed on "National Registry of Historic Places" and was refurbished in the 1990's. The Perth Amboy Station is still in use today.

 

 

 

 

 

Besides, Lehigh Valley Railroad's mainly "Freight" service in Perth Amboy (Roundhouse was located along Parker Street), we had the Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Central and Central Railroad of New Jersey.

 

Most of us remember, the "Ditch", how many of us use to catch tadpoles and frogs?

 

We used the cement drainage shoots for sled riding with cardboard or just used the "Ditch" as a shortcut!

 

Below are just some of the many different type of trains the were accustomed to.

 

 

 

 

From Perth Amboy north, the railroad mainly used electric to power the locomotives. From South Amboy, south to Bay Head, NJ the locomotives were either coal or diesel.

See the houses along Market St.

Left of train.

 

 

 

 

At one time, the bridge crossing the Raritan River was the longest across any river in the country in the 1800's.

 

 

 

 

How many of us thought about walking across when we will younger?

 

 

 

 

 

 

I remember “playing” on the tracks and trains growing up in our city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a scenic scene.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I still look at my HO and N scale model trains of the Lehigh Valley and Penn RR to this day, the memories of "Old" Perth Amboy, NJ!

 

 

 

 

Railroads - Part 1

Railroads played a very important role in the creation of Perth Amboy as a industrial city. It has been said that without the Railroad Perth Amboy may have never been the same as we knew it.

The Charter of" The Perth Amboy Railroad Company," of New Jersey, authorizes the construction of a railroad, about 18 miles in length, between the Central Railroad of New Jersey, at or near Boundbrook, and Perth Amboy.The road will pass over a district of country extremely favorable for its construction, with a level from its western extremity, as far as Metuchin; and a descending 'grade from thence to the Sound, at Perth Amboy. Perth Amboy is a port of entry, situated at the junction of the Raritan River with Staten Island Sound, and at the head of Raritan Bay, 14 miles west of Sandy Hook. The harbor is capacious and safe, with great depth of water, and of easy access from the sea and from New-York, by a channel in no part less than 21 feet in depth, and without a rock. The harbor is not obstructed by ice in winter, as is evidenced by the fact, that the freight and passage boats of the Cam­den and Amboy Railroad ran to and from New York the whole winter of 1855-6, when even the Chesapeake Bay, and many others, were for a long time closed by ice.Perth Amboy is the nearest and best harbor on the Atlantic sea-coast, accessible by available railroad connections with the anthracite coal districts of Pennsylvania, and with the western lines of railroads stretching into the interior, in their various ramifications to the far West, The termination of the Reading Railroad, at Richmond, on the Delaware River, is 93! miles from Pottsville, within the coal-measures of the lower coal-field, with 48 miles of canal navigation, and 591 miles of river navigation, to arrive at. New York, a total of 196 miles.Perth Amboy is 96 miles by the New Jersey Central, Lehigh Valley and P. Amboy Railroads with 24 miles river navigation-a total of 120 miles to arrive at New York. from the book of "Perth Amboy Railroad Co."