St. John's Park

St. John's Park Freight Depot

Company type	Freight terminal
Industry	Transportation, Rail freight
Founded	1867
Fate	Demolished in 1927 for Holland Tunnel exit construction
Headquarters	New York City , United States
Products	Rail freight handling and storage
Number of employees	330 (late 19th century)

St. John's Park was a 19th-century green space and adjacent townhouse district located in what is now Tribeca, Lower Manhattan, New York City. The area was enclosed by Varick Street, Laight Street, Hudson Street, and Beach Street—currently known as Ericsson Place. Although the name endures, the site has been incorporated into the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's Holland Tunnel exit infrastructure and is no longer open to the public.

Initially part of a plantation owned by an early settler in New Netherland, the property subsequently came under English Crown possession before being granted to Trinity Church. The church established St. John's Chapel and developed "Hudson Square," recognized as New York City's inaugural townhouse community arranged around a private park. By 1827, the locale was identified as "St. John's Park" and maintained its status as an upscale neighborhood until approximately 1850. In 1866, the land was transferred to Cornelius Vanderbilt's Hudson River Railway Company, transforming into the St. John's Park Freight Depot, serving as the southern terminus for the railroad. This terminal was dismantled in 1927 to make way for tunnel exit construction.

Early history

The site originally constituted part of Lispernard Meadows, a marshy wetland featuring upland and salt marsh areas, within a broader farmstead granted in 1636 to Dutch settler Roeloff Jansen by New Amsterdam governor Wouter van Twiller. Following Jansen's death in 1637, ownership passed to his widow, Anneke Jans, who secured a formal land patent from Peter Stuyvesant in 1654.

Upon Jans's passing in 1663, her will mandated the sale of the property to provide for her children. The heirs sold it to Royal Governor Francis Lovelace in 1670; however, he lost control when the Dutch briefly retook New Amsterdam in 1672. After England regained control in 1674, Governor Edmund Andros claimed the land on behalf of the Duke of York. The parcel remained Crown property until 1705, when it was granted to Trinity Church. For the next quarter-century, it was leased to various tenants.

Development by Trinity Church

In 1700, Trinity Church began leasing the land and officially acquired title through a patent issued by Queen Anne in 1705. Referred to as "Church Farm," Trinity maintained it as agricultural land until about 1800, when urban expansion northward encouraged redevelopment. The parcel—originally bordered by North Moore Street—was depicted as a square on several early city maps including the Taylor–Roberts plan of 1787 and the Goerck–Mangin plan of 1800.

Trinity aimed to establish an exclusive residential enclave inspired by London's West End, featuring Georgian, Federal, and Greek Revival-style townhouses arranged around a private park—anticipating later developments such as Gramercy Park. After obtaining approval from the city's Common Council to enclose the square (then bounded by Beach Street), Trinity commenced development efforts. To entice prospective buyers, construction began in 1803 on St. John's Chapel, designed by architect John McComb, located on Varick Street.

Development proceeded slowly over more than two decades due to challenging marshy ground conditions and restrictive 99-year leases that limited building height and materials. Initially, St. John's Chapel attracted few worshippers. Eventually, Trinity altered its approach by selling lots outright and granting owners exclusive rights to use the square under covenants that required proper upkeep or transfer of ownership for public use.

The neighborhood drew affluent residents and saw improvements including gas street lighting, curbstones, formal street layouts (later handed over to municipal authorities), a fenced park accessible only to residents with keys (added in 1866), and elaborate landscaping featuring gravel walkways, flowerbeds, and trees such as catalpas and silver birches. The park also served as a venue for church-sponsored events like annual festivals and was flooded during winter months for ice skating.

By 1827, St. John's Park had become a sought-after address among New York's prominent families—including Hamilton, Schuyler, Delafield, Tappan, and former mayor William Paulding Jr.—with "St. John's Park" supplanting "Hudson Square" as the area's designation around this time. Its refined character rivaled that of Washington Square and Gramercy Park but endured only one generation—from roughly 1825 through 1850. Contemporary accounts lauded it as "the fairest interior portion of the city" and "a spot of Eden loveliness," offering an oasis from urban commotion.

Neighborhood Decline

The downturn of St. John's Park commenced in the late 1840s and early 1850s as affluent residents relocated further uptown. This migration was hastened in 1851 by Cornelius Vanderbilt's installation of railroad tracks for the Hudson River Railroad along the park's western edge. By 1867, the New York Times reported that the influx of railroads and increased traffic had driven away the original wealthy inhabitants. Over the subsequent decade, the grand townhouses were repurposed into boarding houses, and the area's population shifted to clerks, tradespeople, and mechanics, leading to the neighborhood being colloquially dubbed "Hash Square."

Trinity Church, which maintained the authority to sell the land with approval from two-thirds of co-owners, took advantage of rising property values in lower Manhattan by selling St. John's Park to Vanderbilt in 1866 for $1 million. The proceeds were divided between the church and the lot owners. The New York Times acknowledged that although losing a green space was unfortunate, transforming it into a freight depot would stimulate commercial activity and increase wealth on the west side:

The transfer to the railroad Company is not to be regretted. As a park it has never been available, save to the few who rented [sic] property nearby... The establishment of a great freighting business there will pretty surely open up all the streets from Franklin to Canal for mercantile business, and add vastly to the wealth of the west side of the Ward...

The neighborhood's decline was further marked by the demolition of St. John's Chapel in 1918.

Freight Terminal

Following his acquisition of the land, Vanderbilt initially constructed a single-story train shed to serve as the terminus for the newly established West Side Line. In 1867, work commenced on a $2 million cutting-edge facility known as the "St. John's Park Freight Depot," which involved removing approximately 200 trees. This three-story red brick building, incorporating Romanesque elements and designed by John Butler Snook, featured a bronze statue of Vanderbilt perched atop a 150-foot pediment. The statue was unveiled in 1869 and later moved to Grand Central Terminal in 1929.

The fireproof depot accommodated 96 railcars across eight tracks and functioned as a critical shipping point for goods bound westward. It employed around 30 clerical staff and up to 300 laborers who managed as many as 140 railcars weekly. Two platforms were designated for cargo transfer, while upper floors housed the Frederick C. Linde warehouse providing both general and cold storage services. Positioned strategically, this terminal catered primarily to dry goods and grocery wholesalers nearby. Cart lines operated continuously from West Broadway down to Canal Street.

The establishment of this terminal altered the character of lower West Side into an industrial hub featuring bonded warehouses, stockyards, slaughterhouses, grain depots, and stables supporting livestock trade and transport. This transformation had begun prior to construction with facilities such as the American Express Company Stable opening in 1866 but accelerated following the depot’s inauguration. Although redevelopment ambitions existed initially, economic downturns during the 1870s impeded progress. By 1893, the district was predominantly inhabited by longshoremen, laborers, and teamsters—mainly Italian and German immigrants—residing in former mansions converted into crowded housing accommodating up to 800 people.

The designation "St. John's Freight Terminal" persisted when the New York Central Railroad, successor to Hudson River Railroad, erected a new terminal at 550 Washington Street amid efforts to elevate tracks and reduce accidents. Opened in 1934, this new terminal served as the endpoint for the elevated High Line.

Holland Tunnel exits

The train station built in 1867 was torn down in 1927, making way for the eastbound off-ramps of the Holland Tunnel, which serves Interstate 78. The Holland Tunnel Exit Plaza, situated on a city block under the ownership of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ), is characterized by a teardrop-shaped traffic circle that directs vehicles onto five distinct exits leading to different streets. Initially designed with four exits, this plaza underwent renovation—incorporating landscape design by Studio V Architecture and Ives Architecture Studio—with a fifth exit introduced in 2004. The gravel-covered central area inside the rotary, partially lined with trees, retains the name "St. John's Park" and is labeled as such on Google Maps, although it is fenced off with "No Trespassing" notices and not accessible to pedestrians.

This interior space has been home to significant sculptures such as Richard Serra's St. John's Rotary Arc (1980–1987) and Mark di Suvero's Joie de Vivre (1998–2006).

In its 2010 edition, the AIA Guide to New York City characterized this interior area as a "circular wasteland," highlighting its lack of effective use despite its historical importance.

References

Notes for clarification

Source citations

Works consulted

• Bradley, Betsy, and others. "Designation Report for Tribeca North Historic District" New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (December 1992)