This large area, located between Canal Street and Battery Park City, was once home to the Munargo Line United Fruit Company's piers (piers 2,3, 7).  According to our tour guide, the Munargo Line United Fruit Company was once the largest shipper of fruit to New York City.  There are several other fruit company piers that were located further up the river. Fruit shipments to the piers of Manhattan slowly ended, as fruit deliveries were transferred to The Bronx Hunts Point Market.



An old pier continues to hold its own despite years of neglect and weathering.

In this area, piers once serviced the following industries: Lehigh Valley Railroad (pier 8), United Fruit Company (pier 9), Central Railroad of New Jersey (pier 10), Colonial Steam Ships (pier 11), New York Central Railroad (piers 16,17) , Eastern Ships (piers 18, 19), Erie Railroad (piers 20,21), Newtex Line Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (piers 22, 23), Eastern Steam Ships (piers 25,26), and the Pennsylvania Railroad's piers (27-30).  Many of these piers are long gone, and few remain.



This pier, which extends out to the Holland Tunnel ventilation tower, has recently been refurbished and is now a part of the Hudson Riverfront Park.  According to a 1950's Hangstrom Map of the area, this pier once serviced the Moore-McCormack company.



A closer view of the Holland Tunnel ventilation tower.

Interested in the history of the Holland Tunnel?  If so, it will be worth your time to visit Steve Andersen's nycroads.com site to learn about the tunnel and its fascinating history.



The City of New York's parking violation garage now occupies the old "Maritime and Aviation" pier.  This is where you go if your car has been towed while you were parked illegally in Manhattan, or if your car has been assessed several parking tickets, and you refuse to pay them!  This is the infamous pier 40 off of Houston Street.

According to Thomas Flagg, this large pier "replaced Piers 37 to 41 in 1961-1963, built by the city to attract the Holland-America Steamship line here from across the river (it had been occupying two of the Hoboken Piers).  Holland America closed the pier in 1974, when its cruise ships moved to the just-completed Passenger Ship Terminal in the west 40s."



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