Morris Canal Jersey City 1923 Abandonment Photos

Morris Canal Jersey City 1923 Abandonment Photos

Author: Lehigh Valley Railroad

Year: 1923

This collection of images is from a set of negatives held by the New Jersey Room of the Jersey City Free Public Library. The series depicts the Morris Canal in an abandoned state, at the time that the Canal Company was dissolved and its property reverted to the State of New Jersey, with the exception of most of the canal’s path across Jersey City. That property and its right-of-way became the property of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. The State of New Jersey retained the rights to the Little Basin area at the Hudson River. The series of numbered images starts at the east end of the Little Basin and traverses all of the city. Number plates are visible in the images, and in many there is a person for size perspective. It is believed that this series was commissioned for the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and dates from 1923. In 2015, New Jersey Room staff attempted to identify the location of the images and relate them to the current contexts. Several images are missing, and many of the negatives are damaged, leaving gaps in the sequence.