Wikipedia:WikiProject Trains/ICC valuations/Hoboken Ferry Company

Interstate Commerce Commission, Valuation Reports, Volume 39

Hoboken Ferry Company

The property of The Hoboken Ferry Company consists of docks, wharves, ferry buildings, floating equipment, and other facilities necessary for the transaction of a general ferry business between Hoboken, N. J., and New York City.

Introductory

The Hoboken Ferry Company is a corporation of the State of New Jersey, having its principal office at New York, N. Y.

The Hoboken Ferry Company has kept no record of its corporate operations since December 31, 1909, when its property was leased to the Lackawanna. From that date to December 31, 1917, the results of corporate operations of The Hoboken Ferry Company were kept in the accounting records of the Lackawanna, and from January 1, 1918, to date of valuation the results of such operations were recorded in the accounting records of the United States Railroad Administration. A statement of such operations is made a part of this report and shown in the chapter of this report on results of corporate operations.

The Hoboken Ferry Company is controlled by the New York and Hoboken Ferry Company, a holding company, through ownership of its entire outstanding capital stock, while the entire capital stock of the latter company is owned by the Lackawanna. On the other hand, the records do not indicate that this company controls any common-carrier corporation.

The property of The Hoboken Ferry Company was operated by its own organization from November 1, 1888, to January 1, 1905. On that date the ferries plying between Ferry Street, Hoboken, N. J., to Barclay, Christopher, and Twenty-second Streets, New York City, N. Y., were leased to The Morris and Essex Railroad Company, a lessor of the Lackawanna. The company continued operation of its line between Fourteenth Street, Hoboken, N. J., and Fourteenth Street, New York City, N. Y., until December 31, 1909, when all of its property was leased to the Lackawanna and was operated by that company until December 31, 1917. From that date to date of valuation it has been operated by the United States Railroad Administration as a part of the operating unit of the Lackawanna.

Corporate History

The Hoboken Ferry Company was incorporated July 16, 1888, under the general laws of the State of New Jersey. On November 30, 1896, the company acquired by merger the property of the New York and New Jersey Ferry Company, a company incorporated December 31, 1895, under the general laws of the State of New Jersey.

Development of Fixed Physical Property

On November 9, 1888, The Hoboken Ferry Company acquired by purchase the property of the Hoboken Land and Improvement Company consisting of boats, ferry houses in New York City at Barclay, Christopher, and Fourteenth Streets, the land at Barclay Street in fee, and leasehold rights at Christopher and Fourteenth Streets, New York City, and a storehouse and machine shop at Hoboken, N. J. In 1904 the company leased landing rights and constructed a ferry house and slips at Twenty-second Street, New York City.

The ferry operating between Fourteenth Street, Hoboken, N. J., and Fourteenth Street, New York City, including franchises, lands, buildings, and three boats, was sold to George D. Heffren on December 31, 1895, for account of the New York and New Jersey Ferry Company. On November 30, 1896, this property again became a part of The Hoboken Ferry Company by merger of the New York and New Jersey Company with the former company.

Leased Railway Property

The entire property of The Hoboken Ferry Company, including leasehold rights at certain docks in New York City, is leased to the Lackawanna for a period of 20 years from December 31, 1909. The terms of the lease are given in the chapter on leased railway property of the report on the Lackawanna.