Postcard Thursday: Chelsea Piers

Last week was the centennial of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania, one of the events that pulled America into World War I. The ship had left on its final voyage from Cunard's Pier 54 on what was then still widely called the North River by mariners, even if the general public knew it as the Hudson. In the postcard above, Pier 54 is just off the frame of the postcard to the left. This image, ca. 1910, instead features is Pier 61, where White Star's Titanic was slated to dock; the survivors were ultimately brought to Pier 54.

When commerce left the Hudson River in the latter half of the 20th century, the piers fell into disrepair. Most of Pier 54 was demolished in the early 1990s and the northerly piers in this postcard were rebuilt as the Chelsea Piers Sports and Entertainment Complex.

The remnants of Pier 54 today. (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Anyone interested in exploring this neighborhood more should check out our Chelsea walking tour.

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Explore more NYC history in

Footprints in New York: Tracing the Lives of Four Centuries of New Yorkers

If you haven't had a chance to pick up a copy of Footprints yet,
you can order it from your favorite online retailers (Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc.) or
from independent bookstores across the country.

And, of course, Inside the Apple is available at fine bookstores everywhere.