Jersey City

Jersey City exists because geography made it America's front door—the point where 10.5 million immigrants stepped off Ellis Island ferries onto railroad platforms bound for everywhere else. Five terminals once lined the Hudson waterfront, making this not a destination but the nation's great transit node.

The Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal, completed 1889, was the architectural expression of this function: an ornate three-story gateway through which two-thirds of America's immigrants passed between 1892 and 1924. Entire train cars were designated solely for non-English speakers, sorted by destination like packages in a sorting facility. Jersey City didn't absorb these millions—it processed them.

When railroads died, so did Jersey City. The CNJ Terminal closed in 1967; tracks rusted, piers rotted, factories emptied. By the 1970s, the waterfront was a wasteland of abandoned buildings and overgrown lots—a cautionary tale visible from Manhattan's gleaming towers across the Hudson. Population crashed from 316,000 in 1930 to 223,000 in 1980.

Then Manhattan's success became Jersey City's opportunity. Developers saw cheap land with skyline views. Goldman Sachs built its 42-story tower in 2004, moving 4,000 employees across the river. The company launched a 'Venice strategy'—ferries connecting Jersey City operations to Manhattan headquarters. JPMorgan, Citi, and others followed.

The 2025 Gold Coast hosts finance back-offices, tech firms, and 290,000 residents in towers where railyards once sprawled. Goldman Sachs is now financing $200 million in mixed-income housing in Journal Square. Liberty State Park, carved from industrial ruins, draws 4 million visitors annually. A city that processed immigrants for other destinations has become a destination itself—Manhattan's overflow valve transformed into genuine alternative.