Reviewed Saturday, January 20, 2018

Designed by architect Kenneth M. Murchison in the Beaux-Arts style, the rail and ferry terminal buildings were constructed in 1907 by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. Hoboken Terminal building is listed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places. More than 50,000 people use the terminal daily, makes it New Jersey's second busiest railroad station and its third busiest transportation facility, after Newark Liberty International Airport and Newark's Penn station. Hoboken Terminal has been used since colonial times to link Manhattan Island and points west. In 1811, the first steam-powered ferries began service under John Stevens, an inventor who founded Hoboken.

There is a large main waiting room, with its floral and Greek Revival motifs in tiled stained glass by Louis Comfort Tiffany set atop bands of pale cement, is generally considered one of the finest in the U.S. aesthetically. The terminal exterior extends to over four stories and has a distinguished copper-clad façade with ornate detailing. Its single-story base is constructed of rusticated Indiana limestone. A grand double stair with decorative cast-iron railings within the main waiting room provides an entrance to the upper-level ferry concourse.

A 225-foot (69 m) clock tower was originally built with the terminal over a century ago, but was dismantled in the early 1950s due to structural damage and deterioration from weather damage. A new clock tower, replicating the original, was constructed during the terminal's centennial year of 2007 and was fully erect that November. The replica tower has 4-foot-high (1.2 m) copper letters spelling out "LACKAWANNA", which are lit at night.

The original ferry slips inside the historic terminal were restored in 2011.

The terminal is considered a milestone in American transportation development, combining rail, ferry, subway, streetcar (buses were added later, and light-rail was added even later), and pedestrian facilities in one of the most innovatively designed and engineered structures in the nation.
Port Authority Trans-Hudson, abbreviated PATH, is a rapid transit system serving Newark, Harrison, Hoboken, and Jersey City in metropolitan northern New Jersey, as well as lower and midtown Manhattan in New York City. The PATH is operated by, and named after, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Beside of PATH and Commuter rail can find Light Rail and Ferry in this terminal.
Light rail platforms for which are located south of Track 18 and the terminal building, and provide a pathway connection to 14th Street along the Hudson River. Weekday ferry service is operated by NY Waterway to the Battery Park City Ferry Terminal at the World Financial Center, the West Midtown Ferry Terminal, and Pier 11 at Wall Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan.

The station is unusual for a New York City area commuter railroad terminal in that it still has low-level platforms, requiring passengers to use stairs on the train to board and alight. ...More