Reconstruction of the Clock Tower

Reconstruction of the Clock Tower. . , The historic Hoboken Ferry Terminal in Hoboken, NJ, has been restored to its original place on the Hoboken skyline - once again an iconic presence on the Hudson River. The original ferry terminal and clock tower were built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad in 1907., Over the years, the terminal aged, train tunnels were introduced beneath the Hudson River reducing the need for ferry service, and train travel itself was significantly impacted by the advent of the automobile. These factors contributed to the Lackawanna Terminal's slide into decay. its famous harbor beacon, the clock tower, had by the post-World War II period lost much of its copper sheathing due to high winds, and in 1950 it was completely dismantled. It was subsequently replaced by a utilitarian radio tower, which was removed from the building in 2007 to make way for the present tower., The impressive new clock tower was fabricated by Campbellsville Industries in their Kentucky plant. Sections of the tower were transported to the Hoboken Terminal in eight separate shipments and then assembled in the Plaza in three phases. Each of these was then hoisted into place by a massive crane onto the base of the tower on the roof above the Main Waiting Room., The tower has been replicated using the same exterior copper cladding as in the original tower, but the inner steel and aluminum structure of the new tower is engineered in accordance with current wind and building code requirements. All exterior cladding for the tower is fabricated from 30 oz. copper and is left in natural mill finish to eventually age to a green patina to match the surrounding copper on the terminal building., A fiber optic lighting system illuminates the tower. It includes a 4-foot high copper letters spelling out the word "Lackawanna". The tower is surmounted by an illuminated clock with four 12-foot diameter faces, one on each side.