The High Line (73 images)

The High Line is an elevated freight railway that currently stretches from Gansevoort Street, in the Meat Packing District, to 34th Street, between 10th & 11th Avenues.

The High Line was built in the early 1930s by the New York Central Railroad to eliminate the accidents that occurred along the street-level right-of-way and to offer direct warehouse-to-freight car service that reduced pilferage for the Bell Laboratories Building, which is now Westbeth, and the Nabisco...
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The High Line is an elevated freight railway that currently stretches from Gansevoort Street, in the Meat Packing District, to 34th Street, between 10th & 11th Avenues.

The High Line was built in the early 1930s by the New York Central Railroad to eliminate the accidents that occurred along the street-level right-of-way and to offer direct warehouse-to-freight car service that reduced pilferage for the Bell Laboratories Building, which is now Westbeth, and the Nabisco plant which is currently Chelsea Market, which were served from protected sidings within the structures.''

But in the midst of a changing economy and the demise of industry in Manhattan, freight trains usage began to decrease. Then by 1980 trains stopped using the High Line entirely.

Friends of the High Line, a community-based non-profit group, formed in 1999 when the historic structure was under threat of demolition. Friends of the High Line works in partnership with the City of New York to preserve and maintain the structure as an elevated public park.

The project gained the City's support in 2002. The High Line south of 30th Street was donated to the City by CSX Transportation Inc. in 2005. The design team of landscape architects James Corner Field Operations, with architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, created the High Line's public landscape with guidance from a diverse community of High Line supporters. Construction on the park began in 2006.

Section 1 of the High Line, which runs from Gansevoort Street to 20th Street, opened on June 9 2009, Then in June 2011 Section 2, which runs from West 20th Street to West 30th Street, opened to the public.
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