Gantry Plaza State Park

You are approaching Gantry Plaza State Park, a twelve-acre stretch of waterfront that marks the dramatic transformation of the Long Island City coast. Where you now see a lush promenade and quiet seating, this land once served as a gritty, industrial hub for the Long Island Rail Road. Starting in the nineteen twenties, this specific site acted as a vital gateway for freight, where trains arriving from across Long Island were broken apart and loaded onto barges to be ferried to Manhattan and beyond. The park takes its name from the massive, black-painted steel structures towering over the riverbank. These are the original gantries, relics of a James B. French patent, which once hoisted hundred-ton railcars eighteen feet into the air to bridge the gap between land and sea.