Jersey City Reservoir No. 3
Jersey City, United States
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Perched atop Bergen Hill in Jersey City's Heights, Jersey City Reservoir No. 3 is a decommissioned water facility built between 1871 and 1874 to supply potable water to the city and Ellis Island. Its distinctive perimeter wall employs Egyptian Revival architecture, while pump stations reflect Romanesque Revival styling. The 13.8-acre reservoir operated until the 1980s, when it was drained in favor of a larger facility at Boonton Gorge. What followed was an unexpected transformation: behind its towering 20-foot stone walls, a thriving urban wildlife refuge emerged, now featuring a 6-acre lake and diverse populations of trees, wildflowers, swans, herons, and peregrine falcons. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012, the site reopened to the public in 2024 under stewardship of the Jersey City Reservoir Preservation Alliance, operating as a Saturday destination for community programming and education during warmer months.
Movement
- Built
- Type
- reservoir, wildlife refuge
- Heritage
- National Register of Historic Places listed place
- Place
- Jersey City, United States
This building on
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