They historically served industrial purposes and as the main reception area for immigrants to the city, but many remaining ones have been converted into public parks with deindustrialization.
[5] At the beginning of 1867 $100,000 of rent owed to the city from the piers and other port structures was withheld due to the city's negligence in keeping those structures in good repair.
[5] A report ordered by the city government subsequent to such development found that several of the piers owned by the city had been claimed to be under private ownership.
[4] At some point, the piers in Manhattan along both the North and East rives were renumbered and rebuilt as part of a modernization scheme.
Manhattan's Hudson River waterfront had become deindustrialized and derelict by the 1980s.