The Hudson River Waterfront Walkway runs along the shoreline and is abutted by recently constructed residential neighborhoods, Lincoln Harbor to the south and Bulls Ferry to the north.

On April 18, 1670 the government of the Province of New Jersey confirmed a grant to Maryn Adriaensen for a parcel of land called Wiehacken in the jurisdiction of Bergen on Hobooken Creek, 50 morgen Dutch measure originally given on May 11, 1647.

Sporadic ferry service began and in 1700 a royal patent was given by Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont[4] which led to the naming of Weehawken Street at the landing across the river in today's West Village.

Later called Slough's Meadow, the waterfront has in the last centuries been transformed from a tidal marsh[5] to an extensive rail and shipping port and, since the 1980s, redeveloped for commercial, residential, recreational, and transportation uses.

[10][11][12] As with much of the traditional harbor of the Port of New York and New Jersey, the infrastructure became obsolete as passenger and freight transport patterns changed.

In 1981 Arthur Edward Imperatore, Sr., trucking magnate, purchased a 2.5 miles (4.0 km) length of the Weehawken Yard from the bankrupt Penn Central for $7.5 million, his surname an inspiration for Port Imperial.

[25][26][27] In 2009, New York Waterway was instrumental in the rescue of passengers on US Airways Flight 1549, which made an emergency landing on the Hudson River near Port Imperial.

[31][32] In October 2011, the hub was announced as the site of the Port Imperial Street Circuit, a motorsport venue hosting the Grand Prix of America, a round of the Formula One World Championship.