The Abandoned New York Railway That Two Friends Saved — and Changed Cities Forever

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For two decades, old freight train tracks sat rusting above the streets of Manhattan’s West Side. Weeds grew up through the rails. Wild grasses and self-seeded flowers took hold. Nobody was supposed to be up there — but people climbed the fences anyway, just to see what was growing.

The Last Train Ran in 1980

The High Line was built in the 1930s to solve a crisis. The meatpacking plants and warehouses crowding the lower West Side had turned 10th Avenue into a killing ground. Freight trains at street level collided with traffic and pedestrians so often that locals called it “Death Avenue.”

The solution was to lift the whole thing 30 feet above the street. Steel trestles carried freight cars directly into the second and third floors of the buildings below. Meat, dairy, and produce moved through the heart of Manhattan without ever touching the ground.

For a few decades, it worked. Then refrigerated trucks arrived, and the railway became obsolete almost overnight. The last train ran in 1980, carrying three carloads of frozen turkeys. After that, silence. The tracks went quiet. The city grew up around them and forgot they were there.

A Photographer Found Something Nobody Expected

In 1999, photographer Joel Sternfeld spent an entire year walking the abandoned tracks, camera in hand. He found something extraordinary.

The High Line had become a wild garden. Without anyone tending it, plants had taken root between the old rails — goldenrod, milkweed, asters, Queen Anne’s lace. In autumn, the grasses turned amber and orange. In summer, butterflies crossed the rusted iron above Chelsea rooftops.

Sternfeld’s photographs were quiet and strange. A ribbon of wilderness floating above the city. Published in a book in 2001, they changed how people imagined what the High Line could become. He had documented not a ruin, but a possibility.

The Two Friends Who Said No to the Wrecking Ball

The city wanted to tear it down. Property owners beneath the tracks wanted it gone — a derelict structure blocking light, gathering graffiti, inviting trespassers. Demolition was scheduled and funds were allocated.

In 1999, two neighbors met at a community board meeting. Joshua David was a travel writer. Robert Hammond was an artist. Neither had any background in urban planning or historic preservation. They founded Friends of the High Line with almost no resources and an idea that most people dismissed as romantic nonsense.

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They hired landscape architects, commissioned studies, raised private funds, and lobbied the Bloomberg administration for years. They argued that the abandoned tracks weren’t a liability — they were a gift. An elevated park stretching a mile and a half above the West Side.

Mayor Bloomberg eventually agreed. Ground broke in 2006. The city that had been about to tear it down was now paying to transform it. The first section of the High Line opened to the public in June 2009.

What You Find When You Walk It Today

The High Line runs 1.45 miles along the western edge of Manhattan. It starts in the Meatpacking District at Gansevoort Street, passes through Chelsea, and ends near Hudson Yards at 34th Street. The whole walk takes around 45 minutes, though most people take longer.

What makes it unusual isn’t just the elevation. It’s the intimacy. You’re eye-level with apartment windows. Sections of original rail track are preserved underfoot. In places, the path runs directly through building facades — the old freight cars used to enter structures at the second-floor level, and the architects kept that detail.

The planting scheme mirrors what Sternfeld photographed — native grasses, perennials, and wildflowers grow in natural-looking drifts. Around 500 plant species are maintained throughout the year. Art installations rotate along the route. Seating is everywhere: teak steamer chairs, broad concrete steps, sloping lawns where people sprawl on summer evenings with nowhere better to be.

The surrounding neighborhood transformed almost immediately. The Meatpacking District and Chelsea — already changing before 2009 — accelerated dramatically. New restaurants and galleries opened at track level. Residential towers rose alongside the route. Property values along the High Line corridor climbed faster than almost anywhere else in Manhattan. You can read about that extraordinary neighbourhood transformation in our piece on how the Meatpacking District went from slaughterhouse to runway in a single generation.

The Idea That Changed Cities Around the World

What happened after the High Line opened surprised even David and Hammond.

Cities everywhere began looking at their own forgotten infrastructure. Philadelphia converted an elevated rail spur into a greenway. Chicago transformed a stretch of elevated tracks. Paris extended its own Promenade Plantée — an earlier elevated park that had inspired the High Line’s creators in the first place. Seoul built Seoullo 7017, an elevated pedestrian garden across 17 highway ramps. Rotterdam, Toronto, Atlanta, and dozens of other cities launched or proposed versions of the same idea.

The formula turned out to be universal: find something obsolete, lift it above the street, fill it with plants. Two ordinary New Yorkers had stumbled onto a template that planners worldwide were desperate for. Similar transformations have reshaped other New York neighborhoods too — Williamsburg’s story of reinvention is just as remarkable.

David and Hammond used to say they just wanted to build a park. They ended up changing how cities think about the spaces they’ve given up on.

The High Line is free to visit, open every day of the year, and takes you through some of the most architecturally interesting blocks in Manhattan. It’s one of the few places in New York where you can walk slowly and nobody thinks you’re in the way.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best time to visit the High Line in New York?

Spring and early summer (May to June) are ideal — the plantings are at their most colorful and the weather is comfortable for walking. Weekday mornings are quieter than weekends. Summer evenings attract large crowds but have a wonderful atmosphere, with art installations lit and vendors along the route.

Where does the High Line start and end?

The High Line begins at Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District and runs north to 34th Street near Hudson Yards. There are multiple access points along the route, with stairs and elevators at Gansevoort, 14th Street, 16th Street, 18th Street, 20th Street, 23rd Street, 26th Street, 28th Street, 30th Street, and 34th Street.

Is the High Line free to visit?

Yes — the High Line is completely free and open to the public every day of the year. It operates from 7am to 10pm (midnight in summer). No tickets, no reservations, no entry fee. The Friends of the High Line organization funds maintenance and programming through donations and events.

What is near the High Line worth visiting?

The Meatpacking District sits at the southern end, with the Whitney Museum of American Art just steps away. Chelsea’s gallery district runs alongside the middle section. Hudson Yards and The Vessel are at the northern end. The surrounding blocks offer some of the best architecture-watching in Manhattan.

You Might Also Enjoy

• How the Meatpacking District Went from Slaughterhouse to Runway in One Generation — the transformation of the neighborhood right below the High Line
• The Brooklyn Neighborhood That Accidentally Changed the Way Cities Look and Feel — Williamsburg’s parallel story of reinvention
• The Brooklyn Park Its Own Designer Said He Liked Better Than Central Park — another New York green space with an unexpected story

Plan Your New York Trip

The High Line fits easily into a longer Manhattan afternoon — combine it with the Whitney Museum, explore Chelsea’s galleries, and end at one of the Meatpacking District’s restaurants. For a full New York itinerary that makes the most of your time, our 5-day New York City itinerary covers the best experiences across all five boroughs.