Built to transfer coal from Pennsylvania mines between rail cars and ships in the last century, the facility was stripped of its machinery in 1991 and for all practical purposes abandoned by Conrail, the company that still owns the property. People began to visit - fishermen at first, then paint-ballers, vandals and graffiti artists. The explosive growth of social media in the 2000s and 2010s made the pier a popular attraction. Artists and vandals with spray cans painted virtually every ground-level surface over and over. In the summer of 2024, a chunk at the end of the eastern viaduct broke off and fell into the river. Since then, access has been restricted.