The Port Authority’s first 100 years are inextricable from the story of this great region. Created by an Act of Congress, the Agency came into being April 30, 1921, when the Compact was signed in the Great Hall of the New York State Chamber of Commerce Building on Liberty Street.

From its inception, the Port Authority’s mission to oversee the creation of vital infrastructure to serve the New York-New Jersey metropolitan region was historic. The Port Authority has been making history ever since that date.

One hundred years ago, there was no aviation industry, no mass use of cars and trucks. PATH service, then under the auspices of the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad, was just beginning. The Holland Tunnel was still in planning stages. The great bridges were yet to be imagined, designed and built. Airports to connect this region to the globe were yet to be envisioned.

The infrastructure that allowed this region to become the global engine of commerce and trade that it is today would come – and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey would build it.

The women and men of the Port Authority pushed through the Great Depression, World War II, the Civil Rights movement, through economic booms and burst bubbles, through catastrophic storms, and the devastation of Sept. 11, 2001.

For its Centennial celebration, the Port Authority commemorated this important milestone through a series of activities and events. Below are a few of the highlights: