Castle Point was named for the Stevens Castle, a 40 room Victorian mansion built by the engineer Robert Livingston Stevens in 1853 which was demolished to make administrative offices for the Stevens Institute of Technology in 1910. The land on which the castle stood was acquired by Colonel John Stevens III a successful inventor and entrepreneur. The land which was essentially the city of Hoboken or "Hoebuck", was sold at public auction after being confiscated as Tory land. Col. Stevens was the steam boat business although it took many legal battles before his steam ferry was allowed to operate fully as Robert Livingstone and Robert Fulton had a monopoly on river steamboat traffic for many years. The ferry was the first to run regular commuter service between Hoboken and New York.
The Colonel's sons Robert Livingston Stevens and Edwin Augustus Stevens earned their wealth and their fame by establishing a commercial railroad. It had been their father's dream to connect the railroad and ferry systems in New Jersey. A circular demonstration track in Hoboken was a major tourist attraction for many years when Hoboken was full of summer vacationers. In 1830 they were granted the right to run an exclusive track from Perth Amboy to Trenton. At Trenton passengers could take a steamboat to Philadelphia.
Edwin Augustus Stevens founded the Stevens Institute for Technology in 1870. Both Augustus and Robert Stevens were engineers and made many technological advances for both steamboats and railroads.
Learn more about the Stevens family and the Stevens Institute