Hoboken Tea Building

In 1913, Sir Thomas Lipton (originally an owner of grocery stores in the UK) created Lipton Tea Company, to sell better quality tea from Sri Lanka. He needed a place to easily package and ship the tea received from Sri Lanka, and Hoboken was the perfect place to do so. The waterfront, back then, was drastically different from today’s well-tended parks and nice condos. It had many ports, being right on the Hudson, and was a great option for a company that needed easy access to ship their goods. Another reason Sir Thomas Lipton thought Hoboken was the best option was in part because it was right across the river from New York City, where he planned on expanding his business to. In 1963, Sir Thomas Lipton left Hoboken after the rise of innovation and containerization (easily transferable packaging) antiquated the ports. In the early 1990’s, it was converted to an apartment building, and renamed the Hudson Tea Building.