West Hoboken, New Jersey
West Hoboken | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Coordinates: 40°45′41″N 74°02′29″W / 40.7613°N 74.0413°W | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  New Jersey |
| County |  Hudson |
| Founded | February 28, 1861 |
| Merged | June 1, 1925 |
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1870 | 4,232 | — | |
| 1880 | 5,441 | 28.6% | |
| 1890 | 11,665 | 114.4% | |
| 1900 | 23,094 | 98.0% | |
| 1910 | 35,403 | 53.3% | |
| 1920 | 40,074 | 13.2% | |
| Population sources: 1870-1920[1] | |||
West Hoboken was a municipality that existed in Hudson County, New Jersey, from 1861 to 1925. It merged with Union Hill to form Union City on June 1, 1925.
The town is notable for being the first city in which Mallomars were sold.[2]
History[edit]
Early history and civic boundaries[edit]
The area that became West Hoboken was originally inhabited by the Munsee-speaking branch of Lenape Native Americans,[3][4][5][6][7] who wandered into the vast woodland area encountered by Henry Hudson during the voyages he conducted from 1609–1610 for the Dutch, who later claimed the area (which included the future New York City) and named it New Netherland. The portion of that land that included the future Hudson County was purchased from members of the Hackensack tribe of the Lenni-Lenape in 1658 by New Netherland colony Director-General Peter Stuyvesant,[8][9] and became part of Pavonia, New Netherland.[10] The boundaries of the purchase are described in the deed preserved in the New York State Archives, as well as the medium of exchange: "80 fathoms of wampum, 20 fathoms of cloth, 12 brass kettles, 6 guns, one double brass kettle, 2 blankets, and one half barrel of strong beer."[11]
The relationship between the early Dutch settlers and Native Americans was marked by frequent armed conflict over land claims. In 1660, Peter Stuyvesant ordered the building of a fortified village called Bergen to protect the area. It was the first permanent European settlement in New Jersey, located in what is now the Journal Square area of Jersey City near Academy Street.[9][12] In 1664, the British captured New Netherland from the Dutch, at which point the boundaries of Bergen Township encompassed what is now known as Hudson County. North of this was the unpopulated Bergen Woods, which would later be claimed by settlers, after whom a number of Union City streets today are named,[9] including Sip Street,[13][14][15] Tournade Lane and Kerrigan Avenue,[16] which is named after J. Kerrigan, the owner of Kerrigan Farm, who donated the land for Saint Michael's Monastery.[16][17]
The area that became West Hoboken, however, was sparsely populated until the early 19th century. The British granted Bergen a new town charter in 1668. In 1682 they created Bergen County, which was named to honor their Dutch predecessors. That county comprised all of present-day Hudson, Bergen and Passaic counties. Sparsely inhabited during the 17th and 18th centuries, the southeast section of Bergen County had grown by the early 19th century to the point where it was deemed necessary to designate it a separate county. The New Jersey legislature created Hudson County in 1840, and in 1843, it was divided into two townships: Old Bergen Township (which eventually became Jersey City) and North Bergen Township, which was gradually separated into Hudson County's municipalities of Hoboken (1849), Weehawken and Guttenberg (1859), and Union City Township in 1861,[9][10] though it was colloquially known as Union Hill.[18] West Hoboken was incorporated as a township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 28, 1861, from portions of North Bergen Township. The township was reincorporated on April 6, 1871, and again on March 27, 1874. Portions of the township were ceded to Weehawken in 1879.[10] On June 28, 1884, West Hoboken was reincorporated as a town, based on an ordinance passed nine days earlier. The town was reincorporated on April 24, 1888, based on the results of a referendum passed 12 days earlier.[10]: 148 Union City was incorporated on June 1, 1925, by merging the two towns of West Hoboken and Union Hill.[3][10]
-
Brownstone houses, now at New York Avenue between Monastery Place and 21st Street -
St. Michael's Monastery, located at Monastery Place and West Street -
View of West Hoboken from roof of Consumers' Brewery, current location unknown -
The United Presbyterian church, at Palisade and 24th Street, across from Ellsworth Park -
Store fronts, now at Bergenline Avenue and 26th Street
Business[edit]
Mallomars were first sold in a grocery in West Hoboken.[2] The town had two commercial districts. Transfer Station at Paterson Plank Road and Summit Avenue, in the southern part of town, and Bergen Turnpike, at the border with Union Hill.[19]
Notable people[edit]
People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with West Hoboken include: (B) denotes that the person was born there.
- Charles Avedisian (1917–1983), football player who played in the NFL for the New York Giants (B)[20]
- Pietro Botto (1864–1945), owner of the Pietro and Maria Botto House in Haledon, New Jersey, which was a central location of the 1913 Paterson Silk Strike, and the first Italian American site to be designated a national landmark. Botto emigrated from Biella, Italy in 1892, first settling in West Hoboken.[21]
- James E. Buttersworth (1817–1894), British maritime artist[22]
- Rene Paul Chambellan (1893–1955), sculptor who specialized in architectural sculpture, and one of the foremost practitioners of what was then called the "French Modern Style", or Art Deco (B)[23]
- Pietro di Donato (1911–1992), writer known for his novel, Christ in Concrete (B)[24]
- Antonio Jacobsen (1850–1921), maritime artist known as the "Audubon of Steam Vessels"[22]
- Joe Jeanette (1879–1958), considered one of the best African American heavyweight boxers of the early 20th Century (B)[25]
- Ada Lunardoni (1911–2003), artistic gymnast who competed at the 1936 Summer Olympics and placed fifth with the team (B)[26]
- Otto Messmer (1892–1983), the creator of Felix the Cat (B)[27][28]
- Ioan Missir (1890–1945), Romanian lawyer, politician and novelist[29]
- William Musto (1917–2006), Mayor of Union City from 1962-1970 and from 1974–1982[30]
- Arthur Pinajian (1914–1999), Armenian American artist and comic book creator, known as the creator of the characters Madame Fatal and Invisible Hood[31]
- William Ranney (1813–1857), painter best known for his depictions of Western life, sporting scenery, historical subjects and portraiture[32][33]
- Alvin Sella (c. 1920–2013), painter and educator (B)[34]
- Walter Walsh (1907–2014), FBI agent, USMC shooting instructor and Olympic shooter[35]
- Gene Wettstone (1913–2013), gymnastics coach, known for leading Pennsylvania State University to a record nine N.C.A.A. championships in the sport, and for coaching the U.S. men's teams in the 1948 and 1956 Summer Olympics[36]
See also[edit]
- Bergenline Avenue
- North Hudson, New Jersey
- Hoboken Land and Improvement Company Building
- Drescher, William H. (1903). History of West Hoboken N.J. [scan]
. Lehne & Drescher.
References[edit]
- ^ Compendium of censuses 1726-1905: together with the tabulated returns of 1905, New Jersey Department of State, 1906. Accessed June 18, 2013.
- ^ a b Barron, James (December 8, 2005). "The Cookie That Comes Out in the Cold". The New York Times.
- ^ a b Karabin, Gerard. "A Brief History of Union City". www.ucnj.com. City of Union City, NJ. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
- ^ Sturtevant, William C.; Trigger, Bruce G (January 1, 1978). Delaware languages: Handbook of North American Indians Vol. 15: Northeast. p. 215. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. 1978. ISBN 0-16-004575-4.
- ^ Day, Gordon M. (1953). "The Indian as an Ecological Factor in the Northeastern Forests". Ecology. 34 (2): 329–346. doi:10.2307/1930900. New England and New York areas 1580–1800. Notes that the Lenni Lenape (Delaware) tribe in New Jersey and the Massachuset tribe in Massachusetts used fire in ecosystems.
- ^ Russell, Emily W. B. (1983). "Indian Set Fires in the Forests of the Northeastern United States". Ecology. 64 (1): 78–88. doi:10.2307/1937331. Author found no strong evidence that Indians purposely burned large areas, but they did burn small areas near their habitation sites. Noted that the Lenna Lenape Tribe used fire.
- ^ A Brief Description of New York, Formerly Called New Netherlands with the Places Thereunto Adjoining, Likewise a Brief Relation of the Customs of the Indians There. New York, NY: William Gowans. 1670. Reprinted in 1937 by the Facsimile Text Society, Columbia University Press, New York. Notes that the Lenni Lenape (Delaware) tribe in New Jersey used fire in ecosystems.
- ^ Robinson, Walter F. (1964). New Jersey Tercentenary: 1664-1964. Hudson County Tercentenary Committee for this information, p. 190
- ^ a b c d Fernandez, Lucio; Karabin, Gerard (2010). Union City in Pictures. Book Press NY. pp. 11–13. ISBN 978-0982543344.
- ^ a b c d e Snyder, John P (1969). The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968. Bureau of Geology and Topography. Trenton, New Jersey. p. 148. Accessed June 18, 2013.
- ^ 50th Anniversary of the Incorporation of the Town of West Hoboken, N.J. (1911). Datz Co.
- ^ Kaulessar, Ricardo (October 3, 2010). "350 years of history; Fair commemorates founding of Jersey City, will honor the oldest families in Hudson County". Hudson Reporter. "Before there was a Jersey City or a Hudson County, the village of Bergen – the first European settlement in New Jersey, founded in 1660 by Dutch settler Peter Stuyvesant – had its origins in what is now the Journal Square area of Jersey City near Academy Street."
- ^ Bergen: Town and Township Nov 1660-Sept 22, 1668, 1957 Genealogical Society of New Jersey
- ^ Harvey, Cornelius Burnham (1900). Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company. p. 20
- ^ Winfield, Charles H (1874). History of the County of Hudson, New Jersey, Kennard & Hay Stationary. p. 525
- ^ a b Business Directory Of North Hudson, North Hudson Hospital Association, Town of Union, N.J. 1905. p. 331
- ^ Union City 2000 Calendar, 2000, culled from History of West Hoboken and Union Hill by Ella-Mary Ryman, 1965 and The Historical Background of Union City by Daniel A. Primont, William G. Fiedler and Fred Zuccaro, 1964
- ^ Van Winkle, Daniel (1924). History of the Municipalities of Hudson County, NJ 1630-1923, Lewis Historical Publishing Company Inc., New York & Chicago. pp. 463-464
- ^ Cattuna, Emily. "Remembering a shopping mecca". The Jersey Journal. August 25, 2009. Accessed June 18, 2013. "North Hudson was comprised of Union Hill and West Hoboken until 1925, when it was divided into Union City, Guttenberg, Weehawken and North Bergen. The southern 'Hub,' where North Hudson met Jersey City, was the Transfer Station at Paterson Plank Road."
- ^ Chuck Avedisian Stats, Pro-Football-Reference.com. Accessed August 15, 2019. "Born: September 19, 1917 in West Hoboken, NJ"
- ^ Dennis J. Starr, "Botto House". In The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia, ed. Salvatore J. LaGumina, et al. (New York: Garland Pub., 2000), p. 70.
- ^ a b Halasz, Piri (January 21, 1973). "Art: Maritime Theme at Exhibitions; Appeal of Nostalgia History and Humor Portraits of Vessels". The New York Times. "James Butterworth (1817–1894), whose work is on view in Trenton, was an Englishman born on the Isle of Wight. By the time he emigrated and settled in West Hoboken (now Union City), America was in the heyday of its gallant clipper ships."
- ^ "R. P. Chambellan, Long A Sculptor; Architectural Artist Is Dead -- Conceived Decorations for Many Famed Structures", The New York Times, November 30, 1955. Accessed November 24, 2017. "Cliffisde Park, N. J., Nov. 29 -- Born in the West Hoboken section of Union City, Mr. Chambellan attended New York University from 1912 to 1914.... He resided here at 537 St. Paul's Avenue."
- ^ Severo, Richard (January 21, 1992). "Pietro di Donato Is Dead at 80; Wrote of Immigrants' Experience". The New York Times. "Mr. di Donato was born on April 3, 1911, in West Hoboken, N.J. His family had immigrated to the United States from Vasto, in the Abruzzi region of Italy."
- ^ Rosero, Jessica (February 26, 2006). "Native Sons and Daughters: North Hudson Native and 20th Century Boxing Sensation Joe Jeanette". The Hudson Reporter. "Born on Aug. 26, 1879 in West Hoboken, now Union City, Jeanette was the son of Mena and Benjamin F. Jeanette, who worked as a local blacksmith."
- ^ Ada Lunardoni, Sports Reference. Accessed August 30, 2017.
- ^ Rosero, Jessica (April 4, 2006). "Felix the Cat, created in Hudson County; Otto Messmer and America's favorite feline". The Hudson Reporter. "The creative genius behind Felix was Otto Messmer of West Hoboken (now Union City)."
- ^ Mavromatis, Kelly. "Felix the Cat – Silent Star of April 1999". Silent Star of the Month. Accessed June 18, 2013. "Felix first appeared in 1919, and was the creation of Otto Messmer. Messmer was born in West Hoboken (now known as Union City) New Jersey on August 16, 1892."
- ^ Staff. "125 de ani de la naşterea lui Ioan Missir, ultimul primar necomunist al Botoşanilor. 'Nici o floare. Nimeni din partea oficialităţilor!'", stiri.botosani.ro, February 17, 2015. Accessed October 20, 2015. "Al doilea copil, Ioan, s-a născut pe 17 februarie 1890, în West Hoboken."
- ^ Rosero, Jessica (March 14, 2006). "The last boss Former Mayor, State Senator, and Assemblyman William Musto dies at 88". The Hudson Reporter. "William Vincent Musto was born on March 27, 1917, in West Hoboken, now the southern part of Union City off the border of Jersey City."
- ^ "'Lost & Found: Pinajian Discovery' debuts in NYC Feb. 13". Auction Central News. January 8, 2013
- ^ RANNEY, WILLIAM TYLEE, The Handbook of Texas. Accessed October 23, 2015. "by 1853 he and his family had settled in West Hoboken, New Jersey, where a number of other artists lived. There he built a large studio to accommodate the many artifacts-buckskin costumes, guns, riding gear-that he had brought back from the West."
- ^ Millan, Nicolas. "Looking back Famed American 19th century painter called North Hudson home", Hudson Reporter, April 15, 2008. Accessed October 23, 2015. "Once a resident of North Hudson, William Ranney settled in West Hoboken in 1851 to pursue his passion of painting while duck hunting and fishing in his spare time."
- ^ "Artist and Long-time UA Professor Emeritus Alvin Sella Dies", University of Alabama, April 12, 2013. Accessed February 29, 2020. "Born in West Hoboken, New Jersey, Sella studied art at the Yale School of Fine Arts, Art Students League of New York, Columbia University School of Arts, Syracuse University College of Fine Arts, University of New Mexico department of art and, independently, in Mexico."
- ^ McFadden, Robert D. "Walter R. Walsh Dies at 106; Terrorized Gangsters and Targets", The New York Times, April 20, 2014. Accessed February 29, 2020. "Walter Rudolph Walsh was born in West Hoboken, N.J., on May 4, 1907, to Walter Brooks Walsh and the former Dolinda Invernizzi."
- ^ "Eugene Wettstone". United States Gymnastics Hall of Fame. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
External links[edit]
