Re: Historical Walking Tour
In many ways, the history of Jersey City is the history of America. From the earliest settlement in 1660 to the present day, Jersey City has seen its share of exploration, innovation, slavery, bossism, reform, immigration, industry, commerce, terrorism, war, and peace.
Throughout the city you will find elegant residential neighborhoods, splendid architectural relics of both the Gilded and Industrial Ages, rows of Italianate, Queen Anne and Greek revival mansions, as well as brick row houses, mews, tenements, and warehouses that have been well preserved.
A Brief History: Henry Hudson
In 1609 an Englishman named Henry Hudson was hired by the Dutch to find a passage through North America to Asia. Unable to find the fabled "Northwest Passage" Hudson did report the discovery of a wide harbor surrounded by pleasant land. Recognizing the value of Manhattan Island and the surrounding region, the Dutch quickly claimed all the land between the Delaware and Connecticut Rivers as "New Netherland".
The governor of New Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant, issued an ordinance declaring that all settlers must "concentrate themselves by the next spring in the form of towns, villages, and hamlets, so that they might be more effectively protected, maintained and defended against all assaults and attacks by the barbarians." He later engineered the purchase of most of present-day Hudson County, exchanging 80 fathoms of wampum, 20 fathoms of cloth, 12 brass kettles, 1 double brass kettle, 6 guns, 2 blankets and a barrel of strong beer to the Indians for the rights to the land.
Image: Hudson River circa 1890. Public Domain.
Historical Highlights– By District
Liberty State Park
During the 19th and early 20th centuries the area that is now Liberty State Park was a major waterfront industrial area with an extensive freight and passenger transportation network. This network became the lifeline of New York City and the harbor area.
Driving:Take NJ Turnpike exit 14B Jersey City. Follow the signs to the park.
Light Rail:The Hudson-Bergen Lightrail train provides service through the Jersey City. Take the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (Direction: West Side/22ND) to the Liberty State Park Light Rail Stop and exit.
Bus:Take the Central Avenue bus from platform A3 at the Journal Square Terminal in Jersey City to Liberty State Park.
1. Central Railroads of New Jersey Terminal
Liberty State Park
Ferris to Manhattan served this area since Jersey City’s first permanent Dutch settlement in 1660. Built by Peabody & Stearns of Boston and the Central Railroad’s engineers, it is among the finest of all maritime railroad terminals. The vast colonnaded train shed, added in 1913, was the largest ever built. The shed spans twenty tracks covering an area larger than two football fields. Movie buffs may recall that scenes from Funny Girl were filmed here in the 1960s. At its peak, as many as 50,000 ommuters passed through the terminal every work day, riding on nearby 200 ferry runs and 400 trains. Approximately two-thirds of the twelve million immigrants who entered this country through Ellis Island traveled through the terminal to their new homes in America. Abandoned after the Central Railroad’s demise in 1967, the site was purchased and restored with state and federal funds. Today it has become the signature building of Liberty State Park, accommodating a broad range of community and statewide events.
2. Plaque commemorating the Black Tom Explosion
Liberty State Park
On July 30, 1916, the Black Tom munitions depot exploded, the noise was heard as far away as Maryland and Connecticut. Shrapnel pierced the Statue of Liberty, deemed sabotage by the Germans. This was one of the worst acts of terrorism in American history.
Image: Public Domain.
3. Statue of Liberty National Monument
Liberty Island
The Statue of Liberty is a global symbol of freedom and liberty. The 305-foot statue (from the ground to the torch) was presented to the United States by France on July 4, 1884. The book of law in the statue’s left hand is inscribed July 4, 1776, the date the United States declared its independence from Britain. In her right hand she holds a torch with a flame coated in 24-carat gold leaf. The statue’s designer, French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, dedicated fifteen years of his life to completing what was once a dream for him. Clothed in a flowing robe and crown of seven spokes that symbolize the seven oceans and the seven continents, the statue’s outer surface is cooper. The Statue of Liberty is accessible from Jersey City’s Liberty State Park.
Photo: Courtesy of American Memories- LOC.
4. Ellis Island National Monuments
Ellis Island
In 1892, the year that Ellis Island opened as an immigration depot, almost 446,000 immigrants arrived at the island’s main building to receive their entry into America. By the time the island’s main building was closed in 1954, as many as twelve million immigrants had passed through its gates. This was the greatest migration the world has ever known, and more than 100 million Americans can trace their roots to an ancestor who made the journey to the island.
Photo: Courtesy of American Memories- LOC.
Exchange Place
Light Rail:Take the lightrail to the Exchange Place stop.
PATH:Take the Newark (NWK) – World Trade Center (WTC) train to the Exchange Place stop.
The Paulus Hook Historic section was the site of a Revolutionary War Fort that was occupied by the British in 1776 after being abandoned by the Americans. Despite a spectacular raid by American Major “Light Horse” Harry Lee in 1779, the British held it until the end of the war. Exchange Place, “Wall Street West”, is built upon the grounds of the old Jersey City Penn Station, ferry and shipping terminals.
1. Colgate Clock
Hudson River Waterfront
The Colgate Clock dates back to 1924 and is located on the former site of Colgate-Palmolive & Company, a reminder of the time when factories dominated the Jersey City's waterfront. The clock's design was inspired by the shape of a bar of Octagon Soap, first manufactured by Colgate as a laundry cleanser. From the Jersey City waterfront, it is visible some twenty miles away to Staten Island and the Bronx. Take a stroll by the clock located on the Hudson River waterfront just south of the Goldman Sachs Tower.
Photo: Courtesy of American Memories- LOC.
2. Our Lady of Roman Czesochowa Church - (OLC)
120 Sussex Street
The land on which the church is located was part of the property purchased by the Associates of the Jersey Company in 1804. In 1830, the Company gave land to the congregation of St. Matthew’s Protestant Episcopal Church for its place of worship. The original building opened in 1831. The church was destroyed by fire in December 1869. The church was quickly rebuilt and reopened for services in 1870.
Courtesy of OLC.
3. Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Church
109 Grand Street
The Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Parish, was founded on March 25, 1907, by immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires, as a community of the North American Ecclesiastical Mission.
4. U.S Post Office
Washington and Montgomery Streets
Designed by James Knox Taylor, who as Supervising Architect for the U.S. Treasury, designed hundreds of post offices across the country in the prevalent Beaux-Arts style. Constructed of rich, dark granite quarried from Mt. Waldo and framed by a steel skeleton, the Post Office covers roughly 22,000 square feet. Wide granite staircases, illuminated by tall copper globe lamps, provide access to four entrances. Bronze window frames, sashes, railings and postal boxes were provided by the Tiffany Studios in Jersey City. A Neoclassical showcase, the Post Office continues to serve Jersey City.
Newport
Light Rail: Take the lightrail to the Pavonia/Newport stop.
PATH:Take the Journal Square (JSQ) – 33rd Street (NYC) train to the Newport/Pavonia stop.
Pavonia (1621-1664) on the western side of the Hudson River belonged to burgomaster (merchant-nobleman) Michael Reyniersz Pauw of Amsterdam. He acquired the property in 1630 under the patron-ship system of the Dutch West India Company and from a land purchase from the Indians. Pavonia was the main delivery route for Indian pelts coming from the west into New Amsterdam.
1. The Holland Tunnel
12th Street and Marin Boulevard
The majestic 1.6-miles long Holland Tunnel is one of two underwater engineering marvels in Jersey City (the other being the nearby Hudson Tunnels, now part of the PATH subway system). Named after Chief Engineer Clifford M. Holland, a thirty-seven-year-old who had previously worked on the subway tunnels under the East River, the Holland Tunnel, constructed from 1920-1927 at a cost of forty-eight million dollars, was the world’s first and for many years longest underwater vehicular tunnel. Besides being listed on the National Register Historic Places, the Holland Tunnel has been named a National Historic Landmark, a National Civil Engineering Landmark, and a Mechanical Engineering Landmark.
Image: Public Domain.
Grove Street
After Hudson County separated from Bergen County in 1840, support grew for the low-lying Harsimus area along the Hudson River to separate from the larger municipality of Bergen Township. Just as Jersey City (east of Warren Street) had become independent in 1838, events soon led to the creation of Van Vorst Township by the New Jersey legislature on March 11, 1841. At the time, Van Vorst Township had only 1,057 residents living on mostly farmland, but changes due to urbanization were advancing. The first street laid in the township was placed at the corner of Grove Street and Railroad Avenue in 1845 at the cost of $12. Grove Street was paved from Newark to Pavonia avenues. The following year, the First Reformed Church, now the Mt. Olive Baptist Church, on Wayne Street was begun. A firehouse was built on Bay Street off Newark Avenue in 1847; later a room at the firehouse served as Town Hall (Grundy 35-36). The transportation services of the Morris Canal and the New Jersey Railroad at the waterfront supported the growth of industrial plants such as the Dixon Crucible Company and Colgate Company nearby.
PATH:Take the Newark (NWK) – World Trade Center (WTC) train to the Grove Street stop, or take the Journal Square (JSQ) – 33rd Street (NYC) train to the Grove Street stop.
1. City Hall
280 Grove Street
The seat of Jersey City government, this imposing granite and marble structure is a mixture of architectural styles. It was designed by Lewis Broome, who also designed the New Jersey Statehouse in Trenton. The cornerstone was laid in 1894 and the building was completed three years later in 1897. Three of the original five figurative copper friezes were destroyed by a fire in 1979. The remaining two on the Southern and Southwestern pediments were restored in 1995. A bronze monument by Philip Martiny dedicated to the soldiers and sailors of the Civic War dominates the plaza. Its inscription reads, “Erected by the People of Hudson County to Commemorate the Valor of the Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines of the Civil War.” The sculpture is an allegorical depiction of a mythological goddess in a seated pose, with armor resting at her side. Her right arm is raised in victory.
Courtesy of City of Jersey City.
2. The Barrow Mansion
83 Wayne Street
Constructed in 1834, the Barrow Mansion was one of a pair of identical grand dwellings separated by a shared garden and the home of Doctor William Barrow. Its twin, the Van Vorst-Edge Mansion, was demolished in the 1920s, but the Barrow home survived. Five two-story, ivory-colored Ionic columns divide the front into four equal bays requiring the entrance to be placed asymmetrically to the right of center. The Barrow Mansion retains much of its original detail. Located within the Van Vorst Historic District, the building offers barrier-free access.
Van Vorst Mansion courtesy of City of Jersey City.
3. St. Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church
83 Wayne Street
St. Matthew’s church has been serving Jersey City for over 135 years. Originally built by the German immigrant community, they now welcome all communities.
Courtesy of St Matthews Evangelical Lutheran Church.
4. Jersey City Public Library – Main Branch
472 Jersey Avenue
The New Jersey Room at the main branch of the Jersey City Public Library contains "both current and historical information and numbers about 20,000 volumes".
Courtesy of Jersey City Free Public Library.
5. Saint Bridget’s Church
372 Montgomery Street
This red brick Italian Gothic church formally opened its doors in 1887. St. Bridget's continues to be a worship and gathering place for the descendents of the Irish, Italian and Polish settlers who founded it, as well as the many Filipino and Spanish groups who have moved into the neighborhood.
6. Grace Van Vorst Church
39 Erie Street
This English Gothic Episcopalian church was built between 1850 and 1853. In 1913 two bays and a square bell tower where added. It is the last standing church designed by Detlef Lienau, a Denmark-born architect who was then just beginning his distinguished career in the metropolitan area. The building is open-roofed with upper walls supported by twelve octagonal stone columns topped by fourteen arches. The first service in the church was the wedding of Lienau to Catherine Van Geissen, a member of the Van Vorst family, which donated the land for the church.
Image: Public Domain
7. St. Mary's Church
Second and Erie Streets
St. Mary's, first built in 1861, was the second oldest parish in Jersey City, but the church that now dominates Erie Street on the block between Second and Third Streets wasn't built until 1903. St. Mary's still wears proudly the signs of craftsmanship that bears witness to the dedication of the Italian and Irish immigrants who helped build the church.
8. St. Michael's Church
252 Ninth Street
St. Michael's Church, overlooking historic Hamilton Park, was built back in 1867.The church possesses a 1927-era three-manual E.M. Skinner organ, with speaking pipes in the sanctuary and the nave. Apart from seasonal music programs presented by St. Michael's choir, the church is host to the Schola Cantorum on Hudson, a resident choral society that presents an annual schedule of concerts.
9. Harsimus Stem Embankment - Sixth Street
Sixth St., west from Marin Boulevard to Brunswick St.
This is a half-mile-long historic railroad embankment, now abandoned and largely overgrown with foliage, in the heart of Jersey City's historic downtown. This elevated stone structure once carried seven Pennsylvania Railroad tracks to the Hudson River, where they met ferries to Manhattan at the Exchange Place Terminal. The Embankment is listed on the New Jersey State Register of Historic Places.
Courtesy of Embankment Preservation Coalition.
10. The Hudson & Manhattan RR Powerhouse
84 Bay Street
The Powerhouse is an industrial age masterpiece; it is a Romanesque Revival structure built between 1906 and 1908. It was designed by architect John Oakman of Carrere and Hastings, who graduated from the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. The nine-story structure has a solid steel superstructure and 28-inch thick walls. On February 25, 1908, the Powerhouse was activated by engineers; they responded to the receipt of a telegram from President Theodore Roosevelt in the White House to throw the switches and electrify the Hudson Tunnel. The New York Times claimed that the Powerhouse was “One of the greatest engineering feats that has ever been accomplished - 1908.” The Powerhouse made possible the first ever subway system between New Jersey and New York as part of the Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation (PATH). Prior to the tunnel, travelers needed to board ferries to cross the Hudson River. It was closed back in 1929, and in 2001, the National Register of Historic Places certified the Powerhouse a national landmark.
Greenville
What became Greenville was the territory of the Hackensack and Raritan Indians at the time of European contact in the 17th century. They called the area on Bergen Neck Minkakwa meaning a place of good crossing. It was first settled by New Netherlanders in 1647.
Light Rail: Take to the Martin Luther King stop.
1. Saint Patrick’s Church and School
Bramhall Avenue & Grand Street – 5 blocks from Lightrail
The largest church in Jersey City, this Victorian-Gothic structure was built between 1870 and 1877. It was designed by Patrick C. Keely, architect of 600 or more churches in New York, New Jersey, and New England. The church is built of blue flint quarried from a nearby railroad cut by the Central Jersey. The church was the center of an Irish immigrant community at the turn of the twentieth century.
Courtesy of Jersey City Free Public Library.
2. Temple Beth-El
2419 Kennedy Blvd.- 10 blocks from St. Patricks
The early days of Temple Beth-El are somewhat lost in the mists of time. Around the time of the end of the Civil War, a group of Jews inJersey City began to meet in study and prayer. Early records indicate that the young congregation met downtown, earliest Temple records date back to 1891, where we see planning for the High Holy Days of that year. The Congregation's liberal roots can be seen throughout, including the resolution that passed overwhelmingly at the Annual Meeting on October 19, 1921, that elected a slate including three women to the Board of Trustees. In February, 1922, the property at the corner of Harrison Avenue and JF Kennedy Boulevard was purchased. In early September, 1926, the new sanctuary was consecrated.
Journal Square
PATH: Take the Newark (NWK) – World Trade Center (WTC) train to the Journal Square stop, or take the Journal Square (JSQ) – 33rd Street (NYC) train to the Journal Square stop.
Bergen Township…now part of Journal Square
In November of 1660, several families received permission for the creation of a new settlement called Bergen "in the new maize land." Jacques Cortelyou surveyed the land and planned a central square and four surrounding blocks. There has been some speculation about the name "Bergen". However, most authorities believe the word for "hill" or "mountain" is the likely source for a settlement built on a ridge. In any event, most historians consider Bergen the first permanent European settlement in New Jersey. The Dutch lost control of New Netherland in 1664, yet the Dutch and their descendants retained a distinct identity well into the 19th century.
Bergen and the American Revolution
Located along the main coach road between Boston and Philadelphia, many prominent patriots passed through Bergen Square in the years leading to the American War for Independence. Paul Revere rode by at least eight times. Bergen was occupied by the British from 1776 to the end of the war. Most of the Dutch seem to have preferred staying out of the conflict. However, a few prominent citizens chose to support the American cause. Jennie Tuers alerted George Washington to Benedict Arnold's betrayal. Bergen seems to have been a hotbed of spying activity as the Americans used the superb view of New York and the harbor seen from Bergen Hill.
After the war, Bergen gradually began to lose its rural character as industrialization and the resulting population growth created the metropolis we recognize today. Piece by piece Bergen Township was broken up until it was absorbed into greater Jersey City in 1870.
1. Stanley Theater
2392 Kennedy Boulevard
When the Stanley Theater opened in March 1928 with 4300 seats, it was the second largest theater east of the Mississippi River (Radio City Music Hall was the largest). Its three-story lobby, formerly decorated with allegorical murals, is dominated by a grand staircase with Trompe L’oeil alabaster handrails. Miniature clouds generated by a machine wafted across the theater’s auditorium ceiling, which was dotted with pinpoints lights that looked like stars in a darkened sky. There was a smoking lounge one floor below the lobby with ornate furniture and a pool of goldfish. The theatre has a Mighty Wurlitzer organ, and in its early years a house orchestra provided music for live stage performances. The Stanley closed in 1978, and in 1983, it was purchased and refurbished by the Jehovah's Witnesses Assembly. Tours of the former theater are now conducted Monday through Friday 8-12 and 1-5.
Image: Public Domain.
2. Loew’s Jersey Theater
54 Journal Square
Vaudeville acts and first-run movies were enjoyed by audiences in the theater’s 3,000-seat auditorium throughout the Great Depression and the World War II era. Built in 1929, specifically for “talkies,” the Loew’s Jersey Theater was designed by Rapp and Rapp, preeminent theater architects of their time. The Loew’s ornate terra cotta façade is topped by a large Seth Thomas clock that features an hourly ballet performed by a mechanical Saint George slaying a dragon. The sumptuous Italian Baroque interior is decorated with marble, bronze, crystal, and gold leaf brocade. A young Frank Sinatra saw Bing Crosby perform on its large stage. Stop by and catch a classic film, often accompanied by the newly restored Morton Wonder Organ, or enjoy a live music performance.
Photo: Courtesy of Loew's Theatre.
3. The Apple Tree House - Van Wagenen House
298 Academy Street
This colonial stone building is one of the oldest in Jersey City. Legend has it that in 1779 George Washington and Marquis de Lafayette met to discuss strategy under a large apple tree that stood in the garden. When Lafayette toured the United States in 1824 he was presented with a cane made from the tree, which had blown down three years before. The inscription read, "Shaded the hero and his friend Washington in 1779; presented by the Corporation of Bergen in 1824."
Photo: Courtesy of American Memories- LOC.
4. Speer Cemetery
Vroom Street - (Speer Burial Ground/DeMott Burial Ground)
The L-shaped cemetery of slightly over one acre had reportedly been used by the De Mott family from the 1660s. Although it has been called the "oldest cemetery of European settlers in New Jersey," the earliest surviving gravemarker in the cemetery is dated 1756. The cemetery is named for Abraham Speer, a Jersey City undertaker, bought the cemetery in 1857 and made it a public cemetery by selling burial plots for $16 each. Headstones indicate the burial of the veterans of the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, Spanish-American War in the graveyard; its last interments occurred during World War I.
5. Old Bergen Church Cemetery
Vroom Street, across Bergen Avenue
Jersey City's oldest burial ground is the Old Bergen Church Cemetery across from the Old Bergen Reformed Church. Set on a small hill, it served as the final resting place for the Dutch members of the Dutch Reformed Church (now Old Bergen Reformed Church) founded in 1660. Its first recorded burial took place in 1668. The original grave markers carved of wood have not survived the years of exposure to the elements. The oldest remaining stone markers date from the late 1700s and bear the names of the descendants of the founding Dutch families. Among them are Brinkerhoff, Newkirk, Sip, Van Houten, Van Reypen, Van Vorst, Van Wagenen, and Van Winkle. Among the approximate 150 graves are those of the legendary Revolutionary War patriot Jane Van Reypen Tuers and two pastors of the Dutch Reformed Church, the Reverend William Jackson (1757-1793 and the Reverend John Cornelison (1793-1828).
Photo: Courtesy of Jersey City Free Public Library.
6. Vroom Street Free Evangelical Free Church
155 Vroom Street
In 1891, three couples met and organized the Norwegian Evangelical Free Church. The congregation's first home was on Third Street and Coles Street. In 1907 the congregation purchased property at 155 Vroom Street and dedicated this church in 1908.
7. Old Bergen Church
797-809 Bergen Avenue
In 1660, Dutch settlers, brought to these shores by the Dutch West India Company, built a wooden structure on Bergen Hill that served as the village church, school, and meeting hall. The present building, erected in 1841, is the third to house the congregation of the oldest organized church in New Jersey. Embedded in the east wall is an inscribed stone from the earlier 1773 church. Built by Newark architects William Kirk, Clark & Van Nest, Old Bergen Church is a large, one-story structure built in the Greek revival style.
Photo: Courtesy of Jersey City Free Public Library.
8. New Jersey National Guard Armory
678 Montgomery Street
The Armory was constructed in 1937 as a federal WPA project and replaced the aging Fourth Regiment Armory facility. It was designed by the chief architect, General Hugh Kelly, of the Jersey City firm of Kelly and Gruzen, who was a friend of Mayor Frank Hague. Kelly appointed Hugh Clark, a graduate of Cooper Union Institute and a Jersey City resident, to carry out the project with J.K.Harris-Smith, another Jersey City architect. The massive 175,000 square-foot, three-story beaux-arts structure with basement has English Renaissance features with a granite base, brick exterior wall, and terra cotta trim.
9. Newkirk House
510 Summit Avenue
The Newkirk House, Locally known as the Summit House, was erected circa 1690. It is one of the oldest standing houses in Jersey City, and was owned for 200 years by the once prominent Newkirk family, originally of Holland. Adjacent to the Pennsylvania Railroad cut, the house is constructed of reddish sandstone blocks and timber beams and rafters, and is a surviving example of early Dutch architecture. In 1889 it left the possession of the Newkirk descendants, played host throughout the years to a nursery, a tailor shop, a lingerie store, and a tavern, and is now Sanai's Restaurant & Lounge near bustling Journal Square. In 1928 the façade was altered and additional side windows installed, but the overall structure remains as it was when first erected over 300 years ago.
Courtesy of Jersey City Free Public Library
10. William J. Brennan Courthouse
583 Newark Avenue
Almost lost to the wrecker’s ball until an aroused citizenry saved it, the Hudson County Courthouse was restored and reopened in 1985. Renamed the William J. Brennan Courthouse, the grandeur of its Renaissance Revival architecture became a symbol for the preservation movement in Jersey City. Built in 1910, this seat of Hudson County’s judicial system until 1966. Murals depicting scenes and figures of local history line corridors and courtrooms, and marble pillars rise to support a stained glass dome, surrounded by paintings of the zodiac. The Courthouse is a public building, and visitors are invited to view and enjoy the common area that includes the rotunda and the murals on the second and fourth floor, during business hours Monday-Friday.
11. William L. Dickinson High School
2 Palisade Avenue
Designed by John T. Rowland, architect of twenty-eight schools and the Jersey City Medical Center, this monumental Beaux-Arts style building sits high on a. The two-story, 2000-seat auditorium, originally lit by a glass ceiling, was the center of the city’s political and cultural life for decades. All three candidates in the 1912 presidential election, Taft, Roosevelt, and Wilson, rally at which Frank Hague, political boss of Hudson County, stepped down from power after thirty years.
Courtesy of Jersey City Free Public Library.
The New Jersey Room at the main branch of the Jersey City Public Library contains "both current and historical information and numbers about 20,000 volumes".
472 Jersey Avenue
Jersey City, NJ, 07302
Phone: (201) 547 - 4500
Monday- Thursday: 9:00am - 8:00pm
Friday and Saturday: 9:00am - 5:00pm
Closed Sunday
jclibrary.org
Acknowledgement & Sources:
The Official Guide to Jersey City Historical Buildings and Sites
Wikipedia
Jersey City: Past and Present- NJCU
City of Jersey City
Jersey City Landmark Conservancy