Hoboken, New Jersey
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Hoboken is a city by the Hudson River in Hudson County, New Jersey, USA, across from Manhattan. In 2000, the city had a population of 38,577. The mayor of Hoboken is David Roberts.
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[edit] Geography
Hoboken is located at 40°44'41" North, 74°1'59" West (40.744851, -74.032941).
The United States Census Bureau said the city has a total area of 5.1 km² (2.0 mi²). 3.3 km² (1.3 mi²) of it is land and 1.8 km² (0.7 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 35.35% water.
[edit] History
[edit] Early history
Hoboken was an island, by the Hudson River to the east. To the west was a swamp near the Palisades on the west. Hoboken was a campsite by the Lenni Lenape. Then Hoboken became bad and there was war and disease. Europeans came in the 17th century. The name Hoboken comes from the original Lenape name for "Hobocan Hackingh" or "land of the tobacco pipe."
The first European to find Hoboken was Henry Hudson. He stopped his ship near Weehawken Cove on October 2, 1609. Three Native Americans sold Hoboken to Michael Paauw, Director of the Dutch West India Company on July 12, 1630. The first European settlers of Hoboken were Dutch farmers. Hendrick Van Vorst of Jersey City leased the land to Aert Van Putten, who was Hoboken's first person. In 1643 Van Putten built a farm house and brew house north of Castle Point. The brew house was America's first.
The land was taken by William Bayard. Bayard, who liked the revolutionary cause, changed to a Loyalist Tory in 1776 after New York ended. At the end of the Revolutionary War, Bayard's land was taken by the Revolutionary Government of New Jersey.
[edit] The nineteenth century
After the American war for independence, Hoboken was bought by Colonel John Stevens in 1784 for about $90,000. In the early 19th century, Stevens made the waterfront better for Manhattan people. He tested his inventions. Later in the century, Hoboken became better by being a shipping port and industrial center. Hoboken became a city in 1855, and Cornelius V. Clickener became the first Mayor. By the 19th century, shipping lines were using Hoboken as a port, and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad (later the Erie Lackawanna Railroad) had became a railroad center at the waterfront.
In 1832, a cave called Sybil's Cave opened and was popular. At that time, Hoboken was not yet an industrial city, and Hoboken was a country spot. Sybil's Cave was used in one of Edgar Allen Poe's stories in 1841. The water in the cave was bad, so the cave closed in the 1880s, and in the 1930s it was filled with stone. David Roberts, the mayor of Hoboken, will re-open the cave for the first time in over 60 years.
Hoboken was new and the people grew. They got many jobs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Hoboken Land and Improvement Company, started by Colonel Stevens in 1838, created many streets, began housing, and created building sites. The housing was made up of masonry of three to five stories. Many buildings survive to the present day, and the street grid. It was also at this time that German immigrants became the main group in Hoboken. Along with the main industry of creating ships, well-known industries that created a big presence in Hoboken were Maxwell House, Lipton Tea, and Hostess, among others. In 1870, the Stevens Institute of Technology was created at Castle Point, the highest point in Hoboken.
[edit] "Heaven, Hell or Hoboken."
World War I changed Hoboken. People against Germans started the city being placed under law, and many Germans had to move to Ellis Island in nearby New York Harbor. Or they left the city. During the war Hoboken became famous. In Hoboken terminal, American troops got onto ships that went to Europe. More than three million soldiers went through the terminal, and their word phrase was "Heaven, Hell or Hoboken... by Christmas."
[edit] Interwar years
After the war, Italians were the city's major group, with the Irish having being a big group.
[edit] Post World War II
In the 1960s, other people followed, including Puerto Ricans. Even though new residents came, Hoboken got very bad. In the middle of the 20th century, industries looked for greener areas, port jobs went to larger places in Newark Bay, and the car, truck and airplane relpaced the railroad and ship as the way of moving in the United States. Most of the ports closed around 1975.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Hoboken changed itself by letting in artists, musicians, and young and happy people were going into Manhattan for work. Making Hoboken better was done in the same way as in the Manhattan. Making Hoboken better has continued, with many new places to live now being built on what used to be industrial sites on the waterfront and even more so in the western parts of Hoboken that were wost for the longest time. Poolitical control of the city is mostly controlled by the city's long-term residents because the new people seem to have less interest than do the long-term residents. The City of Hoboken is controlled by the Faulkner Act (Mayor-Council).
In the Hoboken election of 2005, 5 people tried to be mayor: David Roberts, Carol Marsh, Frank "Pupie" Raia, Michael Russo, and Evelyn Smith. There are 15 people trying to be in the council with the people who want to be mayor, and 2 trying to be in the council alone.
[edit] Demographics
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As of the census of 2000, there are 38,577 people, 19,418 households, and 6,835 families residing in the city. The population density is 11,636.5/km² (30,239.2/mi²). There are 19,915 housing units at an average density of 6,007.2/km² (15,610.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 80.82% White, 4.26% African American, 0.16% Native American, 4.31% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 7.63% from other races, and 2.78% from two or more races. 20.18% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 19,418 households out of which 11.4% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 23.8% are married couples living together, 9.0% have a female householder with no husband present, and 64.8% are non-families. 41.8% of all households are made up of individuals and 8.0% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 1.92 and the average family size is 2.73.
In the city the population is spread out with 10.5% under the age of 18, 15.3% from 18 to 24, 51.7% from 25 to 44, 13.5% from 45 to 64, and 9.0% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 30 years. For every 100 females there are 103.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 103.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $62,550, and the median income for a family is $67,500. Males have a median income of $54,870 versus $46,826 for females. The per capita income for the city is $43,195. 11.0% of the population and 10.0% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 23.6% of those under the age of 18 and 20.7% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
The rest of this article is under construction. Please note that while all of the information below is true, it may be too difficult to read.
[edit] Character
In the 20th century Hoboken sank from its earlier incarnation as a lively port town into a severely rundown condition. It was often included in lists with other New Jersey towns and cities that had seen much better days, such as Paterson, Elizabeth, and Camden. Heaps of uncollected garbage and roving packs of semi-wild dogs were common sights. Then, in the late 1970s, it began a surprising rejuvenation that led to its becoming, by the mid-1990s, easily one of the state's most vibrant communities.
The city today is noted for its excellent views of Manhattan, fine-grained street grid, historic architecture, and lively collection of restaurants and bars. Its compactness and historic street layout mean that a car is more of a hindrance than a help in getting around, and the city retains a basic pedestrian orientation. On weekend nights the town swells with young partygoers from nearby New Jersey towns who practice a rowdier style of barhopping than is fashionable across the river in Manhattan. Hoboken pockets their liquor money and quiet Sundays see families and artsy types back in possession of streets and parks.
Hoboken's gentrification has become relatively advanced, though a large base of native residents remains in the city and holds political power. The population of "newcomers" or "yuppies", as they are typically called in the local press, consists of college and post-graduate students, bi-nationals, older artists and, increasingly, well-to-do commuters to Manhattan. The presence of these individuals gives Hoboken a unique energy and a growing reputation as a desirable place to live. However, the rising cost of living in the town, particularly in rental units, has already resulted in a significant exodus of the "bohemian" population that was responsible for turning the city's reputation around.
[edit] Waterfront
The Hoboken waterfront is the western shore of the Hudson from Newark Street to Stevens Institute of Technology, sandwiched by the Holland Tunnel to the south and Lincoln Tunnel to the north, directly across from Lower Manhattan's Canal Street. The waterfront defined Hoboken as an archetypal port town and powered its economy from the mid-19th century to the outbreak of World War I, when the federal government seized most of it under eminent domain. Control of the waterfront was returned to the city in the early 1950s. On the Waterfront, consistently listed among the five best American films ever, was filmed here, dramatically highlighting the rough and tumble lives of dockworkers and the infiltration of unions by organized crime. Today the waterfront is cherished for its scenic views of the Hudson and Manhattan, accessible to all by professionally landscaped parks built on the foundations of former piers (Pier A, Pier C, Sinatra Park and Pier 14).
[edit] Interesting facts about Hoboken
- The site of the first brewery in the United States, Castle Point.
- The site of the first known baseball game between two different teams, which took place at Elysian Fields, on Hudson Street between 10th and 11th Streets.
- The site of the first demonstration of a steam railroad in the United States at 56 Newark Street at Hudson Street.
- The first departure of an electrified train, driven by Thomas A. Edison from Hoboken Terminal to Montclair.
- The first central air-conditioning unit was installed at Hoboken Terminal.
- The first wireless phone was used in Hoboken Terminal.
- The site of a World War I embarkation point, 1st and 2nd Streets at River Street—almost all American troops sent to Europe left from here.
- Frank Sinatra was born at 415 Monroe Street.
- The home of the accidental invention of soft ice-cream, at 726 Washington Street.
- Home to the first Blimpie's restaurant, on Washington St.
- Operation Ivy wrote a song entitled Hoboken, New Jersey.
- The Oreo cookie originated in Hoboken.
- Hoboken has had 36 mayors since 1855.
[edit] Local attractions
- Stevens Institute of Technology
- Hoboken Terminal Waiting Room
- Marineview Plaza Complex
- North Hoboken Harbor
- Castle Point
- Sybil's Cave
[edit] Parks
- Castle Point Park
- Church Square Park
- Columbus Park
- Elysian Park
- Frank Sinatra Park
- Gateway Park
- Jackson Street Park
- Leigon Park
- Madison Park
- Pier 14 (14th street pier)
- Pier A
- Stevens Park
- Hoboken Tea Building Walkway
- Hoboken Island (to be built)
- Hoboken Parks Initiative
[edit] Born in Hoboken
- Frank Sinatra
- G. Gordon Liddy, Watergate conspirator and rightist radio talkshow host.
- Michael Chang, pro tennis player.
- Dorothea Lange, outstanding portrait photographer.
- Alfred Stieglitz [1], leading figure of 19th and early 20th Century American photography.
- Alfred Kroeber, prominent 20th century anthropologist.
- Joe Pantoliano, actor.
- Pia Zadora, actress.
- Maria Pepe, first girl to play Little League baseball.
- Alfred Kinsey, famous psychologist who studied sex
[edit] Active in Hoboken
- Stephen Foster, master 19th century songwriter.
- Alexander Calder, leading 20th century sculptor and artist.
- Hetty Green, (in)famous business woman
- Daniel Pinkwater, National Public Radio commentator and author.
- Mark Leyner, "postmodern" author.
- Yo La Tengo, art-rock band.
[edit] External links
- City of Hoboken
- Kannekt - an unofficial guide to Hoboken
- Maps and pictures taken from above
- Street map from Google Local or Yahoo! Maps
- Topographic (shows how the land looks) map from TopoZone
- Picture from above or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
- Satellite image (picture from far above) from Google Local or Microsoft Virtual Earth