Newark, New Jersey
Authors: Rabig Julia 
Published: January 2025

The settlement of Newark, New Jersey, evolved from a Puritan agricultural outpost to an industrial powerhouse and the state’s largest city. Founded in 1666, Newark grew slowly during its first hundred years. The pace quickened after the Revolutionary War as new bridges, roads, and ferries expedited travel between Newark, New York, and Philadelphia. In the 19th century, Newark attracted a multiethnic working-class population that propelled its transformation from a settlement of farmers and shoemakers to a commercially diverse and densely packed industrial hub. By 1860, Newark was the eleventh largest city in the United States. Its population surpassed 100,000 by 1870 and reached 246,000 in 1900.

Innovations in industries such as tanning, metal alloys, brewing, varnish, celluloid, apparel, jewelry, industrial chemicals, and radio equipment distinguished Newark. The city was also a leader in the life insurance industry. Newark city officials deferred spending on infrastructure and public institutions with devastating consequences for public health. By the turn of the 20th century, more generous public investment, new sources of private philanthropy, and ideologies of progressive governance combined to modernize the city. Streets were paved, sewers built, and new schools, colleges, hospitals, parks, and cultural institutions opened. These included the renowned Newark Public Library and Newark Museum.

Between World War I and World War II, Newark emerged as a major node of shipping, as well as of rail, highway, and air transport. Its population peaked at 442,000 in 1930, after which its numbers and manufacturing base declined. Newark was a popular destination during the Great Migration, but Black residents faced discrimination in housing, education, employment, and policing. Civil-rights activists confronted these inequities. They engaged in a fraught partnership with federal and state authorities to bring resources to their communities during the War on Poverty. In July 1967, protests over the police beating of a Black taxi driver escalated into one of the deadliest uprisings of the 1960s. A nationally prominent Black Power movement coalesced in Newark and helped elect its first Black mayor, Kenneth Gibson, in 1970. Gibson predicted, “Wherever American cities are going, Newark will get there first.” By this time, Newark was widely perceived as an exemplar of postindustrial crisis, often ranking among the most troubled Rust Belt cities. Newark struggled to attract investment and remake itself in the decades that followed, with modest results. Newark’s population reached a low of 273,000 in 2000 before slowly rebounding. Elected officials and community organizations sought to attract jobs and investment to the city, improve social services, reform public schools, and reduce crime. Latin American and Caribbean immigrants reconfigured Newark’s ethnic diversity and contributed to its economic revitalization. Renters and homebuyers from the larger metropolitan region sought jobs and lower housing prices in Newark. Multiple factors contributed to the city’s regrowth, but some failed to improve and even deepened inequality. This problem of uneven revitalization has animated mayoral campaigns since the 1980s. Newark rebounded significantly in the early decades of the 21st century while at the same time remaining one of the poorest large cities in the United States.