page_title: Harsimus
section_title: Early settlement
hierarchical_section_title: Harsimus / Early settlement
caption_attribution_description: English: Identifier: newyorkbysunligh00mcca_1 (find matches) Title: New York by sunlight and gaslight&#160;: a work descriptive of the great American metropolis&#160;; its high and low life; its splendors and miseries; its virtu Year: 1882 (1880s) Authors: McCabe, James D., 1842-1883. Subjects: Publisher: New York&#160;: Union Publishing House Contributing Library: Columbia University Libraries Digitizing Sponsor: The Durst Organization View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: s of all the countries of the world are floatingout from ship and shore, and the river presents a gayand animated scene. On the opposite side is JerseyCity, the most conspicuous objects of the shore linebeing the great ferry houses which mark the depots ofthe various railway lines leading south and west fromNew York. In the not distant future the tunnel nowin construction under the Hudson will connect NewJersey with New York, and the railways will enter thecity by means of it. The last landing has been made, and our steamernow turns her head toward the Inner Bay. Just off theBattery we pass a fine frigate and a monitor, fly-ing the national flag, and near them notice severalforeign men of war riding at their anchors. From thesteamers deck the lower end of the city and the spiresand towers that rise from it make a pleasing picture,while across the East River is Brooklyn, its heightscrowned with stately mansions, and between the twocities swings the great bridge that is to connect them. Text Appearing After Image: FORIIFICATIONS OF THE HARBOR. 91 On our left is Governors Island, with the half roundfort of Castle William, and the more formidable worksof Fort Columbus beyond it. The American flag isflying- from a tall staff about the centre of the island,and the troops of the garrison can be seen engagedat their manoeuvres on the parade ground. Across theharbor, near the Jersey shore, is Elliss Island, on whichis situated Fort Gibson, armed with twenty heavy guns.To the south of it is a larger island, known as Bedloes,on which stands Fort Wood, which mounts eighty guns.This island is well out in the bay, and commands anunobstructed view through the Narrows, out to sea.Upon this island is to stand Bartholdis great statue ofLiberty Enlightening the World. This remarkablework is the gift of numbers of French citizens, to NewYork, and is gigantic in size, being intended as a light-house as well as an ornament to the harbor. A writer inScribners Magazine for June, 1877, thus describes thestatue and th Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: Harsimus is a neighborhood within Downtown Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. The neighborhood stretches from the Harsimus Stem Embankment on the north to Christopher Columbus Drive on the south between Coles Street and Grove Street or more broadly, to Marin Boulevard. It borders the neighborhoods of Hamilton Park to the north, Van Vorst Park to the south, the Village to the west, and the Powerhouse Arts District to the east. Newark Avenue has traditionally been its main street. The name is from the Lenape, used by the Hackensack Indians who inhabited the region and could be translated as Crow’s Marsh. From many years, the neighborhood was part of the "Horseshoe", a political delineation created by its position between the converging rail lines and political gerrymandering.
context_section_description: Harsimus is a derivative of a Lenape phrase, possibly meaning Crow's Marsh. Spellings include: Aharsimus, Ahasimus, Hasymes, Haassemus, Hahassemes, Hasimus, Horseemes, Hasseme, Horsimus  In current Lenape, ahas means "crow".
  In 1629, the Dutchman Michael Reyniersz Pauw obtained a patent for all the land in what would become Hudson County, naming it Pavonia. Unable to fulfill a patroon charter provision that he set up a plantation with fifty permanent settlers, the Dutch West India Company sold a part to his superintendent, who had built a homestead in 1634 and was the first of many Van Vorsts to play important roles in the development of the city. A family homestead built in 1647 was demolished in 1967. Conflict with Native Americans compromised the settlement 1643, which continued to grow after the 1645 treaty ending Kieft's War. Again in 1655, the area was attacked in a conflict called the Peach Tree War. In 1660, it came under the jurisdiction of Bergen, New Netherland the main village of which was located at Bergen Square.
  Once the area was ceded to the British after the surrender of Fort Amsterdam, New York claimed ownership to the high waterline along the west bank of the Hudson River and that any pier built there was under its jurisdiction, thus stifling development which would compete with the burgeoning New York City. Paulus Hook was the first to urbanize, and The City of Jersey was incorporated in various forms in 1820, 1829, and again in 1838. John Coles, a merchant from New York, was among the first to expand into Harsimus. The Supreme Court settled the matter of jurisdiction in the 1830s, creating a border mid-river. Harsimus grew with shipping along shoreline and residences farther inland. The short-lived Van Vorst Township later merged with its neighbor. Much of the housing stock from the maritime era is still intact. Many of the streets in the gridiron laid at the time have been renamed over the years. Moving away from the river they were originally called Hudson, River, Kelso, and Barnum. Provost and others to the west have stayed the same.
caption: Busy port city, 1882
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