Hoboken, New Jersey

Hoboken is an American city in the state of New Jersey. It is by the Hudson River in Hudson County, across from Manhattan. In 2020, 60,419 people lived there.

 Geography 
Hoboken is 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.

 History 
 Early history 
Hoboken was originally an island.  The Hudson River was to the east.  To the west was a swamp near the Palisades Sill. The island was a campsite used by the Lenni Lenape.   The name Hoboken comes from the original Lenape name for "Hobocan Hackingh" or "land of the tobacco pipe."  Europeans came in the 17th century.

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 liked the revolutionary cause but changed to a Loyalist Tory in 1776 when the Rebels lost the New York and New Jersey Campaign. At the end of the Revolutionary War, Bayard's land was taken by the Revolutionary Government of New Jersey.

 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 Allan Poe's stories in 1841. The water in the cave was bad, so the cave closed in the 1880s. In the 1930s it was filled with stone but in 2005 it was reopened.

Hoboken grew. People 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.

 "Heaven, Hell or Hoboken." 
World War I had drastic effects on Hoboken. The city had one of the highest population of Germans in the state, in terms of percentage. Over the course of the war, many of Hoboken’s German residents were detained, evicted from their homes, lost their jobs or businesses. A high amount of German residents 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."

 Interwar years 
After the war, Italians were the city's major group, with the Irish having been a big group.

 Post World War II 
In the 1960s, other people followed, including Puerto Ricans. High crime rates shortly followed, and many of Hoboken's original residents slowly moved out, including Irish and Italians. 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 replaced 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 attracted artists, musicians, and commuters who 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. Although political control of the city is largely influenced by the city's long-term residents, the "yuppies" who have settled in Hoboken are now showing extensive interest. The City of Hoboken is controlled by the Faulkner Act (Mayor-Council).

 Demographics 
In 2020, Hoboken was home to 60,419 people, organized into 28,175 households. This is an increase of 10,414 people, or 20.8%, since 2010. The median (middle) age was 31.7 years.

Of the people living in Hoboken, 15.2% were under 18 years old, 77.4% were between 18 and 65, and 7.4% were over 65 years old. The population was 50.2% male and 49.8% female. Whites (non-Latino) made up 67.3% of the population, Hispanics and Latinos made up 14.1%, Asians (non-Latino) made up 10.8%, and African-Americans (non-Latino) made up 3.5%. People from two or more races, who are not Latino, made up 3.4% of the population. Other races were each less than 1% of the population.

As of 2022, the median income for a household in the city was $168,137, and the median income for a family was $236,742.  The per capita income for the city was $102,492.  2.6% of families and 7.9% of the population are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 6.2% of those under the age of 18 and 16.4% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

 Character 
With containerization in the 20th century Hoboken lost business as a port town and became rundown.  Paterson, Elizabeth, and Camden were other places in New Jersey with similar problems.  In the late 1970s, it began to prosper again and many people wanted to live there.   

The city today is known for its excellent views of Manhattan, its fine-grained street grid, its historic architecture, and its restaurants and bars.   A car is more of a hindrance than a help in getting around, and people do a great amount of walking.  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.  Sundays are quieter.

Hoboken's gentrification has become relatively advanced, though many native residents remain in the city and hold 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.  However, rising rents and other costs of living, particularly in rental units, has resulted in some of the "bohemian" population moving away.

 Waterfront 
The Hoboken waterfront is the western shore of the Hudson from Newark Street and the Holland Tunnel to the south, and the Stevens Institute of Technology and Lincoln Tunnel to the north.  The waterfront defined Hoboken as a port town and powered its economy from the mid-19th century to the outbreak of World War I when the federal government took control for war purposes.  Control of the waterfront was returned to the city in the early 1950s.  On the Waterfront, often listed among the five or ten best American films ever, was filmed here.  It dramatized the lives of dockworkers, and the infiltration of unions by organized crime. Today the waterfront is a place to look at the Hudson River and Manhattan, with landscaped parks built on the foundations of former piers (Pier A, Pier C, Sinatra Park and Pier 14).


 Local attractions 
 Stevens Institute of Technology
 Hoboken Terminal Waiting Room
 Marineview Plaza Complex
 North Hoboken Harbor
 Castle Point
 Sybil's Cave

 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

 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  , 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
 Ryan Songalia, boxing writer
 Tyshawn Taylor, professional basketball player

 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.

References

Other websites

 City of Hoboken
 Kannekt  - an unofficial guide to Hoboken

Category:Cities in New Jersey
Category:1849 establishments in the United States