Constable Hook is a cape located on the north side of the outlet of
Kill van Kull
__NOTOC__
The Kill Van Kull is a tidal strait between Staten Island, New York and Bayonne, New Jersey in the United States. It is approximately long and wide and connects Newark Bay with Upper New York Bay. The Robbins Reef Light marks the ...
into
Upper New York Bay
New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in t ...
in
Bayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne ( ) is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is situated on a peninsula located between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill Van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east. As of ...
.
The cape has long been an important site of
marine transfer operations
Marine Transfer Operations are conducted at many ports around the world between tanker ships, barges, and marine terminals. Specifically, once the marine vessel is secure at the dock a loading arm or transfer hose is connected between a valve hea ...
in the
Port of New York and New Jersey
The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.
It includes the system of navigable water ...
. Just offshore,
Robbins Reef Light
The Robbins Reef Light Station is a sparkplug lighthouse located off Constable Hook in Bayonne, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, along the west side of Main Channel, Upper New York Bay. Note that although the light is clearly shown on t ...
serves to guide harbor traffic. Since the late 20th century,
brownfields
In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land prev ...
have been repurposed for recreational and commercial uses.
Historically the term Constable Hook was used more broadly to be synonymous with
Bergen Point
Bergen Point is a point of land that lends its name to the adjacent neighborhood in Bayonne in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. The point is located on the north side of Kill van Kull at Newark Bay. It is the section of the city clos ...
as defining the southern extent of
Bergen Neck
Bergen Neck is the peninsula between the Upper New York Bay and the Newark Bay in the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Bayonne and Jersey City. Its southernmost tip, Bergen Point, is separated from Staten Island by the Kill van Kull, ...
and of
Bergen Township when established in 1693. On March 15, 1861, the
New Jersey Legislature
The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the ...
approved unification of Constable Hook along with Bergen Point, Centerville and Salterville into the Township of Bayonne. Three weeks later the Charter for the City of Bayonne was signed by Governor
Charles S. Olden.
History
Van Buskirk family
In 1646, the
Dutch West India Company
The Dutch West India Company ( nl, Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie, ''WIC'' or ''GWC''; ; en, Chartered West India Company) was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx ( ...
, under the leadership of Director-General
William Kieft
Willem Kieft (September 1597 – September 27, 1647) was a Dutch merchant and the Director of New Netherland (of which New Amsterdam was the capital) from 1638 to 1647.
Life and career
Willem Kieft was appointed to the rank of director ...
, gave a land grant to Jacob Jacobsen Roy who was a chief gunner or constable in
Fort Amsterdam
Fort Amsterdam was a fort on the southern tip of Manhattan at the confluence of the Hudson and East rivers. It was the administrative headquarters for the Dutch and then English/British rule of the colony of New Netherland and subsequently the ...
in
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam ( nl, Nieuw Amsterdam, or ) was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''factory'' gave rise ...
. the capital of
New Netherland
New Netherland ( nl, Nieuw Nederland; la, Novum Belgium or ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic that was located on the East Coast of the United States, east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territor ...
. The area, "Konstapel's Hoeck" in Dutch, takes its name from Roy's title. Roy, however, never cultivated or settled on the land.
The first settler is believed to be
Pieter Van Buskirk (Boskerck). Born around January 1, 1665, Van Buskirk built a stone house overlooking
Upper New York Bay
New York Harbor is at the mouth of the Hudson River where it empties into New York Bay near the East River tidal estuary, and then into the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of the United States. It is one of the largest natural harbors in t ...
on Constable Hook at what became known as Van Buskirk's Point around the year 1700. Van Buskirk started a small family cemetery next to his house in 1736. His wife, Tryntje died on October 31 of that year and was buried in the cemetery. Pieter Van Buskirk died two years later on July 20, 1738 and was also buried in the cemetery.
In 1798, Van Buskirk descendants sold a portion of Constable Hook to the Hazard Powder Co. that built a factory and dock. During the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
, the Hazard Powder Co. factory produced gunpowder for the
U.S. Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...
and for fortifications in and around New York harbor.
In 1854 James J. Van Buskirk (1791–1856), wrote a will and mentioned of his land situated at Constable Hook off East 22 Street was to be reserved for a cemetery. The cemetery was not opened until December 1854 and plots in the cemetery were sold soon after. The official name of the cemetery is not known, but it was often referred to in documents as "Hook Cemetery", "Bayonne Cemetery", "Constable Hook", and is known as the "
Bayonne Constable Hook Cemetery". The remaining parts of the cemetery underwent a restoration project of the 1980s. It is surrounded by property owned by IMTT and is also maintained by the company.
Port Johnston
The industrial Port Johnson area is located in the southwestern portion of Constable Hook. In 1864, after building a railroad bridge over
Newark Bay
Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, t ...
, the
Central Railroad of New Jersey
The Central Railroad of New Jersey, also known as the Jersey Central or Jersey Central Lines , was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s. It was absorbed into Conrail in April 1976 along with several other prominent bankrupt railroads of ...
laid railroad tracks through Bayonne into Constable Hook. After the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, they built the
Port Johnston Coal Docks, at the time the largest coal port in the world. Many
Irish immigrants took jobs with the railroad living in Constable Hook. So many Irish had moved there that the residents of Bayonne referred to the area as "Irishtown." On July 26, 1877, the first full scale strike occurred in Bayonne at the Port Johnston Coal Docks when workers walked off the job. Port Johnston was the site of a
prisoner-of-war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of w ...
camp for Italian soldiers during WW2.
Refineries and tank farm-liquid storage
![Bayonne tank farm from BB jeh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Bayonne_tank_farm_from_BB_jeh.jpg)
In 1872,
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller was ...
's
Standard Oil
Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...
bought 176 acres of land on Constable Hook, and by 1885 there was a pipeline connecting it to the field of Texas. Three years later,
Prentice Oil Company was also established at Constable Hook. This company was later sold to a subsidiary of the
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
called
Empire Transportation Company
The Empire Transportation Company was a Multimodal transport, multimodal freight transportation company founded and operated by Joseph D. Potts in 1865. It owned a small fleet of boats on the Great Lakes which collected grain and produce which were ...
, a competitor of Standard Oil. Other oil companies like
Tidewater and Ocean Oil also built refineries on Constable Hook. The oil companies attracted Hungarian, Czech and Slovakian immigrants from Eastern Europe.
[Kathleen M. Middleton, ''Images of America - Bayonne'', (Arcadia Publishing Corp., 1995)]
The Van Buskirk farmhouse was demolished in 1906 by the Standard Oil Company, which owned the land and were expanding their refinery. Standard Oil has now refurbished the cemetery.
On July 4, 1900, a fire broke out in the Standard Oil refinery. It started when lightning caused a number of the large oil tanks to explode. Flaming oil spread out into New York Bay. It took three days to extinguish the fire that in the end caused $2.5 million in damages yet only nine injuries.
During the
Bayonne refinery strikes of 1915–1916
The Bayonne refinery strikes of 1915–1916 were labor actions of refinery workers in Bayonne, New Jersey, mostly Polish-Americans who struck Standard Oil of New Jersey and Tidewater Petroleum plants on Constable Hook beginning in mid-July 1915. ...
workers at the
Standard Oil Company of New Jersey
ExxonMobil, an American multinational oil and gas corporation presently based out of Texas, has had one of the longest histories of any company in its industry. A direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the company traces its roo ...
went on strike over wages and union organization. Bayonne police battled the strikers causing the death of one striker. A week later, on July 22, a riot broke out as gunfire would take the lives of four more men, one as young as 19, and injuring many others, one as young as twelve. A second strike would occur the following year. On October 10, a riot broke out that left three policeman and several strikes injured. As the riots continued in the streets, police and strikers traded gunfire and one woman was killed. The strike ended on October 19 as the strikers returned to work and Standard Oil agreed to give everyone a raise.
The facilities of IMTT are located at the southeastern portion of the hook. and were sold it to
Macquarie Infrastructure Company in 2014.
Exxon is responsible for clean-up of environmental damage caused by oil facilities, and has been the subject of extended litigation. As of 2015, Exxon has completed a soil investigation at the 324-acre terminal. It has until May 7, 2016, to finish its groundwater investigation under a bill passed unanimously by the
New Jersey Legislature
The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the ...
in late 2013 that gave polluters a deadline extension on investigating cleanups. according to the NJ DEP, clean-up at Constable Hook has included excavation, stabilization, capping, and the capturing of ground water contamination and installation of steel wall containment systems. The controversial
ExxonMobil-New Jersey environmental contamination settlement was made during the
governorship of Chris Christie
Chris Christie took office as the 55th Governor of New Jersey on January 19, 2010, and began his second term on January 21, 2014, and left office on January 16, 2018.
Electoral history
Cabinet
Finances and budget 2010 New Jersey budget
...
.
Redevelopment projects
![South Cove Commons n BB fr MOTBY jeh crop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/South_Cove_Commons_n_BB_fr_MOTBY_jeh_crop.jpg)
Most of eastern Constable Hook was the 20th century Bayonne city dump, and now belongs to the Bayonne Golf Club, including a recreated lighthouse on the highest hill on the cape, serving as its clubhouse.
The north end has South Cove Commons, a late 20th-century shopping mall off Route 440, and a public shoreside nature walk east of there, affording views of tidal
mudflat
Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal fl ...
s, the former
Military Ocean Terminal at Bayonne
Military Ocean Terminal at Bayonne (MOTBY) was a U.S. military ocean terminal located in the Port of New York and New Jersey which operated from 1967 to 1999. From 1942 to 1967 the site was the Bayonne Naval Drydock. The site is on Upper New Yor ...
, and New York Harbor. The
Hudson River Waterfront Walkway
The Hudson River Waterfront Walkway, also known as the Hudson River Walkway, is a promenade along the Hudson Waterfront in New Jersey. The ongoing and incomplete project located on Kill van Kull and the western shore of Upper New York Bay and th ...
runs along the northern shore of the cape. The
Bayonne Energy Center
Bayonne Energy Center is a power plant on Constable Hook in Bayonne, New Jersey originally built as a joint venture between Hess Corporation and ArcLight Capital Partners. it is operated by EthosEnergy.
The 644-megawatt natural gas-fired plant c ...
opened in 2012.
See also
*
Bergen Neck
Bergen Neck is the peninsula between the Upper New York Bay and the Newark Bay in the Hudson County, New Jersey municipalities of Bayonne and Jersey City. Its southernmost tip, Bergen Point, is separated from Staten Island by the Kill van Kull, ...
*
Geography of New York–New Jersey Harbor Estuary
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...
*
Port of New York and New Jersey
The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument.
It includes the system of navigable water ...
*
Port of Paulsboro
The Port of Paulsboro is located on the Delaware River and Mantua Creek in and around Paulsboro, in Gloucester County, New Jersey, approximately from the Atlantic Ocean. Traditionally one of the nation's busiest for marine transfer operations, ...
External links
Constable Hook, NJreal time tides (forecast guidance),
NOAA
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...
.
Bayonne Constable Hook CemeteryChapter XIX ''Old Bergen'',Daniel Van Winkle, 1902.
''Sunset, Constable's Hook'' etching,
Childe Hassam
Frederick Childe Hassam (; October 17, 1859 – August 27, 1935) was an American Impressionist painter, noted for his urban and coastal scenes. Along with Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twachtman, Hassam was instrumental in promulgating Impressioni ...
, 1915,
Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...
.
Old Firefighter movie Constable Hook, July 5, 1900, from Library of Congress collections.
References
{{coord, 40.65778, N, 74.09944, W, format=dms, scale:50000, display=inline,title
New Netherland
Peninsulas of New Jersey
Neighborhoods in Hudson County, New Jersey
Landforms of Hudson County, New Jersey
1646 establishments in the Dutch Empire
17th-century establishments in New Jersey
Establishments in New Netherland