The James Street Commons Historic District is a historic district located in

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

, Essex County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, United States. The district was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

on January 9, 1978, for its significance in architecture, art, community planning and development, education, industry, and social history. With There was a small boundary increase on September 22, 1983. With

History and description

When first surveyed in 1977 for landmark status, the district had 425 structures. Since then about 170 historic buildings in the district have been demolished, or about 40% of the district's urban fabric. When buildings are demolished, the predominant land use becomes surface parking.

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

, Edison ParkFast, St. Michael's Hospital, and the

New Jersey Institute of Technology {{Infobox university , name = {{nowrap, New Jersey Institute of Technology , image = New Jersey IT seal.svg , image_upright = 0.9 , former_names = Newark College of Engineering (1930–1975)Ne ...

are the main owners of surface parking lots and structures within the district. In 2020, the actions of NJIT president Joel Bloom with demolition of the nationally landmarked Warren Street School resulted in the historic district being listed among the ten most endangered historic places in New Jersey.

Contributing properties

Washington Park (Newark) Harriet Tubman Square is a city square formerly known as Washington Park in Downtown Newark, New Jersey. It is the northernmost of the three downtown parks, along with Lincoln Park and Military Park, that were laid out in the colonial era. The t ...

American Insurance Company Building The American Insurance Company Building is one of the oldest and tallest skyscrapers in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, United States. Located at 15 Washington Street on Washington Park it was once headquarters for the American Insurance Com ...

Newark Public Library The Newark Public Library (NPL) is a public library system in Newark, New Jersey. The library system offers numerous programs and events to its diverse population. With eight different locations, the Newark Public Library serves as a Statewide Re ...

Newark Museum The Newark Museum of Art (formerly known as the Newark Museum), in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, United States, is the state's largest museum. It holds major collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia, A ...

* St. Michael's Hospital * Pro-Cathedral of Saint Patrick

Notable people

Guy Sterling Guy Sterling (born September 23, 1948) is an American journalist, author and historian. He spent most of his 35-year newspaper career as a reporter with ''The Star-Ledger'' in Newark, New Jersey, primarily covering the courts and criminal justice ...

- James Street resident, author, and reporter *

Clement Alexander Price Clement Alexander Price (October 13, 1945 – November 5, 2014) was an American historian. As the Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor of History at Rutgers University-Newark, Price brought his study of the past to bear on contempora ...

- American historian *

Jeremiah O'Rourke Jeremiah O'Rourke, FAIA, (1833 – 1915), was an Irish-American architect known primarily for his designs of Roman Catholic churches and institutions and Federal post offices. He was a founder of the Newark-based architectural firms of Jeremiah ...

- Irish-American architect at 45 Burnet Street *

Seth Boyden Seth Boyden (November 17, 1788 – March 31, 1870) was an American inventor. Early life He was born in Foxboro, Massachusetts, on November 17, 1788, the son of Seth Boyden and Susannah Atherton. His father was a farmer and blacksmith. His yo ...

- demolished workshop was in the neighborhood *

George Westinghouse George Westinghouse Jr. (October 6, 1846 – March 12, 1914) was an American entrepreneur and engineer based in Pennsylvania who created the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry, receiving his first patent at the age ...

- demolished factory was just outside the district *

John Cotton Dana John Cotton Dana (born August 19, 1856, in Woodstock, Vermont – died July 21, 1929, in Newark, New Jersey) was an American library and museum director who sought to make these cultural institutions relevant to the daily lives of citizens. As ...

- founder of the Newark Public Library and Newark Museum *

Peter Ballantine Peter Ballantine (November 16, 1791 – January 23, 1883) was the founder of Patterson & Ballantine Brewing Company in 1840 in Newark, New Jersey, United States. Early life He was born on November 16, 1791, in Dundee, Scotland. He decided t ...

- Scottish-American industrialist * Elvin W. Crane - politician and relative of author

Stephen Crane Stephen Crane (November 1, 1871 – June 5, 1900) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism an ...

Edward Weston Edward Henry Weston (March 24, 1886 – January 1, 1958) was a 20th-century American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers..." and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." ...

- chemist and engineer, competitor with

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...

Louis Bamberger Louis Bamberger (15 May 1855 – 11 March 1944) was the leading citizen of Newark, New Jersey, from the early 1900s until his death in 1944. He and his sister Caroline Bamberger Fuld co-founded the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, Ne ...

- businessman and philanthropist, property owner in the area

References

External links

* {{National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey Geography of Essex County, New Jersey Geography of Newark, New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Newark, New Jersey Historic districts in Essex County, New Jersey Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey New Jersey Register of Historic Places

History and description

Contributing properties

Notable people

See also

References

External links