North Hudson is the area in the northern part of

Hudson County Hudson County is a List of counties in New Jersey, county in the U.S. state of New Jersey, its smallest and most densely populated. Lying in the northeast of the state and on the west bank of the North River (Hudson River), Hudson River, the No ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, situated on the

west bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

of the

Hudson River The Hudson River, historically the North River, is a river that flows from north to south largely through eastern New York (state), New York state. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains at Henderson Lake (New York), Henderson Lake in the ...

, mostly atop the

Hudson Palisades The Palisades, also called the New Jersey Palisades or the Hudson River Palisades, are a line of steep cliffs along the west side of the lower Hudson River in Northeastern New Jersey and Southeastern New York in the United States. The cliffs s ...

. It comprises

Weehawken Weehawken is a Township (New Jersey), township in the North Hudson, New Jersey, northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located on the Hudson Waterfront and Hudson Palisades overlooking ...

, Union City, West New York, Guttenberg, and North Bergen. With a combined population of approximately 206,000 according to 2022 estimates, the municipalities are among the most densely populated in the United States. Some have large proportions of foreign-born residents and majority-Hispanic populations. In all of the five towns except Weehawken, large percentages of the population speak a language other than English. The towns and adjacent areas have been known as "The Home of the American Embroidery Industry", * * * * * * * * * * the silk center of the nation,Galland (1947); p 67. and " Havana on the Hudson".

Use of the name

The collective name for the municipalities of North Hudson has been used for various agencies, institutions, and organizations. Area authorities that serve its transportation, health, and recreational needs include the North Hudson County Railway (c. 1865), North Hudson Hospital (c. 1900), and North Hudson Park (c.1908) and the Hoboken-North Hudson YMCA (c. 1929). Public services in the region include the North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue, founded in 1998 when municipal services were merged, and the North Hudson Sewerage Authority, which serves Hoboken, Union City, Weehawken, and West New York. Hudson County Community College offers some classes on its North Hudson Campus, Other educational facilities bearing the name include the North Hudson Islamic Educational Center and the North Hudson Academy. The North Hudson Community Action Corporation (1965) and the North Hudson Regional Council of Mayors are organizations offering social services to the area. In the late 2000s, North Hudson came to be dubbed "NoHu" within certain communitiesMary Paul and Caren Matzner. "Scores of artists find a place in N. Hudson" ''The Union City Reporter'', April 17, 2008, pages 1, 6 and 19 a name used for a film festival founded in 2008.

Geography and demographics

Population

By 1947, one estimate put the population of North Hudson at 175,000. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

Population Estimates Program The Population Estimates Program (PEP) is a program of the U.S. Census Bureau that publishes annual population estimates and estimates of birth, death, and international migration rates for people in the United States. In addition to publishing t ...

, as of July 2022, Hudson County had a population of 703,366, of which 206,243 were in North Hudson: Guttenberg (11,446), North Bergen (60,235), Union City (65,366),

(17,215) and West New York (51,981).Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Minor Civil Divisions in New Jersey: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2022

, released May 2023. Accessed July 16, 2023. The municipalities are among the most densely populated in the United States. Guttenberg the most densely populated incorporated municipality in the United States, as well as one of the most densely populated municipalities worldwide, with of land area. Of municipalities with over 50,000 people, Union City is the most densely populated city in the United States. North Hudson municipalities have one of the nation's largest proportions of foreign-born residents, and some also have a majority-Hispanic population.

Description

Mostly situated atop the Palisades on the Hudson Waterfront on the west bank of the

, the area is directly across from

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...

and the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper We ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, north of Hoboken and

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

(the county seat), and east of the

New Jersey Meadowlands New Jersey Meadowlands, also known as the Hackensack Meadowlands after the Hackensack River, primary river flowing through it, is a general name for a large ecosystem of wetlands in northeastern New Jersey in the United States, a few miles to th ...

. Its high elevation allows North Hudson expansive views of the Manhattan skyline, the Meadowlands, and the Watchung Mountains. The

cuesta A cuesta () is a hill or ridge with a gentle slope on one side, and a steep slope on the other. In geology, the term is more specifically applied to a ridge where a harder sedimentary rock overlies a softer layer, the whole being tilted somew ...

, or slope, on the west side of area makes North Bergen the city with the second most hills per square mile in the United States after

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

.Most liquor licenses? Bumpiest town? Local municipalities hold unusual distinctions
, '' Hudson Reporter'', August 27, 2006 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 t ...

is a promenade and park along the river.

Boundaries

North Hudson lies north of

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

, one of earliest settlements in New Jersey, founded in 1660. During the British and colonial it was known as Bergen Woods and was in the southeastern part of

Bergen County Bergen County is the List of counties in New Jersey, most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

was incorporated as a separate municipality,Winfield, Charles Hardenburg
"History of the county of Hudson, New Jersey: from its earliest settlement"
p. 289. Kennard & Hay Stationery M'fg and Print. Co., 1874. Accessed December 22, 2011. In 1840 Hudson County, comprising

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

and Bergen Township, was created from the southern portion of Bergen County. North Bergen was incorporated as a township on April 10, 1843, by an act of 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 ...

, from the northern portion of Bergen Township. At the time, the town included everything east of the Hackensack River and north of and including what is now Jersey City Heights. North Hudson experienced massive immigration and urbanization during the latter half of the 19th century, and led to the creation of various new towns. Portions of the North Bergen were taken to form Hoboken Township (April 9, 1849, now the City of Hoboken), Hudson Town (April 12, 1852, later part of Hudson City), Hudson City (April 11, 1855, later merged with

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

), Guttenberg (formed within the township on March 9, 1859, and set off as an independent municipality on April 1, 1878),

(March 15, 1859), Union Township and West Hoboken Township (both created on February 28, 1861), Union Hill town (March 29, 1864) and Secaucus (March 12, 1900).Snyder, John P
''The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968''
Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 145. Accessed November 13, 2012. In the early 1900s the idea of the all towns consolidating emerged and subsided, Eventually West Hoboken and Union Hill merged in 1925. Though each municipality has an independent local government and school district, they collaborate (sometimes with Hoboken) on certain services including fire-fighting, water supply, sewage treatment emergency medical services, and vocational education. Some are members of the Bergen County Cooperative Library System. North Hudson is part of New Jersey's 32nd and 33rd legislative districts. Most of North Hudson falls within New Jersey's 8th congressional district.

History

The area of what is today North Hudson County was originally inhabited by the Munsee-speaking branch of

Lenape The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historica ...

Native Americans,Karabin, Gerard
"Brief History of Union City"
Union City, New Jersey. Accessed August 28, 2017. "Eighty-five years ago on June 1, 1925, the Town of Union (colloquially known as Union Hill) and the Township of West Hoboken joined together and became one, the city of Union City." who wandered into the vast woodland area encountered by

Henry Hudson Henry Hudson ( 1565 – disappeared 23 June 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the Northeastern United States. In 1607 and 16 ...

during the voyages he conducted from 1609 to 1610 for the Dutch, who later claimed the area (which included the future

) and named it

New Netherland New Netherland () was a colony of the Dutch Republic located on the East Coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva Peninsula to Cape Cod. Settlements were established in what became the states ...

. The portion of that land that included the future Hudson County was purchased from members of the

Hackensack tribe Hackensack was the exonym given by the Dutch colonists to a band of the Lenape, or ''Lenni-Lenape'' ("original men"), a Native American tribe. The name is a Dutch derivation of the Lenape word for what is now the region of northeastern New Jer ...

of the Lenni-Lenape and became part of Pavonia, New Netherland. The relationship between the early Dutch settlers and Native Americans was marked by frequent armed conflict over land claims. In 1658 by New Netherland colony Director-General Peter Stuyvesant re-purchased the territory. Fernandez, Lucio; Karabin, Gerard (2010). ''Union City in Pictures''. Book Press NY. pp. 11–13. The boundaries of the purchase are described in the deed preserved in the New York State Archives, as well as the medium of exchange: "80 fathoms of

wampum Wampum is a traditional shell bead of the Eastern Woodlands tribes of Native Americans. It includes white shell beads hand-fashioned from the North Atlantic channeled whelk shell and white and purple beads made from the quahog or Western ...

, 20 fathoms of cloth, 12 brass kettles, 6 guns, one double brass kettle, 2 blankets, and one half barrel of strong beer." In 1660, he ordered the building of a fortified village at

to protect the area. It was the first permanent European settlement in New Jersey, located in what is now the

Journal Square Journal Square is a business district, residential area, and transportation hub in Jersey City, New Jersey. It is named for the newspaper ''Jersey Journal'', whose headquarters were located there from 1911 to 2013. The "square" itself is at the ...

area of

Jersey City Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

near Academy Street.Kaulessar, Ricardo
"350 years of history; Fair commemorates founding of Jersey City, will honor the oldest families in Hudson County"
''

The Hudson Reporter ''The Hudson Reporter'' was a newspaper chain based in Hudson County, New Jersey mainly focus on local politics and community news. The oldest newspaper in the chain was the ''Hoboken Reporter'', founded in 1983. The chain stopped publication on ...

'', October 3, 2010. Accessed November 14, 2019. "Before there was a Jersey City or a Hudson County, the village of Bergen – the first European settlement in New Jersey, founded in 1660 by Dutch settler Peter Stuyvesant – had its origins in what is now the Journal Square area of Jersey City near Academy Street." In 1664, the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

captured New Netherland from the Dutch, at which point the boundaries of Bergen Township encompassed what is now known as Hudson County. North of this was the unpopulated Bergen Woods, which would later be claimed by settlers, after whom a number of Union City streets today are named, Like most of the New York metropolitan area, North Hudson experienced waves of immigration, specifically: settlers from the Netherlands, British colonialists, German-speaking farmers and entrepreneurs, Irish fleeing the famine, "Ellis Islanders", World Wars refugees, the "Spanish" (initially Cuban immigrants, and later other South and Central Americans), and most recently, so-called "cosmopolitans" including individuals and childless families, yuppies, retirees, gay men and women, newlyweds, house-sharers, and rent refugees from less gentrified areas. In the mid-19th century and early 20th century

German American German Americans (, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. According to the United States Census Bureau's figures from 2022, German Americans make up roughly 41 million people in the US, which is approximately 12% of the pop ...

s dominated the area. They, along with

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n immigrants, imported

machines A machine is a physical system that uses power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolec ...

and founded the Schiffli lace making industries, for which they were famous, and the region became the "embroidery capitol of the United States", as well as the silk center of the nation. Many of the factory buildings still house clothing manufacturers, while others have been converted to art studios or housing. It was this community who (in 1915) established what has become longest running passion play in the U.S., creating ''America's Oberammergau''. The German-American Volksfest has taken place annually since 1874 at Schuetzen Park.

In the 1960s and 1970s the some residents left for the suburbs. Simultaneously middle-class and professional Cubans, fleeing the revolution in their home country, re-located to the area and are generally considered to have "saved" it from a devastating downward spiral, leading to the nickname " Havana on the Hudson". North Hudson has the second largest Cuban American population in the United States behind

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. Since its inception in 2000 the Cuban Day Parade of New Jersey has become a major annual event in North Hudson, beginning in North Bergen and traveling south to its end in Union City. Once home to a large Jewish community that declined, the area's Jewish population has been on the rise since the turn of the current millennium.

Transportation

The narrow waterfront at the base of the Palisades (along with Hoboken, Jersey City,

Bayonne Bayonne () is a city in southwestern France near the France–Spain border, Spanish border. It is a communes of France, commune and one of two subprefectures in France, subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments of France, departm ...

, and Edgewater) was an integral part of

Port of New York and New Jersey The Port of New York and New Jersey is the port district of the New York metropolitan area, New York-Newark metropolitan area, encompassing the region within approximately a radius of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. It includes the sy ...

's shipping industry. Rail lines under and on both sides of the Palisades were laid. From its terminal in Weehawken the West Shore Railroad operated long-distance and commuter passenger train and ferry service (used by travellers and locals alike), from 1884 to 1959. North Hudson County Railway developed an extensive network of horse-drawn railroads and later, streetcars.

NY Waterway NY Waterway, or New York Waterway, is a private transportation company running ferry and bus service in the Port of New York and New Jersey and in the Hudson Valley. The company utilizes public-private partnership with agencies such as the Por ...

re-instituted ferry service in the late 1980s, and in 2006 opened a state-of-art terminal on the Waterfront for boats traversing the Hudson to Lower and Midtown Manhattan. The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail opened in the early 2000s connecting to south Hudson, has stations at Tonnelle Avenue, Bergenline Avenue, Port Imperial and Lincoln Harbor.

New Jersey Transit New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit or NJTransit and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey and portions of the states of New York and Pennsylvania. It ...

, since its opening, has promoted Bergenline Station as a hub/transfer between the light rail and buses: 22, 84, 86, 89, 156, 159, 181 and (one block west on JFK Boulevard) 88, 154. Nungessers at the Bergen County line is a major origination and transfer point. Transfer Station, Hudson County is also a transit hub. Manhattan and suburban-bound bus service is provided along Boulevard East, Bergenline Avenue, Kennedy Boulevard, and 32nd Street. Additionally there are many privately operated licensed mini-buses locally known as ''immi-vans'', ''gua-guas'', ''carritos'', or '' dollar buses'' along Bergenline to

, Downtown Jersey City, 42nd Street in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, and south east

Bergen County Bergen County is the List of counties in New Jersey, most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Paterson.

Sources

External links

* * * * * {{Authority control Regions of New Jersey Geography of Hudson County, New Jersey Neighborhoods in Hudson County, New Jersey Streetcar suburbs New Jersey populated places on the Hudson River Embroidery in the United States

Use of the name

Geography and demographics

Population

Description

Boundaries

History

Transportation

See also

Sources

External links