The Racetrack Section, also known as Hudson Heights, is a

neighborhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...

of North Bergen Township in

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 ...

, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

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 ...

. It is a mostly residential district between Bergenline and Kennedy Boulevard. Its east–west streets follow the numbering of other North Hudson towns while its north–south streets are called avenues and are numbered First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth. Located on the plateau of 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 ...

(which begin their descent at the Boulevard) the Racetrack Section consists of mostly one and two family homes and enjoys convenient public transportation, a stable population, and proximity to North Bergen Public Library,

North Bergen High School North Bergen High School is a four-year comprehensive high school, comprehensive state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school, serving students in ninth grade, ninth through twelfth grade from North Bergen, New Jers ...

, North Hudson Park and Woodcliff. The neighborhood takes its name from Nungesser's Guttenberg Racetrack. The racetrack located in the area was a popular with

day-tripper A day trip is a visit to a tourist destination or visitor attraction from a person's home, hotel, or hostel in the morning, returning to the same lodging in the evening. The day trip is a form of recreational travel and leisure to a location tha ...

s from New York (who traveled by streetcar from the elevator at the Weehawken Ferry) during the latter part of the 19th century, until gaming was outlawed by the New Jersey legislature in 1893. While the tracks closed, the area remained an amusement park known as Little Coney Island. The "pleasure resort" as it was known, gained a reputation as attracting a similarly rowdy crowd as the racetrack, and reported incidents of alcohol being served to children and women being drugged. The recently invented

ice cream cone An ice cream cone (England) or poke (Ireland) is a brittle, cone-shaped pastry, usually made of a wafer similar in texture to a waffle, made so ice cream can be carried and eaten without a bowl or spoon. Many styles of cones are made, includ ...

was popularized at the park. The track was later used as a roadhouse for automobilists until the former clubhouse burned down in 1910. The site became a known landing spot for early aviators. The land on which the racetrack had been was subdivided in 1919, and later was built upon creating the section which exists today. . White Castle, an early drive-in fast-food chain, has long been located in the neighborhood. The district is still sometimes called Hudson Heights or

Nungesser's Nungessers is the name of the confluence of roads that meet at the Hudson and Bergen county line at North Bergen and Fairview in northeastern New Jersey. The area is the former site of the Nungesser's Gutenberg Racetrack, a late 19th-century g ...

, which is more commonly used to describe the intersection and transportation hub at the northwest corner of North Hudson Park, at the

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 ...

line with Fairview border.

References

{{Hudson County, New Jersey North Bergen, New Jersey Neighborhoods in Hudson County, New Jersey

See also

References