West Hudson is the western part of

Hudson County, New Jersey Hudson County is the most densely populated county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It lies west of the lower Hudson River, which was named for Henry Hudson, the sea captain who explored the area in 1609. Part of New Jersey's Gateway Region in t ...

comprising the contiguous municipalities of Kearny,

Harrison Harrison may refer to: People * Harrison (name) * Harrison family of Virginia, United States Places In Australia: * Harrison, Australian Capital Territory, suburb in the Canberra district of Gungahlin In Canada: * Inukjuak, Quebec, or " ...

and East Newark, which lies on the

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

between the

Hackensack River The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles (72 km) long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the subur ...

and

Passaic River Passaic River ( ) is a river, approximately long, in Northern New Jersey. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey, ...

. The Passaic River separates it from

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 ...

and Belleville, and the Hackensack River separates it from

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Secaucus Secaucus ( ) is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the town's population was 16,264,Arlington, are concentrated along the banks of the Passaic, also site of

Kearny Riverbank Park Kearny Riverbank Park is a municipal linear park along the Passaic River in Kearny, New Jersey. It is located in the Kearny Uplands north of Bergen Avenue and was extended to Belleville Turnpike in 2011 with brownfield reclamation projects. In ...

. At

Kearny Point Kearny may refer to: People *Cresson Kearny (1914–2003, American author and researcher **Kearny fallout meter ** Kearny air pump *Eleanor Kearny Carr (1840–1912), American planter and political hostess, First Lady of North Carolina *Jillian K ...

there is more industry. Brownfields or protected areas known as the Kearny Meadows or the Kearny Marsh are part of the

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

West Hudson Park The Hudson County Park System owns and operates several county parks in Hudson County, New Jersey. It has its roots in the City Beautiful movement around the turn of the twentieth century. The system comprises eight parks (the extension of one which ...

is the county park in the area.

Arlington Memorial Park Arlington Memorial Park is a cemetery located mostly within the Arlington section of Kearny in Hudson County, New Jersey, on Schuyler Avenue. Prior to its creation the ground was owned by Julius Pratt, who later negotiated the development of t ...

cemetery is located on Schuyler Avenue. The area was known as ''Meghgectecock'' (spellings include ''masgichteu-cunk'') by 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 Jerse ...

Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...

people who lived there at the time of European colonization, meaning ''where May-apples grow'', from a moist-woodland perennial that bears edible yellow berries and used to describe the lobe of land between and before the confluence of the Hackensack and Passaic at

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 ...

. During the 17th century was part of the area called

Achter Col Achter Kol (or Achter Col) was the name given to the region around the Newark Bay and Hackensack River in northeastern New Jersey by the first European settlers to it and was part of the 17th century province of New Netherland, originally adminis ...

New Netherlander New Netherlanders were residents of New Netherland, the seventeenth-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the northeastern coast of North America, centered on the Hudson River and New York Bay, and in the Del ...

s in the province 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 ...

. It was later given the name

New Barbadoes Neck New Barbadoes Neck is the name given in the colonial era for the peninsula in northeastern New Jersey, US between the lower Hackensack and Passaic Rivers, in what is now western Hudson County and southern Bergen County. The neck begins in t ...

by British colonialists. All of West Hudson was originally part of Essex County under the jurisdiction of Newark. In 1710 it was made part of New Barbadoes Township, and part of

Bergen County Bergen County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Harrison Township, which was created 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 the ...

on April 13, 1840, and was part of

Hudson County Hudson County is the most densely populated county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It lies west of the lower Hudson River, which was named for Henry Hudson, the sea captain who explored the area in 1609. Part of New Jersey's Gateway Region in ...

, which had been created from portions of Bergen County on February 22, 1840. The current borders were created through a series of secessions and reincorporations.Snyder, John P
''The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606–1968''
Bureau of Geology and Topography,

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.Ironbound The Ironbound is a neighborhood in the city of Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. It is a large working-class multi-ethnic community, covering approximately of well maintained streets and homes. Historically, the area was cal ...

across the Passaic, have had a long tradition of soccer. Kearny's nickname, "Soccer Town, USA" comes from tradition that originated in the mid-1870s, when thousands of Scottish and Irish immigrants settled there after two Scottish companies, Clark Thread Company and Nairn Linoleum, opened. The

Newark Portuguese The Newark Portuguese were an American soccer club based in Newark, New Jersey that was a member of the American Soccer League. The club had been around since 1922 and bought out the Kearny Celtic franchise after the 1950/51 season. The club won ...

, Clark A.A., Harrison S.C. and West Hudson A.A. were among the many teams. The Red Bulls Stadium is in Harrison. Portion of the

Morris Canal The Morris Canal (1829–1924) was a common carrier anthracite coal canal across northern New Jersey that connected the two industrial canals at Easton, Pennsylvania across the Delaware River from its western terminus at Phillipsburg, New Jers ...

ran through

, unused portions which remain today. The peninsula is crisscrossed with rail passenger and freight rail lines, including those of

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

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

, and

PATH A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desire p ...

, the last of which maintains a station at Harrison (Amtrak and NJT having ceased service there). Also in this area was the former Manhattan Transfer. The

Kearny Connection The Kearny Connection is a railroad junction in Kearny, New Jersey that allows passenger trains from New Jersey Transit's Morris and Essex Lines to enter Amtrak's Northeast Corridor (NEC) and travel to and from New York Penn Station. The juncti ...

and

Waterfront Connection The Waterfront Connection allows NJ Transit trains to switch from the former Pennsylvania Railroad main line (now the Newark Division) to the former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad main line (now the Hoboken Division). The connecti ...

are major passenger rail junctions. The proposed

high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...

line known as the

Gateway Project The Gateway Program (originally Gateway Project) is the planned phased expansion and renovation of the Northeast Corridor (NEC) rail line between Newark, New Jersey and New York City, New York. The right-of-way runs between Newark Penn Station ...

will traverse the area and includes the replacement of the

Portal Bridge The Portal Bridge is a two-track moveable swing-span railroad bridge over the Hackensack River in Kearny and Secaucus, New Jersey, United States. It is on the Northeast Corridor just west of Secaucus Junction and east of the Sawtooth Bridges. Ow ...

and the

Sawtooth Bridges The Sawtooth Bridges are a pair of railroad bridges on the Northeast Corridor (NEC) known individually as Amtrak Bridge No. 7.80 and Amtrak Bridge No. 7.96. They are located in the Meadowlands in Kearny, New Jersey between Newark Penn Station a ...

. West Hudson's Saint Patrick's Day Parade passes through the three municipalities. Since the creation of the 29th Legislative District in the 1970s, the three communities have always been represented in the same district.

Sources

{{coord, 40.7597, -74.1454, type:adm3rd_globe:earth_region:US-NJ, display=title Regions of New Jersey New Jersey Meadowlands District Geography of Hudson County, New Jersey Neighborhoods in Hudson County, New Jersey Kearny, New Jersey Harrison, New Jersey

See also

Sources