The Weehawken Public Library is the free
public library
A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil service, civil servants.
There are ...
of
Weehawken, New Jersey
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 largely on the Hudson Palisades overlooking the North River ...
. The library has a collection of about 43,000 volumes and circulates 40,604 items annually. It is a member of the
Bergen County Cooperative Library System
The Bergen County Cooperative Library System (BCCLS, pronounced "buckles") is a consortium of public libraries in the four northeastern New Jersey Gateway Region counties of Bergen, Hudson, Passaic, and Essex. Founded on October 1, 1979, the orga ...
, a consortium of municipal libraries in the
northeastern New Jersey
The Gateway Region is the primary urbanized area of the northeastern section of New Jersey. It is anchored by Newark, the state's most populous city. While sometimes known as the Newark metropolitan area, it is part of the New York metropolitan ...
counties of
Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...
,
Hudson
Hudson may refer to:
People
* Hudson (given name)
* Hudson (surname)
* Henry Hudson, English explorer
* Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back
* Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudso ...
,
Passaic
Passaic ( or ) is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city had a total population of 70,537, ranking as the 16th largest municipality in New Jersey and an increase of 656 from the 69,7 ...
, and
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
.
The library sits at 49 Hauxhurst Avenue on a precipice overlooking the
Lincoln Tunnel Helix. Originally built as a private home, it became a library in 1942, and was extensively renovated and expanded in 1997-1998.
The landmark is home to the town's historical commission.
An annual fundraiser for the library at
Lincoln Harbor
Lincoln Harbor is a station on the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) located at Waterfront Terrace, north of 19th Street, in Weehawken, New Jersey. The station opened on September 7, 2004. There are two tracks and an island platform.
A five m ...
, a culinary event called ''A Taste of Weehawken'', has taken place since 2000.
History
Wilhelm Joseph Peter (aka William Peter) (March 16, 1832 – June 10, 1918) immigrated from
Achern
Achern (; gsw, label= Low Alemannic, Achre) is a town in Western Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located approximately 18 km southwest of Baden-Baden and 19 km northeast of Offenburg. Achern is the fourth largest town in the distric ...
in the
Grand Duchy of Baden
The Grand Duchy of Baden (german: Großherzogtum Baden) was a state in the southwest German Empire on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918.
It came into existence in the 12th century as the Margraviate of Baden and subs ...
after the
German revolution of 1848
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
to avoid persecution due to his father's affiliation with it. After some years in the
brewery
A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...
business at several locales in
North Hudson, he established the William Peter Brewing Company in 1862 at Hudson Avenue and Weehawken Street in what was then
Union Hill.
Parts of the imposing structure remained, and were repurposed as a storage facility. While he and his family lived for a time across the street at the since demolished Fausel Mansion,
[ Peter eventually built a mansion across the valley on the cliff where the library now stands.]
Completed in 1904 at the cost of $75,000, the home was designed like a German-style castle with 17 rooms and elaborately decorated with ornate woodwork, marble, stained glass, and several fireplaces.[ A successful businessman, Peter was also a painter encouraged by ]Hudson River School
The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. The paintings typically depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area, ...
artist Max Eaglau and maintained a studio as his home for himself and others to use. The gallery in the house included many works inspired by his native Black Forest
The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...
and the Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas c ...
, where he summered.[ After Peter's death, the house changed hands][ and was owned for a time by the Arnoldi family.][ In the 1930s, to make way for the construction of the Midtown-Hudson Tunnel (today's ]Lincoln Tunnel
The Lincoln Tunnel is an approximately tunnel under the Hudson River, connecting Weehawken, New Jersey, to the west with Midtown Manhattan in New York City to the east. It carries New Jersey Route 495 on the New Jersey side and unsigned New Y ...
), the building and others in the neighborhood and along Boulevard East
Boulevard East (officially John F. Kennedy Boulevard East, and sometimes referred to as JFK Boulevard East) is a two-way, mostly two lane, scenic county road in the North Hudson, New Jersey municipalities of Weehawken, West New York, Guttenberg a ...
were acquired by the Port Authority
In Canada and the United States, a port authority (less commonly a port district) is a governmental or quasi-governmental public authority for a special-purpose district usually formed by a legislative body (or bodies) to operate ports and other t ...
. Many were demolished, but the Peter Mansion was spared and later given to the township. The library opened in September 1942 with books and memorabilia donated by local residents.[
In 1997, the library closed for expansion and renovation. It re-opened in 1999.][ In March 2022, the town council adopted a $1.4 million bond ordinance to modernize the library. The project includes installation of energy efficient lighting, replacement of exterior windows, improved ]Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...
, a new HVAC
Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) is the use of various technologies to control the temperature, humidity, and purity of the air in an enclosed space. Its goal is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. HV ...
system, an improved electrical system, and additional USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad v ...
ports to public work stations.[
]
Weehawken Historical Commission
The Weehawken Historical Commission, whose office and archives are located on the upper floor of the library in the Historical Room, maintains materials originally contributed upon the creation of the library as well as other acquisitions made over the years. The ''Weehawken Time Machine'' is a website that has digitized many of the photographs and documents in the collection. In 2009, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the town's incorporation, the commission published ''Weehawken'' as part of Arcadia Publishing
Arcadia Publishing is an American publisher of neighborhood, local, and regional history of the United States in pictorial form.(analysis of the successful ''Images of America'' series). Arcadia Publishing also runs the History Press, which publi ...
's ''Images of America
Arcadia Publishing is an American publisher of neighborhood, local, and regional history of the United States in pictorial form.(analysis of the successful ''Images of America'' series). Arcadia Publishing also runs the History Press, which publi ...
'' series.
References
External links
*
Bergen County Cooperatived Library System
Wikimapia
{{authority control
Weehawken, New Jersey
Public libraries in New Jersey
Buildings and structures in Hudson County, New Jersey
Education in Hudson County, New Jersey
Houses completed in 1904
Tourist attractions in Hudson County, New Jersey
Houses in Hudson County, New Jersey
Stone houses in New Jersey