Fort Lee, NJ

Fort Lee is a borough at the eastern border of Bergen County of New Jersey, situated along the Hudson River atop The Palisades.

As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 40,191, an increase of 4,846 (+13.7%) from the 2010 census count of 35,345, which in turn reflected a decline of 116 (−0.3%) from the 35,461 counted in the 2000 census. Along with other communities in Bergen County, it is one of the largest and fastest-growing ethnic Korean enclaves outside of Korea.

Fort Lee is named for the site of an American Revolutionary War military encampment. At the turn of the 20th century it became the birthplace of the American film industry. In 1931, the borough became the western terminus of the George Washington Bridge, which crosses the Hudson River and connects to the borough of Manhattan in New York City. Fort Lee's population and housing density has increased considerably since the 1960s and 1970s with the construction of highrise apartment buildings.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, Fort Lee borough had a total area of 2.87 square miles (7.44 km²), including 2.52 square miles (6.52 km²) of land and 0.35 square miles (0.92 km²) of water (12.33%).

The borough is situated atop the escarpment of the Hudson Palisades on the peninsula between the Hackensack and Hudson rivers. The borough is bisected by the confluence of roads at the George Washington Bridge Plaza leading to the George Washington Bridge.

Unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the borough include Coytesville, Linwood, Palisade and Taylorville.

The borough borders Cliffside Park, Edgewater, Englewood, Englewood Cliffs, Leonia, Palisades Park, and Ridgefield in Bergen County, along with the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. Given its evolving cosmopolitan ambiance and adjacency to Manhattan across the George Washington Bridge, Fort Lee, one of the Hudson Waterfront communities of northern New Jersey, has been called a sixth borough of New York City.Tat, Linh
"Fort Lee grapples with questions on future development"
''The Record'', June 12, 2012. Archived fro
the original
on July 23, 2013. Accessed December 7, 2013. "Fort Lee - Bedroom community. Sixth borough of New York City. Gateway to Bergen County."

History

Early settlement

The Lenape peoples were inhabiting the area when Captain Henry Hudson was the first European to record the area in 1609. In 1756 Stephen Bourdette acquired 400 acres of land which included modern-day Fort Lee.

Colonial era

Originally known as Fort Constitution, Fort Lee was named for General Charles LeeLefkowitz, Melanie
Bergen County's Fort Lee: Town With a View
''The Wall Street Journal''. April 30, 2011. Accessed July 8, 2014. "The cliff-top 33-acre Fort Lee Historic Park, on a Revolutionary War fort site named for Gen. Charles Lee from whom the borough also takes its name, offers educational programs as well as bridge and river views." after George Washington and his troops had camped at Mount Constitution overlooking Burdett's Landing, in defense of New York City. It was during Washington's retreat in November 1776 (beginning along a road which is now Main Street) that Thomas Paine composed his pamphlet, ''The American Crisis'', which began with the recognized phrase, "These are the times that try men's souls." These events are recalled at Monument Park and Fort Lee Historic Park.

Formation

Fort Lee was formed by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 29, 1904, from the remaining portions of Ridgefield Township.Snyder, John P
''The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606–1968''
Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 78. Accessed February 14, 2012. With the creation of Fort Lee, Ridgefield Township became defunct and was dissolved as of March 29, 1904. The Fort Lee Police Department was formed under borough ordinance on August 9, 1904, and originally consisted of six marshals.

America's first motion picture industry

The history of cinema in the United States can trace its roots to the East Coast, where, at one time, Fort Lee was the motion picture capital of America. The industry got its start in the state at the end of the 19th century with the construction of Thomas Edison's "Black Maria", the first motion picture studio, in West Orange, New Jersey. New Jersey offered land at costs considerably less than New York City, and the cities and towns along the Hudson River and the Palisades benefited greatly as a result of the phenomenal growth of the film industry at the turn of the 20th century. A large number of early films were shot in Fort Lee.

Filmmaking began attracting both capital and an innovative workforce, and when the Kalem Company began using Fort Lee in 1907 as a location for filming in the area, other filmmakers quickly followed. In 1909, a forerunner of Universal Studios, the Champion Film Company, built the first studio. They were quickly followed by others who either built new studios or who leased facilities in Fort Lee. In the 1910s and 1920s, film companies such as the Independent Moving Pictures Company, Peerless Studios, The Solax Company, Éclair Studios, Goldwyn Picture Corporation, American Méliès (Star Films), World Film Company, Biograph Studios, Fox Film Corporation, Pathé Frères, Metro Pictures Corporation, Victor Film Company, and Selznick Pictures Corporation were all making pictures in Fort Lee. Such notables as Mary Pickford got their start at Biograph Studios.Koszarski, Richard
"Fort Lee: The Film Town''
Indiana University Press, 2004. . Accessed May 27, 2015.

With the offshoot businesses that sprang up to service the film studios, for nearly two decades Fort Lee experienced unrivaled prosperity. However, just as the development of Fort Lee production facilities was gaining strength, Nestor Studios of Bayonne, New Jersey, built the first studio in Hollywood in 1911. Nestor Studios, owned by David and William Horsley, later merged with Universal Studios; and William Horsley's other company, Hollywood Film Laboratory, is now the oldest existing company in Hollywood, now called the Hollywood Digital Laboratory. California's more temperate climate enabled year-round filming and led to the eventual shift of virtually all filmmaking to the West Coast by the 1930s.

At the time, Thomas Edison owned almost all the patents relevant to motion picture production. Movie producers on the East Coast acting independently of Edison's Motion Picture Patents Company were often sued or enjoined by Edison and his agents, while movie makers working on the West Coast could work independently of Edison's control, in part due to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals–which was headquartered in San Francisco and covered most of Southern California–being well known for not enforcing patents claims.

In nearby Little Ferry on July 9, 1937, a major fire broke out in a 20th Century-Fox storage facility containing hazardous extremely flammable nitrate film reels.

Television and film in New Jersey remains an important industry. Since 2000, the Fort Lee Film Commission has been charged with celebrating the history of film in Fort Lee, as well as attracting film and television production companies to the borough. The Barrymore Film Center promotes films, filmmaking and its history in the borough.

Birthplace of subliminal messaging

In 1957, market researcher James Vicary claimed that quickly flashing messages on a movie screen, in Fort Lee, had influenced people to purchase more food and drinks. Vicary coined the term ''subliminal advertising'' and formed the Subliminal Projection Company based on a six-week test. Vicary claimed that during the presentation of the movie ''Picnic'' he used a tachistoscope to project the words "Drink Coca-Cola" and "Hungry? Eat popcorn" for 1/3000 of a second at five-second intervals. Vicary asserted that during the test, sales of popcorn and Coke in that New Jersey theater increased 57.8% and 18.1% respectively."Does subliminal advertising work?"
The Straight Dope, April 22, 1977. Accessed December 7, 2013.

In 1962, Vicary admitted to lying about the experiment and falsifying the results, the story itself being a marketing ploy. An identical experiment conducted by Henry Link showed no increase in cola or popcorn sales. The additional claim that the small cinema handled 45,699 visitors in six weeks has led people to believe that Vicary actually did not conduct his experiment at all.

Korean community

A small number of Korean immigrants have resided the area as early as the 1970s. In the 1990s, a continuous stream of Korean immigrants emerged into Fort Lee. A substantial number of affluent and educated Korean American professionals have settled in Bergen County since the early 2000s and have founded various academic and communally supportive organizations, including the Korean Parent Partnership Organization at the Bergen County Academies magnet high school and The Korean-American Association of New Jersey. Approximately 130 Korean stores were counted in downtown Fort Lee in 2000, a number which has risen significantly since then, featuring restaurants and karaoke (''noraebang'') bars, grocery markets, education centers and bookstores, banking institutions, offices, electronics vendors, apparel boutiques, and other commercial enterprises.

Various Korean American groups could not reach consensus on the design and wording for a monument in Fort Lee as of early April 2013 to the memory of comfort women, tens of thousands of women and girls, many Korean, who were forced into sexual slavery by Japanese soldiers during World War II.Sullivan, S. p
"Sexual slavery issue, discussed internationally, pivots around one little monument in N.J."
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, June 8, 2013. Accessed April 13, 2022. "The Palisades Park monument is the first in the United States to recognize what is widely believed to be an international atrocity — the systemic sexual slavery of women from Korea, the Philippines, China, Japan and the Netherlands during WWII. Erected in 2010, it's also prompted a visit from members of the Japanese parliament, been defaced by groups upset with its existence, and inspired similar memorials in Hackensack, Fort Lee and elsewhere in the United States." In May 2012, borough officials in neighboring Palisades Park rejected requests by two diplomatic delegations from Japan to remove such a monument from a public park, a brass plaque on a block of stone, dedicated in 2010; days later, a South Korean delegation had endorsed Palisades Park's decision. In October 2012, a similar memorial was announced in nearby Hackensack, to be raised behind the Bergen County Courthouse, alongside memorials to the Holocaust, the Great Famine of Ireland, and the Armenian genocide, and was unveiled in March 2013. On May 23, 2018, a comfort women memorial was installed in Constitution Park in Fort Lee. Youth Council of Fort Lee, a student organization led by Korean American high school students in Fort Lee designed the memorial.

George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal

The Fort Lee lane closure scandal, also known as Bridgegate, was a political scandal concerning the actions taken by the staff of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and his Port Authority appointees to create a traffic jam in Fort Lee when dedicated toll lanes for one of the Fort Lee entrances to the upper level on the George Washington Bridge were reduced from three to one from September 9, 2013, to September 13, 2013. Three members of the Christie administration were convicted on federal conspiracy charges for their roles in the lane closures.

One of the reasons suggested for these actions was to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, for not supporting the Republican Chris Christie in the 2013 New Jersey gubernatorial election. Another theory was that Christie or his aides sought to punish New Jersey Senate majority leader, Loretta Weinberg, who represented the New Jersey district containing Fort Lee, as retribution for the Democrats' blocking of Christie's reappointment of a New Jersey Supreme Court justice. Christie withdrew his appointee consideration and delivered a speech referring to New Jersey Senate Democrats as "animals" just one day before emails were sent by Christie's aides to the Port Authority requesting the lane closures.

Demographics

At the turn of the 21st century, Fort Lee saw a large Korean migration which has converted much of the town into a large Koreatown, in that many traditional Korean stores and restaurants may be seen in Fort Lee, and the hangul letters of the Korean alphabet are as common as signs in English in parts of the downtown area. This Koreatown is separate from the similar Korean enclave in the adjacent town of Palisades Park. The rapid increase of the Korean population has seen the decline of many other immigrant communities once centered in Fort Lee, notably the Greek and Italian communities, once quite large. A sizable Russian immigrant community has also sprung up in recent years.

The per capita Korean American population of Bergen County, 6.3% by the 2010 census, (increasing to 6.9% by the 2011 American Community Survey), is the highest of any county in the United States, with all of the nation's top ten municipalities by percentage of Korean population and an absolute total of 56,773 Korean Americans (increasing to 63,247 by the 2011 American Community Survey) living in the county. The concentration of Korean Americans in nearby Palisades Park in turn is the highest of any municipality in Bergen County, at 52% of the population, enumerating 10,115 residents of Korean ancestry; while Fort Lee has nearly as many Koreans by absolute numbers, at 8,318, representing 23.5% of its 2010 population. Along with Koreatowns in New York City and Long Island, the Bergen County Koreatowns serve as the nexus for an overall Korean American population of 218,764 individuals in the Greater New York Combined Statistical Area, the second largest population of ethnic Koreans outside of Korea.

In March 2011, about 2,500 Japanese-Americans were living in Edgewater and Fort Lee, the largest concentration of Japanese-Americans in New Jersey.

There were 1,119 Fort Lee residents who filed claims to recover lost money from the Madoff investment scandal, the most from any ZIP code.

2010 census

The 2010 United States census counted 35,345 people, 16,371 households, and 9,364 families in the borough. The population density was . There were 17,818 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup was 53.49% (18,905) White, 2.75% (973) Black or African American, 0.14% (50) Native American, 38.44% (13,587) Asian, 0.02% (7) Pacific Islander, 3.08% (1,090) from other races, and 2.07% (733) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 10.97% (3,877) of the population. Korean Americans accounted for 23.5% of the 2010 population, or 8,306 people.

Of the 16,371 households, 21.8% had children under the age of 18; 45.6% were married couples living together; 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present and 42.8% were non-families. Of all households, 38.4% were made up of individuals and 17.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.16 and the average family size was 2.89. Same-sex couples headed 127 households in 2010, an increase from the 65 counted in 2000.

17.0% of the population were under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 27.7% from 45 to 64, and 21.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44.7 years. For every 100 females, the population had 86.9 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 83.8 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $72,341 (with a margin of error of +/− $4,502) and the median family income was $86,489 (+/− $11,977). Males had a median income of $66,015 (+/− $3,526) versus $55,511 (+/− $3,404) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $44,996 (+/− $2,903). About 5.5% of families and 7.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.1% of those under age 18 and 9.0% of those age 65 or over.

2000 census

As of the 2000 United States census there were 35,461 people, 16,544 households, and 9,396 families residing in the borough. The population density was . There were 17,446 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the borough was 62.75% White, 31.43% Asian, 1.73% African American, 0.07% Native American, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 1.69% from other races, and 2.26% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.87% of the population.Census 2000 Profiles of Demographic / Social / Economic / Housing Characteristics for Fort Lee borough, New Jersey
, United States Census Bureau. Accessed March 5, 2013.DP-1: Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000 – Census 2000 Summary File 1 (SF 1) 100-Percent Data for Fort Lee borough, Bergen County, New Jersey
, United States Census Bureau. Accessed March 5, 2013.

There were 16,544 households, out of which 22.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.7% were married couples living together, 7.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.2% were non-families. 39.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.14 and the average family size was 2.88.

In the borough the age distribution of the population shows 17.5% under the age of 18, 5.1% from 18 to 24, 32.6% from 25 to 44, 24.7% from 45 to 64, and 20.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.1 males.

The median income for a household in the borough was $58,161, and the median income for a family was $72,140. Males had a median income of $54,730 versus $41,783 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $37,899. About 5.7% of families and 7.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.9% of those under age 18 and 7.9% of those age 65 or over.

As of the 2000 Census, 17.18% of Fort Lee's residents identified themselves as being of Korean ancestry, which was the fifth highest in the United States and third highest of any municipality in New Jersey; behind neighboring Palisades Park (36.38%) and Leonia (17.24%) – for all places with 1,000 or more residents identifying their ancestry. In the same census, 5.56% of Fort Lee's residents identified themselves as being of Chinese ancestry, and 6.09% of Fort Lee's residents identified themselves as being of Japanese ancestry, the highest of any municipality in New Jersey for all places with 1,000 or more residents identifying their ancestry. In the 2010 Census, 23.5% of residents (8,318 individuals) identified themselves as being of Korean ancestry, 7.5% (2,653) as Chinese and 3.7% (1,302) as Japanese.

Economy

Companies based in Fort Lee include WINIA Electronics America, the American Bank Note Company and Cross River Bank.

Arts and culture

The Barrymore Film Center, a movie theater, performing arts center, and film museum, was constructed at a cost of $16 million and opened in October 2022.

Since 2007, the Hudson Shakespeare Company has brought their Shakespeare in the Park touring shows to Fort Lee in "Shakespeare Tuesdays". The group now performs regularly at Monument Park (1588 Palisade Avenue, next to the Fort Lee Museum) with two Tuesday shows per month during the summer. The festival also tours similar dates in Hackensack.

Since the mid-1980s, Fort Lee Koreatown has become a Korean dining destination. Fort Lee's Korean food has been described by local food writers as being better than in Koreatown, Manhattan. Korean Chinese cuisine is now also available in Koreatown, as is misugaru. Korean cafés have become a major cultural element within Fort Lee's Koreatown, not only for the coffee, ''bingsu'' (shaved ice), and pastries, but also as communal gathering places.

Government

Local government

Fort Lee is governed under the borough form of New Jersey municipal government. The borough is one of 218 municipalities (of the 564) statewide that use this form of government. The governing body is comprised of the mayor and the six-member borough council, with all positions elected at-large on a partisan basis as part of the November general election. A mayor is elected directly by the voters to a four-year term of office. The borough council is comprised of six members elected to serve three-year terms on a staggered basis, with two seats coming up for election each year in a three-year cycle.''2012 New Jersey Legislative District Data Book'', Rutgers University Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, March 2013, p. 160. The borough form of government used by Fort Lee is a "weak mayor / strong council" government in which council members act as the legislative body with the mayor presiding at meetings and voting only in the event of a tie. The mayor can veto ordinances subject to an override by a two-thirds majority vote of the council. The mayor makes committee and liaison assignments for council members, and most appointments are made by the mayor with the advice and consent of the council.

, the mayor of Fort Lee is Democrat Mark Sokolich, whose term of office ends December 31, 2027. Members of the Borough Council are Council President Harvey Sohmer (D, 2024), Joseph L. Cervieri Jr. (D, 2024), Bryan Drumgoole (D, 2026), Ila Kasofsky (D, 2025), Peter J. Suh (D, 2025) and Paul K. Yoon (D, 2026).Mayor Council
Borough of Fort Lee. Accessed May 17, 2024.''2024 County and Municipal Directory''
Bergen County, New Jersey