West Hudson is the western part of

Hudson County, New Jersey Hudson County is a 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 Hudson River, the North Jersey county is part of the state's Gateway Region an ...

comprising the contiguous municipalities of Kearny,

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

and East Newark, which lies on the

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

between the

Hackensack River The Hackensack River is a river, about 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 suburban ar ...

and

Passaic River The Passaic River ( or ) is a river, approximately long, in North Jersey, 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 suburb ...

. The Passaic River separates it from Newark and Belleville, and the Hackensack River separates it from

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

, the county seat, and

Secaucus Secaucus ( ) is a town in Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 22,181, an increase of 5,917 (+36.4%) from the 2010 census count of 16,264, which in turn reflected an in ...

. Residential and commercial districts, including

Arlington Arlington most often refers to: *Arlington, Virginia **Arlington National Cemetery, a United States military cemetery *Arlington, Texas Arlington may also refer to: Places Australia *Arlington light rail station, on the Inner West Light Rail in S ...

, 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 20 ...

. At Kearny Point 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 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 ...

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 whic ...

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 th ...

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 Jer ...

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 ...

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 Jerse ...

. 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, administered by ...

New Netherlander New Netherlanders were residents of New Netherland, the seventeenth-century colonial outpost of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the northeastern coast of North America, centered around New York Harbor, the Hudson Valley, and ...

s in the province of

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 ...

. 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 the ...

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 List of counties in New Jersey, most populous County (United States), 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 ...

on April 13, 1840, and was 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 ...

, 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 List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the federal capital, capital of the United States from November 1 until D ...

, 1969. p. 146. Accessed August 26, 2015. The West Hudson towns and Newark, particularly the

Ironbound The Ironbound is a neighborhood in the city of Newark in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a large working-class multi-ethnic community, covering about . Historically, the area was called "Dutch Neck," "Down Neck," or simp ...

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 after Scottish and Irish immigration. 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 toll road, common carrier Anthracite, anthracite coal canal across North Jersey, northern New Jersey that connected the two industrial canals in Easton, Pennsylvania across the Delaware River from its weste ...

ran through Kearny Point, 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 intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

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 ...

, 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 * Desir ...

, 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/leave Amtrak's Northeast Corridor (NEC) and travel to and from New York Penn Station. The j ...

and Waterfront Connection are major passenger rail junctions. The proposed

high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail transport network utilising trains that run significantly faster than those of traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated railway track, tracks. While there is ...

line known as the

Gateway Project Gateway often refers to a gate or portal. Gateway or The Gateway may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Films * ''Gateway'' (film), a 1938 drama * ''The Gateway'' (2015 film), a horror film * ''The Gateway'' (2017 film), a science-fiction ...

will traverse the area and includes the replacement of the

Portal Bridge The Portal Bridge is a two-track rotating 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. ...

and the Sawtooth Bridges. 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 East Newark, New Jersey

See also

Sources