Hoboken, New Jersey

Not to be confused with Hoboken, a district in Antwerp, Belgium.

Hoboken is an American city in the state of New Jersey. It is by the Hudson River in Hudson County, across from Manhattan. In 2020, 60,419 people lived there.

Hoboken, New Jersey
City
An aerial view of Hoboken from above the Hudson River
Seal
Nickname:  The Mile Square City
Location of Hoboken in Hudson County highlighted in red (left). Inset map: Location of Hudson County in New Jersey highlighted in orange (right).
Census Bureau map of Hoboken, New Jersey
Coordinates: 40°44′42″N 74°01′57″W
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Hudson
Incorporated	April 9, 1849
Government
• Type	Mayor–Council (Faulkner Act)
• Body	City Council
Area
• Total	1.97 sq mi (5.10 km2)
• Land	1.25 sq mi (3.24 km2)
• Water	0.72 sq mi (1.87 km2)  37.50%
• Rank	413th of 565 in state 6th of 12 in county
Elevation	23 ft (7 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	60,419
• Rank	688th in country (as of 2022) 27th of 565 in state 5th of 12 in county
• Density	48,335.2/sq mi (18,662.3/km2)
• Rank	4th of 565 in state 4th of 12 in county
Time zone	UTC−05:00 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (Eastern (EDT))
ZIP Code	07030
Area code	201
FIPS code	3401732250
GNIS feature ID	0885257
Website	hobokennj.gov

Geography

Hoboken is at 40°44'41" North, 74°1'59" West (40.744851, -74.032941).

The United States Census Bureau said the city has a total area of 5.1 km² (2.0 mi²). 3.3 km² (1.3 mi²) of it is land and 1.8 km² (0.7 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 35.35% water.

History

Early history

Hoboken was originally an island. The Hudson River was to the east. To the west was a swamp near the Palisades Sill. The island was a campsite used by the Lenni Lenape. The name Hoboken comes from the original Lenape name for "Hobocan Hackingh" or "land of the tobacco pipe." Europeans came in the 17th century.

The first European to find Hoboken was Henry Hudson. He stopped his ship near Weehawken Cove on October 2, 1609. Three Native Americans sold Hoboken to Michael Paauw, Director of the Dutch West India Company on July 12, 1630. The first European settlers of Hoboken were Dutch farmers. Hendrick Van Vorst of Jersey City leased the land to Aert Van Putten, who was Hoboken's first person. In 1643 Van Putten built a farm house and brew house north of Castle Point. The brew house was America's first.

The land was taken by William Bayard. Bayard liked the revolutionary cause but changed to a Loyalist Tory in 1776 when the Rebels lost the New York and New Jersey Campaign. At the end of the Revolutionary War, Bayard's land was taken by the Revolutionary Government of New Jersey.

The nineteenth century

After the American war for independence, Hoboken was bought by Colonel John Stevens in 1784 for about $90,000. In the early 19th century, Stevens made the waterfront better for Manhattan people. He tested his inventions. Later in the century, Hoboken became better by being a shipping port and industrial center. Hoboken became a city in 1855, and Cornelius V. Clickener became the first Mayor. By the 19th century, shipping lines were using Hoboken as a port, and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad (later the Erie Lackawanna Railroad) had became a railroad center at the waterfront.

In 1832, a cave called Sybil's Cave opened and was popular. At that time, Hoboken was not yet an industrial city, and Hoboken was a country spot. Sybil's Cave was used in one of Edgar Allan Poe's stories in 1841. The water in the cave was bad, so the cave closed in the 1880s. In the 1930s it was filled with stone but in 2005 it was reopened.

Hoboken grew. People got many jobs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Hoboken Land and Improvement Company, started by Colonel Stevens in 1838, created many streets, began housing, and created building sites. The housing was made up of masonry of three to five stories. Many buildings survive to the present day, and the street grid. It was also at this time that German immigrants became the main group in Hoboken. Along with the main industry of creating ships, well-known industries that created a big presence in Hoboken were Maxwell House, Lipton Tea, and Hostess, among others. In 1870, the Stevens Institute of Technology was created at Castle Point, the highest point in Hoboken.

"Heaven, Hell or Hoboken."

World War I changed Hoboken. People against Germans started the city being placed under law, and many Germans had to move to Ellis Island in nearby New York Harbor. Or they left the city. During the war Hoboken became famous. In Hoboken terminal, American troops got onto ships that went to Europe. More than three million soldiers went through the terminal, and their word phrase was "Heaven, Hell or Hoboken... by Christmas."

Interwar years

After the war, Italians were the city's major group, with the Irish having been a big group.

Post World War II

In the 1960s, other people followed, including Puerto Ricans. High crime rates shortly followed, and many of Hoboken's original residents slowly moved out, including Irish and Italians. In the middle of the 20th century, industries looked for greener areas, port jobs went to larger places in Newark Bay, and the car, truck and airplane relpaced the railroad and ship as the way of moving in the United States. Most of the ports closed around 1975.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Hoboken attracted artists, musicians, and commuters who were going into Manhattan for work. Making Hoboken better was done in the same way as in the Manhattan. Making Hoboken better has continued, with many new places to live now being built on what used to be industrial sites on the waterfront and even more so in the western parts of Hoboken that were wost for the longest time. Although political control of the city is largely influenced by the city's long-term residents, the "yuppies" who have settled in Hoboken are now showing extensive interest. The City of Hoboken is controlled by the Faulkner Act (Mayor-Council).

Flooded by Hurricane Sandy, 2012

Demographics

In 2020, Hoboken was home to 60,419 people, organized into 28,175 households. This is an increase of 10,414 people, or 20.8%, since 2010. The median (middle) age was 31.7 years.

Of the people living in Hoboken, 15.2% were under 18 years old, 77.4% were between 18 and 65, and 7.4% were over 65 years old. The population was 50.2% male and 49.8% female. Whites (non-Latino) made up 67.3% of the population, Hispanics and Latinos made up 14.1%, Asians (non-Latino) made up 10.8%, and African-Americans (non-Latino) made up 3.5%. People from two or more races, who are not Latino, made up 3.4% of the population. Other races were each less than 1% of the population.

As of 2022, the median income for a household in the city was $168,137, and the median income for a family was $236,742. The per capita income for the city was $102,492. 2.6% of families and 7.9% of the population are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 6.2% of those under the age of 18 and 16.4% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Character

With containerization in the 20th century Hoboken lost business as a port town and became rundown. Paterson, Elizabeth, and Camden were other places in New Jersey with similar problems. In the late 1970s, it began to prosper again and many people wanted to live there.

The city today is known for its excellent views of Manhattan, its fine-grained street grid, its historic architecture, and its restaurants and bars. A car is more of a hindrance than a help in getting around, and people do a great amount of walking. On weekend nights the town swells with young partygoers from nearby New Jersey towns who practice a rowdier style of barhopping than is fashionable across the river in Manhattan. Sundays are quieter.

Hoboken's gentrification has become relatively advanced, though many native residents remain in the city and hold political power. The population of "newcomers" or "yuppies", as they are typically called in the local press, consists of college and post-graduate students, bi-nationals, older artists and, increasingly, well-to-do commuters to Manhattan. However, rising rents and other costs of living, particularly in rental units, has resulted in some of the "bohemian" population moving away.

Waterfront

Stevens Institute

The Hoboken waterfront is the western shore of the Hudson from Newark Street and the Holland Tunnel to the south, and the Stevens Institute of Technology and Lincoln Tunnel to the north. The waterfront defined Hoboken as a port town and powered its economy from the mid-19th century to the outbreak of World War I when the federal government took control for war purposes. Control of the waterfront was returned to the city in the early 1950s. On the Waterfront, often listed among the five or ten best American films ever, was filmed here. It dramatized the lives of dockworkers, and the infiltration of unions by organized crime. Today the waterfront is a place to look at the Hudson River and Manhattan, with landscaped parks built on the foundations of former piers (Pier A, Pier C, Sinatra Park and Pier 14).

Panorama of Manhattan skyline from Hoboken waterfront

Local attractions

• Stevens Institute of Technology
• Hoboken Terminal Waiting Room
• Marineview Plaza Complex
• North Hoboken Harbor
• Castle Point
• Sybil's Cave

Parks

• Castle Point Park
• Church Square Park
• Columbus Park
• Elysian Park
• Frank Sinatra Park
• Gateway Park
• Jackson Street Park
• Leigon Park
• Madison Park
• Pier 14 (14th street pier)
• Pier A
• Stevens Park
• Hoboken Tea Building Walkway
• Hoboken Island (to be built)
• Hoboken Parks Initiative

Born in Hoboken

• Frank Sinatra
• G. Gordon Liddy, Watergate conspirator and rightist radio talkshow host.
• Michael Chang, pro tennis player.
• Dorothea Lange, outstanding portrait photographer.
• Alfred Stieglitz [1] Archived 2018-03-25 at the Wayback Machine, leading figure of 19th and early 20th Century American photography.
• Alfred Kroeber, prominent 20th century anthropologist.
• Joe Pantoliano, actor.
• Pia Zadora, actress.
• Maria Pepe, first girl to play Little League baseball.
• Alfred Kinsey, famous psychologist who studied sex
• Ryan Songalia, boxing writer
• Tyshawn Taylor, professional basketball player

Active in Hoboken

• Stephen Foster, master 19th century songwriter.
• Alexander Calder, leading 20th century sculptor and artist.
• Hetty Green, (in)famous business woman
• Daniel Pinkwater, National Public Radio commentator and author.
• Mark Leyner, "postmodern" author.
• Yo La Tengo, art-rock band.

Other websites

• City of Hoboken
• Kannekt Archived 2020-07-10 at the Wayback Machine - an unofficial guide to Hoboken