Hoboken, New Jersey

History

Hoboken sits on the Hudson River directly across from Manhattan, on land the Lenape sold in 1630 when the area was part of Pavonia in New Netherland. After English rule began in 1664 it belonged to Bergen County until Hudson County was created in 1840.

The modern city traces to 1784, when John Stevens bought the estate that included Castle Point, the high ground on the riverfront. In 1811 Stevens started regular steam ferry service to Manhattan, and around 1815 he ran an early steam locomotive on a circular track on his property. The Stevens family's land company laid out the street grid and built row houses, many still standing. Hoboken became a township in 1849 and a city in 1855. The family's Elysian Fields hosted the first officially recognized baseball game, on June 19, 1846, and Stevens Institute of Technology opened at Castle Point in 1870.

The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad built the current Hoboken Terminal in 1907, a Beaux-Arts building designed by Kenneth Murchison with a ferry concourse on the river. Shipyards, docks and factories lined the waterfront; the Maxwell House coffee plant opened in 1939 and was the largest employer for decades before closing in the 1980s. Industry and shipping declined after the 1960s, ferry service stopped in 1967, and the waterfront was rebuilt from the 1990s with housing, offices and parks.

Hurricane Sandy flooded homes across the city in October 2012. The federal Rebuild by Design program then funded a flood-control project for Hoboken and parts of Weehawken and Jersey City, combining barriers, stormwater storage and drainage upgrades, with construction starting in 2021 and 2023.

What it’s like to live there

Hoboken is compact and walkable, laid out on a regular street grid of roughly a square mile along the Hudson River. Much of the housing is 19th- and early 20th-century brownstones and row houses, many divided into apartments or condos, alongside converted industrial buildings and newer mid-rise and high-rise apartment buildings. The former Lipton Tea building, for example, was converted to the Hudson Tea Building apartments in the late 1990s.

Washington Street is the main commercial street, running north and south through the city with shops, restaurants and City Hall at 94 Washington. Downtown, near Hoboken Terminal and First Street, has the densest mix of older buildings and transit. Castle Point and the Stevens campus occupy the high ground on the river, surrounded by a mix of brownstones and taller buildings. The waterfront, much of it former dock and factory land, is lined with modern high-rise apartments. Southwest Hoboken, around Church Square Park and Madison Park, mixes brownstones with newer condo buildings, and the Northwest section is home to the new ResilienCity Park. Uptown, Midtown and Downtown are the everyday names for the north, middle and south of the grid.

Open space is spread through the grid: Church Square Park, Elysian Park and Stevens Park serve the blocks around them, while the river edge is lined with park piers and the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway.

Getting around

Hoboken Terminal is a major rail, bus and ferry hub. NJ Transit commuter lines that end there have included the Main, Bergen County, Pascack Valley and Port Jervis lines, the Montclair-Boonton Line and the Morris and Essex Lines, with some North Jersey Coast Line and Raritan Valley Line trains as well. PATH trains run from the terminal to the World Trade Center and to 33rd Street in Midtown Manhattan. NY Waterway ferries returned to the terminal's restored ferry slips in 2011 and carry commuters across the river.

The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail has three Hoboken stops, Hoboken Terminal, 2nd Street and 9th Street-Congress Street, with service south through Jersey City to Bayonne and north to Weehawken, Union City and North Bergen. NJ Transit buses also stop at the terminal, and the city operates its own Hop shuttles on several routes.

The city has bike lanes and shared bicycles, and most daily trips can be made on foot. Drivers use the Holland Tunnel in neighboring Jersey City to reach Lower Manhattan, and Newark Liberty International Airport is reached by way of the New Jersey Turnpike.

Things to do

The Hudson River Waterfront Walkway runs the length of Hoboken's shoreline as part of an 18.5-mile path from Bayonne to the George Washington Bridge, passing Pier A Park, Pier C Park and Frank Sinatra Park with views of Manhattan. Inland, Church Square Park and Elysian Park have active volunteer friends groups. Newer parks built to hold stormwater include ResilienCity Park, about five acres in the northwest that can store up to 2 million gallons of rain, the 7th and Jackson Resiliency Park with a public gym, and Southwest Resiliency Park with a dog run.

The Hoboken Historical Museum, in a former Bethlehem Steel machine shop at 1301 Hudson Street, runs changing exhibits on local history and keeps a large photo and document archive. Hoboken Terminal itself, with its rebuilt 230-foot Lackawanna clock tower, is a landmark, and the site of the 1846 baseball game at Elysian Fields counts among the city's historic sites. Mile Square Theatre presents live performances.

The Hoboken Public Library's main building is at 500 Park Avenue, with a branch on Grand Street. The city runs seasonal programming such as Hoboken Art Month, held in October and early November in 2026, and the Stoopfest live music series that same fall. Washington Street is the main shopping and dining street.