Jersey City, New Jersey

History

Jersey City grew out of Bergen, a walled village laid out around what is now Bergen Square in 1660 on Lenape land between the Hackensack and Hudson rivers. Under the government of New Netherland, Bergen was formally established on September 5, 1661, and it is regarded as the first permanent settlement and first local civil government in New Jersey. After the English took the colony in 1664, Governor Philip Carteret confirmed the town, and in 1668 it became the Towne and Corporation of Bergen. The Bergen name survives in Bergen Square, Bergen Avenue and Old Bergen Road, a few blocks south of Journal Square.

The waterfront point called Paulus Hook was the site of a Revolutionary War raid in August 1779. A small City of Jersey was incorporated there in 1820 and took its present name in 1838. Through the 19th century the city absorbed its neighbors: Van Vorst Township in 1851, Bergen City and Hudson City in 1870, and Greenville in 1873, which fixed today's boundaries.

Railroads defined the waterfront. The Central Railroad of New Jersey built its Communipaw terminal, designed by Peabody and Stearns and completed in 1889, where trains met ferries to Manhattan; after the Ellis Island station opened in 1892, a large share of new arrivals boarded trains here. Passenger service ended in April 1967, and the terminal joined the State and National Registers in 1975. The Hudson and Manhattan Railroad, today's PATH, opened its tubes under the river between 1908 and 1913.

Old rail yards and piers later became Liberty State Park, dedicated in 1976, and the office and apartment towers of Exchange Place and Newport. The city's local historic districts are Paulus Hook, Van Vorst Park, Hamilton Park and Harsimus Cove, and its designated landmarks include the Apple Tree House, the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Powerhouse and the Pennsylvania Railroad Harsimus Branch Embankment.

What it’s like to live there

Jersey City is a large, dense city made up of distinct neighborhoods. Downtown runs along the Hudson and holds the oldest housing: blocks of 19th-century brownstones and row houses on tree-lined streets in Paulus Hook, Van Vorst Park, Hamilton Park and Harsimus Cove, next to the high-rise apartment and office towers of Exchange Place, Harborside and Newport. The Powerhouse Arts District mixes converted industrial buildings with new construction, and The Village sits just west of Downtown proper.

Up on the Palisades above Hoboken, The Heights has Victorian and Edwardian houses, two- and three-family homes and condo conversions, with Central Avenue as its main shopping street and newer buildings along Palisade Avenue. Journal Square, where Bergen Avenue, Kennedy Boulevard and Summit and Pavonia avenues meet, mixes brownstones, prewar apartment buildings, multi-family houses and new rental towers around its transportation center. McGinley Square lies between Journal Square and Downtown, with older and newer buildings along Bergen Avenue.

Farther south and west, Bergen-Lafayette, west of Liberty State Park, has brownstones, row houses, prewar apartments, Victorian houses and converted industrial space, plus Berry Lane Park. The West Side, Greenville and West Bergen make up much of the rest of the city, including some planned developments among older blocks. Around Lincoln Park, a large Hudson County park, the city's newest historic district has rows of large older houses.

Waterfront areas front the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway, which gives Downtown homes continuous public access to the river.

Getting around

Jersey City has four PATH stations: Newport, Grove Street and Exchange Place Downtown, and Journal Square, the hub of the Journal Square Transportation Center. PATH trains run to the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, to 33rd Street in Midtown, and west to Newark.

The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail runs through the city with stops at Newport, Harsimus Cove, Harborside, Exchange Place, Essex Street, Marin Boulevard, Jersey Avenue, Liberty State Park, Garfield Avenue, Martin Luther King Drive, West Side Avenue, Richard Street and Danforth Avenue. As of 2025 one route ran from 8th Street in Bayonne to Hoboken Terminal and another from West Side Avenue to Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen. NY Waterway ferries leave from the Downtown waterfront for Manhattan, and ferries from the Central Railroad terminal in Liberty State Park serve Liberty Island, Ellis Island and Battery Park. NJ Transit buses cover the neighborhoods and Journal Square.

By car, the Holland Tunnel links Downtown with Lower Manhattan, and the Newark Bay Extension of the New Jersey Turnpike (Interstate 78), opened in 1956, crosses Newark Bay toward the Turnpike mainline near Newark Liberty International Airport, the closest major airport.

Things to do

Liberty State Park, about 1,200 acres on the harbor and dedicated on June 14, 1976, is described by the state as the most popular destination in its park system. It has the two-mile Liberty Walk promenade facing the Statue of Liberty and Lower Manhattan, a 9/11 memorial and Grove of Remembrance, a marina, nature trails and playgrounds. The restored Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal, reopened in 2016 after Hurricane Sandy damage, hosts exhibits on its history and events. Liberty Science Center, also in the park, runs a planetarium, hands-on exhibits and live animal displays.

The Hudson River Waterfront Walkway runs 18.5 miles from Bayonne to the George Washington Bridge and passes the Colgate Clock and Exchange Place. Lincoln Park is part of the Hudson County park system, and Berry Lane Park serves Bergen-Lafayette. Downtown's Van Vorst Park and Hamilton Park anchor their historic districts.

The Loew's Jersey on Journal Square opened in 1929 as one of five Wonder Theatres in the New York area, the only one in New Jersey, and is run as a nonprofit arts center by Friends of the Loew's; as of 2026 it is undergoing a major renovation before reopening under a new operator. The Jersey City Free Public Library has its main library on Jersey Avenue and neighborhood branches including the Heights, Five Corners, Lafayette, Pavonia, Miller and West Bergen branches.