Hackensack Water Company Complex | |
Location | 4100 Park Avenue, Weehawken, New Jersey |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°46′24″N74°1′13″W / 40.77333°N 74.02028°W |
Area | 7.7 acres (3.1 ha) |
Built | 1883 |
Architect | Withers, Frederick C. |
NRHP reference No. | 80002491 [1] |
NJRHP No. | 1510 [2] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | January 3, 1980 |
Designated NJRHP | August 24, 1979 |
The Hackensack Water Company Complex is a set of historic buildings in Weehawken, New Jersey, registered in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The Hackensack Water Company, a predecessor of Suez North America, developed water supply and storage in northeastern New Jersey from the 1870s to the 1970s, initially to provide service to the city of Hackensack and the towns of North Hudson. [3] Originally its headquarters and major facilities were located at Hackensack, in Bergen County. Under Robert W. de Forest, who ran the Hackensack Water Company for 46 years beginning in 1881, the company constructed new facilities and moved its headquarters to Weehawken in Hudson County, setting up offices in a brick water tower, [4] part of the present complex.
The headquarters' most distinguishing feature, the red brick Weehawken Water Tower, was built in 1883 on what is now Park Avenue, on the border of Union City. Designed by Frederick Clarke Withers, it was modeled after the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. The tower stands 175 feet high, 300 feet above sea level at the Hudson River. [5] [6]
The tower was connected to Reservoir No.1 atop the Hudson Palisades to which water was pumped from the Hackensack River, [7] about 14 miles away. While the reservoir at the site could provide adequate pressure for water users in Hoboken, located just above sea level, water pressure was inadequate for customers atop the Palisades. [8]
The tower was designed to accomplish two purposes. First, it housed the local headquarters of the Hackensack Water Company; second, it held up to 165,000 gallons of potable water in its tank, stored under pressure for use by residents, businesses, and for fighting fires. Its opening on September 29, 1883 was a major event, professional journals recognized Withers for the innovation of his design. [8] The "Red Tower" is listed on the Federal Maritime Chart as a landmark for ships heading south on the Hudson River to let them know that they are approaching New York Harbor. [5]
The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, [9] which spared it from demolition, after which it was structurally maintained. [6] Entin Associates, a real-estate developer, purchased the complex in 1981 for $1.6 million. The gatehouse and reservoir were razed for the construction of a supermarket and parking. The tower was spared demolition and structurally maintained. [10]
The township of Weehawken took over the property in 2000, and began a restoration project for Water Tower Park. Paragon Restoration Corporation completed eight months of restoration on the site's exteriors in September 2004, with slate replaced on the roof, stonework fixed at the base and windows replaced. New steel supports and wood floors were installed in the interior, and space was left to accommodate an elevator and fire staircase. [5] In October 2005, a plaza park was created at the base of the tower. [11] The interior of the tower was restored in the late 2000s. In 2010, as part of the town's 150th anniversary, interior brickwork was cleaned while maintaining its historical appearance. [12] In 2014, Mayor Richard Turner opened up the Water Tower for the annual three-week-long PlayWorks reading series, in which playwrights present readings of their unfinished plays, which celebrated the first time the restored tower had been used in over 100 years. [13]
In September 2014, Justin Casquejo, a thrill-seeking teenage free solo climber and stunt performer hung from the tower, and was charged with defiant trespassing and resisting arrest. [14] [15]
Hackensack Reservoir No. 2 was another component of the water company's system in the township, later owned by its successor, United Water. The site, slightly more than 14 acres and the largest piece of undeveloped property in North Hudson, is located in Weehawken Heights and is bounded by Highpoint Avenue, Gregory Avenue, 20th Street, and Palisade Avenue, the latter two of which create the border with neighboring Union City. It was built during a period of extensive urbanization of the area in the late 19th century. [16]
The historical marker reads:
Construction of the Hackensack Water Company's Reservoir No. 2 at the southern end of the township began circa 1893 to serve the Heights section of Weehawken, surrounding Union City and West Hoboken. The reservoir, excavated on glacial trap rock, came on line in 1896 with capacity of 69 million gallons. The company also installed a covered water tank in 1893 in what is now Gregory Park.
United Water announced that it wanted to divest most of the property in early 2011 at an unofficial price of $11.5 million. The company will retain 4.2 acres to build an underground water storage tank to improve water pressure, estimated to cost $25 to $30 million. [17] The Trust for Public Land, which appraised the site, arranged to postpone the sale of the reservoir until the end of the year. [18]
In 2010 the township began a process to purchase the grounds. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection gave the township a $2 million grant in Green Acres funding. A $9 million low interest loan from the department's infrastructure trust program was made with the intention that in the future, as funding permits, additional grants for re-payment would be made. [19] No interest has to be paid on three-quarters of the money and minimal interest on the other one-quarter. The township introduced a bond for $9.2 million. [20] [21] [22] Weehawken and Union City are initially investing $300,000 to transform the grounds into passive recreational space. [21] They will share the annual upkeep of the property. [23] The completed sale was announced in December 2011. [24] [25] The park opened in 2015. [26]
While not originally part of the Hackensack Water Company infrastructure, another reservoir atop the Hudson Palisades is Jersey City Reservoir No. 3, which also developed at the end of the 19th century in Jersey City Heights, Jersey City. Tt was closed to the public in the 1970s, and its usage as a municipal water source ended in 1992. Since 2007 it has preserved the open reservoir for the public use as a wild life management area adjacent to Pershing Field. Nearby Reservoir #1 was located on either side of Summit Avenue, and has since been demolished.[ dead link ] [27] [28]
Hudson County is the smallest and most densely populated county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It lies west of the lower Hudson River, which was named for Henry Hudson, the sea captain who explored the area in 1609. Part of New Jersey's Gateway Region in the New York metropolitan area, the county seat is Jersey City, which is the county's largest city in terms of both population and area. The county is part of the North Jersey region of the state.
North Bergen is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 63,361, an increase of 2,588 (+4.3%) from the 2010 census count of 60,773, which in turn reflected an increase of 2,681 (+4.6%) from the 58,092 counted in the 2000 census. The township was incorporated in 1843. It was much diminished in territory by a series of secessions. Situated on the Hudson Palisades, it is one of the hilliest municipalities in the United States. Like neighboring North Hudson communities, North Bergen is among those places in the nation with the highest population density and a majority Hispanic population.
Union City is a city in the northern part of Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was the state's 18th-most-populous municipality, with a population of 68,589, an increase of 2,134 (+3.2%) from the 2010 census count of 66,455, which in turn had reflected a decline of 633 (−0.9%) from the 67,088 counted in the 2000 census. As of the 2010 Census, among cities with a population of more than 50,000, it was the most densely populated city in the United States, with a density of 54,138 per square mile of land. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 65,366 in 2022, ranking the city the 590th-most-populous in the country.
Weehawken is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located on the Hudson Waterfront and Hudson Palisades overlooking the Hudson River. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 17,197, an increase of 4,643 (+37.0%) from the 2010 census count of 12,554, which in turn reflected a decline of 947 (−7.0%) from the 13,501 counted in the 2000 census.
The Palisades, also called the New Jersey Palisades or the Hudson River Palisades, are a line of steep cliffs along the west side of the lower Hudson River in Northeastern New Jersey and Southeastern New York in the United States. The cliffs stretch north from Jersey City about 20 miles (32 km) to near Nyack, New York, and are visible at Haverstraw, New York. They rise nearly vertically from near the edge of the river, and are about 300 feet (90 m) high at Weehawken, increasing gradually to 540 feet (160 m) high near their northern terminus. North of Fort Lee, the Palisades are part of Palisades Interstate Park and are a National Natural Landmark.
Weehawken Cove is a cove on the west bank of the Hudson River between the New Jersey municipalities of Hoboken to the south and Weehawken to the north. At the perimeter of the cove are completed sections the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway, offering views of Manhattan and the Palisades. The name Weehawken comes from the Lenape, and can translate as "at the end of", either the Hudson Palisades or the stream which flowed from them into the cove, later the site of the nearby Lincoln Tunnel.
Bergenline Avenue is a station on the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail (HBLR). The intermodal facility is located on 49th Street between Bergenline Avenue and Kennedy Boulevard in Union City, New Jersey, near its border with West New York and North Bergen. The station is the first and only completely underground station on the network and opened for service on February 25, 2006.
The Hackensack Plank Road, also known as Bergen Turnpike, was a major artery which connected the cities of Hoboken and Hackensack, New Jersey. Like its cousin routes, the Newark Plank Road and Paterson Plank Road, it travelled over Bergen Hill and across the Hackensack Meadows from the Hudson River waterfront to the city for which it was named. It was originally built as a colonial turnpike road as Hackensack and Hoboken Turnpike. The route mostly still exists today, though some segments are now called the Bergen Turnpike. It was during the 19th century that plank roads were developed, often by private companies which charged a toll. As the name suggests, wooden boards were laid on a roadbed in order to prevent horse-drawn carriages and wagons from sinking into softer ground on the portions of the road that passed through wetlands. The company that built the road received its charter on November 30, 1802. The road followed the route road from Hackensack to Communipaw that was described in 1679 as a "fine broad wagon-road."
Bergen Hill refers to the lower Hudson Palisades in New Jersey, where they emerge on Bergen Neck, which in turn is the peninsula between the Hackensack and Hudson Rivers, and their bays. In Hudson County, it reaches a height of 260 feet.
The Hudson River Waterfront Walkway, also known as the Hudson River Walkway, is a promenade along the Hudson Waterfront in New Jersey. The ongoing and incomplete project located on Kill van Kull and the western shore of Upper New York Bay and the Hudson River was implemented as part of a New Jersey state-mandated master plan to connect the municipalities from the Bayonne Bridge to the George Washington Bridge with an urban linear park and provide contiguous unhindered access to the water's edge.
North Hudson is the area in the northern part of Hudson County, New Jersey, situated on the west bank of the Hudson River, mostly atop the Hudson Palisades. It comprises Weehawken, Union City, West New York, Guttenberg, and North Bergen.
The Hudson Waterfront is an urban area of northeastern New Jersey along the lower reaches of the Hudson River, the Upper New York Bay and the Kill van Kull. Though the term can specifically mean the shoreline, it is often used to mean the contiguous urban area between the Bayonne Bridge and the George Washington Bridge that is approximately 19 miles (31 km) long. Historically, the region has been known as Bergen Neck, the lower peninsula, and Bergen Hill, lower Hudson Palisades. It has sometimes been called the Gold Coast.
Bulls Ferry is an area along the Hudson River, just north of Weehawken Port Imperial in the towns of West New York, Guttenberg and North Bergen in New Jersey. It takes its name from a pre-Revolutionary settlement belonging to the Bull family, who operated a row-and-sail ferry to the burgeoning city of New York across the river.
County Route 617 is 4.55-mile (7.32 km) long and follows one street, Summit Avenue along the ridge of the Hudson Palisades in Hudson County, New Jersey. Its southern end is CR 622, or Grand Street, at Communipaw Junction in the Bergen-Lafayette Section of Jersey City. Its northern end is CR 691, 32nd Street, a section of the Bergen Turnpike, in Union City.
Pershing Road is a road located entirely in Weehawken, New Jersey that travels for 0.42 miles (0.68 km) on the Hudson Palisades between Boulevard East and Weehawken Port Imperial, and carries the designation Hudson County Route 682. At County Route 505, the road meets 48th Street, one of the very few two-way streets in the urban grid of North Hudson, which travels west to Bergenline Avenue and Kennedy Boulevard. It is named for World War I hero John J. Pershing. Earlier names have included Clifton Road, named for the estate on whose land it was located, and Hillside Road, which would speak to its location.
Shippen Street is an east-west street in Weehawken, New Jersey. The eastern terminal, a cobblestone double hairpin turn is listed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places. Shippen Street was developed at the start of the 20th century as part of the Weehawken Heights, one of the town's residential neighborhoods.
The North Hudson Railway Company built and operated a streetcar system in Hudson County and southeast Bergen County, New Jersey before and after the start of the 20th century. It was founded by Hillric J. Bonn who became the first President in 1865 and served for 26 years until his death, and eventually taken over by the Public Service Railway. In its endeavors to overcome the formidable obstacle of ascending the lower Hudson Palisades, or Bergen Hill, it devised numerous innovative engineering solutions including funicular wagon lifts, an inclined elevated railway, an elevator and viaducts.
Palisade Avenue is the name given to a historic road which parallels the eastern crest of Hudson Palisades in northeastern New Jersey. It travels between Jersey City and Fort Lee, passing through Jersey City Heights, North Hudson, and Cliffside Park, with various parts carrying Hudson and Bergen county route designations. The avenue re-aligns itself at several places along its route as it crosses traditional municipal boundaries created in the 19th century. As a primary route running along the top of the Hudson Palisades, many segments offer scenic views of the Hudson River and the New York skyline. Since 2020 there is proposed state legislation to restrict building heights that would rise above the cliffs on the eastern side of Palisade Avenue along the entire corridor from Jersey City to Fort Lee.
Port Imperial is a community centered around an intermodal transit hub on the Weehawken, New Jersey, waterfront of the Hudson River across from Midtown Manhattan, served by New York Waterway ferries and buses, Hudson–Bergen Light Rail, and NJT buses. The district lies under and at the foot of Pershing Road, a thoroughfare traveling along the face of the Hudson Palisades, which rise to its west. The Hudson River Waterfront Walkway runs along the shoreline and is abutted by recently constructed residential neighborhoods, Lincoln Harbor to the south and Bulls Ferry to the north.