Harsimus

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Harsimus Cove Historic District
Harsimus Cove Jersey City November 2021.jpg
Aerial view of Harsimus Cove
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LocationRoughly bounded by Grove, Bay & First Sts., Jersey Avenue, Second, & Coles Sts., Jersey City, New Jersey
Coordinates 40°43′24″N74°2′41″W / 40.72333°N 74.04472°W / 40.72333; -74.04472
Area60 acres (24 ha)
ArchitectMultiple
Architectural styleLate 19th And 20th Greek Revival, Late Victorian, Beaux Arts
NRHP reference No. 87002118 [1]
NJRHP No.1509 [2]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPDecember 9, 1987
Designated NJRHPOctober 15, 1987

Harsimus (also known as Harsimus Cove) is a neighborhood within Downtown Jersey City, Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The neighborhood stretches from the Harsimus Stem Embankment (the Sixth Street Embankment) on the north to Christopher Columbus Drive on the south between Coles Street and Grove Street [3] or more broadly, to Marin Boulevard. It borders the neighborhoods of Hamilton Park to the north, Van Vorst Park to the south, the Village to the west, and the Powerhouse Arts District to the east. Newark Avenue has traditionally been its main street. [4] The name is from the Lenape, used by the Hackensack Indians who inhabited the region and could be translated as Crow's Marsh. [5] From many years, the neighborhood was part of the "Horseshoe", a political delineation created by its position between the converging rail lines and political gerrymandering. [6]

Contents

Early settlement

Harsimus is a derivative of a Lenape phrase possibly meaning Crow's Marsh. Variant spellings of the term include: Aharsimus, [7] Ahasimus, [8] [9] Hasymes, [10] Haassemus, Hahassemes, Hasimus, Horseemes, Hasseme, [11] Horsimus. [12] In current Lenape, ahas means "crow". [13]

1664 Duke's Plan showing settlements at Harsimus and Communipaw at time of the surrender of Fort Amsterdam Mannados.jpg
1664 Duke's Plan showing settlements at Harsimus and Communipaw at time of the surrender of Fort Amsterdam

In 1629, the Dutchman Michael Reyniersz Pauw obtained a patent for all the land in what would become Hudson County, naming it Pavonia. Unable to fulfill a patroon charter provision that he set up a plantation with fifty permanent settlers, the Dutch West India Company sold a part to his superintendent, who had built a homestead in 1634 and was the first of many Van Vorsts to play important roles in the development of the city. A family homestead built in 1647 was demolished in 1967. [14] Conflict with Native Americans compromised the settlement 1643, which continued to grow after the 1645 treaty ending Kieft's War. Again in 1655, the area was attacked in a conflict called the Peach War. In 1660, it came under the jurisdiction of Bergen, New Netherland the main village of which was located at Bergen Square. [15]

Grace Church Van Vorst on Erie Street, named for the prominent family Van Vorst and the railroad, respectively Grace Church Van Vorst.jpg
Grace Church Van Vorst on Erie Street, named for the prominent family Van Vorst and the railroad, respectively
Busy port city, 1882 New York by sunlight and gaslight - a work descriptive of the great American metropolis; its high and low life; its splendors and miseries; its virtu (1882) (14756945346).jpg
Busy port city, 1882

Once the area was ceded to the British after the surrender of Fort Amsterdam, New York claimed ownership to the high waterline along the west bank of the Hudson River and that any pier built there was under its jurisdiction, thus stifling development which would compete with the burgeoning New York City. Paulus Hook was the first to urbanize, and The City of Jersey was incorporated in various forms in 1820, 1829, and again in 1838. [16] John Coles, a merchant from New York, was among the first to expand into Harsimus. [17] The Supreme Court settled the matter of jurisdiction in the 1830s, creating a border mid-river. Harsimus grew with shipping along shoreline and residences farther inland. [18] The short-lived Van Vorst Township later merged with its neighbor. Much of the housing stock from the maritime era is still intact. Many of the streets in the gridiron laid at the time have been renamed over the years. Moving away from the river they were originally called Hudson, River, Kelso, and Barnum. Provost and others to the west have stayed the same. [19]

Rise of the railroad and Hague

Though the cove extended farther north, today Harsimus is considered to be the area between the two former PRR lines. PAD is in its southeast corner. Lehigh Valley Jersey City Terminal.png
Though the cove extended farther north, today Harsimus is considered to be the area between the two former PRR lines. PAD is in its southeast corner.

Harsimus was transformed by the development of the railroad industry. [20] By 1870 much of the estuary flood zone was land-filled for the development of railyards, extending a quarter mile from Henderson Street. Three elevated right of ways were built: one from the Bergen Arches to the Erie Railroad Pavonia Terminal, [21] [22] the Harsimus Stem Embankment [23] [24] at 6th Street for the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), and another for its Jersey City Branch along Railroad Avenue (now Columbus Drive) to Exchange Place. The embankments and elevated lines separated adjoining neighborhoods. A small slip was created and still is called Harsimus Cove. Huge stockyards dominated the waterfront between the train terminals. [25]

Harsimus' isolation was codified with gerrymandering, forming a horseshoe and creating a new nickname. The community consisted of Catholic immigrants, many of them Irish, who worked on the railroad. Infuxes of Ellis Island immigrants swelled the population. A vestige of the Slavic character of the area remains at the Ukrainian National Home. To diminish the Democratic power base, Republican power brokers redrew the voting district to consist solely of the Horseshoe so that they may protect other seats from Democratic threat. In the 1910s the Horseshoe power base produced the infamous Mayor Frank Hague who dominated the Hudson County political machine and influenced city, county, state, and federal politics for most of the first half of the 20th century. In 1941 a large fire struck the Horseshoe waterfront. [26]

Post industrial era

At the Grove Street Station looking west on Newark Avenue GrovePathWest.JPG
At the Grove Street Station looking west on Newark Avenue

In the late 1950s, container shipping in Port Newark supplanted railroad ports along waterfront, which by the 1970s were abandoned, leading to a decline in population and economic activity. Urban renewal projects brought slum clearance of tenements along Grove Street as well as the removal of the PRR elevated rail right of way. Middle, low income, and senior housing projects were developed. A section of Grove Street was renamed Manila Avenue in recognition of the city's resident Overseas Filipinos. Henderson Street became Marin Boulevard for the first governor of Puerto Rico Luis Muñoz Marín to reflect the influx of Puerto Rican and Filipino residents. Railroad Avenue is now Columbus Drive, acknowledging the still large Italian population.

The renewal did not affect the 19th century blocks which were not demolished. A historic preservation movement and real estate reinvestment led to Harsimus's designation as a Historic District in 1987. [27] Convenience to mass transit and relatively affordable rents attracted an artistic community, some of whom converted buildings to live/work spaces. Zoning in the form of "WALDO" (or Work and Live District Overlay) were unsuccessful in preserving and stimulating the creation of an arts district within the area where large warehouses still remained, and have given way the Powerhouse Arts District and the construction of residential highrises.

East of the neighborhood, the LeFrak Organization obtained title to most of the disused Erie-Lackawanna land and began the development of Newport, centered around the Port Authority Trans Hudson (PATH) Newport Station in the 1980s. [28] To the south, the PRR abattoir were also acquired. [29] Development plans did not include extending the 19th century urban grid to the waterfront, but the construction of large parking decks at the former and strip mall at the latter. The first segment of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail opened in 2002, including the Harsimus Cove Station nearby the landmark Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Powerhouse.

Grove Pointe, a residential complex at 100 and 102 Christopher Columbus Drive, the "30-story tiered brick-and-stone structure with abundant glass" was designed by DeWitt Tishman Architects [30] and built by Kushner Real Estate Group. [31]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Passaic and Harsimus Line</span> Freight rail line in northeastern New Jersey, USA

The Passaic and Harsimus Line, part of Conrail Shared Assets Operations, serves freight in northeastern New Jersey. It takes trains from the Northeast Corridor and Lehigh Line near Newark Liberty International Airport northeast and east into Jersey City. It is part of CSX's main corridor from upstate New York to the rest of the east coast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paulus Hook</span> Neighborhood of Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.

Paulus Hook is a community on the Hudson River waterfront in Jersey City, New Jersey. It is located one mile across the river from Manhattan. The name Hook comes from the Dutch word "hoeck", which translates to "point of land." This "point of land" has been described as an elevated area, the location of which today is bounded by Montgomery, Hudson, Dudley, and Van Vorst Streets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exchange Place station (Pennsylvania Railroad)</span> Former intermodal terminal in Jersey City (closed 1961)

The Pennsylvania Railroad Station was the intermodal passenger terminal for the Pennsylvania Railroad's (PRR) vast holdings on the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay in Jersey City, New Jersey. By the 1920s the station was called Exchange Place. The rail terminal and its ferry slips were the main New York City station for the railroad until the opening in 1910 of New York Pennsylvania Station, made possible by the construction of the North River Tunnels. It was one of the busiest stations in the world for much of the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pavonia Terminal</span> Former intermodal terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey

Pavonia Terminal was the Erie Railroad terminal on the Hudson River located in the Harsimus section of Jersey City, New Jersey. The station opened in 1861 and closed in 1958 when the Erie Railroad moved its passenger services to nearby Hoboken Terminal. The New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway also ran commuter trains from the terminal and various street cars, ferries and the underground Hudson and Manhattan Railroad serviced the station. The station was abandoned in 1958 and demolished in 1961. The site was eventually redeveloped into the Newport district in the late 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horseshoe, Jersey City</span> Populated place in Hudson County, New Jersey, US

The Horseshoe section of Jersey City, New Jersey, was the second ward, and was the home of the immigrants, tenements, and taverns. The Republican-controlled Legislature gerrymandered the district in 1871 to concentrate and isolate Democratic, and mostly Catholic, votes, thus preserving Republican dominance in the rest of the city. The curved shape of the district was said to resemble a horseshoe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bergen Hill</span> Lower part of the Hudson Palisades, New Jersey, United States

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harsimus Stem Embankment</span> Railroad embankment in New Jersey, US

The Harsimus Stem Embankment, also called Sixth Street Embankment, is a half-mile-long historic railroad embankment, disused and largely overgrown with foliage, in the heart of the historic downtown of Jersey City, New Jersey in the United States. The 27-foot-high (8.2 m) embankment runs along the south side of Sixth Street west from Marin Boulevard to Brunswick Street. It is the border between the Harsimus and Hamilton Park neighborhoods. The overhead tracks of the beam bridge west of Brunswick Street were dismantled but the stone abutments remain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pavonia, New Netherland</span> European settlement on the Hudson River

Pavonia was the first European settlement on the west bank of the North River that was part of the seventeenth-century province of New Netherland in what would become the present Hudson County, New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bergen, New Netherland</span> Origin of the New Jersey settlement

Bergen was a part of the 17th century province of New Netherland, in the area in northeastern New Jersey along the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers that would become contemporary Hudson and Bergen Counties. Though it only officially existed as an independent municipality from 1661, with the founding of a village at Bergen Square, Bergen began as a factory at Communipaw circa 1615 and was first settled in 1630 as Pavonia. These early settlements were along the banks of the North River across from New Amsterdam, under whose jurisdiction they fell.

Communipaw is a neighborhood in Jersey City in Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located west of Liberty State Park and east of Bergen Hill, and the site of one of the earliest European settlements in North America. It gives its name to the historic avenue which runs from its eastern end near Liberty State Park Station through the neighborhoods of Bergen-Lafayette and the West Side that then becomes the Lincoln Highway. Communipaw Junction, or simply The Junction, is an intersection where Communipaw, Summit Avenue, Garfield Avenue, and Grand Street meet, and where the toll house for the Bergen Point Plank Road was situated. Communipaw Cove at Upper New York Bay, is part of the 36-acre (150,000 m2) state nature preserve in the park and one of the few remaining tidal salt marshes in the Hudson River estuary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Village, Jersey City</span> Populated place in Hudson County, New Jersey, US

The Village is a neighborhood in the western section of Historic Downtown in Jersey City. It is bordered by Hamilton Park and Harsimus Cove to the east and the Turnpike Extension to the west, on the other side of which Jones Park and Mary Benson Park are located. Newark Avenue is the major street across the Village from Grove Street at the east to Bergen Hill at the west. The neighborhood for many years was considered the city's "Little Italy" neighborhood. Brunswick Street, between 1st and 10th Streets was once full of merchants and nicknamed "Bushel Avenue". St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church at 457 Monmouth St. received its historic designation on March 22, 2004. An annual feast organised by Holy Rosary Church on 6th and Brunswick Streets has taken place since the turn of 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamilton Park, Jersey City</span> Populated place in Hudson County, New Jersey, US

Hamilton Park is a neighborhood in Historic Downtown Jersey City, Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, centered on a park with the same name. Hamilton Park is located west of Newport, north of Harsimus Cove, north and east of The Village and south of Boyle Plaza. The Victorian age park is located between Eighth Street and Ninth Street and Hamilton Place on the west and McWilliams Place on the East. Like the Van Vorst Park neighborhood to the south, this quiet park is surrounded by nineteenth century brownstones. The park underwent renovations completed in 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Van Vorst Park</span> Populated place in Essex County, New Jersey, US

Van Vorst Park is a neighborhood in the Historic Downtown of Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, centered on a park sharing the same name. The neighborhood is located west of Paulus Hook and Marin Boulevard, north of Grand Street, east of the Turnpike Extension, and south of The Village and Christopher Columbus Drive. Much of it is included in the Van Vorst Park Historical District.

Curries Woods is a neighborhood in the southern part of Greenville in Jersey City, New Jersey bordering Bayonne. It was named after James Curie, who was on the town Committee for Greenville when it was its own Township in the 19th century. The area remained rural until the later part of the century when the Central Railroad of New Jersey built a line connecting ferries to Elizabeth, New Jersey and New York City. Currie's Woods still remained untouched through the late part of the century and it was valued for its woods, rocky shore and dunes on Newark Bay. A lot of the land was eventually lost, but a tract was set aside in the early part of the 20th century. A small cemetery, the Old Greenville Cemetery, was nearby. This park lost much of its land to the city's largest Housing Authority project in 1959, except a small tract in Bayonne, Mercer Park.

Bergen-Lafayette is a section of Jersey City, New Jersey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Historic districts in Hudson County, New Jersey</span> Historic districts in Hudson County, New Jersey, US

Hudson County, New Jersey has historic districts which have been designated as such on a municipal, state, or federal level, or combination therof. Some are listed on New Jersey Register of Historic Places and are included on National Register of Historic Places listings in Hudson County, New Jersey. The following is intended to be a list of places which encompasses an area or group of buildings or structures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Point-No-Point Bridge</span> Bridge in United States of America

Point-No-Point Bridge is a railroad bridge crossing the Passaic River between Newark and Kearny, New Jersey, United States, in the New Jersey Meadowlands. The swing bridge is the fourth from the river's mouth at Newark Bay and is 2.6 miles (4.2 km) upstream from it. A camelback through truss bridge, it is owned by Conrail as part of its North Jersey Shared Assets and carries the Passaic and Harsimus Line used by CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern. River Subdivision accesses the line via Marion Junction. Conrail is replacing the bridge, which was opened in 1901. Work began in November 2022.

References

  1. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ↑ "New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places - Hudson County" (PDF). New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection - Historic Preservation Office. July 7, 2009. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 5, 2010. Retrieved August 3, 2010.
  3. ↑ "History - Harsimus Cove Association of Jersey City". www.harsimuscove.org. Archived from the original on April 26, 2009. Retrieved October 5, 2009.
  4. ↑ "Jersey City Shopping Districts". www.jerseycityonline.com. Archived from the original on January 19, 2023. Retrieved October 12, 2009.
  5. ↑ "Lenape talking dictionary". Archived from the original on May 19, 2016. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
  6. ↑ "National Registry Nomination: The Pennsylvania Railroad Harsimus Branch Embankment, Jersey City, NJ". Archived from the original on May 23, 2009. Retrieved October 5, 2009.
  7. ↑ "Jersey City History - Old Bergen - Chapter VII". www.cityofjerseycity.org. Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved April 1, 2010.
  8. ↑ "Swtext New Jersey Tribes 1d". www.hiddenhistory.com. Archived from the original on April 30, 2012. Retrieved April 1, 2010.
  9. ↑ "Delaware Indian Tribe Villages - Access Genealogy". July 9, 2011. Archived from the original on August 20, 2010. Retrieved April 1, 2010.
  10. ↑ "RootsWeb.com Home Page". archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com. Archived from the original on March 18, 2012. Retrieved April 1, 2010.
  11. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 27, 2009. Retrieved November 1, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 20, 2009. Retrieved April 1, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ↑ "Lenape Spelling System". Archived from the original on May 19, 2016. Retrieved October 22, 2009.
  14. ↑ "Van Vorst House". Archived from the original on August 25, 2009. Retrieved October 18, 2009.
  15. ↑
  16. ↑ "The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968", John P. Snyder, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 146–147.
  17. ↑
  18. ↑ "History - Harsimus Cove Association of Jersey City". www.harsimuscove.org. Archived from the original on April 26, 2009. Retrieved October 5, 2009.
  19. ↑ Hopkins, G.M. Combined Atlas of the State of New Jersey and the County of Hudson, 1873
  20. ↑ Short history of Harsimus Cove Archived 2009-02-13 at the Wayback Machine
  21. ↑ Jersey City Past and Present: Erie Railroad Terminal Archived 2012-02-04 at the Wayback Machine
  22. ↑ "New-Jersey" (PDF). The New York Times. August 8, 1873.
  23. ↑ "The Harsimus Stem Embankment". Archived from the original on September 27, 2009. Retrieved October 8, 2009.
  24. ↑ "JC Landmarks: Harsimus Stem Embankmentl".[ permanent dead link ]
  25. ↑ "NY Times 1894" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  26. ↑ "Jersey City - Historic Preservation Districts". www.cityofjerseycity.org. Archived from the original on September 4, 2009. Retrieved October 17, 2009.
  27. ↑ "Neighborhood Map - Harsimus Cove Association of Jersey City". www.harsimuscove.org. Archived from the original on March 22, 2007. Retrieved October 7, 2009.
  28. ↑ "Shanghai on the Hudson". The New Yorker . Archived from the original on January 16, 2010. Retrieved March 4, 2010.
  29. ↑ Depalma, Anthony (May 12, 1985). "A $700 Million Plan for Jersey City's Shore". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
  30. ↑ "Rentals' New Lease on Life". New York Times. December 16, 2007.
  31. ↑ Hack, Charles (April 11, 2013). "Spotlight 2013: Major development projects are in the works for Jersey City". Journal-News. Archived from the original on June 20, 2019. Retrieved June 20, 2019.
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