Weehawken Public Library

Last updated
Entrance to the library on Hauxhurst Avenue 3.24.13WeehawkenLibraryByLuigiNovi.jpg
Entrance to the library on Hauxhurst Avenue

The Weehawken Public Library is the free public library of Weehawken, New Jersey. The library has a collection of about 43,000 volumes and circulates 40,604 items annually. [1] It is a member of the Bergen County Cooperative Library System, a consortium of municipal libraries in the northeastern New Jersey counties of Bergen, Hudson, Passaic, and Essex. [2]

Contents

The library sits at 49 Hauxhurst Avenue on a precipice overlooking the Lincoln Tunnel Helix. Originally built as a private home, it became a library in 1942, and was extensively renovated and expanded in 1997-1998. [3] The landmark is home to the town's historical commission. [4] [5] An annual fundraiser for the library at Lincoln Harbor, a culinary event called A Taste of Weehawken, has taken place since 2000. [6] [7]

History

The library overlooks the Lincoln Tunnel Helix. 12.17.09WeehawkenLibraryByLuigiNovi1.jpg
The library overlooks the Lincoln Tunnel Helix.

Wilhelm Joseph Peter (aka William Peter) (March 16, 1832 – June 10, 1918) immigrated from Achern in the Grand Duchy of Baden after the German revolution of 1848 to avoid persecution due to his father's affiliation with it. After some years in the brewery business at several locales in North Hudson, he established the William Peter Brewing Company in 1862 at Hudson Avenue and Weehawken Street in what was then Union Hill. [8] [9] Parts of the imposing structure remained, and were repurposed as a storage facility. [10] [11] While he and his family lived for a time across the street at the since demolished Fausel Mansion, [8] Peter eventually built a mansion across the valley on the cliff where the library now stands. [3] [12]

The William Peter historical marker on Hudson Ave and Peter Street in Union City William Peter historical marker-Hudson Ave & Peter Street-Union City.jpg
The William Peter historical marker on Hudson Ave and Peter Street in Union City

Completed in 1904 at the cost of $75,000, the home was designed like a German-style castle with 17 rooms and elaborately decorated with ornate woodwork, marble, stained glass, and several fireplaces. [5] A successful businessman, Peter was also a painter encouraged by Hudson River School artist Max Eaglau and maintained a studio as his home for himself and others to use. The gallery in the house included many works inspired by his native Black Forest and the Catskill Mountains, where he summered. [8] After Peter's death, the house changed hands [5] and was owned for a time by the Arnoldi family. [12] In the 1930s, to make way for the construction of the Midtown-Hudson Tunnel (today's Lincoln Tunnel), the building and others in the neighborhood and along Boulevard East were acquired by the Port Authority. Many were demolished, but the Peter Mansion was spared and later given to the township. The library opened in September 1942 [5] [13] with books and memorabilia donated by local residents. [5]

In 1997, the library closed for expansion and renovation. It re-opened in 1999. [5] [13] In March 2022, the town council adopted a $1.4 million bond ordinance to modernize the library. The project includes installation of energy efficient lighting, replacement of exterior windows, improved Wi-Fi, a new HVAC system, an improved electrical system, and additional USB ports to public work stations. [13]

Weehawken Historical Commission

The Weehawken Historical Commission, whose office and archives are located on the upper floor of the library in the Historical Room, maintains materials originally contributed upon the creation of the library as well as other acquisitions made over the years. [14] The Weehawken Time Machine is a website that has digitized many of the photographs and documents in the collection. In 2009, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the town's incorporation, the commission published Weehawken as part of Arcadia Publishing's Images of America series. [15] [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Jersey Route 495</span> State highway in Hudson County, New Jersey

Route 495 is a 3.45-mile-long (5.55 km) state highway in Hudson County, New Jersey, in the United States that connects the New Jersey Turnpike at exits 16E-17 in Secaucus to New York State Route 495 (NY 495) inside the Lincoln Tunnel in Weehawken, providing access to Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The road is owned and operated by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) between the New Jersey Turnpike and Route 3, the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) between Route 3 and Park Avenue near the Union City–Weehawken border, and by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) east of Park Avenue, including the helix used to descend the New Jersey Palisades to reach the entrance of the Lincoln Tunnel. Route 495 is mostly a six-lane freeway with a reversible bus lane used during the morning rush hour. The bus lane, which runs the entire length of the freeway, continues into the Lincoln Tunnel's center tube.

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

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln Tunnel</span> Tunnel between New Jersey and New York

The Lincoln Tunnel is an approximately 1.5-mile-long (2.4 km) tunnel under the Hudson River, connecting Weehawken, New Jersey, to the west with Midtown Manhattan in New York City to the east. It carries New Jersey Route 495 on the New Jersey side and unsigned New York State Route 495 on the New York side. It was designed by Ole Singstad and named after Abraham Lincoln. The tunnel consists of three vehicular tubes of varying lengths, with two traffic lanes in each tube. The center tube contains reversible lanes, while the northern and southern tubes exclusively carry westbound and eastbound traffic, respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln Harbor station</span> Hudson–Bergen Light Rail station in Weehawken, New Jersey

Lincoln Harbor is a station on the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) located at Waterfront Terrace, north of 19th Street, in Weehawken, New Jersey. The station opened on September 7, 2004. There are two tracks and an island platform.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bergenline Avenue station</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hackensack Plank Road</span>

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."

<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">Hudson River Waterfront Walkway</span> Park in the United States of America

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.

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

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.

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

Weehawken Terminal was the waterfront intermodal terminal on the North River in Weehawken, New Jersey for the New York Central Railroad's West Shore Railroad division, whose route traveled along the west shore of the Hudson River. It opened in 1884 and closed in 1959. The complex contained five ferry slips, sixteen passenger train tracks, car float facilities, and extensive yards. The facility was also used by the New York, Ontario and Western Railway. The terminal was one of five passenger railroad terminals that lined the Hudson Waterfront during the 19th and 20th centuries; the others were located at Hoboken, Pavonia, Exchange Place and Communipaw, with Hoboken being the only one still in use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hackensack Water Company Complex</span> United States historic place

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. 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, part of the present complex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hudson Waterfront</span> Place in Hudson and 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pershing Road (Weehawken)</span> Road ascending the Hudson Palisades in Weehawken, New Jersey

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shippen Street (Weehawken)</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boulevard East</span> County road in New Jersey, U.S.

Boulevard East is a two-way, mostly two lane, scenic county road in the North Hudson, New Jersey municipalities of Weehawken, West New York, Guttenberg and North Bergen. Apart from small sections at either end, the road runs along the crest of the Hudson Palisades, affording it views of the Hudson River and the New York City skyline. Developed at the turn of the 20th century, the residential road is characterized by an eclectic mix of 20th-century architecture, including private homes as well as mid and high-rise apartment buildings, mostly on its western side, with a promenade and parks along its eastern side. It is also the setting for Edward Hopper's 1934 painting East Wind Over Weehawken, which is considered one of his best works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palisade Avenue (Hudson Palisades)</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Port Imperial</span> Intermodal transit hub in Weehawken, New Jersey, US

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edgewater Branch</span>

The Edgewater Branch was a branch of the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYS&W) that ran about 3.174 miles (5.108 km) through eastern Bergen County, New Jersey in the United States. Starting from a rail junction at the Little Ferry Yard, it went east through the Edgewater Tunnel to Undercliff to the Hudson Waterfront.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln Tunnel Helix</span> Elevated freeway structure in New Jersey

The Lincoln Tunnel Helix, known commonly as The Helix or the Route 495 Helix, is an elevated spiral bridge freeway that carries New Jersey Route 495 to and from the Lincoln Tunnel in Weehawken, New Jersey. It is an oval-shaped 270-degree loop between the Palisades cliffs and the tunnel’s toll plaza. The structure, built in 1937, is owned, operated and maintained by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ).

References

  1. "Weehawken Public Library". librarytechnology.org. November 2011. Retrieved 2011-11-23.
  2. "Weehawken Public Library". Bergen County Cooperative Library System. Retrieved 2011-11-24.
  3. 1 2 Strunsky, Steve (June 28, 1998). "ON THE MAP; Above the Helix, an Old Library Grows Newer". The New York Times . Archived from the original on May 27, 2015. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
  4. Fry, Chris (September 4, 2018). "Beers and Books: History of the Weehawken Public Library".
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sherman, Lauren; Gaulkin, Ellen Robb (February 2009). Weehawken (paper). Images of America (1st ed.). Arcadia Publishing. ISBN   978-0-7385-6268-1.
  6. Arrue, Karen (April 27, 2010). "Weehawken library fund-raiser brings new and known restaurants to Lincoln Harbor for cuisine and the view". The Jersey Journal. Retrieved 2011-11-23.
  7. Deering, Sally (April 23, 2011). "Local Hudson County Restaurants and Wine Suppliers participate in Fundraising Event for Weehawken Free Public Library". Riverview Observer. Archived from the original on 2011-05-02. Retrieved 2011-11-23.
  8. 1 2 3 Schneider, Eberhardt. "Wilhelm Joseph Peter". Archived from the original on May 11, 2010. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
  9. "Peter Family from Achern to Union Hill". fortunecity.com. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved 2011-11-25.
  10. "SELF STORAGE UNION CITY". Archived from the original on November 4, 2011. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
  11. "Category: Weehawken". STREET TO THE LEFT.
  12. 1 2 "Peters/Arnoldi House in the 1930s - Pre Library". Weehawken Time Machine. Archived from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
  13. 1 2 3 Israel, Daniel (April 14, 2022). "Weehawken bonds $2.8 million for more municipal pool upgrades". The Hudson Reporter . Archived from the original on April 16, 2022. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  14. "The Weehawken Time Machine - Weehawken Historical Commission". Weehawkenhistory.org. Retrieved 2011-11-29.
  15. Schwaeble, Diana; Rosero, Jessica (June 24, 2008). "A look back in time Capturing Weehawken's past in pictures". Hudson Reporter. Archived from the original on September 30, 2011. Retrieved 2011-11-23.
  16. Kim, Jennifer (February 4, 2009). "Weehawken kicks off year-long celebration of 150th anniversary". Arcadia Publishing. Archived from the original on 2013-10-16. Retrieved 2011-11-25.

40°46′09″N74°01′24″W / 40.76911°N 74.02329°W / 40.76911; -74.02329