Hackensack, New Jersey, United States

🇺🇸 Hackensack is a city in Bergen County in New Jersey, United States, and serves as its county seat. The area was officially named New Barbadoes Township until 1921, but it was informally known as Hackensack since at least the 18th century.

An inner suburb of New York City, Hackensack is located approximately 12 miles (19 km) north-west of Midtown Manhattan and about 7 miles (11 km) from the George Washington Bridge. From a number of locations, including portions of Prospect Avenue, the New York City skyline can be seen.

The Metropolitan Campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University straddles the Hackensack River in both Hackensack and Teaneck. Hackensack is also the home of the former New Jersey Naval Museum and the World War II submarine USS Ling. Astronaut Wally Schirra is perhaps Hackensack's most famous native son.

The city has diverse neighborhoods and land uses located close to one another. Within its borders are the Hackensack University Medical Center, a residential high-rise district about a mile long (along Prospect Avenue between Beech Street and Passaic Street), suburban neighborhoods of single-family houses, stately older homes on acre-plus lots, older two-family neighborhoods, large garden apartment complexes, industrial areas, the Bergen County Jail, a tidal river, Hackensack River County Park, Borg's Woods Nature Preserve, various city parks, large office buildings, a major college campus, the Bergen County Court House, a vibrant small-city downtown district, and various small neighborhood business districts.

History The first inhabitants of the area were the Lenni Lenape, an Algonquian people who became known to settlers as 'the Delaware Indians.' They lived along a river they called Achinigeu-hach, or "Ackingsah-sack", which translates to stony ground—today this river is more commonly known by the name 'the Hackensack River.' A representation of Chief Oratam of the Achkinhenhcky appears on the Hackensack municipal seal. The most common explanation is that the city was named for the Native American tribe, though other sources attribute it to a Native American word variously translated as meaning "hook mouth", "stream that unites with another on low ground", "on low ground" or "land of the big snake", while another version described as "more colorful than probable" attributes the name to an inn called the "Hock and Sack".

Settlement by the Dutch West India Company in New Netherland on the west banks of the Hudson River across from New Amsterdam (present-day lower Manhattan) began in the 1630s at Pavonia, eventually leading to the establishment of Bergen (at today's Bergen Square in Jersey City) in 1660.

Oratam, sachem of the Lenni Lenape, deeded the land along mid-Hackensack River to the Dutch in 1665. The area was soon taken by the English in 1667, but kept its Dutch name. Philip Cartaret, governor of what became the proprietary colony of East Jersey granted land to Captain John Berry in the area of Achter Kol and soon after took up residence and called it "New Barbadoes", after having resided on the island of Barbados. In 1666, a deed was confirmed for the 2,260-acre (9.1 km²) tract that had been given earlier by Oratem to Sarah Kiersted in gratitude for her work as emissary and interpreter. Other grants were given at the English Neighborhood.

In 1675, the East Jersey Legislature established the administrative districts Bergen, Essex, Middlesex, and Monmouth. In 1683, Bergen (along with the three other counties) was officially recognised as an independent county by the Provincial Assembly. The seal of Bergen County bearing this date includes an image of an agreement between the settlers and the natives.

New Barbadoes Township, together with Acquackanonk Township, were formed by Royal charter on October 31, 1693.

In 1700, the village of Hackensack was little more than the area around Main Street from the Courthouse to around Anderson Street. New Barbadoes Township included what is now Maywood, Rochelle Park, Paramus and River Edge, along with those portions of Oradell that are west of the Hackensack River. These areas were all sparsely populated and consisted of farm fields, woods and swamplands. The few roads that existed then included the streets now known as Kinderkamack Road, Paramus Road/Passaic Street and Essex Street. The southernmost portions of what is now Hackensack were not part of New Barbadoes Township at that time and were acquired in the late 1800s.

The neighborhood that came to be known as the village of Hackensack (today the area encompassing Bergen County's municipal buildings in Hackensack) was a part of Essex County until 1710, when Bergen County, by royal decree of Queen Anne of Great Britain, was enlarged and the Township of New Barbadoes was removed from Essex County and added to Bergen County.

In 1710, the village of Hackensack (in the newly formed Township of New Barbadoes) was designated as being more centrally located and more easily reached by the majority of the Bergen County's inhabitants and, hence, was chosen as the county seat of Bergen County, as it remains today. The earliest records of the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders date back to 1715, at which time agreement was made to build a courthouse and jail complex, which was completed in 1716.

During the American Revolutionary War, George Washington headquartered in the village of Hackensack in November 1776 during the retreat from Fort Lee via New Bridge Landing and camped on 'The Green' across from the First Dutch Reformed Church on November 20, 1776. A raid by British forces against Hackensack on March 23, 1780, resulted in the destruction by fire of the original courthouse structure.

Article in The Street Railway Review of July 1900

The Hackensack Improvement Commission was incorporated by an Act of the state legislature approved on April 1, 1868, within New Barbadoes township and including the village of Hackensack, with authority to develop sewers and other improvements in Hackensack.

The New Jersey Legislature passed the Township School Act in 1894, under which each village, borough, town, or city in New Jersey was delegated responsibility for its own public schools through the office of the county superintendent. Hackensack established a local board of education in 1894, as required by the new law, which took over operation of schools located in the township and established Hackensack High School. The 1894 act allowed local residents, by petition, to change municipal boundaries at will, setting off fearsome political battles statewide.

Portions of the township had been taken to form Harrington Township (June 22, 1775), Lodi Township (March 1, 1826), Midland Township (March 7, 1871) and Little Ferry (September 20, 1894). After these departures, secessions, and de-annexations, all that was left of New Barbadoes Township was the village of Hackensack and its surrounding neighborhoods of Fairmount, Red Hill and Cherry Hill. In 1896, New Barbadoes acquired a portion of Lodi Township covering an area south of Essex Street from the bend of Essex Street to the Maywood border. That same year the Hackensack Improvement commission was abolished and the City of Hackensack and New Barbadoes Township became coterminous.

The final parcel lost by New Barbadoes Township was the north-eastern corner of what is now Little Ferry, which was incorporated in September 1894.

An act of the State Legislature incorporated the Fairmount section of New Barbadoes with the Hackensack Improvement Commission, and eliminated New Barbadoes Township as a political entity. On November 21, 1921, based on the results of a referendum held on November 8, 1921, New Barbadoes Township received its charter to incorporate as a city and officially took on its name "Hackensack", a name derived from its original inhabitants, the Lenni Lenape, who named it "Ackingsah-sack".

In 1933, Hackensack adopted the Manager form of government under the terms of the 1923 Municipal Manager Law, with five Council persons all elected at-large and a mayor selected by the council from among its members.

The Sears location on Main Street, which opened on October 27, 1932, and was the last freestanding Sears in the state of New Jersey, closed on September 12, 2020.

Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city had a total area of 4.35 square miles (11.27 km²), including 4.19 square miles (10.86 km²) of land and 0.16 square miles (0.41 km²) of water (3.63%).

The city is bordered by the Bergen County municipalities of Bogota, Hasbrouck Heights, Little Ferry, Lodi, Maywood, Paramus, Ridgefield Park, River Edge, South Hackensack, Teaneck and Teterboro.

There are many houses of historic value, and some of these were identified in the 1990 Master Plan. The city does not have any registered historic districts, or any restrictions on preserving the historic facade in any portions of the city. Areas considered suburban single-family residential neighborhoods account for about one-third of the city's area, mostly along its western side.

Unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the city include Fairmount and North Hackensack.

Economy Based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bergen County had a gross domestic product (GDP) of $66.1 billion in 2018, which was ranked 1st in the state and represented an increase of 2.6% from the previous year.

Largest employers According to the Bergen County Economic Development Corporation, the largest employers in Bergen County as of November 2012, as ranked with at least 1,000 employees in the county, were as follows: • Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack; • Valley Health System, Ridgewood; • Bio-Reference Laboratories, Inc., Elmwood Park; • Medco Health Solutions, Franklin Lakes; • County of Bergen, Hackensack; • Quest Diagnostics, Teterboro / Lyndhurst; • KPMG, Montvale; • Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, Englewood; • Englewood Hospital Home Health Care Services, Englewood; • Unilever Bestfoods, Englewood Cliffs; • Stryker Corporation, Allendale / Mahwah; • Bergen Regional Medical Center, Paramus; • Holy Name Medical Center, Teaneck; • Becton Dickinson, Franklin Lakes; • Crestron Electronics, Rockleigh / Cresskill; • BMW of North America, Woodcliff Lake.

In January 2015, Mercedes-Benz USA announced that it would be moving its headquarters from the borough of Montvale in Bergen County to the Atlanta, Georgia, area as of July. The company had been based in northern New Jersey since 1972 and has had 1,000 employees on a 37-acre (15 ha) campus in Montvale. Despite incentive offers from the State of New Jersey to remain in Bergen County, Mercedes-Benz cited proximity to its Alabama manufacturing facility and a growing customer base in the south-eastern United States, in addition to as much as $50 million in tax incentives from Georgia governmental agencies, in explaining its decision to move. However, Mercedes-Benz USA also stated its intent to maintain its Northeast regional headquarters in Montvale and to build a "state-of-the-art" assemblage training centre in the borough as well.

Education: Universities The Metropolitan Campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University straddles the Hackensack River in both Hackensack and Teaneck.

Bergen Community College has a location in Hackensack. The Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center, is located at 355 Main Street at the corner of Passaic Street.

Eastwick College is located at 250 Moore Street.

Healthcare Hackensack University Medical Center, part of Hackensack Meridian Health, is the primary health care provider and hospital for the city. Its main hospital campus, which includes a children's hospital, an all women's hospital, and Heart and Vascular Hospital, is located on 30 Prospect Avenue. The other facility that the hospital has is the John Theurer Cancer Center, located on 2nd Street. Hackensack University Medical Center has two medical offices located on Russell Place and Essex Center.

Roads and highways As of May 2010, the city had a total of 79.69 miles (128.25 km) of roadways, of which 62.10 miles (99.94 km) were maintained by the municipality, 15.10 miles (24.30 km) by Bergen County and 2.49 miles (4.01 km) by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

Interstate 80, Route 17, Route 4, and County Route 503 are among the many main roads serving Hackensack. Several bridges, including the Court Street Bridge, the Midtown Bridge and the Anderson Street Bridge span the Hackensack River.

Public transportation The city is served by three train stations on NJ Transit's Pascack Valley Line, two of them in Hackensack, providing service to Hoboken Terminal, with connecting service to Penn Station New York and other NJ Transit service at Secaucus Junction. Anderson Street station serves central Hackensack while Essex Street station serves southern portions of the city. The New Bridge Landing station, located adjacent to the city line in River Edge also serves the northernmost parts of Hackensack, including The Shops at Riverside.

NJ Transit buses include lines 144, 157, 162, 163, 164, 165 and 168 serving the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan; the 171, 175, 178 and 182 to the George Washington Bridge Bus Station; the 76 to Newark; the 83 route to Jersey City; and local service on the 709, 712, 751, 752, 753, 755, 756, 762, 770, 772 and 780 lines. Many of the bus routes stop, originate and terminate at the Hackensack Bus Terminal, a regional transit hub. Route 1X jitney of Fordham Transit originates/terminates at the bus terminal with service Inwood, Manhattan via Fort Lee Road. Spanish Transportation and several other operators provide frequent jitney service along Route 4 between Paterson, New Jersey, and the George Washington Bridge Bus Station.

The Passaic-Bergen Rail Line planned to have two stops in Hackensack, but the proposal went dormant.

Fire department The City of Hackensack is protected by a force of 100 paid, professional firefighters of the city of Hackensack Fire Department (HFD). The Hackensack Fire Department was first established on April 1, 1871, as Bergen Hook & Ladder Co. 1. In 1911, the full-time fire department was organized. The Hackensack Fire Department responds to approximately 7,500 emergency calls annually.

The Hackensack Ford dealership fire on July 1, 1988, resulted in the deaths of five firefighters after a bowstring truss roof collapsed. A message issued a minute before the collapse ordering firefighters out was never received due to defective communications equipment and two firefighters who survived the initial collapse could not be rescued as their calls for help were not received.

Ten firefighters from Hackensack have died in the line of duty.

The Hackensack Fire Department currently operates out of four fire stations located throughout the city, under the command of a Deputy Chief / Tour Commander for each shift. The Hackensack Fire Department operates a fire apparatus fleet of four engines, one ladder, two rescues (Rescue 2 is part of the Metro USAR Collapse Rescue Strike Team), one Metro USAR (urban search and rescue) Collapse Rescue Shoring Unit, one Special Operations (flood rescue) Unit, one Air Cascade Unit, one fire alarm maintenance bucket truck, two spare engines, and one spare ladder, as well as several special and support units.

The department is part of the Metro USAR Strike Team, which consists of nine North Jersey fire departments and other emergency services divisions working to address major emergency rescue situations.

Ambulance The Hackensack Volunteer Ambulance Corps provides emergency medical services to Hackensack and other nearby towns through mutual aid agreements. The Corps operates nightly from 6pm to 6am, and 24 hours on Saturdays and Sundays. Daytime EMS is provided seven days a week by the Hackensack University Medical Center's ambulance service, overlapping volunteer coverage on weekends. Both the Hackensack University Medical Center and Hackensack Volunteer Ambulance Corps are dispatched by MICCOM, the Northern New Jersey Mobile Intensive Care Communications Network. MICCOM provides dispatch and emergency medical call taking with pre-arrival instructions and updates.

Points of interest The city historian is Albert Dib. Walking tours are conducted of historic markers in downtown Hackensack, in and around The Green and lower Main Street, and a virtual historic walking tour is available as far north as the Pascack Valley Line crossing at Main Street.

The First Dutch Reformed Church ("Church on The Green") was built in 1696. In 1696 Major Berry donated land for the First Dutch Reformed Church, erected in that same year, which still stands in Hackensack today as the oldest church in Bergen County and the second oldest church in New Jersey. The following is list of notable people buried in the Church's adjoining cemetery: • Enoch Poor, one of George Washington's officers. • Richard Varick, former mayor of the city of New York and former New York Attorney General.

Bergen County's largest newspaper, The Record, a publication of the North Jersey Media Group, had been headquartered in Hackensack until moving to Woodland Park. Its 19.7-acre (8.0 ha) campus is largely abandoned and has been sold to be redeveloped for a mixed-use commercial project that would include 500 residential apartments and a hotel, in association with the river walkway project.

The New Jersey Naval Museum is home to the World War II submarine USS Ling, a Balao class submarine, and several smaller water vessels and artifacts. The museum was open select weekdays for group tours. In July and August 2018, several individuals broke in to the submarine attempting to steal artifacts and caused extensive flooding that severely damaged the vessel.

The Hackensack Cultural Arts Center, located at 39 Broadway, is the city's leading theater arts institution and houses many local arts groups such as the Teaneck Theater Company and the Hackensack Theater Company. The facility also serves as the summer indoor location for the Hudson Shakespeare Company in case of rain. Otherwise, the group performs outdoors at Staib Park, with two "Shakespeare Wednesdays" per month for each month of the summer.

The Shops at Riverside (formerly known as Riverside Square Mall), is an upscale shopping centre located at the intersection of Route 4 and Hackensack Avenue at the northern edge of the city along the Hackensack River near its border with River Edge to the north and with Teaneck across the river. The mall, which has undergone a significant expansion, is anchored by a number of high-end department stores and restaurants, including Bloomingdale's, Tiffany & Co., Pottery Barn and Barnes & Noble, offering a gross leasable area of 674,416 square feet (62,655.3 m²). The mall also added an AMC Theatres dine-in movie theater on September 13, 2017, which replaced the former Saks Fifth Avenue store that opened in 1977 and closed down in 2014. The mall is known for its marble floors and attracts a great many upper-income shoppers from Manhattan and Northern Bergen County.

Hackensack's Main Street is devoted to shopping and includes some of the city's iconic landmarks, including the United Jersey Bank headquarters building and the former Woolworth site that is now a housewares store. The only remaining major store on Hackensack's Main Street had been Sears Roebuck and Co., which was located on the corner of Main and Anderson Streets. In July 2020, Sears announced that it would close its store in Hackensack. The site is close to the Anderson Street train station, and has been open since the 1930s.

Bergen County Jail is a detention centre for both sentenced and unsentenced prisoners. It is located on South River Street. The County is in the process of moving the County Police from the northern end of the city to a new site across from the Jail. The former site will be redeveloped as a "transit village" complex associated with the New Bridge Landing station in adjoining River Edge.

The city's Johnson Public Library at 274 Main Street is a member of the Bergen County Cooperative Library System. The library opened in 1901 with a gift from State Senator William M. Johnson.

Ice House is a complex with four full-sized skating rinks that opened in 1996. It is home to the New Jersey Avalanche mainstreamed and special needs hockey teams and several high school hockey teams, in addition to being the home rink of gold medalists Sarah Hughes, Elena Bereznaia and Anton Sikharulidze. At the 2018 Winter Olympics, there were 11 Olympic figure skaters—from Israel, Switzerland, Slovakia, Canada, and Australia—who trained at the Ice House for the ladies' singles, men's singles, pairs and ice dance competitions.

Other points of interest within the city include the Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack River County Park, Bowler City Bowling Lanes, Borg's Woods Nature Preserve, the Bergen County Court House and the Bergen Museum of Art & Science.

Local media Radio station WNYM at 970 AM, is licensed to Hackensack and has its transmitter in the city. The station is currently owned by Salem Communications with a conservative talk format. During the 1970s, it played a Top 40 music radio format for several years, competing with Top 40 powerhouse 77 WABC.