Hackensack, New Jersey

Hackensack is a city in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States and the county seat of Bergen County. Although informally called Hackensack, it was officially named New Barbadoes Township until 1921. As of the United States 2000 Census, the city population was 42,677. The Census Bureau's 2006 population estimate projects a population of 43,671. An inner-ring suburb of New York City, Hackensack is located approximately 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Midtown Manhattan. From a number of locations one can see the New York City skyline.

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

Geography

Hackensack is located at (40.887797, -74.047978).

It is bordered by Paramus, River Edge, Teaneck, Bogota, Ridgefield Park, Little Ferry, South Hackensack, Hasbrouck Heights, Lodi, and Maywood.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 4.3 square miles (11.2 km²), of which, 4.1 square miles (10.7 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.5 km²) of it (4.41%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 42,677 people, 18,113 households, and 9,545 families residing in the city. The population density was 10,358.3 people per square mile (3,999.4/km²). There were 18,945 housing units at an average density of 4,598.2/sq mi (1,775.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 52.61% White, 24.65% African American, 0.45% Native American, 7.45% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 9.71% from other races, and 5.08% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 25.92% of the population. There were 18,113 households out of which 21.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.8% were married couples living together, 13.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.3% were non-families. 39.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 3.08.

In the city the population was spread out with 18.2% under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 38.4% from 25 to 44, 22.3% from 45 to 64, and 12.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 98.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $49,316, and the median income for a family was $56,953. Males had a median income of $39,636 versus $32,911 for females. The per capita income for the city was $26,856. About 6.8% of families and 9.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.1% of those under age 18 and 10.3% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Local Government

Hackensack operates under the 1923 Municipal Manager Law form of New Jersey municipal government. The City Council consists of five members who are elected to four-year terms on a concurrent basis in non-partisan elections. This form of government separates policy making (the work of the Mayor and City Council) from the execution of policy (the work of the City Manager). This maintains professional management and a City-wide perspective through: nonpartisan election, at-large representation, concentration of executive responsibility in the hands of a professional manager accountable to the Mayor and Council, concentration of policy making power in one body: a five-person Mayor and Council. In the several decades in which the City has used the Municipal Manager Form of Government, Hackensack has had only nine City Managers.

The Mayor of the City of Hackensack is Michael R. Melfi (term of office ends June 30, 2009). Other members of the Hackensack City Council are Deputy Mayor Marlin G. Townes (2009), Charles P. McAuliffe (2009), Jorge E. Meneses (2009) and Karen K. Sasso (2009).

After Joe DeFalco died in 2005 on Election Day, his running mates agreed to create a rotation under which each of the four surviving members of the New Visions for Hackensack slate would serve for a year as Mayor, creating a series of firsts for the City. Townes took office in 2005 as the city's first black mayor, and Sasso became the first female mayor in 2006. Meneses became Hackensack's first Hispanic mayor when he was sworn in on July 1, 2007, and Melfi takes the reins as mayor in 2008.

Former Assemblyman Charles "Ken" Zisa has served as Chief of the Hackensack Police Department, since his 1995 appointment to replace John Aletta.

Federal, state and county representation

Hackensack is part of New Jersey's 37th Legislative District and is in the Ninth Congressional District.

Politics

As of April 1, 2006, out of a 2004 Census estimated population of 43,681 in Hackensack, there were 17,933 registered voters (41.1% of the population, vs. 55.4% in all of Bergen County). Of registered voters, 4,838 (27.0% vs. 20.7% countywide) were registered as Democrats, 1,945 (10.8% vs. 19.2% countywide) were registered as Republicans and 11,142 (62.1% vs. 60.1% countywide) were registered as Undeclared. There were eight voters registered to other parties.

On the national level, Hackensack leans strongly toward the Democratic Party. In the 2004 presidential election, Democrat John Kerry received 71% of the vote here, defeating Republican George W. Bush, who received around 28%.

Education

The Hackensack Public Schools serve students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. Schools in the district (with 2005-06 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are four K-4 elementary schools — Fairmount Elementary School (540 students), Fanny Meyer Hillers School (452), Jackson Avenue Elementary School (407) and Nellie K. Parker Elementary School (445) — 5ive 6ix School serves grades 5 and 6 (647), Hackensack Middle School serves grades 7 and 8 (715) and Hackensack High School for grades 9-12 (1,854).

The high school serves students from Hackensack, Maywood, Rochelle Park and South Hackensack. Students from Teterboro may attend either Hackensack High School or Hasbrouck Heights High School.

The Bergen County Academies, a public magnet high school located in Hackensack, serves the high-school population of Bergen County, as part of the Bergen County Technical Schools district.

The Metropolitan campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University straddles the Hackensack River in both Hackensack and Teaneck.

Transportation

The city is served by three train stations on New Jersey Transit's Pascack Valley Line, two of them in Hackensack. Anderson Street Station serves Northern Hackensack while Essex Street Station serves Southern portions of the city. The North Hackensack Station also serves the northernmost parts of Hackensack, and The Shops at Riverside, but the station is in the southernmost part of River Edge, adjoining Hackensack.

New Jersey Transit buses include lines 144, 157, 162, 163, 164, 165 and 168 serving the [{Port Authority Bus Terminal]] in Midtown Manhattan; the 175, 178 and 182 to the George Washington Bridge Bus terminal; 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.

Interstate 80, Route 17, Route 4, and County Route 503 serve Hackensack, while there are many other main roads in Hackensack.

The Passaic-Bergen Rail Line is a planned rail system that will have two stops in Hackensack.

History

The first inhabitants of the area were the Lenni Lenape Native Americans (known to the European settlers as the Delaware) who lived along the valley of what they called the Achinigeu-hach, or "Ackingsah-sack", (today the Hackensack River) and spoke a Munsee dialect of the Algonquian languages. A representation of Chief Oratam of the Achkinhenhcky appears on the Hackensack municipal seal.

As the Dutch settlers of the Dutch West India Company in New Amsterdam (present-day New York City) moved west of the Hudson River in the 1660s, they eventually settled along the Hackensack River calling the area Bergen.

Oratam, sagamore of the Lenni Lenape, deeded the land to the Dutch in 1665 (see the seal of Bergen County). The area was soon taken by the English in 1669, but kept its Dutch name. Philip Cartaret, governor of what was then considered the proprietary colony of East Jersey granted land to Captain John Berry in the area of Bergen and soon after took up residence and called it "New Barbadoes," after having resided on the island of Barbadoes.

In 1675, the East Jersey Legislature officially established the first four counties of present day New Jersey, (Bergen, Essex, Middlesex, and Monmouth).

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

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). During the American Revolutionary War, George Washington headquartered in New Barbadoes Township in the village of Hackensack in November 1776 and camped on 'The Green' across from the First Dutch Reformed Church. This prepared the way for the first American victory of the Revolution the following month at the Battle of Trenton.

The New Jersey Legislature passed a school act in 1894. Each village, borough, town, or city in New Jersey was delegated responsibility for its own public schools through the office of the county superintendent. One result of the 1894 Act was the formation of Hackensack High School in the village of Hackensack in the Township of New Barbadoes.

Over the centuries, after many departures, secessions, and de-annexations due to what is now referred to as Boroughitis, all that was left of New Barbadoes Township was the village of Hackensack and its surrounding neighborhoods (Fairmount, Red Hill, Cherry Hill). 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."

Points of interest

First Dutch Reformed Church (“Church on The Green”); built 1696. In 1696 Major Berry donated land for the First Reformed Dutch 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
• Interment records for First Dutch Reformed Churchyard

North Jersey Media Group. Bergen County’s largest newspaper, The Record, calls Hackensack its home. The North Jersey Media Group (NJMG) publishes two daily newspapers; 41 local newspapers; a magazine, (201) The Best of Bergen; and operates several local web sites. Scheduled tours of their printing facility are available to groups.

New Jersey Naval Museum and the World War II submarine USS Ling, a Balao class submarine, and several smaller water vessels and artifacts. The museum is open select weekdays for group tours.

Other points of interest within the city include the Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack River County Park, the Church on the Green, the Ice House rink, and the Bergen County Courthouse.

The Shops at Riverside (formerly known as Riverside Square Mall), is an upscale shopping center located at the intersection of Route 4 and Hackensack Avenue at the northern edge of the city along the Hackensack River. The mall, which is in the process of a fairly significant expansion, is anchored by a number of high-end department stores and restaurants, including Bloomingdale's, Saks Fifth Avenue, Tiffany & Co., Pottery Barn and Barnes & Noble.

Bergen County Jail is a detention center for both sentenced and unsentenced prisoners.

Local media

Radio station WWDJ at 970 AM, is licensed to Hackensack and has its transmitter in the city. The station is currently owned by Salem Communications and plays a Christian radio format. During the 1970s, it played a Top 40 music format for several years, competing (unsuccessfully) with Top 40 powerhouse 77 WABC (AM).

Trivia

• Hackensack in mentioned in the Jim Croce song "Roller Derby Queen"

"Well she might be nasty

She might be fat

But I never met a person

Who would tell her that

She's my big blonde bomber

My heavy handed Hackensack mama."

• Hackensack was to have been ground zero for the nuclear warhead that Superman successfully redirected into space in "Superman" (the other warhead detonated on the San Andreas Fault). Hackensack was the hometown of the mother of Valerie Perrine's character, Eve Teschmacher.
• The song I Happen to Like New York by Cole Porter features the lines

"Last Sunday afternoon

I took a trip to Hackensack,

But after I gave Hackensack the once-over,

I took the next train back."

• Johnny Cash lists Hackensack as one of the places he's visited in the song I've Been Everywhere
• The Danish rockband Hackensack has taken their name from Hackensack, NJ
• The band Fountains of Wayne has a song called "Hackensack" from their 2003 album Welcome Interstate Managers. The song is about somebody recognizing a girl he used to know from Hackensack High School who had become famous.

"And I will wait for you

As long as I need to

And if you ever get back to Hackensack

I'll be here for you"

• Hackensack is also mentioned in Billy Joel's song Movin' Out:

"Who needs a house out in Hackensack,

Is that all you get for your money?"

• Steely Dan mentions Hackensack on their 1975 album Katy Lied in the song Daddy Don't Live in That New York City No More.
• Hackensack is also mentioned in System of a Down's song Lost in Hollywood from the album Mezmerize:

"The lines in the letter said

'We have gone to Hackensack' "

• F. Scott Fitzgerald went to the prep school, the Newman School, in Hackensack in 1911.
• Hackensack is also mentioned in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.

Stanley, the waiter, to Willy Loman in Act 3, "But I know you, you ain't from Hackensack. You know what I mean? "

• The 1985 film Brewster's Millions starred Richard Pryor, who played a pitcher for the Hackensack Bulls, a fictional minor-league baseball team.
• In the 1998 film Bride of Chucky, Chucky's human body is said to be buried in a fictional Hackensack Cemetery.
• In the 2001 film Zoolander, Hackensack is mentioned as where Mugatu first made his novelty neck ties.
• Season 1 Episode 48 of Pinky and the Brain is set in the Hackensack Socko Kicky Sack Kicker Factory.
• Hackensack was home to the legendary Van Gelder recording studio where Jazz greats Sonny Rollins and Thelonious Monk recorded some of their landmark work. Thelonius Monk recorded a tribute to Rudy Van Gelder entitled Hackensack.
• Get Fuzzy, the comic created by Darby Conley, takes place in Boston, however Bucky was found on top of a trash can in Hackensack by Rob Wilco.
• Hackensack is mentioned in the Ghostface Killah song "Wu Banga 101" in the following lines:

Play, fullback strapped like a f***, war at

the black, Carlo Gambino's stash house in Hackensack.

• On an episode of the Sopranos Vito is seen shopping at the local Hackensack Stop and Shop Store#817
• Under the pseudonym P.D.Q. Bach, Peter Schickele has composed a Christmas carol entitled O Little Town of Hackensack, a humorous parody on the traditional carol O Little Town of Bethlehem.
• In the 2002 film Igby Goes Down, the main character, Igby Slocumb, tells Sookie Sapperstein that he needs to go to Hackensack to take his GED test. The following scene shows Igby boarding a NJ Transit bus at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan, with the electronic sign in the front of the bus clearly indicating "Hackensack" as its destination.

Notable residents

Notable current and former residents of Hackensack include:

• Warren Boroson (born 1935), author and journalist.
• Adam Boyd (1746-1835) represented New Jersey in Congress from 1803 to 1805, and again from 1808 to 1813.
• Will Nowicki (born 1988) Notable Track and Cross Country Athlete.
• Harold Dow (born 1947), correspondent on 48 Hours.
• Jim Finn (born 1976), New York Giants fullback.
• Dave Fiore (born 1974), offensive lineman for the San Francisco 49ers and the Washington Redskins.
• Percy Keese Fitzhugh (1876-1950), author of many popular children's books.
• Silvia Fontana (born 1976), figure skater who represented Italy at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.
• Mike Fratello (born 1947), former NBA coach.
• David Grisman (born 1945), Mandolin player.
• Archibald C. Hart (1873-1935), represented New Jersey's 6th congressional district from 1912-1913 and 1913-1917.
• Matt Herr (born 1976) ice hockey forward who played for parts of four NHL seasons.
• John Huyler (1808-1870), represented in the United States House of Representatives from 1857-1859.
• Frederick Albion Ober (1849-1913), naturalist and writer.
• Jason Rullo (born 1972), drummer of the New Jersey based Neo-Classical metal band Symphony X.
• Dave Scott (1953-), offensive lineman who played for the Atlanta Falcons.
• Rudy Van Gelder (born 1924), recording engineer who taped many jazz albums for Blue Note Records in his Hackensack recording studio in the 1950s.
• Bill Willoughby (born 1957), former NBA Player who, along with Darryl Dawkins, were the first high school players drafted by the NBA (graduated 1975).

References

External links

• Hackensack official website
• Hackensack Public Schools
• Hackensack elementary school portal
• Data for the Hackensack Public Schools, National Center for Education Statistics
• Personal photographs of Hackensack from local resident Bob Leafe
• Fairleigh Dickinson University
• Census 2000 Demographic Profile Highlights for Hackensack