Hackensack Now

Hackensack, NJ in 1930s [Bergen Co.]

Railroad Stations: Main St. Station, Mercer and Main Sts., for New York, Sus-quehanna and Western R.R.; Essex St. Station, Essex St. and Railroad Ave., for New Jersey and New York R.R. and Erie R.R.
Bus Stations.’ Municipal Bus Terminal, River St. opposite Demarest Place, for Public Service, Garden State Line, Flying Eagle Suburban Line, Westwood Trans-portation Co.; Public Service Terminal, State and Mercer Sts., for local busses; 352 Main St. for Greyhound.
Taxis: 350 within city limits.
Streetcars and Local Busses. 50; no transfers.
Accommodations: Boarding houses.

Information Service: Bergen County Chamber of Commerce, 210 Main St.

Motion Picture Houses: Three.
Swimming: Y.M.C.A., 360 Main St.; Y.M.H.A., 211 Essex St.; Hackensack Swim-ming Pool, River St. and Hackensack Ave.; Maple Springs Beach, Hackensack Ave. near Route 4; Garden Suburbs, Central Ave.

Tennis: High school held, First St. opp. Hackensack high school; Oritani Field Club, 18 E. Camden St.; Johnson Park, Main St. and Fairmont Ave.; Garden Suburbs, Central Ave.

Annual Events: Bergen County Salon of Photography, Fox Theater, March; Bergen

County Electrical and Home Modernization Show, Hackensack Arena, April; Garden
Federation Exhibit, Woman’s Club, September.

HACKENSACK (134 alt., 24,568 pop.) is gaining in importance among the industrial cities encircling New York, because of its strategic position in the network of modern highways traversing northern New Jersey. The old city lies on the west bank of the Hackensack River, halfway between Paterson and the Hudson, and shows on its face the new blood pumped into it by the road development of the past decade.

Hackensack is built on the flatlands of a tidal river and like most such communities its local scene changes as its population growth stretches its boundaries. Most of the older section lies close to the river. The newer sections and many of the better residences are found on the higher ground that gradually rises to the west and north of the old business section. The civic center, where the courthouse and other public buildings are situated, is the focal point of several highways. Main Street, the principal thorough-fare, extends northward from tl1is point.
The crush on Main Street makes unmistakable the suddenness of the city’s recent change. The narrow, north-south street is jammed with traffic from all over Bergen County, and its sidewalks are closely packed with blocks of modern, neonized and black-glass store fronts which have already crowded out most of the leisurely older shops. Chain stores, in particular, have been erected so quickly and in such abundance that often their flash-ing signs are almost larger than their Main Street footage.

The vista of Main Street, looking north, shows in addition to the jum-ble and squeeze of shops, a 10-story skyscraper, several impressive banks, and the latest in ornate motion picture houses, where again the size of the signs promises at least a Roxy or Radio City Music Hall. Shops have al-ready spread to the adjoining side streets.

The many markets and bargain shops along Main Street attest Hacken-sack’s position as the hub of Bergen County. Its daily paper is significantly called the Bergen Evening Record, and its publisher, John Borg, is a domi-nant figure in the city and county political life. Organizations such as the Young Men’s Hebrew Association, the Young Men’s Christian Associa-tion, the Child Welfare Association, and many others in Hackensack label themselves "of Bergen County." Despite this county-consciousness and a large percentage of commuters to New York and elsewhere in northern New Jersey, Hackensack has long been noted for its independence and individuality.

Oratory and litigation from 71 squabbling Bergen County municipali-ties are concentrated here at the county seat. To Hackensack come lawyers and politicians, drawn by pre-election maneuverings, and the editors of some 70 weekly newspapers that are nourished by legal advertising and en-livened by occasional investigations of municipal misconduct. Equally apart of civil life are the caravans of defendants and witnesses whose testi-mony makes talk for the town, and ammunition for editors and politicians alike.

Hackensack’s industrial life is chiefly the manufacture of bricks, cement, slippers, and haberdashery. Low wages, especially for women workers, pre-vail in the clothing factories. Along the river, navigable only to Hacken-sack, is the sole industrial scene in the city; here are brickyards, a battery of oil tanks, a stone crusher plant, and warehouses with long lines of rum-bling motor trucks and heavy barges. Southeast from the city spread the Hackensack meadows, a tidal flat covered with marsh grass. A crisscross of ditches has been dug by governmental agencies to check mosquito breeding.

In the residential sections the town has preserved an atmosphere of age and tradition. Streets here bear the names of New Jersey counties, Essex, Union, Passaic, etc., and those of pioneer families whose descend-ants are still active in the community, Zabriskie, Banta, and Hopper. Sum-mit Avenue, a broad, tree-lined Street, represents the long-established citi-zens with rows of large late-Victorian mansions surrounded by ample greenery. Gradually these homes yield to a newer section distinguished by a more frequent use of brick and granite and the styling of the 1920’s. Down along the hill, upon which the better homes stand, sprinklings of modern adaptations of Colonial, English, and Norman styles mix with typ-ical frame suburban dwellings and survivals of old Hackensack. Through. out the town at random points there are many authentic Dutch Colonial homes, sturdy reminders of the original citizenry. Hackensack is a gen-ealogist’s paradise where research flourishes.

The city’s foreign-born population of 20.5 percent is largely concen-trated in the area west of Hudson Street and south of Essex Street. It is almost a separate community, with a dominant population of Italians and a much smaller percentage of Poles. Most of the foreign-born work for public utilities, trucking firms, or contractors and live mainly in a typical Hackensack miscellany of old frame houses, recent bungalows, and an oc-casional brick structure.

The most sharply defined racial colony in Hackensack is the Negro sec-tion of about five blocks along First Street between Berry Street and Central Avenue. Although old wooden houses in varying states of repair give the area a more residential appearance than the average Negro urban section, dwellings are excessively crowded, with two and three families often liv-ing in a one-family house. The one school is attended almost exclusively by Negro children with teachers of both white and black races. Many of the 2,530 Negroes are active in the movement to better their economic position through political action, and have won recognition to the extent of three Negro appointments to the local police force.

The name Hackensack is supposed to be of Indian origin, but the exact derivation is vague. A favorite local pastime is the collection of different versions of the Indian spelling. These range from Achkinchesacky to Hockumdachgue, and new contributions are constantly being made. It has also been suggested that the town was named after an old tavern called the Hock and Sack, which sold hock, a popular Rhine wine, and sack, an appetizing sherry. This theory is more colorful than probable.

Hackensack dates back to 1647 when the Dutch from Manhattan estab-lished a trading post on the lands of Chief Oratam. Governed by the Council of New Netherland, the region was later known as New Bar-badoes after the island whence came the original grantees. By 1700 the village was stamped with a Dutch imprint despite the English conquest. Until 1921, when the town received a city charter, its official name was still New Barbadoes.
The Revolutionary period was a turbulent one in Hackensack, with Tory and patriot intrigue. Foraging parties of Continentals and redcoats skir-mished over the entire country. In 1780 Hessians and British plundered the village and set fire to the old courthouse on the Green.

After the war Hackensack continued to develop as a commercial and political center. In the early i8oo’s the Hackensack Turnpike was built, connecting the town with ,Hoboken, and making Hackensack the freight depot for northern New Jersey. The so-called "Windjammers of the Hack-ensack" plied the river and bay to New York City, further enhancing the community’s shipping importance.

The conservatism of Hackensack’s population was demonstrated when the Civil War broke out, popular sentiment favoring slavery to such an extent that an Abolitionist editor had his print shop raided, and the Union flag was publicly burned on the Green.

Construction of the New Jersey and New York Railroad station in 1869 accelerated Hackensack’s growth as a residential community, the suc-ceeding years being marked by large-scale real estate operations.

Incorporated as a separate governing unit in i868, Hackensack, or New Barbadoes, had its affairs administered until 1933 by a group known as the Hackensack Improvement Commission, formed under an act of the State legislature in 1856. This body obtained mail delivery in 1858; in-troduced the gas street light in i868; and the telephone exchange in 1882. The twentieth century brought an influx of a large commuting population. With the abandonment of the Improvement Commission, Hackensack’s ex-periments with municipal government turned to the present city manager form, which has been conspicuously successful,

POINTS OF INTEREST

i. The GREEN, S. end Main St., was the Revolutionary camping ground for both American and British regiments. Encircled by a row of hedges and interspersed with flowers and shrubbery, the handkerchief-size square is a well-kept lawn traversed by concrete walks. The county’s first courthouse, built on the Green in 1732, was burned to the ground by Hes-sian mercenaries in 1780. In Colonial days stocks and pillories for crim-inals stood here. Among the monuments are a bronze STATUE OF AN AMERICAN SOLDIER, erected as a war memorial in 1924, on a concrete and granite base with scenes representing all American wars, and a STATUE OF GENERAL ENOCH Poor, Revolutionary war hero.

2. The CHURCH ON THE GREEN (First Dutch Reformed) (open weekdays on request), NE. corner of the Green, is one of the oldest churches in New Jersey. Built in 1696, rebuilt in 1728, and then enlarged at various intervals until 1869, the red sandstone structure is a fine ex-ample of Dutch Colonial church architecture, and the prototype of the other churches in Bergen County. Eleven members of the French Hugue-not congregation three miles up the Hackensack River became communi-cants of the Dutch church. They brought from the French church stones bearing their names, some of which still form part of the present struc-ture. Early in the nineteenth century a doctrinal controversy threatened to divide the congregation. In the midst of one bitter meeting, it is related, a bolt of lightning struck the keystone over the doorway, splitting it in two. Regarding this as a divine omen, the rival factions immediately settled the dispute. The adjacent cemetery contains the remains of many of Bergen County’s pioneer settlers.

3, The MANSION HOUSE, NE. corner Main St. and Washington Pl., facing the Green, was built in 1751 by Peter Zabriskie and is still operated as a restaurant. A three-story, whitewashed sandstone building, it is of simple Dutch Colonial design, square and unadorned. A veranda which formerly ran along the front of the house was torn down many years ago. After the fall of Fort Lee in 1776, Washington was quartered here.

4. The BERGEN COUNTY COURTHOUSE, opp. the Green, con-structed in 1912, architecturally is one of the most successful buildings in the State. This neo-classic structure designed by J. Riley Gordon was well conceived in proportion, detail and setting. The straightforward treatment of the entrance portico, with columns placed in antis, is strong and pleas-ing.

Directly east of the courthouse is the BERGEN COUNTY JAIL, a striking five-story building with modern lines and medieval battlements. The light brick surface is handsomely illumined at night by flood lights. Only the unobtrusive bars and screens on the windows indicate the building’s use.

5. The BERGEN COUNTY ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDING, cor-ner Main and Hudson Sts., designed by Tilton, Schwanewede and Githens, is neoclassic in style, excellent both in scale and detail. Completed in 1933, its four stories of Arkansas marble are well composed in a mass of great dignity. The building houses county agencies and administrative de-partments.

6. The JOHNSON FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY (open 9-9 weekdays),
274 Main St., also houses the HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS of the Bergen County Historical Society (open 10-6 weekdays). In addition to documents of various kinds the exhibit includes a large square stone used as a coun-terbalance in early hangings, a dugout canoe and other Indian relics. The building is of rock-faced Belleville stone in Victorian style, with a fancy bell tower and vine-covered walls.

7. The MUNICIPAL BUS TERMINAL, River St. opp. Demarest P1., is a modern one-and-one-half-story structure of white-faced brick and glass. Designed by Spencer Newman and opened in 1937, it was financed jointly by the city and the Works Progress Administration. The severity
o± the functional style is relieved by effective planting on we approaches. The terminal serves most busses operating in the Hackensack section.

8. The TERHUNE HOUSE (private), 450 River St., near the Ander-son Street bridge, is now shielded from the adjacent highway by a gal-vanized iron wire fence. Built in 1670 by John Terhune, a Hollander, it is the oldest building in Hackensack, and has the first known gambrel roof in New Jersey. The low porch, a later addition, faces the south, overlook-ing a broad expanse of the Hackensack River. It is shaded by a giant elm, said to be more than 6oo years old. Few changes have been made in the Dutch Colonial house of whitewashed sandstone since it was built.

9. The HOPPER HOUSE, 249 Polifly Rd., now an inn, was built be-tween ~8i6 and i8i8 by slaves. It is an interesting example of how even the resolute Dutch succumbed to the Georgian influence in architecture. Although the original Dutch characteristics are reflected in the side and rear elevations, the front door is inconsistent with the general design.

POINT OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS

Steuben House, 2.7 rn (see Tour 16).

See credits below:
The WPA Guide to 1930s New Jersey
Compiled and Written by the Federal Writers’ Project of the
Works Progress Administration for the State of hew Jersey
Sponsored by The Public Library of Newark
and The New Jersey Guild Associates
AMERICAN GUIDE SERIES

FIRST PUBLISHED IN JUNE 1939 by The Viking Press
Reprinted in 1986 by Rutgers University Press
Second cloth printing, 1989
First paperback printing, 1989

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

New Jersey, a guide to its present and past. The WPA guide to 1930S New Jersey.
Reprint. Originally published: New Jersey, a guide
to its present and past. New York : Viking Press, 1939. (American guide series)
Bibliography:p.
Includes index.

1. New Jersey—Description and travel—Guide-books.
I. Federal Writers’ Project (N.J.) II. Newark Public
Library. III. New Jersey Guild Associates. IV. Title.
V. Series: American guide series.
F132.3.N46 1986 917.49’0443 85—25599
ISBN 0-8135-1152-6
ISBN 0-8135-1465-7 (pbk.)

NEW JERSEY GUILD ASSOCIATES, INC.
Louis Adamic Dr. Paul F. Lazarsfeld
Prof. John E. Bebout Dr. Eduard C. Lindeman
Franklin Conklin, 3rd. Mrs. William Milwitzky
Alexander L. Crosby Charles A. Philhower
Mrs. Arne Fisher Joseph Reilly
Louis Ginsberg Sylvia Smith
Dr. Milton R. Konvitz Michael A. Stavitzky
Dr. William Carlos Williams