Jersey City, New Jersey

Jersey City skyline
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jersey_City.jpg
Author: Gryffindor


Jersey City, the seat of Hudson County, is the second biggest city in New Jersey. It covers 21.1 sq mi (54.7 sq km) and has a population of 250,000. Jersey City has the smallest land area among the top 100 most populous cities in America. It is located between the Hackensack River to the west and the Hudson River to the east, separting Jersey City from Newark and Manhattan.

Jersey City, New Jersey, as seen from Liberty State Park
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DowntownJC2.jpg
Author: Paulm27


The English explorer Henry Hudson was among the earliest Europeans to have arrived at what is today Jersey City, when he anchored here in 1609. Hudson, after whom Hudson River was named, was then seeking a passage to India, not knowing that he had instead arrived in what was to be part of the Americas.

St John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church, Jersey City
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Baptist_RCC_JC_jeh.jpg
Author: Jim.henderson


The Dutch came after Hudson, and established settlements in the area since the mid 17th century. The natives of the land were the Lenape people, and the arrival of Dutch villages was greeted by antagonism which eventually blew up into open warfare with the Native Americans. The oldest remaining house in the area was that of Van Wagenen, built in 1742. By the later part of the 18th century, the British has taken over control of the area from the Dutch.

Jersey City was originally incorporated as the City of Jersey on 28 January, 1820, as part of Bergen County. Since then, it had been reincorporated a few times, and since 22 February, became part of Hudson County, which still exists till today. By the 19th century Jersey City began to play a role as the docks and manufacturing precinct of neighboring New York City. As with neighboring Newark and parts of downtown Manhattan, Jersey City experienced an urban decline in the 1970's. Efforts to check the deterioration came in the 1980's with the redevelopment of its waterfront area into the Exchange Place financial district, dubbed Wall Street West. It attracted a number of financial institutions to set up or relocate from Manhattan, among them UBS, Citibank and Chase Bank.

Visiting Jersey City, New Jersey

If you're coming from Manhattan, you can cross to Jersey City by the Holland Tunnel. Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) is the most convenient airport if you are flying in. From the airport, you can take a taxi to downtown Jersey City for $40. In comparison, arriving at LaGuardia Airport (LGA) and John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK) is going to cost you $100 on cab fare.

Places of Interest in Jersey City, New Jersey

Neighborhoods of Jersey City

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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

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