Hoboken

 

(hō'bōkən, –bəkən) , city (1990 pop. 33,397), Hudson co., NE N.J., on the Hudson River adjoining Jersey City and opposite Manhattan; settled by the Dutch c.1640, inc. as a city 1855. A port of entry and railroad terminal, it has food-processing industries and electronic, chemical, and metal products factories. The site changed title many times before John Stevens gained possession in 1784. He built his home at Castle Point (a rock formation overlooking the river) and laid out the town in 1804. Stevens built (c.1825) and ran on his estate the first locomotive to pull a train on tracks in the United States. Hoboken became an important industrial and commercial center in the late 19th cent. with a major port, shipyards, and warehouses. In the 1970s and 80s professionals, artists, and students flocked to the city for its affordable, renovated housing and easy access to New York City. Hoboken's reputation has grown accordingly, and it has become a cultural community with art galleries, musical events, entertainment, and developing businesses. A major riverfront development project was launched in the late 1990s, and the city became an alternative office location for companies based in Manhattan. John Jacob Astor lived there; his home was a gathering place for authors, including Washington Irving, and William Cullen Bryant. Hoboken is the seat of Stevens Institute of Technology.

Hoboken, New Jersey
Pier A
Location of Hoboken within Hudson County
Coordinates: 40°44′41″N 74°1′59″W / 40.74472, -74.03306
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Hudson
Area
- City	sq mi (km²)
- Land	sq mi ( km²)
- Water	sq mi ( km²)
Elevation	ft ( m)
Population (2000)
- City
- Density	/sq mi (/km²)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code	07030
Area code(s)	201
FIPS code	34-322502
GNIS feature ID	08771473

Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.

Geography

Hoboken is located at 40°44'41" North, 74°1'59" West (40.744851, -74.032941).¹ and lies on the west bank of the Hudson River across from the Manhattan, New York City neighborhoods of the West Village and Chelsea between Weehawken Cove and Union City at the north and Jersey City (the county seat) at the south and west.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.1 km² (2.0 mi²). 3.3 km² (1.3 mi²) of it is land and 1.8 km² (0.7 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 35.35% water.

Hoboken's zip code is 07030 and its area code is 201 with 551 overlaid.

Demographics

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1860			—
1870			110.1%
1880			52.7%
1890			40.8%
1900			36.0%
1910			18.5%
1920			-3.1%
1930			-13.1%
1940			-15.4%
1950			1.1%
1960			-4.4%
1970			-6.3%
1980			-6.4%
1990			-21.3%
2000			15.5%
Est. 2006		[1]	3.3%
historical data sources: [2][3]

As of the census² of 2000, there are 38,577 people (although recent census figures show the population has grown to about 40,000), 19,418 households, and 6,835 families residing in the city. The population density is 11,636.5/km² (30,239.2/mi²), fourth highest in the nation after neighboring communities of Guttenberg, Union City and West New York.^[4] There are 19,915 housing units at an average density of 6,007.2/km² (15,610.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 80.82% White, 4.26% African American, 0.16% Native American, 4.31% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 7.63% from other races, and 2.78% from two or more races. Furthermore 20.18% of those residents also consider themselves to be Hispanic or Latino.

There are 19,418 households out of which 11.4% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 23.8% are married couples living together, 9.0% have a female householder with no husband present, and 64.8% are non-families. 41.8% of all households are made up of individuals and 8.0% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 1.92 and the average family size is 2.73.

In the city the population is spread out with 10.5% under the age of 18, 15.3% from 18 to 24, 51.7% from 25 to 44, 13.5% from 45 to 64, and 9.0% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 30 years. For every 100 females there are 103.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 103.9 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $62,550, and the median income for a family is $67,500. Males have a median income of $54,870 versus $46,826 for females. The per capita income for the city is $43,195. 11.0% of the population and 10.0% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 23.6% of those under the age of 18 and 20.7% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Names

The name "Hoboken" was decided upon by Colonel John Stevens when he purchased land, on a part of which the city still sits.

It's believed that the Lenape (later called Delaware Indian) referred to the area as the “land of the tobacco pipe”, most likely to refer to the soapstone collected there to carve tobacco pipes, and used a phrase that became “Hopoghan Hackingh”.^[5]

The first Europeans to live there were Dutch/Flemish settlers to New Netherlands, who may have bastardized the Lenape phrase, though there is no known written documentation to confirm it. It also cannot be confirmed that the American Hoboken is named after the Flemish town annexed in 1983 to Antwerp, Belgium, whose name is derived from Middle Dutch Hooghe Buechen or Hoge Beuken, meaning High Beeches or Tall Beeches.^[6] The city has also been cited as having been named after the Van Hoboken family of the 17th-century estate in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, where there is still a square dedicated to them. It is not known what the area was called in Jersey Dutch, a Dutch-variant language based on Zeelandic and Flemish, with English and possibly Lenape influences, spoken in northern New Jersey during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Like Weehawken, it's neighbor to the north, Communipaw and Harisimus to the south, Hoboken had variations in the folks-tongue of the period. Hoebuck, old Dutch for high bluff and likely referring to Castle Point, was used during the colonial era and later spelled in English as Hobuck.

Hoboken's unofficial nickname is now the "Mile Square City", but it actually covers an area of two square miles when including the under-water parts in the Hudson River. During the late 19th/early 20th century the population and culture of Hoboken was dominated by German language speakers who sometimes called it "Little Bremen", many of whom are buried in Hoboken Cemetery, North Bergen.

History

Early and Colonial History

Hoboken was originally an island, surrounded by the Hudson River on the east and tidal lands at the foot of the New Jersey Palisades on the west. It was a seasonal campsite of the Lenni Lenape. Later called Delaware Indian, this collection of tribes is believed to have lived for more than 2800 years on lands around and in-between the Hudson and Delaware Rivers. The first European to lay claim the area was Henry Hudson, an Englishman sailing for the Dutch East India Company, who anchored his ship the Halve Maen (Half Moon) at Weehawken Cove on October 2, 1609. The United New Netherlands Company was created to manage this new territory and in June of 1623, New Netherland became a Dutch colony. In 1630, Michael Pauw, a burgemeester (mayor) of Amsterdam and a director of the West India Company, received a land grant as patroon on the condition that he would plant a colony of not fewer than fifty persons within four years on the west bank of what had been named the North River. Three Lenape sold the land that is was to become Hoboken (and part of Jersey City) for 80 fathoms (146 m) of wampum, 20 fathoms (37 m) of cloth, 12 kettles, six guns, two blankets, one double kettle and half a barrel of beer. These transactions, variously dated as July 12, 1630 and November 22, 1630, represent the earliest known conveyance for the area. Pauw (whose Latinized name is Pavonia) neglected to settle the land and he was obliged to sell his holdings back to the Company in 1633. It was later acquired by Hendrick Van Vorst, who leased part of the land to Aert Van Putten, a farmer. In 1643, north of what would be later known as Castle Point, Van Putten built a house and a brewery, North America’s first. In series of Indian and Dutch raids and reprisals, Van Putten was killed and his buildings destroyed, and all residents of Pavonia (as the colony was known) were ordered back to New Amsterdam. Deteriorating relations with the Lenape, its isolation as an island, or relatively long distance from New Amsterdam may have discouraged more settlement. In 1664, the English took possession of New Amsterdam with little or no resistance, and finally, in 1674 the area became part of East Jersey. The province was divided into four administrative districts in 1675, and Hoboken became part of Bergen County, where it remained until the creation of Hudson on February 22, 1840. English-speaking settlers (some relocating from New England) interspersed with the Dutch, but it remained scarcely populated and agrarian. Eventually, the land came into the possession of William Bayard, who originally supported the revolutionary cause, but became a Loyalist Tory after the fall of New York in 1776 when the city and surrounding areas, including the west bank of the re-named Hudson River, were occupied by the British. At the end of the Revolutionary War, Bayard’s property was confiscated by the Revolutionary Government of New Jersey. In 1784, the land described as "William Bayard's farm at Hoebuck" was bought at auction by Colonel John Stevens for 18,360 pounds sterling.

The Nineteenth Century

In the early 1800s, Colonel John Stevens developed the waterfront as a resort for Manhattanites, a lucrative source of income, which he may have used for testing his many mechanical inventions. On October 11, 1811 Stevens' ship the Juliana, began operation as the world's first steam-powered ferry with service between Manhattan and Hoboken. In 1825, he designed and built a steam locomotive capable of hauling several passenger cars at his estate. In 1832, Sybil's Cave opened as an attraction serving spring water, and after 1841 became a legend, when Edgar Allan Poe wrote "The Mystery of Marie Roget" about an event that took place there. (In the late 1880s, when the water was found to be contaminated, it was shut and in the 1930s, filled with concrete.) Before his death in 1838, Stevens founded The Hoboken Land Improvement Company, which during the mid- and late-19th century was managed by his heirs and laid out a regular system of streets, blocks and lots, constructed housing, and developed manufacturing sites. In general, the housing consisted of masonry row houses of three to five stories, some of which survive to the present day, as does the street grid. The advantages of Hoboken as a shipping port and industrial center became apparent.

Hoboken was originally formed as a township on April 9, 1849, from portions of North Bergen Township. As the town grew in population and employment, many of Hoboken's residents saw a need to incorporate as a full-fledged city, and in a referendum held on March 29, 1855, ratified an Act of the New Jersey Legislature signed the previous day, and the City of Hoboken was born.^[7][8] In the subsequent election, Cornelius V. Clickener became Hoboken's first mayor. On March 15, 1859, the Township of Weehawken was created from portions of Hoboken and North Bergen Township.^[7]

In 1870, based on a bequest from Edwin A. Stevens, Stevens Institute of Technology was founded at Castle Point, site of the Stevens family's former estate. By the late 1800s, great shipping lines were using Hoboken as a terminal port, and the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad (later the Erie Lackawanna Railroad] developed a railroad terminal at the waterfront. It was also during this time that German immigrants, who had been settling in town during most of the century, became the predominant population group in the city, at least partially due to its being a major destination port of the Hamburg America Line. In addition to the primary industry of shipbuilding, Hoboken became home to Keuffel and Esser's three-story factory and in 1884, to Tietjan and Lang Drydock (later Todd Shipyards). Well-known companies that developed a major presence in Hoboken after the turn-of the-century included Maxwell House, Lipton Tea, and Hostess.

Birthplace of Baseball

Hoboken's claim to be the birthplace of baseball is based on game played there in 1846 between Knickerbocker Club and New York Nine at Elysian Fields in the first organized game between two clubs. A plaque and baseball diamond street pavings at 11th and Washington Streets commemorates the event.

In 1845, the Knickerbocker Club, which had been founded by Alexander Cartwright, began using Elysian Fields to play baseball due to the lack of suitable grounds on Manhattan. Team members included players of the St George's Cricket Club, the brothers Harry and George Wright, and Henry Chadwick, the English born journalist who coined the term 'America's Pastime'.

By the 1850s, several Manhattan-based members of the National Association of Base Ball Players were using the grounds as their home field while St George's continued to organize international matches between Canada, England and the United States at the same venue. In 1859, Jack Parr's All England Eleven of professional cricketers played the United States XXII at Hoboken, easily defeating the local competition. Sam Wright and his sons Harry and George Wright played on the defeated United States team-a loss which inadvertently encouraged local players to take up baseball. Henry Chadwick believed that baseball and not cricket should become America's pastime after the game drawing the conclusion that amateur American players did not have the leisure time required to develop cricket skills to the high technical level required of professional players. Harry and George Wright then became two of America's first professional baseball players when Aaron Champion raised funds to found the Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1869.

In 1865 the grounds hosted a championship match between the Mutual Club of New York and the Atlantic Club of Brooklyn that was attended by an estimated 20,000 fans and captured in the Currier & Ives lithograph "The American National Game of Base Ball".

With the construction of two significant baseball parks enclosed by fences in Brooklyn, enabling promoters there to charge admission to games, the prominence of Elysian Fields diminished. In 1868 the leading Manhattan club, Mutual, shifted its home games to the Union Grounds in Brooklyn. In 1880, the founders of the New York Metropolitans and New York Giants finally succeeded in siting a ballpark in Manhattan that became known as the Polo Grounds.

"Heaven, Hell or Hoboken."

When the USA decided to enter World War I the Hamburg-American Line piers in Hoboken (and New Orleans) were taken under eminent domain. Federal control of the port and anti-German sentiment led to part of the city being placed under martial law, and many Germans were forcibly moved to Ellis Island or left the city altogether. Hoboken became the major point of embarkation and more than three million soldiers, known as "doughboys", passed through the city. Their hope for an early return led to General Pershing's slogan, "Heaven, Hell or Hoboken... by Christmas."

Interwar Years

Following the war, Italians, mostly stemming from the Adriatic port city of Molfetta, became the city's major ethnic group, with the Irish also having a strong presence. While the city experienced the Depression, jobs in the ships yards and factories were still available, and the "tenements" were full. Middle-European Jews, mostly German-speaking, also made their way to the city and established small businesses. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was established on April 30, 1921. The Holland Tunnel was completed in 1927 and the Lincoln Tunnel in (1937), allowing for easier vehicular travel between New Jersey and New York City, bypassing the waterfront.

Post World War II

The war provided a shot in the arm for Hoboken as the many industries located in the city were crucial to the war effort. As men went off to battle, more women were hired in the factories, some (most notably, Todd Shipyards), offering classes and other incentives to them. Though some returning service men took advantage of GI housing bills, many with strong ethnic and familial ties chose to stay in town. During the fifties, the economy was still driven by Todd Shipyards, Maxwell House, Lipton Tea, Hostess and Bethlehem Steel and companies with big plants still not inclined to invest in huge infrastructure elsewhere. Unions were powerful and the pay was good. By the sixties, though, things began to disintegrate: turn-of-the century housing started to look shabby and feel crowded, ship-building was cheaper overseas, and single-story plants surrounded by parking lots made manufacturing and distribution more economical than old brick buildings on congested urban streets. The city appeared to be in the throes of inexorable decline as industries sought (what had been) greener pastures, port operations shifted to larger facilities on Newark Bay, and the car, truck and plane displaced the railroad and ship as the transportation modes of choice in the United States. Many Hobokenites headed to the suburbs, often the close-by ones in Bergen and Passaic Counties, and real-estate values declined. Hoboken sank from its earlier incarnation as a lively port town into a rundown condition and was often included in lists with other New Jersey towns cities experiencing the same phenomenon, such as Paterson, Elizabeth, Camden, and neighboring Jersey City. The old economic underpinnings were gone and nothing new seemed to be on the horizon. Attempts were made to stabilize the population by demolishing the so-called slums along River Street and build subsidized middle-income housing at Marineview Plaza, and in midtown, at Church Towers. Heaps of long uncollected garbage and roving packs of semi-wild dogs were not un-common sights. Though the city had seen better days, Hoboken was never abandoned. New infusions of immigrants, most notably Puerto Ricans, kept the storefronts open with small businesses and housing stock from being abandoned, but there wasn't much work to be had. Washington Street, commonly called "the avenue", was never boarded up, and the tightly-knit neighborhoods remained home to many who were still proud of their city. Stevens stayed a premiere technology school, Maxwell House kept chugging away, and Bethlehem Steel still housed sailors who were dry-docked on its piers. Italian-Americans and other came back to the "old neighborhood" to shop for delicatessen. Some streets were "iffy", but most were not pulled in at night.^[9]

On the Waterfront

in the foreground, with the New York City skyline seen in the background]] The waterfront defined Hoboken as an archetypal port town and powered its economy from the mid-19th to mid-20th century, by which time it had become essentially industrial (and mostly inaccessible to the general public). The large production plants of Lipton Tea and Maxwell House, and the drydocks of Bethlehem Steel dominated the northern portion for many years. The southern portion (which had been a US base of the Hamburg-American Line) was seized by the federal government under eminent domain at outbreak of World War I, after which it became (with the rest of the Hudson County) a major East Coast cargo-shipping port. On the Waterfront, consistently listed among the five best American films ever, was shot in Hoboken, dramatically highlighting the rough and tumble lives of longshoremen and the infiltration of unions by organized crime. With the construction of the interstate highway system and containerizationshipping facilities (particularly at Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal), the docks became obsolete, and by the 1970s were more or less abandoned. A large swathe of River Street, known as the Barbary Coast for its taverns and boarding houses (which had been home for many dockworkers, sailors, merchant marines, and other seamen) was leveled as part of an urban renewal project. Though control of the confiscated area had been returned to the city in the 1950s, complex lease agreements with the Port Authority gave it little influence on its management. In the 1980s, the waterfront dominated Hoboken politics, with various civic groups and the city government engaging in sometimes nasty, sometimes absurd politics and court cases. By the 1990s, agreements were made with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, various levels of government, Hoboken citizens, and private developers to build commercial and residential buildings and "open spaces" (mostly along the bulkhead and on the foundation of un-utilized Pier A). The northern portion, which had remained in private hands, has also been re-developed. While most of the dry-dock and production facilities were razed to make way for mid-rize apartment houses, many sold as investment "condos", some buildings were renovated for adaptive re-use (notably the Tea House and the Machine House, home of the Hoboken Historic Museum). Zoning requires that new construction follow the street grid and limits the height of new construction to retain the architectural character of the city and open sight-lines to the river. Downtown, Sinatra Park and Sinatra Drive honor the man most consider to be Hoboken's most famous son, while uptown the name Maxwell recalls the factory with its smell of roasting coffee wafting over town and its huge neon "Good to the Last Drop" sign, so long a part of the landscape. The midtown section is dominated by the serpentine rock outcropping atop of which sits Stevens Institute of Technology (which also owns some, as yet, un-developed land on the river). At the foot of the cliff is Sybil's Cave (where 19th century day-trippers once came to "take the waters" from a natural spring), long sealed shut, though plans for its restoration are in place. The promenade along the river bank is part of the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway, a state-mandated master plan to connect the municipalities from the Bayonne Bridge to George Washington Bridge and provide contiguous unhindered access to the water's edge and to create an urban linear park offering expansive views of the Hudson with the spectacular backdrop of the New York skyline.

Pre-/Post-Millennium

During the late 1970s and 1980s, the city witnessed a speculation spree, fueled by transplanted New Yorkers and others who bought many turn-of-the-century brownstones in neighborhoods that the still solid middle and working class population had kept intact and by local and out-of-town real-estate investors who bought up late 19th century apartment houses often considered to be tenements. Hoboken experienced a wave of fires, some of which proved to be arson. Applied Housing, a real-estate investment firm, took advantage of US government incentives to renovate "sub-standard" housing and receive subsidized rental payments (commonly know as Section 8), which enabled some low-income, displaced, and disabled residents to move within town. Hoboken attracted artists, musicians, upwardly-mobile commuters (known as yuppies), and "bohemian types" interested in the socio-economic possibilities and challenges of a bankrupt New York and who valued the aesthetics of Hoboken's residential, civic and commercial architecture, its sense of community, and relatively (compared to Lower Manhattan) cheaper rents, and quick, train hop away. Maxwells opened and Hoboken became a "hip" place to live. Amid this social upheaval, so-called "newcomers" displaced some of the "old-timers" in the eastern half of the city.

This gentrification resembled that of parts of Brooklyn and downtown Jersey City and Manhattan's East Village, (and to a lesser degree, SoHo and TriBeCa, which previously had not been residential). The initial presence of artists and young people changed the perception of the place such that others who would not have considered moving there before perceived it as an interesting, safe, exciting, and eventually, desirable. The process continued as many suburbanites, transplanted Americans, internationals, and immigrants (most focused on opportunities in NY/NJ region and proximity to Manhattan) began to make the "Jersey" side of the Hudson their home, and the "real-estate boom" of the era encouraged many to seek investment opportunities. Empty lots were built on, tenements became condominiums. Hoboken felt the impact of the destruction of the World Trade Center intensely, many of its newer residents having worked there and having chosen as the place to invest their real-estate dollars. Re-zoning encouraged new construction on former industrial sites on the waterfront and the traditionally more impoverished low-lying west side of the city where, in concert with Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and New Jersey State land-use policy, transit villages are now being promoted. Hoboken became, and remains, a focal point in American rediscovery of urban living, and is often used as staging ground for those wishing to move to the New York metropolitan region.

Government

Local government

The City of Hoboken is governed under the Faulkner Act (Mayor-Council) system of municipal government by a Mayor and a nine-member City Council consisting of three members elected at large from the city as a whole, and six members who each represent one of the city's six wards. Candidates run on a non-partisan basis.

The Mayor of the City of Hoboken is David Roberts.^[10] Members of the City Council are:^[11][12]

• 1st Ward: Theresa Castallano (Council President)
• 6th Ward: Nino Giacchi (Council Vice-President)
• At-Large: Terry LaBruno
• At-Large: Peter Cammarano
• At-Large: Ruben Ramos Jr.
• 2nd Ward: Beth Mason
• 3rd Ward: Michael Russo
• 4th Ward: Dawn Zimmer
• 5th Ward: Peter Cunningham

Mayoral election history

During Hoboken's 150 year history as an incorporated city, the elections that have been held for Mayor of Hoboken and members of the Hoboken city council have been largely operated by Hoboken's community. Hoboken's political landscape has been shaped by a strong connection between City Hall and the citizens of Hoboken. Many of the people running for mayor / councilman were people who grew up in Hoboken.

Among the most recent elections include:

• Thomas Vezzetti vs. Steve Cappiello (1985; Vezzeti won 6,990 to 6,647)
• Patrick Pasculli vs. Joe Della Fave (1988,1989; Pasculli won)
• Anthony Russo vs. Ira Karasick (1993; Russo won 7,023 to 5,623)
• David Roberts vs. Anthony Russo (2001; Roberts won 6,064 to 4,759)
• David Roberts vs. Carol Marsh (2005; Roberts won 5,761 to 4,239. See The 2005 Hoboken election)

Federal, state and county representation

Hoboken is in the Thirteenth Congressional Districts and is part of New Jersey's 33rd Legislative District.^[13]

New Jersey's Thirteenth Congressional District, covering portions of Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, and Union Counties, is now represented by Albio Sires (D, West New York), who won a special election held on November 7, 2006 to fill the vacancy the had existed since January 16, 2006. The seat had been represented by Bob Menendez (D), who was appointed to the United States Senate to fill the seat vacated by Governor of New Jersey Jon Corzine. New Jersey is represented in the Senate by Frank Lautenberg (D, Cliffside Park) and Bob Menendez (D, Hoboken).

The 33rd legislative district of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by Bernard Kenny (D, Hoboken) and in the Assembly by Brian P. Stack (D, Union City) and Silverio Vega (D, West New York). The Governor of New Jersey is Jon Corzine (D, Hoboken).

Hudson County's County Executive is Thomas A. DeGise. The executive, together with the Board of Chosen Freeholders in a legislative role, administer all county business. Hudson County's nine Freeholders (as of 2006) are: District 1: Doreen McAndrew DiDomenico; District 2: William O'Dea; District 3: Jeffrey Dublin; District 4: Eliu Rivera; District 5: Maurice Fitzgibbons; District 6: Tilo Rivas; District 7: Gerald Lange Jr.; District 8: Thomas Liggio; and District 9: Albert Cifelli.

Transportation

• Hoboken Terminal, located at the city's southeastern corner, is a national historic landmark originally built in 1907 by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad and currently undergoing extensive renovation. It is the origination/destination point for several modes of transportation and an important hub within the NY/NJ metropolitan region's public transit system. It is the only one of five major rail/ferry terminals that once dotted the west bank of the Hudson still in operation. West Shore Railroad Terminal in Weehawken, Erie Railroad's Pavonia Terminal and Pennsylvania Railroad's Exchange Place in Jersey City were all razed. Central Railroad of New Jersey Communipaw Terminal, in what is now Liberty State Park, is across from Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty.

Rail

• New Jersey Transit Hoboken Division: Main Line (to Suffern, and in partnership with MTA/Metro-North, express service to Port Jervis), Bergen County Line, and Pascack Valley Line (limited AM inbound and PM outbound service), all via Secaucus Junction (where transfer is possible to Northeast Corridor Line); Montclair-Boonton Line and Morris and Essex Lines (both via Newark Broad Street Station); North Jersey Coast Line (limited service as Waterfront Connection via Newark Penn Station to Long Branch and Bay Head); Raritan Valley Line (limited service via Newark Penn Station);
• Hudson-Bergen Light Rail: along Hoboken's western perimeter at 2nd and 9th Streets, and at Hoboken Terminal, south-bound to downtown Jersey City and Bayonne, and north-bound to the Weehawken waterfront, Bergenline, and Tonnelle Avenues.

• PATH: 24-hour subway service from Hoboken Terminal (HOB) to midtown Manhattan (33rd) (along 6th Ave to Herald Square/Pennsylvania Station), (via downtown Jersey City) to World Trade Center (WTC), and via Journal Square (JSQ) to Newark Penn Station (NWK).

Water

• NY Waterway: ferry service across the Hudson River from Hoboken Terminal and 14th Street to World Financial Center and Pier 11/Wall Street in lower Manhattan, and to West 39th in midtown Manhattan, where free transfer is available to a variety of "loop" buses.

Surface

• Taxi: Flat fare within city limits and negotiated fare for other destinations.
• NJ Transit buses west-bound from Hoboken Terminal along Observer Highway: 64 to Newark, 68, 85, 87, to Jersey City and other Hudson and suburban destinations.^[14]
• NJ Transit buses north-bound from Hoboken Terminal along Washington Street: 126 to Port Authority Bus Terminal via Lincoln Tunnel, 22 to Bergenline/North Hudson, 89 to North Bergen, and 23, 22 (rush hour service) to North Bergen via the waterfront and Boulevard East.^[14]

• Academy Bus: Parkway Express
• Coach USA: (limited service from Washington/Newark Streets) #144 to Staten Island, #5 to Lincoln Harbor or Jersey City
• Hoboken Crosstown Loop: from City Hall through midtown Hoboken

Air

• Newark Liberty Airport (EWR), 12.8 miles away, is closest airport in New Jersey with scheduled passenger service
• LaGuardia Airport (LGA) is 12.8 miles away in Flushing, Queens
• John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) is 19 miles away on Jamaica Bay in Queens
• Teterboro Airport, in the Hackensack Meadowlands, serves private and corporate planes
• Essex County Airport, in Caldwell, is a general aviation airport serving the region

Road

• Lincoln Tunnel: north of city line in Weehawken, with eastern terminus in midtown Manhattan and western access road NJ 495
• Holland Tunnel: south of city line in downtown Jersey City with eastern terminus at Canal Street, Manhattan and western access roads I-78 (New Jersey Turnpike extension) and Routes 1&9
• 14th Street Viaduct to Jersey City Heights and North Hudson
• Paterson Plank Road to Jersey City Heights, North Hudson, and Secaucus

Character

The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page.

Hoboken is considered to be one of the nation's most vibrant "comeback" towns: a city with an illustrious past, a deep but not devastating decline, and an on-going "rejuvenation" that remains controversial. The definitions of "new-comer" and "old-timer" have faded since Hoboken has had a number of waves of new residents in the last thirty years. It has an increasingly more transient population, the latest being those living in the more anonymous mid-rise buildings along the waterfront and high-rises around 2nd Street Station.

Like Hudson County, in which it's located, Hoboken has remained densely populated and very ethnically diverse. Its compactness, historic street layout, shortage of on-street parking, mean that a car is more of a hindrance than a help, and the city retains a basic pedestrian orientation, making for a lively street-scape. While it has its share of crime, most consider it a safe place to live. Washington Street, the city's commercial thoroughfare, is in many ways a typical American "Main Street", though some would say that Hoboken's human-scale is reminiscent of smaller European cities. Most churches don't ring their bells anymore, and the formerly common sight of Italian widows be-decked in black is now a rarity, though a few street-cleaners still use a broom and push-cart. Many neighbors wave greetings across the street. "Gate-sales" (a distinctly local version of the tag, garage, or yard sale) can be found on many weekends.

Hoboken has become some-what of a bedroom community, and the "feel" of the street changes over the course of the day. The early morning march to the PATH train or ferries, and the long lines for the Manhattan-bound bus, give way to school children, senior citizens, construction workers (busy on projects abounding in town), cleaning ladies, and baby-strollers (more and more frequently driven by nannies and au pairs). Though most stay on its some-what isolated campus, some Stevens students come down the hill and join office-workers around City Hall and the Hoboken Terminal taking their lunch hour stroll. The after-school rush kicks-off the evening hum as the commuters trickle, and finally flood, back into town, enjoying "happy hour", order take-out, do some shopping, head to the gym, or simply, home. The town boasts a diverse collection of bars and restaurants and on a warm evening, many outdoor cafes are packed with locals and visitors alike, though some residents don't appreciate the somewhat "rowdy" atmosphere on weekend nights, when the city is filled with "youngish" party-goers and bar-hoppers. Though the current governor of New Jersey apparently "lives" in Hoboken, he's rarely seen in town.

In recent years many independent or "mom and pop" shops have been forced to close. There has been a surge in the number of real-estate agents (who market the real-estate "boom" for the so-called "Gold Coast"), bank branches (the city's only cinema was closed and converted),^[15] and mobile phone shops. A few large franchises also have established a presence and new supermarkets have opened, but most residents head to catalogues, "the city" (New York, in local parlance), or the "malls" to do shopping for clothes, housewares, furniture, and appliances.

The formerly powerful Hudson Democratic "Machine" now plays almost no role in local politics though some office-holders also have positions in the county government. Rising property valuations, budget gaps, and "poor-performing" public schools remain important issues. Many think that parking is a "nightmare", even with the construction of some new facilities around town. Strict enforcement of permit and meter regulations are a windfall for the municipal government, but has done little to reduce the time a late-night search for a "spot" can take. (Summer weekends, though, spaces abound, as many residents head to the Jersey Shore, Long Island, upstate or to visit the places they came from).

The scarcity of public open spaces has been somewhat mitigated by the re-development of the waterfront and there are proposals for more parks and recreation facilities, but in typical Hoboken-ese, most "will believe it when they see it". Some decisions that the city has made in recent years have been considered to be unpopular. For example, in April 2007, several very old London plane trees were cut down in Church Square Park order to create a new playground in that park, which already had 4 playgrounds; this decision has been criticized.^[16]

Education

Public schools

Hoboken's public schools are operated by Hoboken Public Schools, an Abbott District. The district is comprised of three K-7 elementary schools ( Calabro Primary School, Connors Primary School and Wallace Primary School), two middle schools serving grade 8 (Joseph F. Brandt Middle School and A. J. Demarest Middle School [1]) and Hoboken High School for grades 9-12.The primary schools are in the process of becoming K-8.

In addition, Hoboken has the following K-8 charter schools, which are public schools that operate independently of the Hoboken Public Schools under charters granted by the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education:

• Elysian Charter School, also known as ECS, was founded in 1997.
• Hoboken Charter School

Private schools

The following private schools are located in Hoboken:

• All Saint's Episcopal Day School
• The Hudson School
• Mustard Seed School
• Stevens Cooperative School
• Hoboken Catholic Academy

University