- For other uses, see Secaucus (disambiguation)
Secaucus is a town in Hudson
County, New Jersey, USA. As of the
United States 2000 Census, the town population was 15,931. The town's name is
pronounced "SEE-kaw-cus", with the accent on the first syllable, not the second as often used by non-natives.[1]
Secaucus was originally formed as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 12, 1900, from portions of North Bergen. On June 7, 1900, Secaucus was incorporated as a town, replacing Secaucus borough,
based on the results of a referendum held on June 5, 1917.[2]
Before the 1950s, Secaucus was home to a number of pig farms, rendering plants, and junk yards, which gave the town a reputation for being one of the most
odorous in the New York metropolitan area. In 1963, debris from the
demolition of Pennsylvania Station was carted over and dumped in
the Secaucus Meadowlands. In later decades Secaucus became more a commuter town.
Geography
Secaucus is located at 40°47′15″N, 74°3′42″W (40.787600,
-74.061784)1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area
of 16.9 km² (6.5 mi²). 15.3 km² (5.9 mi²) of it is
land and 1.6 km² (0.6 mi²) of it (9.66%) is water.
At the southern end of Secaucus is Snake Hill (sometimes known as Laurel Hill), an
igneous rock intrusion jutting up some 150 feet from the
Meadowlands below, near the New Jersey
Turnpike.
Being partly surrounded by the Hackensack Meadowlands, Secaucus provides
opportunities to observe the recovery of natural marshes in the town's post industrial, post agricultural age. Some marsh areas
in the northeast part of town have been filled to provide a new commercial area, and some to build footpaths for nature walks
with signs illustrating birds and other wildlife to be seen there.
Demographics
As of the census2 of 2000, there were 15,931 people, 6,214 households, and 3,945 families residing
in the town. The population density was 1,044.3/km² (2,706.7/mi²). There were 6,385
housing units at an average density of 418.6/km² (1,084.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 78.54% White, 4.45% African American, 0.11% Native American, 11.80% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 2.79% from other races, and 2.26% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 12.26% of the population.
There were 6,214 households out of which 25.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.2% were married couples living together, 10.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.5% were
non-families. 31.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or
older. The average household size was 2.41 and the average family size was 3.08.
In the town the population was spread out with 19.2% under the age of 18, 6.4% from 18 to 24, 33.5% from 25 to 44, 24.8% from
45 to 64, and 16.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 97.9 males.
For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.2 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $59,800, and the median income for a family was $72,568. Males had a median
income of $49,937 versus $39,370 for females. The per capita income for the town was
$31,684. About 3.9% of families and 7.6% of the population were below the poverty
line, including 6.4% of those under age 18 and 9.0% of those age 65 or over.
Government
Local government
The Mayor of the Town of Secaucus is Dennis Elwell. The Deputy
Mayor is John Reilly. Other members of the Secaucus Town Council are John Bueckner, Fred Constantino, Michael Grecco,
Richard Kane and Robert Kickey.[5]
Federal, state and county representation
Secaucus is in the Ninth Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 32nd Legislative District.[6]
New Jersey's Ninth Congressional District, covering the
southern portion of Bergen County and sections of Hudson County and Passaic County, is
represented by Steve Rothman (D,
Fair Lawn). New Jersey is represented in the Senate by Frank Lautenberg (D, Cliffside Park) and
Bob Menendez (D, Hoboken).
The 32nd legislative district of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State
Senate by Nicholas Sacco (D, North Bergen) and in the
Assembly by Vincent Prieto
(D, Secaucus) and Joan M. Quigley (D, Jersey City). 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.
Education
Students in pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade are educated by the Secaucus
Board of Education. The schools in the district (with 2003-04 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) consist of two pre-K - 6 elementary
schools — Clarendon Elementary School with 545 students and Huber Street Elementary School with 520 students — Secaucus Middle School with 291 students in
grades 7 and 8, and Secaucus High School with 493 students in grades 9 - 12.
Immaculate Conception School is a Catholic private day
school, serving grades Pre-K through 8th grade.
The Nicholas G. Hayek Watchmaking School is also located in Secaucus.
Sports
Secaucus is currently home to men's soccer team Secaucus FC. Founded in 2001 by some of the first generation of soccer players from the town, Secaucus FC now
represents the town in the Garden State Soccer League,
and several other tournaments and indoor leagues around the state. The team is the first ever men's soccer team to come out of
Secaucus.
For the first 4 seasons of the league, Secaucus was the headquarters of Major League
Lacrosse. The headquarters have since moved to Boston, Massachusetts.
Transportation
Secaucus has exceptionally good road and rail transportation. The town is divided into four by the intersecting roads of
NJ 3, which runs east and west, and the eastern spur of the New Jersey Turnpike (part of Interstate 95),
which runs north-south, with an interchange (16E/17) at NJ Route 3 and a new interchange 15X, near the Secaucus Junction, which
opened in late 2005.[7]
Because of this, many shipping warehouses and truck freight transfer stations are located in Secaucus, both for shipping
companies such as UPS and for numerous retailers. For example, Barnes & Noble's "same day delivery" service to Manhattan is
run out of a warehouse in Secaucus. The town also has a large rail yard run by Conrail/CSX/Norfolk Southern where loads are switched between trains or transferred to or from trucks.
Secaucus is also the site of New Jersey Transit's Secaucus Junction (also known as the Frank R. Lautenberg Station, and sometimes known as Secaucus
Transfer Station or Allied Junction. Currently there is no track junction, although one
is planned for the future). The transfer station links all of NJT's long-distance train lines except the Raritan Valley Line and the Atlantic City Line. Access
to the station from the rest of Secaucus is limited (it is in the southeast corner of Secaucus), via County Avenue or via NJ
Turnpike Interchange 15X.
Numerous New Jersey Transit bus lines serve Secaucus, including the 124, 129, 190 and 320 buses to the Port
Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan, the 78 to Newark, the
2 and 85 to Jersey City and
local service provided on the 772 route.[8] There is a bus park-and-ride at the northeast corner of Secaucus.
In the first half of the 20th Century a trolley line ran through the then main business district of Secaucus, on
Paterson Plank Road from Jersey
City and across the Hackensack River to East Rutherford. The extent to which the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail will resurrect this service is undecided.
The closest airport with scheduled passenger service is Newark Liberty
International Airport in Newark / Elizabeth.
Retail hub
There are several large retail areas in Secaucus.
Secaucus Plaza is the "downtown" area of Secaucus. It is just off of NJ-3. The Outlets are a collection of outlet shops
selling discounted name-brand merchandise in southwest Secaucus.
Many factory retail outlets are scattered throughout the Harmon Cove industrial section, often located in warehouses or
converted factories. Harmon Cove Outlet Center is the largest outlet mall, on Enterprise Avenue,.
The Mill Creek Mall (officially, the Mall at Mill Creek) is a moderate-level mall on
NJ-3 on the west side of the Turnpike. It's currently under renovation.
Wal-Mart and Sam's Club are located east of the NJ
Turnpike, near NJ 3 and Interchange 16E.
Corporate residents
- My Network TV's flagship station WWOR-TV,
MSNBC and NBA TV are headquartered in Secaucus, as is
Red Bull New York of Major League Soccer.
(MSNBC is scheduled to move to Manhattan and Englewood Cliffs by the end of 2007.)
- Goya Foods, purveyor of the famous brand of foods sold in many Latin American countries and in the United States, is headquartered
in Secaucus.
- The National Basketball Association holds its annual draft lottery
in Secaucus. NBA TV is produced from studios in Secaucus.
- The Japanese consumer electronics giant, Panasonic Corporation of North America, has had
its headquarters at One Panasonic Way in Secaucus since sometime in the 1980s.
- Newegg, a computer hardware dealer, has a warehouse in Secaucus.
- Secaucus is home to many datacenters including XO Communications (formally an
Allegiance Telecom facility), InterServer, Inc,[9] and Datek (now owned by Ameritrade)[10] located on Meadowlands Parkway, AT&T
located on Enterprise Avenue, and Equinix located Hartz Way.
Notable residents
Notable current and former residents include:
Pop culture references
See also
References
- ^ Page, Jeffrey. "Our towns challenge our tongues", The
Record (Bergen County), June 17, 2005. Accessed
June 19, 2007. "You can always tell newcomers to Secaucus. Because
most words are pronounced with emphasis on the next-to-last syllable, they say they live in see-KAW-cus - although the ones who
fear their friends might recall that Secaucus used to be pig-farming country might say they live in South Carlstadt, which
doesn't exist. If I said 'see-KAW-cus' to someone local, they'd think I didn't know what I was talking about, said Dan
McDonough, the municipal historian. Of course it's SEE-kaw-cus. Everybody knows that."
- ^ "The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968", John P.
Snyder, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 147-148.
- ^ Census data for Secaucus borough, United
States Census Bureau, accessed August 12, 2007.
- ^ Jersey
Resident Population by Municipality: 1930 - 1990, Workforce New Jersey Public Information Network. Accessed March 1, 2007.
- ^ Town of Secaucus, Town of Secaucus. Accessed March 16, 2007.
- ^ 2006 New Jersey Citizen's Guide to Government, New Jersey League of Women
Voters, p. 64. Accessed August 30, 2006.
- ^ Harrington, Shannon D. "Enter Exit 15", The Record (Bergen
County), November 30, 2005. Accessed
June 19, 2007. "Exit 15X, the new $250 million Secaucus
interchange on the New Jersey Turnpike, will open to motorists Thursday night."
- ^ Hudson County Bus/Rail Connection, New Jersey
Transit. Accessed June 23, 2007.
- ^ InterServer Completes Construction of new 6,000 Sq. Ft. Datacenter, accessed May 12,
2007.
- ^ Daytek Online takes
space in Secaucus, NJ Building, accessed May 12, 2007.
- ^ Hanc, John. "Lifting for Life: Dave
Draper, a 1960s bodybuilding star is back—and touting the rewards of strength building.", AARP
Bulletin, October 2006. Accessed June 23, 2007. "Except
the muscles: they were real. Draper had been developing those since he was 12, not on a West Coast beach but in the basement of
his parents' home in Secaucus, N.J."
- ^ Poor Man's Candidate, Time (magazine)
March 17, 1952. "Massive (6 ft., 240 lbs.) Henry B. Krajewski
of Secaucus, N.J. has a five-acre farm with 4,000 pigs, a flourishing saloon ("Tammany Hall Tavern") and political
ambitions."
External links
Coordinates:
40.7876° N 74.061784°
W
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