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| Map
of Paulus Hook circa 1780. Courtesy, Jersey City Free Public Library |
Obelisk Commemorating
the Battle of Paulus Hook (1779) |
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Artist's Rendering
of the Fort at Paulus Hook circa 1776. |
Artist's Rendering
of the Battle of Paulus Hook circa 1779. |
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The settlement of New Netherland by the Dutch West India Company (1621-1664) on the western side of the Hudson River contributed several locations and place names that would become part of present-day Jersey City. They are Pavonia, Communipaw, Harsimus, Paulus Hook and Bergen. After the forfeiture of land holdings at Pavonia by Michael Pauw in 1633, the Dutch West India Company named Michael Paulusen, or Paulaz, an agent for the Pavonia settlement. It is from his name that the name Paulus, and sometimes Powles, Hook is derived for the original area of Aressick. The word hoeck in Dutch means hook or point, thus Paulus Hook. Paulus Hook was a small island, separated on the west from Harsimus Island by a marsh with a stream. Local historian Joan Lovero reports that during the age of settlement, " . . . Paulus Hook rose several feet above water level and was separated from the land at its west by a creek that that was navigable at high tide" (9). It was later connected with the mainland by a causeway over the marsh. Local historian Walter F. Robinson adds that Paulus was "then an earthen embankment (now lower Newark Avenue) across the marsh to Harsimus Island, then a road (now Railroad Avenue) westward over Harsimus to Prior's Mill bridge and the mainland. This quickly became a busy part of the main post road from New York to Philadelphia" (Old Bergen Township, n.p.). Its waterfront location also gave Paulus Hook its somewhat derogatory reference as Gammontown. It is derived from the Dutch word gemeen. An Internet search on Woxikon.com reveals an array of definition from "awful" and "mean" and "malicious" to "vile." This may have conveyed what Helene Stapinski, in her description of the area, historically details: "Since the neighborhood was close to the water, it was often invaded by rats. Not the most desirable place to live" (28). By the 1760s, Paulus Hook was noted for its stage coach and ferry service. A descendant of the first Cornelius Van Vorst, Cornelius Van Vorst (1728-1818), known as "Faddy," was partly responsible for this development as he oversaw the building of a ferry lane. His ferry line ran from Paulus Hook to Cortland Street, New York City. He had three flat boats for wagons and coaches and smaller boats for passengers. His mile-long circular racetrack also brought business from the New York as well as the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. In the interest of these patrons, Van Vorst constructed a tavern at Paulus Hook with Verdine Elsworth as proprietor. It was a one-story building with a Dutch roof and eaves, overhanging a porch that faced the river, where one now finds Grand and Hudson Streets. The location of Paulus Hook would have strategic advantages as evidence of a struggle between Britain and her American colonies became more apparent. Even before war started, General George Washington had ordered a fort built at Paulus Hook to defend New York across the Hudson River from British attack, to guard the Hudson River channel, and to control the Bergen peninsula to Bergen Neck (now Bayonne). For example, on April 2, 1779, British soldiers from Paulus Hook traveled to Bergen Neck and attacked and captured the patriot soldiers stationed there. The first six months
of the war brought a succession of failures for General Washington. American
forces were defeated at the Battle of Long Island in August 1776, and
Washington's army of 10,000 men evacuated Brooklyn Heights across the
East River. On September 15, the British then claimed New York and turned
their warships on Paulus Hook. On September 23, 1776, Paulus Hook had
to be abandoned. Munitions and supplies were removed to Bergen Town. The
fort became the first New Jersey territory invaded and occupied by the
British. It remained under British control until the end of the war. It
was held by some 200 Tories under Lieutenant Colonel Abraham Van Buskirk
of Saddle River and what was called an "invalid" regiment. Raids
on the fort by patriots occasionally took place. At the conclusion of his study of the Battle of Paulus Hook, Walter K. Robinson claims, "it was one of the most brilliant and daring exploits in the war. . . . it boosted American morale everywhere" (49). Although Lee was not successful in regaining Paulus Hook Fort from the British, the Continental Congress awarded Lee a gold medal, exceptional at the time, for his daring maneuver. The British did not evacuate Paulus Hook until the end of the war in 1783. Today, a battle monument
in the park, at the southeast corner of Washington and Grand Streets,
commemorates the Battle of Paulus Hook, fought by the patriots against
the British in August 1779 hoping to regain the fort. Two
restored adjoining 1850s brownstones at 199 Washington Street in the historic
district bear the name of the war hero as the Light Horse Tavern. New Jersey historian John Cunningham comments that after the war Paulus Hook was a sparsely settled marshland with only a ferry house, lobster shanty, and "a few outbuildings" (New Jersey 124). However, Alexander Hamilton, the former Secretary of the Treasury under President Washington, saw potential in this undeveloped area. In 1804, he helped organize the Associates of the Jersey Company and leased the land. Paulus Hook was subdivided into lots for sale and for distribution free to churches. However, competition from New York City, poor business management, and the untimely death of Hamilton affected the future of the project. In 1812, the engineer and steamboat developer Robert Fulton, also saw the advantageous location of Paulus Hook for commerce. He started a ferry service between New York and Paulus Hook. His steamboat the Jersey took approximately fifteen minutes across the Hudson River. During the early nineteenth century, the railroads were responsible for filling in the remaining marshland that transformed it into a waterfront industrial site with factories and rail yards. Ferry traffic carried raw materials, brought by rail to Jersey City, across the Hudson River to New York. This approximately half square-mile in Jersey City's First Ward developed throughout the nineteenth century with companies such as Lorillard Tobacco, Colgate, American Sugar Refining (Sugar House), and Dixon Crucible. Immigrants moved into the area and lived on blocks neighboring Grand Street; it was a main street that had trolley service for the local residents. Brick row houses emerged to meet the population growth, and social reformer Cornelia Bradford began Whittier House, a social settlement house, in response to the arrivals of immigrants in the 1890s. Today the Paulus Hook Historic District has retained many of it brownstones, churches, apartments, and factories. New town houses and apartment complexes have been built in the Upper New York Bay area, vying for views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. The Hartz Mountain Industries built two-twelve story towers in the Colgate Redevelopment Area and the Applied Companies completed the Portside apartments. The Sugar House, along the Morris Canal basin, was renovated by Diversified Management Systems, and today it is a sixty-four unit condominium and opened for occupancy in June 2001. The Dixon Crucible plant was converted into a mixed-use complex of 452 apartments known as Dixon Mills in 1986. Other notable sites are the Guarantee Title & Trust Co. Bank, the US Post Office, Provident "Old Beehive" Bank and Hudson County Korean War Memorial installed at the foot of Washington Street in 2002. Boundaries for the
Paulus Hook Historic District are Montgomery Avenue, Essex Street, Greene
Street, and Marin Boulevard. References |
| By: Carmela Karnoutsos Project Administrator: Patrick Shalhoub |
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