HOBOKEN, a city of Hudson county, New Jersey, U.S.A., on the Hudson
river, adjoining Jersey City on the S. and W. and opposite New York
city, with which it is connected by ferries and by two subway lines
through tunnels under the river. Pop. (1890) 43,648; (1900) 59,364, of
whom 21,380 were foreign-born, 10,843 being natives of Germany; (1910
census) 70,324. Of the total population in 1900, 48,349 had either one
or both parents foreign-born, German being the principal racial element.
The city is served by the West Shore, and the Delaware, Lackawanna &
Western railways, being the eastern terminus of the latter, and is
connected by electric railway with the neighbouring cities of
north-eastern New Jersey. In Hoboken are the piers of the North German
Lloyd, the Hamburg American, the Netherlands American, the Scandinavian
and the Phoenix steamship lines. Hoboken occupies a little more than 1
sq. m. and lies near the foot of the New Jersey Palisades, which rise
both on the W. and N. to a height of nearly 200 ft. Much of its surface
has had to be filled in to raise it above high tide, but Castle Point,
in the N.E., rises from the generally low level about 100 ft. On this
Point are the residence and private estate of the founder of the city,
John Stevens (1749-1838), Hudson Park, and facing it the Stevens
Institute of Technology, an excellent school of mechanical engineering
endowed by Edwin A. Stevens (1795-1868), son of John Stevens, opened in
1871, and having in 1909-1910 34 instructors and 390 students. The
institute owes much to its first president, Henry Morton (1836-1902), a
distinguished scientist, whose aim was "to offer a course of instruction
in which theory and practice were carefully balanced and thoroughly
combined," and who gave to the institute sums aggregating $175,000 (see
_Morton Memorial, History of Stevens Institute_, ed. by Furman, 1905).
In connexion with the institute there is a preparatory department, the
Stevens School (1870). The city maintains a teachers' training school.
Among the city's prominent buildings are the Delaware, Lackawanna &
Western station, the Hoboken Academy (1860), founded by German
Americans, and the public library. The city has an extensive coal trade
and numerous manufactures, among which are lead pencils, leather goods,
silk goods, wall-paper and caskets. The value of the manufactured
product increased from $7,151,391 in 1890 to $12,092,872 in 1900, or
69.1%. The factory product in 1905 was valued at $14,077,305, an
increase of 34.3% over that for 1900. The site of Hoboken (originally
"Hobocanhackingh," the place of the tobacco pipe) was occupied about
1640 as a Dutch farm, but in 1643 the stock and all the buildings except
a brew-house were destroyed by the Indians. In 1711 title to the place
was acquired by Samuel Bayard, a New York merchant, who built on Castle
Point his summer residence. During the War of Independence his
descendant, William Bayard, was a loyalist, and his home was burned and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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