JERSEY CITY, city, eastern New Jersey, U.S.A., on a penin sula between the Hudson river and New York bay on the east and the Hackensack river and Newark bay on the west, opposite the lower end of Manhattan island, with which it is connected by the Hudson river tunnels, the Vehicular tunnel (opened 1927), and by ferries; the county seat of Hudson county, the second city of the State in size, and the 23rd in the United States (1935). It is served by the Baltimore and Ohio, the Central of New Jersey, the Erie, the Hudson and Manhattan, the Lehigh Valley, and the Pennsylvania railways, and for freight also by the Lackawanna and the New York Central ; and by many steamship lines which have their terminals either within the city limits or near by. The population was 298,103 in 1920 and 316,715 in 1930, of whom 233,574 were native white (73.7%), 70,313 were foreign-born white (22.2%), and 12,575 negro (4.0%).
The city has an area of 20.2sq.m. and a waterfront of um. Bergen hill, a southernly prolongation of the Palisades, extends through it from north to south, rising at the north end to nearly 2ooft. Along the crest runs the fine Hudson County boulevard, 19m. long and 1 ooft. wide. The eastern waterfront, and part of the western, is occupied by manufacturing and shipping, while the better residential sections are on the hill, which since the opening of the Hudson tubes in 1909 has been brought close to the financial district of New York city. A conspicuous feature of the Hudson river front is the immense electric clock, visible for many miles, on one of the Colgate-Palmolive-Peet factories. The dial is 5oft. across, and the minute-hand (weighing about a ton) moves thirty-one inches every minute. The public school system of Jersey City includes thirty-five elementary, four public high schools, vocational and evening schools, a school for crippled children, and special classes for children who are mentally de fective, incorrigible, retarded and anaemic and also for children defective in sight and in hearing. Children defective in speech are under the care of a special supervisor. Health examinations as well as physical education are provided throughout the system. There are also 20 parochial and i o other private schools.
Jersey City has a large foreign and coastwise shipping trade, but since it is a part of the Port of New York no separate statis tics are available. Its manufacturing industries are numerous, large, and highly diversified. Among the leading activities are foundry and machine shops, electrical machinery, bakeries, patent medicines, car and railroad repairs, chemicals, meat preparations and paints and varnishes. The aggregate output of the factories in 1929 was valued at $311,986,850. Bank deposits on Dec. 31, 1931, were $262,930,879. The assessed valuation of property for 1936 was $577113,500. Since 1913 the city has operated under a commission form of government.
The site of Jersey City was part of the patroonship of Pavonia granted to Michiel Pauw in 1630. At that time it was a small sandy peninsula (an island at high tide) known as Powles (Paulus) Hook. Settlement began in 1633, and a small agricul tural and trading community grew up. In 1764 a new post route between New York and Philadelphia passed through it, and a di rect ferry to New York was established. Early in the American Revolution, Powles Hook was fortified by the Americans, but they abandoned it soon after the battle of Long Island, and on Sep tember 23, 1776, it was occupied by the British. On August 19, 1779, in one of the most brilliant exploits of the war, the British garrison was taken by Major Henry Lee ("Light Horse Harry").
In 1804 Powles Hook (II7ac. with perhaps fifteen inhabitants) was acquired by three enterprising New York lawyers, who laid it out as a town and formed a corporation for its government. The town was incorporated in 1820 as the City of Jersey, a part of the township of Bergen. In 1838 it was reincorporated as a separate and in 1855 as a city. From time to time the area was increased by annexations of territory and by filling in the tidal lands, until the present city is over one hundred times the size of Powles Hook. The population of Jersey City, which had grown to 6,856 in 1850, was quadrupled in the following decade and tripled in the next, reaching 82,546 in 187o. It continued to increase rapidly until the year 192o, since when the growth has been slower.