Elizabeth (city, New Jersey)

Elizabeth (city, New Jersey), city in northeastern New Jersey, seat of Union County, and a deepwater port on Newark Bay and Arthur Kill. It is connected by the Goethals Bridge with Staten Island, New York. The city is an important rail and shipping center with extensive facilities for handling containerized cargo. Air transportation is through Newark International Airport, part of which lies inside the Elizabeth city limits.

Elizabeth has long been an industrial city, although retail and service activities are growing in importance. Among the many historic buildings in the city is Boxwood Hall State Historic Site, once the home of Elias Boudinot, delegate to the Continental Congress.

Elizabeth is the oldest English settlement in New Jersey, founded on land purchased from Native Americans of the Lenni Lenape people (see Delaware [people]). It was originally named Elizabethtown for the wife of Sir George Carteret, a 17th-century proprietor, or owner, of New Jersey; the name was shortened in 1740. It served as capital of New Jersey until 1686. During the American Revolution (1775-1783), Elizabeth was a frequent target of British forces located on Staten Island.

The city’s fine port and proximity to New York City spurred early industrial growth. After the arrival of the railroad in 1831, it became a coal and iron shipping point and an oil-refining, shipbuilding, and steelworking hub. Elizabeth incorporated as a city in 1855. It was the production center for Singer sewing machines from 1873, when the plant was built, until the plant was closed in the early 1980s.

Elizabeth covers a land area of 32 sq km (12 sq mi), with a mean elevation of 12 m (38 ft). According to the 2000 census, whites are 55.8 percent of the population, blacks 20 percent, Asians 2.3 percent, and Native Americans 0.5 percent. Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders represent less than 0.1 percent of the population. The remainder are of mixed heritage or did not report race. Hispanics, who may be of any race, are 49.5 percent of the people. Population 106,201 (1980); 110,002 (1990); 120,568 (2000); 126,179 (2006).