Newark (New Jersey)

Newark (New Jersey), city in northeastern New Jersey. The seat of Essex County, Newark is located on the Passaic River and Newark Bay, just west of New York City. The largest city in the state, Newark is a trade, insurance, financial, and transportation center.

Port Newark, on Newark Bay, is among the nation’s largest ports for containerized cargo and is a major unit of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. One of Newark’s important functions as a transportation center is the transfer of goods from cargo vessels to the many railroads and truck lines that serve the city. In Newark is one of the largest truck terminals in the country, which serves as a transshipment point between long-distance and short-distance trucking operations.

Newark lies on major highways, including the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway. In addition, the tunnels of the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) line pass beneath the Hudson River and carry daily commuters bound for New York. Newark International Airport, among the busiest in the country, is one of the three key airports in the New York City metropolitan area.

Educational institutions include the New Jersey Institute of Technology (1881); the Newark campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (prior to 1946 the University of Newark, itself founded in 1934 as a consolidation of several schools); Seton Hall Law School (1951), part of Seton Hall University; and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey at Newark (1965).

The city has many historic buildings; the oldest dates from 1712. Notable structures include the huge Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Sacred Heart (construction started 1898 and lasted for more than 40 years). Military Park, a drill ground in the American Revolution (1775-1783), contains the large bronze statuary group The Wars of America (1927), by Gutzon Borglum, sculptor of Mount Rushmore. The Newark Museum, devoted to art, science, and industry, is noted for its collection of Tibetan art. The New Jersey Historical Society Museum displays period rooms, galleries of artifacts, and dioramas of state history. The city has a symphony orchestra and opera company; the Newark Jazz Festival is held each fall.

The Delaware people lived in the region when the first white settlers, Puritans from Connecticut, arrived in 1666. The community, believed to be named for Newark-on-Trent, England, sternly followed puritanical tenets for a generation. It was the site of several military engagements during the American Revolution and was George Washington’s supply base during his retreat to the Delaware River in 1776. Aaron Burr, Revolutionary War soldier and vice president under Thomas Jefferson, was born in Newark in 1756.

Plentiful tamarack trees, which supplied a necessary raw material for leather tanning, led to Newark’s first industry. Shoe manufacturing began in 1790. Further growth was spurred in the 1830s by the arrival of rail and canal connections to the coast. Newark incorporated as a city in 1836, and by 1860 it had become the leading industrial center of New Jersey. Many inventions and new industrial processes were developed in Newark in the 19th century, and the city entered early into the manufacture of plastics, electrical goods, and chemicals. The influx of large numbers of immigrants, particularly from Germany and Ireland, provided the rapidly growing city with needed industrial workers. From 1840 to 1870, Newark’s population increased from 17,290 to 105,000.

In the early 20th century, transportation facilities were improved. Port Newark was developed during World War I (1914-1918), and Newark Airport was opened in 1929. By 1930 Newark had 442,000 inhabitants. The city’s industries were hard hit during the Great Depression in the 1930s, and unemployment resulted in housing deterioration. Although the economy recovered during World War II (1939-1945), a trend was established; middle-class whites were moving to the suburbs and blacks who were looking for jobs were moving into the city.

By the 1960s blacks, while nearing a majority of the population, held little political power. In July 1967 the city’s black central district exploded in riots that left 26 people dead and drew national attention to Newark’s deteriorated housing, high unemployment, and corrupt municipal government. More riots followed in 1968 after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1970 Newark became the first major northeastern city to elect a black mayor, Kenneth A. Gibson. Signs of a renaissance for the city began to be seen in the 1980s, notably new residential and commercial construction.

Newark covers a land area of 62 sq km (24 sq mi), with a mean elevation of 29 m (95 ft). According to the 2000 census, blacks are 53.5 percent of the population, whites 26.5 percent, Asians 1.2 percent, and Native Americans 0.4 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 29.5 percent of the people. Population 329,248 (1980); 275,221 (1990); 273,546 (2000); 281,402 (2006).