Newark, New Jersey

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Skyline of downtown Newark as seen from the Newark Bay Bridge.

For other places with this name, see Newark (disambiguation).

Newark, nicknamed The Brick City, is the largest city in New Jersey, United States, and the county seat of urban Essex County. As of the United States 2000 Census, the city had a total population of 273,546. The Census Bureau's 2004 estimate is that the city has grown to a population of 280,451.

Located approximately five miles (8 km) west of Manhattan, its location near the Atlantic Ocean on Newark Bay has helped make its port facility, Port Newark, the major container shipping port for New York Harbor. It is the home of Newark Liberty International Airport (formerly Newark International Airport) which was the first major airport to serve the New York metropolitan area.

History

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The landing of the Puritans in 1666, from the Settlers' Monument, Fairmount Cemetery.

Newark was founded in 1666 by Connecticut Puritans led by Robert Treat, making it the third-oldest major city in the United States, after Boston and New York, though it is not the third-oldest settlement. Newark is the city's third name; previously, it was called Pasaic Town and New Milford. The name comes from Newark-on-Trent, a town in England from where some of the original settlers arrived.

Colonial era

Newark was a relatively large town in the colonial era, known for its good beer, ciders, and tanned leather goods. In religion, it stayed loyal to old Puritan ways longer than the communities of New England, and was very receptive to the Great Awakening. When the seminaries at Yale and Harvard showed disdain for Great Awakening evangelicalism, several Newark ministers led by Aaron Burr (father of Vice President Aaron Burr) founded the College of New Jersey, later to be known as Princeton, in neighboring Elizabeth.

Industrial era to World War II

Newark's rapid growth began in the early 1800s, much of it due to a Massachusetts transplant named Seth Boyden. Boyden came to Newark in 1815, and immediately began a torrent of improvements to leather manufacture, culminating in the process for making patent leather. Boyden's genius would eventually allow Newark to manufacture almost 90% of the nation's leather by 1870, bringing in $8.6 million to the city in that year alone. In 1824, Boyden, bored with leather, found a way to produce malleable iron. Newark also prospered by the construction of the Morris Canal in 1831. The canal connected Newark with the New Jersey hinterland, at that time a major iron and farm area. Railroads also arrived in 1834 and 1835. A flourishing shipping business resulted, and Newark became the area's industrial center. In 1826, Newark's population stood at 8,017, ten times the 1776 number.(Newark, John T. Cunningham, Chap. 11, Chap. 18)

The middle 19th century saw continued growth and diversification of Newark's industrial base. The first commercially successful plastic — Celluloid — was produced in a factory on Mechanic Street by John Wesley Hyatt. Hyatt's Celluloid found its way into Newark-made carriages, billiard balls, and dentures. Edward Weston perfected in Newark a process for zinc electroplating, as well as a superior arc lamp. Newark's Military Park had the first public electric lamps anywhere in the United States. Before moving to Menlo Park, Thomas Edison himself made Newark home in the early 1870s. He invented the stock ticker in the Brick City.(Ibid, Chap. 18, pg 181) In the late 19th century, its industry was further developed, especially through the efforts of such men as Seth Boyden and J. W. Hyatt. The Irish and the Germans emigrated to the city; the Germans established their own newspapers, which the other ethnic groups have emulated. However, tensions existed between the “native stock” and the newer groups.

Newark Smelting and Refining Works, Ed. Balbach and Sons, c. 1870.

In the middle 19th century, Newark added insurance to its repertoire of businesses; Mutual Benefit was founded in the city in 1845 and Prudential in 1873. Prudential, or "the Pru" as generations of Newarkers knew it, was founded by another transplanted New Englander, John Fairfield Dryden, who found a niche catering to the middle and lower classes. Today, Newark sells more insurance than any city except Hartford.(Ibid, Chap. 19, pg 186)

In 1880, Newark's population stood at 136,508; in 1890 at 181,830; in 1900 at 246,070; and in 1910 at 347,000, a jump of 200,000 in three decades.(Cunningham, 201) As Newark's population approached a half million in the 1920s, the city's potential seemed limitless. It was said in 1927:"Great is Newark's vitality. It is the red blood in its veins – this basic strength that is going to carry it over whatever hurdles it may encounter, enable it to recover from whatever losses it may suffer and battle its way to still higher achievement industrially and financially, making it eventually perhaps the greatest industrial center in the world"(pop figures from Newark, pg 201; quotation from Kenneth T. Jackson, Crabgrass Frontier, 275).

Newark was bustling in the early to mid-20th century. Market and Broad Streets served as a center of retail commerce for the region anchored by four flourishing department stores like Hahne & Company, L. Bamberger and Company, L.S. Plaut and Company, and Kresge's (later known as K-Mart). "Broad Street today is the Mecca of visitors as it has been through all its long history," Newark merchants boasted, "they come in hundreds of thousands now when once they came in hundreds."(Newark, pg. 195)

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Headquarters of the Prudential in late 19th century.

In 1922, Newark had 63 live theaters, 46 movie theaters, and an active nightlife. Dutch Schultz was killed in 1935 at the local Palace Bar. Billie Holiday frequently stayed at the Coleman Hotel. By some measures, the intersection of Market and Broad Streets — known as the "Four Corners" — was the busiest intersection in the United States, in terms of cars using it. In 1915, Public Service counted over 280,000 pedestrian crossings in one thirteen-hour period. Eleven years later, on October 26, 1926, a State Motor Vehicle Department check at the Four Corners counted 2,644 trolleys, 4,098 buses, 2657 taxis, 3474 commercial vehicles, and 23,571 automobiles. Traffic in Newark was so heavy that the city converted the old bed of the Morris Canal into the Newark City Subway, making Newark one of the only cities in the country to have an underground system. New skyscrapers were being built every year, the two tallest being the 40-story Art Deco National Newark Building and the Lefcourt-Newark Building. In 1948, just after World War II, Newark hit its peak population of just under 450,000. The population also grew as immigrants from South and Eastern Europe settled here. Newark witnessed distinctive neighborhoods including a large Jewish community concentrated along Prince Street.

According to legend, the Texas-born artist Robert Rauschenberg accidentally left his bus in Newark and spent a week there before he realized it wasn't New York City.

Post-World War II era

Problems existed underneath the industrial hum. In 1930, a city commissioner had told a local booster club, the Optimists:

Newark is not like the city of old. The old, quiet residential community is a thing of the past, and in its place has come a city teeming with activity. With the change has come something unfortunate—the large number of outstanding citizens who used to live within the community's boundaries has dwindled. Many of them have moved to the suburbs and their home interests are there.(Jackson, 277)

Most New Jerseyans attributed Newark's demise to post-World War II phenomena—the 1967 riots, the construction of the New Jersey Turnpike, Interstate 280 and Interstate 78, decentralization of manufacturing, the G.I. Bill, and the general pro-suburban fiscal order—but Newark's relative decline actually began long before that. The city budget fell from $58 million in 1938 to only $45 million in 1944, despite the wartime boom and an increase in the tax rate from $4.61 to $5.30. Even in 1944, before anyone predicted the rise of the Sun Belt or the G.I. Bill, planners saw problems on Newark's horizon.

Some attribute Newark's downfall to building so many housing projects. However, Newark's housing was always a matter of concern. The 1944 city-commissioned study showed that 31% of all Newark dwelling units were below standards of health, and only 17% of Newark's units were owner-occupied. Vast sections of Newark were wooden tenements, and at least 5,000 units failed to meet any thresholds of being a decent place to live. Bad housing predated government intervention in the housing market.(Newark, Chap. 27)

One theory postulated by Kenneth T. Jackson and others is that Newark, having a situation where a poor center was surrounded by middle-class outlying areas, only did well when it was able to annex middle-class suburbs. When municipal annexation broke down, urban problems developed since the middle-class edge was now divorced from the poor center. In 1900, Newark's mayor had confidently thought out loud, "East Orange, Vailsburg, Harrison, Kearny, and Belleville would be desirable acquisitions. By an exercise of discretion we can enlarge the city from decade to decade without unnecessarily taxing the property within our limits, which has already paid the cost of public improvements." Only Vailsburg would ever be added.(Crabgrass Frontier, pg 277)

Although numerous problems predated World War II, Newark was hamstrung by a number of trends in the post-WWII era. The Federal Housing Administration redlined virtually all of Newark, preferring to back up mortgages in the white suburbs. Manufacturers set up in lower wage environments and could receive bigger tax deductions for building an entirely new factory in outlying areas than for rehabilitating an old factory in a city. Billed as transportation improvements, I-280, the New Jersey Turnpike, and I-78 harmed Newark as well. They directly hurt the city by tearing the fabric of the neighborhoods they went though, and indirectly hurt the city because the new infrastructure allowed middle class people to commute into the city.

Despite its problems, Newark did try in the postwar era. Prudential and Mutual Benefit were successfully enticed to stay and build new offices. Rutgers University-Newark and Seton Hall University expanded their Newark presences, with the former building a brand-new campus on a 23 acre (93,000 m²) urban renewal site. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey made Newark the first container port in the nation and turned swamps in the south of the city into one of the ten busiest airports in the United States.

Even though it was not the sole cause of Newark's tragedy, the city made some serious mistakes with public housing and urban renewal. Across several administrations, the city leaders of Newark saw the federal government's offer to pay for 100% of the costs of housing projects as a blessing. While other cities were skeptical about putting so many poor and socially dysfunctional individuals together and thus were cautious in building housing projects, Newark avidly pursued federal dollars. Eventually, Newark would have a higher percentage of its residents in public housing than any other American city.

The Italian First Ward was one of the hardest hit by urban renewal. A 46-acre (186,000 m²) tract, labelled a slum because it was so dense, was torn down for multi-story Le Corbusier-style high rises, to be known as the Christopher Columbus Homes. The tract had contained 8th Avenue, the commercial heart of the neighborhood. Fifteen small-scale blocks were reduced to three "superblocks." "As one First Warder put it, 'those projects killed the Ward. It was over after that.' Another First Warder, commenting on the project's size, put it even more bluntly: 'They built monsters down there.'" The Columbus Homes, never in harmony with the rest of the neighborhood, were abandoned in the 1970s, and was torn down in 1994.(Immerso, "Newark's Little Italy: the Vanished First Ward.")

As pesticides and mechanization reduced the need for cheap labor in the South, five million blacks migrated to northern cities between 1940 and the 1970s. From 1950 to 1960, while Newark saw its overall population drop from 438,000 to 408,000, it gained 65,000 non-whites. By 1966, Newark had a black majority, a faster turnover than most other northern cities had experienced. Evaluating the riots of 1967, Newark educator Nathan Wright, Jr. said "no typical American city has as yet experienced such a precipitous change from a white to a black majority." The misfortune of the Great Migration and Puerto Rican immigration was that Southern blacks and Puerto Ricans were moving to Newark to be industrial workers just as the industrial jobs were drying up. Newark blacks left poverty in the South to find poverty in the North.

During the 1950s alone, Newark's white population decreased from 363,000 to 266,000. From 1960 to 1967, its white population fell a further 46,000. Though white flight changed the complexion of Newark residents, white flight did not change the complexion of political and economic power in the city. In 1967, out of a police force of 1400, only 150 members were black, mostly in subordinate positions. The whiteness and brutality of the police force led it to be seen as an occupying force rather than a protective entity. Since Newark's blacks lived in neighborhoods that had been white only two decades earlier, nearly all of their apartments and stores were white-owned as well. In 1967 when 70% of Newark's students were black, Mayor Hugh Addonizio refused to appoint a black secretary to the Board of Education. Mayor Addonizio offered, without consulting any residents of the neighborhood to be affected, to condemn and raze for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey 150 acres (607,000 m²) of a densely populated black neighborhood in the central ward. UMDNJ had wanted to settle in suburban Madison.

1967 riots

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Fires started in the 1967 Newark riots destroyed wide swaths of the city.

Main article: 1967 Newark riots

The poverty and lack of political power contributed to a growing radicalization of Newark's black population. On July 12, 1967, a black taxi driver named John Smith was arrested and brutally beaten by police for illegally passing a double-parked police car and then resisting arrest. A crowd gathered outside the police station where he was detained. Due to miscommunication the crowd believed Smith had died in custody (actually he had been transported to hospital via a back entrance). This sparked scuffles between blacks and police in the fourth ward, but damage for the night was only $2,500. However, following television news broadcasts on July 13, new and larger riots took place. Twenty-six people were killed, 1,500 wounded, 1,600 arrested, and $10 million in property was destroyed. More than a thousand businesses were torched or looted, including 167 groceries, with most never to reopen. Newark's reputation suffered dramatically. Tens of thousands of whites moved out. Middle class areas like Weequahic went from middle class white to poor black seemingly overnight. It was said "wherever American cities are going, Newark will get there first."

Post-riots

Semi-abandoned buildings in the riot area, mid 1990s

Newark saw a continued decline in the 1970s and 1980s. Whites continued to move out of the city. Middle class blacks followed suit, and certain pockets of the city developed as domains of poverty and social isolation. Whenever the media of New York needed to find some example of urban despair, they traveled to Newark.

In American Pastoral, a novel by Newark-born author Philip Roth, the protagonist Swede Levov says:

[Newark] used to be the city where they manufactured everything, now it's the car theft capital of the world ... there was a factory where somebody was making something on every side street. Now there's a liquor store on every street — a liquor store, a pizza stand, and a seedy storefront church. Everything else is in ruins or boarded up.

In January 1975, an article in Harper's Magazine ranked the fifty largest American cities in twenty-four categories, ranging from park space to crime. Newark was one of the five worst in nineteen out of twenty-four categories, and the very worst in nine. Only 70% of Newarkers even owned a telephone. The city ranked second worst, St. Louis, was much farther from Newark than the cities in the top five were from each other. The article concluded:

The city of Newark stands without serious challenge as the worst [city] of all. It ranked among the worst cities in no fewer than nineteen of twenty-four categories, and it was dead last in nine of them... Newark is a city that desperately needs help.(Harper's, January 1975)

Newark did have several achievements in the two and a half decades after the riots. In 1968, the New Community Corporation was founded and was one of the most successful community building organizations in the nation. In 1987, the NCC would own and manage 2,265 low-income housing units.

Newark's downtown also saw growth in the post-riot decades. Less than two weeks after the riots, Prudential announced plans to underwrite a $24 million office complex near Penn Station — dubbed "Gateway." The Gateway today hosts thousands of white-collar workers, though few live in Newark. The buildings themselves were not designed with consideration for pedestrians.

Before the riots, there had been an issue over whether the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey would be built in the suburbs or Newark. The riots and Newark's undeniable desperation made definite that the medical school would be in Newark. However, instead of being built on 167 acres (676,000 m²), the medical school would be built on just 60, part of which was already city owned.

In politics, Kenneth A. Gibson was elected as one of the first African-American mayors in the nation in 1970. The 1970s were a time of battles between Gibson and the shrinking white population. In North Newark, Anthony "Tough Tony" Imperiale represented the white backlash. Imperiale initially won fame by organizing the defense of the North Ward during the riots, and had an unsuccessful run at the mayorship.

Gibson admitted that "Newark may be the most decayed and financially crippled city in the nation." The higher taxes may have been necessary to pay for services like schools and sanitation, but they did nothing for Newark's economic base; the CEO of Ballantine's Brewery even asserted that Newark's $1 million annual tax bill was the cause of the company's bankruptcy.(Newark, 339)

Today

Broad Street from the Prudential Financial Building.

Sharpe James was elected as Newark's mayor in 1986. James had been a tireless promoter of the city in the media and in the New Jersey Senate, but he is criticized for his high salary (over $200,000 a year) and the corruption that he tolerated. James was also criticized by opponents of the new New Jersey Devils arena — they say that $200 million is far too much for a city as poor and small as Newark to pay for a one-sport venue.

The New Jersey Performing Arts Center opened in the downtown area in 1997; in a few years it has brought 1.6 million people to Newark who might never have visited. NJPAC is known for its acoustics and the diversity of entertainment, from "Itzhak Perlman to 'N Sync, Lauryn Hill to the Vienna Boys' Choir, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater."

In the 1990s, Newark benefitted from the soaring national economy, its proximity to Manhattan, and from huge increases in state aid for education. The city successfully attracted several high-tech concerns with its state of the art fiber optic network. Since 2000, Newark has actually gained population, its first increase since the 1940s. In 2004, its crime rate decreased 56%, though murders remain stubbornly high.

Geography

Map of the Newark metropolitan area, including adjacent suburbs

Located at 40° 44' 14" north and 74° 10' 55" west, Newark is 24.14 square miles (63 km²) in area. It has the smallest land area among 100 most populous cities in the U.S. The city's altitude ranges from 0 to 273.4 feet (83 m) above sea level, with the average being 55 feet (17 m).

Newark is essentially a large basin sloping towards the Passaic River, with a few valleys formed by meandering streams. Historically, Newark's high places have been its wealthier neighborhoods. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the wealthy congregated on the ridges of Forest Hill, High Street, and Weequahic.

Until the 20th century, the marshes on Newark Bay were difficult to develop. The marshes were essentially wilderness, with a few dumps, warehouses, and cemeteries on their edges. In the 19th century Newarkers mourned that a fifth of their city could not be used. However, in the 20th century the growing Newark airport benefitted enormously from having such a reservoir of open land.

Neighborhoods

Main article: List of neighborhoods in Newark, New Jersey

Newark is New Jersey's largest and second-most diverse city, after neighboring Jersey City. Its neighborhoods are populated with people from various backgrounds, including African-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Italians, Jews, Subsaharan Africans, and various Latinos such as Brazilians, Ecuadorians, and Haitians. Newark also has the largest Portuguese population of any American city.

The North Ward

Newark's North Ward is the ridge to the east of Branch Brook Park. The still-wealthy Forest Hill, Newark, New Jersey is in the North Ward, as are heavily Latino areas west of Mt. Prospect Avenue.

The Central Ward

The Central Ward is a poor, mostly black, area. In the 19th century it was inhabited by Germans. The German inhabitants were later replaced by Jews, who were then replaced by blacks. Newark built many public housing projects on superblocks in the Central Ward in the 19th century; the area's streets are hence no longer arranged in a grid.

The West Ward

The West Ward comprises the middle-class, quasi-suburban neighborhoods of Roseville and Vailsburg. Vailsburg is largely black, while Roseville is white and Latino.

The South Ward

The South Ward comprises poor areas and the middle-class Weequahic district. It was the last part of Newark to be developed. At the southern end of the ward is Weequahic Park.

The East Ward

The East Ward is the heavily Portuguese Ironbound neighborhood. Much of Newark's industry was located here in the 19th century; the area was then poorer than the rest of the city. Today, due to the enterprise of its immigrant population, the Ironbound is wealthier than the rest of Newark.

Demographics

Map of Downtown Newark and environs

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there are 273,546 people, recent census projections show that the population has increased to around 280,000. The population density is 11,400/mile² (4,400/km²), or 21,000/mile² (8,100 km²) once airport, railroad, and seaport lands are excluded, the second-highest in the nation.

The racial makeup of the city is 26.52% White or Euro-American, 53.46% Black or African American, 0.37% Native American, 1.19% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 14.05% from other races, and 4.36% from two or more races. 29.47% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There is a significant Portuguese-speaking community, made up by Brazilian and Portuguese ethnicities, concentrated mainly at the Ironbound district.

There are 91,382 households out of which 35.2% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 31.0% are married couples living together, 29.3% have a female householder with no husband present, and 32.2% are non-families. 26.6% of all households are made up of individuals and 8.8% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.85 and the average family size is 3.43.

In the city the population is spread out with 27.9% under the age of 18, 12.1% from 18 to 24, 32.0% from 25 to 44, 18.7% from 45 to 64, and 9.3% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 31 years. For every 100 females there are 94.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 91.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $26,913, and the median income for a family is $30,781. Males have a median income of $29,748 versus $25,734 for females. The per capita income for the city is $13,009. 28.4% of the population and 25.5% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 36.6% of those under the age of 18 and 24.1% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Government

Local government

Effective as of July 1, 1954, the voters of the city of Newark, by a referendum held on November 3, 1953 and acting pursuant to the Optional Municipal Charter Law (commonly known as the Faulkner Act), adopted the Faulkner Act (Mayor-Council) Plan C as the form of local government.

Pursuant to this Plan, 9 council members are elected on a nonpartisan basis at the regular municipal election or at the general election for terms of 4 years: one council member from each of 5 wards and 4 council members on an at-large basis. The mayor is also elected for a term of 4 years.

The Mayor of Newark is Sharpe James. The only Civil Rights veteran still serving as Mayor in America, Sharpe James became Newark's longest-serving mayor when he was re-elected for an unprecedented fifth term in 2002, a year after being named New Jersey Conference of Mayors Mayor of the Year. First elected mayor of Newark on May 13, 1986, James was sworn into office on July 1 of that year. He was the first Newark mayor to run unopposed when he sought re-election in 1990 and handily won re-election in 1994, 1998, and 2002.

The Municipal Council exercises the legislative power of city government. It enacts by ordinance, resolution or motion the local laws which govern the people of the city, and is responsible for approval of the municipal budget, establishment of financial controls, and setting of salaries of elected officials and top appointed administrators. It may reduce or increase appropriations requested by the Mayor. By these methods the Council decides "what" the city will do about any particular matter, and then the Mayor and cabinet members decide "how" to do it.

The Municipal Council also renders advice and consent on the Mayor's appointments and policy programs, and may investigate, when necessary, any branch of municipal government. The Council also authorizes a continuing audit by an outside firm, of all city financial transactions.

As established by ordinance, regular public meetings of the Municipal Council are held on the first Wednesday of each month at 1:00 p.m., and the third Wednesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. in the Municipal Council Chamber in City Hall. Exceptions are made for national or religious holidays. During July and August only one meeting is held each month. A special meeting of the Municipal Council may be called by the President or a majority of its members or by the Mayor whenever an emergency requires immediate action.

Members of Newark's Municipal Council are:

• Donald Bradley - Council President and Council Member, South Ward
• Augusto Amador - Council Member, East Ward
• Charles A. Bell - Council Member, Central Ward
• Mamie Bridgeforth - Council Member, West Ward
• Hector M. Corchado - Council Member, North Ward
• Gayle H. Chaneyfield-Jenkins - Council Member-At-Large
• Luis Quintana - Council Member-At-Large
• Donald Kofi Tucker - Council Member-At-Large. Tucker died on October 17, 2005, having served 31 continuous years on the Council.
• Bessie Walker - Council Member-At-Large

Federal, state and county representation

Newark is in both the Tenth and Thirteenth Congressional Districts and is part of New Jersey's 27th, 28th and 29th Legislative Districts.

For the 118th United States Congress, New Jersey's 10th congressional district is represented by LaMonica McIver (D, Newark). New Jersey's 13th congressional district is represented by Albio Sires (D, West New York). New Jersey is represented in the United States Senate by Democrats Cory Booker (Newark, term ends 2027) and George Helmy (Mountain Lakes, term ends 2024).

For the 2024-2025 session, the 27th legislative district of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by John F. McKeon (D, West Orange) and in the General Assembly by Rosy Bagolie (D, Livingston) and Alixon Collazos-Gill (D, Montclair). For the 2024-2025 session, the 28th legislative district of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by Renee Burgess (D, Irvington) and in the General Assembly by Garnet Hall (D, Maplewood) and Cleopatra Tucker (D, Newark). For the 2024-2025 session, the 29th legislative district of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by Teresa Ruiz (D, Newark) and in the General Assembly by Eliana Pintor Marin (D, Newark) and Shanique Speight (D, Newark). Template:NJ Governor

Essex County is governed by a directly elected county executive, with legislative functions performed by the Board of County Commissioners. As of 2024, the County Executive is Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. (D, Roseland), whose four-year term of office ends December 31, 2026. The county's Board of County Commissioners is composed of nine members, five of whom are elected from districts and four of whom are elected on an at-large basis. They are elected for three-year concurrent terms and may be re-elected to successive terms at the annual election in November. Essex County's Commissioners are:

Robert Mercado (D, District 1 – Newark's North and East Wards, parts of Central and West Wards; Newark, 2026), A'Dorian Murray-Thomas (D, District 2 – Irvington, Maplewood and parts of Newark's South and West Wards; Newark, 2026), Vice President Tyshammie L. Cooper (D, District 3 - Newark: West and Central Wards; East Orange, Orange and South Orange; East Orange, 2026), Leonard M. Luciano (D, District 4 – Caldwell, Cedar Grove, Essex Fells, Fairfield, Livingston, Millburn, North Caldwell, Roseland, Verona, West Caldwell and West Orange; West Caldwell, 2026), President Carlos M. Pomares (D, District 5 – Belleville, Bloomfield, Glen Ridge, Montclair and Nutley; Bloomfield, 2026), Brendan W. Gill (D, at large; Montclair, 2026), Romaine Graham (D, at large; Irvington, 2026), Wayne Richardson (D, at large; Newark, 2026), Patricia Sebold (D, at-large; Livingston, 2026).

Constitutional officers elected countywide are: Clerk Christopher J. Durkin (D, West Caldwell, 2025), Register of Deeds Juan M. Rivera Jr. (D, Newark, 2025), Sheriff Armando B. Fontoura (D, Fairfield, 2024), and Surrogate Alturrick Kenney (D, Newark, 2028).

Economy

Newark has over 300 types of businesses. These include 1,800 retail, 540 wholesale establishments, eight major bank headquarters (including those of New Jersey's three largest banks), and twelve savings and loan association headquarters. Deposits in Newark-based banks are over $20 billion.

Newark is the third-largest insurance center in United States, after New York City and Hartford. Prudential Insurance and Mutual Benefit Companies originated in Newark. The former, the largest insurance company in the world, is still headquartered in Newark.

Though Newark is not the industrial colossus of the past, the city does have a considerable amount of industry. The southern portion of the Ironbound, also known as the Industrial Meadowlands, has seen many factories built since World War II, including a large brewery.

Education

Newark is the home of Rutgers University-Newark, the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Seton Hall University's School of Law, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (Newark Campus), and Essex County College. Most of Newark's academic institutions are located in the city's University Heights district. Rutgers-Newark and NJIT are in the midst of major expansion programs, including plans to purchase, and sometimes raze, surrounding buildings, as well as revitalize current campuses. With more students' requesting to live on campus, the universities have plans to build and expand several dormitories. Such overcrowding is contributing to the revitalization of nearby apartments. Nearby restaurants primarily serve college students. Well lit, frequently policed walks have been organized by the colleges to encourage students to venture downtown.

Culture

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Newark's Penn Station is a busy commuter and Amtrak hub. The station was designed by McKim, Mead, and White

Downtown Newark is not laid out on a grid, giving the downtown area character. There are several notable Beaux-Arts buildings, such as the Veterans' Administration building, the Newark Museum, the Newark Public Library, and the Cass Gilbert-designed Essex County Courthouse. Notable Art Deco buildings include several 1920s era skyscrapers, such as 1180 Raymond Boulevard, the intact Newark Penn Station, and Arts High School. Gothic architecture can be found at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart by Branch Brook Park, which is one of the largest gothic cathedrals in the United States. It is rumoured to have as much stained glass as the Cathedral of Chartres. Newark also has two public sculpture works by Gutzon Borglum — Wars of America in Military Park and Seated Lincoln in front of the Essex County Courthouse.

The Newark Museum has a first class American art collection, and its Tibetan collection is considered one of the best in the world. Through January 2006 the Newark Museum is displayinf Dominican baseball art and African clothing. The city is also home to the New Jersey Historical Society, which has rotating exhibits on New Jersey and Newark. The Newark Public Library also produces a series of historical exhibits. Also through January 2006, the Newark Public Library is exhibiting the New Jersey photography of Harry Dorer.

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Ferry Street, just east of downtown is the Ironbound, Newark's vibrant Brazilian/Portuguese neighborhood.

In February 2004, plans were announced for a new Smithsonian-affiliated Museum of African-American Music to be built in the city's Lincoln Park neighborhood. The museum will be dedicated to black musical styles, from gospel to rap. The new museum will incorporate the facade of the old South Park Presbyterian Church, where Abraham Lincoln once spoke. Groundbreaking is planned for winter 2006 with the grandopening scheduled for 2007.

Plans were formalized in November 2004 for a New Jersey Jewish Museum at Temple Ahavas Shalom in the Broadway neighborhood, the last synagogue in Newark. The museum will memorialize the Jewish community of Newark, which once numbered 60,000 and had fifty shuls.

The new Newark Arena for the New Jersey Devils is under construction. Newark recently established a minor league baseball team, the revived Newark Bears.

The city has produced more influential rap artists than one would expect from a city of Newark's size. Queen Latifah, The Fugees, Naughty by Nature, Artifacts and Redman all came from Newark or neighboring East Orange and South Orange, as did several lesser known hip-hop artists such as Jaheim, Faith Evans, and Joe. Additionally, Ice T was born in Newark, but later moved to Los Angeles. Also, from 1947 until the mid-1990s, Herman Lubinsky's influential jazz label, Savoy Records, was located at 58 Market Street in downtown Newark.

Pioneer radio station WOR AM was originally licensed to and broadcast from the Bamberger's Department Store in Newark.

Famous people born or raised in Newark

• Actor Jason Alexander (birth name Jason Scott Greenspan), Seinfeld co-star
• Film director Brian De Palma was born and lives in Newark.
• World famous singer Whitney Houston
• Rapper Redman, whose raps about Newark include "Welcome 2 Da Bricks" on his Doc's Da Name 2000 album.
• Actress/rapper Queen Latifah (Dana Owens)
• Novelist Philip Roth grew up in Newark's Weequahic neighborhood, and his Pulitzer-prize winning novel American Pastoral as well as some of his other books are set in Newark.
• Jazz composer/player Wayne Shorter
• World famous singer/songwriter Paul Simon
• Basketball Star Shaq was born in Columbus Hospital.
• Actor J.D. Williams, from HBO television shows The Wire and Oz.
• Author Stephen Crane, most notably from Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and The Red Badge of Courage.
• Jazz singer Sarah Vaughan
• Lead singer Gerard Way and bassist Mikey Way of the punk rock band My Chemical Romance were both born in Newark but later moved to Belleville, New Jersey

References

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External links

• The City of Newark, New Jersey
• Go Newark - Guide to news, culture, history, and leisure activities in and around Newark.
• Map of Newark
• "Newark: A Brief History" on PBS website
• Newarkology Website
• Old Newark
• New Jersey Historical Society
• Newark City Subway - Overview and history of the subway.
• The Star-Ledger (Newark news)
• New Jersey Performing Arts Center
• Newark Public Library
• US Census Bureau - Newark - QuickFacts