Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Jersey City

JERSEY CITY, the chief city of Hudson county in the State of New Jersey, U.S., is situated on the west bank of the Hudson, opposite New York, to which it stands in a relation similar to that cf Birkenhead to Liverpool. It is laid out irregularly, owing to its being an aggregation of three formerly distinct municipalities. Many of the streets are broad and well paved, and the city is provided with efficient gas, water, and sewerage systems. It has few striking buildings, the most prominent structures being the immense grain elevators near the river, three hospitals, an orphan's home, and the public school buildings, 21 in number. The public schools are supported by State and city taxes, and administered by a board of education. The trade of the city is very considerable; but, as it is embraced in the New York customs district, separate returns are not made. The fact that it is a terminus for three lines of ocean steamers, five trunk-lines of railways, seven lesser railways, and the Morris canal, greatly facilitates the transport of coal, iron, &c., and materially fosters its industries. Jersey City has iron-foundries, iron, steel, and zinc works, boiler yards, machine shops, railway plant manufactories, tobacco factories, breweries, and other establishments which turn out watches, glass, crucibles, sugar, soap, candles, and a large variety of hardware and other articles. The extensive abattoirs at Long Dock are noteworthy for their excellent management. The “City of Jersey” was incorporated in 1829; but in 1851 it received another charter, under its present name. Its very rapid growth has been largely owing to its absorption of the townships and cities of Van Voorst in 1851, Hudson and Bergen in 1870, and Greenville in 1872. The population in 1850 was 6856; in 1870, 82,546; and in 1880, 120,722, making it the seventeenth city in point of population in the United States.

Plan of Jersey City.