Newark has long been the largest city in New Jersey. Founded in 1666, it greatly expanded during the Industrial Revolution, becoming the commercial and cultural hub of the region. Its population grew with various waves of migration in the mid-19th century, peaking in 1950. It suffered greatly during the era of urban decline and suburbanization in the late 20th century. Since the millennium it has benefited from interest and re-investment in America's cities, recording population growth in the 2010 and 2020 censuses.
Founding and 18th century Newark was founded in 1666 by Connecticut Puritans led by Robert Treat from the New Haven Colony to avoid losing political power to others not of their own church after the union of the Connecticut and New Haven colonies.Edward Paul Rindler, "The Migration from the New Haven Colony to Newark, East New Jersey: A Study of Puritan Values and Behavior, 1630-1720" PhD dissertation U of Pennsylvania; Dissertation Abstracts International (1978), 38#11 pp 6792-6792 onlineRoyal R. Hinman. A Catalogue of the Names of the Early Puritan Settlers of the Colony of Connecticut Press of Case, Tiffany, & Co., Hartford, 1852, p. 476Joseph Atkinson, The history of Newark, New Jersey (William B. Guild, Newark, N. J., 1878), pp. 8-9 The site for Newark was chosen because the Puritans wanted an isolated location that was remote and protected from outside influence. It was the third settlement founded in New Jersey, after Bergen, New Netherland (later dissolved into Hudson County, then incorporated into Jersey City) and Elizabethtown (modern-day Elizabeth), the first state capital.
They sought to establish a theocratic colony with strict church rules similar to the one they had established in Milford, Connecticut. Treat wanted to name the community "Milford." Another settler, Abraham Pierson, had previously been a preacher in England's Newark-on-Trent, and adopted the name; he is also quoted as saying that the community reflecting the new task at hand should be named "New Ark" for "New Ark of the Covenant." The name was shortened to Newark."Origins of Thanksgiving"http://curiousnewyork.blogspot.com/2010/11/origins-of-thanksgiving-american.html?m=1The city's name is frequently said to come from Newark-on-Trent, a town in England, but that is incorrect. References to the name "New Ark" are found in preserved letters written by historical figures such as James McHenry dated as late as 1787.Bernard C. Steiner and James McHenry, The life and correspondence of James McHenry(Cleveland: Burrows Brothers Co., 1907)
Treat and the party bought the property on the Passaic River from the Hackensack Indians by exchanging gunpowder, 100 bars of lead, 20 axes, 20 coats, guns, pistols, swords, kettles, blankets, knives, beer, and ten pairs of breeches.
Following the Treaty of Westminster, New Jersey split into East Jersey and West Jersey. From 1674 to 1702, Newark was part of East Jersey and became a town in Essex County on March 7, 1683, one of the four newly independent counties in East Jersey. On October 31, 1693, Newark was organized as a New Jersey township based on the Newark Tract, which was first purchased on July 11, 1667, encompassing most of modern Essex County. In 1702, New Jersey was reunified and became a royal colony. In 1710, by royal decree of Queen Anne of Great Britain, neighboring Bergen County was enlarged to include land on New Barbadoes Neck that had been a part of Essex County.
Newark was granted a royal charter on April 27, 1713. It was incorporated on February 21, 1798, by the New Jersey Legislature's Township Act of 1798, as one of New Jersey's initial group of 104 townships. During its time as a township, Newark lost significant acreage with two-thirds of its land annexed to form Springfield Township (April 14, 1794), Caldwell Township (February 16, 1798; now known as Fairfield Township), Orange Township (November 27, 1806), Bloomfield Township (March 23, 1812) and Clinton Township (April 14, 1834, remainder reabsorbed by Newark on March 5, 1902).Snyder, John P. The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606–1968 , Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 130. Accessed March 24, 2025.
The first four settlers built houses at what is now the intersection of Broad Street and Market Street, also known as "Four Corners."Helmreich
The total control of the community by the Puritan Church continued until 1733 when Josiah Ogden harvested wheat on a Sunday following a lengthy rainstorm and was disciplined by the Church for Sabbath breaking. He left the church and corresponded with Episcopalian missionaries, who arrived to build a church in 1746 and broke up the Puritan theocracy."History of Newark", A Walk Through Newark, Thirteen/WNET. Retrieved January 13, 2006.
It took 70 years to eliminate the last vestiges of theocracy from Newark, when the right to hold office was finally granted to non-Protestants.Helmreich, p. 9
First Landing Party of the Founders of Newark (1916) and Indian and the Puritan (1916) are two of four public art works created by Gutzon Borglum that are located in Newark commemorating the city's founding.
In 1747, the College of New Jersey moved from Elizabeth to Newark following the death of school's first president, Jonathan Dickinson. The move to Newark was facilitated by Aaron Burr Sr., the successor to Mr. Dickinson, as his parsonage was located in town. In 1756, the school moved to Princeton, where it would become Princeton University, because Newark was felt to be too close to New York.
American Revolution During Washington's retreat across New Jersey, General Washington and the Continental Army made camp at Military Park in Newark and General Washington made his headquarters at Eagle Tavern on Broad Street from November 22 to 28, 1776.
On the night of January 25, 1780, British troops used sleighs to cross a frozen Hudson River from Manhattan to Paulus Hook and marched through Bergen to raid Newark. They burned down Newark Academy, which was being used as barracks to house Continental Army soldiers, ransacked neighboring homes and killed several people. Over thirty people were captured and taken prisoner back to Manhattan by the British.
Industrial era to 1900
Newark's rapid growth began in the early 19th century, 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 led to Newark's manufacturing nearly 90% of the nation's leather by 1870, bringing in $8.6 million in revenue 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.
By 1826, Newark's population stood at 8,017, ten times the 1776 number., Chapters 11 and 18. Railroads arrived in 1834 and 1835 along with a flourishing shipping business that helped Newark became the area's industrial center. On April 11, 1836, Newark was reincorporated as a city replacing Newark Township based on the results of a referendum passed on March 18, 1836.
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. Dr. Edward Weston perfected a process for zinc electroplating, as well as a superior arc lamp at the Weston Electric Light Company in Newark. As a result, the city's Military Park had the first public electric lamps anywhere in the United States. Before moving to Menlo Park in 1876, Thomas Edison made Newark his home in the early 1870s where he developed the Universal Stock Ticker which was one of the earliest practical stock ticker machines., p.181.
Newark's industry continued to expand in the late 19th century, leading local industrialists to support the opening of Newark Technical School in 1885. From the mid-century on, numerous Irish and German immigrants moved to the city. The Germans were primarily refugees from the revolutions of 1848, and, as other groups later did, established their own ethnic enterprises, such as newspapers and breweries. However, tensions existed between the "native stock" and the newer groups.
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 knew it, was founded by another transplanted New Englander, John Fairfield Dryden. He found a niche catering to the middle and lower classes. In the late 1880s, companies based in Newark sold more insurance than those in any city except Hartford, Connecticut., p.186.
By 1860, Newark had grown to be the eleventh largest city in the United States and the country's largest industrial-based city.
In 1867, the designers of New York's Central Park, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, had been asked by the Newark Park Commission, created by the New Jersey State Legislature, for their recommendations on sites in Newark to create a "central park" for the city. In October 1867, they presented a report on a site adjacent to Old Blue Jay Swamp as the best location for the park. However, the state legislature denied the $1 million required to acquire and improve the land. The idea for a park was scuttled until Essex County spearheaded the project 28 years later. By the time Branch Brook Park was built in 1895 as the first county park in the United States, only a third of the original that were envisioned were available for twice the cost. Prior to Branch Brook Park, almost no land in Newark was preserved for park space with the exception of the Downtown colonial era commons at Military Park, Washington Park and Lincoln Park. Even in these limited park spaces, Newark did not provide basic amenities such as benches or water fountains that were often found in parks in other cities.
Sanitary conditions were bad throughout urban America in the 19th century, but Newark had an especially bad reputation. The city lacked the bold leadership and imagination seen in other cities in addressing urban problems. For most of the 19th century, city leaders allowed the business elite and private interests to formulate civic policy and run public agencies in pursuit of unfettered growth and industrialization. This led to multiple issues such as a lack of any urban planning and park construction, the accumulation of human and horse waste build up on unpaved city streets, the over reliance on cesspools and wells followed by the city's inadequate, poorly designed and haphazardly constructed sewage system, and the unreliability and dubious quality of its water supply. Newark did not have a proper public medical center or hospital until 1882, relying on neighboring cities and private medical facilities for emergency care. By 1890, Newark had the highest rate of death for cities of over 100,000 people, led the nation in deaths by scarlet fever and had the highest rate of infant mortality in the United States. Newark also ranked in the top ten of cities for diseases such as croup, diphtheria, malaria, tuberculosis and typhoid fever. As a result, that year the United States Census Bureau declared Newark "The Nation's Unhealthiest City."Stuart Galishoff, Newark: the nation's unhealthiest city, 1832-1895 (1988).