Union City is a city in the northern part of Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city was the state's 18th-most-populous municipality,Table1. New Jersey Counties and Most Populous Cities and Townships: 2020 and 2010 Censuses, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Accessed December 1, 2022. with a population of 68,589, an increase of 2,134 (+3.2%) from the 2010 census count of 66,455, which in turn had reflected a decline of 633 (−0.9%) from the 67,088 counted in the 2000 census.Table 7. Population for the Counties and Municipalities in New Jersey: 1990, 2000 and 2010, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, February 2011. Accessed May 1, 2023. As of the 2010 Census, among cities with a population of more than 50,000, it was the most densely populated city in the United States, with a density of 54,138 per square mile of land.Maciag, Mike. "Population Density for U.S. Cities Statistics", Governing, November 29, 2017. Accessed December 4, 2020. "The following are the most densely populated cities with populations exceeding 50,000: Union City, N.J.: 54,138 persons/sq. mile" The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 65,366 in 2022, ranking the city the 590th-most-populous in the country.
Union City was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on June 1, 1925, with the merger of Union Hill and West Hoboken Township.Snyder, John P. The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606–1968, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 148. Accessed May 30, 2024.Hutchinson, Viola L. The Origin of New Jersey Place Names, New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed October 14, 2015.
Two major waves of immigration, first of German speakers and then of Spanish speakers, greatly influenced the development and character of Union City. Its two nicknames, "Embroidery Capital of the United States" and "Havana on the Hudson", reflect important aspects of that history. Thousands visit Union City each year to see the nation's longest-running passion play.Shortell, Tom. "Passion Play continues Lenten tradition in Union City", The Jersey Journal, April 1, 2019, updated April 1, 2010. Accessed November 14, 2019. "John Penn Lewis, the Park Performing Arts Center’s executive director, said the show is believed to be the longest running Passion Play in America and possibly on this continent."
Union City is where Mallomars were first sold and the site of the first lunch wagon, built by Jerry and Daniel O'Mahoney and John Hanf, which helped spark New Jersey's golden age of diner manufacturing, for which the state is colloquially referred to by author Richard J.S. Gutman as the "diner capital of the world".Gabriele, Michael C. "Classic Diners, Offering a Glimpse Into the Past, are True Jersey Gems", New Jersey Monthly, May 1, 2018. Accessed April 7, 2024. "A Jersey City restaurant entrepreneur, Michael Griffin, purchased the first O'Mahony wagon for $800. A contract, dated July 3, 1912, stated the wagon would operate in West Hoboken (today’s Union City), in the vicinity of Paterson Plank Road and Summit Avenue.... The transaction helped set in motion New Jersey’s golden age of diner manufacturing, which in turn made the Garden State the diner capital of the world."
History Early history and civic boundaries
The area of what is today Union City was originally inhabited by the Munsee-speaking branch of Lenape Native Americans,Trigger, Bruce G. Delaware languages: Handbook of North American Indians Vol. 15: Northeast, page 215. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. 1978. .Day, Gordon M. "The Indian as an Ecological Factor in the Northeastern Forests." Ecology, Vol. 34, No. 2 (April): 329-346. New England and New York areas 1580–1800. Notes that the Lenni Lenape (Delaware) tribe in New Jersey and the Massachuset tribe in Massachusetts used fire in ecosystems.1953Russell, Emily W.B. "Vegetational Change in Northern New Jersey Since 1500 A.D.: A Palynological, Vegetational and Historical Synthesis." PhD dissertation. New Brunswick, PA: Rutgers University. Author notes on page 8 that Indians often augmented lightning fires. 1979Russell, Emily W.B. "Indian Set Fires in the Forests of the Northeastern United States." Ecology, Vol. 64, No. 1 (Feb): 78 88. 1983a Author found no strong evidence that Indians purposely burned large areas, but they did burn small areas near their habitation sites. Noted that the Lenna Lenape Tribe used fire.A Brief Description of New York, Formerly Called New Netherlands with the Places Thereunto Adjoining, Likewise a Brief Relation of the Customs of the Indians There. New York, NY: William Gowans. 1670. Reprinted in 1937 by the Facsimile Text Society, Columbia University Press, New York. Notes that the Lenni Lenape (Delaware) tribe in New Jersey used fire in ecosystems. who wandered into the vast woodland area encountered by Henry Hudson during the voyages he conducted from 1609 to 1610 for the Dutch, who later claimed the area (which included the future New York City) and named it New Netherland. The portion of that land that included the future Hudson County was purchased from members of the Hackensack tribe of the Lenni-Lenape and became part of Pavonia, New Netherland.Karnoutsos, Carmela. Pavonia, Lower Jersey City New Jersey City University. Accessed October 14, 2015.
The relationship between the early Dutch settlers and Native Americans was marked by frequent armed conflict over land claims. In 1658 by New Netherland colony Director-General Peter Stuyvesant re-purchased the territory.Robinson, Walter F. (1964). New Jersey Tercentenary: 1664–1964. Hudson County Tercentenary Committee for this information, p. 190Fernandez, Lucio; Karabin, Gerard (2010). Union City in Pictures. Book Press NY. pp. 11–13. The boundaries of the purchase are described in the deed preserved in the New York State Archives, as well as the medium of exchange: "80 fathoms of wampum, 20 fathoms of cloth, 12 brass kettles, 6 guns, one double brass kettle, 2 blankets, and one half barrel of strong beer."50th Anniversary of the Incorporation of the Town of West Hoboken, N.J. (1911). Datz Co. In 1660, he ordered the building of a fortified village at Bergen to protect the area.Karnoutsos, Carmela. 350th Anniversary of the Dutch Settlement of Bergen; Colonial Jersey City, New Jersey City University. Accessed August 28, 2017. It was the first permanent European settlement in New Jersey, located in what is now the Journal Square area of Jersey City near Academy Street.Kaulessar, Ricardo. "350 years of history; Fair commemorates founding of Jersey City, will honor the oldest families in Hudson County", The Hudson Reporter, October 3, 2010. Accessed November 14, 2019. "Before there was a Jersey City or a Hudson County, the village of Bergen – the first European settlement in New Jersey, founded in 1660 by Dutch settler Peter Stuyvesant – had its origins in what is now the Journal Square area of Jersey City near Academy Street." In 1664, the British captured New Netherland from the Dutch, at which point the boundaries of Bergen Township encompassed what is now known as Hudson County. North of this was the unpopulated Bergen Woods, which would later be claimed by settlers, after whom a number of Union City streets today are named, including Sipp Street,Bergen: Town and Township Nov 1660-Sept 22, 1668, 1957 Genealogical Society of New JerseyHarvey, Cornelius Burnham. Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, p. 20. The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900. Accessed October 14, 2015.Winfield, Charles H. History of the County of Hudson, New Jersey, p. 525. Kennard & Hay Stationary, 1874. Accessed October 14, 2015. Brown Street,Northern Part of the Town of Union, 1873, Gleason's Old Maps, East Templeton, Massachusetts Golden Lane, Tournade Street and Kerrigan Avenue,Business Directory Of North Hudson, North Hudson Hospital Association, Town of Union, N.J. 1905, p. 331 which is named after J. Kerrigan, the owner of Kerrigan Farm, who donated the land for Saint Michael's Monastery.Union City 2000 Calendar, 2000, culled from History of West Hoboken and Union Hill by Ella-Mary Ryman, 1965 and "The Historical Background of Union City" by Daniel A. Primont, William G. Fiedler and Fred Zuccaro, 1964
The area that would one day be Union City, however, remained sparsely populated until the early 19th century. The British granted Bergen a new town charter in 1668. In 1682 they created Bergen County, which was named to honor their Dutch predecessors. That county included all of present-day Hudson, Bergen and Passaic counties. Sparsely inhabited during the 17th and 18th centuries, the southeast section of Bergen County had grown by the early 19th century to the point where it was deemed necessary to designate it a separate county. The New Jersey legislature created Hudson County in 1840, and in 1843, it was divided into two townships: Old Bergen Township (which eventually became Jersey City) and North Bergen Township, which was gradually separated into Hudson County's present day municipalities: Hoboken in 1849, Weehawken and Guttenberg in 1859, and West Hoboken and Union Township. West Hoboken was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 28, 1861, from portions of North Bergen Township. The township was reincorporated on April 6, 1871, and again on March 27, 1874. Portions of the township were ceded to Weehawken in 1879. On June 28, 1884, West Hoboken was reincorporated as a town, based on an ordinance passed nine days earlier. The town was reincorporated on April 24, 1888, based on the results of a referendum passed 12 days earlier. Union Township, or simply Union,Rules and Regulations of the Police Department of the Town of Union, N.J. Adopted July 13, 1881. West Hoboken, A.E. Gregory, Printer, Palisade Avenue. 1881 was formed in 1864 through the merger of a number of villages, such as Dalleytown, Buck's Corners and Cox's Corners. The largest of these villages, Union Hill, became the colloquial name for the merged town of Union itself.Van Winkle, Daniel (1924). History of the Municipalities of Hudson County, NJ 1630–1923, Lewis Historical Publishing Company Inc. New York & Chicago. pp. 463-464 The northern section of Union Township was later incorporated as West New York in 1898. Union City was incorporated on June 1, 1925, by merging the two towns of West Hoboken and Union Hill.Karabin, Gerard. "Brief History of Union City". Union City, New Jersey. Accessed August 28, 2017. "Eighty-five years ago on June 1, 1925, the Town of Union (colloquially known as Union Hill) and the Township of West Hoboken joined together and became one, the city of Union City." The name of one of the city's schools, Union Hill Middle School, recalls the former town.Union Hill Middle School . Accessed August 27, 2013.
Immigration and industry