Hackensack is the most populous municipality in and the county seat of Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New Jersey County Map, New Jersey Department of State. Accessed December 22, 2022. The area was officially named New Barbadoes Township until 1921, but has informally been known as Hackensack since at least the 18th century.New Jersey 1793, Historic Map Works. Accessed January 30, 2018. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 46,030, its highest decennial count ever and an increase of 3,020 (+7.0%) from the 2010 census count of 43,010, which in turn reflected an increase of 333 (+0.8%) from the 42,677 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.

An inner suburb of New York City, Hackensack is located approximately northwest of Midtown Manhattan and about from the George Washington Bridge. From a number of locations, including portions of Prospect Avenue, the New York City skyline can be seen.Rondinaro, Gene. "If You're Thinking Of Living In: Hackensack", The New York Times, March 18, 1984. Accessed December 13, 2011. "There are other signs of renewed health. New high-rise residential buildings with exceptional views of the Manhattan skyline have sprung up along Prospect Avenue in the Heights area to the west."

The Metropolitan Campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University straddles the Hackensack River in both Hackensack and Teaneck. Hackensack is also the home of the former New Jersey Naval Museum and the World War II submarine USS Ling. Astronaut Wally Schirra is perhaps Hackensack's most famous native son.

The city has diverse neighborhoods and land uses located close to one another. Within its borders are the Hackensack University Medical Center, a residential high-rise district about a mile long (along Prospect Avenue between Beech Street and Passaic Street), suburban neighborhoods of single-family houses, stately older homes on acre-plus lots, older two-family neighborhoods, large garden apartment complexes, industrial areas, the Bergen County Jail, a tidal river, Hackensack River County Park, Borg's Woods Nature Preserve, various city parks, large office buildings, a major college campus, the Bergen County Court House, a vibrant small-city downtown district, and various small neighborhood business districts.Cheslow, Jerry. "If You're Thinking of Living In/Hackensack, N.J.; After Long Decline, Downtown Rebounds", The New York Times, May 3, 1998. Accessed December 13, 2011.

History

The earliest known inhabitants of the area were the Lenni Lenape, an Algonquian people who became known to settlers as 'the Delaware Indians.' They lived along a river they called Achinigeu-hach, or "Ackingsah-sack", which translates to stony ground—today this river is more commonly known by the name 'the Hackensack River.'Wright, Kevin W. The Indigenous Population of Bergen County , Bergen County Historical Society. Accessed June 30, 2011. "Achkinckeshacky or Acking-sack, (later Hackensack) is an approximation of Achsinnigeu-haki, meaning stony ground." A representation of Chief Oratam of the Achkinhenhcky appears on the Hackensack municipal seal. The most common explanation is that the city was named for the Native American tribe,The Origin of New Jersey Place Names: H , GetNJ.com. Accessed July 2, 2007.Cheslow, Jerry. "If You're Thinking of Living In/Hackensack, N.J.; After Long Decline, Downtown Rebounds", The New York Times, May 3, 1998. Accessed August 26, 2018. "Hackensack is named for the Achkinhenhcky branch of the Leni Lenape Indians, who traded with Dutch settlers along the Hackensack River as far back as the 1660s. The portrait of their chief, Oratam, who negotiated a treaty with English and Dutch settlers in 1690, appears on the municipal seal." though other sources attribute it to a Native American word variously translated as meaning "hook mouth", "stream that unites with another on low ground", "on low ground" or "land of the big snake",Hutchinson, Viola L. The Origin of New Jersey Place Names, New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed August 31, 2015.Gannett, Henry. The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States, p. 146. United States Government Printing Office, 1905. Accessed August 31, 2015. while another version described as "more colorful than probable" attributes the name to an inn called the "Hock and Sack".Herman, Jennifer New Jersey Encyclopedia, p. 281. State History Publications, 2008. . Accessed August 31, 2015.

Settlement by the Dutch West India Company in New Netherland on the west banks of the Hudson River across from New Amsterdam (present-day lower Manhattan) began in the 1630s at Pavonia, eventually leading to the establishment of Bergen (at today's Bergen Square in Jersey City) in 1660., Jersey City Past and Present, New Jersey City University, backed up by the Internet Archive as of July 20, 2016. Accessed August 30, 2017.

Oratam, sachem of the Lenni Lenape, deeded the land along mid-Hackensack River to the Dutch in 1665. The area was soon taken by the English in 1667, but kept its Dutch name. Philip Cartaret, governor of what became the proprietary colony of East Jersey granted land to Captain John Berry in the area of Achter KolHistorical marker of Achter Col "colony" , Historical Marker Database. Accessed December 8, 2013. and soon after took up residence and called it "New Barbadoes," after having resided on the island of Barbados. In 1666, a deed was confirmed for the tract that had been given earlier by Oratem to Sarah Kiersted in gratitude for her work as emissary and interpreter.MacLean, Maggie. "Sarah Kiersted", History of American Women, March 10, 2008. Accessed December 28, 2016. "Painting depicts Sarah Kiersted, a Dutch woman in New Netherlands who learned the Lenape language and served Chief Oratam as a translator in his negotiations with Dutch colonists. She was rewarded by him in 1666 with a gift of 2260 acres of land on the Hackensack River."Nottle, Diane. "Do You Know These Women?", The New York Times, March 1, 1998. Accessed December 8, 2013. "Even before the Elizabeths, a Dutch housewife named Sarah Kiersted was learning the language of the local Lenape Indians, possibly as early as the 1640s. She became a channel of communication between Dutch settlers and the Lenape Chief Oratam, and for her services the chief granted her almost 2,300 acres – comprising all of Ridgefield Park and sections of Teaneck and Bogota – in 1666." Other grants were given at the English Neighborhood.Poppino/Popenoe/Popnoe& Allied Families , September 15, 2008. Accessed December 18, 2011.Archives Documents, Manuscripts, Maps, & Photographs: Manuscript Group 944, Edsall Family (English Neighborhood, NJ) , New Jersey Historical Society. Accessed December 18, 2011., Ridgefield Online, backed up by the Internet Archive as of April 18, 2012. Accessed July 31, 2014. "In 1675, Ridgefield was known as the English Neighborhood, covering an area of about 10 square miles from the Hudson River on the east to the Hackensack River on the west, Englewood on the north and Hudson County on the south."

In 1675, the East Jersey Legislature established the administrative districts Bergen, Essex, Middlesex, and Monmouth. In 1683, Bergen (along with the three other counties) was officially recognized as an independent county by the Provincial Assembly., Bergen County Technical Schools, backed up by the Internet Archive as of January 26, 2007. Accessed June 1, 2015. The seal of Bergen County bearing this date includes an image of an agreement between the European settlers and the Native Americans.History of Bergen County, Bergen County, New Jersey. Accessed April 9, 2024. "This seal accentuates the county’s founding year, 1683, in scrollwork between a Dutch settler-trader and Indian shaking hands on the banks of the Hudson beneath the Palisades."

New Barbadoes Township, together with Acquackanonk Township, were formed by Royal charter on October 31, 1693.Snyder, John P. The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606–1968, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 78-79 re Hackensack, p. 82 re New Barbadoes. Accessed September 10, 2012Edited by Harvey, Cornelius Burnham. "Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties New Jersey: Introduction Of Township Governments", Originally published in 1900. Accessed December 8, 2013.

In 1700, the village of Hackensack was little more than the area around Main Street from the Courthouse to around Anderson Street. New Barbadoes Township included what is now Maywood, Rochelle Park, Paramus and River Edge, along with those portions of Oradell that are west of the Hackensack River. These areas were all sparsely populated and consisted of farm fields, woods and swamplands. The few roads that existed then included the streets now known as Kinderkamack Road, Paramus Road/Passaic Street and Essex Street. The southernmost portions of what is now Hackensack were not part of New Barbadoes Township at that time and were acquired in the late 1800s.

The neighborhood that came to be known as the village of Hackensack (today the area encompassing Bergen County's municipal buildings in Hackensack) was a part of Essex County until 1710, when Bergen County, by royal decree of Queen Anne of Great Britain, was enlarged and the Township of New Barbadoes was removed from Essex County and added to Bergen County.Lang, Arnold. "Bergen County's Townships and Municipalities – Part I", The Archivist, May 1999, Genealogical Society of Bergen County. Accessed December 13, 2011.

In 1710, the village of Hackensack (in the newly formed Township of New Barbadoes) was designated as being more centrally located and more easily reached by the majority of the Bergen County's inhabitants and, hence, was chosen as the county seat of Bergen County, as it remains today. The earliest records of the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders date back to 1715, at which time agreement was made to build a courthouse and jail complex, which was completed in 1716.Discovering History, Bergen County, New Jersey. Accessed Ocgtober 2, 2019. "The oldest records of the Bergen County Board of Freeholders and Justices are dated May 19, 1715. At that meeting, it was decided to build a combined courthouse and jail which was erected on Hackensack's historic Green in 1716."

During the American Revolutionary War, George Washington headquartered in the village of Hackensack in November 1776 during the retreat from Fort Lee via New Bridge Landing and camped on 'The Green' across from the First Dutch Reformed Church on November 20, 1776. A raid by British forces against Hackensack on March 23, 1780, resulted in the destruction by fire of the original courthouse structure., Representative Steve Rothman, backed up by the Internet Archive as of April 7, 2012. Accessed August 30, 2017.

The Hackensack Improvement Commission was incorporated by an Act of the state legislature approved on April 1, 1868, within New Barbadoes township and including the village of Hackensack, with authority to develop sewers and other improvements in Hackensack.Mary G. Bakman, et al. v. The Hackensack Commission, Reports of cases argued and determined in the Supreme Court and, at law, in the Court of Errors and Appeals of the State of New Jersey, Volume 70, pp. 500–502. Accessed December 13, 2011.