NEWARK.
From New York to Newark.--Two Hundred Years Ago.--The
Pioneers.--Public Parks.--City of Churches.--The Canal.--
Sailing Up-Hill.--An Old Graveyard.--New Amsterdam and New
Netherlands.--The Dutch and English.--Adventurers from New
England.--The Indians.--Rate of Population.--Manufactures.--
Rank as a City.
Nine miles, in a westerly direction, from New York, on a lovely morning
in the early autumn of 1880, by the comfortable cars of that most
perfect of all railways, the "Pennsylvania," brought our little party to
Newark, which I had often heard spoken of as the leading commercial and
manufacturing city of New Jersey.
Situated in the northeastern corner of the State, on the west bank of
the Passaic, three miles from its entrance into Newark Bay--the city of
Newark occupies the most delightful spot in a State famed for its
beauty. In our short journey from New York we passed over broad, level
meadows, bearing some resemblance to a western prairie. The Passaic and
the Hackensack rivers traverse these prairie-like meadows, while rising
abruptly in the distance you behold the historic Bergen Heights.
Disembarking at the conveniently located Market Street Depot, we sought
and found a temporary home, and then lost no time in gratifying our
native curiosity, by exploring the city and learning something of its
origin and history.
Newark is over two hundred years old, and yet is regularly laid out; its
wide and well paved streets are adorned and shaded with grand old
elms--some of them coeval with the founding of the city. Its chief
business thoroughfare, Broad street, running north and south, through
the central part of the city, has many fine business blocks, and a finer
avenue cannot be found than the south end of Broad street, lined with
wide-spreading elms, and extending, apparently, into infinitude. One
peculiarity that absorbed my attention, was the vast number of
manufacturing establishments here, located, for the most part, outside
of the central streets, and these are doubtless the source of her
prosperity.
About two hundred years ago Newark was an obscure hamlet of some sixty
odd settlers. Since that time it has grown into a city of one hundred
and thirty thousand inhabitants. The handful of original settlers were,
for the most part, upright, earnest and sturdy mechanics, of Anglo-Saxon
blood, and they laid the foundation of what is now one of the most
important cities of the Union, ranking, indeed, among the foremost of
the world's industrial bee-hives--a monster workshop, whose skilled
labor cannot well be surpassed anywhere. They called their village after
the old English town of Newark-on-Trent; and Newark-on Passaic has now
grown into a city ten times greater than its ancient namesake.
The public parks possess a startling interest to the stranger visiting
Newark for the first time. Seldom have I found so many, and of such
extent, in a city that measures only five miles long, by five broad.
Possessed of such breathing places, a town must of necessity be healthy,
and I accordingly found this strongly indicated in the faces of all I
met, more especially of the blooming young maidens and their mammas. We
are told that when the first settlers purchased the site of Newark and
its surrounding lands, of the native Indians, and laid out their embryo
city, they wisely reserved certain tracts for public purposes, and that
most of these still exist as ornaments of the city. Besides those set
apart for churches and graveyards, the principal reservations were the
"Training-place," the "Market-place," and the "Watering-place." The
Training-place is now Military Park, on the east side of Broad street,
near its centre; and the Market-place is now Washington Park. These and
several others in various parts of this favored city, form delightful
retreats from the sun's rays--shaded by majestic elms--a veritable _rus
in urbe_. The suburbs also are passing beautiful, extending to Orange on
the west, and to within a mile of Elizabeth on the south--both busy
towns.
Like Brooklyn, Newark may be called a city of churches, and its
enlightened and industrious citizens are a church-going people. The
Reformed Dutch Church dates from 1663; and the First Presbyterian from
1667. These were the parent churches, and their progeny are manifold and
prosperous, as noted in the exceptionally high standard of morality that
generally characterizes the peaceful workers in this hive of industry.
I was especially struck with the canal which flows under Broad street,
and the ingenuity displayed in surmounting a hill that crosses it, by
the barges navigating its waters. Here it may be almost said that among
their numberless other inventions, the inhabitants of Newark have
discovered the art of sailing up a hill! Instead of a lock, by which
similar difficulties of inland navigation are usually overcome, the
barges are drawn in a cradle up an inclined plane, by means of a
stationary steam engine placed at the top of the hill, where the canal
recommences, and the barges are re-launched to continue their course
westward.
In my rambles down Broad street, on its well-paved sidewalk, flanked by
flourishing stores, in which every commodity, from a five hundred dollar
chronometer down to a ten cent pair of men's socks, is presented for
sale, I stopped at an arched gateway on my right, my attention being
arrested by a patch of green sward behind it. The gate stood invitingly
open, and passing through, I found myself in a venerable and disused
graveyard.
"This is the oldest of the city graveyards," said an elderly gentleman,
to whom I addressed myself for information, "and is of the same age as
the city itself. It is the resting-place of many of the original
inhabitants. The first church of Newark stood here, and around, you will
observe, are tombs, bearing dates of two centuries ago." Such, I found,
on investigation, to be the case. These old stones--most of their
inscriptions now undecipherable,--were erected to commemorate the dead
colonists' names and virtues, more than one hundred years before
Washington was born, or they had dreamed of casting off the authority of
mother England. I reflected: what was Newark like in those far-away
days, two hundred years ago? How did she compare with Newark in the year
of grace 1880?
In 1608 Henry Hudson descended the noble river which bears his name, and
the settlement of _New Amsterdam_ by the Hollanders soon followed. Next,
_New Netherlands_ was added to the territory of the Dutchmen, then a
great maritime people. Down to the beginning of the seventeenth century
the colonization of New Netherlands, on the western banks of the Hudson,
had made but little progress. It was all a wilderness, peopled only by
Indians. The white man had scarcely penetrated its fertile valleys. The
story is told, however, that some of Hudson's hardy crew had sailed in
their boats through the _Kill-von-Kule_, at the north of what is now
Staten Island, and passed northward into the Passaic River. The
enterprising Dutch traders were no doubt fully cognizant of the
boundless possibilities of the country, whose fairest spot was destined
to form the site of the city of Newark.
But these Dutchmen were only lawless adventurers. By right of discovery,
a priority of title to all the lands in North America was claimed by
England, who declared war upon Holland and all her reputed possessions.
_New Amsterdam_ and the province of _New Netherlands_ were among the
first to succumb, and in 1664 England obtained complete command of the
Atlantic coast. _New Amsterdam_ then became _New York_, in honor of the
Duke of York, brother of King Charles II; and _New Netherlands_ became
_New Jersey_, in compliment to the Countess of Jersey, a court favorite.
To this conquest by England we owe our English tongue, for had the
Hollanders vanquished the English, and retained possession, we should
doubtless all be speaking "low Dutch" to-day, instead of English. But
this is a digression.
Colonization rapidly followed when the phlegmatic Dutchmen were turned
out, and the first English governor of the province of New Jersey
inaugurated a very liberal form of government. This induced many
adventurers from New England to unite their fortunes with the colonists
of New Jersey. Under the leadership of the enterprising Captain Treat,
these New Englanders proceeded to select a site for their new town. They
soon found a spot exactly suited to their wishes; a fertile soil,
beautiful woodlands, and a navigable stream; while away to the eastward
was a wide and sheltered bay.
In May, 1666, about thirty families, John Treat being their captain,
laid the foundation of Newark. A conference was held with the Indians,
which resulted satisfactorily to all. They transferred the land to the
white men, and received in payment for what now constitutes the county
of Essex, "Fifty double-hands of powder, one hundred bars of lead,
twenty axes, twenty coats, ten guns, twenty pistols, ten kettles, ten
swords, four blankets, four barrels of beer, two pairs of breeches,
fifty knives, twenty hoes, eight hundred and fifty fathoms of wampum,
two ankers of liquor, or something equivalent; and three troopers'
coats, with the ornaments thereon."
A few years later a second purchase was made, by which the limits of the
city they were building were extended westward to the top of Orange
Hill, the equivalent being "two guns, three coats and thirteen cans of
rum."
For many years, Newark grew and prospered. In 1681 she was the "most
compact town in the province, with a population of 500." In 1713 Queen
Anne granted a charter of incorporation, thus making the township of
Newark a body politic, which continued in force until the Revolution.
With the successful close of the war, Newark entered on a new and
prosperous era, and the population increased very largely. In 1795
bridges were built over the Passaic and the Hackensack. In 1810 the
population is given as 6,000, and in 1830 it had increased to 11,000.
From this date its rate of progress has been very rapid, and at the
present time Newark ranks as the thirteenth city of the Union in
population.
I cannot conclude this chapter without a few words on the manufactures
of Newark. The early settlers were, as we have said, in the main,
mechanics and artisans, and from this circumstance the growth of the
city lay in the direction of manufactures. Newark, to-day, is among the
foremost cities of the Union in intelligent industry. So early as 1676
efforts were made to promote the introduction of manufactures. The
nearness of the city to New York, the chief market in the Union, with
shipping facilities to every quarter of the globe; with the great iron
and coal fields easy of access, and a thrifty and industrious people,
Newark drew to her mills and factories abundant capital and skilled
workmen. She has contributed more useful inventions to industrial
progress than any other American city. The Newark Industrial Exposition
was originated in 1872, for the purpose of holding an annual exhibition
of her local manufactures. The enterprise met with signal success. We
have counted no less than four hundred distinct manufactories in
operation in this extraordinary city, a list of which would occupy too
much of our space. Hardware, tools, machinery, jewelry, leather, hats,
and trunks seem to predominate. Of the last-named indispensable article,
Newark has the most extensive manufactory in the world, 7,000 trunks per
week, or about 365,000 yearly being produced here. It is said that in
the manufacture of the best steam fire-engines, Newark ranks first. The
number of persons finding employment in the factories is about 25,000,
and the amount of wages paid weekly averages $250,000, or about
$13,000,000 per year. The annual value of the productions of all her
manufactories amounts to about $60,000,000.
Thus it is seen that Newark has developed into one of the principal
producing cities of the United States, the value of her diversified
manufactured products making her, in this respect, the third, if not the
second city of the Union.