Editing Passaic, New Jersey (section)

==History==
[[Image:West Main Avenue, Passaic, NJ.jpg|thumb|Main Avenue in 1911]]
The city originated from a [[Dutch people|Dutch]] settlement on the Passaic River established in 1679 which was called [[Acquackanonk (Native Americans)|Acquackanonk]]. Industrial growth began in the 19th century, as Passaic became a textile and metalworking center.

A commercial center formed around a wharf at the foot of present-day Main Avenue. This came to be commonly known as Acquackanonk Landing, and the settlement that grew around it became known as the Village of Acquackanonk Landing or simply Acquackanonk Landing Settlement.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4xmZCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT95|title=Revolution on the Hudson: New York City and the Hudson River Valley in the American War of Independence|last=Daughan|first=George C.|date=June 13, 2016|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|isbn=9780393245738|pages=95|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ndAwAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA67|title=History of Passaic and Its Environs ...: Historical-biographical|last=Scott|first=William Winfield|date=1922|publisher=Lewis Historical Publishing Company|language=en}}</ref><ref>Jailer, Mildred. [https://www.nytimes.com/1976/01/04/archives/map-to-tell-story-of-passaics-past.html "Map to Tell Story Of Passaic's Past"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', January 4, 1976. Accessed August 22, 2018. "Also to be depicted are such significant sites as the Acquackanonk Landing Settlement, now the city of Passaic, where a bridge to halt the progress of the British troops was dismantled, and Canalville, an 1828 residential subdivision on the Morris Canal in Clifton."</ref> In 1854 Alfred Speer (later owner of the city's first newspaper<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zDEUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA374|title=History of Bergen and Passaic Counties, New Jersey: With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men|date=1882|publisher=Everts & Peck|language=en}}</ref> and public hall) and Judge Henry Simmons were the principals in a political battle over the naming of village. Simmons wished to keep the old name while Speer wanted to simplify it to Passaic Village. Speer was losing the battle however he convinced the U.S. Postmaster General to adopt the name, and hung a Passaic sign at the local railroad depot. The de facto name change was effective.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=obAEAdBsEI4C&pg=PA18|title=Historic Passaic County: An Illustrated History|last1=Smyk|first1=Edward A.|last2=Masiello|first2=Robert J.|date=2004|publisher=HPN Books|isbn=9780965499941|pages=18|language=en|quote=Speer managed to outwit the judge by writing to Postmaster General James Campbell, requesting that the name of the local post office be changed. Campbell complied. Speer was not a man to leave loose ends. He painted a sign twelve feet long with the name 'Passaic.'}}</ref>

Passaic was formed as an unincorporated village within [[Acquackanonk Township, New Jersey|Acquackanonk Township]] (now Clifton) on March 10, 1869. It was incorporated as an independent [[village (New Jersey)|village]] on March 21, 1871. Passaic was chartered as a city on April 2, 1873.<ref name="Story">Snyder, John P. [https://nj.gov/dep/njgs/enviroed/oldpubs/bulletin67.pdf ''The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968''], Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 210. Accessed May 30, 2024.</ref> The Okonite company owned an industrial site here from 1878 to 1993. It was the company's headquarters and primary manufacturing plant for most of the company's history. Early uses of the company's insulated wires include some of the earliest telegraph cables, and the wiring for [[Thomas Edison]]'s first generating plant, [[Pearl Street Station]] in [[Lower Manhattan]].<ref>[http://www.okonite.com/welcome.html Wire And Cable Manufacturers Since 1878] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110902143155/http://www.okonite.com/welcome.html |date=September 2, 2011 }}, The Okonite Company. Accessed August 28, 2011.</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14677171/sale_of_okonite_company/|title=Sale of Okonite Company|date=July 1, 1890|work=Chicago Tribune|access-date=October 26, 2017|pages=12}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14677256/international_okonite_company_ltd/|title=International Okonite Company, Ltd.|date=July 2, 1890|work=The Sun|access-date=October 26, 2017|pages=7}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14677403/okonite_co_buys_general_felt_inc/|title=Okonite Co. buys General Felt Inc.|date=1968|work=Grand Prairie Daily News|access-date=October 26, 2017|pages=3}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14677446/lingtemcovought_to_sell_two_firms/|title=Ling-Temco-Vought to Sell Two Firms, Hold Steel Mill|date=February 24, 1970|work=Tucson Daily Citizen|access-date=October 26, 2017|pages=34}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14677483/hazard_workers_at_wilkesbarre_on/|title=Hazard Workers at Wilkes-Barre on Strike Today|date=November 1, 1955|work=Pittston Gazette|access-date=October 26, 2017|pages=1}}</ref> The property was then turned into a furniture factory, whose owners have been attempting to redevelop the property into an upscale mall since 2015.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.njbiz.com/article/20150511/NJBIZ01/150509826/contempo-project-aims-to-be-kickstarter-for-rebirth-of-passaic|title=Contempo project aims to be kickstarter for rebirth of Passaic {{!}} NJBIZ|work=NJBIZ|access-date=October 26, 2017}}</ref>

The [[1926 Passaic Textile Strike]] led by union organizer [[Albert Weisbord]] saw 36,000 mill workers leave their jobs to oppose wage cuts demanded by the textile industry. The workers successfully fought to keep their wages unchanged but did not receive recognition of their union by the mill owners.<ref>Lurie, Maxine N.; and Mappen, Marc. [https://books.google.com/books?id=_r9Ni6_u0JEC&pg=617 "Passaic textile strike"], ''[[Encyclopedia of New Jersey]]'', p. 617. [[Rutgers University Press]], 2004. {{ISBN|0-8135-3325-2}}. Accessed August 28, 2011.</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_r9Ni6_u0JEC&pg=617|title=Passaic Textile Strike|last1=Lurie|first1=Maxine N.|last2=Mappen|first2=Marc|date=2004|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of New Jersey|publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]]|isbn=9780813533254|pages=617|language=en}}</ref>

Passaic has been called "The Birthplace of Television".<ref>[http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/collections/allTV.html UCLA Film and Television Archive Television Programs Preserved 1988–2000] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110103213631/http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/collections/allTV.html |date=January 3, 2011 }}. [[University of California, Los Angeles]]. Accessed February 18, 2007.</ref> In 1931, experimental television station W2XCD began transmitting from [[Lee De Forest|DeForest]] Radio Corporation in Passaic. It has been called the first television station to transmit to the home, and was the first such station to broadcast a feature film. [[Allen B. DuMont]], formerly DeForest's chief engineer, opened pioneering TV manufacturer DuMont Laboratories in Passaic in 1937, and started the [[DuMont Television Network]], the world's first commercial television network, in 1946.

In 1992, the voters of Passaic Township in [[Morris County, New Jersey|Morris County]] voted to change the name of their municipality to [[Long Hill Township, New Jersey|Long Hill Township]], to avoid confusion between the City of Passaic and the largely rural community {{convert|22|mi}} away, as well as association with the more urban city.<ref>Nieves, Evelyn. [https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/03/nyregion/how-green-was-my-passaic-now-long-hill.html "How Green Was My Passaic, Now Long Hill"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', December 3, 1992. Accessed August 28, 2011. "No one used to mind when the City of Passaic and the Township of Passaic, 22 miles away, were confused.... Passaic Township, as bucolic as New Jersey gets, began to wear its name like an itchy sweater. Residents tired of explaining the difference between their remote green stretch of southern Morris County and urban blight."</ref>

Passaic is served by two regional newspapers, ''[[The Record (North Jersey)|The Record]]'' and ''[[Herald News]]'' which are both owned by the [[Gannett]] company and its predecessor North Jersey Media Group.

The city previously had many of its own newspaper companies, among them Speer's ''The Passaic Item'' (1870–1904), the ''Passaic City Herald'' (1872–1899), the ''Passaic Daily Times'' (1882–1887), the ''Passaic City Record'' (1890–1907), the ''Passaic Daily News'' (1891–1929), the ''Passaic Daily Herald'' (1899–1929), and the ''Passaic Herald News'' (1932–1987). The ''Passaic Herald News'' went through several mergers with other Passaic County newspapers to become the current ''Herald News''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024781/|title=Passaic Daily Herald.|access-date=October 26, 2017|publisher=Library of Congress}}</ref><ref>Narvaez, Alfonso A. [https://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/22/nyregion/2-daily-papers-the-herald-and-the-news-merge-in-jersey.html "2 Daily Papers, The Herald and The News, Merge in Jersey"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', September 22, 1987. Accessed August 22, 2018. "Two daily newspapers in Passaic County, The North Jersey Herald News and The News, merged today into a single newspaper, The North Jersey Herald & News."</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85035722/|title=Passaic City record.|access-date=October 26, 2017|publisher=Library of Congress}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84024370/|title=Passaic daily news.|access-date=October 26, 2017|publisher=Library of Congress}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026215/|title=Passaic daily times.|access-date=October 26, 2017}}</ref>