Editing Union City, New Jersey (section)

===Early history and civic boundaries===
[[File:1.23.10UnionCityBorderByLuigiNovi.jpg|thumb|Sign marking Union City's southern border with [[Jersey City, New Jersey|Jersey City]]]]
The area of what is today Union City was originally inhabited by the [[Munsee language|Munsee-speaking]] branch of [[Lenape]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]],<ref name=History/><ref>Trigger, Bruce G. ''Delaware languages: Handbook of North American Indians'' Vol. 15: Northeast, page 215. [[Smithsonian Institution Press]], Washington D.C. 1978. {{ISBN|0-16-004575-4}}.</ref><ref>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.1953</ref><ref>Russell, 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. 1979</ref><ref>Russell, 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.</ref><ref>''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.</ref> who wandered into the vast woodland area encountered by [[Henry Hudson]] during the voyages he conducted from 1609 to 1610 for the [[Dutch people|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]].<ref>Karnoutsos, Carmela. [http://www.njcu.edu/programs/jchistory/Pages/P_Pages/Pavonia.htm Pavonia, Lower Jersey City] [[New Jersey City University]]. Accessed October 14, 2015.</ref>

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.<ref>Robinson, Walter F. (1964). ''New Jersey Tercentenary: 1664–1964''. Hudson County Tercentenary Committee for this information, p. 190</ref><ref name=UCPictures>[[Fernandez, Lucio]]; Karabin, Gerard (2010). ''Union City in Pictures''. Book Press NY. pp. 11–13.</ref> 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."<ref>''50th Anniversary of the Incorporation of the Town of West Hoboken, N.J.'' (1911). Datz Co.</ref> In 1660, he ordered the building of a fortified village at [[Bergen Square|Bergen]] to protect the area.<ref>Karnoutsos, Carmela. [http://www.njcu.edu/programs/jchistory/Pages/D_Pages/Dutch_Settlement.htm 350th Anniversary of the Dutch Settlement of Bergen; Colonial Jersey City], [[New Jersey City University]]. Accessed August 28, 2017.</ref> It was the first permanent European settlement in New Jersey, located in what is now the [[Journal Square]] area of [[Jersey City, New Jersey|Jersey City]] near Academy Street.<ref name=UCPictures/><ref name=350Years>Kaulessar, Ricardo. [https://archive.hudsonreporter.com/2010/10/03/350-years-of-history-2/ "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."</ref> In 1664, the [[United Kingdom|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,<ref name=UCPictures/> including Sipp Street,<ref name=1957Map>''Bergen: Town and Township Nov 1660-Sept 22, 1668'', 1957 Genealogical Society of New Jersey</ref><ref name=Harvey>Harvey, Cornelius Burnham. [https://books.google.com/books?id=EdoMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA20 ''Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey''], p. 20. The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900. Accessed October 14, 2015.</ref><ref name=Winfield>Winfield, Charles H. [https://archive.org/details/historycountyhu00winfgoog/page/n553 <!-- pg=525 --> ''History of the County of Hudson, New Jersey''], p. 525. Kennard & Hay Stationary, 1874. Accessed October 14, 2015.</ref> Brown Street,<ref name=Harvey/><ref name=1873Map>''Northern Part of the Town of Union'', 1873, Gleason's Old Maps, [[East Templeton, Massachusetts]]</ref> Golden Lane,<ref name=1873Map/> Tournade Street and Kerrigan Avenue,<ref name=BusinessDirectory>''Business Directory Of North Hudson'', North Hudson Hospital Association, Town of Union, N.J. 1905, p. 331</ref> which is named after J. Kerrigan, the owner of Kerrigan Farm, who donated the land for [[Saint Michael's Monastery]].<ref name=BusinessDirectory/><ref name=Calendar>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</ref>

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, New Jersey|Bergen County]], which was named to honor their Dutch predecessors. That county included all of present-day Hudson, Bergen and [[Passaic County, New Jersey|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, New Jersey|North Bergen Township]], which was gradually separated into Hudson County's present day municipalities: [[Hoboken, New Jersey|Hoboken]] in 1849, [[Weehawken, New Jersey|Weehawken]] and [[Guttenberg, New Jersey|Guttenberg]] in 1859, and [[West Hoboken, New Jersey|West Hoboken]] and [[Union Hill, New Jersey|Union Township]].<ref name=Story/><ref name=UCPictures/> West Hoboken was incorporated as a [[township (New Jersey)|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.<ref name=Story/> On June 28, 1884, West Hoboken was reincorporated as a [[town (New Jersey)|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.<ref name=Story/> Union Township, or simply Union,<ref name=1873Map/><ref name=BusinessDirectory/><ref>''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</ref> was formed in 1864<ref name=Story/> 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.<ref>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</ref> The northern section of Union Township was later incorporated as [[West New York, New Jersey|West New York]] in 1898.<ref name=UCPictures/> Union City was incorporated on June 1, 1925, by merging the two towns of West Hoboken and [[Union Hill, New Jersey|Union Hill]].<ref name=Story/><ref name=History>Karabin, Gerard. [http://www.ucnj.com/Departments/history/ "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."</ref> The name of one of the city's schools, [[Union Hill Middle School]], recalls the former town.<ref>[http://uhmiddleunioncity.sharpschool.com/ Union Hill Middle School] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919200929/http://uhmiddleunioncity.sharpschool.com/ |date=2016-09-19 }}. Accessed August 27, 2013.</ref>