Editing Hudson County, New Jersey (section)

==History==
===Etymology===
Hudson County is named after the explorer [[Henry Hudson]], who charted much of the region in 1609.

===The Lenape and New Netherland===
[[Image:Hudson Valley Map Detail Nova Belgica Et Anglia Nova c1634.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|A map of today's northern New Jersey and southern New York state, c. 1634 (with north oriented to the right, and [[Long Island]] at center left). Hudson County is called Oesters Eylandt, or Oyster Island.]]
{{New Netherland}}
{{main|Bergen, New Netherland}}

At the time of European contact in the 17th century, Hudson County was the territory of the [[Lenape]] (or [[Lenni-Lenape]]), namely the bands (or family groups) known as the [[Hackensack Indians|Hackensack]], the [[Tappan (Native Americans)|Tappan]], the [[Raritan (Native Americans)|Raritan]], and the [[Manhattan]]. They were a seasonally migrational people who practiced small-scale agriculture ([[companion planting]]) augmented by [[hunter-gatherer|hunting and gathering]] which likely, given the topography of the area, included much (shell) fishing and trapping. These groups had early and frequent trading contact with Europeans. Their [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian language]] can still be inferred in many local place names such as [[Communipaw]], [[Harsimus]], [[Hackensack, New Jersey|Hackensack]], [[Hoboken, New Jersey|Hoboken]], [[Weehawken, New Jersey|Weehawken]], [[Secaucus, New Jersey|Secaucus]], and [[Bayonne, New Jersey|Pamrapo]].

[[Henry Hudson]], for whom the county and river on which it sits are named, established a claim for the area in 1609 when anchoring his ship the ''[[Halve Maen]]'' (''Half Moon'') at [[Harsimus Cove]] and [[Weehawken Cove]].<ref>[http://www.hudsonreporter.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15203651&BRD=1291&PAG=461&dept_id=551343&rfi=6 Hoboken's earliest days: Before becoming a city, 'Hobuck' went through several incarnations] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927221018/http://www.hudsonreporter.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15203651&BRD=1291&PAG=461&dept_id=551343&rfi=6 |date=September 27, 2007 }}, ''[[The Hudson Reporter]]'', January 16, 2005. "On October 2, 1609, Henry Hudson anchored his ship, the Half Moon, in what is now Weehawken Cove. Robert Juet, Hudson's first mate, wrote in the ship's log, "[W]e saw a good piece of ground ... that looked of the color of white green." The rock of which Juet wrote makes up Castle Point in Hoboken; nowhere else along the Hudson River exists a white-green rock formation."</ref>
The west bank of the [[North River (Hudson River)|North River]] (as it was called) and the cliffs, hills, and marshlands abutting and beyond it, were settled by Europeans (Dutch, Flemish, Walloon, Huguenot) from the [[Low Countries|Lowlands]] around the same time as [[New Amsterdam]]. In 1630, [[Michiel Reyniersz Pauw|Michiel Pauw]] received a land patent, or [[patroon]]ship and purchased the land between the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers, giving it the Latinized form of his name, [[Pavonia, New Netherland|Pavonia]].<ref name="HCD">[http://www.hudsoncountynj.org/downloads/PDF/HudsonCounty%20Directory.pdf Hudson County Directory 2004–2005] {{webarchive|url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20050724232933/http://www.hudsoncountynj.org/downloads/PDF/HudsonCounty%20Directory.pdf |date=July 24, 2005 }}</ref> He failed to settle the area and was forced to return his holdings to the [[Dutch West India Company]]. Homesteads were established at [[Communipaw]] (1633), [[Harsimus]] (1634), [[Paulus Hook, Jersey City|Paulus Hook]] (1638), and Hoebuck (1643). Relations were tenuous with the Lenape, and eventually led to [[Kieft's War]], which began as a slaughter by the Dutch at [[Communipaw]] and is considered to be one of the first genocides of Native Americans by Europeans. A series of raids and reprisals across the province lasted two years and ended in an uneasy truce. Other homesteads were established at [[Constable Hook, New Jersey|Constable Hook]] (1646), [[Weehawken|Awiehaken]] (1647), and other lands at [[Achter Col, New Netherland|Achter Col]] on [[Bergen Neck]]. In 1658, [[Director-General of New Netherland|Director-General]] [[Peter Stuyvesant]] of [[New Netherland]] negotiated a deal with the Lenape to re-purchase the area named [[Bergen, New Netherland|Bergen]], "by the great rock above Wiehacken," including the whole peninsula from [[Secaucus|Sikakes]] south to [[Bergen Point]]/[[Constable Hook]].<ref>Winfield, Charles H. [https://books.google.com/books?id=owpYaTSYmDMC&pg=PA62 ''History of the County of Hudson, New Jersey, from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time''], p. 62, Kennard & Hay Stationery Mfg. and Printing Co., 1874. Accessed September 30, 2013.</ref> In 1661, a charter was granted the new village/garrison at the site of present-day [[Bergen Square]], establishing what is considered to be the oldest self-governing [[municipality]] in New Jersey. The British gained control of the area in 1664, and the Dutch finally ceded formal control of the province to the English in 1674.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}

===The British and early America===
[[Image:Hamilton-burr-duel.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|[[Alexander Hamilton]] fights his fatal [[duel]] with [[Aaron Burr]].]]

By 1675, the [[Treaty of Westminster (1674)|Treaty of Westminster]] finalized the transfer and the area became part of the British colony of [[East Jersey]], in the administrative district of [[Bergen Township, New Jersey (pre-1862)|Bergen Township]]. The county's seat was transferred to [[Hackensack, New Jersey|Hackensack]] in 1709, after [[Bergen County, New Jersey|Bergen County]] was expanded west. Small villages and farms supplied the burgeoning [[New York City|city of New York]], across the river, notably with oysters from the vast beds in the Upper New York Bay, and fresh produce, sold at [[Weehawken Street (Manhattan)|Weehawken Street]], in Manhattan. During the American Revolutionary War, the area was under British control which included garrisons at [[Bulls Ferry]] and the fort at [[Bergen Neck]]. Colonialist troops used the heights to observe enemy movements. The [[Battle of Paulus Hook]], a surprise raid on a British fortification in 1779, was seen as a victory and morale booster for revolutionary forces. Many downtown Jersey City streets bear the name of military figures [[Hugh Mercer|Mercer]], [[Nathanael Greene|Greene]], [[Anthony Wayne|Wayne]], and [[Richard Varick|Varick]] among them. [[Weehawken, New Jersey|Weehawken]] became notorious for duels, including the nation's most famous between [[Alexander Hamilton]] and [[Aaron Burr]] in 1804. Border conflicts for control of the waterfront with New York (which claimed jurisdiction to the high water line<ref>[http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/nj01.htm charter text] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125100540/http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/nj01.htm |date=January 25, 2009 }}</ref> and the granting of ferry concessions) restricted development though some urbanization took place in at [[Paulus Hook]] and [[Hoboken]], which became a vacation spot for well-off New Yorkers. The [[Morris Canal]], early steam railroads, and the development of [[New York Harbor]] stimulated further growth. In September 1840, Hudson County was created by separation from [[Bergen County, New Jersey|Bergen County]] and annexation of some [[Essex County, New Jersey|Essex County]] lands, namely [[New Barbadoes Neck]]. During the 19th century, Hudson played an integral role in the [[Underground Railroad]], with four routes converging in Jersey City.<ref>[http://www.hudsonreporter.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=14587630&BRD=1291&PAG=461&dept_id=523584&rfi=8 "Jersey City's Underground Railroad history,"] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20070313105306/http://www.hudsonreporter.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=14587630&BRD=1291&PAG=461&dept_id=523584&rfi=8 |date=March 13, 2007 }} ''[[Jersey City Magazine]]'', Spring & Summer 2005.</ref>

===Boundaries===
Most of Hudson County, apart from [[West Hudson, New Jersey|West Hudson]], was part of [[Bergen Township, New Jersey (1661–1862)|Bergen Township]], which dates back to 1661 and was formally created by an act of the [[New Jersey Legislature]] on February 21, 1798, as one of the first group of 104 townships formed in New Jersey, while the area was still a part of [[Bergen County, New Jersey|Bergen County]].<ref name=Story/> As originally constituted, Bergen Township included the area between the [[Hudson River]] on the east, the [[Hackensack River]] to the west, south to [[Constable Hook]]/[[Bergen Point, New Jersey|Bergen Point]] and north to the present-day Hudson-Bergen border. For the next 127 years civic borders within the county took many forms, until they were finalized with the creation of Union City in 1925.

The City of Jersey was incorporated by an act of the [[New Jersey Legislature]] on January 28, 1820, from portions of Bergen Township. The city was reincorporated on January 23, 1829, and again on February 22, 1838, at which time it became completely independent of Bergen Township and was given its present name. On February 22, 1840, it became part of the newly created Hudson County.<ref name=Story>Snyder, John P. [https://www.state.nj.us/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. 146. Accessed September 30, 2013.</ref> As Jersey City grew, several neighboring communities were annexed: [[Van Vorst, New Jersey|Van Vorst Township]] (March 18, 1851), [[Bergen City, New Jersey|Bergen City]] and [[Hudson City, New Jersey|Hudson City]] (both on May 2, 1870), and [[Greenville, Jersey City|Greenville Township]] (February 4, 1873).<ref name=Story/>

North Bergen was incorporated as a township on April 10, 1843, by an act of the [[New Jersey Legislature]], from [[Bergen Township, Bergen County, New Jersey (Historical 1693)|Bergen Township]]. Portions of the township have been taken to form Hoboken Township (April 9, 1849, now the City of [[Hoboken, New Jersey|Hoboken]]), Hudson Town (April 12, 1852, later part of Hudson City), [[Hudson City, New Jersey|Hudson City]] (April 11, 1855, later annexed by [[Jersey City, New Jersey|Jersey City]]), [[Guttenberg, New Jersey|Guttenberg]] (formed within the township on March 9, 1859, and set off as an independent municipality on April 1, 1878), [[Weehawken, New Jersey|Weehawken]] (March 15, 1859), [[Union Township, Hudson County, New Jersey (Historical)|Union Township]] and [[West Hoboken, New Jersey|West Hoboken Township]] (both created on February 28, 1861), [[Union Hill, Hudson County, New Jersey|Union Hill town]] (March 29, 1864), and [[Secaucus, New Jersey|Secaucus]] (March 12, 1900).<ref name=Story/>

Hoboken was established in 1804, and formed as a [[township (New Jersey)|township]] on April 9, 1849, from portions of [[North Bergen, New Jersey|North Bergen Township]] and incorporated as a full-fledged city, and in a referendum held on March 29, 1855, ratified an Act of the [[New Jersey Legislature]] signed the previous day, and the City of Hoboken was born.<ref name=Story/><ref>"How Hoboken became a city," [http://www.hudsonreporter.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=15203872&BRD=1291&PAG=461&dept_id=523584&rfi=8 Part I] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313132454/http://www.hudsonreporter.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=15203872&BRD=1291&PAG=461&dept_id=523584&rfi=8 |date=March 13, 2007 }}, [http://www.hudsonreporter.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=15203874&BRD=1291&PAG=461&dept_id=523584&rfi=8 Part II] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070313132559/http://www.hudsonreporter.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=15203874&BRD=1291&PAG=461&dept_id=523584&rfi=8 |date=March 13, 2007 }}, [http://www.hudsonreporter.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=15203878&BRD=1291&PAG=461&dept_id=523584&rfi=8 Part III] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20070313132523/http://www.hudsonreporter.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=15203878&BRD=1291&PAG=461&dept_id=523584&rfi=8 |date=March 13, 2007 }}, ''[[Hoboken Reporter]]'', March 27, April 3, and April 10, 2005.</ref>

Weehawken was formed as a township by an act of the [[New Jersey Legislature]] on March 15, 1859, from portions of [[Hoboken, New Jersey|Hoboken]] and [[North Bergen, New Jersey|North Bergen]]. A portion of the township was ceded to Hoboken in 1874. Additional territory was annexed in 1879 from [[West Hoboken, New Jersey|West Hoboken]].<ref name=Story/>

West New York was incorporated as a town by an act of the [[New Jersey Legislature]] on July 8, 1898, replacing [[Union Township, Hudson County, New Jersey|Union Township]], based on the results of a referendum held three days earlier.<ref name=Story/>

Kearny was originally formed as a [[township (New Jersey)|township]] by an act of the [[New Jersey Legislature]] on April 8, 1867, from portions of [[Harrison, New Jersey|Harrison Township]]. Portions of the township were taken on July 3, 1895, to form [[East Newark, New Jersey|East Newark]]. Kearny was incorporated as a town on January 19, 1899, based on the results of a referendum held two days earlier.<ref name=Story/>

Bayonne was originally formed as a [[township (New Jersey)|township]] on April 1, 1861, from portions of [[Bergen Township, Bergen County, New Jersey (Historical 1693)|Bergen Township]]. Bayonne was reincorporated as a city by an act of the [[New Jersey Legislature]] on March 10, 1869, replacing Bayonne Township, subject to the results of a referendum held nine days later.<ref name=Story/>

Soon after the Civil War the idea of uniting all of the towns of Hudson County in one municipality of Jersey City began to gain favor. In 1868 a bill for submitting the question of consolidation of all of Hudson County to the voters was presented to the Board of Chosen Freeholders (now known as the Board of County Commissioners). The bill did not include the western towns of Harrison and Kearny but included all towns east of the Hackensack River.<ref>Staff. [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1869/08/14/80233044.pdf "Consolidation in New Jersey; A Proposition to Consolidate Jersey City, Hoboken, Hudson City, Bergen, &c., into One City"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', August 14, 1869. Accessed September 30, 2013.</ref>

The bill was approved by the State legislature on April 2, 1869, and the special election was scheduled for October 5, 1869. An element of the bill provided that only contiguous towns could be consolidated. The results of the election were as follows:

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Municipality
! Votes for
! % for
! Votes against
! % against
|-
|[[Bayonne, New Jersey|Bayonne]]  ||100|| 28.57% || 250 || 71.43%
|-
|[[Bergen City, New Jersey|Bergen]] || 815 || 88.30% || 108 || 11.70%
|-
|[[Greenville, New Jersey|Greenville]] || 24 || 12.12% || 174 || 87.88%
|-
|[[Hoboken, New Jersey|Hoboken]] || 176 || 16.46% || 893 || 83.54%
|-
|[[Hudson City, New Jersey|Hudson City]] || 1,320 || 85.71% || 220 || 14.29%
|-
|[[Jersey City, New Jersey|Jersey City]]  || 2,220 || 70.90% || 911 || 29.10%
|-
|[[North Bergen, New Jersey|North Bergen]]  || 80 || 26.23% || 225 || 73.77%
|-
|[[Union Hill, New Jersey|Union Hill]] ||123|| 53.95% || 105 || 46.05%
|-
|[[Union Township, Hudson County, New Jersey|Union Township]] || 140 || 68.29% || 65 || 31.71%
|-
|[[Weehawken, New Jersey|Weehawken]]  || 0 || 00.00% || 44 || 100.00%
|-
|[[West Hoboken, New Jersey|West Hoboken]] || 95 || 27.07% || 256 || 72.93%
|-
| '''Total''' || '''5,093''' || '''61.04%''' || '''3,251''' || '''38.96%'''
|}

While a majority of the voters approved the merger, only Jersey City, Hudson and Bergen could be consolidated since they were the only contiguous approving towns. Both the Town of Union and Union Township could not be included due to the dissenting vote of West Hoboken which lay between them and Hudson City. On March 17, 1870, Jersey City, Hudson City, and Bergen merged into Jersey City. Only three years later the present outline of Jersey City was completed when Greenville agreed to merge into the Greater Jersey City.

Union City was incorporated as a city by an act of the [[New Jersey Legislature]] on January 1, 1925, replacing both [[Union Hill, Hudson County, New Jersey|Union Hill]] and [[West Hoboken, New Jersey|West Hoboken Township]].<ref name=Story/>

===Urbanization and immigration===
[[Image:New York City Railroads ca 1900.png|[[Hudson Waterfront]], circa 1900|thumb]]

During the latter half of the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries, Hudson experienced intense industrial, commercial and residential growth.<ref name="HCD" /><ref>Staff. [https://www.nytimes.com/1929/04/21/archives/industry-growing-in-hudson-county-more-than-25000000-being-spent-in.html "INDUSTRY GROWING IN HUDSON COUNTY; More Than $25,000,000 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=25000000|start_year=1929}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) Being Spent in Public and Corporate Improvements.INQUIRIES FOR GOOD SITES New Steamship Terminal Planned for North Bergen--Increase in Building. Improving Waterways. Expending $125,000,000"], (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=125000000|start_year=1929}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) ''[[The New York Times]]'', April 21, 1929. Accessed September 30, 2013.</ref> Construction, first of ports, and later railroad terminals, in [[Jersey City, New Jersey|Jersey City]], [[Bayonne, New Jersey|Bayonne]], [[Hoboken, New Jersey|Hoboken]], and [[Weehawken, New Jersey|Weehawken]] (which significantly altered the shoreline with [[landfill]]) fueled much of the development. European immigration, notably German-language speakers and Irish (many fleeing famine) initiated a population boom that would last for several decades.

Neighborhoods grew as farms, estates, and other holdings were sub-divided for housing, civic and religious architecture. Streets (some with trolley lines) were laid out. [[Stevens Institute of Technology]] and [[Saint Peter's College, New Jersey|Saint Peter's University]] were established.

Before the opening, in 1910, of the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]]'s [[North River Tunnels]] under the Hudson, trains terminated on the west bank of the river, requiring passengers and cargo to travel by ferry or barge to New York. Transfer to the [[Hudson and Manhattan Railroad]] tubes (now [[Port Authority Trans-Hudson|PATH]]) became possible upon its opening in 1908. [[Hoboken Terminal]], a national historic landmark originally built in 1907 by the [[Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad]] to replace the previous one, is the only one of five major rail/ferry terminals that once dotted the waterfront still in operation. [[West Shore Railroad]] Terminal in Weehawken, Erie Railroad's [[Pavonia Terminal]] and [[Pennsylvania Railroad]]'s Exchange Place in Jersey City were all razed.

[[Image:Ellis island 1902.jpg|thumb|Immigrants arriving at [[Ellis Island]], 1902]]

[[Central Railroad of New Jersey]]'s Communipaw Terminal, across a small strait from [[Ellis Island]] and the [[Statue of Liberty]], played a crucial role in the massive immigration of the period, with many newly arrived departing the station to embark on their lives in America. Many, though, decided to stay, taking jobs on the docks, the railroads, the factories, the refineries, and in the [[sweatshops]] and [[skyscrapers]] of Manhattan. Many manufacturers, whose names read as a "Who's Who" in American industry established a presence, including [[Colgate-Palmolive|Colgate]], [[Dixon Ticonderoga]], [[Maxwell House]], [[Standard Oil]], and [[Bethlehem Steel]].

[[File:BergenlineThen&NowByLuigiNovi.jpg|thumb|upright=1.8|left|Bergenline Avenue in [[Union City, New Jersey|Union City]], then and now: Facing south toward 32nd Street, circa 1900 (left), and in 2010 (right)]] 

[[North Hudson, New Jersey|North Hudson]], particularly Union City, became the [[Schiffli embroidery machine|schiffli]] "embroidery capital of America". The industry included businesses that provided embroidery machines and parts, fabrics, thread, embroidery designs, dying, chemical lace etching, and bleaching. There were hundreds of small shops, each with one or a few machines, producing a wide array of products. Finished embroidery supplied the garment and home goods industries.

Secaucus boasted numerous pig farms and rendering plants.
It was during this period that much of the housing stock, namely one and two family homes and low-rise apartment buildings, was built; municipal boundaries finalized, neighborhoods established. Commercial corridors such as [[Bergenline Avenue|Bergenline]], Central, Newark and Ocean Avenues came into prominence. [[Journal Square]] became a business, shopping, and entertainment mecca, home to ''[[The Jersey Journal]]'', after which it is named, and movie palaces such as [[Loew's Jersey Theater]] and [[Stanley Theater (Jersey City)|The Stanley]].
{{Clear}}

===World Wars and New Deal===
[[Image:Bayonne bridge sunset.jpg|thumb|[[Bayonne Bridge]] at sunset]]
[[Image:HollandTunnelNYNJboarder.JPG|thumb|New Jersey-New York border in the newly constructed [[Holland Tunnel]] in 1927]]
[[Image:Roosevelt Stadium 113175pu.jpg|thumb|[[Roosevelt Stadium]] entrance circa 1940]]

Upon entry into [[World War I]], the U.S. government took over control of the [[Hamburg-American Line]] piers in Hoboken under [[eminent domain]], and Hudson became the major point of embarkation for more than three million soldiers, known as "[[doughboy]]s". In 1916, an act of sabotage literally and figuratively shook the region when [[German Empire|German]] agents set off bombs at the munitions depot in New York Bay at [[Black Tom explosion|Black Tom]]. The forerunner of [[Port Authority of New York and New Jersey]] was established on April 30, 1921. Huge transportation projects opened between the wars: The [[Holland Tunnel]] in 1927, The [[Bayonne Bridge]] in 1931, and The [[Lincoln Tunnel]] in 1937, allowing vehicular travel between New Jersey and New York City to bypass the waterfront. Hackensack River crossings, notably the [[Pulaski Skyway]], were also built. What was to become [[New Jersey City University]] opened. Major [[Works Progress Administration]] projects included the construction of stadiums in Jersey City and Union City. Both were named for President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], who attended the opening of the largest project of them all, The [[Jersey City Medical Center]], a massive complex built in the [[Art Deco]] Style. During this era, the "Hudson County Democratic Machine", known for its cronyism and corruption, with Jersey City mayor [[Frank Hague]] at its head was at its most powerful. Industries in Hudson were crucial to the war effort during WWII, including the manufacture [[PT boats]] by [[Electric Launch Company|Elco]] in Bayonne. [[Military Ocean Terminal at Bayonne]] (MOTBY) was opened in 1942 as a U.S. military base and remained in operation until 1999.

===Post-war years===
After the war maritime and manufacturing industries still dominated the local economy,
and union membership provided guarantees of good pay packages. Though some returning servicemen took advantage of GI housing bills and moved to close by suburbs, many with strong ethnic and familial ties chose to stay. Baseball legend [[Jackie Robinson]] made his minor league debut at Roosevelt Stadium and "broke" the baseball color line. Much of Hudson County experienced the phenomenon of ethnic/economic groups leaving and being replaced by others, as was typical of most urban communities of the New York Bay region. When the big businesses decided to follow them or vice versa, Hudson County's socioeconomic differences became more profound. Old economic underpinnings disintegrated. Attempts were made to stabilize the population by demolishing so-called slums and build subsidized middle-income housing and the pockets of so-called "good neighborhoods" came in conflict with those that went into decline. Riots occurred in Jersey City in 1964.

Lower property values allowed the next wave of immigrants, many from Latin America, to rent or buy in the county. [[North Hudson, New Jersey|North Hudson]], particularly Union City, saw many [[émigré]]s fleeing the Cuban revolution take up residence. Unlike other urban industrial areas of comparable size, age and density, [[North Hudson, New Jersey|North Hudson]] did not experience marked [[urban decay]] or a crime wave during the late 20th century, its population and economic base remaining basically stable, in part, because of its good housing stock, tightly knit neighborhoods and satisfactory schools systems.

===Pre/post-millennium===
The county since the mid-1990s has seen much real estate speculation and development and a population increase, as many new residents purchase existing housing stock as well as condominiums in high- and mid-rise developments, many along the waterfront. What had started as a [[gentrification]] in the 1980s became a full-blown "redevelopment" of the area as many suburbanites, transplanted Americans, internationals, and immigrants (most focused on opportunities in NY/NJ region and proximity to Manhattan) began to make the "Jersey" side of the Hudson their home, and the "real-estate boom" of the era encouraged many to seek investment opportunities. The exploitation of certain parts of the waterfront and other [[brownfields]] led to commercial development as well, especially along former rail yards. Hudson felt the short- and long-term impact of the destruction of the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] intensely: its proximity to lower Manhattan made it a place to evacuate to, many residents who worked there lost their jobs (or their lives), and many companies sought office space across the river. Re-zoning, the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, and New Jersey State land-use policy of [[transit villages]] have further spurred construction. Though very urban and with some of the highest residential densities in the United States, the Hudson communities have remained fragmented, due in part to New Jersey's long history of home rule in local government; geographical factors such as Hudson River inlets/canals, the cliffs of the [[New Jersey Palisades]] and rail lines; and ethnic/demographic differences in the population. As the county sees more development this traditional perception is challenged.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}