Editing Hudson County, New Jersey (section)

===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/>