Downtown Newark
Encyclopedia
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
's major central business, retail, and cultural district. It is located at a bend in the Passaic River
Passaic River
The Passaic River is a mature surface river, approximately 80 mi long, in northern New Jersey in the United States. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey,...
.
Downtown is the site of the original Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
settlement of Newark. The first settlers, led by Robert Treat
Robert Treat
Robert Treat was an American colonial leader, militia officer and governor of Connecticut between 1683 and 1698....
, landed not far from the present site of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center
New Jersey Performing Arts Center
The New Jersey Performing Arts Center , in downtown Newark, New Jersey, United States, is the sixth largest performing arts center in the United States...
. The intersection of Broad and Market Streets, known as Four Corners
Four Corners (Newark)
Four Corners at the intersection of Broad and Market Streets in Newark, New Jersey is site of the city's earliest settlement and the heart of Downtown that at one time was considered the busiest intersection in the United States...
was once considered the busiest intersection in the nation, and is the heart of traditional downtown.
Most of Newark's office buildings are located in this area. In the post-World War II era, downtown seemed to be moving north during the New Newark architectural period, in the direction of Washington Park. Since the 1967 riots, it has been shifting slightly east in the direction of Newark Penn Station, the Gateway Center
Gateway Center (Newark)
The Gateway Center is a commercial complex in Newark, New Jersey. Located downtown just west of Newark Penn Station between Raymond Boulevard and Market Street, skyways and pedestrian malls interconnect all of the office towers, a Hilton Hotel, the train station, and the Newark Legal Center...
and the Passaic River
Passaic River
The Passaic River is a mature surface river, approximately 80 mi long, in northern New Jersey in the United States. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey,...
.
Downtown Newark is the home to Newark's major cultural venues - the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), the 3,000-seat Newark Symphony Hall
Newark Symphony Hall
Newark Symphony Hall at 1020 Broad Street in Newark, New Jerseywas built in 1925 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. It was known for many years as The Mosque Theater.-Design and construction:...
, Prudential Center, the Newark Museum
Newark Museum
The Newark Museum is the largest museum in New Jersey, USA. It holds fine collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the ancient world...
, Military Park
Military Park (Newark)
Military Park is a city park in downtown Newark, New Jersey. It is a nearly triangular park located between Park Place, Rector Street and Broad Street. From 1667, when the city was planned, until 1869 it was a training ground for soldiers...
, the Playland Arcade and the New Jersey Historical Society
New Jersey Historical Society
The New Jersey Historical Society is a historical society and museum located in Newark, New Jersey, United States. The Historical Society is housed in the former headquarters of the Essex Club. It has two floors of exhibition space, a gift shop, and a hall for lectures. The NJHS offers occasional...
. Downtown is also home to Seton Hall University School of Law
Seton Hall University School of Law
The Seton Hall University School of Law is part of Seton Hall University, and is located in downtown Newark, New Jersey. Seton Hall Law School is the only private law school in New Jersey, and is the top-ranked of the three law schools in the state...
and Aljira, an emerging artist's gallery. It is also home to Government Center
Government Center, Newark, New Jersey
Government Center is an area of Downtown Newark that is named for the presence of government buildings centered around a plaza known as Federal Square....
, an area of municipal and federal government offices. It was once home to a Chinatown
Chinatown, Newark
Newark's Chinatown was an ethnic enclave with a large percentage of Chinese immigrants, centered along Market Street in Newark, New Jersey from 1875 and remaining on some scale for nearly one hundred years. The center of the neighborhood was directly east of the Government Center neighborhood...
neighborhood centered around Mulberry Arcade, which was off of Mulberry Street, near Lafayette and Green Streets. Many of downtown's cultural and historical sites are linked by the unmarked Lenape Trail
Lenape Trail
The Lenape Trail is a trail connecting Newark, New Jersey with Roseland, New Jersey. It was established in 1982. It is the fifth longest trail in the state behind the Delaware and Raritan Canal Trail, the Appalachian Trail, the completed section of the Highlands Trail in the state and the Batona...
, which also leads to Branch Brook Park
Branch Brook Park
Branch Brook Park is a county park of Essex County, New Jersey in the United States, located in the North Ward of Newark, between the neighborhoods of Forest Hill and Roseville. At 360 acres , Branch Brook Park is the largest public park in the city of Newark...
, the Watchung Mountains
Watchung Mountains
The Watchung Mountains are a group of three long low ridges of volcanic origin, between 400 ft. and 500 ft. high, lying parallel to each other in northern New Jersey in the United States...
and the Passaic Meadows
Glacial Lake Passaic
Glacial Lake Passaic was a prehistoric proglacial lake that existed in northern New Jersey in the United States at the end of the last ice age approximately 19,000-14,000 years ago...
on this yellow-blazed trail.
The $375 million Prudential Center, home to the New Jersey Devils
New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey, United States. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League...
, opened on October 25, 2007, with the first of ten concerts by Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Formed in 1983, Bon Jovi consists of lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi , guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, as well as current bassist Hugh McDonald...
. The arena is the New York metropolitan area
New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also known as Greater New York, or the Tri-State area, is the region that composes of New York City and the surrounding region...
's first all-new professional sports venue in over two decades.
Though it has a number of buildings of great architectural significance, downtown Newark has very few housing units and its storefronts are typically not well maintained. The buildings range from four to 35 stories tall presenting indiscriminate architecture. Many storefronts have enormous awnings.
Much of the city's retail and commercial developments are centered around Broad Street (the city's widest north/south boulevard, which once carried streetcars headed for Elizabeth
Elizabeth, New Jersey
Elizabeth is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 124,969, retaining its ranking as New Jersey's fourth largest city with an increase of 4,401 residents from its 2000 Census population of 120,568...
and points south) and Market Street. The intersection of the two streets, known as Four Corners is widely considered to be one of the busiest in the state and at one time was considered the busiest in the country.
Both Broad Street and Market Street are a bustle of activity crowded with numerous shops. Broad Street has many street vendors as well. At night however the streets are vacant and shops are closed. The City of Newark is publicly committed to turning downtown into a "24-hour city," but many developers have been afraid to take a risk on Newark.
However, the downtown area is slowly beginning to develop a 24-hour presence. The former Hahne's and Lefcourt buildings are going to be converted into condominiums beginning in 2005. Rutgers-Newark
Rutgers-Newark
Rutgers University in Newark is one of three campuses of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, the eighth oldest college in the United States and a member of the Association of American Universities...
has built a six hundred bed dorm on Central Avenue. An old office building on Clinton Street has already successfully been converted to luxury lofts. Additionally, 1180 Raymond across from Military Park - Newark's second tallest building - completed a $150 million conversion to luxury apartments in 2006.
Although many of the downtown stores are lower-end retailers (dollar stores, nail salons, and the like), the area is quickly changing. Stores like Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
and New York and Company have set up business, in addition to new branches of TD Banknorth
TD Banknorth
TD Banknorth, formerly just Banknorth, was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Toronto-Dominion Bank which conducted banking and insurance activities, primarily serving the northeastern area of the United States, headquartered in Portland, Maine...
, PNC, Citi, and JPMorgan Chase banks.
Aided by the presence of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center
New Jersey Performing Arts Center
The New Jersey Performing Arts Center , in downtown Newark, New Jersey, United States, is the sixth largest performing arts center in the United States...
, new apartments, and its proximity to the Newark's colleges and universities, downtown has seen a variety of restaurants and bars open their doors in the past several years. In addition to several high end restaurants catering to the theater crowd, downtown Newark is home to two Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
pubs, a SoHo
SoHo
SoHo is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, notable for being the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, and also, more recently, for the wide variety of stores and shops ranging from trendy boutiques to outlets of upscale national and international chain stores...
style bistro, a gourmet soup restaurant, and an increasing number of other establishments.
Most buses pass through Downtown and it is a principal shopping district of most Newark area residents. Washington Street Station
Washington Street (NCS station)
Washington Street Station is an underground station on the Newark City Subway Line of the Newark Light Rail system. The station is owned and service is operated by New Jersey Transit. The station is located at the intersection of Raymond Boulevard and Washington Street with a second entrance at...
, Penn Station
Pennsylvania Station (Newark)
Pennsylvania Station is a major transportation hub in Newark, New Jersey. Located at Raymond Plaza, between Market Street and Raymond Boulevard, Newark Penn Station is served by the Newark Light Rail, New Jersey Transit commuter rail, Amtrak long distance trains, the PATH rapid transit system, and...
, Military Park Station
Military Park (NCS station)
Military Park Station is an underground station on the Newark City Subway Line of the Newark Light Rail. The station is owned and service is operated by New Jersey Transit. The station is located at the intersection of Raymond Boulevard, Park Place and Broad Street in Downtown Newark at Military...
and all the stops on the Newark Light Rail
Newark Light Rail
The Newark Light Rail is a light rail system under New Jersey Transit Bus Operations serving Newark, New Jersey. The service consists of two segments, the original Newark City Subway, and the extension to Broad Street station...
serve the downtown area. Interstate 280
Interstate 280 (New Jersey)
Interstate 280 is a Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It provides a spur from I-80 in Parsippany-Troy Hills, Morris County to Newark, and I-95 Interstate 280 (abbreviated I-280) is a Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It provides a spur from I-80 in...
lies just north of Downtown, running parallel to New Jersey Transit rail operations
New Jersey Transit rail operations
New Jersey Transit Rail Operations is the rail division of New Jersey Transit. It provides regional rail service in New Jersey, with most service centered around transportation to and from New York City, Hoboken, and Newark...
.
The Main Library
Newark Public Library
The Newark Public Library is the public library system for the city of Newark, New Jersey.-History:In 1902 John Cotton Dana became employed at the Newark Public Library in Newark, New Jersey from until his death in 1929. He established foreign language collections for immigrants and also developed...
is on Washington Park and served by the Newark Light Rail
Newark Light Rail
The Newark Light Rail is a light rail system under New Jersey Transit Bus Operations serving Newark, New Jersey. The service consists of two segments, the original Newark City Subway, and the extension to Broad Street station...
.
External links
- Newark Dwontown District website
- Newark Visitors Center Investors Bet on Revival for Troubled Newark New York Times 1998
- Newark A City of Optimism and Progress New York Times 1913
- Elements of Urbanism 2008
- GoNewark website