Bayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne is a
city in
Hudson County,
New Jersey,
United States. As of the
United States 2000 Census, the city had a total population of 61,842.
According to tradition, the city derives its name from the city of
Bayonne in
France. It is said that French
Huguenots settled there some time before
New Amsterdam was founded. However, there are no historical records to prove this; it is perhaps more likely that, when the land was purchased for real estate speculation, it was named
Bayonne because it is on the shores of two bays,
Newark and
New York, hence Bay-on, or "on the Bays." Bayonne is a diverse city, with large
Italian American,
Irish American, and
Polish American communities.
Bayonne is connected to
Staten Island,
New York by the
Bayonne Bridge.
Bayonne is located at (40.666552, -74.117680).
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 29.1
km² (11.2
mi²). 14.6 km² (5.6 mi²) of it is land and 14.6 km² (5.6 mi²) of it (50.04%) is water.
As of the
census of 2000, there were 61,842 people, 25,545 households, and 16,016 families residing in the city. The
population density was 4,241.1/km² (10,992.2/mi²). There were 26,826 housing units at an average density of 1,839.7/km² (4,768.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 78.64%
White, 5.52%
African American, 0.17%
Native American, 4.14%
Asian, 0.05%
Pacific Islander, 7.46% from
other races, and 4.02% from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 17.81% of the population.
There were 25,545 households out of which 28.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.8% were
married couples living together, 15.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.3% were non-families. 32.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 3.10.
In the city the population was spread out with 22.1% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 30.7% from 25 to 44, 22.5% from 45 to 64, and 16.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 89.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $41,566, and the median income for a family was $52,413. Males had a median income of $39,790 versus $33,747 for females. The
per capita income for the city was $21,553. About 8.4% of families and 10.1% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 11.9% of those under age 18 and 11.0% of those age 65 or over.
Local government
The City of Bayonne is governed under the
Faulkner Act (Mayor-Council) system of municipal government.
The current
Mayor of Bayonne is
Joseph V. Doria, Jr., who is also
New Jersey State Senator for the
31st Legislative District[Bayonne Office of the Mayor, accessed June 30, 2006]. Doria won a third term as mayor after defeating retired municipal judge Patrick Conaghan in a run-off election on
June 13,
2006. The campaign gained statewide media attention for its extensive use of
attack ads by both candidates.
Members of the Bayonne City Council are
[Bayonne Municipal Council, accessed June 30, 2006]:
*Vincent Lo Re Jr. - At-large
*
Anthony Chiappone - At-large
*Theodore Connolly - First Ward
*John Halecky - Second Ward
*Gary La Pelusa - Third Ward
Mayors of Bayonne*Mayors have been governing the community ever since the year Bayonne was established in 1869.
*The first mayor of Bayonne was Henry Meigs who served from 1869-1879.
*The mayor with the longest term in office was Dennis P. Collins, who served from 1974-1990.
*Pierre P. Garven served two non-consecutive terms from 1906-1910 and 1915-1919
*Dr. Bert J. Daly served three non-consecutive terms from 1914-1915, 1927-1931 and 1943-1947.
#
Henry Meigs Jr. 1869-1879#
Stephen K. Lane 1879-1883#
David W. Oliver 1883-1887#
John Newman 1887-1891#
William C. Farr 1891-1895#
Egbert Seymour 1895-1904#
Thomas Brady 1904-1906#
Pierre P. Garven 1906-1910#
John J. Cain 1910-1912#
Matthew T. Cronin 1912-1914#
Dr. Bart J. Daly 1914-1915#
Pierre P. Garven 1915-1919#
W. Homer Axford 1919-1923#
Robert J. Talbot 1923-1927#
Dr. Bert J. Daly 1927-1931#
Lucius F. Donohue 1931-1939#
James J. Donovan 1939-1943#
Dr. Bert J. Daly 1943-1947#
Charles A. Heiser 1947-1951#
Edward F. Clark 1951-1955#
G. Thomas DiDomenico 1955-1959#
Alfred V. Brady 1959-1962#
Francis G. Fitzpatrick 1962-1974#
Dennis P. Collins 1974-1990#
Richard A. Rutkowski 1990-1994#
Leonard P. Kiczek 1994-1998#
Joseph V. Doria, Jr. 1998-Present
Federal, state and county representation
Bayonne is split between the Tenth and Thirteenth Congressional Districts and is part of New Jersey's 31st Legislative District.
The
Bayonne Board of Education serves students from Prekindergarten through twelfth grade. Schools in the district are the ten K-8 elementary schools (
Henry E. Harris No. 1,
Phillip G. Vroom No. 2,
Dr. Walter F. Robinson No. 3,
Mary J. Donohoe No. 4,
Lincoln No. 5,
Horace Mann No. 6,
Midtown Community School No. 8,
George Washington School No. 9,
Woodrow Wilson No. 10 and
John M. Bailey No. 12),
P.S. #14 (an advanced school for more intelligent students, who must take a test in 3rd grade to enter. It holds grades 4th-8th.) and
Bayonne High School.
For the 2004-05 school year, Mary J. Donohoe No. 4 School was named a "Star School" by the
New Jersey Department of Education, the highest honor that a New Jersey school can achieve.
[New Jersey Department of Education Star School Award recipients, accessed May 23, 2006] It is the fourth school in Bayonne to receive this honour the other three are Bayonne High School, Midtown Community School, and P.S. #14.
Car
The Bayonne Bridge provides access to
Staten Island.
The
Newark Bay Extension of the
New Jersey Turnpike (
Interstate 78) provides access to Jersey City and, via the
Holland Tunnel,
Manhattan. In the oppositie direction on the Newark Bay Extension, the
Newark Bay Bridge provides access to
Newark,
Newark Liberty International Airport and the rest of the Turnpike (
Interstate 95).
Route 440 runs along the east side of Bayonne, and the west side of Jersey City. Although it has several traffic lights it is usually the quickest way to go north-south within Bayonne. It connects to the Bayonne Bridge, I-78, and to
Route 185 (New Jersey) to
Liberty State Park.
Bus
Bus transportation is provided on three main north-south streets of the city: Broadway, Kennedy Boulevard, and Avenue C, both by the state-operated
NJ Transit and several private bus lines. The Broadway line runs solely inside Bayonne city limits, while bus lines on Avenue C and Kennedy Boulevard run to various end points in Jersey City. One Kennedy Boulevard service (the
Coach USA 99S) runs to the
Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown
Manhattan,
New York City, and rush hours peak direction the NJ Transit 120 runs between Avenue C in Bayonne and
Battery Park in downtown Manhattan.
Light Rail
The
Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, which was completed in the year 2000, has been a popular form of transportation which currently has stops throughout Bayonne,
Jersey City,
Hoboken,
Weehawken,
Union City and
North Bergen.
Stations in Bayonne are:
*
45th Street: Avenue E at East 45th Street
*
34th Street: Avenue E at East 34th Street
*
22nd Street: Avenue E at East 22nd Street
NJ Transit has stated its intention to extend the system southward and build a station at
8th Street, which will be located at Avenue C.
Service within Bayonne is available between these three stations. Northbound service from Bayonne runs through Jersey City, mostly near the waterfront, to
Hoboken Terminal. Other parts of the system can be accessed via transfers. The
Tonnelle Avenue (in North Bergen) and other stations north of Hoboken Terminal can also be reached by transferring at stations between
Liberty State Park and
Pavonia-Newport for the West End Avenue-Tonnelle Avenue route. The Liberty State Park station is a transfer point for those travelling between Bayonne and stations on the
West Side Avenue (Jersey City) line. Connection to
PATH trains to midtown Manhattan and to New Jersey Transit commuter train service are available at Hoboken Terminal. Transfers to PATH trains to
Newark,
Harrison, and downtown Manhattan are available at
Exchange Place.
Currently, the city of Bayonne is working on building projects on the former
Military Ocean Terminal (MOTBY). Plans for the site include new housing and businesses.
Bayonne Golf Club, a private Irish/Scottish-links style golf course is planned to be constructed on the site of the former city dump. A flagpole, displaying a large American flag that is visible from Manhattan and surrounding communities, has been erected at the site where the clubhouse will be built in 2007.
The long-planned Power Center Mall on
Route 440 in Bayonne has finally gotten the green light to begin construction, according to a statement made by Michael O'Connor, executive director of the Bayonne Economic Development Corp. The project will be built on land formerly belonging to AGC Chemicals America. Cameron Group, the conditional developer for the site, will soon begin construction on two large anchor stores of 140,000 and 90,000 square feet, three mid-size anchors of between 30,000 and 50,000 square feet, and several smaller shops and restaurants, O'Connor said. Completion is expected in fall 2007.
Proposed projects include construction of the
September 11th memorial park for the
Tear of Grief monument, and completing Bayonne's section of the 18-mile Hackensack RiverWalk, stretching from Newark Bay in Bayonne to Bellman's Creek in North Bergen.
The RiverWalk section in Bayonne, if fully completed, would run from the southwest corner of the town in an area where the Kill Van Kull meets the Newark Bay, to the northwestern point of the area. That is according to Joseph Ryan, spokesperson for Bayonne Mayor Joseph Doria.
The ribbon was cut and the plaque unveiled on
May 2,
2006, for the new Richard A. Rutkowski Park in Bayonne, a wetlands preserve on the northwestern end of Bayonne, which will be part of the future RiverWalk. Also known as the Waterfront Park and Environmental Walkway, it is located immediately north of the Stephen R. Gregg Hudson County Park.
Governor of New Jersey Jon Corzine joined a contingent of state and federal officials to announce on
May 6,
2006. that funding was in place to extend the
Hudson-Bergen Light Rail system to Eighth Street in Bayonne. With the engineering work nearly complete, work on the rail line and the station is expected to start by 2008 and should be complete by 2009.
[Funds to stretch light rail to 8th St. in Bayonne, Jersey Journal, May 4, 2006]*The main street in Bayonne is known as Broadway, and was named after the avenue in
New York City. It was originally named Avenue D, since it is bounded on either side by Avenues C and E.
*
The
Bayonne Bridge, which connects Bayonne to
Staten Island, was completed in November,
1931. At the time, it was the longest
steel arch bridge ever constructed. Today, it is the third-longest such bridge, with the
Lupu Bridge in
Shanghai,
China and the
New River Gorge Bridge in
West Virginia being first- and second-longest respectively.
*
Standard Oil began its initial operations in Bayonne when
John D. Rockefeller bought a kerosene works on the eastern shore. It eventually encompassed all of the Saltersville section of Bayonne; Avenues J and K are all that remain.
*Bayonne was a bedroom community and shore resort for the wealthy and elite as late as 1889. The La Tourette Hotel on the southern shore along
Kill Van Kull was its centerpiece.
*The
Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor (formerly the
Military Ocean Terminal), located on the Eastern Side of Bayonne is now home to television and movie studios for shows such as
HBO's Oz (1997-2003),
A Beautiful Mind (2001) and
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004).
*Films such as
Hysterical Blindness (2002),
Mortal Thoughts (1991) and
Swimfan (2002), were all shot on location in Bayonne.
*The Bayonne Bridge and some of the downtown streets were filmed for the making of Spielberg's
War of the Worlds. The bridge and major portions of Bayonne were destroyed in the film by aliens.
*Some scenes from the
Nickelodeon television show
The Adventures of Pete and Pete were shot in Bayonne. Scenes that took place in Wellsville High School were shot in
Bayonne High School and
P.S. #14.
*The 1996 TV show
Matt Waters starring
Montel Williams, with Williams portraying a fictional high school teacher, was filmed almost entirely in Bayonne, with scenes shot at Bayonne High School.
*The music videos
Someday by
Mariah Carey and
Popular by
Nada Surf were filmed on location at Bayonne High School.
*The upcoming film version of
Strangers with Candy filmed scenes taking place at Flatpoint High inside Bayonne High School.
*
Ozzy Osbourne's famed guitarist
Zakk Wylde was born and raised here.
*After the collapse of the
World Trade Center there were proposals for the construction of a 2,000-foot TV tower at Bayonne. These plans seemed to be cancelled.
[BAYONNE TV TOWER PROPOSAL IN QUESTION, New Jersey Capital Report, May 21, 2003]*Hard-luck boxer
Chuck Wepner was known as "The Bayonne Bleeder".
*When
The Tonight Show was broadcast from
New York City during the 1960s, host
Johnny Carson liked to make jokes about various New Jersey cities. He claimed on several occasions that his personal tailor was "Raul of Bayonne".
*Bayonne police officers were the first to have police radios in their police cars. They also were one of the first to use the police
walkie-talkie.
*In the
1997 film
Men in Black, starring
Will Smith and
Tommy Lee Jones, they mention that Bayonne has been taken over by aliens.
*The Bayonne Bridge is the sister bridge of the
Sydney Harbour Bridge located in
Sydney,
Australia.
*Bayonne, like its neighbor
Staten Island, is always mentioned in some kind of humor on T.V.shows such as
The Odd Couple,(Frosty the maid was hailed as the "Beast from Bayonne", other shows
Barney Miller,
All in the Family etc.
*
Official City of Bayonne Website*
Bayonne Board of Education*
National Center for Education Statistics data for the Bayonne Board of Education*
Bayonne Community News
