Template:Other uses
Template:Infobox settlement Secaucus (Template:IPA-en) is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town population was 16,264.[1] Located within the New Jersey Meadowlands, it is the most suburban of the county's municipalities, though large parts of the town are dedicated to light manufacturing, retail, and transportation uses, as well as protected areas.[2]
Name[]
Secaucus is a derivation of the Algonquian words for "black" (seke or sukit) and "snake" (achgook), or "place of snakes.[3] The town's name is pronounced "SEE-kaw-kus" (Template:IPA-en), with the accent on the first syllable, not the second as often used by non-natives.[4][5]
Geography[]
Secaucus is located at Template:Coord (40.781958,-74.067649). According to the United States Census Bureau, the town had a total area of 6.599 square miles (17.090 km2), of which, 5.822 square miles (15.078 km2) of it is land and 0.777 square miles (2.012 km2) of it (11.77%) is water.Template:GR[6]
At the southern end of Secaucus is Snake Hill (officially known as Laurel Hill), an igneous rock diabase intrusion jutting up some Template:Convert from the Meadowlands below, near the New Jersey Turnpike.[7]
Being partly surrounded by the Hackensack Meadowlands, Secaucus provides opportunities to observe the recovery of natural marshes in the town's post industrial, post agricultural age. Some marsh areas in the northeast part of town have been filled to provide a new commercial area, and some to build footpaths for nature walks with signs illustrating birds and other wildlife to be seen there.[8]
Secaucus has different districts:[8]
- Secaucus Plaza Central Business District at Paterson Plank Road south of Route 3
- County Avenue - from Municipal Building to Secaucus Junction
- Harmon Cove - along the Hackensack River and Meadowlands Turnpike
- Harmon Meadows, site of Mill Creek Mall and Meadowlands Convention Center
- Snake Hill - site of Laurel Hill County Park
- North End - north of New Jersey Route 3, home Secaucus High School, Schmiddt's Woods, and Mill Creek Marsh
- Secaucus Junction - New Jersey Transit's central rail hub
- Riverbend - a wetlands preserve at the meander in the Hackensack River
History[]
Sikakes, once an island, was part of the territory purchased by Director-General of New Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant in 1658.[8] The territory was part of what is considered to the oldest municipality in the state of New Jersey which was first chartered in 1660 as Bergen[9] in the province of New Netherland and, in 1683, became Bergen Township.
Settlement had begun by at least 1733 by the Smith family, whose namesake Abel I. Smith Burial Ground is part of the lore of Secaucus.
Secaucus was originally formed as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 12, 1900, from portions of North Bergen. On June 7, 1917, Secaucus was incorporated as a town, replacing Secaucus borough, based on the results of a referendum held on June 5, 1917.[10]
Before the 1950s, Secaucus was home to a number of pig farms,[11] rendering plants, and junk yards, which gave the town a reputation for being one of the most odorous in the New York metropolitan area.[12] In 1963, debris from the demolition of Pennsylvania Station was dumped in the Secaucus Meadowlands. In later decades Secaucus became more a commuter town. In a non-binding referendum in 1969, 90% of voters in Secaucus chose to leave Hudson County and join Bergen County, as that county was more similar in character and had lower taxes.[13] Today it is the still the most suburban town in Hudson County.[11]
New Jersey Monthly magazine ranked Secaucus as its 11th best place to live in its 2008 rankings of the "Best Places To Live" in New Jersey.[14]
Demographics[]
Template:USCensusPop
2010 Census[]
Template:USCensusDemographics
The Census Bureau's 2006-2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $82,289 (with a margin of error of +/- $6,523) and the median family income was $96,475 (+/- $10,189). Males had a median income of $58,902 (+/- $7,548) versus $54,665 (+/- $4,626) for females. The per capita income for the town was $38,375. About 4.7% of families and 6.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.9% of those under age 18 and 7.9% of those age 65 or over.[15]
2000 Census[]
According to the 2000 census,Template:GR there were 15,931 people, 6,214 households, and 3,945 families residing in the town. The population density was 2,706.7 people per square mile (1,044.3/km2). There were 6,385 housing units at an average density of 1,084.8 per square mile (418.6/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 68.54% White, 14.45% African American, 0.11% Native American, 11.80% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 2.79% from other races, and 2.26% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 12.26% of the population.[16][17]
There were 6,214 households out of which 25.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.2% were married couples living together, 10.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.5% were non-families. 31.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41 and the average family size was 3.08.[16][17]
In the town the population was spread out with 19.2% under the age of 18, 6.4% from 18 to 24, 33.5% from 25 to 44, 24.8% from 45 to 64, and 16.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 97.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.2 males.[16][17]
The median income for a household in the town was $59,800, and the median income for a family was $72,568. Males had a median income of $49,937 versus $39,370 for females. The per capita income for the town was $31,684. About 3.9% of families and 7.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.4% of those under age 18 and 9.0% of those age 65 or over.[16][17] About 20% of the town's employed residents commute to New York City to work.Template:Citation needed
Government[]
Local government[]
Secaucus is governed under the Town form of New Jersey municipal government. The government consists of a Mayor and a Town Council made up of six council members elected from three wards. A Mayor is elected directly by the voters. The Town Council consists of six members elected to serve four-year terms on a staggered basis.[18]
Template:As of, the Mayor of the Town of Secaucus is Michael Gonnelli, and the Deputy Mayor is John Bueckner. Gonnelli succeeded Richard Steffens, who stepped in to finish the term of Dennis Elwell. Elwell resigned amid corruption charges on July 28, 2009, and was later convicted.[19] The current members of the Secaucus Town Council are Deputy Mayor John Bueckner, James Clancy, Robert Constantino, Gary Jeffas, William McKeever and Susan Pirro.[20]
Fire Department[]
Washington Hook & Ladder Co. # 1 Firehouse
The town of Secaucus is served around the clock by five volunteer fire companies that make up the Secaucus Fire Department, which operate a combined fire apparatus fleet of 5 Engines, 2 Trucks, 1 Rescue, 1 Squad (Utility Unit), and 1 boat out of five fire stations located throughout the town.[21]
Federal, state and county representation[]
Secaucus is in the 9th Congressional district. Template:NJ Congress 09 Template:NJ Senate
Secaucus is in the Template:NJ Legislative 32[22]
Parts of the town are encompassed by either of Hudson County's 8th or 9th freeholder districts. Template:Hudson Freeholder District 9 Template:Hudson Freeholder District 8 Template:Hudson County Executive
Education[]
Students in pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade are educated by the Secaucus Board of Education. The schools in the district (with 2009-10 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics[23]) are Clarendon Elementary School (grades preK-6; 635 students), Huber Street Elementary School (preK-6; 584), Secaucus Middle School (7-8; 306) and Secaucus High School (9-12; 621). The athletic teams of Secaucus High School are nicknamed the "Patriots."
Immaculate Conception School, the town's only Catholic private day school, serving grades pre-K through 8th grade, closed in 2009.
The Nicholas G. Hayek Watchmaking School is also located in Secaucus.
Transportation[]
Former trolley station, now a park.
Secaucus has exceptionally good road and rail transportation. The town is divided into four by the intersecting roads of NJ 3, which runs east and west, and the eastern spur of the New Jersey Turnpike (part of Interstate 95), which runs north-south, with an interchange (16E/17) at NJ Route 3 and a new interchange 15X, near the Secaucus Junction Station, which opened in late 2005.[24]
Because of this, many shipping warehouses and truck freight transfer stations are located in Secaucus, both for shipping companies such as UPS and for numerous retailers. For example, Barnes & Noble's "same day delivery" service to Manhattan operates from a warehouse in Secaucus. The town also has a large rail yard and multimode terminal run by CSX and Norfolk Southern where loads are switched between trains or transferred to or from trucks.
Secaucus is also the site of New Jersey Transit's Frank R. Lautenberg Secaucus Junction train station, peculiarly named since there is no actual track junction. As the station is in the south end of Secaucus, access from the rest of Secaucus is limited via County Avenue or Meadowlands Parkway or NJ Turnpike Interchange 15X.
Numerous New Jersey Transit bus operations serve Secaucus, including the 124, 129, 190 and 320 buses to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan, the 78 to Newark, the 2 and 85 to Jersey City and local service provided on the 772 route.[25] There is a bus park-and-ride at the northeast corner of Secaucus.
In the first half of the 20th Century the Jersey City, Hoboken and Rutherford Electric Railway operated a trolley line through the then main business district of Secaucus, on Paterson Plank Road from Jersey City and across the Hackensack River to East Rutherford. The extent to which the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail will resurrect this service is undecided.
The closest airport with scheduled passenger service i
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedCensus2010 - ↑ Archilla, Dylan M. "Taking a dip Hudson County towns offer swim fun", Hudson Reporter, July 3, 2003. Accessed July 20, 2011. "Secaucus, being the most "suburban" of Hudson's County's towns (and being closest to Bergen County), not surprisingly boasts the most spacious facility. Sporting four distinct pools (an Olympic-sized pool, a diving tank, a lap pool, and a wading pool for the kiddies the Secaucus Swim Center is open to non-residents."
- ↑ "Template:Cite book
- ↑ Wright, E. Assata. "Secaucus: How do you pronounce it? Development put town on map but newcomers don’t know where they are", Hudson Reporter, February 22, 2009. Accessed December 1, 2011. "Therefore, the new neighbors may proudly totter about telling folks they live in Sih-KAW-cus or See-KAW-cus. However, natives prefer that the accent be on the first syllable, as in: SEE-kaw-cus."
- ↑ Page, Jeffrey. "Our towns challenge our tongues", The Record (Bergen County), June 17, 2005. Accessed June 19, 2007. "You can always tell newcomers to Secaucus. Because most words are pronounced with emphasis on the next-to-last syllable, they say they live in see-KAW-cus - although the ones who fear their friends might recall that Secaucus used to be pig-farming country might say they live in South Carlstadt, which doesn't exist. If I said 'see-KAW-cus' to someone local, they'd think I didn't know what I was talking about, said Dan McDonough, the municipal historian. Of course it's SEE-kaw-cus. Everybody knows that."
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedCensusArea - ↑ Jones, Richard Lezin. "Secaucus Journal; Humbled Mountain Offers a Mine of History, and Prehistory", The New York Times, March 31, 2002. Accessed December 25, 2011. "Or maybe the biggest insult came later, when what was left of the mountain -- a geological marvel, a pristine example of igneous diabase nearly a quarter billion years old and as tall as a 20-story building -- became a canvas for college students spray-painting their fraternity letters. But, no, Dan McDonough said as he stared at the once-great peak known as Snake Hill, the familiar, graffiti-scarred outcropping of rock beside the New Jersey Turnpike, between Exits 15W and 16W, those indignities are not in the forefront of his mind."
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Template:Cite news
- ↑ NJCU: Jersey City A to Z: Bergen with map
- ↑ "The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968", John P. Snyder, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 147-148.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Mullins, Michael D.; "'Redevelopment' was the word in 07"; The Hudson Reporter: Year in Review; December 30, 2007; Page 34
- ↑ Template:Cite news
- ↑ Bonamo, Mark J. "The lost cause Secaucus residents remember attempt to secede from Hudson County", Hudson Reporter, August 1, 2006. Accessed December 25, 2011. "Encouraged by this success, Amico began to look across the Hackensack River. 'The makeup of Secaucus is very much unlike most of Hudson County,' he said. 'It's much more like Bergen County. We did some analysis about what taxes were like in other counties, and Bergen County had the lowest. Bergen County would have accepted us back in 1969. They liked the fact that we were predominantly independents at that time, and Bergen County was Republican. We had a non-binding resolution that approved secession by 90 percent.'"
- ↑ "Best Places To Live - The Complete Top Towns List 1-100", New Jersey Monthly, February 21, 2008. Accessed February 24, 2008.
- ↑ DP03: Selected Economic Characteristics from the 2006-2010 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates for Secaucus town, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States Census Bureau. Accessed December 25, 2011.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Census 2000 Demographic Profile Highlights: Secaucus town, New Jersey, United States Census Bureau. Accessed July 20, 2011.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 Census 2000 Profiles of Demographic / Social / Economic / Housing Characteristics for Secaucus town, United States Census Bureau. Accessed December 25, 2011.
- ↑ 2005 New Jersey Legislative District Data Book, Rutgers University Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, April 2005, p. 142.
- ↑ Template:Cite news
- ↑ Elected Officials, Town of Secaucus. Accessed December 25, 2011.
- ↑ Home Page, Secaucus Engine Co. 1. Accessed March 5, 2012.
- ↑ 2011 Apportionment Redistricting: Municipalities sorted alphabetically, New Jersey Department of State, p. 9. Accessed December 25, 2011.
- ↑ Secaucus Board of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed December 25, 2011.
- ↑ Harrington, Shannon D. "Enter Exit 15", The Record (Bergen County), November 30, 2005. Accessed June 19, 2007. "Exit 15X, the new $250 million Secaucus interchange on the New Jersey Turnpike, will open to motorists Thursday night."
- ↑ Hudson County Bus/Rail Connection, New Jersey Transit, backed up by the Internet Archive as of May 22, 2009. Accessed July 20, 2011.