The Jersey Journal, 14 Jan 2006, History

Envisioning a new Bayonne

It was 114 years ago this week that the Bayonne Herald published on its front page a "pen picture of a new Bayonne" under the headline that called it "only a dream, but one apt to be fulfilled by time."

The vision of the city's future was written by H. C. Paige, the weekly's editor, who explained that he fell to dreaming "while sitting on the top gallants of a great ship lying alongside the coal docks overlooking the rapidly growing city of Bayonne and the busy markets of trade and commerce in the distance."

In 1892, Bayonne's population had topped the 20,000 mark. Port Johnston, the world's largest coal dock, was bustling on the Patty Kill Creek at the Kill van Kull, and chemical plants, large oil refineries and other plants were sprouting up at Constable Hook.

Bayonne's Public Library was chartered by the state in August of that year and the city's new city hall was nearing completion at 30th Street and Avenue E. Here is what Paige saw in his dream:

"A magnificent city of 100,000 inhabitants is stretched out before us. Thousands of palatial residencies and the less pretentious, though pretty, cottages of the workingmen are visible and the streets are broad, well paved, and lined on either side by rows of pretty shade trees.

"Rapidly moving cars, propelled by electricity, carry the people to any part of the city. Where the handsome Boulevard, from end to end, is reserved for carriages and fine equipages only.

"The city is vastly larger and all the houses in the new and extended streets are built in at least 50 feet and the yards in front are covered with soft, green grass, trees, flowers and shrubbery. The streets and squares are all well-paved with the best materials and are free from dust and mud.

"In the central portion of the town, there is a fine library and art gallery which grew by degrees to its present magnificent proportions through bequests of liberal-minded residents until now it is the most attractive part of the city.

"There are a number of large hotels to accommodate strangers who flock to our beautiful city. There is also a commodious theatre, an elegant post office building and numerous large and substantial business houses.

"In the manufacturing district may be seen the tall chimneys of many new and valuable industries secured through the efforts of the Bayonne Herald and the Board of Trade. There may be large debt funded at three percent but the city has so largely increased in population and wealth and real estate is so valuable that taxes are lower than now.

"What a beautiful picture! And the best part of it all is that the wealth and beauty is enjoyed as much by the poor as the rich. When the sewing woman leaves her room and the laborer his dingy shop, they find themselves in the midst of refinement and culture. Their children have beautiful playgrounds and are surrounded by ennobling influences.

"The library, painting, parks, fountains and beautiful streets are open to them--all brilliantly lit by the arc light system at night. The latter not only serves to make the beauty of the streets and parks apparent at night but also afford some protection from the footpad mugger.

"Bayonne is a promising city as it is, but with new enthusiasm engendered in the breasts of her inhabitants and a Board of Trade fully alive to a sense of duty, a new Bayonne shall arise of far more grandeur and commercial value," he said.

Bayonne - 114 years later: And how have we fulfilled that vision?

We have great ships lying alongside the docks; one of the largest dredging operations in the world at the Kill van Kull, our population is growing again and will hit the 100,000 mark when all the bustling development now going on is completed.

New Shopping Centers are sprouting up at Constable Hook and other areas of Bayonne. Our magnificent and palatial library is ten times larger than the first one where performing and visual arts and interactive events are presented to the community.

Our city is filled with tightly-knit neighborhoods with beautiful homes and clean, neat cottages whose yards in front are covered with soft, green grass, trees, flowers and shrubbery. Our avenues are indeed broad, well paved, and lined on either side by rows of pretty shade trees. In fact, we have been named “Tree City USA” by the Arbor Day Foundation for the eleventh consecutive year.

We have eight private schools and 12 public schools [including three Star Schools], over 40 places of worship.

We are minutes from Newark Airport, Jersey City, Hoboken, Staten Island, and the greatest cultural metropolis in the world: New York City. The recently established Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Line means that trips can now be measured in minutes. There are two buses to New York, a bus line on each of our main Avenues and dozens of taxis and limousines provide additional transportation options.

We have a world-class Medical Center offering a complete spectrum of health care specialties. Among them are medical and radiation oncology; cardiac care; sophisticated diagnostic laboratory and radiology; renal care; and maternal and child health. Recently the State Department Of Heath designated the Bayonne Medical Center to be one of 8 hospitals in the state to perform angioplasty.

While other areas of the country are losing movie theaters we have opened a new Frank's 12-Screen Theater. And yes, we have “an elegant post office building and numerous large and substantial business houses.”

"The library, parks, fountains and beautiful streets are open to them -- all brilliantly lit by the arc light system at night.” We have 15 parks, including 10 softball and baseball fields, 17 playgrounds, 9 basketball courts, as well as volleyball, bocce, and fitness tracks. Dog lovers can find play time for their pets at the "Sirius" Dog Park, named after the police dog killed on September 11, 2001.

The Board of Trade, now Called the Bayonne Town Center, serves as a vehicle to economically revitalize Broadway with the cooperation and support of the Bayonne Economic Development Corporation and the Bayonne UEZ.

The Bayonne Town Center along with the City's Department of Community Development has helped local businesses with grants for new store fronts with their Commercial Facade Program. This Program is the most generous in the state in terms of percentage of construction costs covered (50%) and the maximum amount granted ($10,000; $15,000 for corner buildings).

The BTC has pioneered the "Jump Start" program to help businesses through the entire Facade process: instructions on how they can participate in the City’s Facade Improvement Program, offer sketches of how the façade will look, help determine how much money it will cost to do the renovation, and how to find and hire reputable architects and contractors to do the work. This program should be a model to all Business Improvement Districts throughout the country.

Indeed, a new Bayonne has arisen with far more grandeur and greater commercial value.

The Free Public Library & Cultural Center of Bayonne

The Mary O'Connor Gallery of the library presents performing and visual arts and interactive events to its community. Various meetings and cultural programs are held in the basement of the library building.

On the path through the park alongside the Kill van Kull riding toward the Bridge

Cape Liberty Cruise Port

In 2004, Royal Caribbean moved its two Manhattan-based ships -- Empress of the Seas and Voyager of the Seas -- across the Hudson River to New Jersey. The cruise line set up shop at the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor, a 430-acre man-made point of land. The new cruise port offers outstanding views of the harbor, the Statue of Liberty and lower Manhattan.

Hudson-Bergen light rail line was the first in the U.S. to be built under a Design - Build - Operate - Maintain (DBOM) arrangement. The line uses modern low-floor light-rail vehicles built by Kinki-Sharyo. Passengers enter directly from a curb-level platform without climbing steps. Such vehicles have become common in Europe beginning in the 1990s, but the Hudson-Bergen line is the first to use them in the U.S.

Bayonne is keeping busy with:

The Bayonne Board of Education Photovoltaic Project consists of the design and construction of photovoltaic arrays on nine public school buildings located in the district. Currently, Phase 1, covering nearly three acres of roof surface, has been completed, and five of the systems are fully operational. Four other PV systems (Phase 2) are under currently under construction and will be operating in a few months. When finished it will be one of the largest Solar Cell projects in the Northeast.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Port Authority of N.Y. and N.J. Start $79 Million Deepening Project; Investments Build Underwater Super Highways in Port of New York and New Jersey. More of the Story.

(Coming very soon) Across the Hudson River from Manhattan, sits a course unlike anything this side of the Atlantic. Designed to emulate the look and feel of the legendary links courses of Scotland and Ireland, Bayonne Golf Club is a special retreat for the passionate golfer -- just a few miles from the southern tip of Manhattan -- that will play like an American cousin to Royal County Down, Turnberry and Ballybunion. ... more

The Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority is undertaking one of the largest redevelopments of a former military facility in American History.

Certainly there are few towns that can boast of so many new projects and developments while maintaining friendly neighborhoods, great schools, unrivaled local shopping along the longest unbroken shopping district in the country, and one of the safest cities in America. Bayonne is larger than 97.5% of all other cities in the US and yet its citizens think of each other as living in a great but small town.

Is there any place like this in the world?

Photo Credits: bayonnenj.org