Register now !    Login  
Main Menu
Who's Online
118 user(s) are online (97 user(s) are browsing Message Forum)

Members: 0
Guests: 118

more...




Browsing this Thread:   1 Anonymous Users






Re: Bar brawl, rights for blacks, train accident top the news in Jersey Journal of 1867
#2
Home away from home
Home away from home


Hide User information
Joined:
2004/9/15 19:03
Last Login :
2023/8/15 18:42
Group:
Registered Users
Posts: 9302
Offline
JOURNAL MOVES, SQUARE GETS ITS NAME

Wednesday, May 02, 2007
By MICHELLE DONOHUE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Before the congestion and traffic, the central district that would later become Journal Square was a residential community of Victorian-era homes with wrap-around porches lining cobblestone roads. The tallest building was Grace M.E. Church.

All that began to change, however, when the Hudson and Manhattan Tubes - the predecessor of the PATH system - opened in 1909 with a station in the area that would later become Journal Square. At that time, the street-level trolley system's main station and headquarters were also located in the area - in the Sip Avenue building where Hudson County Community College now is - helping to turn a once-quiet neighborhood into a bustling transportation hub.

Before moving to the Square, The Jersey Journal had already had three addresses in Downtown Jersey City. Co-publisher Joseph A. Dear II, who wanted his newspaper located closer to the Tubes, decided to move the Journal from 37 Montgomery St. to a new building in the Square in 1912.

The new headquarters faced Bergen Avenue and stood out with its clock tower. Jersey City historian J. Owen Grundy wrote in "The History of Jersey City" that The Jersey Journal was "perhaps the first to see what lay in the future."

Fourteen years after moving to the area, Dear pushed for a Bergen Avenue expansion. As the Journal began plans to erect a new building - at what is now the current home of the newspaper at 30 Journal Square - the owner allowed the city in 1923 to condemn the Journal's original Square building to make way for an open plaza.

To recognize the newspaper's support for the Bergen Avenue expansion, Mayor Frank "I Am the Law" Hague named the area Journal Square.

In 1929, in a bitter dispute with the newspaper, Hague changed the area's name from Journal Square to Veterans Square. But the name change was short-lived.

"The boom really started with the two train stations, but it all happened when The Jersey Journal came in," said John Gomez, founder and past president of the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy, who writes the "Legends & Landmarks" column for The Jersey Journal. "It was like three things happened at once. There was no stopping it."

Since the Journal Square dedication in December 1926, both the newspaper and location have seen changes.

Recently, the city condemned several properties on the Square to make way for two $600 million residential towers, one 52 stories and the other 46 stories, including 150,000 square feet of retail space.

"Every time I go up there, there is some sort of construction," said James Halliday, a Jersey City resident for 30 years. "They have a long way to go to catch up to the Downtown area."

But while The Journal has changed as much as its neighborhood, it still stands by what Co-publisher Dear had in mind back in 1922 when he said:

"My motto is: The public must know The Jersey Journal is the best buy on any newsstand."

Posted on: 2007/5/2 13:00
 Top 


Bar brawl, rights for blacks, train accident top the news in Jersey Journal of 1867
#1
Home away from home
Home away from home


Hide User information
Joined:
2004/9/15 19:03
Last Login :
2023/8/15 18:42
Group:
Registered Users
Posts: 9302
Offline
Bar brawl, rights for blacks, train accident top the news in 1867
140 YEARS

Wednesday, May 02, 2007
By JARRETT RENSHAW
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

T he inaugural edition of The Jersey Journal - then The Evening Journal - was unpretentious in its style and presentation, reflecting the mood of a nation still healing from a brutal civil war.

The May 2, 1867, newspaper cost just two cents and was printed on large broadsheets that were intended to be folded by readers into smaller squares for easier handling. The entire paper was four pages. It contained no photos on the front page, nor anywhere else, creating large swaths of uninterrupted type that more closely resembled a bulletin board than a modern newspaper. Also missing were reporters' bylines and any big, bold headlines.

The first edition included a mission statement that has stood the test of time over the newspaper's 140 years, including numerous changes in style, ownership and staff.

"The Evening Journal today introduces itself and hopes for a long continued, profitable and pleasant acquaintance with the people of this community," the first publishers wrote in their statement. "In its opinions and criticisms, it will be independent, liberal and decided, and in their utterance, frank and fearless, neither dreading the displeasure, nor fawning for the favor of anybody."

The paper was founded by two Civil War veterans who fought in the Union Army, Major Z.K. Pangborn and Captain William Dunning, both staunch opponents of slavery and supporters of equal rights for freedmen. It's no surprise then that the newspaper's first editorial supported a measure to extend suffrage to black men in New Jersey. And while the Journal supported the party of Abraham Lincoln, the paper had no qualms taking aim at Republicans in Trenton who seemed to be stalling a vote on equal rights for blacks.

"Prejudice must give way before it - circumstances must accommodate themselves to it, and all the croakings of cowards, and the limping of laggards will not essentially delay its coming," the editorial declared.

"For the Republican party to hesitate to plant itself squarely on the platform of impartial suffrage, is not only to exhibit a sad lack of common sense, but to be guilty of a glaring inconsistency, which no excuses can palliate, no sophistry defend."

While the paper's initial circulation is unclear, records show that The Journal was printing 2,300 daily newspapers in 1869. A new printing press in 1875 allowed the well-read Journal to publish 10,000 newspapers an hour.

The advertisements in the first edition provide a glimpse into late 19th-century society with their emphasis on family-run businesses and clear marketing strategies aimed at women and low prices.

One ad boasted a sale of 15 eggs for 25 cents, another touted a local butcher who had the "freshest" meats, while another promoted the family friendliness of the Terhune Brothers furniture store.

The news of the day included a story about a German laborer, employed at a coal dock in Hoboken, who was "busying" himself in front of a train of cars when an "engine was backed down against him." He later died from the injuries.

There was also a fight at a bar at 2 Exchange Place between two men who had a "vast quantity of the sort of stuff" that brings out "Dutch courage."

"Mr. Bailey, the proprietor of the saloon thought the dignity of the establishment could not be conserved (.and) requested Officer Baldwin to use his influence toward bringing about pacification," the story read.

The two men, identified only as Jack and Dan, were brought before a local judge, who ordered them to pay a $2 fine "for the benefit of the people of Hudson County."

Upon leaving court, one of the men said he was convinced that fighting in Jersey City wasn't "exactly the cheese."

The May 2, 1867, edition also included a host of national and international news - including reports of a civil war brewing in Mexico - which came via telegraph machine.

Posted on: 2007/5/2 12:58
 Top 








[Advanced Search]





Login
Username:

Password:

Remember me



Lost Password?

Register now!



LicenseInformation | AboutUs | PrivacyPolicy | Faq | Contact


JERSEY CITY LIST - News & Reviews - Jersey City, NJ - Copyright 2004 - 2017