Hackensack Township, New Jersey

Hackensack Township was a township that was formed in 1693 within Bergen County, New Jersey. The township was created by the New Jersey Legislature as one of the first group of townships in New Jersey. Bergen County, which had been created in 1682, was thus split into two parts: Hackensack Township to the north, and Bergen Township to the south.

Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
18101,918—
18202,0768.2%
18302,2006.0%
18402,63119.6%
18503,50633.3%
18605,48856.5%
18708,03846.5%
Population sources:
1810-1870[1] 1840[2]
1850-1870[3] 1850[4] 1870[5]

Despite its name, Hackensack Township did not encompass the present-day city of Hackensack, which was within New Barbadoes Township on the west side of the Hackensack River.[6]

As originally constituted on October 31, 1693, the township included portions of present-day Bergen County between the Hudson River on the east and the Hackensack River to the west, northward to the boundary with New York and south to the border with current Hudson County.[7]

In 1775, Harrington Township was formed by royal charter from the northern portions of both New Barbadoes Township and Hackensack Township.[7]

On March 22, 1871, Hackensack Township was subdivided into three new townships, each stretching from the Hudson River on the east to the Hackensack River in the west. The northern portion became Palisades Township, the center strip became Englewood Township, and the southern portion became Ridgefield Township. With the creation of these three new townships, Hackensack Township was dissolved that same day, March 22, 1871.[7]

  1. ^ Compendium of censuses 1726-1905: together with the tabulated returns of 1905, New Jersey Department of State, 1906. Accessed October 22, 2015.
  2. ^ Bowen, Francis. American Almanac and Repository of Useful Knowledge for the Year 1843, p. 231, David H. Williams, 1842. Accessed October 22, 2015.
  3. ^ Raum, John O. The History of New Jersey: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Volume 1, p. 238. J. E. Potter and company, 1877. Accessed October 22, 2015. "Hackensack, formerly a township of this county, was ten miles long, with a width varying from three to five miles. It was bounded north by Harrington, east by the Hudson river, south by North Bergen in Hudson county, and west by Lodi and New Barbadoes.... Its population in 1850 was 3,506; in 1860, 5,488 and in 1870, 8,038"
  4. ^ Debow, James Dunwoody Brownson. The Seventh Census of the United States: 1850, p. 137. R. Armstrong, 1853. Accessed October 22, 2015.
  5. ^ Staff. A compendium of the ninth census, 1870, p. 258. United States Census Bureau, 1872. Accessed October 22, 2015.
  6. ^ Clayton, 1882. p. 163. "Under this act a court of small causes was organized at 'New Hackensack,' probably the village now known as Hackensack, with the 'New' prefixed to it for a time to distinguish it from Old Hackensack (township) on the east side the river."
  7. ^ a b c Snyder, John P. The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 79. Accessed October 22, 2015.