"Thanksgiving" a film

MeLu Films presents

THANKSGIVING

a film by Raul Barcelona

Watch it now:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEtWJeV6SHU&feature=youtu.be

HUGO, The Story of Artist Hugo W. Morales

Watch it now:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVFzE9O3ruM

International Ballet Festival of Union City on the TV show "Live On Stage"

Check out this month’s episode of our TV show “Live On Stage". This episode features the International Ballet Festival of Union City, and an interview with its Director, Mami Hariyama.  

See it now:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BsC-_2du-s&feature=youtu.be

A Brief History of the Passion Play in Union City

(Image:  "La Pasion" 2018 presented at the Union City Performing Arts Center)

The original version of Passion Play to be performed in Union City was “Veronica’s Veil” which debuted in 1914 at the St. Joseph’s Parochial School Auditorium and played annually until 1999 when the school was rebuilt to become Veteran’s Memorial School.  Up to that point, “Veronica’s Veil” had been the longest running Passion Play in the US; the distinction later passed on to the production at The Park Theatre.

The production at the Park Theatre, now the longest running Passion Play in the United States has been performed in North Hudson, New Jersey since 1915 and at the Park Theatre since 1931.  The historic Park Theatre was built in 1931-1932 to house the local parish presentation of “The Passion Play”.  The play or musical is the story of Christ’s last days on earth, which has been performed in the parish since 1915. 

The Passion Play would draw thousands of people to Union City.  Buses would line the street dropping of persons wishing to witness the story.  With demographics changing in Union City and Hudson County, attendance dwindled.

The new Union City Performing Arts Center, a modern state-of-the-art 1,100-seat theatre located in the recently constructed Union City High School, which offers top-notch performances, responding to demands from a primarily Hispanic christian community decided to produce a Spanish language version.   This year the UCPAC will present a lavish new production of the Passion Play in Spanish.  This version will be presented annually.

(Image:  "La Pasion" 2018 presented at the Union City Performing Arts Center)

Monastery of the Perpetual Rosary

Picture by Lucio Fernandez from the book Union City in Pictures Collection.

"Union City in Pictures" available at Amazon.com at: 
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aag/main?ie=UTF8&seller=A2QIK6KGW3S9CW) 

Monastery of the Perpetual Rosary was erected in 1912 – 1914 and referred by residents in what was then West Hoboken now Union City as the “The Blue Chapel” because of its glowing bluestone masonry walls and cool-tinted stained glass memorial windows.

On December 21, 1891, the first community of the Dominican Sisters of the Perpetual Rosary was founded in West Hoboken (Union City), New Jersey. In New York Harbor, four Sisters of the Perpetual Rosary arrived from France. They were met by the founder of their cloistered order, Father Damien Marie Saintourens and proceeded to their new home.

The monastery was completed in 1914. Here the nuns would follow a disciplined routine of household chores and prayer, based on a schedule known as the Liturgy of the Hours, praying for those who do not pray. From this first American Monastery of the Perpetual Rosary, 21 others throughout the nation would rise. Today the Blue Chapel remains an oasis of tranquility in Union City and a reminder of the City’s rich historical heritage.

******

Below is a wonderful history written by John Gomez for The Jersey Journal 

Google maps

The Google Earth satellite image of the Convent of the Dominican Sisters of the Perpetual Rosary -- referred to since 1915 by West Hoboken (and now Union City) residents as the "Blue Chapel" because of its glowing bluestone masonry walls and cool-tinted stained glass memorial windows -- appears to be occupied. But it has been vacant since 2009.

From above, through the fixed levitating lens of a Google Earth satellite, the Convent of the Dominican Sisters of the Perpetual Rosary -- referred to since 1915 by West Hoboken (and now Union City) residents as the “Blue Chapel” because of its glowing bluestone masonry walls and cool-tinted stained glass memorial windows -- appears to be occupied.

The elevated grounds, perimetered by plumb pointed trap rock stone walls 15 feet in height, are seemingly maintained. Giant hedge bushels, planted ages ago in a centered convent court outlined above by roofed abbey walkways, are still finely sculpted and manicured. Old growth trees dating back to the early 1890s still forest and shroud the now-endangered architectural monument bounded by Central Avenue on the west, 13th Street on the south, Morris Street on the east and 14th and West streets on the north.

Little can that sacred satellite sense that since 2009, after nearly 120 years of Dominican Order nun occupation, the ornamental iron gates of the closed-off cloister campus have remained locked, save for the daily presence of a property caretaker.

One must be at ground level, at the 14th Street sidewalk entrance, to hear the footstepped echoes still emanating from the abandoned chambers within.

THE HOLLOWS OF TRAPHAGEN STREET

These Blue Chapel grounds are an ancient hollow -- one of the only remaining traces of the once dominant Kerrigan Woods of West Hoboken and Union Hill, two 19th-century cities that merged later in 1925 as Union City.

A statue-lined vista fenced off by steep walls and sharp wire - the piercing peals of the present absorbed and silenced by the aged buildings of a municipal monastery. Time here has been captured - light and architecture are captured, frozen, cocooned. I could be standing on 14th Street in 2011 -- or Traphagen Street in 1891.

Someone -- something -- is watching, be it the eyes of a man-made orbiting lens or the spirits of the departed sisters.

The non-Union City visitor - the historic site stumbler, the urban adventurer, the lover of landmarks -- will ponder the complex at the narrow concrete bourn and ask, What is this solemn place? Who reared its magnificent walls and chapel? Who laid out its idyllic lots with Dominican Order saints perched on pedestals, tucked away in towers? Why here at this precise precipice on the volcanic Palisades ridge?

Staring, pushing through the secured “Ave Maria” fence fired and fixed in place in 1915, asking more: Where are the cloistered sisters who came here so long ago - where have the peeking eyes and inner Gregorian chants gone?

The Google Earth satellite imagery gets it all wrong: the tranquil place is not immortalized on the lot. These memorized masonry walls are surmountable after all. Architecture is adrift here -- images from the past abound and are superimposed with the present. What was snapped-shot by multimillion-dollar technology in 2010 could instead be facsimiles of former moments.

VISIONISTS IN WEST HOBOKEN

Such is the indescribable mysticality of the Blue Chapel. Time here gives way to four French-speaking nuns and a vision-filled priest. I -- anyone -- could be standing there with them as their story and destiny unfold: they wave their arms at the forested property as if conjuring the Gothic Revival structures that will rise there almost 25 years later.

Father Damien Marie Saintourens, O.P. and the four nuns -- two from Rouen, France and two from Louvain, Belgium -- have traveled to America via the steamer Gascogne exactly eleven years after founding the Perpetual Rosary order in the French town of Calais in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of northern France. The Dominican friar’s intent: spreading the preachings and spiritual philosophies of St. Dominic through the cloistered contemplative order of sisters whose apostolate is the constant recitation of the rosary for the sinners of the world.

In Father Saintourens’ eyes, West Hoboken is the perfect spot for this growth - affordable lots and easy accessibility to Manhattan via a newly erected trolley trestle leading from Hoboken to Palisade Avenue.

The potential for growth -- and longevity -- is, however, greater than they can ever realize. After rooming for a few months in a tenement on Hudson Avenue, the ambitious monk and sisters purchase the former Chambon Estates property -- and the ancient ramshackle wooden structures it comes with -- thereby establishing, with the signing of a West Hoboken deed, the first Dominican Sisters of the Perpetual Rosary monastery in the country.

We could, even now, see these five pilgrims transforming the estate into a makeshift cloister: reconfiguring buildings into prayer and dormitory rooms, Gothicizing facades, laying out walking paths and gardens for meditation. By 1895, 34 postulate nuns, prioresses and Father Saintourens are occupying the “Mother-House” and adhering to, day after day, around-the-clock, orthodox vows of poverty, chastity and strict obedience to the order.

To support themselves they farm their own organic fruit trees and vegetables. They tend to their ailments with self-taught medicinal treatments. They train and support themselves in the handicrafts of the then-burgeoning Arts & Crafts period: embroidery, sculpture, jewelry, painting. The sisters become skilled artisans and smart merchants in the surrounding West Hoboken community, selling rosary beads, condolence cards and other religious articles.

While they become a self-reliant, self-sustaining order, they seek out the support of the nearby, all-powerful Passionists at the Monastery of St. Michael the Archangel. The priests become both chaplain and protector of the sisters and will assist them in their architectural ambitions later on.

The sisters’ success is derived from their commitment, energy and drive. As a new century turns they branch out to establish cloisters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (1897), Catonsville, Maryland (1899), Camden, New Jersey (1900), Buffalo, New York (1905), La Crosse, Wisconsin (1909) and various cities in Canada and the West Indies.

And as 1912 arrives the sisters find it necessary to expand and add on to their own house. With the financial help of the public, they will erect a vernacular convent and chapel complex on their 1.3 acre campus, gifting West Hoboken (and the future Union City) with its greatest architectural landmark - a landmark now silenced and threatened with erasure.

The Blue Chapel's rich stained glass memorial windows are extraordinary examples of the Munich School style and were crafted by the Leo P. Frohe Art Glass Works of Buffalo. The Sacred Heart, Dominican saints and the Joyful Mysteries of the rosary are all depicted in triptych and lancet panels located in the north nave wall, clerestories, chancel and choir. Photo by Andrew Blaize Bovasso

CROSSED CORNERSTONES

This distinct Catholic history continues to willingly unfold at the Blue Chapel site as I trace its rustic landscape, explore its graveled grounds, contemplate its uncertain future, walk with the imaged spirits of its founders.

Grottoes -- some sacked and barely discernible in the shadows, others perfectly intact with glowing statues of Dominican Order saints -- are greened and glazed by moss-mud and gripping poisonous vines. Ivy patches and great overhanging tree branches densify the paved and pebbled grounds. Gated pathways and stepped courts, well-worn by decades of gentle footsteps, traverse the blue convent walls and lead into a labyrinthine landscape of leaf-layered cavities and alcoves. A museum-like series of statues are galleried across the courts. Graves edge the elevated perimeters in inadvertent pockets. A central cemetery lies along the Morris Street wall. Leaning sun sheds, solitary clothing line poles, hand-built barbecue huts, stone seats, heaps of leaves - all still ring with the presence of the departed sisters.

But I am drawn most to two massive cornerstones -- an architectural enigma that also unravels at every time-cross-dissolved step.

One is etched with the year 1912, marking the construction of the convent dormitory. The other block glows with 1914, informing us that the chapel addition was started slightly after. Two highlighted years, I see, and yet one defining moment in October 1915 when both are unveiled simultaneously to the public.

Designed by Buffalo-based architect Henry Spann and contracted by Michael T. Connelly of Jersey City, the costly u-shaped Gothic Revival cloister complex -- $175,000 in total, all raised by chapel store sales and public donations -- is built of specification bluestone and terra cotta trimming. Each stone trap rock block is a memorial, a purchased prayer of perpetuity and penance. The names of the dead and their donors are etched between the mortar, hidden from view.

Staring at the cornerstones, I can almost see it: nearly 800 people gathering into the Ave Maria Chapel on October 23, 1915 for the blessing and dedication of the conjoined convent and chapel in its entirety, from deep basement to high rooftop, by Bishop John J. O’Connor. Above, glowing even now in a towering flèche coming out of the nave, an electrically illuminated statue of the Virgin Mary donated by Mrs. B. Holmes of Hoboken.

“The procession was led by six little girls, dressed to symbolize angels, and four little boys, who acted as pages...” observes a reporter in 1915. “Bishop O’Connor was highly pleased when 4-year-old Frances Markay, of Charles Street, West Hoboken, presented him with a beautiful bouquet of roses before he left the convent.”

Seminal image-filled words that pull me into the inner Blue Chapel sanctum where echoes -- some ancient, others of the present -- still resonate.

ECHOES WITHIN

I pierce a shallow wood-worked vestibule that leads into a seated parlor reception area. Immediately, from this 1915 center point, this waiting room, the chapel’s sister-watched spatiality becomes evident.

This Blue Chapel is the revived architecture of the French medieval monastery - drenched in darkness, floor-planned with cavernous chambers, cellars, closets, corridors. Windows and transom lights are screened off. Surrounding doors, labeled with directional placards, are shut tight. Hallways and stairways fade into a lingering pitched shadow-fog. All is shadows and silence.

“A lattice divides the room,” another reporter observes at the dedication ceremony and public inspection. “On one side the visitor may be seated on a chair and through the small opening of the lattice work, about four inches square, may converse with the sister seated on the other side. This is the only means of communication with those who have taken the veil...All conversations are held in an undertone.”

Entering the chapel area, I see -- I imagine -- the actual 1915 crowd, now packed into the chapel. Their presence concludes a two-week public inspection -- a dispensation - initiated in early October in preparation for the dedication and the official sisters’ enclosure where, afterward, no layperson will be permitted to view their habited faces or cross over into the convent’s communal depths.

The sanctum is vaulted at the top. A mosaic crucifix reredos adorns the altar. Recessed apsidal alcoves pulsing with animated shrines line the north nave wall. Decorations by the famed Rambusch Decorating Company, including brass railings, sanctuary lamps and gold-leaf crown heraldic patterns, are abundant throughout. Stained glass memorial windows crafted in the Munich School style by the Leo P. Frohe Art Glass Works of Buffalo depict, in triptych panels, the Sacred Heart, Dominican saints and the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary.

I infiltrate the abandoned depths of the convent through an expansive choir chamber flanked by more large memorial window lancets and hanging lamps. Industrial and medical rooms and corridor divides transition into the three-story, 51-room dormitory. Climbing upward, my steps releasing trend-creaks and banister rasps, I enter a once-closed region of architectural echoes and lingering primordial light. The convent rattles with wind. Chimes ring out in unseen corridors. All is lit by shafts of sunlight.

Across three floors, at each landing, over fifty doors shoot down in a pointed perspective. The rooms, each a narrow cell lit by a single Gothic window, are blocked by upturned beds, desks, chairs. Dust is accrued across the sagging threshold. Rain water leaks down freely through compromised plaster walls. Rosary bead parts lay scattered like spilled salts. Sleepy-eyed statuettes are left atop tables. Heavy crucifixes are innumerably pinned to walls. A cloistered open-air abbey runs across the convent wings high above. Below, a classic medieval cloister courtyard, squared off by a screened mint-green subway tiled abbey, centered by a large statue of the Virgin Mary.

I hurry back to the chapel. The dedication event is ending. The West Hoboken residents file out into the municipal void. Like a lost nitrate film, a fading to black occurs - or it could be that the hourglass measuring my visit expires under the coppered light of dusk.

But before leaving, the silent, slow-motioned bishop carries out a final astounding act. With the turning of his long staff, under the glow of mosaic and metal, he ceremoniously locks the convent and chapel for eternity -- effectively transforming the exposed edifice into a private monument, a surreptitious sanctuary meant not for public peering ever again.

With that locking, architecture pulls itself away from public eyes and sacrifices itself to the shadowed veil of the sisters.

PRESERVATION GIFT

Outside it is now 2009 -- and the Blue Chapel, after 118 years, has been decommissioned, vacated, orphaned. By the early fall, the last few sisters of the Union City mother house are gone.

The next year arrives. Preservationists in Union City, frustrated with a municipal government that has a terrible preservation track record, submit an application to the non-profit, Trenton-based Preservation New Jersey, in the hopes that the Blue Chapel will be added to its 2010 Most Endangered Historic Sites register.

It is.

For a brief moment, the landmark is on the lips of the public. Suggestions for adaptive reuse -- a home for the aged, a school, condominiums -- are put forth.

But ownership is not clear. People ask: who is in charge of the Blue Chapel’s fate? Who will determine development plans? The deed, they claim, lists the Society of the Dominican Sisters of the Perpetual Rosary as owners. Others say the true proprietor is the Newark Archdiocese. Still some surmise that the Manhattan-based Dominican Order can lay claim and no one else.

In truth, in the larger preservation picture, the question of ownership is irrelevant. Union City itself will decide what happens to the Blue Chapel.

Recently, in a generous though missed-the-mark gesture, the city ceremoniously declared the site a city landmark. Everyone knows that that is not a binding protective designation and could be challenged and overturned in court.

A progressive city needs a preservation ordinance with legal oversight and regulatory powers. Why Union City does not have a real historic commission is beyond comprehension.

The Blue Chapel is Union City’s greatest preservation opportunity. From this precious monument can come an inner-city pastoral park oasis, an enriching cultural site, a civic amenity unlike any other.

The biggest mistake would be to allow developers to dictate reuse - or decide on demolition.

THE FLÈCHE

Pulling back, I walk past the elevated walls of the Blue Chapel. The tops of the site’s old growth trees bend and sing with leaf-whirs.

Reaching Palisade Avenue, I catch the flèche flickering within, candle-like, with the green efflorescing glint of a half-obscured statue.

Circa-1913 photo of the Rev. Father Damien Marie Saintourens, O. P. In 1880 Father Saintourens founded the Dominican Sisters of the Perpetual Rosary in the French town of Calais, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of northern France. By 1891 he and four nuns - two from Rouen, France and two from Louvain, Belgium - were in America to establish a "Mother-House" in West Hoboken, New Jersey (now part of Union City). The Dominican friar's intent: to spread the preachings and spiritual philosophies of St. Dominic through the cloistered contemplative order of sisters whose apostolate is the constant recitation of the rosary for the sinners of the world. The Catholic Church in the United States of America, Vol. II, The Religious Communities of Women, 1913. The Preservation Papers, Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy Architecture & Historic Preservation Collection, The New Jersey Room, Jersey City Free Public Library. - John Gomez, M.S. Historic Preservation, Columbia University

Circa-1913 photo of the Convent of the Dominican Sisters of the Perpetual Rosary, Traphagen Street, West Hoboken, New Jersey. In 1891, Father Saintourens and four Dominican sisters purchased the former Chambon Estates property bounded by Traphagen Street (now 14th Street), Hill Street (now 13th Street), Morris Street, West Street and Central Avenue. The 1.3 acre site, once part of the fabled Kerrigan Woods, came with ancient ramshackle wooden structures that were transformed into a makeshift Gothicized cloister (above photo). By 1895, 34 postulate nuns, prioresses and Father Saintourens were occupying the "Mother-House" and adhering to around-the-clock, orthodox vows of poverty, chastity and strict obedience to the order. As the 20th century dawned, the West Hoboken monastery branched out to establish cloisters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (1897), Catonsville, Maryland (1899), Camden, New Jersey (1900), Buffalo, New York (1905), La Crosse, Wisconsin (1909) and various cities in Canada and the West Indies. The West Hoboken sisters, however, found it necessary to expand and add on to their own house. With the financial help of the public, they were able to unveil a substantial bluestone convent and chapel complex on their picturesque campus, gifting West Hoboken (and the future Union City) with its greatest architectural landmark - a landmark now silenced and threatened with total erasure. The Catholic Church in the United States of America, Vol. II, The Religious Communities of Women, 1913. The Preservation Papers, Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy Architecture & Historic Preservation Collection, The New Jersey Room, Jersey City Free Public Library. - John Gomez, M.S. Historic Preservation, Columbia University

For well over a century the Blue Chapel's population of Dominican sisters was revered and beloved by the surrounding community. Of all, however, Sister Mary of the Compassion, O.P. (1908-1977) stood out for her artistic brilliance. Born in London in 1908, the former Constance Mary Rowe studied at the Clapham School of Art and the Royal College of Art before winning the internationally prestigious Prix de Rome. In 1937 she journeyed to Union City to enter the Dominican cloister -- for life. While there, she painted Catholic art canvases that found their way into monasteries, museums and private collections across the country. Later in life she turned to the handicrafts, including smithmaking, in order to help her fellow sisters raise much-needed funds. Phyllis Liguori, a Union City resident, befriended Sister Mary in the early 1970s and helped curate an exhibit of her latest art work. As a token of her appreciation and their friendship, Sister Mary crafted a stunning gold and jade ring that she called The Loaves and Fishes. "To this day I treasure this ring," says Phyllis. Photo credit: The Dominican Province of Saint Joseph, The Order of Preachers, www.op-stjoseph.org. -- John Gomez, M.S. Historic Preservation, Columbia University

By John Gomez for The Jersey Journal 

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2011/03/the_blue_chapel_in_union_city.html

Related Stories 

Sister Mary of the Compassion, O.P. (1908-1977) 

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2011/03/sister_mary_of_the_compassion.html

Blue Chapel Historical Marker:  

http://www.nj.com/jjournal-news/index.ssf/2011/05/union_city_officials_unveil_hi.html

A closer look at a cloistered life:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2017/03/a_closer_look_at_a_cloistered_life_di_ionno.html

Three short films on the Blue Chapel, go to PreservationTV's YouTube page.  

Union City Film History

Union City has been used as the location for a number of feature and television movies, including the low budget film “Union City” (1980) starring Deborah Harry; “Out of Darkness” (1985); “Bloodhounds of Broadway” (1989); and “Far From Heaven” (2002).

 In 2010 the City saw the release of the cult art-house independent film, “Vampire in Union City” (Available at Amazon.com at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aag/main?ie=UTF8&seller=A2QIK6KGW3S9CW  The film lensed all over the City and even held its world premiere with a star-studded red carpet event at the Summit Theatre on Summit Avenue in Union City.

In 2011 the independent short "Massacre in the Woods" was filmed partly in Union City as well as in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.  The film went on to win first place at the 2011 NoHu International Short Film Festival. Watch it now:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgIKHGbPnTI 

Also in 2011 the documentary "Cubanoson: The Story" rolled in the City, and received a release on January 2012.  Watch it now:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt6qRTI4QcE 

In 2012 a group of young filmmakers from Hudson County banded together to shoot the feature film “The Death of April”, which is to be released Fall of 2012. The feature was shot all over Hudson County with locations in Union City including Botanica “La Milagros” on Bergenline Avenue, and a scene in the Union City Police Department.

“The Death of April” is project of Mojo Creative Group, the film is written and directed by Ruben Rodriguez, and with Humberto Guzman serving as Director of Photography, both from Jersey City.  Cesar G. Orellana, Brit Godish, Dan Lefante, and Lucio Fernandez, all of which are from Bayonne or Union City, are producing it.

The feature stars Katarina Hughes in the role of “Megan Mullen”.  In the film, Megan Mullen, freshly moved into her East coast home, keeps in touch with her friends through a video blog.  As her entries (and her life) become more complex and emotional, strange things begin to happen in her apartment: and the camera captures it all.

Told from the point-of-view of a wireless webcam mixed with documentary footage, The Death of April” explores the unsettling activity in an otherwise average teenage girl’s apartment and the mysteries that surround it.

The film promises to keep viewers on the edge of their seats.  What lurks in Megan’s mind, or in her new home? 

In 2015, the documentary film "Bahia de Cochinos, Nuestra Perspectiva" 

(Available at Amazon.com at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aag/main?ie=UTF8&seller=A2QIK6KGW3S9CW) dealing with the Bay of Pigs Invasion, was filmed in Union City at the William V. Musto Cultural Center.  The documentary is composed of interviews with members of the 2506 Brigade still living in New Jersey and of raw footage and photographs.  The film premiered in Union City before screenings all over the world.

Union City is rich in its artistic history, and filmmaking has and continues to showcase the city to the world.  The City is also very friendly and welcoming to the film industry.  In the future, it hopes many more films of all genres chose Union City as its backdrop. 

Brief History of Union City

Compiled by Gerard Karabin

Eighty-five years ago on June 1, 1925, the Town of Union (colloquially known as Union Hill) and the Township of West Hoboken joined together and became one, the City of Union City. Today with a population of approximately 80,000 residents the city is experiencing an unprecedented period of economic, cultural, and artistic growth needed to remain vital and prosperous in the 21st century. As Union City looks forward and embraces the future it is also proper to pause and reflect on its past. In 2010, the City commemorated its 85^th anniversary, but eighty-five years only marks the incorporation of the City of Union City. Its history is far older.

The original inhabitants of the area where Union City is now situated were the Native Americans. An Algonquian group, the Munsee speaking branch of the Lenni-Lenape, wandered the vast area of woodlands Henry Hudson encountered during his voyage of exploration (1609-1610) in service of the Dutch. Of the many European countries colonizing North America, the Dutch claimed this area, which would include the future New York City, and named it New Netherland. Peter Stuyvesant, the Governor of New Netherland, purchased the part of land that would one day become Hudson County from the Hackensack branch of the Lenni-Lenape in 1658. The deed is preserved in the New York State Archives. The deed describes the boundaries of the land purchased: “The tract of land lying on the west side of the North (Hudson) River. The tract beginning at the Great Clip or Great Rock of Wiehacken (Weehawken) through lands above the Islandt Siskakes (Secaucus) from there to the Kill van Kull and along the channel side to Constables Hook. From Constables Hook once again to the Great Clip in Wiehacken.” The tract of land was purchased for the price of “80 fathoms of wampum, 20 fathoms of cloth, 12 brass kettles, 6 guns, one double brass kettle, 2 blankets, and one half barrel of strong beer.”

The relationship between the early Dutch settlers and the Native Americans was an uneasy one. Disputes over property and land claims frequently led to skirmishes and war between the two groups. In seeking a way to protect the defenseless farmhouses in the newly acquired area, Peter Stuyvesant in 1660 ordered the building of a fortified village. The village known as Bergen was the first permanent settlement in New Jersey, now Jersey City. In 1664 the English captured New Netherland from the Dutch. At that time the boundaries of Bergen Township encompassed the area we know as Hudson County. To the north of Bergen Village was a largely unpopulated area known as Bergen Woods that would slowly be claimed by settlers. Some streets in Union City still retain the names of the early settlers. Yet the area that would one day become Union City remained sparsely inhabited until the early part of the nineteenth century.

The English granted a new town charter to the Town of Bergen in 1668. Then in 1682 Bergen County was created with its county seat in Hackensack. The new county comprised all of present day Hudson, Bergen, and Passaic Counties. In naming the new county Bergen, the English recognized and honored its earliest Dutch origins. Although sparsely populated during the 17th and 18th centuries, by the early part of the 19th century the population of the southeast section of Bergen County had increased to a point where it was deemed necessary to organize it as a separate county. In 1840 the New Jersey State Legislature created Hudson County. In 1843, the newly created County of Hudson was divided into two townships – Old Bergen Township and North Bergen Township. Old Bergen Township through the consolidation of its various communities eventually became Jersey City. North Bergen Township was gradually partitioned into the various municipalities of present day North Hudson. In 1849 the future City of Hoboken severed its ties with North Bergen Township. The next separations were the Township of Weehawken and the Town of Guttenberg in 1859. Union Township was created in 1861. From it, developed the Town of West Hoboken in 1861 and the Town of Union in 1864. The northern section of Union Township was finally incorporated as the Town of West New York in 1898.

The city that would one day become the City of Union City grew as two separate entities for over 60 years until 1925. From these two towns Union City derives a rich heritage of cultural diversity that continues to this day. For example, in the 1890’s a small five- block area of West Hoboken running on Central Avenue from 23rd street to 27th street was known as the “Dardanelles” section. It was here more than nineteen different nationalities were represented. From the earliest Dutch, English, and French settlers a steady stream of immigrant groups would come to live in Union City. In 1851 Germans began to settle the area that would become known as Union Hill. The progression of immigrants would continue throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Swiss, Belgian, Italian, Irish, Armenian, Greek, Chinese, Polish, Syrian, Jewish, and Russians all found a home in Union City.

Today that same cultural diversity can be seen throughout Union City, especially in the stores and restaurants along Bergenline Avenue. Various nationalities are represented, but dominated mostly by people from Central and South America and the Caribbean.

Beginning in the early 1950’s Cubans began to settle in Union City. Many found work in factories and embroidery mills. By the early 1960’s, when it became clear that Castro had embraced Communism, the trickle of Cuban immigration became a flood of Cuba’s middle and upper middle class. They quickly assimilated with American society helping revitalize the local business areas such as Bergenline Avenue. In addition, as the Cubans were mostly well-educated professionals, Cuban-Americans became very influential in the social and political landscape of the City.

Union City takes pride in all its houses of worship and the many religions they represent. Many of the churches are more than one hundred years old and are admired for their architectural beauty. The former Saint Michael’s Monastery Church, (today the Hudson Presbyterian Church), is perhaps the most notable. Its cornerstone was laid in 1869 and it was completed in 1875. The octagonal dome piercing the sky could be seen for many miles and once was the focal point for travelers on trains and ocean steamers.

Union City has also been home to many noted artists. William Ranney, Antonio Jacobsen, James Buttersworth, and Andrew Melrose all resided in the city. Interest in art and sculpture has not abated, as there are many talented artists living in Union City. In fact the city has been undergoing an artistic renaissance. Recently Mayor Brian P. Stack & the Board of Commissioners passed a resolution creating the Union City Artist Collective, a committee dedicated to promoting the arts. The “UC ART Sculpture” designed by artist Lucio Fernandez was dedicated in September 2009 on Bergenline Avenue between 30th and 31st Streets at the location of the Plaza of the Arts that held its ribbon-cutting ceremony in December 2010. September has been officially designated Celebrate Art Month in Union City with numerous exhibits and performances held throughout the City. The Union City Art Gallery At City Hall, under the direction of Art Curator Amado Mora, hosts a new art exhibit each month; and the Union City Museum of Art located in the William V. Musto Cultural Center is the gem of the Union City art scene.

Writers and poets have always found Union City to be a source of inspiration. These include Pulitzer Prize-winning poet W.S. Merwin and the famous American author Pietro di Donato, author of “Christ in Concrete”. The city is the home of two Public Libraries to serve the needs of its many residents.

The performing arts have always been an integral part of Union City. The new Union City Performing Arts Center, a modern state-of-the-art 960-seat theatre, inaugurated in 2009, offers top-notch performances. The historic Park Theatre is world-famous for its annual production of the “Passion Play”, first performed in 1915. The equally renowned play “Veronica’s Veil” debuted in 1914 at the St. Joseph’s Parochial School Auditorium and played annually until 1999 when the school was rebuilt to become Veteran’s Memorial School. Theatres such as the Hudson, Lincoln, Capitol, and Roosevelt were well known. Vaudeville and burlesque were theatre staples in Union City, and stars such as Harry Houdini and Fred Astaire performed here. The performing arts still thrive in the City. The Grace Theatre Workshop, Inc. is dedicated to promoting theatre in Union City and new and exciting theatrical groups such as the Donovan Ensemble, The Union City Opera Company, and the TapOlé Dance Company are also making an impact. The City parks hold weekly performances of drama, comedy, and poetry during the summer months, as well as concerts of classical, jazz, rock, salsa and merengue music. Celia Cruz Park was dedicated in 2004 in honor of the legendary entertainer, and every spring notables from the entertainment industry are recognized there with a “star” in what has become Union City’s Walk of Fame.

Under the administration of Mayor Brian P. Stack and the Board of Commissioners the building of new parks and public plazas and the improvement of existing parks is a top priority. Firefighter’s Memorial Park was dedicated in August 2009 and has an Olympic sized swimming pool. Juan Pablo Duarte Park opened in 2004 on the site of the old Indian Pond Park. Its large wading pool and playgrounds make it a popular summertime stop for families, especially those with young children. War Memorial Plaza situated on 46th Street and Broadway is a beautiful area dedicated to all veterans. Liberty Plaza located at 30th Street and Palisade Avenue is dedicated to the victims of the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks. Both plazas offer residents open spaces for rest and contemplation.

Another top priority is the school system. The City and Board of Education put the children of Union City above all else. To better serve the educational needs of the community, its two high schools, Union Hill and Emerson, were consolidated into one. In 2009, on the property where Roosevelt Stadium once stood, the City opened the new Union City High School and Athletic Complex. It proudly features a football stadium built on an elevated section of the high school with views of the New York City skyline.

Union City is a city with a rich and interesting history and this brief overview is by no means a definitive one. To aid in the recording and preservation of the city’s history Mayor Brian P. Stack and the Board of Commissioners appointed a Historic Preservation Advisory Committee. Historical markers are being erected to honor note-worthy residents of the city. A History Museum along with a Fine Arts Museum and Concert Hall is housed in the former 15th Street Free Public Library, a Carnegie endowed building, itself more than one hundred years old. The statues that stand in the parks of Union City are works of art designed by famous sculptors. The architectural qualities of many buildings in Union City still exist although you may not recognize them at ground level. Sometimes all you have to do is look up to see the beauty that is the City of Union City and its people, the human monuments that continue to make the city prosper and grow.