Continuing our look at the nicknames of Newark, it is impossible to overlook the Roseville section. Like Weequahic, Clinton and Vailsburg, Roseville was a compact little community.
It had a main street, large and beautiful churches, a well-known tennis club and its own train station. Like Newark's other neighborhoods, local residents had an allegiance to it.One of Newark's oldest neighborhoods is Woodside. This is a section extending along the Passaic River to the present-day Belleville town line. Much of the area north of Mount Pleasant Cemetery shifted back and forth between Belleville and Newark. Originally, the area's attraction was its plentiful supply of fish and game. It became residential and partly industrial over the years. The cemetery was the best-known landmark, occupying much of the riverline.
Early 19th-century summer homes of New Yorkers included Cockloft Hall of Washington Irving fame. The area also is known for its Revolutionary War skirmishes, and stories of gypsies and even ghosts are part of its tradition. Together, these neighborhoods have pooled their resources and residents to add to the rich personality of America's third oldest city.
The term New Newark came into existence in 1954, largely as a result of the recently elected Mayor Leo Carlin, who called together the CEOs of Newark's 18 largest corporations in an effort to stem the outward movement of companies to the suburbs. At first, the organization was composed exclusively of business leaders who met quarterly. One of its best-known chairs was David Yunich, president of Bamberger's.
But as time passed, the organization expanded to encompass the Newark Economic Development Committee. It was made up of representatives not only from business, but also labor and government, and better represented the whole community. One of its recommendations called for the redevelopment of the area adjoining Pennsylvania Station.
Today, this area includes the four Gateways, the Legal Communication Building and One Newark Plaza. To the west, Cogswell Realty has redeveloped 744 Broad St. and is in the process of renovating 1180 Raymond Blvd. as luxury residential housing. To the north, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and the FBI building have become northern neighbors, and a much revamped McCarter Highway and its adjoining new rail link is under heavy construction. With the defeat of Carlin, the organization faded.
Newark also was known as the Gateway City about 1960. This may have been because of a statewide tourism campaign in which regions of the state were designated with names. Newark, Jersey City and the surrounding communities were called Gateway. Another theory about this name comes from the city's Pennsylvania Station and the surrounding four towers. The 1920s dream of Mayor Raymond and others called for the rebuilding of Newark as its railway transportation hub.
Today, these Gateways are the centerpiece of a rebuilt area replacing the once sinister Mulberry Arcade and a parade of rundown hotels, pawn shops and over-the-hill businesses. As visitors leave Penn Station, just look out the windows on Raymond Plaza West and see all the new construction so hoped for a half century ago when the station was new.
Brick City is one of the newest nicknames for Newark. It seems to have emerged in the past couple decades from younger Newarkers living in the old Newark Housing Authority projects. Those many high-rise structures -- which once occupied the core of the Central Ward -- have left a name as part of their legacy. A review of the city's fire insurance maps, from the end of the Civil War to recent times, shows that while most of the larger buildings were constructed of brick and stone, the majority of Newark was basically frame. Still, the name persists, popularized by a music group and remembered further by several commercial firms that have adopted it as their name.
Although the name Renaissance Newark has appeared previously, it was not until the last decade or two that it has been widely used in the media and by the public. Under Mayor Sharpe James' administration, it has almost become a second name for a city undergoing a resurgence that is the envy of many other older northeastern cities.
In a visit to Newark by members of the Newarks-of-the-World this past summer, delegates who had not been here in 15 years were amazed at changes since their last visit. Their introduction to the new Newark began with arrival at the completely rebuilt airport. It extended to the new airport hotels, downtown construction, rebuilt older office buildings, the completion of NJPAC and activities at Newark Library, Newark Museum and the Historical Society. They compared the light-rail transit system along Broad Street to that in San Diego, and many said they were impressed with the university system, which has multiplied many times over. Few times in Newark's history has there been so much excitement and change.
The mayor, the council, the business community, developers, supporters in the city and friends in the suburbs are making the difference, but most of all it is the individual Newarker. Those who once slurred Newark and gave up on its future are now beginning to ask, "What's going on down there"?
Maybe even Doubting Thomases have begun to change their mind about the future of a rebounding city. Will there be a Newark nickname that really sticks? In a recent conversation, a distinguished Newark watcher advised, "Just call it Newark," because anything else would not do it justice.