Digital Collections Timeline

Newark Timeline [Mayoral elections are listed starting in 1884]

1666 Newark founded

1680 First African Americans in region

1818 African Society of Newark founded.

1820s Irish immigrants begin arriving. In 1900 and 1910, there are still over 10,000 Newark residents born in Ireland.

1822 Clinton AME Zion church founded.

1830 The census records 16 slaves and 648 free blacks in Newark.

1840s Germans begin arriving in Newark. In 1900 and 1910, there are still over 20,000 Newark residents born in Germany.

1847Jewish immigrants are arriving (from Germany); first synagogue founded.

1852 First public colored school founded.

1864 James Baxter becomes first African American school principal in the building that becomes State Street School

1870 34% of Newark’s population was born in a different country.

1870s Italian immigrants begin arriving. The number of Italians in Newark peaks between 1910 and 1960 when numbers of those born in Italy are always above 20,000 (see census data above).

1880s Many European immigrants arriving including Polish, Lithuanian and first Spanish.

1883 Newark Evening News established.

1884:

• Joseph Haynes becomes Mayor.
• B’Nai Abraham Synagogue has first services in new building on Washington Street.
• The Newark News calls the Italian quarters “breeders of disease and death”.

1886 The Newark Sunday Call writes about “increasing numbers” of Italian immigrants.

1889 William Ashby born. Newark Public Library has formal opening.

1890 Current building of First Baptist Peddie Church is dedicated.

1891 At least seven Italians killed in an explosion at at the Feast of St. Rocco celebration on Boyden St.

1894 Julius Lebkuecher becomes Mayor.

1896 James Seymour becomes Mayor.

1900:

• Stephen Crane, author born in Newark, dies.
• Newark celebrates a new century.

1901:

• Current library building opens.
• “Colored shriners” hold mass meeting on Market Street.
• Hahne’s new building (current Whole Foods) opens.

1902 Beth Israel Hospital officially opens.

1903:

• Henry Doremus becomes Mayor.
• Trolley accident kills 9.

1906:

• “New” City Hall opens.
• Italian Guisseppe Marmo is possibly the last person to be executed in Newark (the 18th since 1791, the next Essex county execution in 1911 took place in Trenton).

1907 Jacob Haussling becomes Mayor. Current Essex County Courthouse building is completed.

1909 Newark Museum is created. Death of James Baxter. Colored School abolished.

1910:

• Start of first Great Migration. Census data shows African Americans jumped from about 3% of the population in 1910 to almost 9% in 1930. In 1917 the Newark News reports on “Negro influx”.
• High Street fire kills 27.

1910-1916 Ashby’s reflection on “the life of Negroes in Newark” spans these years.

1911 This map shows nationalities in Newark at this time.

1912:

• Newark hosts Industrial Exposition.
• Statue of George Washington in Washington park unveiled.
• Mostly Jewish students in Morton Street School (second article) and Charlton Street School (page 8 of link, second link), go on strike perhaps partially due to anti-Semitism from teachers, one of whom said “Jewish children should be back in Central America where they belonged.”.
• L. Bamberger & Co. store opens.

1913 President Woodrow Wilson visits Newark.

1914:

• Judge agrees that Eastman Kodak infringed upon the patents of Hannibal Goodwin for making flexible roll film. Goodwin invented this process at the Plume House in Newark.
• The Newark Star reports “Newark is the leading German city” in New Jersey and “the Yiddish…is destined to take a leading place in the populations of the larger cities of New Jersey”.

1915 Thomas Raymond becomes Mayor. Women’s suffrage vote fails in NJ.

1916:

• Newark celebrates its 250th anniversary.
• Thomas Drew is arrested in Newark (articles: 1, 2, 3, 4).
• The Newark News writes that Prince Street in the Third Ward is “the market street of the Jewish people of Newark” and “there are many sleeping rooms in the Third Ward into which the sun never looks…there are tenements in the Third Ward where both sexes crowd together.”
• The Newarker asserts “there are a goodly number of worthy colored folk in Newark…they probably wish to participate in our (250th anniversary) celebration…with such a mellifluous lot of musical colored folk and a carload of watyahmiluns the firmanent over Newark will be crowded with angels on the nights when they vocally jubilate” which William Maxwell asserts in the Newark News and Star is “an unpardonable slur and insult to every Negro in Newark”.

1917:

• America enters World War One.
• Silent parade of African Americans in October:.Negroes’ parade mute protest on conditions NEN 1917.10.04 p6 c6
• Essex County Urban League is founded.
• Charles Gillen becomes Mayor.
• In July the Newark News states that despite an “influx of the negro”, there is “no Negro problem here”, with a judge stating, “there is not the slightlest proof of any increase in crime or disorder since the city received its share of the Negro immigration from the South.”
• Newark News reports on a “race riot” over a dice game in September.
• Chinese Nationalists open Chinese library in March (pg 10 of link).

1918 On November 4, suffragists hold a 24 hour rally in Military Park.

1920s:

• First Portuguese immigrants. By 1980, Newark had over 14,000 residents born in Portugal.
• Estimates place 3,000 residents in Newark’s Chinatown.

1920:

• Thomas Drew “Mohammedan” is arrested again. (Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4.)
• New Jersey ratifies the 19th amendment.

1921

• Alexander Archibald becomes Mayor.
• LS Plaut’s advertises clothing as “nigger brown” (as far back as this ad in 1919 prompting an objection from William Ashby of the Urban League and this response from Plaut.

1922 Frederick Briedenbach becomes Mayor upon Archibald’s death.

1923 Abdul Hamid Suleiman called “colored revival leader” or “high priest of a colored cult” is released on bail and then arrested again.

1925 Thomas Raymond becomes Mayor a second time.

1928 Jerome Congleton becomes Mayor.

1930 Newark’s population peaks at over 442,000, according to census data.

1933 Meyer Ellenstein becomes Newark’s only Jewish mayor.

1935 The Newark Sunday Call states “Mohammed’s followers include 1800 members of cult in Newark”.

1938 Newark Housing Authority established.

1940:

• The Newark News claims there are “more than 1200 Mohammadeans in Newark”.
• Start of Second Great Migration. Census data shows African Americans jumped from about 11% of the population in 1940 to 34% in 1960.

1941:

• America enters World War II.
• Vincent Murphy becomes Mayor.

1944 The YMCA writes this report on “The Newark Interracial Situation”

1946 Newark Eagles baseball team wins the Negro World Series. Here is an activity book about the Eagles.

1948 A Jewish publication estimates almost 57000 Jews in Newark.

1949 Ralph A. Villani becomes Mayor.

1950s Large waves of Puerto Ricans began to come to Newark

1953 Newark Human Rights Commission is founded. Leo Carlin becomes Mayor.

1955 Clinton Hill Neighborhood Council founded.

1957:

• This report on Group Relations in Newark is written.
• Newark’s first elected councilwoman is appointed Sophie Cooper (reelected 1958).

1960s Samuel Berg Photographs show Newark during this period.

1960s Large number of Cuban immigrants: under 1,000 Cuban-born residents in 1950, 7,000 by 1970

1962

• La Tribuna first published.
• Hugh Addonizio becomes Mayor.

1963 Business and Industrial Coordinating Council (BICC) is founded.

1966 Tri City Peoples Organization for Progress is founded.

1967

• Newark Riots / Rebellion— read articles from the Newark News here
• Black Power Conference

1968 Martin Luther King visits Newark. ASPIRA is founded.

1969 Ironbound Community Corporation is founded. Conklin Hall protest.

1970 First African American Mayor:Kenneth Gibson elected

1971

• Puerto Rican Educators Association is founded
• Wynona M. Lipman becomes first African American woman elected to the Senate in NJ.
• Newark Teacher’s Strike (Read about | More Photos).

1973 Newark’s first councilwoman-at-large Marie Villani appointed (reelected 1974).

1974 First annual Black Film Festival.

1975 El Club Del Barrio is founded.

1976 This report on the Hispanic community was written.

1980 The first Blacks in New Jersey report is written.

1986 Second African American Mayor: Sharpe James elected

1987 Greater Newark HUD Tenants Coalition is founded.

1990s Large number of Brazilian , Ecuadorian and Dominican Republic immigrants. Numbers of Newark residents born in these countries at least triple between 1990 and 2010.

1994 Newark’s first African American Councilwoman elected: Mildred Crump.

2006 Cory Booker elected Mayor

2013 Luis Quintana becomes first Hispanic Mayor (Interim).

2014 Ras Baraka elected Mayor

2016 In the latest census estimates new groups of immigrants continue to arrive with almost 80,000 residents born in other countries, over 9,000 people born in Africa, over 4,000 born in Asia, over 9,000 born in Europe, and over 55,000 born in Latin America. Populations like those from the Dominican Republic also continue to increase contributing to Newark’s over 55,000 residents born in Latin America.