The “Shoemaker Map,” a depiction of Newark in 1806. A drawing of a shoemaker appears in the bottom left corner, an indication of the importance of that industry to Newark in the early 19th century.<\/p><\/div>\n

first century of its existence, Newark was primarily a religious settlement, its inhabitants focused on a life lived according to the dictates of their faith.<\/p>\n

After the Revolutionary War, however, the tiny settlement exploded. In the fifty years after 1785, the population of Newark increased from just 1,000 to more than 16,000. New roads, the Morris Canal, and early railroads were all built through Newark, making it an important commercial center.<\/p>\n

Newark in the nineteenth century was an industrial powerhouse. From early industries like leatherworking and shoes, it expanded into beer, silver and jewelry, chemicals, electricity, and many others. It attracted inventors and entrepreneurs like Seth Boyden, Thomas Edison, Peter Ballantine, and Edward Weston.<\/p>\n

Along with industry came immigrants, mostly from Europe. Italians and Irish and Germans and others arrived in the nineteenth century, seeking work in the city\u2019s many factories. By 1910, seventy percent of Newarkers were either immigrants or the children of immigrants.<\/p>\n

Just as the European immigration wave began to abate, another group of migrants started arriving. African Americans from the rural South, fleeing repressive Jim Crow laws, began settling in Newark around the time of World War I. By the mid-1960s, Newark was a majority Black city.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, these newcomers arrived just as the industrial city began de-industrializing. Wealthy factory owners started moving to the suburbs in the 1920s, and the Depression brought further stress to the industrial base. After World War II, middle class residents of Newark joined a nationwide movement to the suburbs. Many of the city\u2019s businesses moved to lower-tax locales.<\/p>\n

In the 1950s, Newark attempted to remake itself through “urban renewal,” condemning and bulldozing wide swaths of the city, then replacing what was lost with high-rise subsidized housing. As in other cities where this approach was tried, these high rises proved to be unmanageable magnets for drugs and crime. They were eventually razed.<\/p>\n

The events of July 1967 had a profound effect on life in Newark. The civil unrest led to millions of dollars in property damage and the deaths of twenty-six people, but it also helped elect the city’s first African American mayor, and propel a civic activism that continues today.<\/p>\n

In the decades since, Newark has tried to overcome the legacy of 1967. Every large residential or commercial development is portrayed as one more step in the “rebirth” of Newark, part of the “Renaissance” heralded by city leaders.<\/p>\n

As Newark celebrates its 350th anniversary, we take a look back at the entire 350 years since the founding. And we look to the future, as Newark seems yet again on the cusp of great things.<\/p>\n