Van Vorst Township, New Jersey

Van Vorst Park is a neighborhood in the Historic Downtown of Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, centered on a park sharing the same name. The neighborhood is located west of Paulus Hook and Marin Boulevard, north of Grand Street, east of the Turnpike Extension, and south of The Village and Christopher Columbus Drive. Much of it is included in the Van Vorst Park Historical District.The park was a centerpiece of Van Vorst Township, a township that existed in Hudson County from 1841 to 1851. Van Vorst was incorporated as a township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 12, 1841, from portions of Bergen Township. On March 18, 1851, Van Vorst Township was annexed by Jersey City.The name Van Vorst comes from a prominent family in the area, the first of which arrived in the 1630s as superindentent of the patroonship Pavonia, the earliest European settlement on the west bank of the Hudson River in the province of New Netherland. His homestead at Harsimus, plus others at Communipaw, Paulus Hook, Minakwa, Pamrapo were later incorporated into Bergen. His namesake and eighth generation descendant, Cornelius Van Vorst, was the twelfth Mayor of Jersey City serving from 1860 to 1862.Like Harsimus Cove and Hamilton Park to the north and Bergen-Lafayette to the southwest, the neighborhood contains nineteenth century rowhouses and brownstones. It is home to the Jersey City Medical Center, James J. Ferris High School (named for the Jersey City citizen who laid the foundation of the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Powerhouse with his firm Stillman, Delehanty and Ferris), and Old Colony Shopping Plaza. Landmarks include Barrow Mansion and Dixon Mills. The Grove Street PATH station is located nearby to the north and is the Jersey Avenue (HBLR station) to the south.

The Jersey City Free Public Library (JCFPL) is the municipal library system of Jersey City, New Jersey, serving the residents of Hudson County. The library was established in 1889, opened in 1891, and had its first dedicated building, the main library, by 1901. Numerous branches have since opened and as of 2023 there are nine throughout the city as well as a bookmobile. It has over a million physical and digital items its collection, making it the largest library system in the state.

The Jersey City Police Memorial is a tribute to the fallen officers of Jersey City Police Department located on Montgomery Street near City Hall in Jersey City, New Jersey.

The Dr. William Barrow Mansion is located at 83 Wayne Street between Barrow Street and Jersey Avenue in Downtown Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. The mansion was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 2, 1977, and is located within the Van Vorst Park Historic District, which itself was dedicated on March 5, 1980, and is roughly bounded by Railroad Avenue, and Henderson, Grand, Bright, and Monmouth Streets.The house was one of two similar homes constructed by Cornelius Van Vorst, a founder of the Township of Van Vorst and mayor of Jersey City from 1860 to 1862. The Van Vorsts were a prominent family who trace their North American roots to the third superintendent of the patroonship Pavonia, whose bowery was located at nearby Harsimus. The family lends its name to the nearby Van Vorst Park which was part of the township. Cornelius Van Vorst's sister Eliza was married to Dr. William Barrow.Built between 1835–1837 and also known as the Ionic House, the wooden Greek Revival structure has five Ionic columns gracing a two-story portico. The columns divide the building into four equal bays, effecting an offset center hall. As the columns are evenly spaced, the front door is not in the center, but set off to the right The interior of late Federal-early Greek Revival style with some Victorian décor features a ballroom, carved Italian marble fireplaces and twelve-foot ceilings.The mansion stood alongside the Van Vorst Mansion, separated only by a lawn, and near the Van Vorst family farmhouse. In 1874 Van Vorst sold his home to Dr. Benjamin Edge and it was later demolished in the 1920s.The Y.M.C.A. bought the Barrow Mansion in the 1890s, adding a rifle range and gymnasium. St. Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church purchased the residence in 1897 and used it as a parish house. The pistol range was converted to a two-lane bowling alley in the basement. The following year St. Matthew's Church was built on the lawn between the Barrow and Van Vorst mansions. The church flourished until the 1920s and the former mansion and parish house became a lively and popular social center.As the neighborhood changed in the post-war era, the mansion fell into disrepair. In 1984 the Barrow Mansion Development Corporation was founded to renovate the mansion and operate it as a center for community service. The BMDC's board is composed of members from St. Matthew's Lutheran Church and the wider community. The BMDC leases the mansion from church, and received grants in 1992 and 1995 from the New Jersey Historic Trust and other grantors for building restoration. The mansion currently provides office space to small businesses and non-profits, is home to the Attic Ensemble theater company, Jersey City Children's Theater and is host to Hudson County's largest number of Twelve Step groups and other community meetings (over 1100 in 2010).

Grove Street (originally Grove–Henderson Streets) is a station on the PATH system. Located at the intersection of Grove Street, Newark Avenue and Railroad Avenue in the Downtown neighborhood of Jersey City, New Jersey, it is served by the Newark–World Trade Center line at all times, the Journal Square–33rd Street line on weekdays (except for during the late-evening and early-morning hours), and the Journal Square–33rd Street (via Hoboken) line on weekends and during late-evening and early-morning weekday hours.

Liberty Harbor is a residential area located in Jersey City, New Jersey. The area includes several apartment buildings, with an approximate population of 751 residents. The neighborhood masterplan was originally created by the new urbanist architectural firm Duany and Plater-Zyberk. In 2009 a commuter ferry route between Lower Manhattan to Liberty Harbor was inaugurated.

The Jersey City Medical Center is a hospital in Jersey City, New Jersey. The hospital has had different facilities in the city. It is currently located on a 15-acre campus at Grand Street and Jersey Avenue overlooking New York Harbor and Liberty State Park. The campus includes three facilities: the Wilzig Hospital, the Provident Bank Ambulatory Center, and the Christie Kerr Women's Health Center. The hospital serves as a regional referral and teaching hospital. Jersey City Medical Center is a teaching affiliate and a member of Americas Essential Hospitals.

Jersey Avenue is a station on the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) located south of Grand Street in Jersey City, New Jersey. The station opened on April 22, 2000. There are two tracks and an island platform. Northbound service from the station is available to Hoboken Terminal and Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen. Southbound service is available to terminals at West Side Avenue in Jersey City or 8th Street in Bayonne. Connection to PATH trains to Midtown Manhattan and to New Jersey Transit commuter train service are available at Hoboken Terminal. Transfers to PATH trains to Newark, Harrison, and Downtown Manhattan are available at Exchange Place. This station is near the Jersey City Medical Center.

The Jersey City Museum was a municipal art museum in Jersey City, New Jersey. The establishment opened in 1901 and was housed in the main branch of the Jersey City Public Library. It relocated to a new building in 2001, but due to financial difficulties and discord with the city, closed to the public in 2010. In 2018, the museum collection was donated to the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University. In 2018, the Jersey City municipal government began the process of establishing a new museum in a historic building at Journal Square. After renovations, it is expected to open in 2024 as Centre Pompidou x Jersey City, a satellite museum of the Centre Pompidou, and exhibit works of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries from the Pompidou collection.

The Grace Church Van Vorst, is located in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 1, 1979. The church was built in 1853 and was named after the former Van Vorst Township. The church is an English Gothic-style Episcopal church which was designed by Detlef Lienau. The building is constructed with brownstone and has a slate roof. The church was expanded in 1864 with the addition of two bays to the west and a baptistry added midway on the south side of the building. The 57-foot high square tower was added in 1912. Adjacent to the church is a rectory that was also designed by Lienau in a similar style to the church.

Marin Boulevard is a station on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) located south of Grand Street in Jersey City, New Jersey. The station opened on April 22, 2000. Northbound service from the station is available to Hoboken Terminal and Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen. Southbound service is available to West Side Avenue in Jersey City and 22nd Street in Bayonne. Connection to PATH trains to midtown Manhattan and to New Jersey Transit commuter train service are available at Hoboken Terminal. Transfers to PATH trains to Newark, Harrison, and downtown Manhattan are available at Exchange Place.

Whittier House was an American social settlement, situated in the midst of the densely populated Paulus Hook district of Jersey City, New Jersey. Christian, but non-denominational, its aims were to help all in need by improving their circumstances, by inspiring them with new motives and higher ideals, and by making them better fitted by the responsibilities and privileges of life. It cooperated with all who were seeking to ameliorate the human condition and improve the social order. It opened in the People's Palace, December 20, 1893. On May 14, 1894, it incorporated and moved to 174 Grand Street.Founded by Cornelia Foster Bradford and named after John Greenleaf Whittier, Whittier House was the first settlement in New Jersey. Its archives, a collection of records spanning the period of 1894 to 1974, are held by the New Jersey Historical Society.