Jersey City Unveils Renovations to Oldest Town Square in America

JERSEY CITY, NJ- The newly revitalized Bergen Square was unveiled at the corner of Bergen Avenue and Academy Street in Jersey City. Mayor Steven Fulop joined the City Council, local dignitaries, and community members to cut the ribbon on the $1.8 million renovations on Monday.

In addition to being an ancient, critical crossroads for the native Leni Lenape for over a thousand years, officials touted how Bergen Square is one of the oldest established town squares in America, dating back to 1660. In addition, it is also the first permanent European settlement in Jersey City and New Jersey.

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The renovations aim to highlight the area’s rich history while transforming surface parking lots into 5,400 square feet of pedestrian plaza and park space with carefully designed esthetics. Sandwiched between McGinley Square and Journal Square, the redesigned public space boasts an area for community events, traffic safety upgrades, a newly planted 30-foot oak tree , and native greenery.

The project is not only increasing the number of available parking spots by relocating the public parking, but also raising the intersection for pedestrian safety. On top of that, the improvements included the upgrade of one of the busiest public bus stops in the city and creating a safer, more streamlined drop-off area for nearby Pre-K through 8th grade students attending the Martin Luther King, Jr. School, P.S. #11.

Additional improvements to Bergen Square include: 14 additional on-street parking spaces; improved traffic flow; public transit stops with bus shelters; native landscaping and green infrastructure; relocation of school bus drop-off for P.S. 11 to Academy Street; removal of surface parking lots; and historic signage. The Journal Square Special Improvement District (JSSID) will partner with the City to clean and maintain the plaza amenities daily.

In 2018, Fulop formed the Bergen Square Committee seeking to strengthen the area’s historical identity and activate it as a public space. That vision for Bergen Square became a reality through collaborative action of city staff from the Department of Infrastructure (Engineering, Traffic, Transportation, Sustainability), Division of Planning, and Historic Preservation with the community, officials said.

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The Department of Infrastructure led the community-driven project after nearly six years of working closely with Jersey City residents and neighborhood organizations. The result is what officials are hailing as a vibrant and inviting urban area for residents, visitors, and patrons of the nearby small businesses.

At the ribbon cutting, Fulop said it was an exciting day for not only Jersey City, but for New Jersey, and the United States as well, with the reactivation of Bergen Square. He reiterated that not only was this the oldest town square in America, but also a significant crossroads for the Lenni Lenape for many years before that.

“Our vision for Bergen Square is to build a usable outdoor public space in the heart of Journal Square for everyone to enjoy, with an important emphasis on the valuable role this area and Jersey City has played in our nation’s history going back thousands of years,” Fulop said in a statement following the event.

Ward C Councilman Richard Boggiano noted that the school on the corner, P.S. 11, was one of the oldest schools in the country, adding to the historical impact of the renovations to Bergen Square, while Ward B Councilwoman Mira Prinz-Arey highlighted the community’s involvement in the project, hoping that renovations to McGinley Square would be similarly unveiled in the future:

“This shows that these kinds of projects are true teamwork. We get to celebrate the best of Jersey City, celebrate our history, and create spaces where we can spend time and reflect in an urban area. It’s very important to have those spaces where you can set your self aside and take a break.”

Director of Infrastructure Barkha Patel said that this project, now among her favorite open spaces in Jersey City, began as a simpler idea to activate to Bergen Square in the wake of discussions at a community meeting about the lack of such things in the overall Journal Square area. From there, the idea morphed to include elements of historic preservation, sustainability, and transportation safety as the City continued to engage the community, she reflected.

“It’s a really unique urban space in that it’s in the daily lives of people, it’s not a park that’s remote in another part of the City that you have to drive to or get to that’s inaccessible,” Patel said. “It’s already a part of peoples’ daily lives, but no one knew how special it was because it hadn’t been fully activated. Its potential hadn’t been fully realized.”

According to Patel, elements of Bergen Square’s history and culture were incorporated into the redesign, specifically the traditional ribbon-work patterned mural at the center of the intersection that pays homage to the Lenni Lenape. She said that was actually the location of an old well that used to provide water to the tribe that will now be memorialized for the future while providing open space in the present.

“All of these elements have been really carefully designed to not only pay homage to the history of this space, but to empower a new generation of people to use it as a public space, and we really see that as the power of Bergen Square,” Patel said.

Patel added that by inverting the surface parking lots to an urban plaza, the City also reclaimed space for pedestrians in Journal Square where residents have the lowest rates of car ownership. She noted that so many people were walking, biking, and using public transportation as was hoped by the improvements such as the raised intersection meant to emphasize the pedestrian-first nature of the new plaza.

In addition, Patel noted that the project utilized a number of sustainability practices, including the planting of new trees, rain gardens, native plants, and other green infrastructure. She added that a lot of the work of this project was also located underground to support the infrastructure above, done by the Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority.

Dr. James Dievler, Bergen Square Committee Member, Lead Organizer of Bergen Square Day on September 14, and Chairman of the Journal Square Community Association History Committee, said that the community has been working closely with the City for years to realize the redesign of Bergen Square. He said the history of the area is well-chronicled, and that since 1660 and before Bergen Square has been the site of community exchange and cross-cultural interaction.

“All these people who came before us recognized the value of human interaction and exchange,” Dievler said. “History is only important to the extent that it informs the present and helps us navigate the future. And today, more than ever, when tall buildings and technologies threaten to isolate us, a square like this, based on the value of human exchange and human interaction, we can witness now every single day here. And that we will celebrate on September 14.”

Fulop concluded that this was part of a bigger vision to prioritize people and places over cars that has been a consistent part of his administration’s vision over the last decade including: Bethune Park , Newark Avenue Pedestrian Plaza , and the numerous bike lanes added to the City, and especially Journal Square. Fulop said it would be hard to find as much positive change occurring anywhere than in that area.

“We tried to make this a City that focuses on the people and movement beyond just vehicles,” Fulop said at the ribbon cutting. “We really tied our best to highlight the history here and at the same time speak to the future of Jersey City.”

A half mile from Bergen Square, the Fulop Administration is moving forward with plans to build a brand new 3-acre Courthouse Park, which will soon be the first large park in Journal Square. While there are no public parks currently within walking distance, a 30-foot tall oak tree was planted in the southeast quadrant of Bergen Square to establish immediate benefits of shade and greening the space, as the primary goal of the project is to bring a welcoming, green space in the heart of the bustling urban center.

“With the Bergen Square revitalization project, we are introducing outdoor recreational space to the rapidly growing Journal Square area with the creation of a welcoming public space that celebrates the past, present, and future of Jersey City,” concluded Patel in a statement after the event.

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