Kearny (/ˈkɑːrni/ KAR-nee[1][20]) is a town in the western part of Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and a suburb of Newark.

Kearny was incorporated as a town on January 19, 1899, based on the results of a referendum held two days earlier.

The area of Kearny Township, created in 1867, had been part of the original Crown Grant of 30,000 acres (120 km2) obtained by Major William Sandford of Barbados on July 4, 1668.

[27] As was the custom of the time, the Major paid 20 pounds sterling to Chief Tantaqua of the Hackensack tribe for all their reserve rights and titles.

[28] Sanford's Uncle, Major Nathaniel Kingsland acquired the property in 1708 and sold the upper western tract of the Grant for 300 pounds sterling to Captain Arent Schuyler two years later.

When Lord Howe of England took possession of New York Harbor, the proximity of Schuyler Mansion drew many of his officers.

They generally traveled over a road that today is referred to as the Belleville Turnpike, which was originally constructed in 1759 using cedar logs from the nearby swamps.

[29] During September 1777, General Henry Clinton, head of the British Expeditionary Forces in America, selected Schuyler Mansion for his headquarters during one of his more important raiding operations, which included the famed Battle of Second River.

The first official seat of Government was three rooms in the old Lodi Hotel, on the northeast corner of Schuyler and Harrison Avenues.

The Minute Book of the Township states on August 16, 1870, the first step toward establishing Kearny's present public school system was taken.

Their need for experienced flax spinners brought an influx of workers from other sections of the British Isles.

[37] In 1902, the Lovell–Dressel Company, manufacturers of marine and railway lamps and fixtures, located in Kearny adjacent to the Erie Railroad.

[38] On June 15, 1928, Western Electric broke ground on their second manufacturing facility at 110 Central Avenue to be known as Kearny Works, which would grow to 3,579,000 square feet (332,500 m2) throughout the years and be the second- largest Western Electric manufacturing plant built before the 1930s, behind the Hawthorne Works at Cicero, Illinois.

[39] Between 1925 and 1986, the Kearny Works of Western Electric employed as many as 24,000 in producing a variety of hardware and supplies for the Bell System.

It was sold by AT&T in 1984, by which time the plant had 4,000 employees who earned a total of $128 million a year, making it one of the county's largest employers.

[45] The 2022 horror movie, Smile had a scene filmed at Jersey Oil located at 926 Passaic Avenue.

With the closures evident, the officials needed to offset the $1.6 million loss by drawing new industry to Kearny with incentives.

The day-to-day operations are the responsibility of the Town Administrator whose duties are specified by local ordinance, and who generally carries out the policies adopted by the Mayor and Council.

[77] The mayor of Kearny is Independent Carol Jean Doyle, who was elected to serve an unexpired term of office ending December 31, 2025.

[78][79][80][81][82][83] During the July 11, 2023, council meeting, Peter Santana (Councilman for the 2nd Ward) was appointed Mayor until a special election was held in November 2023.

Al Santos, who had been mayor since January 1, 2000, resigned his role on this same date when the New Jersey Senate's Judiciary Committee confirmed his appointment as a Hudson County Superior Court Judge.

In the November 2023 general election, Independent candidate Carol Jean Doyle became the first women to serve th etown as mayow after she defeated Democrat Peter Santana and Republican Sydney Ferreira.

[84] In December 2023, Renato da Silva was appointed to fill the 3rd Ward seat expiring in 2025 that became vacant when Doyle took office as mayor.

[87] On January 7, 2017, 2nd Ward Councilman Jonathan Giordano died, creating a vacancy on the Town Council.

[89][90] In February 2015, the Town Council selected Marytrine De Castro, as chosen by the Democratic municipal committee, to fill the vacant First Ward seat expiring in December 2017 that had been held by Alexa Arce until she resigned the previous month.

[101][102] For the 119th United States Congress, New Jersey's 9th congressional district is represented by Nellie Pou (D, North Haledon)[103] New Jersey is represented in the United States Senate by Democrats Cory Booker (Newark, term ends 2027) and Andy Kim (Moorestown, term ends 2031).

[172] Kearny Avenue passes through the town and continues north as Ridge Road, the beginning of Route 17.

[175][176][177] Kearny was formerly served by trains of both the Erie Railroad's Newark Branch (later Erie-Lackawanna and then Conrail's Newark Industrial Branch) and its Greenwood Lake Division (later the Erie-Lackawanna's Greenwood Lake-Boonton Line; and Conrail and New Jersey Transit's Boonton Line) which stopped at the now-abandoned Arlington station.

Prior to April 30, 1967, a station in South Kearny, was served by the Central Railroad of New Jersey's Newark and New York Branch via the PD Draw over the Passaic River.

In the final years of this service a pair of rush hour trains ran in each direction between South Kearny, and the CNJ's Broad Street Station in downtown Newark, as well as a single rush hour round trip between South Kearny, and Plainfield.