Paulus Hook

The introduction of the light rail and development of office buildings on the Hudson Waterfront have brought more businesses to Morris Street including a number of restaurants with outdoor seating and small neighborhood shops.

The location that today is Paulus Hook originally was called Arressick or Arisheck Island by the earliest settlers after a corrupted Lenape term, possibly from Kaniskeck, meaning a long, grassy marsh, or meadow.

In 1638, it was granted to Pauw's agent, a man named Micheal Paulez (Pauluson, Powles[4]) who operated an occasional ferry and traded with the local Lenape population.

After suffering defeats in New York City, the American patriots abandoned Paulus Hook and the British occupied it.The fort was a naturally defensible position that guarded the gateway to New Jersey.

In mid-summer 1779, a flamboyant 23-year-old Princeton University graduate, Major Henry Lee, recommended to General George Washington a daring plan for the Continental Army to attack the fort, in what became known as the Battle of Paulus Hook.

[11] As daytime arrived, Lee decided that prudent action demanded that the Patriots withdraw before the British forces from New York could cross the river.

Paulus Hook subsequently became a major road and rail head for traffic along the Northeast Corridor and in 1836 a railroad station linking the area to Newark was opened.

[13][14] During the 21st century the arrival of the Hudson–Bergen Light Rail, a construction boom following the attacks of September 11,[15] investments in Liberty State Park and the expansion of the area's ferry connections to lower Manhattan all helped to propel a process of gentrification.

Today, real estate prices in Paulus Hook are generally higher than in surrounding neighborhoods, which include Liberty Harbor, the Financial District, WALDO, Downtown Jersey City, and Hamilton Park.