1. Newark, established in 1666, is the nation's third-oldest city, behind only New York and Boston. While the inauspicious year number might have freaked out some of the early colonists, they went ahead with the settlement anyway, so they have only themselves to blame.
2. The land on which Newark now stands was purchased by Puritan settlers from the Hackensack Indians for trade goods including: gunpowder, lead, muskets, pistols, swords, axes, knives, kettles, coats, breeches, blankets and beer—valued at $750. Probably the last time Manhattan's ever been cheaper than Newark.
3. Princeton University, originally known as the College of New Jersey, was located in Newark from 1747 to 1756 before moving to its present location.
4. Newark was raided in January of 1780 by British troops who crossed the frozen North River on sleighs in order to enter the town. The entire attack took less than 20 minutes, and its only casualties were two British troops who later died of hypothermia.
5. Newark is not only the largest city in New Jersey, but the second-largest city in the New York metropolitan area.
6. Port Newark is the largest container shipping facility on the East Coast, and the main one for the New York metropolitan area.
7. In 1966, Newark joined Washington D.C. as one of the nation's first cities to have an African-American majority.
8. One of Newark's nicknames is the Gateway City. The city actually took its nickname from the downtown Gateway Center commercial complex, rather than vice versa.
9. New Jersey's Gateway Region, in turn, took its name from Newark's commercial-inspired nickname.
10. Another Newark nickname, Brick City, was meant as a not-too-flattering reference to its large number of brick housing projects, although many of these have now been torn down.
11. The Sundance Channel series “Brick City” is about Newark's efforts at urban renewal, although some have seen it as an extended campaign commercial for mayor-turned-Senator Cory Booker.
12. At one time (that time being the late ‘80s/early ‘90s), Newark had the dubious distinction of being the car theft capital of the world.
13. Once carjacking became a thing, Newark also claimed top dishonors in that category as well. They've since dropped off the top of the charts, but Newark carjacking rates seem to be once more on the rise.
14. Between 2006 and 2008, Newark did lead the nation in reduction of violent crime, and in 2008 reported its lowest crime rate since 1959.
15. Cory Booker, received a great deal of credit for this crime drop, enough to make him a finalist for the 2010 World Mayor prize. Evidently it wasn't quite enough to make him a winner, though, and in 2012 he didn't make the cut.
16. Newark's Branch Brook Park was established in 1895, which makes it the nation's oldest county park.
17. Branch Brook Park also has the largest collection of flowering cherry trees in the U.S., some 4,300 in all, as compared to the 3,800 or so planted around D.C.'s Tidal Basin. The park's annual Cherry Blossom festival is the largest one in the in the Tri-State Area.
18. The Pulaski Skyway, which runs between Newark and Jersey City, was the nation's first skyway-type highway.
19. The Pulaski Skyway is also reputed to be one of the least reliable of U.S. roadways. It's been off limits to all truck traffic since two years after it opened in 1932, and as of now all eastbound lanes are closed until 2016, when over a billion dollars' worth of renovations will supposedly be completed.
20. Tony Soprano's real-life counterpart was Newark's own Anthony "Tony Boy" Boiardo.
21. Not only was “The Sopranos” based on the real-life exploits of the Boiardo crime family, but many of its scenes were filmed in Newark.
22. Another Newark crime family, the DeCavalcantes, employed the notorious “Iceman” contract killer Richard Kuklinski. This hitman, who earned his nickname by freezing his victims so as to obscure their time of death, was the subject of a 2013 film starring Michael Shannon, Ray Liotta and Winona Ryder.
23. Yet another local mob boss, Abner "Longie" Zwillman, helped to organize a group called the Minutemen. These Jewish prizefighters, truck drivers and bootleggers banded together to fight pro-Nazi activity in pre-WWII Newark.
24. The Clinton Avenue Five murder was, for many years, Newark's most famous cold case. Some 30 years after the five boys disappeared in 1978, there was a confession and subsequent trial. One of the defendants was found guilty, but only received a 10-year sentence. The other defendant, who was acquitted, is currently suing the prosecutors, police and former mayor.
25. West Milford, a Newark suburb, is home to the nation's longest traffic light. The light at the intersection of Clinton Road and Route 23 can last up to five and a half minutes.
26. Clinton Road has more problems than just a long traffic light, however. It's said to be New Jersey's most haunted thoroughfare, complete with mysterious lights, ghostly children, a phantom pickup truck, devil worshipers and wild animals (either ghosts or very elderly ones) supposedly escaped from a safari theme park which closed down almost 40 years ago.
27. Yet another or Newark's most haunted roads is no longer in existence. The once-notorious Gully Road has long since been covered over by Route 21 and the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad tracks, but at one time it was said to have spectres galore including an elderly couple and a Tory spy.
28. Another one-time Gully Road haunt, a woman named Moll DeGrow, seems to have been Newark's very own Blair Witch. She died under mysterious circumstances (of course), and was one of the first to be buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery when it opened in 1844.
29. The New Jersey Historical Society, which has its headquarters in Newark, has in its possession a wallet made from the skin of 19th century murderer Antoine LeBlanc. Creepy.
30. Patent leather was invented in Newark in 1818.
31. Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, the most prolific of the pseudonymous Carolyn Keenes who authored the Nancy Drew mystery series, was born in Newark, and is buried there, too. In Fairmount Cemetery, in case you want to leave some flowers or perhaps a magnifying glass or mysterious old clock.
32. The first Stratemeyer Syndicate series, the Rover Boys, was banned by the Newark Public Library in 1901 for being un-literary trash. Publisher Edward L.Stratemeyer, Harriet's dad, didn't give the proverbial rodent's posterior. He said the ban tripled his Newark sales, so he giggled all the way to the bank.
33. Newark's G. Krueger Brewing Company started selling beer in steel cans in 1935, the first U.S. brewery to do so.
34. The Ballantine Brewery, headquartered in Newark from the time of its founding in 1840 up through the 1960s, was at one time the nation's fourth-largest brewer.
35. Prudential Financial, Inc. was founded in Newark in 1875, and still makes its headquarters there today.
36. The Gibraltar Building, Prudential's HQ from 1927 through 1986, was designed by the same architect who drew up the blueprints for the United States Supreme Court Building. Fittingly enough, it now houses the Superior Court of New Jersey.
37. Audible.com, the world's largest producer of downloadable audiobooks, is based in Newark.
38. BookSwim, which is kind of a Netflix for luddites (i.e., people who prefer real books) is also Newark-based.
39. The Newark Beth Israel Medical Center developed and implanted the first American-made nuclear-powered pacemaker (in a very brave recipient who's now developed Stan Lee-type superpowers).
40. Beth Israel also was the first hospital in the world to make use of a pacemaker with wireless cellular technology. (For long distance heart-to-heart talks?)
41. Rutgers University-Newark, according to U.S. News and World Report, has the nation's most ethnically diverse student body.
42. Author Judith Viorst, TV star Ozzie Nelson (sweater-wearing hubby to Harriet, father of Ricky) and former FBI director Louis Freeh are all Rutgers University-Newark alums.
43. Jose Canseco, Rickey Henderson and José Lima all spent some time playing for the Newark Bears Atlantic League baseball team.
44. Effa Manley, the first woman inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, earned this honor by her ownership and management of the Negro leagues Newark Eagles franchise.
45. Newark was a host city for Super Bowl XLVIII, played at the nearby Meadowlands Sports Complex.
46. The National Football League Alumni organization is headquartered in Newark.
47. Brick City Rock (BCR) is a martial arts fighting style, a regional variant of Jailhouse Rock.
48. Pope John Paul II visited Newark in 1995, at which time he elevated the city's cathedral to basilica status. The Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart achieved this new status just 41 years after its dedication, less than half of the 95 years it took to plan and build it in the first place.
49. One of Newark's largest annual celebrations is its Brazilian Independence Day Festival held over Labor Day weekend. While it's quite the party, this Carnaval has yet to reach the standards set by sister city Rio de Janeiro.
50. Newark's Military Park is known for its Wars of America monument, created by Gutzon Borglum who also sculpted Mount Rushmore. While Newark's sculpture doesn't feature anything quite so dramatic as 20 foot high noses, it does have an “Easter egg” of sorts— when viewed from above, the base of the statue appears in the shape of a sword.
