Hoboken in Maps

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Maps tell stories about the places they depict. Our collection of historic Hoboken maps show a city changing to meet the needs of its residents.

This page features several maps from our collections that show Hoboken in different stages. Browse using the slider below, and click on the links in the slider captions to see more, including detail views.

The first slider image shows a portion of a map featured in our 2013 exhibit, Mapping the Territory: Hudson County in Maps, 1840-2013. The link will go to a Gigapan high-resolution photo of the exhibit, starting with a map from 1851. Item 2 maps historic sites in Hoboken, with modern streets overlaying the old city. Item 3, a map of southern Hoboken, shows the old Hoboken Creek, long since buried under a growing city. Items 4 and 5 are maps of properties in Hoboken from 1909 and 1923. You can browse the 1923 map on big paper spreads at the Museum’s upper gallery.

By the twentieth century, Hoboken was an industrial powerhouse and a critical node in regional and global transportation networks. Item 6 maps the Hoboken waterfront in 1924, showing all of the piers and the companies that owned them at the time. Item 7, a Hoboken Shore Railroad map from 1956, shows the city at the height of industrialization, when it was almost entirely ringed by railroad tracks. Item 8, a route map from a 1960s Erie-Lackawanna Railroad ticket, shows Hoboken as a gateway to cities as far west as Chicago. Item 9 is not technically a map, but rather an aerial image of the Hoboken waterfront in 1987. Photos in the series show the city’s waterfront shortly before its transition from mostly abandoned industrial piers to prime parkland.

The final map, Item 10, shows the 2014 version of Kids Map Hoboken. A Museum educational program invited children from Hoboken schools to name and draw their favorite places in Hoboken. The resulting map is a snapshot of Hoboken today, depicting a city full of places that cater to its youngest residents.

 

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{besps_c}0|01_1851_hoboken-500px.jpg|1. Hoboken, Jersey City, and Neighbors, 1851. Click here to see the full object record. {/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|02_1906-1989-500px.jpg|2. 1906 Historical Map with 1989 Updates by Jim Hans. Click here to see the full object record. {/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|03_hoboken-creek-c1900-451px.jpg|3. Hoboken Creek, Circa 1900. Click here to see the full object record . {/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|04-hopkins-1909-500px.jpg|4. 1909 Hoboken Property Map. Click here to see the full object record . {/besps_c}

{besps_c}0| 05-hopkins-1923-500px.jpg|5. 1923 Hoboken Property Map. Click here to see the full object record . {/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|06-hoboken-waterfront-1924-500px.jpg |6. The Hoboken Waterfront in 1924. Click here to see the full object record . {/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|07-shore-rr-1956-500px.jpg|7. Railroads in Hoboken, 1956. Click here to see the full object record . {/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|08-erie-lackawanna-60s-500px.jpg|8. Erie-Lackawanna Railroad, 1960s. Click here to see the full object record . {/besps_c}

{besps_c}0| 09-aerial-1987-500px.jpg|9. Aerial views of the Hoboken Waterfront, 1987. Click here to see the full object record . Click the .pdf link in the record to see other images in the series. {/besps_c}

{besps_c}0|10-kids-map-2014-441px.jpg|10. Kids Map Hoboken, 2014. Click here to see the full object record . {/besps_c}