Current Time in Newark, United States

Newark is the largest city in New Jersey and one of the oldest in the United States, standing on the west bank of the Passaic River where it opens into Newark Bay. Only a few kilometres separate it from Manhattan across the marshes and shipping channels, and the skyline of New York is clearly visible from its higher ground. The city occupies a compact area of dense neighbourhoods, industrial waterfront, parkland and a busy downtown of office towers.

About three hundred and five thousand people live here, and many more pass through every day, since Newark functions as a transport hub for the entire northeastern United States. Newark Liberty International Airport is one of the busiest in the country, and the adjoining seaport complex handles more container traffic than any other facility on the East Coast. Insurance, banking, law, health care, higher education and logistics dominate an economy that was once built on leather, breweries, jewellery and electrical manufacturing.

The city was founded in 1666 by Puritan settlers from Connecticut who sought a place to build a community according to their own religious principles. It grew slowly as a farming and craft town, then rapidly after the arrival of canals, railways and industry in the nineteenth century, drawing German, Irish, Italian, Jewish, Portuguese and later African American and Latin American newcomers. The twentieth century brought both prosperity and difficulty, including the destructive unrest of 1967 and decades of population loss, followed by sustained redevelopment of the downtown, the arts district and the waterfront.

Landmarks include the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, an enormous French Gothic church that ranks among the largest in North America, and the Newark Museum of Art, the biggest museum in the state, with strong collections of American painting and outstanding Tibetan art. The New Jersey Performing Arts Center presents orchestras, jazz and touring shows, while the Prudential Center arena is home to the New Jersey Devils hockey team and a leading concert venue. Branch Brook Park, laid out by the firm of Frederick Law Olmsted, contains the largest collection of cherry trees in the United States, drawing crowds each spring.

Newark is famously diverse. The Ironbound district east of the railway is known throughout the region for its Portuguese and Brazilian restaurants, bakeries and street festivals, while other neighbourhoods reflect Caribbean, West African, Puerto Rican and Dominican communities. The city has an exceptional musical heritage, from Sarah Vaughan and jazz clubs of the mid-century to Whitney Houston, Queen Latifah and a lively contemporary hip-hop scene, and the writer Philip Roth set many of his novels in its streets.

Penn Station links Newark to Manhattan in under half an hour by train, with the PATH rapid transit, light rail, buses and major highways completing the network. Rutgers University at Newark, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Essex County College and a medical school form a large campus district downtown.

Newark is important as a gateway city, a cultural centre and a symbol of urban renewal.