MAPS

Zoom in and see the details in the reference images below.

SCENE OF HATE CRIME (Central & Ferry)

• In September 1987, Dr. Kaushal Saran, a 30-year-old physician, was brutally attacked near this intersection during a wave of anti-Asian violence in Jersey City. He was left in a coma for weeks and became one of the most prominent victims of a hate group known as the "Dot Busters."

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JERSEY CITY UPRISING (Lafayette Gardens)

• On August 2, 1964, the arrest of a 26-year-old Black woman named Dolores Shannon became the catalyst for three nights of what is now known as the Jersey City Uprising.

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HALF INDIAN JACK (72 Montgomery St) 

• Born into enslavement under the Van Vorst family, Jack took advantage of the chaos during the Revolutionary War in 1779 to escape his masters. He sought the freedom promised by the Crown to any enslaved person who joined their cause and became a scout and spy for the British Army.

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ERMINNIE SMITH (322 Pacific Ave)

• In 1876, Smith established the Aesthetic Society of Jersey City at a time when women were largely excluded from formal scientific circles. Hosting lectures on science, literature, and philosophy, Smith helped establish the Lafayette neighborhood as a hub for intellectual activity. Notably, Oscar Wilde spoke at one of the society's meetings in June 1882.

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COMMUNIPAW (PAVONIA) MASSACRE 

• On February 25, 1643, as retaliation for not accepting the demand to pay tribute to Gov. Kieft of New Netherlands, the Dutch soldiers killed 120 Lenape people and burned down the camps in Communipaw. This massacre started many more violent encounters between the Lenape people and the Dutch settlers, and they will eventually be known as Kieft's War in what is now New York and New Jersey.

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ANNIE MOORE (Ellis Island)

• On January 1, 1892, the 17-year-old from County Cork, Ireland, stepped off a boat and became the first immigrant processed at Ellis Island. Greeted with a $10 gold piece and the hope of a new life, her story is often presented as the idealized "Day One" of the American Dream. 

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HURRICANE SANDY 

• October 29, 2012

Jersey City experienced a historic storm surge of nearly 14 feet, which flooded the streets of Downtown, Lafayette, West Side, and Country Village, turning city blocks into rivers. The power went out across the Eastern Seaboard, leaving Jersey City in darkness and water.

The city’s recovery was measured in billions of dollars and years of reconstruction, but the most difficult loss was in the neighbors we lost. We remember the two residents who died from storm-related incidents, a reminder that behind every statistic are people affected forever.

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