Fort Lee, New Jersey


Fort Lee is a borough at the eastern border of Bergen County, New Jersey, in the United States, situated along the Hudson River atop the Palisades.
As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 35,345, reflecting a decline of 116 from the 35,461 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 3,464 from the 31,997 counted in the 1990 Census.
Fort Lee is named for the site of an American Revolutionary War military encampment, At the turn of the 20th century it became the birthplace of the American film industry. In 1931 the borough became the western terminus of the George Washington Bridge, which crosses the Hudson River and connects to the borough of Manhattan in New York City. Fort Lee's population and housing density increased considerably during the 1960s and 1970s with the construction of highrise apartment buildings.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 2.888 square miles, including 2.541 square miles of land and 0.347 square miles of water.
The borough is situated atop the escarpment of the Hudson Palisades on the peninsula between the Hackensack and Hudson rivers. The borough is bisected by the confluence of roads at GWB Plaza leading to the George Washington Bridge.
Unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the borough include Coytesville, Linwood, Palisade and Taylorville.
The borough borders Cliffside Park, Edgewater, Englewood, Englewood Cliffs, Leonia, Palisades Park, Ridgefield in Bergen County; and the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. Given its evolving cosmopolitan ambiance and adjacent proximity to Manhattan, Fort Lee is one of Northern New Jersey's Hudson Waterfront communities that has been called New York City's Sixth Borough,

History

Colonial era

Fort Lee was named for General Charles Lee after George Washington and his troops had camped at Mount Constitution overlooking Burdett's Landing, in defense of New York City. It was during Washington's retreat in November 1776 that Thomas Paine composed his pamphlet, The American Crisis, which began with the recognized phrase, "These are the times that try men's souls." These events are recalled at Monument Park and Fort Lee Historic Park.

Formation

Fort Lee was formed by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 29, 1904, from the remaining portions of Ridgefield Township. With the creation of Fort Lee, Ridgefield Township became defunct and was dissolved as of March 29, 1904. The Fort Lee Police Department was formed under borough ordinance on August 9, 1904, and originally consisted of six marshals.

America's first motion picture industry

The history of cinema in the United States can trace its roots to the East Coast where, at one time, Fort Lee was the motion picture capital of America. The industry got its start at the end of the 19th century with the construction of Thomas Edison's "Black Maria", the first motion picture studio, in West Orange, New Jersey. New Jersey offered land at costs considerably less than New York City, and the cities and towns along the Hudson River and the Palisades benefited greatly as a result of the phenomenal growth of the film industry at the turn of the 20th century.
Film-making began attracting both capital and an innovative workforce, and when the Kalem Company began using Fort Lee in 1907 as a location for filming in the area, other filmmakers quickly followed. In 1909, a forerunner of Universal Studios, the Champion Film Company, built the first studio. They were quickly followed by others who either built new studios or who leased facilities in Fort Lee. In the 1910s and 1920s, film companies such as the Independent Moving Pictures Company, Peerless Studios, The Solax Company, Éclair Studios, Goldwyn Picture Corporation, American Méliès, World Film Company, Biograph Studios, Fox Film Corporation, Pathé Frères, Metro Pictures Corporation, Victor Film Company, and Selznick Pictures Corporation were all making pictures in Fort Lee. Such notables as Mary Pickford got their start at Biograph Studios.
With the offshoot businesses that sprang up to service the film studios, for nearly two decades Fort Lee experienced unrivaled prosperity. However, just as the development of Fort Lee production facilities were gaining strength, Nestor Studios of Bayonne, New Jersey, built the first studio in Hollywood in 1911. Nestor Studios, owned by David and William Horsley, later merged with Universal Studios; and William Horsley's other company, Hollywood Film Laboratory, is now the oldest existing company in Hollywood, now called the Hollywood Digital Laboratory. California's more hospitable and cost-effective climate led to the eventual shift of virtually all filmmaking to the West Coast by the 1930s. At the time, Thomas Edison owned almost all the patents relevant to motion picture production. Movie producers on the East Coast acting independently of Edison's Motion Picture Patents Company were often sued or enjoined by Edison and his agents, while movie makers working on the West Coast could work independently of Edison's control, in part due to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals–which was headquartered in San Francisco and covered most of Southern California–being well known for not enforcing patents claims.
On July 9, 1937, a major fire broke out in a 20th Century-Fox film storage facility in nearby Little Ferry. Flammable nitrate film had previously contributed to several fires in film industry laboratories, studios and vaults, although the precise causes were often unknown. Many films from the era were lost.
Television and film in New Jersey remains an important industry. Since 2000, the Fort Lee Film Commission has been charged with celebrating the history of film in Fort Lee, as well as attracting film and television production companies to the borough. The Barrymore Film Center promotes films, film making and its history in the borough. Local film is being promoted, especially because of NJ Tax Credit Programs.

Birthplace of subliminal messaging

In 1957, market researcher James Vicary claimed that quickly flashing messages on a movie screen, in Fort Lee, had influenced people to purchase more food and drinks. Vicary coined the term subliminal advertising and formed the Subliminal Projection Company based on a six-week test. Vicary claimed that during the presentation of the movie Picnic he used a tachistoscope to project the words "Drink Coca-Cola" and "Hungry? Eat popcorn" for 1/3000 of a second at five-second intervals. Vicary asserted that during the test, sales of popcorn and Coke in that New Jersey theater increased 57.8% and 18.1% respectively.
In 1962, Vicary admitted to lying about the experiment and falsifying the results, the story itself being a marketing ploy. An identical experiment conducted by Henry Link showed no increase in cola or popcorn sales. The claim that the small cinema handled 45,699 visitors in six weeks has led people to believe that Vicary actually did not conduct his experiment at all.

George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal

The Fort Lee lane closure scandal, also known as Bridgegate, was a political scandal concerning the actions taken by the staff of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and his Port Authority appointees to create a traffic jam in Fort Lee when dedicated toll lanes for one of the Fort Lee entrances to the upper level on the George Washington Bridge were reduced from three to one from September 9, 2013, to September 13, 2013. Three members of the Christie administration were convicted on federal conspiracy charges for their roles in the lane closures.
One of the reasons suggested for these actions was to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, for not supporting the Republican Chris Christie in the 2013 New Jersey gubernatorial election. Another theory was that Christie or his aides sought to punish New Jersey Senate majority leader, Loretta Weinberg, who represented the New Jersey district containing Fort Lee, as retribution for the Democrats' blocking of Christie's reappointment of a New Jersey Supreme Court justice. Christie withdrew his appointee consideration and delivered a speech referring to New Jersey Senate Democrats as "animals" just one day before emails were sent by Christie's aides to the Port Authority requesting the lane closures.

Demographics

At the turn of the 21st century, Fort Lee saw a large Korean migration which has converted much of the town into a large Koreatown, in that many traditional Korean stores and restaurants may be seen in Fort Lee, and the hangul letters of the Korean alphabet are as common as signs in English in parts of the downtown area. This Koreatown is separate from the similar Korean enclave in the adjacent town of Palisades Park. The rapid increase of the Korean population has seen the decline of many other immigrant communities once centered in Fort Lee, notably the Greek and Italian communities, once quite large but now all but extinct. A sizable Russian immigrant community has also sprung up in recent years.
In March 2011 about 2,500 Japanese-Americans were living in Edgewater and Fort Lee, the largest concentration of Japanese-Americans in New Jersey.
There were 1,119 Fort Lee residents who filed claims to recover lost money from the Madoff investment scandal, the most from any ZIP code.

2010 Census

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that median household income was $72,341 and the median family income was $86,489. Males had a median income of $66,015 versus $55,511 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $44,996. About 5.5% of families and 7.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.1% of those under age 18 and 9.0% of those age 65 or over.

2000 Census

As of the 2000 United States Census there were 35,461 people, 16,544 households, and 9,396 families residing in the borough. The population density was 14,001.7 people per square mile. There were 17,446 housing units at an average density of 6,888.5 per square mile. The racial makeup of the borough was 62.75% White, 31.43% Asian, 1.73% African American, 0.07% Native American, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 1.69% from other races, and 2.26% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.87% of the population.
There were 16,544 households out of which 22.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.7% were married couples living together, 7.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.2% were non-families. 39.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.14 and the average family size was 2.88.
In the borough the age distribution of the population shows 17.5% under the age of 18, 5.1% from 18 to 24, 32.6% from 25 to 44, 24.7% from 45 to 64, and 20.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.1 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $58,161, and the median income for a family was $72,140. Males had a median income of $54,730 versus $41,783 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $37,899. About 5.7% of families and 7.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.9% of those under age 18 and 7.9% of those age 65 or over.
As of the 2000 Census, 17.18% of Fort Lee's residents identified themselves as being of Korean ancestry, which was the fifth highest in the United States and third highest of any municipality in New Jersey; behind neighboring Palisades Park and Leonia – for all places with 1,000 or more residents identifying their ancestry. In the same census, 5.56% of Fort Lee's residents identified themselves as being of Chinese ancestry, and 6.09% of Fort Lee's residents identified themselves as being of Japanese ancestry, the highest of any municipality in New Jersey for all places with 1,000 or more residents identifying their ancestry. In the 2010 Census, 23.5% of residents identified themselves as being of Korean ancestry, 7.5% as Chinese and 3.7% as Japanese.

Economy

Companies based in Fort Lee include Bank of New Jersey and the American Bank Note Company.

Arts and culture

Since 2007, the Hudson Shakespeare Company has brought their Shakespeare in the Park touring shows to Fort Lee in "Shakespeare Tuesdays". The group now performs regularly at Monument Park with 2 Tuesday shows per month for each month of the summer. The festival also tours similar dates in Hackensack.

Government

Local government

Fort Lee is governed under the Borough form of New Jersey municipal government. The borough is one of 218 municipalities statewide that use this form of government. The governing body is comprised of the Mayor and the six-member Borough Council, with all positions elected at-large on a partisan basis as part of the November general election. A Mayor is elected directly by the voters to a four-year term of office. The Borough Council is comprised of six members elected to serve three-year terms on a staggered basis, with two seats coming up for election each year in a three-year cycle. The Borough form of government used by Fort Lee is a "weak mayor / strong council" government in which council members act as the legislative body with the mayor presiding at meetings and voting only in the event of a tie. The mayor can veto ordinances subject to an override by a two-thirds majority vote of the council. The mayor makes committee and liaison assignments for council members, and most appointments are made by the mayor with the advice and consent of the council.
, the Mayor of Fort Lee is Democrat Mark Sokolich, whose term of office ends December 31, 2023. Members of the Borough Council are Council President Michael Sargenti, Joseph L. Cervieri Jr., Ila Kasofsky, Harvey Sohmer, Peter J. Suh and Paul K. Yoon.

Federal, state and county representation

Fort Lee is located in the 9th Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 37th state legislative district. Prior to the 2011 reapportionment following the 2010 Census, Fort Lee had been in the 38th state legislative district.

Politics

As of March 23, 2011, there were a total of 18,382 registered voters in Fort Lee, of which 7,537 were registered as Democrats, 2,487 were registered as Republicans and 8,350 were registered as Unaffiliated. There were 8 voters registered to other parties. Among the borough's 2010 Census population, 52.0% were registered to vote, including 62.6% of those ages 18 and over.
In the 2012 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 7,891 votes, ahead of Republican Mitt Romney with 4,737 votes and other candidates with 104 votes, among the 12,950 ballots cast by the borough's 19,738 registered voters, for a turnout of 65.6%. In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 8,624 votes, ahead of Republican John McCain with 5,236 votes and other candidates with 114 votes, among the 14,144 ballots cast by the borough's 19,352 registered voters, for a turnout of 73.1%. In the 2004 presidential election, Democrat John Kerry received 8,367 votes, ahead of Republican George W. Bush with 5,161 votes and other candidates with 100 votes, among the 13,692 ballots cast by the borough's 18,294 registered voters, for a turnout of 74.8%.
In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 55.3% of the vote, ahead of Democrat Barbara Buono with 43.5%, and other candidates with 1.2%, among the 6,992 ballots cast by the borough's 18,356 registered voters, for a turnout of 38.1%. In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Democrat Jon Corzine received 5,187 ballots cast, ahead of Republican Chris Christie with 3,191 votes, Independent Chris Daggett with 287 votes and other candidates with 38 votes, among the 8,817 ballots cast by the borough's 18,854 registered voters, yielding a 46.8% turnout.

Emergency services and public safety

Police

Emergency medical services

The Fort Lee Volunteer Ambulance Corps, founded in 1971, provides emergency medical services to the Borough of Fort Lee, the George Washington Bridge, and the Palisades Interstate Parkway. One of the largest EMS agencies in the surrounding area, the Fort Lee Volunteer Ambulance Corps operates a fleet of four medium-duty ambulances, one first responder vehicle, and two command vehicles from its headquarters on the corner of Main Street and Anderson Avenue. In 2011, the agency purchased a new state-of-the-art ambulance, designated FLA-1, in order to begin retiring some of its aging ambulances. The agency plans to purchase a second ambulance sometime in 2013. With approximately 50 active members, the corps operates 24 hours a day on weekends and from 7 PM to 6 AM on weekdays, with paid borough employees staffing the ambulances during the day on weekdays. The Fort Lee Volunteer Ambulance Corps responds to approximately 3,400 emergency medical calls annually. The corps is a member agency of the East Bergen Ambulance Association with a standing mutual aid agreement with surrounding East Bergen boroughs.

Fire department

Fort Lee is protected around the clock by the volunteer firefighters of the Fort Lee Fire Department, which was founded in 1888 when the borough was still a part of Ridgefield Township and operates out of four fire stations. The Fort Lee Fire Department operates a fire apparatus fleet of six engines, two trucks, one rescue, one squad, two support services units, two support vans, a mobile air unit, four command vehicles and six fire prevention units. The Fort Lee Fire Department's volunteer fire companies respond to, on average, approximately 1,800 emergency calls annually.
Engine companyTruck companySpecial unitAddress
Engine 1, Engine 5146 Main Street
Engine 2Rescue 2, Squad 2Lemoine Avenue
Engine 3Truck 1, Truck 2557 Main Street
Engine 4, Engine 6S.S.U. 1, S.S.U. 24 Brinkerhoff Avenue

Education

The Fort Lee School District serves public school students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 2018–19 school year, the district, comprised of six schools, had an enrollment of 4,103 students and 301.2 classroom teachers, for a student–teacher ratio of 13.6:1. Schools in the district are
School 1,
School 2,
School 3,
School 4,
Lewis F. Cole Intermediate School / Lewis F. Cole Middle School and
Fort Lee High School.
During the 2010–11 school year, School #3 was awarded the National Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education, the highest award an American school can receive, one of only ten schools statewide to be honored. The school was one of three in Bergen County honored that year.
Public school students from the borough, and all of Bergen County, are eligible to attend the secondary education programs offered by the Bergen County Technical Schools, which include the Bergen County Academies in Hackensack, and the Bergen Tech campus in Teterboro or Paramus. The district offers programs on a shared-time or full-time basis, with admission based on a selective application process and tuition covered by the student's home school district.

Private schools

Private schools in the area include Christ the Teacher, First Step Day Care Center, Fort Lee Education Center, Fort Lee Montessori Pre-School, Fort Lee Youth Center Playgroup, Futures Best Nursery Academy, Green House Preschool and Kindergarten, Happy Kids Pre-School, Hooks Lane School, Itsy Bitsy Early Learning Center, Genesis Preschool & Academy, Palisades Pre-School, Rainbow School DC, and Small World Montessori School. Christ the Teacher Interparochial School operates under the supervision of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark.

Weekend supplementary education

The Japanese Weekend School of New Jersey, a Japanese supplementary educational school, holds its classes at Paramus Catholic High School in Paramus while its offices are in Fort Lee. It is one of the two weekend Japanese school systems operated by the Japanese Educational Institute of New York, a nonprofit organization which also operates two Japanese day schools in the New York City area.

Transportation

Roads and highways

, the borough had a total of of roadways, of which were maintained by the municipality, by Bergen County and by the New Jersey Department of Transportation and by the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.
Fort Lee is served by the Palisades Interstate Parkway, Route 4, Route 5, Route 67, Interstate 95, U.S. Route 9W, U.S. Route 1-9, U.S. Route 46, and County Route 505. The George Washington Bridge, the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge, crosses the Hudson River from Fort Lee to the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. Many of these roads converge at GWB Plaza, a busy crossroads at the northern end of the borough.

Public transportation

Fort Lee is served by NJ Transit buses 154, 156, 158 and 159 to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan; the 171, 175, 178, 181, 182, 186 and 188 lines to the George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal; and local service on the 751, 753, 755 and 756.
Rockland Coaches provides service along Route 9W on the 9T and 9AT bus lines and on the 14ET to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan and on the 9 / 9A to the George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal. Saddle River Tours / Ameribus provides service to the George Washington Bridge Bus Station on route 11C.
The Fort Lee Parking Authority issues and controls parking passes, meter fees, and provides shuttles and non-emergency transportation. Marc Macri] a former law partner of Mayor Mark Sokolich, serves as Commissioner of the Fort Lee Parking Authority.
two Taiwanese airlines, China Airlines and EVA Air, provides private bus services to and from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City for customers based in New Jersey. These bus services stop in Fort Lee.

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Fort Lee has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.

Tallest buildings and structures

The George Washington Bridge, at meters in height as measured from its base, is the tallest structure in Fort Lee. The cliffs of the Palisades rise to about. Since the 1960s, numerous residential high-rise buildings have been built along the Palisade Avenue-Boulevard East corridor. Fort Lee's population and housing density increased considerably during the 1960s and 1970s with the construction of highrise apartments. As of 2019, including from the bridge itself, there were 10 structures over tall in Fort Lee.
RankNameImageHeight
ft / m		FloorsYearNotes
1=The Modern 1472014
1=The Modern 2472018
2The Palisades412001
3=The Plaza321975
3=The Colony321972
4=River Ridge311985
4=Century Towers311981
6=Horizon Towers North281968
6=Horizon Towers South281968
7Mediterrean Towers West271982

In media

People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Fort Lee include: