The Tale of Two Communities: Hackensack and Ridgewood
The Village of Ridgewood and the city of Hackensack both lie in Northern New Jersey, within easy commuting distance of New York City. While both locations started life as rural communities, their paths to their current environment were quite different. Ridgewood today is still a suburban village of predominantly single family homes, whereas Hackensack has become an urban city, hosting the largest hospital in the region as well as some significant government agencies.
The History of Urbanization and Measuring Social Progress
In the nineteenth century it was believed that social progress could only occur if sections of society relinquished something. It was the age of Industrialization; progress was measured and driven by the economic impact of the wealthy industrialists who wanted to exploit
the latest technical advances for profit. Too often it was the built-up inhabited environment that suffered. Urban slums such as Manchester, England were allowed to develop in this manner to support the needs of the cotton industry. Charles Dickens described Manchester as, “A town of red brick, or at least that would have been red, if the smoke and ashes (from coal fires) had allowed it”. It was not until almost 200 years later that significant
money was invested to renew the city.
Hackensack Sets its Course
The nineteenth century view of progress prevailed well into the twentieth, moderated somewhat by legal reforms such as the 1833 Factory Act. To a community like Hackensack in the 1800s, the development of a local hospital was seen as a necessary step towards self-sufficiency, progress and modern living. At the time of the opening of the Hackensack hospital in 1888, Hackensack was a suburban community not unlike Ridgewood. While the hospital had only 12 beds and was housed in a converted Victorian residence, it was the first hospital in Bergen County.
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