Weequahic (pronounced or, "when spoken rapidly", ) is a neighborhood in the city of Newark in Essex County, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. Part of the South Ward, it is separated from Clinton Hill by Hawthorne Avenue on the north, and bordered by the township of Irvington on the west,

Newark Liberty International Airport Newark Liberty International Airport is a major international airport serving the New York metropolitan area. The airport straddles the boundary between the cities of Newark, New Jersey, Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and E ...

and

Dayton Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

on the east, and Hillside Township and the city of

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Empress Elisabeth (disambiguation), lists various empresses named ''Elisabeth'' or ''Elizabeth'' * Princess Elizabeth ...

on the south. There are many well maintained homes and streets. Part of the Weequahic neighborhood has been designated a historic district; major streets are Lyons Avenue, Bergen Street, and Chancellor Avenue.

Newark Beth Israel Medical Center Newark Beth Israel Medical Center (NBIMC), previously Newark Beth Israel Hospital, is a 665-bed quaternary care, teaching hospital located in Newark, New Jersey serving the healthcare needs for Newark and the Northern Jersey area. The hospital ...

is a major long-time institution in the neighborhood.

History

The name "Weequahic" is

Lenni-Lenape The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historical territory included present-day northeastern Dela ...

for "head of the cove". The area was farmland until the late nineteenth century when it was developed into a middle-class, non-industrial neighborhood of detached single-family homes oriented around

Weequahic Park Weequahic Park (; pronounced , or WEEK-wake "when spoken rapidly") is a park located in the List of neighborhoods in Newark, New Jersey#South Ward, South Ward of Newark, New Jersey, USA, designed by the Olmsted Brothers firm, (who also designed Bra ...

. Once the southernmost part of Clinton Township, it was the last portion of Clinton to be annexed into Newark in 1902. Eliz Av-Weequahic U Presbyterian jeh

Weequahic was largely a middle class

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish neighborhood until the late 1960s, home to many

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...

s, and Jewish restaurants.

(in Weequahic), the largest hospital in Newark, was built under the auspices of the Jewish community. Author

Philip Roth Philip Milton Roth (; March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short-story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophical ...

grew up on Summit Avenue, graduated from

Weequahic High School Weequahic High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades, located in the Weequahic section of Newark in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The school is operated by th ...

in 1950, and many of his novels (such as ''

American Pastoral ''American Pastoral'' is a Philip Roth novel published in 1997 concerning Seymour "Swede" Levov, a successful Jewish American businessman and former high school star athlete from Newark, New Jersey. Levov's happy and conventional upper middle ...

'' and ''

Nemesis In ancient Greek religion and myth, Nemesis (; ) also called Rhamnousia (or Rhamnusia; ), was the goddess who personified retribution for the sin of hubris: arrogance before the gods. Etymology The name ''Nemesis'' is derived from the Greek ...

'') are set there. It was known as a predominantly Jewish school at the time. The 2009 documentary Heart of Stone, focuses on the school's decline from the 1950s, when it graduated more PhDs than any other high school in the country, to one of Newark, NJ's most poorly performing schools. The post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

growth of suburbs and

Second Great Migration In the context of the 20th-century history of the United States, the Second Great Migration was the migration of more than 5 million African Americans from the South to the Northeast, Midwest and West. It began in 1940, through World War II, and ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

s altered the demographic make-up of Newark in general and the Weequahic section in particular. Real estate

blockbusting Blockbusting was a business practice in the United States in which real estate agents and building developers convinced residents in a particular area to sell their property at below-market prices. This was achieved by fearmongering the homeowne ...

white flight The white flight, also known as white exodus, is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the Racism ...

, and the construction of

Interstate 78 Interstate 78 (I-78) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Northeastern United States that runs from I-81 northeast of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, through Allentown to western and North Jersey, terminating at the Holland Tunnel entra ...

were negative factors. The 1967 civil unrest was also devastating to the district.

Weequahic Park

The jewel of the neighborhood is the

Olmsted Brothers The Olmsted Brothers company was a Landscape architecture, landscape architectural firm in the United States, established in 1898 by brothers John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920) and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (1870–1957), sons of the landscape ar ...

-designed

. This park has a rubberized jogging path around its lake and Weequahic Golf Course, the oldest public golf course in the United States. It is listed on the state and federal registers of historic places.

Highrises on Elizabeth Avenue

Several highrise apartment buildings, among the tallest buildings in Newark, were built in the 1960s along the Elizabeth Avenue corridor opposite the park. 440 Elizabeth Avenue, formerly Carmel Towers, opened in 1970. The apartment building is and 25 stories tall. It offered subsidized housing, but later became a center of drug-dealing and violence until it was vacated in 2011. The buildings were sold in 2015, with plans for redevelopment and gut rehabilitation of its 216 apartments. As of 2025, it is being marketed as Cosmo 440. Zion Towers, at 515 Elizabeth Avenue, opened in 1972 and is one of the tallest buildings in Newark. The apartment building is tall and has 29 stories with 268 apartments. It provides subsidized housing. The building was sold for $28 million in 2018 with plans to upgrade it. Other buildings include the 22-story Elizabeth Towers at 455 and the 24-story Heritage Estates at 555.

Education

Newark Public Schools Newark Board of Education is a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade in the city of Newark in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The state took over the dis ...

operates public schools.

serves the neighborhood. The 1931 Art Deco building that housed the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art is in the neighborhood. The Weequahic Branch Library of the

Newark Public Library The Newark Public Library (NPL) is a public library system in Newark, New Jersey. The library system offers numerous programs and events to its diverse population. With seven different branches, the Newark Public Library serves as a Statewide Re ...

(NPL) serves the neighborhood. The branch, which opened in May 1929, was the sixth NPL branch to open between 1923 and 1946. In 1992 the library system renovated the branch for $1 million; the renovation added air conditioning, online public access computers, an elevator, new lighting, off-street parking, and a children's storytelling pit.Weequahic Branch Library
"

. Retrieved on March 2, 2010.

References

External links