Fort Lee, New Jersey facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Fort Lee, New Jersey
Borough
Fort Lee Town Center Main Street Fort Lee Historic Park The Modern Constitution Park
Seal
Location of Fort Lee in Bergen County highlighted in red (left). Inset map: Location of Bergen County in New Jersey highlighted in orange (right).
Census Bureau map of Fort Lee, New Jersey <mapframe text="Interactive map of Fort Lee, New Jersey" zoom="8" width="250" height="250"> { "type": "ExternalData", "service": "geoshape", "ids": "Q1013261" } </mapframe>
Fort Lee, New Jersey Location in Bergen County, New Jersey Show map of Bergen County, New Jersey Fort Lee, New Jersey Location in New Jersey Show map of New Jersey Fort Lee, New Jersey Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Bergen
Incorporated	March 29, 1904
Named for	Fort Lee / General Charles Lee
Government
• Type	Borough
• Body	Borough Council
Area
• Total	2.86 sq mi (7.41 km2)
• Land	2.52 sq mi (6.52 km2)
• Water	0.34 sq mi (0.89 km2)  12.33%
Area rank	344th of 565 in state 30th of 70 in county
Elevation	289 ft (88 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	40,191
• Estimate  (2023)	39,700
• Rank	59th of 565 in state 3rd of 70 in county
• Density	15,961.5/sq mi (6,162.8/km2)
• Density rank	16th of 565 in state 4th of 70 in county
Time zone	UTC−05:00 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (Eastern (EDT))
ZIP Code	07024
Area code(s)	201
FIPS code	3400324420
GNIS feature ID	0885223

Fort Lee is a borough at the eastern border of Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, situated along the Hudson River atop The Palisades.

As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 40,191, an increase of 4,846 (+13.7%) from the 2010 census count of 35,345, which in turn reflected a decline of 116 (−0.3%) from the 35,461 counted in the 2000 census. Along with other communities in Bergen County, it is one of the largest and fastest-growing ethnic Korean enclaves outside of Korea.

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 (7.478 km²), including 2.541 square miles (6.581 km²) of land and 0.347 square miles (0.898 km²) of water (12.00%).

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, Palisade and Taylorville.

The borough borders Cliffside Park, Edgewater, Englewood, Englewood Cliffs, Leonia, Palisades Park, Ridgefield. and the Washington Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan. 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

Established residential high-rises are a prominent feature of the borough of Fort Lee, with several over 300 feet tall.

Fort Lee is 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 (beginning along a road which is now Main Street) 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 on the North River (Hudson River) and Hudson 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 (Star Films), 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.

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.

Birthplace of subliminal sharings

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.

Demographics

Fort Lee Koreatown is centered at the intersection of Main Street and Route 67 (Lemoine Avenue).

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. A sizable Russian immigrant community has also sprung up in recent years.

The per capita Korean American population of Bergen County, 6.3% by the 2010 census, (increasing to 6.9% by the 2011 American Community Survey), is the highest of any county in the United States, with all of the nation's top ten municipalities by percentage of Korean population and an absolute total of 56,773 Korean Americans (increasing to 63,247 by the 2011 American Community Survey) living in the county. The concentration of Korean Americans in nearby Palisades Park in turn is the highest of any municipality in Bergen County, at 52% of the population, enumerating 10,115 residents of Korean ancestry; while Fort Lee has nearly as many Koreans by absolute numbers, at 8,318, representing 23.5% of its 2010 population. Along with Koreatowns in New York City and Long Island, the Bergen County Koreatowns serve as the nexus for an overall Korean American population of 218,764 individuals in the Greater New York Combined Statistical Area, the second largest population of ethnic Koreans outside of Korea.

Episcopal Church

Young Israel Synagogue

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

As of the census of 2010, there were 35,345 people, 16,371 households, and 9,364 families residing in the borough. The population density was 13,910.9 per square mile (5,371.0/km²). There were 17,818 housing units at an average density of 7,012.7 per square mile (2,707.6/km²)^*. The racial makeup of the borough was 53.49% (18,905) White, 2.75% (973) Black or African American, 0.14% (50) Native American, 38.44% (13,587) Asian, 0.02% (7) Pacific Islander, 3.08% (1,090) from other races, and 2.07% (733) from two or more races. [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic or Latino of any race were 10.97% (3,877) of the population. Korean Americans accounted for 23.5% of the 2010 population, or 8,306 people.

There were 16,371 households out of which 21.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.6% were married couples living together, 8.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.8% were non-families. 38.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.16 and the average family size was 2.89. Same-sex couples headed 127 households in 2010, an increase from the 65 counted in 2000.

In the borough, the population was spread out with 17.0% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 27.7% from 45 to 64, and 21.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44.7 years. For every 100 females there were 86.9 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and old there were 83.8 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $72,341 (with a margin of error of +/- $4,502) and the median family income was $86,489 (+/- $11,977). Males had a median income of $66,015 (+/- $3,526) versus $55,511 (+/- $3,404) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $44,996 (+/- $2,903). 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.

Economy

Companies based in Fort Lee include WINIA Electronics America, the American Bank Note Company and Cross River Bank.

Arts and culture

The 21,500-square-foot (2,000 m²) Barrymore Film Center, a movie theater, performing arts center, and film museum, was constructed at a cost of $16 million and opened in October 2022.

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 (1588 Palisade Avenue, next to the Fort Lee Museum) with two Tuesday shows per month during the summer. The festival also tours similar dates in Hackensack.

Since the mid-1980s, Fort Lee Koreatown has become a Korean dining destination. Fort Lee's Korean food has been described by local food writers as being better than in Koreatown, Manhattan. Korean Chinese cuisine is now also available in Koreatown, as is misugaru. Korean cafés have become a major cultural element within Fort Lee's Koreatown, not only for the coffee, bingsu (shaved ice), and pastries, but also as communal gathering places.

Emergency services and public safety

Police

The borough council created the Fort Lee Police Department in 1904, although it was not until 1927 that the council authorized the appointment of a full-time paid police chief. As of 2019, the police department had about 100 members.

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. 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 (EBAA) 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 (including spares), two ladders, one heavy rescue, one squad (light rescue), two support services units, a mobile air cascade unit, four command vehicles(battalion and deputy chiefs), and six fire prevention units. The Fort Lee Fire Department's volunteer fire companies respond to, on average, approximately 1,800 emergency calls annually.

Fire Company #4

Education

Public schools

The Fort Lee School District serves public school students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 2021–22 school year, the district, comprised of six schools, had an enrollment of 4,074 students and 331.7 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.3:1. Schools in the district (with 2021–22 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are School 1 with 535 students in grades K-4, School 2 with 341 students in grades PreK-4, School 3 with 386 students in grades K-4, School 4 with 392 students in grades K-4, Lewis F. Cole Intermediate School / Lewis F. Cole Middle School with 1,153 students in grades 5-8 and Fort Lee High School with 1,223 students in grades 9-12.

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 (Pre-K–8, 314 students), First Step Day Care Center (Pre-K, 101 students), Fort Lee Education Center (7–12, 78 students), Fort Lee Montessori Pre-School (Pre-K, 49 students), Fort Lee Youth Center Playgroup (Pre-K, 30 students), Futures Best Nursery Academy (Pre-K, 98 students), Green House Preschool and Kindergarten (Pre-K–K, 125 students), Happy Kids Pre-School (Pre-K, 75 students), Hooks Lane School (Pre-K, 54 students), Itsy Bitsy Early Learning Center (Pre-K, 60 students), Genesis Preschool & Academy (Pre-K, K–6, 83 students), Palisades Pre-School (Pre-K, 108 students), Rainbow School DC (Pre-K, 88 students), and Small World Montessori School (Pre-K, 51 students). 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 (ニュージャージー補習授業校), 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 (JEI; ニューヨーク日本人教育審議会 Nyūyōku Nihonjin Kyōiku Shingi Kai), a nonprofit organization which also operates two Japanese day schools in the New York City area.

In 1987 there were two juku (Japanese-style cram schools) in Fort Lee. One of the Fort Lee schools, Hinoki School, had 130 students. There were additionally two institutions trying to open juku in Fort Lee.

Transportation

Roads and highways

As of May 2010^[update], the borough had a total of 51.12 miles (82.27 km) of roadways, of which 35.44 miles (57.04 km) were maintained by the municipality, 6.20 miles (9.98 km) by Bergen County and 6.22 miles (10.01 km) by the New Jersey Department of Transportation and 3.26 miles (5.25 km) 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 (the northern terminus of the New Jersey Turnpike), U.S. Route 9W, U.S. Route 1/9, U.S. Route 46, and County Route 505. The George Washington Bridge (signed as I-95/US 1-9/US 46), 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.

The Fort Lee Parking Authority issues and controls parking passes, meter fees, and provides shuttles and non-emergency transportation.

As of 2016^[update] two Taiwanese airlines, China Airlines and EVA Air, provide 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.

As of 2021, OurBus offers intercity bus service from the George Washington Bridge bus stop to various locations such as Rochester and Buffalo, New York.

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, connecting Fort Lee (above) in Bergen County across the Hudson River to New York City, is the world's busiest motor vehicle bridge. Built in 1931, at 604 ft (184 m) meters, it is the tallest structure in Fort Lee. One of two 47-story residential The Modern, Bergen County's tallest buildings, is seen under construction near George Washington Bridge Plaza in December 2013.

The George Washington Bridge (GWB), at 604 ft (184 m) meters in height as measured from its base, is the tallest structure in Fort Lee. The cliffs of the Palisades rise to about 260 ft (79 m). 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 300 ft (91 m) tall in Fort Lee.

Rank	Name	Image	Height ft / m	Floors	Year	Notes
1=	The Modern 1		496 ft (151 m)	47	2014
1	The Modern 2		496 ft (151 m)	47	2018
3	The Palisades		445 ft (136 m)	41	2001
4	The Plaza		347.2 ft (105.8 m)	32	1975
4	The Colony		347.2 ft (105.8 m)	32	1972
6=	River Ridge		336.4 ft (102.5 m)	31	1985
6	Century Towers		336.4 ft (102.5 m)	31	1981
8	Horizon Towers North		304 ft (93 m)	28	1968
8	Horizon Towers South		304 ft (93 m)	28	1968
9	Mediterranean Towers West		293 ft (89 m)	27	1982

In media

Constitution Park in Fort Lee. In the background are the Mediterranean Towers apartment complex.

• The borough was mentioned in "Weekend Update" segments involving fictional consumer affairs reporter Roseanne Roseannadanna, played by Gilda Radner, who almost always began reading letters by saying, "A Mr. Richard Feder from Fort Lee, New Jersey, writes in and says...." Feder was the brother-in-law of Saturday Night Live writer and segment co-creator Alan Zweibel and an actual Fort Lee resident until he moved to West Nyack, New York in 1981.
• In the 1984 film, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, the character played by Jeff Goldblum (Dr. Sidney Zweibel/New Jersey) introduces himself as being from Fort Lee.
• In Desperately Seeking Susan, the main character Roberta (played by Rosanna Arquette) is from Fort Lee. A key thematic element of the film is the contrast between Roberta's life in New Jersey and her desire to experience Susan's lifestyle in New York City.
• Martin Scorsese directed several scenes of Goodfellas in Fort Lee.
• Chabad of Fort Lee, a synagogue, was used as the filming location for the Queens, New York City residence of Detective Elliot Stabler on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
• In late March 2011, a group of teenagers reported that they had been detained by the Fort Lee Police Department who left them in a police van parked for 14 hours overnight at headquarters. The detainees, who said that they had no food, water or access to bathrooms during that time, were released after passers-by heard their screams. In December 2013, $120,000 was awarded to each of three of the teens as settlement of a lawsuit that alleged that they had been unlawfully detained and that police officers had used racial epithets.
• On March 2, 2012, The show Morning Joe on MSNBC aired live from Fort Lee High School. Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski joined Gov. Chris Christie, Rev. Al Sharpton, Michelle Rhee, Harold Ford Jr., Howard Dean, Interim Superintendent of Fort Lee Schools (Steven Engravalle) and other invited guests to discuss New Jersey's education reform.

Notable people

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

See also

In Spanish: Fort Lee (Nueva Jersey) para niños