Hoboken. Hoboken is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 50,005, having grown by 11,428 from 38,577 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 5,180 from the 33,397 in the 1990 Census. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 52,677 in 2019, ranking the city the 745th-most-populous in the country. Among cities with a population above 50,000, Hoboken was ranked as the third-most densely populated municipalities in the United States, with more than 42,400 people per square mile. Hoboken is part of the New York metropolitan area and is the site of Hoboken Terminal, a major transportation hub for the tri-state region. Hoboken was first settled as part of the Pavonia, New Netherland colony in the 17th century. During the early 19th century the city was developed by Colonel John Stevens, first as a resort and later as a residential neighborhood. Originally part of Bergen Township and later North Bergen Township, it became a separate township in 1849 and was incorporated as a city in 1855. Hoboken is the location of the first recorded game of baseball and of the Stevens Institute of Technology, one of the oldest technological universities in the United States. It is also known as the birthplace and hometown of Frank Sinatra; various streets and parks in the city have been named after him. Located on the Hudson Waterfront, the city was an integral part of the Port of New York and New Jersey and was home to major industries for most of the 20th century. The character of the city has changed from an artsy industrial vibe from the days when Maxwell House coffee, Lipton tea, Hostess cupcakes and Wonder Bread called Hoboken home, to one of trendy shops and expensive condominiums. It has been ranked 2nd in Niche's 2019 Best Places to Live in Hudson County list. The name Hoboken was chosen by Colonel John Stevens when he bought land, on a part of which the city still sits. The Lenape tribe of Native Americans referred to the area as the land of the tobacco pipe, most likely to refer to the soapstone collected there to carve tobacco pipes, and used a phrase that became Hopoghan Hackingh. Like Weehawken, its neighbor to the north, Communipaw and Harsimus to the south, Hoboken had many variations in the folks-tongue. Hoebuck, old Dutch for high bluff and likely referring to Castle Point, was used during the colonial era and later spelled as Hobuck, Hobock, Hobuk and Hoboocken. However, in the nineteenth century, the name was changed to Hoboken, influenced by Flemish Dutch immigrants and a folk etymology had emerged linking the town of Hoboken to the similarly-named Hoboken district of Antwerp. Today, Hoboken's unofficial nickname is the Mile Square City, but it actually covers about 1.25 square miles of land and an area of 2 square miles when including the under-water parts in the Hudson River. During the late 19th/early 20th century the population and culture of Hoboken was dominated by German language speakers who sometimes called it Little Bremen, many of whom are buried in Hoboken Cemetery, North Bergen. Hoboken was originally an island which was surrounded by the Hudson River on the east and tidal lands at the foot of the New Jersey Palisades on the west. It was a seasonal campsite in the territory of the Hackensack, a phratry of the Lenni Lenape, who used the serpentine rock found there to carve pipes. The first recorded European to lay claim to the area was Henry Hudson, an Englishman sailing for the Dutch East India Company, who anchored his ship the Halve Maen at Weehawken Cove on October 2, 1609. Soon after it became part of the province of New Netherland. In 1630, Michael Reyniersz Pauw, a burgemeester of Amsterdam and a director of the Dutch West India Company, received a land grant as patroon on the condition that he would plant a colony of not fewer than fifty persons within four years on the west bank of what had been named the North River. Three Lenape sold the land that was to become Hoboken for 80 fathoms of wampum, 20 fathoms of cloth, 12 kettles, six guns, two blankets, one double kettle and half a barrel of beer. These transactions, variously dated as July 12, 1630 and November 22, 1630, represent the earliest known conveyance for the area.