Hackensack is a city in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States and the county seat of Bergen County. Although informally called Hackensack, it was officially named New Barbadoes Township until 1921. As of the 2000 Census, the city population was 42,677. The census 2004 population estimate indicates a total of 43,681. It is located approximately 7 miles west of Manhattan and 12 miles south of Rockland County, New York. From a number of locations one can see the New York City skyline. The Metropolitan campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University straddles the Hackensack River in both Hackensack and Teaneck.
Hackensack is also the home of the New Jersey Naval Museum and the World War II submarine USS Ling. Astronaut Walter Schirra is perhaps Hackensack's most famous native son. The first inhabitants of the area were the Lenni Lenape Native Americans (known to the European settlers as the Delaware) who lived along the valley of what they called the Achinigeu-hach, or "Ackingsah-sack", (today the Hackensack River) and spoke a Munsee dialect of the Algonquian languages. As the Dutch settlers of the Dutch West India Company moved from New Amsterdam (present-day New York City) further west of the Hudson River, in the 1660s, they eventually settled along the Hackensack River calling the area Bergen. Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant in delegation with the Lenni Lenape. (This is depicted on the seal of Bergen County). Oratam, sagamore of the Lenni Lenape, deeded the land to the Dutch in 1665.
The area was soon taken by the English in 1669, but kept its Dutch name. Philip Cartaret, governor of what was then considered the proprietary colony of East Jersey granted land to Captain John Berry in the area of Bergen and soon after took up residence and called it "New Barbadoes," after having resided on the island of Barbadoes. In 1675, the East Jersey Legislature officially established the first four counties of present day New Jersey, ( Bergen, Essex, Middlesex, and Monmouth). The neighborhood that came to be known as the village of Hackensack (today the area encompassing Bergen County's municipal buildings in Hackensack) was a part of Essex County until 1710, when Bergen County, by royal decree of Queen Anne of Great Britian, was enlarged and the Township of New Barbadoes was created from territories that had been removed from Essex County and added to Bergen County.
In 1710, the village of Hackensack in the newly formed Township of New Barbadoes was designated as being more centrally located and more easily reached by the majority of the Bergen County’s inhabitants, and hence was chosen as the county seat of Bergen County (as it remains today). During the American Revolutionary War, George Washington headquartered in New Barbadoes Township in the village of Hackensack in November 1776 and camped on 'The Green' across from the First Dutch Reformed Church. This prepared the way for the first American victory of the Revolution the following month at the Battle of Trenton.
The New Jersey Legislature passed a school act in 1894. Each village, borough, town, or city in New Jersey was delegated responsibility for its own public schools through the office of the county superintendent. One result of the 1894 Act was the formation of Hackensack High School in the village of Hackensack in the Township of New Barbadoes. Over the centuries, after many departures, secessions, and de-annexations due to what is now referred to as Boroughitis, all that was left of New Barbadoes Township was the village of Hackensack and its surrounding neighborhoods (Fairmount, Red Hill, Cherry Hill).
In 1921, by referendum, New Barbadoes Township received its charter to incorporate as a city and officially took on its name “ Hackensack,” a name derived from its original inhabitants, the Lenni-Lenape, who named it "Ackingsah-sack." First Dutch Reformed Church (“Church on The Green”); built 1696. In 1696 Major Berry donated land for the First Reformed Dutch Church, erected in that same year, (which still stands in Hackensack today as the oldest church in Bergen County and the second oldest church in New Jersey). The following is list of notable people buried in the Church's adjoining cemetery:
- Enoch Poor, one of George Washington’s officers.
- Richard Varick, former mayor of the city of New York and former New York Attorney General
- Interment records for First Dutch Reformed Churchyard
New Jersey Naval Museum and the World War II submarine USS Ling, a Balao class submarine, and several smaller water vessels and artifacts. The museum is open select weekdays for group tours. Other points of interest within the city include the Hackensack University Medical Center, Hackensack River County Park, the Church on the Green, and the Bergen County Courthouse. 
