Historic brownstones and luxury apartments, riverside parks and hopping nightlife, small-town feel with a 10 minute commute to NYC -- Hoboken could very well be the most coveted hometown in New Jersey. Eat well, take in the sweeping views, walk your dog, stop and chat with friends, watch your children play in the park. That's living -- in Hoboken. Long before Hoboken became the 21st Century urban ideal, it was giving birth to the Tootsie Roll, ice cream cones, and the zipper. Famous for native son Frank Sinatra, Hoboken has a long history.

From the beginning Hoboken has been successful because of its proximity to New York City. In 1784 Colonel John Stevens bought the island at public auction for 18,360 pounds sterling, then about $90,000. Stevens developed Hoboken as a resort, with the people of New York City his market. As early as 1820 he began transforming the wild but beautiful waterfront into a recreation area. He constructed a riverfront walk and a park space in today's downtown Hoboken. On weekends, the “Mile Square” city accommodated as many as 20,000 New Yorkers out for their Sunday picnics.

On June 19, 1846 Hoboken played host to the first organized game of baseball. The New York Nine defeated the Knickerbockers, 23 to 1 in four innings at Hoboken's Elysian Fields near the current site of Elysian Park and the former Maxwell House facility.

Most of Hoboken's buildings were erected in the 19th Century to standards set by the Hoboken Land & Improvement Company, created by Stevens in 1838 to manage the city's development. Stevens created Hoboken's orderly street pattern, and brought a consistency and coherence to its architecture. Today, Hoboken contains well-preserved examples of Beaux Arts, Victorian and Gothic architecture.

With this early start and the city's waterfront location opposite New York, Hoboken established itself as a rail and water transportation center. Piers sprouted along the waterfront. Hoboken became a major port for transatlantic shipping lines. Hoboken's facilities and location made it the Federal government’s choice as the prime port of embarkation for troops of the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I. More than three million soldiers passed through the port, and their hope for an early return led to the slogan, "Heaven, Hell or Hoboken...by Christmas."

In the 1950s and 60s, the new importance of air travel and the development of containerized cargo, which required deep water ports, where a double blow to the Hoboken waterfront, which fell into a state of disrepair. Many of Hoboken's industries moved away or closed up shop during this time, and the city was considered something of a post-industrial wasteland until the 1970s, when suddenly Manhattan-bound commuters began to take interest in Hoboken's generous stock of affordable brownstones and townhouses.

In the 1990s, a major waterfront renovation project turned Pier A into a park. Since then the city has seen an unprecedented growth. Today, Hoboken’s bars, restaurants, public transportation, and reasonably priced housing -- not to mention, as always, it's proximity to NYC – make it THE place to live.

Excerpt from the Hoboken Historical Museum, the Hoboken Chamber of Commerce and Thirteen.org