Fort Lee, New Jersey - United States of America

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August 17th 2009

Published: August 26th 2009

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Fort Lee

Fort Lee, New Jersey - United States of America

Aug 17, 2009

City official name :Fort Lee
Founded date :
Location :New Jersey State
Elavation :? ft (? m)
Area :Approximately ? square miles (? km²).
Facts :Fort Lee is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 35,461.

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 marshalls.

The New Jersey entrance to the George Washington Bridge is in Fort Lee.

Fort Lee is named as a result of George Washington and named after General Charles Lee, who camped in this area, defending New York City. George Washington and his troops actually walked on a road which is called Main Street in Fort Lee. In fact, it was during Washington's retreat after the Battle of Fort Lee in November 1776 that Thomas Paine composed his pamphlet,

Fort Lee

Fort Lee, New Jersey - United States of America

"The American Crisis," which began with the recognized phrase, "These are the times that try men's souls". A statue of Thomas Paine will soon be installed in Monument Park in Fort Lee. The George Washington Bridge, which connects New Jersey to the Washington Heights neighborhood in uptown Manhattan, New York City, has its western terminus located in Fort Lee.

In recent years, Fort Lee has seen a surge of residents of Korean origin which has led to the conversion of much of the town into a large Koreatown, similar to Chinatowns of such cities as New York and San Francisco 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.

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 but now all but extinct. Luxury high-rises built near the George Washington Bridge have attracted many New York City residents to the city as well, as Fort Lee offers some relief from the

Fort Lee

Fort Lee, New Jersey - United States of America

stresses and prices of living in New York City. A sizable Russian immigrant community has also sprung up in recent years, also attracted by the urban setting of Fort Lee.

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. Cities in New Jersey offered land at costs considerably less than New York City, and the cities and towns of New Jersey near New York benefited greatly as a result of the phenomenal growth of the film industry at the turn of the 20th century.

Filmmaking 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

Fort Lee

Fort Lee, New Jersey - United States of America

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 Pictures, Biograph Studios, Fox Film Corporation, Pathé Frères, Metro Pictures Corporation, Victor Film Company, Selznick Pictures Corporation were all making pictures in Fort Lee. Such notables as Mary Pickford and Miles Remy 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 was 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. Some companies, such as American Méliès, moved to San Antonio, Texas, and others moved to Jacksonville, Florida.

Since 2000 the Fort Lee film commission