Newark was founded in 1666 by Connecticut Puritans led by Robert Treat, making it the third-oldest major city in the United States, after Boston and New York, though it is not the third-oldest settlement. Newark is the city's second name; previously, it was called Milford, named for Milford, Connecticut, from which many settlers had migrated. The name comes from Newark-on-Trent, a town in England from where some of the original settlers arrived.

Newark was a relatively large town in the colonial era, known for its good beer, ciders, and tanned leather goods. In religion, it stayed loyal to old Puritan ways longer than the communities of New England, and was very receptive to the Great Awakening. When the seminaries at Yale and Harvard showed disdain for Great Awakening evangelicalism, several Newark ministers led by Aaron Burr (father of Vice President Aaron Burr) founded the College of New Jersey, later to be known as Princeton, in neighboring Elizabeth.

The poverty and lack of political power contributed to a growing radicalization of Newark's black population. On July 12, 1967, a black taxi driver named John Smith was arrested and brutally beaten by police for illegally passing a double-parked police car and then resisting arrest. A crowd gathered outside the police station where he was detained. Due to miscommunication, the crowd believed Smith had died in custody when in actuality he had been transported to hospital via a back entrance to the station. This sparked scuffles between blacks and police in the Fourth Ward, although the damage toll was only $2,500. Subsequent to television news broadcasts on July 13 however, new and larger riots took place. Twenty-six people were killed, 1,500 wounded, 1,600 arrested, and $10 million in property was destroyed. More than a thousand businesses were torched or looted, including 167 groceries (most of which would never reopen). Newark's reputation suffered dramatically. Tens of thousands of whites moved out to the growing suburbs of New Jersey. Middle class areas like Weequahic went from middle class white to poor black seemingly overnight. It was said, "wherever American cities are going, Newark will get there first".

CONTRIBUTOR:
WIKIPEDIA- The Free Encyclopedia...