Elizabeth City

Elizabeth City, capital of Union county, New Jersey, formerly capital of the state, lies 5 miles SSW. of Newark by rail, with one quarter (generally called Elizabetport) on Staten Island Sound. It contains a court-house, city hall, and several good schools, and is the seat of a large Singer sewing-machine factory, and of a number of manufactories of oil-cloth, pottery, ironwares, hats, combs, &c. Elizabetport has steamboat communication with New York city, 12 miles to the north-west, and ships large quantities of anthracite coal; it also has several foundries. A great drawbridge over Staten Island Sound, 800 feet in length, with a draw-span 500 feet long, connects New Jersey here with the Staten Island shore. Pop. (1880) 28,229; (1890) 37,764.