Growing up, I always thought it a bit weird to have a town in New Jersey called "West New York" - it seemed out of place. As the Town is located in northern New Jersey on the west bank of the Hudson River across from Manhattan (in Hudson County, NJ) - i.e., west of New York City - the name, while unimaginative, is perfectly descriptive.
The Town of West New York was incorporated in 1898. In that year, the New Jersey legislature approved the changing of the name of the existing "Union Township" to "West New York." So, the Town's "creation" was not the result of new settlement, but a legal name change.
By 1948, the time of its Golden Jubilee, West New York (and Hudson County, NJ) was a national center of embroidery, with more than 180 embroidery businesses located in the Town (and over 425 such businesses in the County - combined, they produced an estimated 90% of America's embroidery). This concentration was the result of many Swiss and German immigrants settling in the area and opening embroidery businesses. Sewing technology advances, lower-cost overseas competition and the vastly improved range of home-embroidery tools has essentially erased embroidery businesses from West New York, but its history in the field remains.
In April 1948, Representative Edward Joseph Hart (D-NJ) introduced a bill in the House that called for "50-cent pieces in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the town of West New York, New Jersey." As was standard procedure, the bill was immediately referred to the House Committee on Banking and Currency.
The bill sought up to 150,000 half dollars of standard specifications; it did not restrict the Mint in terms of the facilities that could be used to strike the coins - with a potential quantity of 150,000, P/D/S sets would have been an almost certainty. The coins were to be dated "1948" and could be struck until December 31, 1949. The issue was to be struck on behalf of the Town of West New York; the coins could be ordered in any quantity determined by the Town, and on any schedule it desired, the only order requirement being that the Town had to pay for the coins it ordered at the time of their delivery (a standard requirement for most classic-era US commemorative coins).
The bill included the specification that the coin was to use the "West New York Golden Jubilee Emblem" and the Seal of West New York in its designs. The Golden Jubilee Emblem was designed by Anne Fink, who won a contest in 1947 that drew 55 entries. It is described as symbolizing "the progressive spirit from the "Gay Nineties" to the "Atomic Age" and. simultaneously, the "festive mode of the occasion." (
History of West New York, New Jersey, In Commemoration of Its Golden Jubilee. West New York, 1948. Page 132.)
West New York Golden Jubilee Emblem
(image Credit: Eickmann, Walter Theodore. History of West New York, New Jersey, In Commemoration of Its Golden Jubilee. West New York, 1948.)The bill was never reported by the Committee and thus did not advance to approval. West New York did celebrate its Golden Jubilee, however, with exhibitions of its manufactured products and community art, dances, a philatelic display, special religious services and a parade.
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Commems Collection. 
Posted 12/26/2022 11:14 am
