The area comprising most of the Heights was once an independent municipality, known as Hudson City. It was incorporated as a town in 1852, and later into a city in 1855. The Town Hall, erected on Oakland Avenue, still stands today. Garrett D. Van Reipen was that city's first mayor. (According to the NY Times, E.R.V Wright was the first Mayor of Hudson City.) Hudson City, along with the Town of Bergen and the Township of Greenville, merged with Jersey City in 1873.