Bayonne [key], city (2020 pop. 71,686), Hudson co., NE N.J., on a 3-mi (4.8-km) peninsula; inc. 1869. The machinery, oil, chemical, and other industries that dominated the economy in the mid-20th cent. subsequently declined, and port operations, medicine and other service industries, and firearms and other smaller scale manufacturing are now important. The large Military Ocean Terminal (opened 1942) on the city's waterfront closed in 1999. Part of the peninsula it occupied is now a cruise ship terminal, and other areas are devoted to residential, commerical, and light-industrial uses; a memorial to victims of the 9/11 terror attacks is in a nearby waterfront park. The city is connected to regional and national rail networks by a light-rail system. Dutch traders came to this site c.1650; the British gained possession in 1664. Bayonne is connected to Staten Island, N.Y., by the noted steel-arch Bayonne Bridge (1,675 ft/511 m long; opened 1931). In 2012 parts of the city suffered significant damage from Hurricane Sandy.
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