Hoboken: One Year After Sandy, Lessons Learned about Preparedness, Resiliency, and Community

October 2013 - July 2014

Click here to take an interactive virtual tour of the exhibit.

One year after Superstorm Sandy hit, Hoboken still bears the traces, some visible, some invisible. Many flooded homes have been repaired, others have not. Many residents spent days or months cleaning out their homes or businesses, or helping neighbors clean out theirs. Thousands coped with the challenging commute to New York for months while the PATH train was out of service, and hundreds of cars were towed away as total losses.

The storm disrupted all our lives in one way or another, and the Hoboken Historical Museum has been busy collecting the stories and images of its impact on our community to preserve it for history.

On the eve of the first anniversary of the storm, and through the generous support from individuals, corporate donors and community organizations and state agencies, the Museum opened a new exhibit on Saturday, Oct. 26, with a free reception from 5 – 8 p.m. Titled “Hoboken: One Year After Sandy, Lessons Learned about Preparedness, Resiliency, and Community,” the exhibit assembled a range of content — oral histories, images, videos, maps and scientific analyses — to help explain how Hoboken responded and learned new lessons about coping with major storm surges. As a special feature, through the auspices of the United Way of Hudson County, the Museum hosted a Sandy Community Outreach program for residents affected by the storm throughout the course of the exhibit.

The Sandy exhibit included a lecture series involving Stevens professors and guest lecturers from Rutgers Graduate School, plus students from New Jersey Institute of Technology. Funded by a grant from the Robin Hood Foundation and administered by the United Way of Hudson County, the Sandy Community Outreach program offered the services of a licensed Disaster Relief Crisis Counselor, Dawn Donnelly, to anyone in the community still working through issues connected with the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy.

The exhibit was made possible through funding from Hudson County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs, the New Jersey Historical Commission, Applied Companies, Bijou Properties, John Wiley & Sons, Rockefeller Development Group, and Stevens Institute of Technology.

The Museum would also like to thank the following donors for their generosity in supporting this Sandy exhibit: Ann Bauer, Agnes Bossolina, Cheryl E. Bracht, Joel and Bernadette Branosky, Gretchen and Julian Brigden, Michael Bruno, John Carey, Jeff Church, Barri and Dan Cillié, Margaret Clarkson, Phil Cohen and Rebecca Kramnick, Francine Colon and Gary Bierman, Marie Crowley, Damian De Virgilio, Dennis English, Cathy Ferrone and David George, Eugene and Joyce Flinn, Marc Gellman, Kirsten Georges, Barbara Gross, Rob and Julie Harari, Edward Heulbig, Bob Foster and Holly Metz, Hudson Place Realty, Valerie Hufnagel, Elizabeth Kennelly, Jane Klueger, Beau and John Kuhn, Susan Lapczynski, Joanne and Craig Laurie, Heidi Learner, Bruce and Jeanne Lubin, Paul Mattheiss, Elaine Mauriello, Penny Metsch, Ryan Mitchell, Ann Murphy, Paul Neshamkin, New Jersey Historical Commission, David Nielsen, Billy Noonan, Jennifer and Patrick O’Callaghan, Jean O’Reilly, Jill and Baz Preston, Janice Reed, Michael Rusignuolo, David H. Sandt, the Schmalzbauer family, Don Sichler, Laura Sigman, Razel Solow and Joel Trugman, Carrie Spindler, Arnold Stern, Strategic Insurance Partners, Bill Tobias, Linda Vollkommer, Joanna and Herman Weintraub, Louise and Bill Zerter.