Downtown Hackensack has a few buildings that stand above the rest, including 50 Anderson Street, 430 Union Street, 417 Main Street, and 239 Main Street, but one structure is monumental enough to be in the history books. The People's Trust and Guaranty building at 210 Main Street is a Hackensack icon.
According to Images of America: Hackensack by Barbara Gooding, Terry Sellarole, Allan Petretti, and Theresa Jones, 210 Main Street broke the record for the tallest building in Bergen County when it was constructed. Hackensack Republican articles from 1926, the year it was built, document 210 Main Street's creation. The project was front page news for multiple issues at the time.
The Hackensack Republican reports how Hackensack was buzzing from a real estate boom in the 1920's as developers prepared for the changes that the planned George Washington Bridge would bring. An advertisement for the "People's Bank" depicted 210 Main Street and the GWB as signs of progress. The original design for 210 Main Street called for 8 stories, but this was raised to 12 stories a few months later. Locals dubbed it a skyscraper when they saw the final drawings. An article described the building with its grand three-story banking room and octagonal 30 foot crowning.
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The People's Trust and Guaranty building is a prime example of how density can succeed in Bergen County. Before the automobile age, a positive feedback loop of population growth, railroad construction, and building construction helped Hackensack thrive. Those who believe that we must set low height limits to maintain the character of our neighborhoods need only visit downtown Hackensack to see that here in Bergen County, we have a history of reaching for the sky.