Glen Ridge, New Jersey
Encyclopedia
Glen Ridge is a borough
in Essex County
, New Jersey
, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 7,527. In 2010, Glen Ridge was ranked as the 38th Best Place to live by New Jersey Monthly
magazine.
Glen Ridge was incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature
on February 13, 1895, from portions of Bloomfield Township
, based on the results of a referendum held the previous day. In 1981, the official name was changed to the "Township of Glen Ridge Borough" to take advantage of federal revenue sharing policies. Effective May 1993, the borough's original name of "Glen Ridge Borough" was restored.
Of the many legacies left to the town by its founders, the one that has become its trademark is the gas lamps. With only 3,000 gaslights
remaining in operation in the entire United States, Glen Ridge has 665 such lamps lighting its streets. In 1924, Glen Ridge became the first municipality in New Jersey to establish a zoning
ordinance.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the borough has a total area of 1.28 square miles (3.3 km²), all of it land. It is bounded by Bloomfield
, Montclair
and East Orange
.
Glen Ridge at the most six blocks wide. In the borough north of Bay Avenue, "the Panhandle", it is only three or two blocks wide.
, there were 7,527 people, 2,476 households and 2,032 families residing in the borough. The racial makeup of the borough was 86.2% White, 5.0% African American, 4.6% Asian, 1.4% from other races
, and 2.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.0% of the population.
As of the census
of 2000, there were 7,271 people, 2,458 households, and 1,978 families residing in the borough. The population density
was 5,695.0 people per square mile (2,193.2/km2). There were 2,490 housing units at an average density of 1,950.3 per square mile (751.1/km2). The racial makeup of the borough was 89.18% White, 4.98% African American, 0.15% Native American, 3.34% Asian, 0.99% from other races
, and 1.36% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.45% of the population.
There were 2,458 households out of which 46.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.9% were married couples
living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.5% were non-families. 16.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.95 and the average family size was 3.33.
In the borough, the population was spread out with 30.7% under the age of 18, 4.5% from 18 to 24, 29.5% from 25 to 44, 24.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 94.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.3 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $105,638, and the median income for a family was $120,650. Males had a median income of $91,161 versus $51,444 for females. The per capita income
for the borough was $48,456. About 1.9% of families and 3.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.3% of those under age 18 and 4.1% of those age 65 or over.
form of New Jersey municipal government. The government consists of a Mayor and a Borough Council comprising six council members, with all positions elected at large. A Mayor is elected directly by the voters to a four-year term of office. The Borough Council consists of six members elected to serve three-year terms on a staggered basis, with two seats coming up for election each year.
, the mayor
of Glen Ridge is Peter A. Hughes. The members of the Glen Ridge borough council (with their committee chairmanship listed in parentheses) are Council President Arthur D. Dawson (Public Works), Elizabeth K. Baker (Planning & Development), David Lefkovits (Community Affairs & Public Relations), Paul A. Lisovicz (Public Safety), Stuart K. Patrick (Finance & Administration) and Jeffrey Theodorou (Parks & Recreation).
The Glen Ridge Civic Conference Committee (est. 1913), made up of delegates from the community and from local civic organizations, provides a non-partisan method of candidate selection for Borough elections. The CCC endorsement is very significant; in most elections, the CCC's candidates are unopposed. The eight organizations currently sending delegates to the CCC are: The Democratic Club, Freeman Gardens Association, Friends of the Glen Ridge Library
, The Glen Ridge Historical Society, The Northside Association, The Republican Club, The Golden Circle, The South End Association and the Women's Club of Glen Ridge.
In recent years, the CCC has been weakened both by changing attitudes in the town, the actions of a number of town residents, and internal conflicts within the CCC itself. The previous mayor, Carl Bergmanson
, was the first mayor since the establishment of the CCC in 1913 to be elected without seeking (or receiving) the Committee's endorsement. A member of the council for three terms, he ran for mayor in 1999, losing to the CCC candidate Steven Plate. When Plate was appointed as the CCC candidate again in 2003 (violating the committee's precedent of one term per mayor), Bergmanson ran again, and won, gaining the majority in all but one of the town's districts. However, the CCC is still firmly in control of the town's political structure - all 16 of the elected officials currently serving Glen Ridge were nominated by the CCC. Generally, when non-CCC candidates run, they run as independents. The Democratic and Republican parties are not forces in local elections.
based on the results of the 2010 Census. The new district was in effect for the June 2011 primary and the November 2011 general election, with the state senator and assembly members elected in November 2011 taking office in the new district as of January 2012.
, Democrat Barack Obama
received 62.9% of the vote here (2,583 ballots cast), over Republican John McCain
, who received 35.2% of the vote (1,444 votes), with 4,104 of the 5,185 registered voters participating, for turnout of 79.2%. In the 2004 election
, Democrat John Kerry
received 59.1% of the vote here (2,381 ballots cast), over Republican George W. Bush
, who received 39.9% of the vote (1,608 votes), with 4,031 of the 4,967 registered voters participating, for turnout of 81.1%. In the 2009 Gubernatorial Election
, Democrat Jon Corzine
received 51.0% of the vote (1,388 votes), outpolling Republican Chris Christie, who received around 39.3% (1,071 votes), with 2,722 of 5,144 registered voters participating for a 52.9% turnout.
families led by Robert Treat
bought land from the Lenni Lenape
Native Americans
and named it New Ark to reflect a covenant to worship freely without persecution. The territory included the future towns of Bloomfield
, Montclair
, Belleville
and Nutley
. When Bloomfield seceded in 1812, Glen Ridge was a section "on the hill" composed mostly of farms and woodlands with the exception of a thriving industrial area along the Toney's brook in the Glen. For most of the nineteenth century, three water-powered mills produced lumber, calico, pasteboard boxes and brass fittings. A copper mine and a sandstone
quarry
were nearby.
With the arrival of the Newark and Bloomfield Railroad in 1856, and the construction of the Glen Ridge Train Station
, and also the New York and Greenwood Lake Railway
in 1872, Glen Ridge began its transition to a suburban residential community. Stately homes slowly replaced orchards and wooded fields.
In 1891 Mountainside Hospital
, a local hospital with more than 300 beds, was founded.
Residents "on the hill" became unhappy with their representation on the Bloomfield Council. In spite of repeated requests to Bloomfield officials, roads remained unpaved, water and sewer systems were nonexistent, and schools were miles away. Area residents marked out the boundaries of a 1.45 square miles (3.8 km²) area to secede from the adjoining town. At the February 12, 1895, election, the decision to secede passed by only 23 votes. Robert Rudd was elected the first mayor of Glen Ridge.
In 1989, athletes from the high school were involved in the sexual assault of a mentally handicapped student
. Three teenagers were found guilty of first-degree aggravated sexual assault; a fourth was convicted of third-degree conspiracy. Author Bernard Lefkowitz
wrote about the incident in the 1997 book Our Guys: The Glen Ridge Rape and the Secret Life of the Perfect Suburb. Lefkowitz's book was adapted into the 1999 TV movie Our Guys: Outrage at Glen Ridge.
The Glen Ridge Public Schools
serve students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. Schools in the district (with 2009-10 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics
) are
Linden Avenue School (grades PreK-2; 282 students),
Forest Avenue School (PreK-2; 258),
Ridgewood Avenue School (3-6; 568) and
Glen Ridge High School
(7-12; 801).
Ridgewood Avenue School offers an academic curriculum in the major disciplines of language arts literacy, mathematics, social studies, and science, and students are exposed to art, instrumental and vocal music, physical education, health, library skills and Spanish. All students at Ridgewood Avenue School are required to move through the stations of the Synergistics Lab, solving real world problems through the study of mathematics, science, and technology.
As of the 2009- 2010 school year, Glen Ridge High School had a school population of 799 students, grades seven through twelve, with an average class size of 22.2 students. (Compared to the state average class size of 18.2 students.) The length of a normal school day is 6 hours and 47 minutes, with 6 hours and 20 minutes of it dedicated to instructional time. The school has 261 computers, which are all connected to the internet, making the Student/Computer Ratio 3.1 (which is the same as the state average). Over the past four years the graduation rate has been approximately 99%, while 100% of students pass the New Jersey High School Proficiency Assessment
(HSPA). The high school is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
and has been cited for excellent curricular and co-curricular programs.
Glen Ridge High School's standardized test scores exceed both the state and national averages. The graduates from the Class of 2010 had 91.4 % go on to study at four year colleges and 3.9 % at a two year college. remaining graduates continue their education in trade or technical schools, or in the armed services, while others find employment. The Class of 2010 average SAT scores were 584 on the math section and 571 on the verbal section. (Compared to a New Jersey average of 520 math, 496 verbal.) The school offered 15 Advance Placement classes with 36.9% of students in grades eleven and twelve participating. Of these 205 students that took the AP tests, 188 scored a three or higher on the exams.
The school was the 4th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 322 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly
magazine's September 2010 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", after being ranked 5th in 2008 out of 316 schools.
The architecture of the town makes Glen Ridge very unique since there houses representing every major style from the mid-nineteenth century onward. Some of the architecture styles witnessed include the Carpenter Gothic, the Medieval, the High Victorian Period, the “Queen Anne Cottage”, and American Georgian. Notable architects that have left their legacy in the town include Frank Lloyd Wright, Stanford White, and John Russell Pope. To maintain the historical feel of the town and protect the architectural features, the town has created a Historic Preservation Commission which reviews construction on houses in a historic district.
The town also has public transportation options for those residents who don’t own cars or refuse to drive on the traffic congested roads. Buses, from the major transit provide Decamp, run to and from Penn Station in Newark, New Jersey and the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, New York. Commuters can also take the train service, provided by NJ Transit, from one of the two train stations conveniently located in the town. The Ridgewood Avenue Train Station provides service to Penn Station in New York and to Hoboken, while Benson Street Train Station only has service to Hoboken. The town also has a Jitney service which provides transportation to and from the Ridgewood Avenue Station for commuters.
Borough (New Jersey)
A borough in the context of New Jersey local government refers to one of five types and one of eleven forms of municipal government....
in Essex County
Essex County, New Jersey
Essex County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the United States 2010 Census, the population was 783,969, ranking it third in the state after Bergen County and Middlesex County; Essex County's population has declined from 786,147 as of the bureau's...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 7,527. In 2010, Glen Ridge was ranked as the 38th Best Place to live by New Jersey Monthly
New Jersey Monthly
New Jersey Monthly is a monthly glossy publication featuring issues of possible interest to residents of the United States state of New Jersey...
magazine.
Glen Ridge was incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature
New Jersey Legislature
The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the Senate...
on February 13, 1895, from portions of Bloomfield Township
Bloomfield, New Jersey
Bloomfield is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 47,315. It surrounds the Bloomfield Green Historic District.-History:...
, based on the results of a referendum held the previous day. In 1981, the official name was changed to the "Township of Glen Ridge Borough" to take advantage of federal revenue sharing policies. Effective May 1993, the borough's original name of "Glen Ridge Borough" was restored.
Of the many legacies left to the town by its founders, the one that has become its trademark is the gas lamps. With only 3,000 gaslights
Gas lighting
Gas lighting is production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, including hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, or natural gas. Before electricity became sufficiently widespread and economical to allow for general public use, gas was the most...
remaining in operation in the entire United States, Glen Ridge has 665 such lamps lighting its streets. In 1924, Glen Ridge became the first municipality in New Jersey to establish a zoning
Zoning
Zoning is a device of land use planning used by local governments in most developed countries. The word is derived from the practice of designating permitted uses of land based on mapped zones which separate one set of land uses from another...
ordinance.
Geography
Glen Ridge is located at 40.804950°N 74.204700°W (40.804950, -74.204700).According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the borough has a total area of 1.28 square miles (3.3 km²), all of it land. It is bounded by Bloomfield
Bloomfield, New Jersey
Bloomfield is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 47,315. It surrounds the Bloomfield Green Historic District.-History:...
, Montclair
Montclair, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 38,977 people, 15,020 households, and 9,687 families residing in the township. The population density was 6,183.6 people per square mile . There were 15,531 housing units at an average density of 2,464.0 per square mile...
and East Orange
East Orange, New Jersey
East Orange is a city in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census the city's population 64,270, making it the state's 20th largest municipality, having dropped 5,554 residents from its population of 69,824 in the 2000 Census, when it was the state's 14th most...
.
Glen Ridge at the most six blocks wide. In the borough north of Bay Avenue, "the Panhandle", it is only three or two blocks wide.
Demographics
At the 2010 censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
, there were 7,527 people, 2,476 households and 2,032 families residing in the borough. The racial makeup of the borough was 86.2% White, 5.0% African American, 4.6% Asian, 1.4% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 2.7% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.0% of the population.
As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 7,271 people, 2,458 households, and 1,978 families residing in the borough. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 5,695.0 people per square mile (2,193.2/km2). There were 2,490 housing units at an average density of 1,950.3 per square mile (751.1/km2). The racial makeup of the borough was 89.18% White, 4.98% African American, 0.15% Native American, 3.34% Asian, 0.99% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 1.36% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.45% of the population.
There were 2,458 households out of which 46.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.9% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.5% were non-families. 16.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.95 and the average family size was 3.33.
In the borough, the population was spread out with 30.7% under the age of 18, 4.5% from 18 to 24, 29.5% from 25 to 44, 24.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 94.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.3 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $105,638, and the median income for a family was $120,650. Males had a median income of $91,161 versus $51,444 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the borough was $48,456. About 1.9% of families and 3.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.3% of those under age 18 and 4.1% of those age 65 or over.
Local government
Glen Ridge is governed under the BoroughBorough (New Jersey)
A borough in the context of New Jersey local government refers to one of five types and one of eleven forms of municipal government....
form of New Jersey municipal government. The government consists of a Mayor and a Borough Council comprising six council members, with all positions elected at large. A Mayor is elected directly by the voters to a four-year term of office. The Borough Council consists of six members elected to serve three-year terms on a staggered basis, with two seats coming up for election each year.
, the mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Glen Ridge is Peter A. Hughes. The members of the Glen Ridge borough council (with their committee chairmanship listed in parentheses) are Council President Arthur D. Dawson (Public Works), Elizabeth K. Baker (Planning & Development), David Lefkovits (Community Affairs & Public Relations), Paul A. Lisovicz (Public Safety), Stuart K. Patrick (Finance & Administration) and Jeffrey Theodorou (Parks & Recreation).
The Glen Ridge Civic Conference Committee (est. 1913), made up of delegates from the community and from local civic organizations, provides a non-partisan method of candidate selection for Borough elections. The CCC endorsement is very significant; in most elections, the CCC's candidates are unopposed. The eight organizations currently sending delegates to the CCC are: The Democratic Club, Freeman Gardens Association, Friends of the Glen Ridge Library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
, The Glen Ridge Historical Society, The Northside Association, The Republican Club, The Golden Circle, The South End Association and the Women's Club of Glen Ridge.
In recent years, the CCC has been weakened both by changing attitudes in the town, the actions of a number of town residents, and internal conflicts within the CCC itself. The previous mayor, Carl Bergmanson
Carl Bergmanson
Carl A. Bergmanson is a conservative Democrat and was the mayor of Glen Ridge, New Jersey, a borough 10 miles west of New York City, from 2004 - 2007. Bergmanson is a vocal critic of the Democratic Party establishment in New Jersey...
, was the first mayor since the establishment of the CCC in 1913 to be elected without seeking (or receiving) the Committee's endorsement. A member of the council for three terms, he ran for mayor in 1999, losing to the CCC candidate Steven Plate. When Plate was appointed as the CCC candidate again in 2003 (violating the committee's precedent of one term per mayor), Bergmanson ran again, and won, gaining the majority in all but one of the town's districts. However, the CCC is still firmly in control of the town's political structure - all 16 of the elected officials currently serving Glen Ridge were nominated by the CCC. Generally, when non-CCC candidates run, they run as independents. The Democratic and Republican parties are not forces in local elections.
Federal, state and county representation
Glen Ridge is in the 8th Congressional district and is part of New Jersey's 34th state legislative district. The borough was relocated to the 28th state legislative district by the New Jersey Apportionment CommissionNew Jersey Apportionment Commission
The New Jersey Apportionment Commission is a constitutionally-created ten-member commission responsible for apportioning the forty districts of the New Jersey Legislature. The commission is convened after each decennial U.S. Census, and the districts are to be in use for the legislative elections...
based on the results of the 2010 Census. The new district was in effect for the June 2011 primary and the November 2011 general election, with the state senator and assembly members elected in November 2011 taking office in the new district as of January 2012.
Politics
In the 2008 presidential electionUnited States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
, Democrat Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
received 62.9% of the vote here (2,583 ballots cast), over Republican John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
, who received 35.2% of the vote (1,444 votes), with 4,104 of the 5,185 registered voters participating, for turnout of 79.2%. In the 2004 election
United States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
, Democrat John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
received 59.1% of the vote here (2,381 ballots cast), over Republican George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, who received 39.9% of the vote (1,608 votes), with 4,031 of the 4,967 registered voters participating, for turnout of 81.1%. In the 2009 Gubernatorial Election
New Jersey gubernatorial election, 2009
The New Jersey gubernatorial election of 2009 took place on November 3, 2009. Democratic Governor Jon Corzine was running for a second term and was being challenged by Republican Chris Christie, Independent Christopher Daggett and nine others, in addition to several write-in candidates...
, Democrat Jon Corzine
Jon Corzine
Jon Stevens Corzine is the former CEO of Goldman Sachs and of MF Global, and a one time American politician, who served as the 54th Governor of New Jersey from 2006 to 2010. A Democrat, Corzine served five years of a six-year U.S. Senate term representing New Jersey before being elected Governor...
received 51.0% of the vote (1,388 votes), outpolling Republican Chris Christie, who received around 39.3% (1,071 votes), with 2,722 of 5,144 registered voters participating for a 52.9% turnout.
History
Glen Ridge traces its beginning to 1666 when 64 ConnecticutConnecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
families led by Robert Treat
Robert Treat
Robert Treat was an American colonial leader, militia officer and governor of Connecticut between 1683 and 1698....
bought land from the Lenni Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
and named it New Ark to reflect a covenant to worship freely without persecution. The territory included the future towns of Bloomfield
Bloomfield, New Jersey
Bloomfield is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 47,315. It surrounds the Bloomfield Green Historic District.-History:...
, Montclair
Montclair, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 38,977 people, 15,020 households, and 9,687 families residing in the township. The population density was 6,183.6 people per square mile . There were 15,531 housing units at an average density of 2,464.0 per square mile...
, Belleville
Belleville, New Jersey
Belleville is a Township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 35,926.-History:...
and Nutley
Nutley, New Jersey
2010 Census Data:*TOTAL: 28,370 or 100%*White: 23,405 *African American: 628 *Asian: 2,824 *American Indian and Alaska Native: 36 *Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander: 4...
. When Bloomfield seceded in 1812, Glen Ridge was a section "on the hill" composed mostly of farms and woodlands with the exception of a thriving industrial area along the Toney's brook in the Glen. For most of the nineteenth century, three water-powered mills produced lumber, calico, pasteboard boxes and brass fittings. A copper mine and a sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
quarry
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
were nearby.
With the arrival of the Newark and Bloomfield Railroad in 1856, and the construction of the Glen Ridge Train Station
Glen Ridge (NJT station)
Glen Ridge is a New Jersey Transit station at the intersection of Bloomfield Avenue and Ridgewood Avenue in Glen Ridge, New Jersey along the Montclair-Boonton Line....
, and also the New York and Greenwood Lake Railway
New York and Greenwood Lake Railway (1878–1943)
The New York and Greenwood Lake Railway owned a line between Croxton, Jersey City, New Jersey and Greenwood Lake, New York.The railroad was formed by combining the Montclair Railway, from Montclair, New Jersey to Jersey City, and the Montclair and Greenwood Lake Railroad, from Montclair to...
in 1872, Glen Ridge began its transition to a suburban residential community. Stately homes slowly replaced orchards and wooded fields.
In 1891 Mountainside Hospital
Mountainside Hospital
Mountainside Hospital is a community hospital located in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. The hospital has 365 beds and serves Northeastern Essex County. On May 31, 2007, it was purchased by Merit Health Systems, a privately-owned for-profit Louisville, Kentucky hospital management company which acquires,...
, a local hospital with more than 300 beds, was founded.
Residents "on the hill" became unhappy with their representation on the Bloomfield Council. In spite of repeated requests to Bloomfield officials, roads remained unpaved, water and sewer systems were nonexistent, and schools were miles away. Area residents marked out the boundaries of a 1.45 square miles (3.8 km²) area to secede from the adjoining town. At the February 12, 1895, election, the decision to secede passed by only 23 votes. Robert Rudd was elected the first mayor of Glen Ridge.
In 1989, athletes from the high school were involved in the sexual assault of a mentally handicapped student
Glen Ridge rape
The Glen Ridge rape was an incident in Glen Ridge, New Jersey in 1989 in which a mentally handicapped girl was raped with a broomstick and a bat, by members of the Glen Ridge High School football team...
. Three teenagers were found guilty of first-degree aggravated sexual assault; a fourth was convicted of third-degree conspiracy. Author Bernard Lefkowitz
Bernard Lefkowitz
Bernard Lefkowitz, a native of New York City, was an author, sociologist, journalist, and investigative reporter.A reporter and assistant editor at the New York Post, Lefkowitz worked for the Peace Corps before becoming an author...
wrote about the incident in the 1997 book Our Guys: The Glen Ridge Rape and the Secret Life of the Perfect Suburb. Lefkowitz's book was adapted into the 1999 TV movie Our Guys: Outrage at Glen Ridge.
Education
Glen Ridge Public Schools
The Glen Ridge Public Schools is a comprehensive public school district serving students in Kindergarten through twelfth grade in Glen Ridge, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States....
serve students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. Schools in the district (with 2009-10 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics
National Center for Education Statistics
The National Center for Education Statistics is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance information in the United States...
) are
Linden Avenue School (grades PreK-2; 282 students),
Forest Avenue School (PreK-2; 258),
Ridgewood Avenue School (3-6; 568) and
Glen Ridge High School
Glen Ridge High School
Glen Ridge High School is a comprehensive six-year public high school serving students in grades 7-12 in Glen Ridge, in Essex County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Glen Ridge Public Schools. GRHS is accredited by the New Jersey Department of Education.Excellence in academic...
(7-12; 801).
Ridgewood Avenue School offers an academic curriculum in the major disciplines of language arts literacy, mathematics, social studies, and science, and students are exposed to art, instrumental and vocal music, physical education, health, library skills and Spanish. All students at Ridgewood Avenue School are required to move through the stations of the Synergistics Lab, solving real world problems through the study of mathematics, science, and technology.
As of the 2009- 2010 school year, Glen Ridge High School had a school population of 799 students, grades seven through twelve, with an average class size of 22.2 students. (Compared to the state average class size of 18.2 students.) The length of a normal school day is 6 hours and 47 minutes, with 6 hours and 20 minutes of it dedicated to instructional time. The school has 261 computers, which are all connected to the internet, making the Student/Computer Ratio 3.1 (which is the same as the state average). Over the past four years the graduation rate has been approximately 99%, while 100% of students pass the New Jersey High School Proficiency Assessment
High School Proficiency Assessment
The High School Proficiency Assessment is a standardized test administered by the New Jersey Department of Education to all New Jersey high school students in March of their junior year...
(HSPA). The high school is accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association dedicated to educational excellence and improvement through peer evaluation and accreditation...
and has been cited for excellent curricular and co-curricular programs.
Glen Ridge High School's standardized test scores exceed both the state and national averages. The graduates from the Class of 2010 had 91.4 % go on to study at four year colleges and 3.9 % at a two year college. remaining graduates continue their education in trade or technical schools, or in the armed services, while others find employment. The Class of 2010 average SAT scores were 584 on the math section and 571 on the verbal section. (Compared to a New Jersey average of 520 math, 496 verbal.) The school offered 15 Advance Placement classes with 36.9% of students in grades eleven and twelve participating. Of these 205 students that took the AP tests, 188 scored a three or higher on the exams.
The school was the 4th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 322 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly
New Jersey Monthly
New Jersey Monthly is a monthly glossy publication featuring issues of possible interest to residents of the United States state of New Jersey...
magazine's September 2010 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", after being ranked 5th in 2008 out of 316 schools.
Housing
The median price for a house in Glen Ridge is $260,900, which is double the national average. Out of the 2,549 houses in the town 84.7% of them are single units (detached) and have a median of 7.7 rooms. Glen Ridge is known for its old town charm and can boast that 72.8% of its houses were built before 1939. In 1895, when the town was chartered, Glen Ridge became one of the first communities to hire a town planner which caused the town to have late Victorian and Edwardian elements. The pristine condition of the town is due to the building codes that were established, the creation of the Building Department which included a Building Inspector, and a zoning ordinance (the first in the state of New Jersey).The architecture of the town makes Glen Ridge very unique since there houses representing every major style from the mid-nineteenth century onward. Some of the architecture styles witnessed include the Carpenter Gothic, the Medieval, the High Victorian Period, the “Queen Anne Cottage”, and American Georgian. Notable architects that have left their legacy in the town include Frank Lloyd Wright, Stanford White, and John Russell Pope. To maintain the historical feel of the town and protect the architectural features, the town has created a Historic Preservation Commission which reviews construction on houses in a historic district.
Transportation
Glen Ridge is located conveniently in an area where various modes of transportation exist. Approximately half of the residents in Glen Ridge own 2 cars which allows them to access the New Jersey Turnpike, Newark Airport, the George Washington Bridge, and the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels through major roads such as Interstate 80, Route 46, and Route 3, Interstate 280, Garden State Parkway and Route 21.The town also has public transportation options for those residents who don’t own cars or refuse to drive on the traffic congested roads. Buses, from the major transit provide Decamp, run to and from Penn Station in Newark, New Jersey and the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, New York. Commuters can also take the train service, provided by NJ Transit, from one of the two train stations conveniently located in the town. The Ridgewood Avenue Train Station provides service to Penn Station in New York and to Hoboken, while Benson Street Train Station only has service to Hoboken. The town also has a Jitney service which provides transportation to and from the Ridgewood Avenue Station for commuters.
Notable residents
Notable current and former residents of Glen Ridge include:- Horace AshenfelterHorace AshenfelterHorace Ashenfelter, III is a retired American athlete. He competed in international athletics from 1947 to 1956 after service in World War II and the completion of his degree at Penn State....
(born 1923), 1952 Olympic gold medalist, track and field. - Dale BerraDale BerraDale Anthony Berra , is a former Major League Baseball player who primarily played as an infielder from through . He is the son of Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra.-Early years:...
(born 1956), former Major League BaseballMajor League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
player and son of Yogi BerraYogi BerraLawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra is a former American Major League Baseball catcher, outfielder, and manager. He played almost his entire 19-year baseball career for the New York Yankees...
. - Eddie BrackenEddie BrackenEdward Vincent "Eddie" Bracken was an American actor.-Life and career:Bracken was born in Astoria, New York, the son of Catherine and Joseph L. Bracken. Bracken performed in vaudeville at the age of nine and gained fame with the Broadway musical Too Many Girls in a role he reprised for the 1940...
(1915–2002), character actor. - Jon BrionJon BrionJon Brion is an American rock and pop multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, composer and record producer.-Early life:...
(born 1963), singer, songwriter, composer and record producer. - Mary Jo CodeyMary Jo CodeyMary Jo Codey is an American schoolteacher and former First Lady of New Jersey. She and her husband, Governor Richard Codey, served their state from November 16, 2004 to January 17, 2006....
(born 1955), former First Lady of New JerseyGovernor of New JerseyThe Office of the Governor of New Jersey is the executive branch for the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of Governor is an elected position, for which elected officials serve four year terms. While individual politicians may serve as many terms as they can be elected to, Governors cannot be...
. - Tom CruiseTom CruiseThomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
(born 1962), movie star, spent several years of his childhood in Glen Ridge, and graduated from Glen Ridge High School. - Gary CuozzoGary CuozzoGary Samuel Cuozzo was a former professional American football player. An undrafted quarterback from the University of Virginia, Cuozzo played in 10 NFL seasons from 1963-1972. He began his NFL career on the Baltimore Colts as a backup to Johnny Unitas...
(born 1941), former quarterbackQuarterbackQuarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
who played in 10 NFL seasons from 1963-1972 for four different teams. - Jack Cuozzo, young Earth creationist and orthodontist.
- Michael J. DohertyMichael J. DohertyMichael J. Doherty is an American Republican Party politician who serves in the New Jersey Senate representing the 23rd legislative district. He won the seat held by Marcia A. Karrow, who had earlier been selected by a party convention to succeed Leonard Lance after his election to the United...
(born 1963), a New Jersey State Senator who represents the 23rd Legislative District, grew up in Glen Ridge and graduated from Glen Ridge High School. - Lauren EnglishLauren EnglishLauren Anne English is a United States Swimmer and represented the United States at the Pan Pacific Championships , the World University Games and the Junior Pan Pacific Games . English was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, and currently resides in Lincoln Park, New Jersey. She set the United...
(born 1989), competitive swimmer who set the United States Open Record in the 50 Meter Backstroke. - Anthony FasanoAnthony FasanoAnthony Joseph Fasano is an American football tight end for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the second round of the 2006 NFL Draft. He played college football at Notre Dame...
(born 1984), tight endTight endThe tight end is a position in American football on the offense. The tight end is often seen as a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like offensive linemen, they are usually lined up on the offensive line and are large enough to be...
for the Miami DolphinsMiami DolphinsThe Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
. - Kenny GarrettKenny GarrettKenny Garrett is a Grammy Award-winning American post bop jazz saxophonist and flautist who gained fame in his youth as a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra and of Miles Davis's band. He has since pursued a critically acclaimed solo career...
(born 1960), Grammy Award-winning jazz musician, saxophonist and composer. - Nia GillNia GillNia H. Gill is an American Democratic Party politician, who has been serving in the New Jersey State Senate since 2002, where she represents the 34th Legislative District....
(born 1948), represents the 34th Legislative District in the New Jersey SenateNew Jersey SenateThe New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. From 1844 until 1965 New Jersey's counties elected one Senator, each. Under the 1844 Constitution the term of office was three years. The 1947...
since 2002. - Alfred Julio JensenAlfred Julio JensenAlfred Julio Jensen was an abstract painter. He is best known for his grids of tiny, brightly colored triangles and squares, painted in thick impasto...
(1903–81), abstract painter. - Ezra KoenigEzra KoenigEzra Koenig is the lead singer and one of the guitarists of New York-based indie rock band Vampire Weekend.-Background:...
(born 1984), musician. Vampire WeekendVampire WeekendVampire Weekend is an American indie rock band from New York City that formed in 2006 and signed to XL Recordings. The Band has four members: Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij, Chris Tomson, and Chris Baio. The band released its first album Vampire Weekend in 2008, which produced the singles "Mansard...
. - Alexander KolowratAlexander KolowratCount Alexander Joseph von Kolowrat-Krakowsky , better known as "Sascha", was an Austrian film producer of Bohemian descent...
(1886–1927), pioneer of Austrian CinemaCinema of AustriaAustria has had an active cinema industry since the early 20th century. Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky was among the Austrian pioneers of this art. Several Austrians pursued a career in pre-Nazi Germany and later in the United States, among them Fritz Lang, Josef von Sternberg, Billy Wilder, Fred...
. - Rodney LeinhardtRodney LeinhardtRodney Leinhardt is an American professional wrestler, better known simply as Rodney from his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation. He is currently working on the independent circuit as RodRageous.-Career:Leinhardt trained under Tom Prichard and debuted in 1998...
(born 1970), professional wrestler, better known as Rodney from his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation. - Wes Miles (born 1984), musician. Ra Ra RiotRa Ra RiotRa Ra Riot is an American indie rock band from Syracuse, New York, consisting of vocalist Wes Miles, bassist Mathieu Santos, guitarist Milo Bonacci, cellist Alexandra Lawn , violinist Rebecca Zeller, and drummer Kenny Bernard.-History:...
. - Edward Page MitchellEdward Page MitchellEdward Page Mitchell was an American editorial and short story writer for the New York Sun, a daily newspaper. He became that newspaper's editor in 1897, succeeding Charles Anderson Dana. Mitchell retired in 1926, a year before dying of a cerebral hemorrhage...
(1852–1927), editor-in-chief of The New York Sun. - Gerry NiewoodGerry NiewoodGerry Niewood was an American jazz saxophonist who worked closely with Chuck Mangione. Like Mangione, Niewood was born in Rochester, New York and graduated from the Eastman School of Music located there....
(1943–2009) jazz saxophonist. - Joe OrsulakJoe OrsulakJoseph Michael Richardson Orsulak III is a former Major League Baseball player from 1983 to 1997 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Baltimore Orioles, New York Mets, Florida Marlins, and Montreal Expos. Orsulak, who threw and batted lefthanded, played mostly in the outfield, although he played some games...
(born 1962), Major League Baseball player from 1983 to 1997. - Alison StewartAlison StewartAlison Stewart is an American radio and television journalist. She was one of the hosts of the Bryant Park Project, a morning drive news program from NPR...
(born 1966), MSNBCMSNBCMSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
news personality and host of The Most with Alison StewartThe Most with Alison StewartThe Most was an American television news program on MSNBC. Broadcast live at 12:00 PM ET daily, the program focused on the top news stories of the day people are looking at on MSNBC.com...
. - Henry SelickHenry SelickHenry Selick is an American stop motion director, producer and writer who is best known for directing The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach and Coraline...
(born 1952), stop motionStop motionStop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
director, producer and writer who is best known for directing both The Nightmare Before ChristmasThe Nightmare Before ChristmasThe Nightmare Before Christmas, often promoted as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, is a 1993 stop motion musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick and produced/co-written by Tim Burton. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, a being from "Halloween Town" who opens a portal to...
, and James and the Giant PeachJames and the Giant Peach (film)James and the Giant Peach is a 1996 musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick, based on the 1961 novel of the same name by Roald Dahl. It was produced by Tim Burton and Denise Di Novi. The film is a combination of live action and stop-motion animation....
. - George Steinmetz (born 1957), exploration photographer, winner of the Picture of the Year award, Overseas Press Club, 25 stories for GEO magazine in Germany.
- Stephen S. TrottStephen S. TrottStephen S. Trott is a Senior Circuit Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Trott was nominated for this position by President Ronald Reagan on August 9, 1987 after the seat held by Joseph Tyree Sneed, III became vacant...
(born 1939), judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth CircuitUnited States Court of Appeals for the Ninth CircuitThe United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is a U.S. federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* District of Alaska* District of Arizona...
. - Don Van Natta, Jr.Don Van Natta, Jr.Don Van Natta Jr. is an author and an investigative correspondent at The New York Times, where he was a member of two Pulitzer Prize-winning teams.-Life:...
(born 1964), investigate reporter at The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. - Tom VerducciTom VerducciTom Verducci is an American sportswriter who is currently writing for Sports Illustrated and its online magazine SI.com. He writes primarily about baseball. He is also a field reporter for the MLB postseason on TBS...
, sportswriter for Sports IllustratedSports IllustratedSports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
. - Dick ZimmerDick Zimmer (New Jersey politician)Richard Alan "Dick" Zimmer is an American Republican Party politician from New Jersey, who served in both houses of the New Jersey Legislature and in the United States House of Representatives. He was the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate from New Jersey in 1996 and 2008...
(born 1944), former member of the United States House of RepresentativesUnited States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
, Republican candidate for United States SenateUnited States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
in 1996 and 2008.
External links
- Glen Ridge Borough Website
- Glen Ridge Public Schools Website
- Glen Ridge Illustrated History
- Data for the Glen Ridge Public Schools, National Center for Education StatisticsNational Center for Education StatisticsThe National Center for Education Statistics is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance information in the United States...
- Our Guys: The Glen Ridge Rape and the Secret Life of the Perfect Suburb by Bernard Lefkowitz ISBN 0-520-20596-0
- Glen Ridge Civic Conference Committee