IRVINGTON, NEW JERSEY

'Irvington' is a Township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township had a total population of 60,695.

Contents

Geography

Demographics

History

Government

Local government

Federal, state and county representation

Politics

Education

Notable residents

References

External links

Geography

Irvington is located at (40.725651, -74.232076).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 7.7 km² (3.0 mi²), all land.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 60,695 people, 22,032 households, and 14,408 families residing in the township. The population density was 7,917.1/km² (20,528.3/mi²). There were 24,116 housing units at an average density of 3,145.7/km² (8,156.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the township was 8.97% White, 81.66% African American, 0.24% Native American, 1.10% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 3.68% from other races, and 4.24% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.38% of the population.
As part of the 2000 Census, 81.66% of Irvington's residents identified themselves as being African American. This was one of the highest percentages of African American people in the United States, and the third-highest in New Jersey (behind Lawnside at 93.6%, and East Orange at 89.46%) of all places with 1,000 or more residents identifying their ancestry.^[1]
There were 22,032 households out of which 33.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 30.2% were married couples living together, 27.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.6% were non-families. 29.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.74 and the average family size was 3.39.
In the township the population was spread out with 28.0% under the age of 18, 10.7% from 18 to 24, 32.3% from 25 to 44, 21.5% from 45 to 64, and 7.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females there were 87.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.5 males.
The median income for a household in the township was $36,575, and the median income for a family was $41,098. Males had a median income of $32,043 versus $27,244 for females. The per capita income for the township was $16,874. About 15.8% of families and 17.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 22.9% of those under age 18 and 12.2% of those age 65 or over.

History

Clinton Township, which included what is now Irvington, Maplewood and parts of Newark and South Orange, was created on April 14, 1834. The area was known as ''Camptown'' until the mid-1800s. In 1850, after Stephen Foster published his ballad, ''Camptown Races,'', residents were concerned that the activities described in the song would be associated with their community. Lydia Crawford, the wife of the local postmaster, suggested Camptown's new name, ''Irvingtown,'' in honor of Washington Irving.
Irvington was incorporated as an independent village on March 27, 1874, from portions of Clinton Township.History of Irvington, Irvington Township. Accessed May 9, 2007. What remained of Clinton Township was absorbed into Newark on March 5, 1902."The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968", John P. Snyder, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 126 re Clinton Township, p. 128 re Irvington. On March 2, 1898, Irvington was incorporated as a Town, replacing Irvington Village. Laws approved in Trenton in both 1903 and 1908 that would have annexed Irvington to Newark were rejected by local voters.
The 1967 Newark riots hastened an exodus of families from that city, many of them moving the few short blocks to Irvington. Until 1965, Irvington was almost exclusively white. By 1980, the town was nearly 40% black, by 1990 it was 70%. On July 1, 1980, Fred Bost, the first black to serve on the Town Council, was sworn in as East Ward Councilman. Irvington experienced the crack epidemic of the 1980s and the community still struggles with the aftermath. The community still has a violent crime rate six times higher than New Jersey overall and a murder rate eight times higher than statewide statistics.^[2] Michael G. Steele, the town's first black mayor, was elected in 1990, followed by Sara B. Bost in 1994. The current Mayor is Wayne Smith.

Government

Local government

Irvington is governed under the Faulkner Act (Mayor-Council) form of municipal government. Mayor Wayne Smith was directly elected by the residents to serve a four year term that began on July 1, 2002. As Chief Executive of the township, Mayor Smith has the enforcement responsibility for all ordinances, charter provisions, and preparation of the municipal budget. While the Mayor has the right to speak at Council meetings, he has no vote and is not required to attend.
The Council is the legislative body of the municipality and is composed of seven members. Four are elected from Wards and three are elected at-large. The Council can, by a majority vote, reduce items in the Mayor's budget, but needs a ⅔ majority to increase any item in the budget.
Members of the governing body are elected for four year terms the 2nd Tuesday in May each year. Terms are staggered biennially and the elections are non-partisan.
Members of the Township Council are:^[3]

★ John Sowell, West Ward, President

★ Andrea C. McElroy, At-Large, First Vice President

★ D. Bilal Beasley, At-Large, Second Vice President

★ Lebby C. Jones, At-Large

★ Sandra R. Jones, South Ward

★ Quinzell R. McKenzie, East Ward

★ David Lyons, North Ward

Federal, state and county representation

Irvington is in the Tenth Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 28th Legislative District.^[4]

Politics

On the national level, Irvington leans strongly toward the Democratic Party. In 2004, Democrat John Kerry received 92% of the vote here, defeating Republican George W. Bush, who received around 7%.

Education

Irvington's public schools are operated by Irvington Public Schools. IPS is an Abbott District.
Irvington High School serves the city of Irvington. Of 316 Public High Schools examined, Irvington was ranked lowest in the state in a cover story in the September 2006 issue of ''New Jersey Monthly'' magazine.^[5]

Notable residents

Notable current and former residents of Irvington include:

★ Austin Gunsel, best remembered for serving as the National Football League's interim commissioner following the death of Bert Bell on October 11, 1959.

★ James J. Howard (1927-1988), represented New Jersey's 3rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1965–1988.^[6]

★ Queen Latifah, rapper, singer, actress, producer.^[7]

★ Jerry Lewis, comedian, actor, director.^[8]

★ Mark Rudd, educator and anti-war activist.^[9]

References

1. African American Communities, Epodunk. Accessed August 25, 2007.
2. Crime statistics for Irvington, Homesurfer. Accessed August 14, 2007.
3. Mayor - Council Plan, Township of Irvington. Accessed March 9, 2007.
4. 2006 New Jersey Citizen's Guide to Government, New Jersey League of Women Voters, p. 59. Accessed August 30, 2006.
5. http://www.njmonthly.com/topschools/hslist3.lasso?-MaxRecords=50&-SkipRecords=300&-SortField=rank&-SortOrder=ascending&county=&high_school= ''New Jersey Monthly'', September 2006.
6. James John Howard, ''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress''. Accessed August 30, 2007.
7. Guthrie, Marissa. "'Life' of a Queen: Latifah digs deep for an HBO movie", copy of article from ''New York Daily News'', March 8, 2007, accessed April 19, 2007. "Latifah—who’ll turn 37 this month—grew up in Irvington, N.J."
8. Sragow, Michael. " Funny Bones" review of "KING OF COMEDY The Life and Art of Jerry Lewis". By Shawn Levy, ''The New York Times'', June 9, 1996. "Mr. Levy locates the seeds of Mr. Lewis's king-size ambitions and insecurities in his struggling show-biz family (his parents devoted themselves primarily to his father's career as a would-be Jolson), and in his sometime hometown of Irvington, N.J., which in the 1930's was rife with German-American support for Hitler."
9. Who is Mark Rudd?, dated July 2005, accessed April 19, 2007. "Mark was born on June 2, 1947 in Irvington, N.J."

External links

★ Township of Irvington homepage

★ Irvington Public Schools

★

★ National Center for Education Statistics data for the Irvington Public Schools