RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY

'Rutherford' is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 18,110.
Rutherford was formed as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on September 21, 1881, from portions of Union Township, based on the results of a referendum held on the previous day."The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968", John P. Snyder, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 86.

Contents

Geography

Demographics

Government

Local government

Federal, state and county representation

Politics

History

Transportation

Education

Culture and recreation

Notable residents

Professional athletes

References

External links

Geography

Rutherford is located at (40.828922, -74.110644).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 7.6 km² (2.9 mi²), of which 7.3 km² (2.8 mi²) is land and 0.3 km² (0.1 mi² or 4.11%) is water.
Rutherford is bounded by the Passaic River bordering Clifton and Passaic to the west, the Erie Railroad bordering East Rutherford to the north and east, the Hackensack River bordering Secaucus to the southeast, and Berrys Creek and Rutherford Avenue bordering Lyndhurst to the south and southwest.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 18,110 people, 7,055 households, and 4,670 families residing in the borough. The population density was 2,488.4/km² (6,451.7/mi²). There were 7,214 housing units at an average density of 991.2/km² (2,570.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the borough was 81.99% White, 2.70% African American, 0.04% Native American, 11.34% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.86% from other races, and 2.03% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.59% of the population.
There were 7,055 households out of which 28.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.5% were married couples living together, 9.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.8% were non-families. 28.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.16.
In the borough the population was spread out with 20.8% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 18 to 24, 32.6% from 25 to 44, 24.6% from 45 to 64, and 14.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 92.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.3 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $63,820, and the median income for a family was $78,120. Males had a median income of $51,376 versus $39,950 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $30,495. About 2.3% of families and 3.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.1% of those under age 18 and 6.9% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Local government

Rutherford was incorporated in 1881 under the Borough form of government, the most common type in New Jersey. With a seven member governing body, the mayor of the Borough is elected every four years and two council members are elected at large each year for 3-year terms. Under this form of government, council members act as the legislative body with the mayor voting only in the event of a tie. Most appointments are made by the mayor with the advice and consent of the council.
Council members receive committee assignments by the mayor annually and serve as liaisons during the year between Borough departments and committees and the governing body. The Borough operates with numerous committees to assist the government in carrying out its responsibilities. In addition to statutory bodies such as the planning board and zoning board of adjustment, dozens of volunteers staff other committees appointed annually. These committees provide invaluable assistance through their work and development of recommendations to the governing body to improve the quality of live in the community. Residents are encouraged to participate in this process.
The Mayor of the Borough of Rutherford is Bernadette P. McPherson. McPherson also serves on the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders.
Members of the Rutherford Borough Council (with their committee assignments) are George Fecanin (Public Works; Human Resources; Police), Ray Frazier (Police; Public Works), John Genovesi (Building & Public Utilities), Maura Keyes (Finance), Richard Reyes (Fire; Finance) and Joseph Sommer (Human Resources; Building & Public Utilities).^[1]
On Election Day, November 7, 2006, voters filled two three-year seats on the borough council. As of Election Day, the council and mayor were all Democrats, in a community in which registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans by a 7-6 margin. Republican newcomer John C. Genovisi (3,006) and incumbent Democrat Margaret A. Keyes (2,848) won election, defeating their running mates Democrat incumbent Cathy A. Botti (2,811) and Republican Frank T. Wilson (2,790), with only 58 votes separating second and fourth places.^[2][3][4]

Federal, state and county representation

Rutherford is in the Ninth Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 36th Legislative District.^[5]

Politics

As of April 1, 2006, out of a 2004 Census estimated population of 18,084 in Rutherford, there were 10,441 registered voters (57.7% of the population, vs. 55.4% in all of Bergen County). Of registered voters, 2,150 (20.6% vs. 20.7% countywide) were registered as Democrats, 1,801 (17.2% vs. 19.2% countywide) were registered as Republicans and 6,482 (62.1% vs. 60.1% countywide) were registered as Undeclared. There were eight voters registered to other parties.^[6]
On the national level, Rutherford leans slightly toward the Democratic Party. In the 2004 presidential election, Democrat John Kerry received 52% of the vote here, defeating Republican George W. Bush, who received around 47%.^[7]

History

The ridge above the New Jersey Meadowlands upon which Rutherford sits was settled by Lenape Native Americans long before the arrival of Walling Van Winkle in 1687. Union Avenue, which runs from the Meadowlands to the Passaic River, may have been an Indian trail, but was more likely a property boundary line; it was referenced in the 1668 grant of land by proprietary Governor Philip Carteret to John Berry.
During the early days of settlement, the land that is now Rutherford was part of New Barbadoes Township, as Berry had lived in Barbados, another English colony, before claiming his grant in New Jersey. New Barbadoes was part of Essex County from 1693 to 1710, when Bergen County was formed. In 1826, the land became part of Lodi Township (of which today's remaining portion is Lodi borough). When Hudson County was formed in 1840, the area that is today North Arlington, Lyndhurst, Rutherford and East Rutherford became part of Harrison Township (of which today's remaining portion is Harrison town). However, the area reverted to Bergen County in 1852 and became known as Union Township.
Part of the region was known as Boiling Springs, for the many hot springs in the vicinity.
The Erie Railroad built its Main Line from Jersey City across the Meadowlands in the 1840s. Daniel Van Winkle, a descendant of Walling, donated land in 1866 for a train station at Boiling Springs. Several resorts were built along the Passaic, with guests disembarking at Boiling Springs station and taking Union Avenue to the river. Later, the railroad opened a station closer to the river, at Carlton Hill.
At the time, much of the property in Rutherford was farmland owned by the estate of John Rutherfurd, a former New Jersey legislator and U.S. Senator, whose homestead was along the Passaic near present-day Rutherford Avenue. Daniel Van Winkle opened a real estate office at Depot Square (now Station Square) to sell the land of the ''Rutherfurd Park Association'', and began to lay out the area's street grid. The main roads were Orient Way, a wide boulevard heading south-southwest from the station, and Park Avenue, which headed west-southwest to bring traffic to the new Valley Brook Race Course in what is now Lyndhurst.
In the 1870s, the area began to be called Rutherford. The spelling change may have been the result of name recognition of the Ohio politician Rutherford B. Hayes, who was elected President in 1876 or could have been because of a clerical error done by the Post Office. The U.S. Post Office opened a facility called Rutherford in 1876. On September 21, 1881, the Borough of Rutherford was formed by formal vote of secession from Union Township. By then, the community had about 1,000 residents.

Transportation

Thanks to its easy access to New York City by rail, Rutherford became an early bedroom community. Following the initial wave of settlement in the late 19th century, an additional building boom occurred in the 1920s, when the majority of the borough's current housing stock was constructed.
Public Service brought trolley lines into Rutherford around the turn of the century. The lines extended east to Jersey City, south to Newark, north to Hackensack, and west to Passaic. By the late 1940s, these were replaced by bus service.
After the opening of the Lincoln Tunnel in 1937, the Inter-City Bus Company began bus service direct from Paterson to New York. The line was taken over by New Jersey Transit in the early 1980s.
Today, New Jersey Transit offers service to New York City's Port Authority Bus Terminal 163 (Limited), 190, 191, 192 and 195 routes, while the 76 bus provides service between Hackensack and Newark.^[8] Meanwhile, the Bergen County Line train stops at Rutherford's 1898 depot en route from Hoboken to Suffern, with connecting service at Secaucus Junction to New York Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan and Newark Airport.
The original Route 17, in the 1920s, came through downtown Rutherford. Following the 1927 New Jersey State Highway renumbering, the new NJ 2 (later NJ 17), built starting in 1928, skirted the southeast edge of the borough, between the residential area and the New Jersey Meadowlands.
In 1948, a new bypass road along the southwest edge of the borough was built to bring traffic from Clifton and points west to the Lincoln Tunnel. The construction of the highway spur Route S3 (now NJ 3) caused the demolition or relocation of numerous borough homes.

Education

Public education began in Rutherford prior to 1900, but the oldest permanent school structure was the Park School, built in 1902. It is currently the home of the Rutherford borough hall, on Park Avenue.
Today's public schools in the Rutherford School District include Rutherford High School, built in 1922 and expanded in 1959 and 2005; and four elementary schools, Lincoln, Pierrepont, Union, and Washington. Pierrepont and Union as of September 2005 will serve students from grade 4 through grade 8, while the other two schools will service grades K-3. As of 2005, the expansion work on Lincoln and Washington was completed; work on Union and Pierrepont is not expected to be completed until sometime in 2007.
Rutherford formerly had three "neighborhood" schools for grades K-5 (Washington, Lincoln, and Sylvan) which fed into two "magnet" schools for 6-8. The magnet schools also served as elementary schools for their neighborhoods. Sylvan School was closed at the end of the 2004-2005 school year and is to become a handicapped preschool, as well as office space for the special services department.
St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church was established in Rutherford in the 1890s and opened a school shortly thereafter. St. Mary's offers both a grammar school and a high school (St. Mary High School (New Jersey)).
In 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University was founded in Rutherford as a two-year college, anchored by the Iviswold Castle on Montross Avenue, which was built in the 1880s as a summer home by David W. Ivison. After FDU expanded to a four-year college and then to offering graduate programs, it acquired other, larger, campuses, and eventually left Rutherford, offering the campus for sale due to financial difficulties. In the fall of 1997, the Rutherford campus was purchased by Felician College, an independent private Roman Catholic institution, which often has cultural and community events.

Culture and recreation

William Carlos Williams, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, was born in Rutherford in 1883. For most of his adult life, he maintained a physician's office in the house in which he lived, at 9 Ridge Road, at the corner of Park Avenue, even as he continued his artistic endeavors. He died in 1963.
The Rivoli Theatre was opened in 1922 as a vaudeville house but was quickly converted into a movie palace. It was known for a large crystal chandelier suspended from the center of the auditorium.
On January 9, 1977, the Rivoli was severely damaged in a fire. Soon afterward, a plan was developed to restore the Rivoli and turn it into a performing arts center. The William Carlos Williams Center for the Performing Arts opened in 1981 and contains three movie screens as well as two performance halls. Since 1995, the Williams Center's primary focus has been on concerts, ballet, opera, and theater for children.
The Meadowlands Museum, which began as a project of parents of children in the public schools in 1961 and was originally based in a room at Sylvan School, moved to the Yereance-Berry house at 91 Crane Avenue in 1974. Its focus is on local history.
The Nereid Boat Club occupies a former boat sales building on the Passaic, at the foot of Newell Avenue. The rowing club, established in Nutley in 1875, relocated to Rutherford in 1996.
Rutherford Memorial Park, in the northwest corner of town along the Passaic, was set aside as parkland by the voters in 1951. Its 30 acres include two baseball diamonds, five softball diamonds, a Little League Baseball field, a football stadium, five tennis courts, two basketball courts, and three playgrounds. It is also home to the borough's yearly Other active recreation parks include Wall Field, near NJ 17, and Tamblyn Field, near NJ 3.
The borough also has several smaller passive parks, including Lincoln Park across from borough hall, which was renovated in 2004. It includes a band shell and several monuments, including a cannon dating to the Spanish-American War, and is home to the borough's 9/11 memorial, containing a piece of steel debris recovered from the site of the attacks. Sunset Park is located just north of the intersection of Union and Jackson Avenues and is on the western-facing side of a rather steep hill.
The Borough also has more than 30 Amateur Radio Stations and one UHF Amateur Television Station.

Notable residents

Notable current and former residents of Rutherford include:

★ Kathleen Donovan, County Clerk of Bergen County, New Jersey, and a former member of the New Jersey General Assembly.^[9]

★ John Rutherfurd (1760-1840), U. S. Senator.^[10]

★ William Carlos Williams (1883-1963), Poet.^[11]

Professional athletes

Eddy Rolon, a professional mixed martial artist and submission grappler, has lived in Rutherford since 1996. Rolon is one of the first state licensed MMA competitors in New Jersey as well as the 2001 IFC Battleground Heavyweight champion.
Rutherford is home to five current professional baseball players.^[12]

'Name'	'Position'	'Team Name'	'League'	'MLB Affiliation'	'Classification'
Jack Egbert	Pitcher	Birmingham Barons	Southern League	Chicago White Sox	Class AA
Frank Herrmann	Pitcher	Kinston Indians	Carolina League	Cleveland Indians	Class A
Vincent Mazzaro	Pitcher	Stockton Ports	California League	Oakland Athletics	Class A
Issac Pavlik	Pitcher	New Jersey Jackals	Can-Am League	No Affiliation	N/A
Jim Wladyka	Pitcher	Burlington Bees	Midwest League	Kansas City Royals	Class A

References

1. Rutherford Borough Government, Borough of Rutherford. Accessed February 24, 2007.
2. Rutherford Education Guide, ''The Record (Bergen County)'', November 1, 2006.
3. Rutherford Rep. pulls council upset, ''The Record (Bergen County)'', November 9, 2006.
4. Bergen County 2006 General Election Results, accessed February 1, 2007.
5. 2006 New Jersey Citizen's Guide to Government, New Jersey League of Women Voters, p. 63. Accessed August 30, 2006.
6. "County of Bergen: Voter Statistics by Municipality, Ward & District," dated April 1, 2006.
7. 2004 Presidential Election results: Bergen County, New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, Division of Elections, dated December 13, 2004.
8. Bergen County Bus/Rail Connection(s), New Jersey Transit. Accessed July 29, 2007.
9. Kathleen A. Donovan, Bergen County, New Jersey. Accessed August 28, 2007.
10. Manuscript Group 398, Rutherfurd Family, New Jersey Historical Society. Accessed July 29, 2007. "John Rutherfurd (1760-1840)... in 1808, he moved to Bergen County, New Jersey, near present-day Rutherford."
11. "University to get Williams' poem", ''The Washington Times'' by Cheryl Wittenauer, March 13, 2007. "Along with his literary career, Mr. Williams had a medical practice in Rutherford, N.J. "
12. Down on the farm A statistical look at how North Jersey players are faring in the minor and independent leagues, ''The Record (Bergen County)'', July 23, 2006.

External links

★ Rutherford official website

★ Rutherford School District

★

★ National Center for Education Statistics data for the Rutherford School District

★ Rutherford Public Library

★ Rutherford Fire Department

★ Rutherford Volunteer Ambulance

★ Williams Center for the arts

★ Felician College Rutherford campus

★ Civic organizations and clubs

★ Continuous wave Amateur TV System