Mountain Lakes is a Borough in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 4,256.

Mountain Lakes was incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 3, 1924, from portions of Boonton Township and Hanover Township, subject to the results of a referendum passed on April 29, 1924.

Geography

Mountain Lakes is located at (40.887349, -74.440819).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 2.9 square miles (7.5 km²), of which, 2.7 square miles (6.9 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.6 km²) of it (7.61%) is water.

Part of The Tourne county park is in Mountain Lakes.

The man-made lakes in Mountain Lakes are: Birchwood Lake, Crystal Lake, Mountain Lake, Sunset Lake, Wildwood Lake, and Cove Lake. It is only legal to swim in Birchwood Lake, and Mountain Lake in the areas that are roped off. You may swim between the hours of 5 am to 10 Pm every day between the months of June and August.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 4,256 people, 1,330 households, and 1,186 families residing in the borough. The population density was 1,593.0 people per square mile (615.4/km²). There were 1,357 housing units at an average density of 507.9/sq mi (196.2/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 93.05% White, 0.38% African American, 5.17% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 0.52% from other races, and 0.82% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.69% of the population.

There were 1,330 households out of which 53.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 83.3% were married couples living together, 3.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 10.8% were non-families. 9.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.20 and the average family size was 3.41.

In the borough the population was spread out with 35.7% under the age of 18, 3.1% from 18 to 24, 23.4% from 25 to 44, 28.7% from 45 to 64, and 9.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 99.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.0 males.

The median income for a household in the borough was $141,757, and the median income for a family was $153,227. Males had a median income of $100,000 versus $61,098 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $65,086. About 1.4% of families and 2.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 0.7% of those under age 18 and 2.3% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Local government

Mountain Lakes operates under the Faulkner Act (Council-Manager) form of municipal government. The Borough Council of the Borough of Mountain Lakes consists of seven elected officials. Council Members are elected for four-year terms on a staggered basis from the population at large in partisan elections. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor are chosen from within the Council by the members of the Council at a Reorganization meeting held each year during the first week in January.

Members of the Mountain Lakes Borough Council are Mayor George Jackson, Deputy Mayor Louise Davis, Ellen Emr, Charles Gormally, Blair Schleicher-Wilson, Stephen Shaw and Richard Urankar.

Federal, state and county representation

Mountain Lakes is in the Eleventh Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 25th Legislative District.

Education

The Mountain Lakes Schools serve public school students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. Schools in the district (with 2005-06 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are Wildwood School for grades K-5 (491 students), Briarcliff School for grades 6-8 (307 students)and Mountain Lakes High School for grades 9-12 (687 students). Students from Boonton Township attend the high school as part of a sending/receiving relationship. Lake Drive School (146 students) serves as a regional school for deaf and hard of hearing students from birth through high school, with students from nearly 100 communities in twelve New Jersey counties.

Mountain Lakes is also home to The Craig School, a private coeducational day school serving students in third through twelfth grade. The school has an enrollment of 160 students split between the Lower School (grades 3-8), located in Mountain Lakes, and the Upper School (grades 9-12), in Lincoln Park.

Popular culture

The borough's police department was featured on an episode of the Discovery Channel show It Takes a Thief.

Notable residents

Notable current and former residents of Mountain Lakes include:

• Frederick W. Castle (1908-1944), general officer in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, and a recipient of the Medal of Honor.
• Richard M. Freeland, President of Northeastern University from 1996 to 2006.

Places of interest

• Grimes Homestead, 18th century historic home that served as a way station on the Underground Railroad

References

External links

• Mountain Lakes website
• Mountain Lakes Schools
• Data for the Mountain Lakes Schools, National Center for Education Statistics
• Regional area newspaper
• Hub Lakes Home Page