This article is about two services shared by two adjacent communities with similar names,
for the community of Chatham, New Jersey, see Chatham

In some uses The Chathams may refer to two neighboring municipalities in Morris County, New Jersey – Chatham and Chatham Township. The two are separate municipalities, the first one was settled in 1710 as a colonial English village in the Province of New Jersey. The second entity was formed in 1806 as an American governmental form, a township form peculiar to the state of New Jersey, for a region including several communities that initially, included the village.

All except one of the communities included in the governmental district seceded from it when other forms of government became available, leaving an undefined rural district that has experienced extensive residential development since 1960.

Two community services have been extended from Chatham to Chatham Township: since 1974 they have shared its library services and in 1986 a joint school district was created and extended to most portions of Chatham Township for all grades, they having sent their students to the Chatham schools for junior and senior high for many decades. Some of the Chatham Township areas send their students to the Madison schools.

Since it became feasible using motor vehicle transportation, Chatham always has shared its federal post office service via rural delivery to the portions of Chatham Township without separate post offices, such as Green Village and New Vernon.

Public schools

Chatham and Chatham Township held elections in November 1986 to consider joining their separate school districts. This proposal was supported by the voters of both municipalities and since then, they now share a regionalized school district, the School District of the Chathams.

Elementary Schools

• Milton Avenue School Grades K - 3. Principal – Marion McCarthy
• Southern Boulevard School Grades K - 3. Principal – Ralph J. Pesapane
• Washington Avenue School Grades K - 3. Principal – Mary P. Quigley
• Lafayette School Grades 4 & 5. Principal - Cheryl Caggiano

Middle School

• Chatham Middle School Grades 6 - 8. Principal – Kenneth J. Wark.

High School

• Chatham High School Grades 9 - 12. Co-principals – Darren Groh and Michael LaSusa. For the 2004-05 school year, the high school was recognized as a No Child Left Behind - Blue Ribbon School by the United States Department of Education. It was the 12th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 316 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2006 cover story on the state's Top Public High Schools.

Library

A single library, renamed the Library of the Chathams now serves both municipalities. Initially, a library was founded in Chatham in 1907. After going through a number of buildings, the library's current site on Main Street was chosen after the Fairview Hotel burned down completely. The land was bought in the early 1920s by Charles L. Lum. The building was dedicated and opened to the public in 1924. A referendum was placed on the November 1974 ballot for Jointure, the measure passed. The library is administered by six trustees, who are appointed jointly by the councils of both municipalities and their mayors (or their representatives), as well as a representative from the joint school district .

The library joined the Morris Automated Information Network (MAIN), an electronic database linking together all the public libraries in Morris County, in 1985. Recently, an expansion costing nearly $4,000,000 was completed (with the governments of the borough and township contributing a combined $2,000,000). The project was completed and dedicated on January 11, 2004.

Notes

Sources

• John P. Snyder: The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries, 1606-1968, Trenton, Bureau of Geology and Topography, 1969. p. 191-2.
• The New Jersey municipal data book ed. by Ruth R. Hornor. Palo Alto, Calif. : Information Publications, 2005. Entries on Chatham Borough and Chatham Township.
• United States Census, 2000

External links

• Library of the Chathams home page
• Chatham High School Reunions
• Money Magazine articles on Chatham - Best Places to Live 2005 and 2007