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West Orange, New Jersey

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West Orange is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township population was 44,943. West Orange adjoins the South Mountain Reservation.

Geography

West Orange is located at (40.788650, -74.255416).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 12.2 square miles (31.7 km²), of which, 12.1 square miles (31.4 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.3 km²) of it (0.90%) is water.

The oldest and most densely populated part of the township lies in the low valley along the border with the City of Orange, between Montclair Township in the north and South Orange Township to the south. The Edison National Historic Site is located on Main Street in this section, and several major east-west arteries of the Newark street grid have their western terminus here, notably Central and Park Avenues. Downtown West Orange has a more urban character than the rest of the township.

Moving west, the neighborhoods along the First Watchung Mountain become increasingly suburban, ascending the steep hill along Northfield, Mount Pleasant, and Eagle Rock Avenues. The housing stock in neighborhoods of Hutton Park and the First Mountain neighborhoods is a mixture of 19th-century and Jazz Age estates, large pre-war Tudor-style houses, garden apartments, and post-war suburban houses. Llewellyn Park, one of the country's first planned communities, is also located on the First Mountain. These parts of town overlook downtown West Orange and many streets, often called terraces, have sweeping views of the skylines of downtown Newark and New York City.

Beyond the high ridge of Prospect Avenue, the township transitions to a predominantly post-war suburban neighborhood, interspersed with pockets of older homes, golf courses, and shopping centers, sloping back down toward Pleasant Valley Way. Pleasantdale includes a business district and large Orthodox Jewish community.

The westernmost section of West Orange lies along the eastern face of the Second Watchung Mountain, and includes a large part of South Mountain Reservation. The post-war housing stock in this neighborhood resembles Pleasant Valley, bordering the townships of Millburn, Maplewood and Livingston.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 44,943 people, 16,480 households, and 11,684 families residing in the township. The population density was 3,708.7 people per square mile (1,431.7/km²). There were 16,901 housing units at an average density of 1,394.7/sq mi (538.4/km²). The racial makeup of the township was 67.55% White, 17.46% African American, 0.14% Native American, 8.09% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 3.52% from other races, and 3.20% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 10.04% of the population.

There were 16,480 households out of which 32.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.0% were married couples living together, 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.1% were non-families. 24.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.66 and the average family size was 3.19. In the township the population was spread out with 23.3% under the age of 18, 6.2% from 18 to 24, 29.7% from 25 to 44, 23.4% from 45 to 64, and 17.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 88.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.0 males.

The median income for a household in the township was $69,254, and the median income for a family was $83,375. Males had a median income of $52,029 versus $39,484 for females. The per capita income for the township was $34,412. About 4.6% of families and 5.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.0% of those under age 18 and 7.8% of those age 65 or over.

Government

The Township of West Orange is governed by the Mayor-Council system of municipal government under the Faulkner Act. Within this form of government, each member of the Township Council is elected in nonpartisan elections and serves on an at-large basis, representing the entire township.

The Mayor and members of the Township Council are:

  • John F. McKeon, Mayor (term ends June 30, 2010)
  • John Skarbnik, Township Councilman (2008)
  • Renard Barnes, Township Councilman (2010)
  • Richard A. Giuditta, Jr., Township Councilman (2008; Council President as of July 1, 2007)
  • Susan McCartney, Township Councilwoman (2010)
  • Robert Parisi, Township Councilman (2008)

Municipal Court

  • Harry L. Starrett - Presiding Judge, West Orange Municipal Court
  • Margaret Padovano - Municipal Judge, West Orange Municipal Court
  • Mark Infante - Municipal Prosecutor

Township facilities

Politics

On the national level, West Orange leans toward the Democratic Party. In 2004, Democrat John Kerry received 65% of the vote there, as opposed to Republican George W. Bush, who received around 34%.

Federal, state and county representation

West Orange is split between the Eighth and Tenth Congressional and is part of New Jersey's 27th Legislative District.

West Orange is represented on the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders by Freeholders Linda Lordi-Cavanaugh (District 4), Donald M. Payne, Jr. (At-Large) and Freeholder Blonnie R. Watson (At-Large).

Education

The West Orange Public Schools serves students in Kindergarten through 12th grade. The district consist of a total of eleven school facilities: seven elementary schools (all K-5, except as noted) — Gregory, Hazel Avenue, Mount Pleasant, Pleasantdale (PreK-5), Redwood, St. Cloud and Washington — three middle schools — Edison (6), Liberty (7&8) and Roosevelt (7&8) — and one high school, West Orange High School, for grades 9-12. The West Orange school district has been ranked among the top 1% of schools in the nation by The Washington Post.

History

West Orange was initially a part of the city of Newark, and remained such until November 27, 1806, when the territory now encompassing all of The Oranges was detached to form Orange Township. On April 13, 1807, the first government was elected. On January 31, 1860, Orange was incorporated as a town, and on April 3, 1872, it was officially incorporated as a city. Almost immediately, Orange began fragmenting into smaller communities, primarily because of local disputes about the costs of establishing paid police, fire, and street departments. South Orange was organized on April 1, 1861, Fairmount (an independent municipality for less than one year that was later to become part of West Orange) on March 11, 1862 and East Orange on March 4, 1863. West Orange (including what had been the briefly-independent municipality of Fairmount) was formed as a township on April 10, 1863, and was reformed as a town on February 28, 1900.

Llewellyn Park, the first planned community in America is located within West Orange. Designed by Llewellyn Haskell and A. J. Davis in 1857. Llewellyn Park is considered the best example of "The Romantic Landscape" movement of that period. Thomas Edison was one of the many residents.

Mass media and telecommunications

For years West Orange has been a hotbed for the mass-media and telecommunications industries, From the mid-1970s until the early 1990s Channel 68 TV maintained their offices, studios and transmitter on Eagle Rock Avenue which was then occupied by WNBC-TV and WPXN-TV as a backup transmitter facility after Channel 68 moved to West Market Street in Newark. As of March 2007, the 416 Eagle Rock Avenue property is now an empty lot, the main building which housed Channel 68 was recently demolished and the transmitter tower now stands alone. WFME Radio has their offices studios and transmitter while their sister station WFME-TV has their executive offices in the same building on Mount Pleasant Avenue next to an MCI Communications (Now part of Verizon Communications) Fiber optics and satellite transmission facility and a Fiber Optic and satellite transmission facility on Eagle Rock Avenue next to the old Channel 68 building. Former Upsala College radio station WFMU's transmitter is on Marcella Avenue just down the street from WFME. Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless all have cell towers located throughout the township to provide clear coverage and Verizon maintains a huge Central Office on Prospect Avenue.

Notable residents

Notable current and former residents of West Orange include:

Trivia

  • The Essex County Parks and Recreation Department erected a memorial inside of Eagle Rock Reservation to the memory of those Essex County residents who were killed during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The memorial is located on a site that overlooks the New York City skyline, and was dedicated on October 20, 2002.
  • West Orange was frequently used as a locale in the HBO mafia series The Sopranos. Filming locations included the Green Hill Retirement Community on Pleasant Valley Way depicted as the Green Grove Nursing Home where Tony's mother Livia resided and the Police Department headquarters located at 60 Main Street was depicted as the East Haledon Police Department in the episode Johnny Cakes.
  • The New Jersey Devils, a NHL team, used the Richard J. Codey Arena at South Mountain as their practice facility until the 07-08 season.
  • Thomas Edison bought a property known as Glenmont in 1886 as a wedding gift for his bride. It occupies 13.5 acres (55,000 m²) in the Llewellyn Park district. The remains of both Thomas and Mina Edison are now buried there. Glenmont is maintained by the National Park Service as part of the Edison National Historic Site.
  • The first motion picture studio, The Black Maria, was located on the grounds of Edison's factory in West Orange.
  • The first Linens-N-Things store which has since permanently closed was located on the upper level of the Essex Green Shopping Center.
  • Turtle Back Zoo, founded in 1963 and currently one of only four zoos in New Jersey, is located in the South Mountain Reservation.
  • West Orange has the largest population of Jewish and Roman Catholic residents in Essex County.
  • In 1999, West Orange was chosen to participate in Nickelodeon's Big Help-a-Thon kids volunteer movement.
  • In 2000, West Orange was chosen as one of the cities to host the annual CowParade.
  • West Orange also houses a branch of the New Jersey National Guard at the West Orange Armory.

See also

References

External links



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