Glen Ridge, New Jersey facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Glen Ridge, New Jersey
Borough
Borough of Glen Ridge
Toney's Brook flowing through The Glen in Glen Ridge
Location in Essex County and the state of New Jersey.
Census Bureau map of Glen Ridge, New Jersey
Glen Ridge, New Jersey Location in Essex County, New Jersey Show map of Essex County, New Jersey Glen Ridge, New Jersey Location in New Jersey Show map of New Jersey Glen Ridge, New Jersey Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Essex
Incorporated	February 13, 1895
Government
• Type	Borough
• Body	Borough Council
Area
• Total	1.28 sq mi (3.31 km2)
• Land	1.28 sq mi (3.30 km2)
• Water	0.01 sq mi (0.01 km2)  0.39%
Area rank	475th of 565 in state 21st of 22 in county
Elevation	197 ft (60 m)
Population  (2010 Census)
• Total	7,527
• Estimate  (2019)	7,574
• Rank	305th of 566 in state 18th of 22 in county
• Density	5,872.8/sq mi (2,267.5/km2)
• Density rank	87th of 566 in state 11th of 22 in county
Time zone	UTC−05:00 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (Eastern (EDT))
ZIP Code	07028
Area code(s)	973
FIPS code	3401326610
GNIS feature ID	2390559

Glen Ridge is a borough in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 7,527, reflecting an increase of 256 (+3.5%) from the 7,271 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 195 (+2.8%) from the 7,076 counted in the 1990 Census.

Glen Ridge was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 13, 1895, from portions of Bloomfield Township, based on the results of a referendum held the previous day. In 1982, the borough's official name was changed to "Township of Glen Ridge Borough". Glen Ridge was one of more than a dozen Essex County municipalities to reclassify themselves as townships to take advantage of federal revenue sharing policies that allocated townships a greater share of government aid on a per capita basis. Effective May 1993, the borough's original name of "Glen Ridge Borough" was restored. The borough's name comes from the ridge formed by Toney's Brook.

Of the many legacies left to the town by its founders, the one that has become its trademark is the gas lamps. With only 3,000 gaslights remaining in operation in the entire United States, Glen Ridge has 665 such lamps lighting its streets. In 1924, Glen Ridge became the first municipality in New Jersey to establish a zoning ordinance.

In 2010, Glen Ridge was ranked as the 38th Best Place to live by New Jersey Monthly magazine.

History

Glen Ridge traces its beginning to 1666 when 64 Connecticut families led by Robert Treat bought land from the Lenni Lenape Native Americans and named it New Ark to reflect a covenant to worship freely without persecution. The territory included the future towns of Bloomfield, Montclair, Belleville and Nutley. When Bloomfield was established in 1812, Glen Ridge was a section "on the hill" composed mostly of farms and woodlands with the exception of a thriving industrial area along Toney's Brook in the glen. For most of the nineteenth century, three water-powered mills produced lumber, calico, pasteboard boxes and brass fittings. A copper mine and a sandstone quarry were nearby.

With the arrival of the Newark and Bloomfield Railroad in 1856 and the construction of the Glen Ridge station and the New York and Greenwood Lake Railway station at today's Benson Street in 1872, Glen Ridge began its transition to a suburban residential community. Stately homes slowly replaced orchards and wooded fields.

Mountainside Hospital, a local hospital with more than 300 beds now known as HackensackUMC Mountainside, was founded in 1891. The Glen Ridge Country Club was founded in 1894, making it one of the state's oldest clubs.

Residents "on the hill" became unhappy with their representation on the Bloomfield Council. In spite of repeated requests to Bloomfield officials, roads remained unpaved, water and sewer systems were nonexistent, and schools were miles away. Area residents marked out the boundaries of a 1.45-square-mile (3.8 km²) area to secede from the adjoining town. At the election held on February 12, 1895, the decision to secede passed by only 23 votes. Robert Rudd was elected the first mayor of Glen Ridge.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 1.287 square miles (3.332 km²), including 1.282 square miles (3.320 km²) of land and 0.005 square miles (0.012 km²) of water (0.36%). It is bounded by Bloomfield, Montclair and East Orange.

Glen Ridge is a maximum of six blocks wide and in "the Panhandle" north of Bay Avenue it is only three or two blocks wide.

Climate

Glen Ridge has a temperate climate, with warm / hot humid summers and cool / cold winters, according to the Köppen climate classification humid subtropical climate. The town gets an average of 49 inches of rain per year and 20 inches of snowfall, compared to the US averages of 37 and 25 inches. Glen Ridge has 124 days of measurable precipitation a year.

There are typically about 205 sunny days per year in Glen Ridge. The temperature ranges from a high around 86 degrees in July and a low around 21 degrees in January. The comfort index for the town is 47 out of 100, compared to a national average of 44 (with higher numbers being more comfortable).

Demographics

2010 Census

As of the census of 2010, there were 7,527 people, 2,476 households, and 2,033 families residing in the borough. The population density was 5,872.8 per square mile (2,267.5/km²). There were 2,541 housing units at an average density of 1,982.6 per square mile (765.5/km²)^*. The racial makeup of the borough was 86.21% (6,489) White, 5.04% (379) Black or African American, 0.04% (3) Native American, 4.65% (350) Asian, 0.00% (0) Pacific Islander, 1.37% (103) from other races, and 2.70% (203) from two or more races. [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.01% (377) of the population.

There were 2,476 households out of which 49.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 70.9% were married couples living together, 9.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 17.9% were non-families. 14.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.03 and the average family size was 3.39.

In the borough, the population was spread out with 32.2% under the age of 18, 4.7% from 18 to 24, 22.3% from 25 to 44, 31.2% from 45 to 64, and 9.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.2 years. For every 100 females there were 95.6 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and old there were 89.0 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006-2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $160,511 (with a margin of error of ±$11,073) and the median family income was $173,466 (±$25,554). Males had a median income of $111,968 (±$11,975) versus $85,938 (±$24,626) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $64,222 (±$8,487). About 1.1% of families and 2.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.9% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.

Transportation

View west along CR 506 in Glen Ridge

Roads and highways

As of May 2010^[update], the borough had a total of 23.29 miles (37.48 km) of roadways, of which 18.19 miles (29.27 km) were maintained by the municipality and 5.10 miles (8.21 km) by Essex County.

The primary roads directly serving Glen Ridge include County Route 506 (Bloomfield Avenue) and County Route 509. Major highways near the borough include the New Jersey Turnpike, Interstate 80, Interstate 280, the Garden State Parkway, U.S. Route 46, Route 3 and Route 21.

Public transportation

Glen Ridge is a little over a mile long, making it accessible for residents by walking or biking.

NJ Transit provides bus service to Newark on the 11, 28 and 29 via Bloomfield Avenue. Buses from DeCamp Bus Lines run to and from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan.

Commuters can also take trains from the Glen Ridge station (formerly named Ridgewood Avenue), where NJ Transit provides service to Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan and to Hoboken Terminal via the Montclair-Boonton Line. There are many other train stations near Glen Ridge.

The town has a jitney service which provides transportation to and from the Glen Ridge Station for commuters. This service has a fee and is only available between certain hours in the day. The Freeman Parkway Bridge, constructed in 1926, is a deck arch bridge that crosses over Toney's Brook and the Montclair-Boonton Line.

Education

Ridgewood Avenue school

The Glen Ridge Public Schools serve students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 2018–19 school year, the district, comprised of four schools, had an enrollment of 1,899 students and 148.9 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.8:1. Schools in the district (with 2018–19 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are Forest Avenue School with 223 students in grades PreK-2, Linden Avenue School with 242 students in grades PreK-2, Ridgewood Avenue School with 575 students in grades 3-6 and Glen Ridge High School with 837 students in grades 7-12.

The high school was the 12th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 328 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2012 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", after being ranked 4th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.

Notable people

People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Glen Ridge include:

• Buzz Aldrin (born 1930), second person to walk on the Moon on Apollo 11.
• Kurt Allerman (born 1955), former football linebacker who played nine seasons in the NFL for the St. Louis Cardinals Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions.
• Horace Ashenfelter (1923–2018), 1952 Olympic gold medalist in track and field.
• Dale Berra (born 1956), former Major League Baseball player and son of Yogi Berra.
• Kerry Bishé (born 1984), movie and television actress who appeared in Argo and Scrubs.
• Regina Bogat (born 1928), abstract artist.
• Eddie Bracken (1915–2002), character actor.
• Scott Bradley (born 1960), former MLB catcher.
• Jon Brion (born 1963), singer, songwriter, composer and record producer.
• Mark Bryant (born 1965), retired professional basketball player who played for 10 NBA teams during his career.
• Salvador "Tutti" Camarata (1913–2005), composer, arranger, trumpeter and record producer.
• Bill Casselman (born 1941), mathematician who works in group theory.
• Kacy Catanzaro (born 1990), first woman to complete the qualifying course of American Ninja Warrior.
• Mary Jo Codey (born 1955), former First Lady of New Jersey.
• Tom Cruise (born 1962), movie star, spent several years of his childhood in Glen Ridge, and graduated from Glen Ridge High School.
• Gary Cuozzo (born 1941), former quarterback who played in 10 NFL seasons from 1963 to 1972 for four teams.
• David Demarest (born 1951), Vice President for Public Affairs, Stanford University and a former Republican operative who worked for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
• Marion Elza Dodd (1883–1961), bookseller, author, librarian and professor.
• Michael J. Doherty (born 1963), a New Jersey State Senator who represents the 23rd Legislative District, grew up in Glen Ridge and graduated from Glen Ridge High School.
• Joe Dubuque (born 1982), amateur wrestler and wrestling coach.
• Lauren English (born 1989), competitive swimmer who set the United States Open Record in the 50 Meter Backstroke.
• Cora Farrell (born 1999), curler who was a silver medalist at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics
• Anthony Fasano (born 1984), NFL tight end for the Miami Dolphins.
• Tom Fleming (1951–2017), distance runner who won the 1973 and 1975 New York City Marathon.
• Buddy Fortunato (born 1946), newspaper publisher and politician who served four terms in the New Jersey General Assembly.
• Tom Galligan (born 1955), lawyer, legal scholar, administrator and educator who is the dean and professor of law of Louisiana State University's Paul M. Hebert Law Center.
• Kenny Garrett (born 1960), Grammy Award-winning jazz musician, saxophonist and composer.
• Nia Gill (born 1948), represents the 34th Legislative District in the New Jersey Senate since 2002.
• Sean Gleeson (born 1986), offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team.
• Bill Guerin (born 1970), former NHL right winger who played for the New Jersey Devils, won two Stanley Cup championships, and represented the United States in the Olympics in 1998, 2002 and 2006.
• Roger Lee Hall (born 1942), composer and musicologist.
• Alfred Jensen (1903–1981), abstract painter
• Ezra Koenig (born 1984), musician Vampire Weekend.
• Alexander Kolowrat (1886–1927), pioneer of Austrian Cinema.
• Frederick Bernard Lacey (1920–2017) United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.
• Rodney Leinhardt (born 1970), professional wrestler, better known as Rodney from his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation.
• Aubrey Lewis (1935–2001), football and track star with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish who was recognized by The Star-Ledger as its Football Player of the Century.
• Rudy Mancuso (born 1992), actor, producer, internet personality, comedian and musician best known for his comedic videos on YouTube.
• Katherine MacLean (1925–2019), science fiction author best known for her short fiction of the 1950s which examined the impact of technological advances on individuals and society.
• Hugh McCracken (1942–2013), rock guitarist and session musician.
• Wes Miles (born 1984), musician Ra Ra Riot.
• Edward Page Mitchell (1852–1927), editor-in-chief of The New York Sun.
• George Musser (born 1965), book author and contributing editor of Scientific American magazine.
• William J. Nardini (born 1979), Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut and nominee to be a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
• Gerry Niewood (1943–2009) jazz saxophonist.
• Joe Orsulak (born 1962), Major League Baseball player from 1983 to 1997.
• Robert A. Pascal (1934–2021), politician who served as County executive of Anne Arundel County, Maryland from 1975 to 1982.
• Barbara Rachelson, politician who has served in the Vermont House of Representatives since 2014.
• Priscilla Roberts (1916–2001), artist known for her still life paintings.
• Kathy Mueller Rohan, former professional tennis player.
• Henry Selick (born 1952), stop motion director, producer and writer best known for directing both The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach.
• Cindy Sherman (born 1954), artistic photographer.
• George Steinmetz (born 1957), exploration photographer, winner of the Picture of the Year award, Overseas Press Club, 25 stories for GEO magazine in Germany.
• Alison Stewart (born 1966), MSNBC news personality and host of The Most with Alison Stewart.
• Christian Thomas (born 1992), the son of Steve Thomas and the New York Rangers' 40th overall draft pick in 2010 who plays in the AHL for the Connecticut Whale.
• Steve Thomas (born 1963), former NHL right winger who played for the New Jersey Devils from 1995 to 1998.
• Stephen S. Trott (born 1939), judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
• William Hazlett Upson (1891–1975), author best known stories featuring Alexander Botts, a salesman for the Earthworm Tractor Company.
• Don Van Natta Jr. (born 1964), investigate reporter at The New York Times.
• Tom Verducci (born 1960), sportswriter for Sports Illustrated.
• Dick Zimmer (born 1944), former member of the United States House of Representatives who was the Republican candidate for United States Senate in 1996 and 2008.

Images for kids

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  Christ Church Episcopal

See also

In Spanish: Glen Ridge (Nueva Jersey) para niños