Dover, New Jersey facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Dover, New Jersey
Town
Blackwell Street Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Seal
Location of Dover in Morris County highlighted in red (right). Inset map: Location of Morris County in New Jersey highlighted in orange (left).
Census Bureau map of Dover, New Jersey
Dover, New Jersey Location in Morris County, New Jersey Show map of Morris County, New Jersey Dover, New Jersey Location in New Jersey Show map of New Jersey Dover, New Jersey Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Morris
Incorporated	April 1, 1869
Independent	March 5, 1896
Named for	Dover, England or Dover, New Hampshire
Government
• Type	Town
• Body	Town Council
Area
• Total	2.73 sq mi (7.06 km2)
• Land	2.68 sq mi (6.93 km2)
• Water	0.05 sq mi (0.13 km2)  1.90%
Area rank	362nd of 565 in state 29th of 39 in county
Elevation	558 ft (170 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	18,460
• Estimate  (2022)	18,422
• Rank	148th of 565 in state 10th of 39 in county
• Density	6,898.4/sq mi (2,663.5/km2)
• Density rank	68th of 565 in state 3rd of 39 in county
Time zone	UTC−05:00 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (Eastern (EDT))
ZIP Codes	07801–07803, 07806, 07809
Area code(s)	973
FIPS code	3402718070
GNIS feature ID	0885196

Dover is a town in Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located on the Rockaway River, Dover is about 31 miles (50 km) west of New York City and about 23 miles (37 km) west of Newark, New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the town's population was 18,460, an increase of 303 (+1.7%) from the 2010 census count of 18,157, which in turn reflected a decline of 31 (−0.2%) from the 18,188 counted in the 2000 census.

Dover is a majority minority community, with nearly 70% of the population as of the 2010 census identifying themselves as Hispanic, up from 25% in 1980.

History

Joseph Latham was deeded the land that includes present-day Dover in 1713, from portions of land that had been purchased from Native Americans by the Proprietors of West Jersey. On May 31, 1722, Latham and his wife Jane deeded 527 acres (2.13 km²) over to John Jackson of Flushing, New York. Jackson settled on the eastern portion of his land along Granny's Brook at the site of what would later become the Ross Ribbon Factory on Park Heights Avenue.

Iron ore at the time was so plentiful that it could be collected off the ground at the nearby Dickerson Mine in Mine Hill. At Jackson's Forge, ore would be processed into bars that would then be transported to Paterson and other industrial areas towards the east. The passage of the Iron Act by the British Parliament led to financial difficulties, leading Jackson into bankruptcy in 1753, with all of his property and belongings sold off at a Sheriff's sale. Quaker Hartshorne Fitz Randolph purchased Jackson's property and annexed to his own existing property, which would later become part of Randolph Township.

Dover was incorporated as a town on April 1, 1869, within Randolph Township and became fully independent as of March 5, 1896. The town charter was amended in 1875. On May 7, 1896, Dover was reincorporated as a city and regained its status as a town on March 21, 1899, after the referendum that approved the change was invalidated by a court ruling.

In its past, Dover has had extensive iron and mill works, machine shops, stove, furnace, and range works, boiler and bridge works, rolling mills, drill works, knitting and silk mills, and a large hosiery factory (MacGregors). During this period, Dover was a port on the Morris Canal while it was operational; the boat basin was located at what is today the JFK Commons Park.

Sources attribute the town's name to Dover, England or Dover, New Hampshire.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town had a total area of 2.73 square miles (7.06 km²), including 2.68 square miles (6.93 km²) of land and 0.05 square miles (0.13 km²) of water (1.90%).

The borough borders the Morris County municipalities of Mine Hill Township, Randolph, Rockaway Township, Victory Gardens and Wharton.

Demographics

2010 census

The 2010 United States census counted 18,157 people, 5,562 households, and 3,877 families in the town. The population density was 6,765.5 per square mile (2,612.2/km²). There were 5,783 housing units at an average density of 2,154.8 per square mile (832.0/km²). The racial makeup was 66.55% (12,083) White, 6.10% (1,108) Black or African American, 0.63% (114) Native American, 2.54% (461) Asian, 0.05% (9) Pacific Islander, 19.88% (3,610) from other races, and 4.25% (772) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 69.38% (12,598) of the population.

Of the 5,562 households, 33.0% had children under the age of 18; 43.6% were married couples living together; 15.7% had a female householder with no husband present and 30.3% were non-families. Of all households, 22.6% were made up of individuals and 9.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.21 and the average family size was 3.54.

21.6% of the population were under the age of 18, 10.5% from 18 to 24, 32.8% from 25 to 44, 24.5% from 45 to 64, and 10.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35.5 years. For every 100 females, the population had 110.9 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 111.2 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $59,454 (with a margin of error of +/− $3,227) and the median family income was $61,187 (+/− $2,750). Males had a median income of $34,722 (+/− $4,750) versus $28,098 (+/− $4,993) for females. The per capita income for the town was $21,581 (+/− $990). About 3.6% of families and 10.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.8% of those under age 18 and 15.8% of those age 65 or over.

The 2010 Census showed that Dover's Hispanic population accounted for 69.4% of all residents, ranked fifth in the state by percentage, while 13% of New Jersey's population was Hispanic; the city was one of 13 municipalities in the state with a Hispanic majority. The town had notable percentages of residents who were Colombians (15.2% of all residents), Mexicans (14.9%), Puerto Ricans (11.1%), Ecuadorians (5.6%), Hondurans (4.7%) and Peruvians (2.8%), with smaller percentages (from 1-2%) of Costa Ricans, Uruguayans, Chileans and Salvadorans.

Points of interest

• The Baker's Opera House is a historic theatre located on Blackwell Street and listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
• The Dover station is a historic train station listed on the NRHP.
• The Blackwell Street Historic District, listed on the NRHP, contains 52 contributing buildings.

• 

  Baker's Opera House

• 

  Dover station

Parks and recreation

• Hedden County Park, on Reservoir Avenue, is a 380-acre (1.5 km²) Morris County park, is partly located in Dover, with park entrances in Randolph. An active park, mostly in Randolph Township, with a picnic pavilion and tables, stone cooking grills for picnics in the woods, paddle boats in season, playgrounds, ball fields and hiking trails.
• Hamilton Field is one of Dover's recreation centers, featuring a football field with bleachers, soccer fields, and a historic cinder track. This facility is restricted to school use and is not open to the public.
• JFK Memorial Commons Park consists of a children's play park and the town Gazebo. JFK Park hosts the town's annual Christmas tree lighting, Easter egg hunt, Halloween parade, summer concerts and on occasions ceremonies following town parades. The park was constructed by filling in the basin for the old Morris Canal. The name was given following the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963.
• Crescent Field includes a new turf soccer field and is the hosting site for Dover's annual Colombian Festival.
• Water Works Park consists of a baseball field, picnic area, and accessible banks of the Rockaway River. The Water Commission purchased the lane in 1902 and developed wells for much needed water to a growing community. In 1933, the land became a playground for picnicking and swimming in the nearby Rockaway River.
• Hurd Park is a passive park with no playgrounds or ballfields. Ideal location for wedding and graduation photographs with its Greek style pavilion having fluted columns and a circular gazebo-like center with a red-tiled roof and a scenic background. Donated to the town in 1911 by John Hurd, the park is also host to a 1922 World War I Spirit of the American Doughboy statue, one of a few found around the country. The park also displays a Civil War Memorial, a Spanish American War Memorial and a brick-walk memorial naming those on stone bricks who served in the Armed Forces. The park is also adjacent to Indian Falls, a scenic walk along the Jackson Brook to Hedden Park.
• Triangle Park. In downtown Dover at the foot of Prospect Street, the small park is maintained by Dover's Renaissance Club and the home of Hudson Favell's "Story Poles."
• Hooey Park is a small neighborhood park with a climbing playground for kids located in the Salem Village section of town.
• Richards Avenue Park is a small park built on a vacant lot consisting of a small climbing playground for kids.
• Bowlby Park and King Field located in North Dover was developed for Little League Baseball, soccer and high school girls softball games.
• Mountain Park is located in South Dover on the old Munson Mine Tract and is being developed for hiking trails.

Government

Local government

Dover operates using the Town form of government, one of nine municipalities (of the 564) statewide that use this form of government. The governing body is comprised of the Mayor and the Town Council who are chosen on a partisan basis as part of the November general election. The Mayor is elected at-large to a four-year term of office. The Towns Council is comprised of eight members, with two council members elected to two-year terms from each of the four wards on a staggered basis, with one seat coming up for election each year in each ward. The governing body had been known as the Board of Aldermen until October 2023, when the name was changed to the Town Council, making it the last municipality in the state to have used the term Aldermen.

Education

The Dover School District serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 2021–22 school year, the district, comprised of five schools, had an enrollment of 3,448 students and 244.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 14.1:1. Schools in the district (with 2021–22 enrollment from the National Center for Education Statistics) are Academy Street Elementary School with 470 students in grades K-6, East Dover Elementary School with 389 students in grades K-6, North Dover Elementary School with 658 students in grades PreK-6, Dover Middle School with 524 students in grades 7-8 and Dover High School with 1,094 students in grades 9-12.

The district serves students from Victory Gardens, which has been fully consolidated into the Dover School District since 2010. Students in grades 7–12 from Mine Hill Township attend the district's schools as part of a sending/receiving relationship.

Sacred Heart School was a Catholic school serving students in pre-school through eighth grade that operated under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson. A successful fundraising effort in 2006 had kept the school open despite plans to close the school, but in 2009 the Paterson Diocese announced that declining enrollment and financial difficulties would lead to the school's closure at the conclusion of the 2008–2009 school year.

The Joe Kubert School of Cartoon and Graphic Art, a technical school founded in 1976 by cartoonist Joe Kubert and his wife Muriel and the only accredited school devoted to cartooning and graphic art, is located in Dover.

Infrastructure

Transportation

U.S. Route 46 westbound in Dover

Roads and highways

As of May 2010^[update], the town had a total of 42.84 miles (68.94 km) of roadways, of which 34.39 miles (55.35 km) were maintained by the municipality, 4.85 miles (7.81 km) by Morris County and 3.60 miles (5.79 km) by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

Highways directly serving Dover include U.S. Route 46, New Jersey Route 15 and County Route 513. Interstate 80 is accessible from several neighboring towns.

Public transportation

Dover is served by NJ Transit bus routes 875 and 880, replacing service on the MCM2, MCM5, MCM7 and MCM10 routes until June 2010, when NJ Transit eliminated the subsidy as part of budget cuts.

NJ Transit Morristown Line and Montclair-Boonton Line trains stop at the Dover station. Trains operate to Hackettstown, Netcong, Boonton, Morristown, Montclair State University, Summit, the Oranges, Newark, Hoboken, New York City, and intermediate points.

Lakeland Bus Lines provides regular service to Sparta, Newton, Mount Olive, Rockaway, Boonton, Parsippany, Wayne, New York City, and intermediate points from their terminal on the Rockaway Township border. Service is also provided from Wednesday to Sunday between Dover and Atlantic City

The Morris County Department of Transportation also operates bus service along Route 46 to Netcong and Mount Olive Township.

Air

Newark Airport Control Tower

Dover is located approximately 15 minutes west of Morristown Municipal Airport, and approximately 40 minutes west of Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark / Elizabeth.

Health care

Dover is served by St. Clare's Dover General Hospital, located on Route 46, which is the local medical facility for Dover and other communities in western Morris County. Saint Clare's Denville Hospital is located 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Dover in Denville, and Morristown Medical Center is located 11 miles (18 km) east of Dover in Morristown. The Zufall Health Center, founded in 1990, is located on Warren Street and provides basic medical and dental services to low-income residents of Dover and neighboring communities.

Community

The community of Dover is centered around a developed downtown area around Blackwell Street, featuring many eateries primarily owned and run by Hispanics of various countries, offering their ethnic food. Other culinary establishments include sushi, pizza, coffee shops, and popular Irish and Italian food.

Dover has been described as a walking town, as most parts of town are within about a 1/2 mile of the downtown area and most streets have sidewalks.

Notable people

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

See also

In Spanish: Dover (Nueva Jersey) para niños