Emerson, New Jersey facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Emerson, New Jersey
Borough
NJ Transit station in Emerson
coat of arms
Nickname(s):  "The Family Town"
Location of Emerson in Bergen County highlighted in red (left). Inset map: Location of Bergen County in New Jersey highlighted in orange (right).
Census Bureau map of Emerson, New Jersey
Emerson, New Jersey Location in Bergen County, New Jersey Show map of Bergen County, New Jersey Emerson, New Jersey Location in New Jersey Show map of New Jersey Emerson, New Jersey Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Bergen
Incorporated	April 8, 1903 (as Etna)
Name changed	March 9, 1909 (to Emerson)
Named for	Ralph Waldo Emerson
Government
• Type	Borough
• Body	Borough Council
Area
• Total	2.42 sq mi (6.27 km2)
• Land	2.23 sq mi (5.78 km2)
• Water	0.19 sq mi (0.49 km2)  7.85%
Area rank	379th of 565 in state 40th of 70 in county
Elevation	49 ft (15 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	7,290
• Estimate  (2023)	7,251
• Rank	311th of 565 in state 51st of 70 in county
• Density	3,267.6/sq mi (1,261.6/km2)
• Density rank	205th of 565 in state 43rd of 70 in county
Time zone	UTC−05:00 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (Eastern (EDT))
ZIP Code	07630
Area code(s)	201
FIPS code	3400321450
GNIS feature ID	0885208

Emerson is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, a suburb in the New York City metropolitan area. Emerson is the most southern municipality in an area of the county known as the Pascack Valley. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 7,290, a decrease of 111 (−1.5%) from the 2010 census count of 7,401, which in turn reflected an increase of 204 (+2.8%) from the 7,197 counted in the 2000 census.

What is now Emerson was originally formed on April 8, 1903, from portions of Washington Township as the Borough of Etna, the name of a railroad station in the community. The name was changed to Emerson as of March 9, 1909. The name came from author Ralph Waldo Emerson. The borough calls itself "The Family Town".

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 2.42 square miles (6.27 km²), including 2.23 square miles (5.78 km²) of land and 0.19 square miles (0.49 km²) of water (7.85%).

Unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the borough include Old Hook.

The borough borders the Bergen County municipalities of Closter, Harrington Park, Haworth, Oradell, Paramus, River Vale, Washington Township and Westwood.

Demographics

2010 census

The 2010 United States census counted 7,401 people, 2,480 households, and 1,967 families in the borough. The population density was 3,358.9 per square mile (1,296.9/km²). There were 2,552 housing units at an average density of 1,158.2 per square mile (447.2/km²). The racial makeup was 87.31% (6,462) White, 1.08% (80) Black or African American, 0.04% (3) Native American, 8.55% (633) Asian, 0.11% (8) Pacific Islander, 1.15% (85) from other races, and 1.76% (130) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 8.36% (619) of the population.

Of the 2,480 households, 36.2% had children under the age of 18; 67.7% were married couples living together; 8.0% had a female householder with no husband present and 20.7% were non-families. Of all households, 18.1% were made up of individuals and 11.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.89 and the average family size was 3.29.

23.9% of the population were under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 21.3% from 25 to 44, 29.0% from 45 to 64, and 19.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44.3 years. For every 100 females, the population had 92.1 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 86.0 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $99,292 (with a margin of error of +/− $12,946) and the median family income was $108,300 (+/− $12,689). Males had a median income of $71,868 (+/− $16,071) versus $69,271 (+/− $15,233) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $39,501 (+/− $4,093). About 0.7% of families and 1.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including none of those under age 18 and 4.5% of those age 65 or over.

Same-sex couples headed 17 households in 2010, an increase from the 14 counted in 2000.

Economy

Pascack Valley Shopping Center is a shopping center located on Kinderkamack Road. It had a movie theater and bowling alley.

Parks and recreation

Parks in the borough include:

• Ackerman Park, located on Ackerman Avenue. It has a playground, basketball courts, a bocci court, and picnic area.
• Centennial Park, located on Main Street, has a gazebo and walking path and a residents-only community garden (opened in 2017) managed by the Environmental Commission. It was named Centennial Park in 2003 in honor Emerson's 100th Anniversary.
• Hillman Park, located on Thomas Street, was created on land donated by borough resident Richard Hillman. It has baseball fields such as, Ken Benkovic Jr. Memorial Field, which was a majors field that is fenced in and a lighted field, and Babes Field which is also a lighted field behind the firehouse but is also located on Thomas Street. There is also a soccer field, and a playground. There is also a library and a community center located next to the park.
• Rosengart Park, sometimes referred as "Sunset Park", is a park located on Sunset Place. It has a playground.
• Veterans' Park, a memorial park located on High Street, with monuments honoring veterans from Emerson.
• Washington Park, a park located on Washington Avenue.General Washington camped at this location before heading to Delaware to cross the Delaware River.It has a playground and a picnic area.
• Emerson Woods covers approximately 19 acres (7.7 ha) of woodland along Main Street east of the high school, and is located in the buffer area of the Oradell Reservoir. The property was slated for townhouse development, but local opposition resulted in the parcel being purchased by the borough in 2001, with the aid of grants from the county and state. It remains in its natural state, with the addition of trails to make the property accessible to visitors.

Education

The Emerson School District serves public school students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 2021–22 school year, the district, comprised of three schools, had an enrollment of 1,085 students and 98.4 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.0:1. Schools in the district (with 2021–22 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are Memorial Elementary School with 364 students in PreK-2, Patrick M. Villano Elementary School with 232 students in grades 3-6 and Emerson Junior-Senior High School with 461 students in grades 7-12.

Public school students from the borough, and all of Bergen County, are eligible to attend the secondary education programs offered by the Bergen County Technical Schools, which include the Bergen County Academies in Hackensack, and the Bergen Tech campus in Teterboro or Paramus. The district offers programs on a shared-time or full-time basis, with admission based on a selective application process and tuition covered by the student's home school district.

Assumption Academy, which had operated under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, closed its elementary school program for grades 1–8 in June 2012 due to declining enrollment, which it had been struggling to keep up for several years prior.

Transportation

View east along County Route 502 in Emerson

Roads and highways

As of May 2010^[update], the borough had a total of 30.87 miles (49.68 km) of roadways, of which 28.54 miles (45.93 km) were maintained by the municipality and 2.33 miles (3.75 km) by Bergen County.

The most significant roads serving Emerson are County Route 502 (Old Hook Road) and County Route 503 (Kinderkamack Road).

Public transportation

The Emerson station, located at the intersection of Linwood Avenue and Kinderkamack Road, provides service on NJ Transit's Pascack Valley Line. This line runs north–south to Hoboken Terminal with connections via the Secaucus Junction transfer station to NJ Transit one-stop service to New York Penn Station and to ten other NJ Transit rail lines. Connections are available at the Hoboken Terminal to other NJ Transit rail lines, the PATH train at the Hoboken PATH station, New York Waterways ferry service to the World Financial Center and other destinations and Hudson-Bergen Light Rail service.

NJ Transit provides bus service on the 165 route to and from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan.

Rockland Coaches routes 11A/11AT provide service to the Port Authority Bus Terminal and to Rockland County, New York.

Bomb threat

On September 19, 2007, there was a threat made to the Emerson School System. A letter addressed to Emerson Mayor Lou Lamatina was received around 10:30 a.m. in a small envelope, along with what appeared to be a computer-printed address pasted onto the front, authorities said. The note inside appeared to also be computer-generated, and was pasted on a blank piece of paper; it read, "All three schools will be blown out on Thursday, Sept. 20th at 11:30 a.m., with two other schools in nearby towns." The note was later sent to the Bergen County Sheriff's Office for forensic examination.

All three Emerson Schools were immediately evacuated by a fire drill around 11:00, and neither students nor teachers were allowed to collect any of their belongings, including backpacks, cell phones, and purses. Seniors were allowed to retrieve their cars later that day, but nobody else was allowed near the school.

Members of the Bergen County bomb squad were sent to Emerson on Wednesday morning; however, a search of the district's schools revealed nothing dangerous or extraordinary. The bomb squad also searched Oradell and Washington Township schools, and searched Emerson's Assumption Academy on Thursday morning.

Thirteen districts closed their schools for September 20, 2007, including Emerson, Westwood, Washington Township, Oradell, River Edge, Closter, River Vale, Demarest, Haworth, Harrington Park, Northvale, Norwood, and Old Tappan. Some selected Catholic grammar and high schools were closed. The bomb threat affected 12,000–14,000 students, including 1,200 from Emerson alone. The schools were closed for two days until they were deemed safe.

Points of interest

• Cedar Park Cemetery
• Emerson Public Library was formed in 1957 and moved to its current facility in 1974.
• Soldier Hill Golf Club – The Bergen County Freeholders spent $8.5 million to acquire the semi-private course, which opened in 1963 and covers portions of both Emerson and Oradell near the Oradell Reservoir on 140 acres (57 ha) of land that had been owned by United Water until it sold off the property in 2008.

Notable people

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

• Aron Abrams (1960–2010), screenwriter
• Nicki Gross (born 1989), assistant coach for the Iowa Energy of the NBA G League
• Kevin Higgins (born 1955), assistant football coach and WR coach at Wake Forest University
• Sonny Igoe (1923–2012), jazz drummer
• Andy Papathanassiou, pit crew coordinator of NASCAR's Hendrick Motorsports

See also

In Spanish: Emerson (Nueva Jersey) para niños