Fanwood, New Jersey facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Fanwood, New Jersey
Borough
Fanwood station on the Raritan Valley Line
Seal
Location of Fanwood in Union County highlighted in yellow (left). Inset map: Location of Union County in New Jersey highlighted in black (right).
Census Bureau map of Fanwood, New Jersey
Fanwood, New Jersey Location in Union County, New Jersey Show map of Union County, New Jersey Fanwood, New Jersey Location in New Jersey Show map of New Jersey Fanwood, New Jersey Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Union
Incorporated	October 2, 1895
Named for	Fannie Wood
Government
• Type	Borough
• Body	Borough Council
Area
• Total	1.34 sq mi (3.47 km2)
• Land	1.34 sq mi (3.47 km2)
• Water	0.00 sq mi (0.00 km2)  0.00%
Area rank	465th of 565 in state 18th of 21 in county
Elevation	157 ft (48 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	7,774
• Estimate  (2023)	7,655
• Rank	301st of 565 in state 18th of 21 in county
• Density	5,801.5/sq mi (2,240.0/km2)
• Density rank	94th of 565 in state 10th of 21 in county
Time zone	UTC−05:00 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (Eastern (EDT))
ZIP Code	07023
Area code(s)	908 exchanges: 322, 490, 889
FIPS code	3403922860
GNIS feature ID	0885216

Fanwood is a borough in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located on a ridge in northern-central New Jersey, the borough is a commuter town of New York City in the New York metropolitan area. Fanwood is located in the Raritan Valley and Rahway Valley regions. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 7,774, an increase of 456 (+6.2%) from the 2010 census count of 7,318, which in turn reflected an increase of 144 (+2.0%) from the 7,174 counted in the 2000 census.

Fanwood was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on October 2, 1895, from portions of Fanwood Township (now known as Scotch Plains), based on the results of a referendum held the previous day. The borough was named for Fannie Wood, an author.

History

In 1831, the Elizabethtown and Somerville Railroad received a legislative charter to construct a railroad through the area. The line reached here in 1837 and a station, known as the Scotch Plains station, was built in 1839. The company became the Central Railroad of New Jersey in 1849. The line was later moved to reduce the grade and a new station, known as the Fanwood station, was built in 1874. At the same time, the Central New Jersey Land Improvement Company began development of Fanwood Park, a residential community around the station. The development featured curvilinear streets. John Taylor Johnston, then president of CNJ, named the community after his wife, Frances, also known as Fanny, according to his daughter, Emily. In 1878, Fanwood Township was created from Plainfield and Westfield Townships.

Historic district

Fanwood Park Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
Urner/Gibbs House
Location	North Avenue and North Martine Avenue Fanwood, New Jersey
Area	52 acres (21 ha)
Architectural style	Early Republic, Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals
NRHP reference No.	04000516
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	May 27, 2004

The Fanwood Park Historic District is a 52-acre (21 ha) historic district located along North Avenue and North Martine Avenue in the community. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 27, 2004, for its significance in architecture, community planning and development, landscape architecture, and transportation. The district has 57 contributing buildings, including the Fanwood station, which was previously listed individually on the NRHP. A key contributing property, the Georgian Revival style Urner/Gibbs house was built in 1894 by Benjamin Urner, as a wedding gift for his daughter who had married William M. Gibbs.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 1.34 square miles (3.47 km²), all of which was land.

The borough is bordered by Plainfield in the southwest and by Scotch Plains in all other directions.

The Robinsons Branch of the Rahway River additionally flows through Fanwood en route to the Robinson's Branch Reservoir.

Demographics

2010 census

The 2010 United States census counted 7,318 people, 2,627 households, and 2,070 families in the borough. The population density was 5,454.1 per square mile (2,105.8/km²). There were 2,686 housing units at an average density of 2,001.9 per square mile (772.9/km²). The racial makeup was 84.72% (6,200) White, 5.30% (388) Black or African American, 0.14% (10) Native American, 6.75% (494) Asian, 0.00% (0) Pacific Islander, 0.97% (71) from other races, and 2.12% (155) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.26% (458) of the population.

Of the 2,627 households, 41.0% had children under the age of 18; 68.7% were married couples living together; 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present and 21.2% were non-families. Of all households, 18.8% were made up of individuals and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.78 and the average family size was 3.19.

27.7% of the population were under the age of 18, 4.8% from 18 to 24, 25.5% from 25 to 44, 28.0% from 45 to 64, and 14.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.5 years. For every 100 females, the population had 95.0 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 89.3 males. The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $127,450 (with a margin of error of +/− $8,852) and the median family income was $135,833 (+/− $6,654). Males had a median income of $92,262 (+/− $13,007) versus $62,845 (+/− $6,933) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $43,194 (+/− $2,939). About 0.6% of families and 2.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including none of those under age 18 and 2.8% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

Downtown Fanwood at night

In 2014 Fanwood was recipient of a 2014 New Jersey Future Smart Growth Award for its downtown development plan.

Education

Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School

Public school students in Fanwood attend the schools of the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Regional School District, which serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade from Fanwood and Scotch Plains. The district has five elementary schools (Pre-K/K–4), two middle schools (5–8) and a comprehensive high school (9–12), all of which are located in Scotch Plains. Students from School One, Evergreen and Brunner pool into Park Middle School, while students from Coles and McGinn feed into Terrill. School One is the only elementary school that teaches English as a second language. Most students from Park Middle School and Terrill Middle school continue their high school education at the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School. As of the 2018–19 school year, the district, comprised of eight schools, had an enrollment of 5,649 students and 438.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.9:1. Seats on the district's nine-member board of education are allocated based on the population of the constituent districts, with two seats assigned to Fanwood.

Schools in the district (with 2018–19 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are Howard B. Brunner Elementary School with 414 students in grades Pre-K–4, J. Ackerman Coles School with 552 students in grades Pre-K–4, Evergreen School with 402 students in grades Pre-K–4, William J. McGinn School with 512 students in grades K–4, School One with 395 students in grades Pre-K–4, Park Middle School with 909 students in grades 5–8, Terrill Middle School with 811 students in grades 5–8 and Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School with 1,574 students in grades 9–12.

Transportation

Roads and highways

Route 28 in Fanwood

As of May 2010^[update], the borough had a total of 26.35 miles (42.41 km) of roadways, of which 20.58 miles (33.12 km) were maintained by the municipality, 4.62 miles (7.44 km) by Union County and 1.15 miles (1.85 km) by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

Route 28 (known in Fanwood as South Avenue) passes through the borough, connecting Plainfield and Scotch Plains.

Another major thoroughfare is South and North Martine Avenue, which connects Fanwood to U.S. Route 22 .

Public transportation

View of Fanwood Station South Side Parking Lot from overpass bridge

The Fanwood station is an NJ Transit railroad station on the Raritan Valley Line. The building on the north side of the tracks (westbound platform) is a Victorian building and, like the north building at Westfield station, is used by a non-profit organization. The ticket office is in the station building on the south side of the tracks (eastbound platform). The station provides service to Newark Penn Station, and from there to Hoboken Terminal or Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan.

Currently riders can take one seat rides to Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan during rush hour on weekdays, with transfer at Newark Penn Station required to reach to New York Penn Station at all other times, including weekends. The Raritan Valley Railroad Coalition has been promoting the economic benefits of one-seat ride access to New York City since 1998. RVRC has succeeded in gaining one-seat rides during off peak hours during the week; there are nine trains in each direction where riders do not need to transfer at Newark Penn Station. The ultimate goal of RVRC is to extend such one-seat rides during rush hours, which would have been achieved with the Access to the Region's Core tunnel program, but this was cancelled by then Governor Chris Christie.

NJ Transit offers bus service to and from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan on the 113 and local service on the 822 route.

Newark Liberty International Airport is approximately 25 minutes away to the east.

Notable people

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

• Edith Ajello (born 1944), politician who has served as a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives
• H. W. Ambruster (1879–1961), football coach, chemical engineer, actor and lecturer
• Bill Austin (born c. 1937), former football player
• Derrick Caracter (born 1988), power forward/center who played for the Los Angeles Lakers, now with A.S. Ramat HaSharon of the Israeli Liga Leumit
• Maryanne Connelly (born 1945), former mayor of Fanwood and 2000 House candidate
• Gerry Cooney (born 1956), boxer
• Róisín Egenton, selected The Rose of Tralee in 2000
• Emma Kenney (born 1999), actress who portrayed Debbie Gallagher on Shameless
• Eleanor C. Lambertsen (1916–1998), nurse who was inducted into the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame in 2012
• William Lowell Jr. (1863–1954), golf tee manufacturer
• Hiram Maxim (1840–1916), inventor of the Maxim gun, a curling iron, fire sprinklers, and other devices
• Hiram Percy Maxim (1869–1936), inventor, radio pioneer and founder of the American Radio Relay League
• Michael Noriega (born 1978), lawyer who is a nominee to serve as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey
• Zahid Quraishi (born 1975), United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
• Todd D. Robinson (born c. 1963), American diplomat who was U.S. ambassador to Guatemala and Venezuela, and is now a senior advisor for Central America in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs
• Linda Stender (born 1951), member of the New Jersey General Assembly, and former mayor of Fanwood
• Robert T. Stevens (1899–1983), businessman and former chairman of J.P. Stevens and Company
• Sada Thompson (1927–2011), actress
• Thomas Chatterton Williams (born 1981), cultural critic and author, whose works include the 2019 book Self-Portrait in Black and White

See also

In Spanish: Fanwood para niños