Florham Park, New Jersey facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Florham Park, New Jersey
Borough
200-year-old oak tree at Brooklake Country Club
Seal
Location of Florham Park in Morris County highlighted in red (right). Inset map: Location of Morris County in New Jersey highlighted in orange (left).
Census Bureau map of Florham Park, New Jersey
Florham Park, New Jersey Location in Morris County, New Jersey Show map of Morris County, New Jersey Florham Park, New Jersey Location in New Jersey Show map of New Jersey Florham Park, New Jersey Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Morris
Incorporated	March 9, 1899
Named for	Florham and Brooklake Park mansions
Government
• Type	Borough
• Body	Borough Council
Area
• Total	7.48 sq mi (19.37 km2)
• Land	7.31 sq mi (18.94 km2)
• Water	0.16 sq mi (0.42 km2)  2.23%
Area rank	236th of 565 in state 20th of 39 in county
Elevation	217 ft (66 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	12,585
• Estimate  (2023)	14,092
• Rank	202nd of 565 in state 16th of 39 in county
• Density	1,722.1/sq mi (664.9/km2)
• Density rank	318th of 565 in state 16th of 39 in county
Time zone	UTC−05:00 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (Eastern (EDT))
ZIP Code	07932
Area code(s)	973
FIPS code	3402723910
GNIS feature ID	0885221
Website

Florham Park is a borough in Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 12,585, its highest decennial count ever and an increase of 889 (+7.6%) from the 11,696 recorded at the 2010 census, which in turn reflected an increase of 2,839 (+32.1%) from the 8,857 counted in the 2000 census.

Florham Park was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 9, 1899, from portions of Chatham Township. In 2012, Forbes.com listed Florham Park as 440th in its listing of "America's Most Expensive ZIP Codes", with a median home price of $675,107.

Since 2008, Florham Park has been the main operations headquarters for the National Football League's New York Jets.

History

First occupied by the Lenape tribe of Native Americans, the area that is now Florham Park was first settled by European settlers of English and Dutch origin sometime between 1680 and 1700, and the community was long recognized as a prime farming area. The area was known for the manufacture of quality brooms, which was the source of one of its town names, Broomtown. At various times during its history, the area was known as Hoppingtown, Broomtown, Columbia, Afton, and finally Florham Park. It was part of Hanover Township, then Chatham Township before being incorporated as Florham Park in 1899.

Florence Adele Vanderbilt Twombly (1854–1952), granddaughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt, renowned as the richest man in America, and her husband, financier, Hamilton McKown Twombly, came to the Morris County countryside in 1887, joining over 100 other millionaires who owned sprawling country retreats. They fancied an English-style country mansion in a stately park setting. "Florham," built on 840 acres (3.4 km²), one of America's finest Gilded Age homes, was the result. The couple named their new estate "Florham," a combination of their first names, Florence and Hamilton. The second part to the name "Florham Park" received its name from a second mansion in town that was on about 1,000 acres (4.0 km²) of land situated where the current Brooklake Country Club is located. Owned by Leslie Ward—one of the founders of the Prudential Insurance Company and the first vice president of the company—it was named "Brooklake Park", partially because of the beautiful lake that was on the property.

Both of these families were supporters of many civic projects including the petitioning of the State of New Jersey to create their own municipality. After the legislature voted on March 9, 1899, the governor signed the bill on March 20, making Florham Park a borough. The new town was named after Florence and Hamilton Twombly's and Ward's estates.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 7.48 square miles (19.36 km²), including 7.31 square miles (18.93 km²) of land and 0.17 square miles (0.43 km²) of water (2.23%).

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

The borough is located in southeastern Morris County and is bordered to the south by Madison and Chatham Boroughs; to the north by Hanover and East Hanover Townships; to the west by Morris Township; and on the east by the Passaic River where it borders Essex County communities Livingston and Millburn Townships.

Demographics

2010 census

The 2010 United States census counted 11,696 people, 4,003 households, and 2,798 families in the borough. The population density was 1,604.9 per square mile (619.7/km²). There were 4,201 housing units at an average density of 576.4 per square mile (222.5/km²). The racial makeup was 86.35% (10,099) White, 4.35% (509) Black or African American, 0.07% (8) Native American, 6.37% (745) Asian, 0.07% (8) Pacific Islander, 1.10% (129) from other races, and 1.69% (198) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.08% (594) of the population.

Of the 4,003 households, 29.8% had children under the age of 18; 58.9% were married couples living together; 8.6% had a female householder with no husband present and 30.1% were non-families. Of all households, 26.7% were made up of individuals and 13.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.03.

19.2% of the population were under the age of 18, 18.9% from 18 to 24, 20.7% from 25 to 44, 24.4% from 45 to 64, and 16.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38.1 years. For every 100 females, the population had 83.6 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 79.4 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $106,227 (with a margin of error of +/− $10,030) and the median family income was $121,316 (+/− $8,544). Males had a median income of $92,857 (+/− $17,466) versus $61,331 (+/− $12,613) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $46,564 (+/− $4,867). About 0.5% of families and 2.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 0.7% of those under age 18 and 7.7% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

Florham Park is the North American headquarters of the BASF corporation, the world's largest chemical company. Nickel alloys producer VDM Metals USA (formerly operating under the name of ThyssenKrupp VDM USA and Precision Rolled Products) operates a melting plant in Florham Park. Business process services company Conduent is based in Florham Park.

The National Football League's New York Jets relocated their main headquarters in 2008 to the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center, located in Florham Park. The Jets relocated to Florham Park from their old facilities at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. The team holds its day-to-day operations during the year in Florham Park, while relocating during July and August to Cortland, New York, for training camp. Florham Park beat out Berkeley Heights, Jersey City, Millburn, South Amboy, and Wood-Ridge, which had all been finalists contending to be the host of the new facility.

Education

Saint Anne Villa

The Florham Park School District serves public school students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. As of the 2018–19 school year, the district, comprised of three schools, had an enrollment of 994 students and 92.2 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.8:1. The schools in the district (with 2018–19 school enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are Briarwood Elementary School with 358 students in grades Pre-K–2, Brooklake Elementary School with 313 students in grades 3–5 and Ridgedale Middle School with 319 students in grades 6–8.

Students in public school for ninth through twelfth grades are served by the Hanover Park Regional High School District, attending Hanover Park High School together with students from East Hanover Township, where the school is located. The district also serves students from the neighboring community of Hanover Township at Whippany Park High School in the Whippany section of Hanover Township. As of the 2018–2019 school year, the high school had an enrollment of 839 students and 76.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.0:1. The seats on the district's nine-member board of education are allocated to the constituent municipalities based on population, with Florham Park assigned three seats.

Holy Family School is a Catholic school operated under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson. The school opened in 1954 with 173 students and reached a peak enrollment of 700 in the 1960s.

Portions of the Saint Elizabeth University campus are in Florham Park, including the Villa of Saint Ann, a classical Greek amphitheater built into a hillside, and the original dairy farm for the complex. Portions of the Fairleigh Dickinson University's Florham Campus, also are located in Florham Park.

Transportation

Route 24 westbound in Florham Park

Roads and highways

As of May 2010^[update], the borough had a total of 48.73 miles (78.42 km) of roadways, of which 37.56 miles (60.45 km) were maintained by the municipality, 8.01 miles (12.89 km) by Morris County and 3.16 miles (5.09 km) by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

New Jersey Route 24 is the most prominent highway directly serving Florham Park. There is one interchange partially within the borough, Exit 2 (County Route 510), which also passes through the borough.

Public transportation

NJ Transit provides bus service from the borough to Newark on the 70 and 73 routes, with local service on the 878 route. Service had been offered on the MCM8 route, which was suspended in 2010 after subsidies to the contract provider were eliminated as part of NJ Transit budget cuts.

Notable people

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

Spencer Weisz

• Kary Antholis (born 1962), Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker
• William Antholis (born c. 1965), political scientist, who is director and CEO of the Miller Center of Public Affairs
• Tiki Barber (born 1975), former professional football who played for the New York Giants
• Salvatore A. Bontempo (1909–1989), politician who served as chairman of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee
• William Consovoy (1974–2023), attorney for conservative causes
• John T. Cunningham (1915–2012), New Jersey's popular historian
• Eric Duncan (born 1984), former professional baseball player
• Mark Guiliana (born 1980), drummer, composer, and leader of the band Beat Music
• Johan Hedberg (born 1973), former NHL goaltender
• Ralph A. Loveys (1929–2017), politician who was elected to three terms in the New Jersey General Assembly, where he represented the 26th Legislative District
• Archie Moore (born 1940), MLB player who appeared in 40 games for the New York Yankees in 1964 and 1965
• Bill Raftery (born 1943), basketball analyst and former college basketball coach
• Lange Schermerhorn (born 1939), career foreign service officer who served as United States Ambassador to Djibouti from December 1997 until November 2000
• Tony Siragusa (1967–2022), former football player with the Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens
• Snooki (born 1987), reality TV personality from the shows Jersey Shore and Snooki & Jwoww
• Florence Adele Vanderbilt Twombly (1854–1952), heiress and a member of the Vanderbilt family
• Hamilton McKown Twombly (1849–1910), businessman
• Spencer Weisz (born 1995), American-Israeli professional basketball player for Hapoel Haifa of the Israeli Basketball Premier League

See also

In Spanish: Florham Park para niños