Kenilworth, New Jersey facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Kenilworth, New Jersey
Borough
Kenilworth Municipal Building
Seal
Map of Kenilworth in Union County. Inset: Location of Union County highlighted in the State of New Jersey.
Census Bureau map of Kenilworth, New Jersey
Kenilworth, New Jersey Location in Union County, New Jersey Show map of Union County, New Jersey Kenilworth, New Jersey Location in New Jersey Show map of New Jersey Kenilworth, New Jersey Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Union
Incorporated	May 13, 1907
Named for	Kenilworth Castle
Government
• Type	Borough
• Body	Borough Council
Area
• Total	2.15 sq mi (5.57 km2)
• Land	2.15 sq mi (5.56 km2)
• Water	0.00 sq mi (0.01 km2)  0.19%
Area rank	398th of 565 in state 17th of 21 in county
Elevation	115 ft (35 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	8,427
• Estimate  (2023)	8,259
• Rank	282nd of 565 in state 17th of 21 in county
• Density	3,925.0/sq mi (1,515.5/km2)
• Density rank	166th of 565 in state 14th of 21 in county
Time zone	UTC−05:00 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (Eastern (EDT))
ZIP Code	07033
Area code(s)	908
FIPS code	3403936690
GNIS feature ID	0885267
Website

Kenilworth is a borough in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 8,427, an increase of 513 (+6.5%) from the 2010 census count of 7,914, which in turn reflected an increase of 239 (+3.1%) from the 7,675 counted in the 2000 census.

Kenilworth was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on May 13, 1907, from portions of Cranford and Union Township, based on the results of a referendum held on June 18, 1907.

History

Upsala College

In the late 1890s, the New Orange Industrial Association purchased land in Cranford and Union that was subdivided into building lots. The firm brought in several large industries and lured Upsala College from Brooklyn with an offer of cash and free land for its campus.

Because New Orange was often confused with one of The Oranges in Essex County, the name "Kenilworth" was chosen when the borough was incorporated in 1907. The name Kenilworth came from a literary society (The Kenilworth Club) which the businessmen belonged to. The Kenilworth Club was named in honor of the novel Kenilworth written in 1821 by Sir Walter Scott. The novel refers to England's Kenilworth Castle located in Kenilworth, England.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 2.15 square miles (5.57 km²), including 2.15 square miles (5.56 km²) of land and <0.01 square miles (0.01 km²) of water (0.19%).

The upper reaches of Rahway River Parkway along tributaries of the Rahway River run through the borough.

The borough is bordered to the north and east by Union Township, to the southeast by Roselle Park, to the southwest by Cranford, and to the northwest by Springfield Township.

Parks and recreation

Lenape Park is a 450-acre (180 ha) wildlife reserve and park that is part of the Rahway River Parkway in Union County. The park also includes portions of Cranford, Springfield and Westfield. An approximately 4.5-mile off-road paved pedestrian path stretches eastbound from Mountainside Police Headquarters in Mountainside, through Echo Lake Park in Westfield, Lenape Park in Westfield and Cranford, Black Brook Park in Kenilworth, and ending near 505 North Michigan Avenue in Kenilworth.

Kenilworth RVRR rail trail

Galloping Hill Golf Course in November 2022

Area residents have proposed a 7.3-mile pedestrian linear park along the "main line" of the abandoned Rahway Valley Railroad that would run through Kenilworth. The rail trail would run eastbound from Overlook Medical Center on the edge of downtown Summit and head south through Springfield, Union, over Route 22 to Kenilworth. In Kenilworth, it would pass between Party City and Burger King on Route 22, run behind Retro Fitness, running south past the Galloping Hill Golf Course, and end at the southwest edge of Roselle Park at the Cranford border.

A northern portion of the rail trail on the RVRR main line is under construction as the Summit Park Line, with a footbridge over Morris Avenue installed in October 2022. In parallel, advocates have been pushing for immediate development of the portion of the RVRR Main Line south of Route 22, running past the Galloping Hill Golf Course through Kenilworth and Roselle Park. The New Jersey Department of Transportation, which owns the railbed, has been working to clear it in anticipation of possible future trail use for pedestrians and cyclists.

Demographics

2010 census

The 2010 United States census counted 7,914 people, 2,841 households, and 2,102 families in the borough. The population density was 3,668.3 per square mile (1,416.3/km²). There were 2,924 housing units at an average density of 1,355.3 per square mile (523.3/km²). The racial makeup was 88.07% (6,970) White, 2.91% (230) Black or African American, 0.14% (11) Native American, 3.84% (304) Asian, 0.03% (2) Pacific Islander, 3.31% (262) from other races, and 1.71% (135) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 15.52% (1,228) of the population.

Of the 2,841 households, 31.6% had children under the age of 18; 55.2% were married couples living together; 13.3% had a female householder with no husband present and 26.0% were non-families. Of all households, 21.2% were made up of individuals and 10.5% 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 3.26.

21.8% of the population were under the age of 18, 7.8% from 18 to 24, 26.7% from 25 to 44, 28.1% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.9 years. For every 100 females, the population had 93.9 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 90.0 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $76,500 (with a margin of error of +/− $8,607) and the median family income was $84,097 (+/− $6,220). Males had a median income of $58,327 (+/− $7,147) versus $42,589 (+/− $5,730) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $31,959 (+/− $2,853). About 4.0% of families and 5.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.6% of those under age 18 and 4.5% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

Companies headquartered in Kenilworth include Maingear, a privately held computer manufacturer specializing in custom gaming computers, desktops, custom laptops, media center computers and workstations, all of which are manufactured in the United States.

Merck & Co. announced plans in October 2013 to move its global headquarters to Kenilworth from Whitehouse Station in Readington Township, on a site that the company had previously used as a manufacturing facility, with the relocation to be completed by 2015. The campus had been used as the global headquarters for Schering-Plough, which was acquired by Merck in 2009. In April 2020, Merck announced that it would be moving its global headquarters from Kenilworth to Rahway by the end of 2023.

Arts and culture

Since 2004, the Hudson Shakespeare Company has brought their Shakespeare in the Park programs to the Kenilworth Library known as the "Bard on the Boulevard". The Friends of the Kenilworth Library, with the assistance of a grant from the Union County Office of Cultural Affairs, sponsor these events.

Education

The Kenilworth Public Schools serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 2018–19 school year, the district, comprised of two schools, had an enrollment of 1,466 students and 126.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.6:1. Schools in the district (with 2018–19 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are Warren G. Harding Elementary School with 690 students in grades Pre-K–6 and David Brearley Middle School / David Brearley High School with 757 students in grades 7–12.

Students from Winfield Township attend David Brearley High School as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Winfield Township School District.

Kenilworth is home to a Roman Catholic elementary school at St. Theresa's, which was founded in 1954 and serves students in pre-school through eighth grade through the Salesians of Don Bosco.

Transportation

View north along the Garden State Parkway in Kenilworth

Roads and highways

As of May 2010^[update], the borough had a total of 29.62 miles (47.67 km) of roadways, of which 24.22 miles (38.98 km) were maintained by the municipality, 4.00 miles (6.44 km) by Union County and 0.04 miles (0.064 km) by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

Kenilworth is served by two county routes, County Route 509 and County Route 617. CR 509 (Boulevard) runs west–east through the borough, connecting it to Cranford, Springfield and Westfield in one direction and Union and Roselle Park in the other. CR 617 (Michigan Avenue) runs north–south, connecting Union and U.S. Route 22 at its north end to Roselle Park and Route 28 at its south end. The Garden State Parkway cuts northeast–southwest through the town, with Interchange 138 at CR 509 serving much of the town's long-distance travelers.

Public transportation

NJ Transit provides bus service between Kenilworth and the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan in New York City and to New Jersey points, including the city of Elizabeth and nearby Union County College in Cranford. Local service is available on the 58 route, which is a direct descendant of Kenilworth's trolley route in the early 20th century.

The closest NJ Transit rail station is Roselle Park, less than a mile from the Kenilworth border and offering direct service into New York City's Penn Station on the Raritan Valley Line.

The Rahway Valley Railroad passed through the community but is currently out of service, the final train on the line having left the borough in April 1992. Originally established as the New York and New Orange Railroad, the line stretched 11.8 miles (19.0 km) from Aldene (now known as Roselle Park) to Summit. The headquarters of the railroad were located in Kenilworth, originally in Kenilworth's Victorian-style station house until that was severely damaged in a 1974 fire, after which railroad offices were moved into a trailer and then an unused railroad club car.

Newark Liberty International Airport is approximately 9 miles (14 km) from Kenilworth.

Notable people

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

• Tashawn Bower (born 1995), defensive end who plays in the NFL for the Las Vegas Raiders
• Mike Chalenski (born 1970), former professional American football defensive lineman who played for six seasons in the National Football League
• Sam DeCavalcante (1912–1997), boss of the DeCavalcante crime family known as "Sam the Plumber", who used a Kenilworth plumbing supply business as his front operation
• John P. Gallagher (1932–2011), politician who served in the New Jersey Senate from the 13th Legislative District from 1982 to 1984
• Sheldon Karlin (1950–2000), distance runner who won the New York City Marathon in 1972
• Tony Siragusa (1967–2022), Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens defensive tackle, was born and raised in Kenilworth, and starred in football and wrestling for David Brearley High School

See also

In Spanish: Kenilworth (Nueva Jersey) para niños