Tenafly, New Jersey facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Tenafly, New Jersey
Borough
Aerial view of Tenafly. New York City can be seen in the distance.
Seal
Location of Tenafly in Bergen County highlighted in red (left). Inset map: Location of Bergen County in New Jersey highlighted in orange (right).
Census Bureau map of Tenafly, New Jersey
Tenafly, New Jersey Location in Bergen County, New Jersey Show map of Bergen County, New Jersey Tenafly, New Jersey Location in New Jersey Show map of New Jersey Tenafly, New Jersey Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Bergen
Incorporated	January 24, 1894
Government
• Type	Special charter
• Body	Borough Council
Area
• Total	5.16 sq mi (13.38 km2)
• Land	4.59 sq mi (11.88 km2)
• Water	0.58 sq mi (1.50 km2)  11.20%
Area rank	273rd of 565 in state 12th of 70 in county
Elevation	217 ft (66 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	15,409
• Estimate  (2023)	15,178
• Rank	169th of 565 in state 21st of 70 in county
• Density	3,360.0/sq mi (1,297.3/km2)
• Density rank	201st of 565 in state 42nd of 70 in county
Time zone	UTC−05:00 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (Eastern (EDT))
ZIP Code	07670
Area code(s)	201
FIPS code	{{{1}}}-{{{2}}}
GNIS feature ID	0885417

Tenafly (/ˈtɛnəflaɪ/) is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 15,409, an increase of 921 (+6.4%) from the 2010 census count of 14,488, which in turn reflected an increase of 682 (+4.9%) from the 13,806 counted in the 2000 census. Tenafly is a suburb of New York City.

The first European settlers in Tenafly were Dutch immigrants, who began to populate the area during the late 17th century. The name "Tenafly" is of Dutch language origin. Some historical references cite a Dutch language connection to its location on or at "a meadow." Other derivations cite the early-modern Dutch phrase "Tiene Vly" or "Ten Swamps" which was given by Dutch settlers in 1688.

The borough has been one of the state's highest-income communities. Based on data from the American Community Survey for 2013–2017, Tenafly residents had a median household income of $153,381, ranked 13th in the state among municipalities with more than 10,000 residents, more than double the statewide median of $76,475.

Tenafly was incorporated as a borough on January 24, 1894, by an act of the New Jersey Legislature from portions of the now-defunct Palisades Township, based on the results of a referendum held the previous day. The borough was the first formed during the "Boroughitis" phenomenon then sweeping through Bergen County, in which 26 boroughs were formed in the county in 1894 alone. Portions of Palisades Township were acquired based on legislation approved on April 8, 1897.

Geography

Hillside Avenue, c. 1913–1916

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 5.16 square miles (13.38 km²), including 4.59 square miles (11.88 km²) of land and 0.58 square miles (1.50 km²) of water (11.20%).

The borough borders the municipalities of Alpine, Bergenfield, Cresskill, Englewood and Englewood Cliffs in Bergen County, as well as the Bronx in New York City across the Hudson River.

Tenafly's street plan and overall development were largely determined by its hills and valleys. The eastern part of the borough is referred to as the "East Hill" for its higher elevation in relation to the rest of the borough. There, the terrain rises dramatically to the east of the downtown area, terminating at the New Jersey Palisades, overlooking the Hudson River. Nearby is the Tenafly Nature Center, located at 313 Hudson Avenue.

Demographics

2010 census

The 2010 United States census counted 14,488 people, 4,766 households, and 3,956 families in the borough. The population density was 3,148.6 per square mile (1,215.7/km²). There were 4,980 housing units at an average density of 1,082.3 per square mile (417.9/km²). The racial makeup was 69.31% (10,041) White, 0.88% (128) Black or African American, 0.03% (5) Native American, 26.22% (3,799) Asian, 0.00% (0) Pacific Islander, 1.23% (178) from other races, and 2.33% (337) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.36% (776) of the population. Korean Americans accounted for 15.4% of the population in 2010.

Of the 4,766 households, 49.1% had children under the age of 18; 72.7% were married couples living together; 8.2% had a female householder with no husband present and 17.0% were non-families. Of all households, 15.3% were made up of individuals and 8.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.02 and the average family size was 3.36.

31.2% of the population were under the age of 18, 5.0% from 18 to 24, 20.2% from 25 to 44, 30.2% from 45 to 64, and 13.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41.8 years. For every 100 females, the population had 93.4 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 87.6 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $125,865 (with a margin of error of +/− $23,612) and the median family income was $140,100 (+/− $26,372). Males had a median income of $102,645 (+/− $7,373) versus $60,871 (+/− $9,308) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $60,557 (+/− $5,176). About 1.8% of families and 2.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.4% of those under age 18 and 2.2% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Tenafly Income Distribution
2010–2014 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates

The Tenafly Public Schools serve students from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 2020–21 school year, the district, comprised of six schools, had an enrollment of 3,582 students and 305.2 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.7:1. Schools in the district (with 2020–21 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are Malcolm S. Mackay Elementary School with 344 students in grades K-5, Ralph S. Maugham Elementary School with 364 students in grades K-5, J. Spencer Smith Elementary School with 350 students in grades K-5, Walter Stillman Elementary School with 334 students in grades K-5, Tenafly Middle School with 889 students in grades 6-8 and Tenafly High School with 1,231 students in grades 9-12. Students from Alpine attend Tenafly High School as part of a sending/receiving relationship.

The United States Department of Education awarded Tenafly High School the National Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence at a special assembly to the Tenafly High School community on September 20, 2005. Tenafly was the only high school in New Jersey and one of 38 public high schools in the U.S. to receive the 2005 Blue Ribbon School Award.

The school was the third-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 328 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2012 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", after also being ranked third in 2010 out of 322 schools listed. Schooldigger.com ranked the school as tied for 26th out of 376 public high schools statewide in its 2010 rankings (unchanged from the 2009 rank) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the language arts literacy and mathematics components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).

Tenafly High School had the 16th highest SAT scores in the state among students in the class of 2017.

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.

Academy of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, which operates under the supervision of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark, was recognized in 2012 by the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program of the United States Department of Education, one of 15 public and private schools in the state to be honored that year.

Transportation

View north along the Palisades Interstate Parkway in Tenafly

As of May 2010^[update], the borough had a total of 64.55 miles (103.88 km) of roadways, of which 54.71 miles (88.05 km) were maintained by the municipality, 6.85 miles (11.02 km) by Bergen County, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) by the New Jersey Department of Transportation and 1.49 miles (2.40 km) by the Palisades Interstate Park Commission.

County Route 501, U.S. Route 9W and the Palisades Interstate Parkway all pass through Tenafly.

The Palisades Interstate Parkway runs above the Hudson River from Englewood Cliffs north towards Alpine. There are no exits on the parkway in Tenafly; the nearest interchanges are Exit 1 in Englewood Cliffs to the south, and Exit 2 in Alpine in the north.

U.S. Route 9W adjoins and runs parallel to the Palisades Interstate Parkway.

Public transportation

Local and express bus service to and from New York City is available via NJ Transit bus route 166 to and from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan.

Rockland Coaches provides services to the Port Authority Bus Terminal on Routes 9/9A/9T/9TA from Stony Point, New York, and the 20/20T routes from West Nyack, New York.

The former Tenafly Station, currently a restaurant

From the mid-1850s until September 1966, Tenafly was served by rail along the Northern Branch, originally to Pavonia Terminal, and later to Hoboken Terminal. CSX now provides freight service along the line. The former Tenafly Station, currently a restaurant, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979; it is one of four surviving stations on the Northern Branch.

The Northern Branch Corridor Project, a proposal by New Jersey Transit to extend the Hudson Bergen Light Rail for nine stops and 11 miles (18 km) northward from its current terminus in North Bergen to two stations in Tenafly, the last of which would be a new terminus near the Cresskill town line, met with mixed reactions. Many residents and officials believed that the negative consequences for the borough in terms of traffic and noise outweighed the benefits. In November 2010, voters rejected the plan to re-establish a rail service to the town by a nearly 2–1 ratio in a non-binding referendum, with all of the borough council candidates opposing the restoration of commuter train service. There is continued resistance to New Jersey Transit's preferred alternative as described in the plan's December 2011 announcement. Despite local opposition, officials in Bergen County asked the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority to support the proposal. In 2013, New Jersey Transit announced that the line would end in Englewood, after Tenafly officials estimated that as much as $8 million in commercial property valuation would be lost and residents raised strong objections.

Historic places

Historic locations in Tenafly include:

• Christie-Parsels House, 195 Jefferson Avenue.
• Cotswold Mansion, 1 Byrne Lane.
• Demarest-Lyle House, 91 West Clinton Avenue.
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton House, 135 Highwood Avenue, home of the women's rights activist from 1868 to 1887. Stanton unsuccessfully attempted to vote in the borough in 1880.
• Roelof Westervelt House, 81 Westervelt Avenue.
• Sickles-Melbourne House, 48 Knoll Road.
• Tenafly Railroad Station, 1 Piermont Road, a former railroad station that operated from the mid-1800s until 1966.
• Theodore Roosevelt Monument, Roosevelt Common, Riveredge Road.

Notable people

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

See also

In Spanish: Tenafly para niños