Rutherford, New Jersey

Encyclopedia : R : RU : RUT : Rutherford, New Jersey

Map highlighting Rutherford's location within Bergen County. Inset: Bergen County's location within New Jersey.

Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 18,110.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 7.6 km² (2.9 mi²). 7.3 km² (2.8 mi²) of it is land and 0.3 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (4.11%) is water.

Rutherford is bounded by the Passaic River bordering Clifton and Passaic to the west, the Erie Railroad bordering East Rutherford to the north and east, the Hackensack River bordering Secaucus to the southeast, and Berrys Creek and Rutherford Avenue bordering Lyndhurst to the south and southwest.

Demographics

There were 7,055 households out of which 28.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.5% were married couples living together, 9.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.8% were non-families. 28.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.16.

In the borough the population was spread out with 20.8% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 18 to 24, 32.6% from 25 to 44, 24.6% from 45 to 64, and 14.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 92.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.3 males.

The median income for a household in the borough was $63,820, and the median income for a family was $78,120. Males had a median income of $51,376 versus $39,950 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $30,495. About 2.3% of families and 3.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.1% of those under age 18 and 6.9% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Local government

Council members receive committee assignments by the mayor annually and serve as liaisons during the year between Borough departments and committees and the governing body. The Borough operates with numerous committees to assist the government in carrying out its responsibilities. In addition to statutory bodies such as the planning board and zoning board of adjustment, dozens of volunteers staff other committees appointed annually. These committees provide invaluable assistance through their work and development of recommendations to the governing body to improve the quality of live in the community. Residents are encouraged to participate in this process.

The Mayor of the Borough of Rutherford is Bernadette P. McPherson. McPherson also serves on the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders.

Members of the Rutherford Borough Council (with their committee assignments) are;

• Councilman George Fecanin (Public Works; Human Resources)
• Councilman Joseph Sommer (Human Resources; Building & Public Utilities)
• Vacancy- (Police) (Seat formerly held by Councilman Bruce Bartlett)
• Councilman Ray Frazier (Buildings & Public Utilities; Fire)
• Councilwoman Maura Keyes (Finance)
• Councilman Richard Reyes (Fire; Public Works)

Federal, state and county representation

New Jersey's Ninth Congressional District, covering the southern portion of Bergen County and sections of Hudson County and Passaic County, is represented by Steve Rothman (D, Fair Lawn). New Jersey is represented in the Senate by Frank Lautenberg (D, Cliffside Park) and Robert Menendez (D, Union City).

The 36th legislative district of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by Paul Sarlo (D, Wood-Ridge) and in the Assembly by Frederick Scalera (D, Nutley) and Gary Schaer (D, Passaic). The Governor of New Jersey is Jon Corzine (D, Hoboken).

Bergen County's County Executive is Dennis McNerney. The executive, along with the Board of Chosen Freeholders administer all county business. Bergen County's Freeholders are Chairwoman Bernadette P. McPherson of Rutherford, Vice-Chairman David L. Ganz of Fair Lawn, Elizabeth Calabrese of Wallington, James M. Carroll of Demarest, Tomas J. Padilla of Park Ridge, Elizabeth Randall of Westwood and Valerie Vainieri Huttle of Englewood.

Politics

On the national level, Rutherford leans slightly toward the Democratic Party. In the 2004 presidential election, Democrat John Kerry received 52% of the vote here, defeating Republican George W. Bush, who received around 47%[2004 Presidential Election results: Bergen County] New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety: Division of Elections, dated December 13, 2004.

History

During the early days of settlement, the land that is now Rutherford was part of New Barbadoes Township, as Berry had lived in Barbados, another English colony, before claiming his grant in New Jersey. New Barbadoes was part of Essex County from 1693 to 1710, when Bergen County was formed. In 1826, the land became part of Lodi Township (of which today's remaining portion is Lodi borough). When Hudson County was formed in 1840, the area that is today North Arlington, Lyndhurst, Rutherford and East Rutherford became part of Harrison Township (of which today's remaining portion is Harrison town). However, the area reverted to Bergen County in 1852 and became known as Union Township.

Part of the region was known as Boiling Springs, for the many hot springs in the vicinity.

The Erie Railroad built its Main Line from Jersey City across the Meadowlands in the 1840s. Daniel Van Winkle, a descendant of Walling, donated land in 1866 for a train station at Boiling Springs. Several resorts were built along the Passaic, with guests disembarking at Boiling Springs station and taking Union Avenue to the river. Later, the railroad opened a station closer to the river, at Carlton Hill.

At the time, much of the property in Rutherford was farmland owned by the estate of John Rutherfurd, a former New Jersey legislator and U.S. Senator, whose homestead was along the Passaic near present-day Rutherford Avenue. Van Winkle opened a real estate office at Depot Square (now Station Square) to sell the land of the Rutherfurd Park Association, and began to lay out the area's street grid. The main roads were Orient Way, a wide boulevard heading south-southwest from the station, and Park Avenue, which headed west-southwest to bring traffic to the new Valley Brook Race Course in what is now Lyndhurst.

In the 1870s, the area began to be called Rutherford. The spelling change may have been the result of name recognition of the Ohio politician Rutherford B. Hayes, who was elected President in 1876. The U.S. Post Office opened a facility called Rutherford in 1876. On September 21, 1881, the Borough of Rutherford was formed by formal vote of secession from Union Township. By then, the community had about 1,000 residents.

Transportation

Public Service brought trolley lines into Rutherford around the turn of the century. The lines extended east to Jersey City, south to Newark, north to Hackensack, and west to Passaic. By the late 1940s, these were replaced by bus service.

After the opening of the Lincoln Tunnel in 1937, the Inter-City Bus Company began bus service direct from Paterson to New York. The line was taken over by New Jersey Transit in the early 1980s.

Today, the New Jersey Transit #190 bus offers frequent service to New York City's Port Authority Bus Terminal, while the #76 bus between Hackensack and Newark also serves Rutherford. Meanwhile, the Bergen County Line train stops at Rutherford's 1898 depot en route from Hoboken to Suffern, with connecting service at Secaucus Junction to New York Penn Station and Newark Airport.

The original New Jersey State highway 17, in the 1920s, came through downtown Rutherford. Following the 1927 reorganization of state highways, the new NJ 2 (later NJ 17), built starting in 1928, skirted the southeast edge of the borough, between the residential area and the New Jersey Meadowlands.

In 1948, a new bypass road along the southwest edge of the borough was built to bring traffic from Clifton and points west to the Lincoln Tunnel. The construction of the highway spur S-3 (now NJ 3) caused the demolition or relocation of numerous borough homes.

Education

Today's public schools in the Rutherford School District include Rutherford High School, built in 1922 and expanded in 1959 and 2005; and four elementary schools, [Lincoln], [Pierrepont], [Union], and [Washington]. Pierrepont and Union as of September 2005 will serve students from grade 4 through grade 8, while the other two schools will service grades K-3. As of 2005, the expansion work on Lincoln and Washington was completed; work on Union and Pierrepont is not expected to be completed until sometime in 2007.

Rutherford formerly had three "neighborhood" schools for grades K-5 (Washington, Lincoln, and Sylvan) which fed into two "magnet" schools for 6-8. The magnet schools also served as elementary schools for their neighborhoods. Sylvan School was closed at the end of the 2004-2005 school year and is to become a handicapped preschool, as well as office space for the special services department.

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church was established in Rutherford in the 1890s and opened a school shortly thereafter. St. Mary's offers both a grammar school and a high school.

In 1942, Fairleigh Dickinson University was founded in Rutherford as a two-year college, anchored by the Iviswold Castle on Montross Avenue, which was built in the 1880s as a summer home by David W. Ivison. After FDU expanded to a four-year college and then to offering graduate programs, it acquired other, larger, campuses, and eventually left Rutherford, leaving the campus to decay. In the fall of 1997, the Rutherford campus was purchased by Felician College, an independent private Catholic institution, which often has cultural and community events.

Culture and recreation

The Rivoli Theatre was opened in 1922 as a vaudeville house but was quickly converted into a movie palace. It was known for a large crystal chandelier suspended from the center of the auditorium.

On January 9, 1977, the Rivoli was severely damaged in a fire. Soon afterward, a plan was developed to restore the Rivoli and turn it into a performing arts center. The William Carlos Williams Center for the Performing Arts opened in 1981 and contains three movie screens as well as two performance halls. Since 1995, the Williams Center's primary focus has been on concerts, ballet, opera, and theater for children.

The Meadowlands Museum, which began as a project of parents of children in the public schools in 1961 and was originally based in a room at Sylvan School, moved to the Yereance-Berry house at 91 Crane Avenue in 1974. Its focus is on local history.

The Nereid Boat Club occupies a former boat sales building on the Passaic, at the foot of Newell Avenue. The rowing club, established in Nutley in 1875, relocated to Rutherford in 1996.

Rutherford Memorial Park, in the northwest corner of town along the Passaic, was set aside as parkland by the voters in 1951. Its 30 acres include two baseball diamonds, five softball diamonds, a Little League Baseball field, a football stadium, five tennis courts, two basketball courts, and three playgrounds. Other active recreation parks include Wall Field, near NJ 17, and Tamblyn Field, near NJ 3.

The borough also has several smaller passive parks, including Lincoln Park across from borough hall, which was renovated in 2004. It includes a band shell and several monuments, including a cannon dating to the Spanish-American War, and will soon be the home to the borough's 9/11 memorial.

The Borough also has more than 30 Amateur Radio Stations and 1 UHF Amateur Television Station.

References