Glen Ridge is a borough in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 7,802, an increase of 275 (+3.7%) from the 2010 census count of 7,527, which in turn reflected an increase of 256 (+3.5%) from the 7,271 counted in the 2000 census.Table 7. Population for the Counties and Municipalities in New Jersey: 1990, 2000 and 2010, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, February 2011. Accessed May 1, 2023. The borough is one of a few in New Jersey preserving the use of gas lamps for street lighting.
History In 1666, 64 Connecticut families led by Robert Treat bought land from the Lenni Lenape Native Americans and named it New Ark to reflect a covenant to worship freely without persecution. The territory included the future municipalities of Bloomfield, Montclair, Belleville and Nutley. When Bloomfield was established in 1812, Glen Ridge was a section "on the hill" composed mostly of farms and woodlands with the exception of a thriving industrial area along Toney's Brook in the glen.Herman, Jennifer New Jersey Encyclopedia, p. 280. State History Publications, 2008. . Accessed August 31, 2015. For most of the nineteenth century, three water-powered mills produced lumber, calico, pasteboard boxes and brass fittings. A copper mine and a sandstone quarry were located on the north side of the brook.
In 1856, the Newark and Bloomfield Railroad arrived. The train stopped at Moffett's Mill in Glen Ridge on a daily basis. In 1860, N&B Railroad constructed a platform at Prospect Street known as Ridgewood Station, and its trains made regular stops there. In 1872, the New York and Greenwood Lake Railway began operating with one track and a station at Ridgewood Avenue. A new Ridgewood Station was built in 1887.
In 1891, Mountainside Hospital, a local hospital with more than 300 beds now known as HackensackUMC Mountainside, was founded.About Us, HackensackUMC Mountainside. Accessed July 22, 2014. "HackensackUMC Mountainside has been serving Montclair and its surrounding New Jersey communities since 1891." The Glen Ridge Country Club was founded in 1894, making it one of the state's oldest clubs.Mazzola, Jessica. "One of N.J.'s oldest country clubs getting $11M makeover", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, November 28, 2015. Accessed November 29, 2015. "The Glen Ridge Country Club's 40,000 square foot clubhouse still retains some of the original structure from when it was built in 1894, according to Jim Kirkos, the club's president."
Residents "on the hill" became unhappy with their representation on the Bloomfield township council. In spite of repeated requests to Bloomfield officials, roads remained unpaved, water and sewer systems were nonexistent and schools were miles away. Area residents marked out the boundaries of a area to secede from Bloomfield. At the election held on February 12, 1895, the decision to secede passed by 23 votes. Robert Rudd was elected the first mayor of Glen Ridge.Staff. "Glen Ridge Excited: The Borough Question Warmly Discussed Last Evening", Newark Sunday Call, February 3, 1895. Accessed April 21, 2012.
On February 13, 1895, Glen Ridge was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature from portions of Bloomfield Township, based on the results of a referendum held the previous day.Snyder, John P. The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606–1968, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 128. Accessed March 1, 2012.
After Glen Ridge became a borough, architects suggested installing gas lamps as streetlights. Gas lamps became a characteristic of the borough. Circa World War II, gas lamps were discarded (many by the City of New York), salvaged, repaired, and brought to Glen Ridge. The Gaslamp is the Glen Ridge Historical Society's quarterly newsletter. Along streets with gas lamps, utility poles for electric lines are not permitted, and are instead routed behind homes. The borough also features extensive use of slate sidewalks.
In 1924, Glen Ridge became the first municipality in New Jersey to establish a zoning ordinance.Peterson, Mary Jo; and Gebeloff, Mark. "Where Houses Defy The Decades; It's no accident that most Glen Ridge homes are old: The town sees red if you defy the blueprints.", The Star-Ledger, December 27, 2002.
In 1982, the borough's official name was changed to "Township of Glen Ridge Borough". Glen Ridge was one of more than a dozen Essex County municipalities to reclassify themselves as townships to take advantage of federal revenue sharing policies that allocated townships a greater share of government aid on a per capita basis., p. 73. New Jersey State Commission on County and Municipal Government, 1992. Accessed September 24, 2015."Removing Tiering From The Revenue Sharing Formula Would Eliminate Payment Inequities To Local Governments", Government Accountability Office, April 15, 1982. Accessed September 24, 2015. "In 1978, South Orange Village was the first municipality to change its name to the 'township' of South Orange Village effective beginning in entitlement period 10 (October 1978 to September 1979). The Borough of Fairfield in 1978 changed its designation by a majority vote of the electorate and became the 'Township of Fairfield' effective beginning entitlement period 11 (October 1979 to September 1980).... However, the Revenue Sharing Act was not changed and the actions taken by South Orange and Fairfield prompted the Town of Montclair and West Orange to change their designation by referendum in the November 4, 1980, election. The municipalities of Belleville, Verona, Bloomfield, Nutley, Essex Fells, Caldwell, and West Caldwell have since changed their classification from municipality to a township."Narvaez, Alfonso A. "New Jersey Journal", The New York Times, December 27, 1981. Accessed September 24, 2015. "Under the Federal system, New Jersey's portion of the revenue sharing funds is disbursed among the 21 counties to create three 'money pools.' One is for county governments, one for 'places' and a third for townships. By making the change, a community can use the 'township advantage' to get away from the category containing areas with low per capita incomes."Karcher, Alan J. New Jersey's Multiple Municipal Madness, pp. 119-120. Rutgers University Press, 1998. . Accessed September 24, 2015. Effective May 1993, the borough's original name of "Glen Ridge Borough" was restored.Geographic Change Notes: New Jersey , United States Census Bureau. Accessed March 1, 2012. "Glen Ridge borough, Essex County: new incorporation from all Glen Ridge Borough township, effective May, 1993 (Census place: 1960; FIPS: 26610)"
In the 1980s, it was discovered that a section of the borough near Carteret Park was built on top of hazardous waste. Waste contaminated with radium from the old U.S. Radium watch dial plant had been used to fill in low-lying areas of Glen Ridge covering , as well as portions of Montclair and West Orange.Galant, Debbie. "Living With A Radium Nightmare", The New York Times, September 29, 1996. Accessed May 4, 2023. "The Federal Environmental Protection Agency had just announced that an extensive area of radium contamination had been found in Essex County. The Allins, and their neighbors, were living atop radium waste discarded more than half a century earlier from a nearby watch-dial factory. The dirt in their yard was radioactive, with a half-life of 1,600 years.... A Superfund site is seldom hard to recognize: go to a place where hazardous materials were carelessly produced or stored or dumped, and there you are. But in Glen Ridge, you could spend all day walking around the 90-acre site -- this utterly typical neighborhood of 1930's houses on shady streets, of flower gardens and jungle gyms and dogs -- and never guess the source of the contamination."
In 1989, athletes from Glen Ridge High School were involved in the sexual assault of a mentally handicapped student. Three teenagers were found guilty of first-degree aggravated sexual assault; a fourth was convicted of third-degree conspiracy.Hanley, Robert. "4 Are Convicted in Sexual Abuse Of Retarded New Jersey Woman", The New York Times, March 17, 1993. Accessed August 30, 2011. Author Bernard Lefkowitz wrote about the incident in the 1997 book Our Guys: The Glen Ridge Rape and the Secret Life of the Perfect Suburb.Banks, Russell. "A Whole Lot of Poor Judgment", The New York Times, August 3, 1997. Accessed August 30, 2011. Lefkowitz's book was adapted into the 1999 TV movie Our Guys: Outrage at Glen Ridge., The New York Times. Accessed August 30, 2011.
Glen Ridge is a frequent location for film, television, and commercial shoots. Notable works filmed in Glen Ridge include Mona Lisa Smile (2003) and Winter Solstice (2004).Galant, Debra. "Jersey; Scene: The Big Screen Meets a Small Town", The New York Times, October 27, 2002. Accessed August 24, 2018. "Is there any town that doesn't melt like butter at the prospect of movie stars showing up? Apparently not. At least not Glen Ridge.... Mike Newell is in town directing a movie called Mona Lisa Smile."Cahillane, Kevin. "Surround Sound Need Not Apply", The New York Times, May 8, 2005. Accessed August 24, 2018. "Winter Solstice, a new film starring Anthony LaPaglia as a grieving father raising two teenage sons in the New Jersey suburbs, is the strong and silent type of movie.... Here, in this case, is Glen Ridge, a pretty little film-friendly town next to Montclair and Bloomfield in Essex County, where Mr. Sternfeld found the lush suburban landscape and leisurely pace he sought for his 22-day shoot."
In 2010, Glen Ridge was ranked as the 38th Best Place to live by New Jersey Monthly magazine.Roll, Erin. "NJ Monthly: Glen Ridge 38th best place to live", Glen Ridge Voice, February 24, 2010. Accessed November 27, 2011.
Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 1.28 square miles (3.31 km2), including 1.28 square miles (3.30 km2) of land and 0.01 square miles (0.01 km2) of water (0.39%). It is bounded by Bloomfield to its east, Montclair to its west, East Orange to its south, and shares a short border with Orange to its southwest.Areas touching Glen Ridge, MapIt. Accessed March 29, 2020.Municipalities, Essex County, New Jersey Register of Deeds and Mortgages. Accessed March 29, 2020.New Jersey Municipal Boundaries, New Jersey Department of Transportation. Accessed November 15, 2019. The borough's US mail ZIP code is 07028.
Glen Ridge is located on a ridge on the east side of the First Mountain of the Watchung Mountains. The borough stretches from north to south and a maximum of six blocks wide from east to west, and it is only three or two blocks wide in "the Panhandle" north of Bay Avenue.McLoughlin, Mary Lou. "Gaslights Remind Glen Ridge Of Past", The New York Times, November 5, 1972. Accessed April 21, 2012. "Large Victorian and turn-of-the-century homes predominate in the borough, only two miles long and a few blocks in width at its widest point."
Climate Glen Ridge has a temperate climate, with warm / hot humid summers and cool / cold winters, according to the Köppen climate classification humid subtropical climate. The borough gets an average of of rain per year and of snowfall, compared to the US averages of and inches. Glen Ridge has 124 days of measurable precipitation a year. During the winter, it is highly recommended to wear warm clothing because it can get very cold, while the summers can get extremely hot and humid. The majority of February and a bit of March is when there are the most snowfall. Due to the borough's elevation and the topography of its river banks, it is not prone to significant flooding.