South Orange, New Jersey

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South Orange is a village in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the village population was 16,964. Seton Hall University is located in South Orange.

"The time and circumstances under which the name South Orange originated will probably never be known," wrote historian William H Shaw in 1884, "and we are obliged to fall back on a tradition, that Mr Nathan Squier first used the name in an advertisement offering wood for sale" in 1795.^[1]

Of 566 municipalities statewide, South Orange is one of only four villages in New Jersey; the others are Loch Arbour, Ridgefield Park and Ridgewood.

South Orange Village dates back to May 4, 1869, when it was formed within South Orange Township (Now Maplewood). On March 4, 1904, the Village of South Orange was created by an act of the New Jersey Legislature and separated from South Orange Township.^[2] In November, 1977, South Orange voters passed a new Charter for South Orange and changed its name to The Township of South Orange Village. The change was intended to allow South Orange to qualify for a pool of federal aid allocated to Townships that allowed townships to receive as much as double the revenue-sharing aid per capita received by the four other types of New Jersey municipalities — borough, city, town or village.^[3]

Contents 1 Geography 2 Demographics 3 History 4 Local character 5 Government 5.1 Local government 5.2 Federal, state and county representation 5.3 Politics 6 Education 7 Local Arts 8 Local media 9 Trivia 10 Notable residents 11 References 12 External links

[edit] Geography

South Orange is located at 40°44′52″N, 74°15′32″W (40.747650, -74.258811)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 7.4 km² (2.9 mi²). 7.4 km² (2.8 mi²) of it is land and aside from the East branch of Rahway River, none of it is covered by water. One exception is a small man-made duck pond located near South Orange Middle School.

The East branch of the Rahway River flows through the entire length of the village. Most of the year it is a trickle but can be heavy at times. In the past it would occasionally overflow its banks and flood low-lying parts of town. United States Army Corps of Engineers flood control projects remediated that in the mid 1970s. Still, even including swimming pools, water probably accounts for less than .1% of the town's surface area.

The western part of the town sits on the eastern slope of South Mountain (elevation <660 feet (201 m)), leveling into a small valley near the central business district. At the top of the slope, the western edge of the town runs along the eastern border of South Mountain Reservation. The Montrose neighborhood with its large Victorian houses is in the northeast quadrant. Seton Hall University is located in the southeast quadrant near the border of Newark.

[edit] Demographics

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1930	13,630		–
1940	13,742		0.8%
1950	15,230		10.8%
1960	16,175		6.2%
1970	16,971		4.9%
1980	15,864		-6.5%
1990	16,390		3.3%
2000	16,964		3.5%
Est. 2005	16,612	[4]	-2.1%
Population 1930 - 1990.[5]

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 16,964 people, 5,522 households, and 3,766 families residing in the township. The population density was 2,298.2/km² (5,945.3/mi²). There were 5,671 housing units at an average density of 768.3/km² (1,987.5/mi²). The racial makeup of the township was 60.41% White, 31.30% African American, 0.09% Native American, 3.89% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.57% from other races, and 2.71% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.93% of the population.

There were 5,522 households out of which 33.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.2% were married couples living together, 10.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.8% were non-families. 25.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.69 and the average family size was 3.26.

In the village the population was spread out with 22.3% under the age of 18, 17.5% from 18 to 24, 26.1% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 11.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 92.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.1 males.

The median income for a household in the township was $83,611, and the median income for a family was $107,641. Males had a median income of $61,809 versus $42,238 for females. The per capita income for the township was $41,035. About 1.9% of families and 5.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.6% of those under age 18 and 5.4% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] History

What is now South Orange was part of a territory purchased from the Lenape Native Americans in 1666 by Robert Treat, who founded Newark that year on the banks of the Passaic River. The unsettled areas north and west of Newark were at first referred to as the uplands. South Orange was called the Chestnut Hills for a time.^[1]

There are two claimants to the first English settlement in present-day South Orange. In 1677 brothers Joseph and Thomas Brown began clearing land for a farm in the area northwest of the junction of two old trails that are now South Orange Avenue and Ridgewood Road. A survey made in 1686 states, "note this Land hath a House on it it, built by Joseph Brown and Thomas Brown, either of them having an equal share of it" located at the present southwest corner of Tillou Road and Ridgewood Road. Minutes of a Newark town meeting of September 27, 1680, record that "Nathaniel Wheeler, Edward Riggs, and Joseph Riggs, have a Grant to take up Land upon the Chesnut Hill by Raway River near the Stone House". The phrasing shows that a stone house already existed near (not on) the property. Joseph Riggs (seemingly the son of Edward Riggs) had a house just south of the Browns' house, at the northwest corner of South Orange Avenue and Ridgewood Road, according to a road survey of 1705. The same road survey locates Edward Riggs's residence near Millburn and Nathaniel Wheeler's residence in modern West Orange at the corner of Valley Road and Main Street.^[1]

Wheeler's property in South Orange extended east of the Rahway River including the site of an old house now known as the "Stone House", standing on the north side of South Orange Avenue just to the west of Grove Park. By 1756 or earlier this property was owned by Samuel Pierson. A survey of adjoining property in 1767 mentions "Pierson's house" forming accidentally the earliest documentation of a house on the property, which may be much older. Bethuel Pierson, son of Samuel, lived in this house and when he inherited it in 1773/74 he was said to live "at the mountain plantation by a certain brook called Stone House Brook." Sometime during his ownership (he died in 1791) "Bethuel Pierson had a stone addition added to his dwelling-house, which he caused to be dedicated by religious ceremonies". This would appear to be the stone-walled portion of the "Stone House".^[1] Stone House Brook runs west along the north side of the east-west road, past the "Stone House" and joining the Rahway River at about the location of the Brown and Riggs houses already noted. The oldest parts of the Pierson house are the oldest surviving structure in South Orange.

A deed of 1800 locates a property as being in "the Township of Newark, in the Parish of Orange, at a place called South Orange", marking the end of the name Chestnut Hills. Orange had been named after the ruler of England, William of Orange. Most of modern South Orange became part of Orange Township in 1806, part of Clinton Township in 1834, and part of South Orange Township in 1861. Gordon's Gazetteer circa 1830 describes the settlement as having "about 30 dwellings, a tavern and store, a paper mill and Presbyterian church".^[6]

A country resort called the Orange Mountain House was established in 1847 just north of town. Guests could enjoy the "water cure" from natural spring water and walk in the grounds that extended up the slope of South Mountain. The main house was right on Ridgewood Road. The hotel burned down in 1890. The only remnants today are the names of Mountain Station and the Mountain House Road leading west from it to the site of the hotel.^[7]

South Orange could be reached by the Morris and Essex Railroad which opened in 1837 between Newark and Morristown. As of 1869, the M&E became part of the main line of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad which ran from Hoboken to Buffalo with through trains to Chicago.^[8]

The Montrose neighborhood was developed after the Civil War. Its large houses on generous lots attracted wealthy families from Newark and New York City during the decades from 1870 to 1900. The Orange Lawn Tennis Club was founded in 1880 at a location in Montrose, and in 1886 it was the location of the first US national tennis championships. The club moved to larger grounds on Ridgewood Road in 1916. Major tournament events were held at the club throughout the grass court era, and even into the mid-1980s professional events would occasionally be held there.

What is now the Baird Community House was up until about 1920 the clubhouse for a golf course that encompassed what is now Meadowlands Park. In fact, until regrading was performed during the 1970s, the outline of one of the course's sandtraps was still visible near the base of Flood's Hill, a spot that has historically been one of the favorite sleigh riding spots in Essex County.

The construction of Village Hall in 1894 and the "old" library building in 1896 indicate how the village was growing by that date^[7]. Horsecar service from Newark started in 1865, running via South Orange Avenue to the station. Electric trolley cars began running the line in 1893 and by about 1900 a branch of this line also ran down Valley Street into Maplewood. Another separate trolley line, eventually dubbed the "Swamp Line", ran from the the west side of the station north through what is now park land and along Meadowbrook Lane into West Orange where it ended at Main St.^[9] An old postcard photo shows a station shelter at Montrose Ave. The DL&W rebuilt the railroad through town in 1914-1916, raising the tracks above street level and opening new station buildings at South Orange and Mountain Station. In September 1930, a frail Thomas Edison (he would die about a year later) inaugurated electric train service on the M&E between Hoboken and South Orange, with further extensions of service to Morristown and Dover being initiated over the coming months.^[10]

Good transportation and a booming economy caused South Orange and neighboring towns to begin a major transformation in the 1920s into bedroom communities for Newark and New York City. Large houses were built in the blocks around the Orange Lawn Tennis club, while in other areas, especially south of South Orange Avenue, more modest foursquare houses were put up for the growing American middle class. The only large area not developed by 1930 was the high ground west of Wyoming Avenue.

There were at one time two rock quarries within the village supplying trap rock for construction. Kernan's operated as late as the 1980s at the top of Tillou Road. The town's other larger businesses were lumber and coal yards clustered around the railroad station that supplied them. The town's business district is still located in the blocks just east of the station.

The old Morris and Essex Railroad is still operated today by NJ Transit. Midtown Direct, initiated in 1996, offers service directly into Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan, and has since caused a surge in real estate prices as the commute time to midtown dropped from about 50 minutes to 30, as the service eliminated the need for passengers to transfer to PATH trains at Hoboken. As a result, demand for commuter parking permits in lots adjoining the train and bus stations is extremely high.

[edit] Local character

The town is one of only a few in New Jersey to retain gas light street illumination (others include Riverton, Palmyra, Glen Ridge and some parts of Orange). The gaslight has long been the symbol of South Orange (together with the distinctive Village Hall); a local tavern is named for them. Many of the major roads in town do have modern mercury vapor streetlights (built into gaslight frames), but most of the residential sections of the town are still gaslit. A proposal to replace all the gaslights in town with electric streetlights was explored as both a cost-saving and security measure during the 1970s. And although the changeover to electric was rejected at the time, the light output of the lamps was subsequently increased to address the concern that the streets of South Orange were too dimly lit. Be that as it may, there have been claims that South Orange has more operating gaslights than any other community in the United States.

Architecture is extremely varied. Most of the town is single-family wood framed houses, but there are a few apartment buildings from various eras as well as townhouse-style condominiums of mostly more recent vintage. Houses cover a range that includes every common style of the Mid-Atlantic United States since the late nineteenth century, and in sizes that range from brick English Cottages to giant Mansard-roofed mansions. Tudor, Victorian, Colonial, Ranch, Modern, and many others are all to be found. Most municipal government structures date from the 1920s, with a few being of more modern construction.

Many residents commute to New York City, but others work locally or in other parts of New Jersey. South Orange has a central business district with restaurants, banks, and other retail and professional services. There are a few small office buildings, but no large-scale enterprise other than Seton Hall University.

[edit] Government

South Orange provides the usual facilities for a municipality of this size; fire, police, a library of about 70,000 volumes, a municipal pool, a recreation center, parks, baseball diamonds, tennis courts, trash and yard waste removal provided by contractors, community access cable TV, among others. As noted above, the school board is shared with adjacent Maplewood.

[edit] Local government

South Orange is governed by a six member board of trustees and a village president (equivalent to a mayor), all unpaid positions. Local political parties are formed on an ad-hoc basis, generally focused on key issues of local concern; national political parties do not officially participate in township elections.

The Village President of South Orange is William R. Calabrese. Members of the Board of Trustees are Janine Bauer, Stacey Jennings, Terriann Moore-Abrams, Allan J. Rosen, Ph.D., Mark Rosner and Arthur Taylor.^[11]

In the Spring of 2007, a slate of challengers emerged under the banner "Pure Progress" for election to five open seats on the Board of Trustees in the Municipal Election scheduled for May 8, 2007.

[edit] Federal, state and county representation

South Orange is split between the Eighth and Tenth Congressional Districts and is part of New Jersey's 27th Legislative District.^[12]

New Jersey's Eighth Congressional District, covering the southern portion of Passaic County and northern sections of Essex County, is represented by Bill Pascrell Jr. (D, Paterson). New Jersey's Tenth Congressional District, covering portions of Essex County, Hudson County, and Union County, is represented by Donald M. Payne (D, Newark). New Jersey is represented in the Senate by Frank Lautenberg (D, Cliffside Park) and Bob Menendez (D, Hoboken).

The 27th legislative district of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by Richard Codey (D, West Orange) and in the Assembly by Mims Hackett (D, Orange) and John F. McKeon (D, West Orange). The Governor of New Jersey is Jon Corzine (D, Hoboken).

Essex County's County Executive is Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. The executive, along with the Board of Chosen Freeholders administer all county business. Essex County's Freeholders are Freeholder President Blonnie R. Watson, Freeholder Vice President Ralph R. Caputo, Freeholders-At-Large Johnny Jones, Donald M. Payne, Jr., and Patricia Sebold, Freeholder District 1 Samuel Gonzalez, Freeholder District 2 D. Bilal Beasley, Freeholder District 3 Carol Y. Clark, Freeholder District 4 Linda Lordi Cavanaugh and Freeholder District 5 Ralph R. Caputo.

[edit] Politics

On the national level, South Orange leans strongly toward the Democratic Party. In 2004, Democrat John Kerry received 77% of the South Orange vote, defeating Republican George W. Bush, who received approximately 22%.

[edit] Education

The township shares a common school system, the South Orange-Maplewood School District, with the adjacent town of Maplewood. The district has a single high school, Columbia High School, located in Maplewood (but nearly on the town border), and one middle school and several elementary schools in each town.

Schools in the district (with 2004-05 school enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are:

Elementary Schools (K-5)

• Clinton Elementary School (K-5, 464 students) - Maplewood
• Jefferson Elementary School (3-5, 386 students) - Maplewood
• Marshall Elementary School (K-2, 382 students) - South Orange
• Seth Boyden Elementary School (K-5, 485 students) - Maplewood
• South Mountain Elementary School / Annex (K-5, 513 students) - South Orange
• Tuscan Elementary School (K-5, 578 students) - Maplewood

Middle Schools (6-8)

• Maplewood Middle School (720 students) - Maplewood
• South Orange Middle School (748 students) - South Orange

High School (9-12)

• Columbia High School (2,021 students) - Maplewood

Higher Education

Seton Hall University is located in South Orange. The University was founded in 1856 by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark and named after Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first American saint. South Orange has a college feel with this Division I university located along the east side of South Orange Avenue, the community's main boulevard. The school serves approximately 9,700 students.

[edit] Local Arts

South Orange has recently seen the opening of the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC), located at 1 SOPAC Way, nestled behind NJ Transit South Orange station. The performing venue is a 415-seat venue with a proscenium stage, with a 5-screen Clearview Cinemas movie theater in the same complex.

The ideas for SOPAC were first spoken of in the mid-1990s, and in the early 2000s the project was set into motion, with Seton Hall University partnering with SOPAC and construction in August 2004. The complex opened on November 3, 2006 to the general public.

While SOPAC is still relatively new and the community's response is too new to discern, a bloc of students, staff and supporters at Seton Hall have raised questions about SOPAC's role in the theater department at their institution. In the partnership between SHU and SOPAC, it was agreed that the school's four "mainstage", staff-directed shows would move from the university's Theater-in-the-Round to SOPAC. Ticket prices have increased nearly 300% for these shows (from $3 to $8), though a direct link has never been officially established between the move to SOPAC and this rise, it has been hinted at.

While the move of these shows to SOPAC raises the hope for higher community attendance, concerns have risen about Seton Hall student attendance of mainstage shows, due to the distance of SOPAC from campus and the new ticket prices. Concerns about the handling of publicity have also been raised, as well as the future of the Theater-in-the-Round on Seton Hall's campus.

[edit] Local media

WSOU-FM, "Seton Hall's Pirate Radio", is a non-commercial radio station licensed to South Orange and has studios and offices on the campus of Seton Hall University. The station operates at 89.5 FM.

[edit] Trivia

• The town has a municipal swimming pool open to all residents. Residents may purchase a Photo I.D. badge for an annual fee of $15, which provides access to the South Orange Community Pool and full access to other community facilities and programs^[13]; non-residents may use the pool for a small fee on a per visit basis on a guest pass that must be purchased by a resident. The non-resident also must goto the pool with a resident. In most area towns, municipal pool memberships are restricted or costly, but the pool in South Orange was built on land willed to the town for common use. The original pool, built in the 1920s, was reportedly the first free community pool to be built in the United States. It was replaced by an Olympic-size pool in 1972.
• The town was the first in the nation to have an affinity credit card, the idea of the municipal affinity credit card being originated by village president William Calabrese.
• When the town was wired for telephones and electricity in the early 20th century, the poles and wires were not allowed to run along the curb lines of streets as they do in most towns. In some sections they run along property lines in the middle of blocks, and in others they run underground. This is aesthetically pleasing but complicates access to the lines, and it delayed the introduction of cable television. Occasional proposals to replace gas lights with electric lights run across the obstacle that there is no source of electric power along the streets.
• The former telephone company system of identifying exchanges is still evidenced by the 761, 762, and 763 prefixes used for most lines in South Orange and Maplewood, which would have originally been referred to as SO1, SO2, and SO3.
• South Orange and Maplewood share one of the largest online communities in the nation, featuring a very active message board at www.maplewoodonline.com.
• South Orange's full official name is the "Township of South Orange Village." This name was originally adopted in lieu of the Village of South Orange because it allowed South Orange to receive more federal aid that was directed to Townships during the 1970s as many federal authorities were unfamiliar with the New Jersey municipal system, in which a township is not formally different from any other municipal designation. Other municipalities in New Jersey also adopted similar strategies, notably the Township of the Borough of Verona.
• South Orange was the first municipality in New Jersey to recognize civil unions for homosexual couples. Exactly one hour after unions became legal in South Orange, they were recognized in neighboring Maplewood.
• The shared school system creates something of a common local identity between the towns, which is also partly the result of demographic similarities.
• The News-Record weekly newspaper reports on both South Orange and Maplewood, and there are other shared institutions as well.
• Teenagers from Columbia High School were the first to play the game of Ultimate Frisbee.
• New York Yankee greats Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig played at least one exhibition game during the 1920s for the South Orange baseball team at Cameron Field. Reportedly, the game was attended by more than 12,000 fans and featured a tape-measure home run by Gehrig, which was noted to have traveled over the railroad tracks before hitting a house on Vose Avenue, approximately 600 feet away, where an apartment house stands presently.
• Portions of the Nickelodeon show The Adventures of Pete & Pete were filmed in South Orange for the first season and part of the second, ending with the episode Halloweenies.
• Actor and director Zach Braff was born and raised in South Orange, and filmed portions of his film Garden State in South Orange and surrounding areas.

[edit] Notable residents

Various celebrities have resided in South Orange or Maplewood; see the Columbia High School page for a list of famous alumni. Other South Orange residents include:

• Sean Allison, actor, Special Needs, Fur, The Interpreter, Cupcake Sam
• Robert Bell, lead singer of Kool and the Gang
• Kelly Bishop, actress, current resident.^[14]
• Zach Braff, actor on the TV series Scrubs and director of the movie Garden State.^[15]
• Andre Braugher actor, current resident.^[16]
• Mark Bryant, former NBA player
• Local resident Christopher Colasanti was a victim of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
• John Davidson (entertainer) rented in neighboring Maplewood in 1998, then bought a home in South Orange in 1999. He moved to the Jersey shore in 2006.
• Lauryn Hill, musician, solo and with the The Fugees.^[17]
• Adam Horovitz, member of Beastie Boys
• James Kaplan, novelist
• Stacey Kent, singer and recording artist Blue Note Records.
• Alfred Kinsey (1894-1956), sex researcher, who moved to the town in 1904.
• Lee Leonard journalist, current resident, husband of Kelly Bishop.
• Kevin Spacey, actor
• Thomas J. Preston, Jr., Professor of Archeology at Princeton University. He married Frances Cleveland, widow of President Grover Cleveland.
• James Rebhorn, actor, Independence Day, Meet the Parents
• Vin Rock, member of rap group Naughty by Nature
• Andrew Shue, actor, ClubMom founder.^[18]
• Elisabeth Shue, actress.^[19]
• Joel Silver, director and producer
• Jeff Van Note, former Atlanta Falcons player and Georgia Tech broadcaster
• Dionne Warwick, singer
• Max Weinberg, drummer for E-Street Band and Late Night with Conan O'Brien

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Township of South Orange Village
• South Orange-Maplewood School District
• South Orange-Maplewood School District's 2005-06 School Report Card from the New Jersey Department of Education
• National Center for Education Statistics data for the South Orange-Maplewood School District
• The South Orange Public Library
• South Orange Performing Arts Center
• Main Street South Orange Inc. (Not-for-profit community-based downtown improvement organization)
• South Orange-Maplewood Community Coalition on Race (Community organization providing information about town for prospective buyers and organizing events for current residents)
• Orange Lawn Tennis Club
• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 40.74765° -74.258811°
  • Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
  • Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
  • Topographic map from TopoZone
  • Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA

This box: view • talk • edit Municipalities of Essex County, New Jersey (County seat: Newark)
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