West Orange is a suburbanHaddon, Heather. "Brendan Byrne, 90 Years Old and Still in the Mix; New Jersey's Oldest-Living Governor Makes the Rounds with a New Biography", The Wall Street Journal, December 19, 2014. Accessed March 28, 2016. "Mr. Bryne hails from the Irish-American Democratic establishment that was once a driving force of New Jersey politics. His father, Francis, spent 50 years in local politics in West Orange, a suburb 20 miles from New York City."Jacobs, Andrew. "Back From the Abyss", The New York Times, March 1, 2001. Accessed March 28, 2016. "It was 1997 and despite the region's revved-up economy, West Orange looked as if it were sliding into the abyss. Perched at the edge of New Jersey's most distressed urban places, this classic postwar suburb of 45,000 people faced a welter of seemingly intractable problems." township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 48,843, an increase of 2,636 (+5.7%) from the 2010 census count of 46,207, which in turn reflected an increase of 1,264 (+2.8%) from the 44,943 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.
West Orange is both an inner-ring suburb of New Jersey's largest city, Newark, and a commuter suburb of New York City; it is approximately west of Manhattan.Lynn, Kathleen."Living in West Orange, N.J: West Orange, N.J.: Plentiful Green Space and an Easy Commute", The New York Times, April 20, 2022. Accessed June 23, 2022. "During the pandemic, the Essex County township has attracted city buyers with its open space and relatively affordable housing — all less than 20 miles from Midtown." West Orange was home to the inventor Thomas Edison, who also maintained a laboratory and workshop in town.
History
West Orange was originally part of the Native American Hackensack clan's territory, for over 10,000 years. The Hackensack were a phratry of the Unami tribe of the Lenni Lenape. In their language, "Leni Lenape" means, "the original people".Robbins, William. "Township Evicts an Indian Museum", The New York Times, August 20, 1981. Accessed February 19, 2023. "Though the latest census shows the population of Indians rising, the Lenapes, whose name means 'the original people,' have almost disappeared except for scattered remnants, mainly in Oklahoma and Canada." The Acquackanonk sub-tribe were located along the Passaic River. They were part of the Algonquin language family, and known as "Delaware Indians" by the 18th century. They identified themselves with the totem of the Turtle. They were hunter-gatherers, matrilineal, and had cultural traditions such as wedding ceremonies. Northfield Avenue and Old Indian Road in West Orange, remain as original Hackensack trails. Their main settlement was where the city of Hackensack is today. They would travel to the ocean or mountains to hunt for food. The Passaic River runs in an upside-down V shape— west and east, and north of West Orange. In the centuries prior to industrial development, the Passaic River and Watchung Mountains were major geographic landmarks amidst the untouched wilderness.
West Orange is located at the peak of the Watchung Mountains. This vantage point over the valleys east to Manhattan had a strategic value for Lenni Lenape warriors, and later George Washington's troops during the American Revolution. The wooded South Mountain Reservation has rocks shaped like the backs of large turtles. The area is now known as "Turtle Back Rock Picnic Area" and gives its name to the Turtle Back Zoo. The Turtle Back Rocks were considered sacred to the Native Americans.
The Native Americans were hunter-gatherer tribes who would overlap territories and occasionally had tribal wars, but did not "own" land. They believed in taking only what was immediately necessary from nature, and considering the needs of the next seven generations. This hospitality at first benefited the European settlers, who struggled in the wilderness after reaching North America's shores. In the 1500s and 1600s, the territory was disputed and transferred many times between the Hackensack, Dutch, Scottish, Swedes, and English colonists. Due to the wars between the Native Americans and European settlers, most European settlers stayed East of the Hudson River. In 1664, the English took possession of Dutch New Netherland. On October 28, 1664, The English purchased of land from the Hackensack, from Staten Island to the Passaic River on the North to the Raritan River on the South, for about 154 English pounds. This is known as the "Elizabethtown Purchase".The First English Purchase of Land in New Jersey, Descendants of Founders of New Jersey. Accessed November 7, 2019. "On October 28, 1664, representatives of the Association, John Bailey Daniel Denton and Luke Watson and John Baker acting as interpreter, met in the wigwam of Mattano on Staten Island and purchased 500,000 acres of New Jersey (what is now Union, Somerset, Middlesex, Morris, Essex, Counties); land bounded by the Achter Kull, the Passaic River in the north, the Raritan River in the South, and extending to the west thirty-four miles."
In 1666, Puritan Captain Robert Treat moved south to New Jersey from Connecticut and purchased a tract of land from Governor Carteret, west of the Passaic River and east of what is currently West Orange. However, the Hackensack tribe disputed this purchase, and said it was not included in the Elizabethtown Purchase. On July 11, 1667, Treat settled the purchase through Samuel Efsal, a Lenni Lenape interpreter. He then founded "New Ark" or Newark, establishing it as a Puritan theocracy, as had been done in Milford, CT. The Newark territory kept extending West as the English overthrew the Dutch and claimed or purchased more Hackensack territory. This expansion was effected primarily by individual property owners, who would purchase tracts of land bit by bit. Sometimes they would name it after themselves or where they were from in Europe. Often the borders were not clearly defined, and few if any maps remain.1666 – The Founding of Newark, Descendants of Founders of New Jersey. Accessed November 7, 2019. "In 1666, Captain Robert Treat, after scouting several locations, successfully completed arrangements with Governor Carteret to settle a plantation on the Passaic River, in the northern section of what was known as the Elizabethtown purchase. He bore a letter to be presented to the chief Hackensack Indian Sachems; however, when the first settlers arrived they were warned off by the Indians who disputed their claims of ownership. Carteret refused to negotiate with the Indians, claiming that the area had been purchased as part of Elizabethtown."
In 1678, Anthony Olive became the first European to settle in what is now West Orange. He was of Dutch origin. He started a farm at the base of the mountains—in what is now Llewellyn Park. It was still untouched wilderness. In 1702, New Jersey became a royal colony of England. By 1706 what is now West Orange—was considered part of Essex County in the East Jersey territory.The Old Burying Ground, Orange, NJ, East Orange History. Accessed November 7, 2019.
By the 1700s West Orange was known as part of the Newark Mountains. During the American Revolution, the valleys were populated by farms and mills. The area on Main Street now known as "Tory Corner" was called Williamstown, after two brothers Nathaniel and Benjamin Williams. Nathaniel and his two eldest sons were Loyalists to the British crown, and gathered other Loyalists for meetings. Nathaniel took his eldest sons James and Amos to join the British Army in 1777, and never returned. Meanwhile, Nathaniel's wife Mary Williams stayed on the farm with her younger children. Her farm house had been built in 1720. She gave freely to Washington's revolutionary troops. James finally returned to the farm decades later, to reunite with his mother Mary. Nathaniel and Amos never returned. Nathaniel died of smallpox in New York. A plaque to Mary Williams was erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1922.
West Orange was initially a part of Newark township, and remained so until November 27, 1806, when the territory now encompassing all of The Oranges was detached to form Orange Township.Snyder, John P. The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968 , Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 133. Accessed May 30, 2024. On April 13, 1807, the first government was elected. On January 31, 1860, Orange was incorporated as a town, and on April 3, 1872, it was reincorporated as a city. Almost immediately, Orange began fragmenting into smaller communities, primarily because of local disputes about the costs of establishing paid police, fire and street departments. South Orange was organized on April 1, 1861, Fairmount Township (an independent municipality for less than one year that was later to become part of West Orange) on March 11, 1862, and East Orange on March 4, 1863. West Orange (including what had been the briefly independent municipality of Fairmount) was incorporated as a township on April 10, 1863, and was reformed as a town on February 28, 1900.Honeyman, Abraham Van Doren. Index-analysis of the Statutes of New Jersey, 1896-1909: Together with References to All Acts, and Parts of Acts, in the 'General Statutes' and Pamphlet Laws Expressly Repealed: and the Statutory Crimes of New Jersey During the Same Period, p. 314. New Jersey Law Journal Publishing Company, 1910. Accessed October 25, 2015. In 1980, West Orange again became a township to take advantage of federal revenue sharing policies that allocated a greater share of government aid to municipalities classified as townships."Chapter VI: Municipal Names and Municipal Classification" , 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. "On November 4, 1980, the communities of West Orange and Montclair voted a change to their township classification beginning in entitlement period 13 (Oct. 1, 1981, to Sept. 30, 1982). The communities of Belleville, Bloomfield, Nutley, Essex Fells, Verona, Caldwell, and West Caldwell have since become townships."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 revenuesharing 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."
The township derives its name from William III of EnglandHutchinson, Viola L. The Origin of New Jersey Place Names, New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed September 16, 2015. or William IV, Prince of Orange,Gannett, Henry. The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States, p. 23. United States Government Printing Office, 1905. Accessed September 16, 2015. which in turn is derived from the city of Orange.