Caldwell is a borough located in northwestern Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, about west of New York City and north-west of Newark, the state's most populous city. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 9,027, an increase of 1,205 (+15.4%) from the 2010 census count of 7,822, which in turn reflected an increase of 238 (+3.1%) from the 7,584 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.
Caldwell was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 10, 1892, from portions of Caldwell Township (now Fairfield Township), based on the results of a referendum held on 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. Accessed May 1, 2026. In 1981, the borough's name was changed to the "Township of the Borough of Caldwell", as one of seven Essex County municipalities to pass a referendum to become a township, joining four municipalities that had already made the change, of what would ultimately be more than a dozen Essex County municipalities to reclassify themselves as townships in order take advantage of federal revenue sharing policies that allocated townships a greater share of government aid to municipalities on a per capita basis."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. "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 January 26, 1995, it again became a borough.1990s boundary changes: New Jersey , United States Census Bureau. Accessed August 30, 2011.
Grover Cleveland, the 22nd and 24th President of the United States and the first president to serve two nonconsecutive terms, was born in Caldwell on March 18, 1837. His father, the Rev. Richard Falley Cleveland, was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. The Grover Cleveland birthplace—the church's former manse—is now a museum and is open to the public.Grover Cleveland Birthplace, New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Accessed July 2, 2011. "Grover Cleveland's birthplace was built in 1832 as the Manse, or Pastor's residence, for the first Presbyterian Church at Caldwell."
Though today the Caldwell area is considered to be a suburb of both Newark and New York City, the area originally developed as its own individual, self-contained community and economy rather than as urban sprawl from a larger city. When it was formed, miles of woods separated downtown Caldwell from Newark or any of its developing suburbs.
New Jersey Monthly magazine ranked Caldwell as its third-best place to live in its 2010 rankings of the "Best Places To Live" in New Jersey."Best Places To Live – The Complete Top Towns List 1-100", New Jersey Monthly, February 11, 2010. Accessed February 24, 2010.
History In 1702, settlers purchased a Horseneck Tract from the Lenape Native American tribe for goods equal to $325 (equivalent to $ in ). This purchase encompassed much of western Essex County, from the First Mountain to the Passaic River at Pine Brook. Caldwell is located in the center of the Horseneck Tract. Settlement began about 1740 by Thomas Gould and Saunders Sanders.
The Horseneck Tract consisted of present-day Caldwell, West Caldwell, North Caldwell, Fairfield, Verona, Cedar Grove, Essex Fells, Roseland, and portions of Livingston and West Orange. This land was part of the larger purchase and had been referred to as the Horse Neck Tract until February 17, 1787, when the town congregation voted to change the name to Caldwell, in honor of the Reverend James Caldwell who pushed for their organization's creation.Hutchinson, Viola L. The Origin of New Jersey Place Names, New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed August 28, 2015.Gannett, Henry. The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States, p. 63. United States Government Printing Office, 1905. Accessed August 28, 2015.
Caldwell Township included present-day West Caldwell and Caldwell. Soon after, the area of Caldwell Township just to the east of Caldwell Borough between Caldwell Borough and Montclair (present-day Verona and Cedar Grove) decided to follow Caldwell's lead and incorporated itself as its own borough, Verona. Some of the already developed eastern neighborhoods of Caldwell Township chose to become part of Montclair, as it was a rapidly developing suburb of Newark and Paterson. At around the same time, the area north of Caldwell Borough became its own town, North Caldwell. The wooded area directly to the south of downtown Caldwell Borough became Essex Fells. Meanwhile, the farmland to the south of the western portion of Caldwell township attempted to become its own municipality known as South Caldwell. This failed, as much of developed sections of that area lied on its southernmost and easternmost borders, along the expanding Newark suburbs of Livingston and West Orange respectively. Those areas were engulfed by those two towns once they became incorporated municipalities of several small villages and developments.
This left only the most rural farmland south of Caldwell Borough and Essex Fells to become its own township, Roseland. At this point, all that remained of the original Caldwell Township was 6,600 acres of rural farmland and meadows in the northwesternmost part of Essex County. In 1963, Caldwell Township changed its name to Fairfield in order to avoid being confused with Caldwell Borough.Wright, George Cable. "Jersey Aroused by Referendums; Some Ballots on Tuesday to List Nine Questions", The New York Times, November 3, 1963. Accessed July 5, 2012. "The voters of Caldwell Township wilt be asked to substitute the name of Fairfield, which the township bore 100 years ago when it stretched east to Newark. The name change was recommended because of confusion of mail distribution in Caldwell, West Caldwell and North Caldwell. There is presently a Fairfield Township in Cumberland County."
Immediately following the separation of the original Caldwell, the western part of Caldwell Borough generally remained less developed than downtown Caldwell Borough and contained several farms and a large area of undeveloped swampland known as Hatfield Swamp. However, two individual settlements, known as Franklin and Westville, soon formed in the western part of Caldwell Borough. As development increased and population grew in the western part of Caldwell, the town's more rural western population and more urban east often could not reconcile their differences. This led to the areas of Franklin and Westville consolidating into their own township known as West Caldwell in 1904, leaving only the one square mile of original downtown Horseneck development as the borough of Caldwell. Lewis G. Lockward was elected the first mayor of Caldwell."Old Caldwell Branch at End of the Line", The New York Times, June 10, 1979. Accessed November 3, 2019. In 1929, an attempt to consolidate the three Caldwells into a single municipality was rejected by voters.
This borough was one of the filming locations for the Columbia Pictures 1994 comedy film North.
Historical facts George Washington and his staff made their way through the community during the Revolutionary War. They stopped for lunch at the old stone house of Saunders Sanders, located near present-day Brookside Avenue, one of the two original settlers of Caldwell. Marquis de Lafayette visited in 1824, featuring a celebration party at the Crane Tavern.Council Business Meeting April 15, 2014, Borough of Caldwell. Accessed November 3, 2019. "Whereas, General George Washington and his staff stopped for lunch at Saunders Sanders stone tavern during the Revolution, and the militia met and drilled at the Green to set off from the green for the battles of Connecticut Farms, Springfield, and Monmouth under the leadership of Captain William Gould, and... Whereas, the Marquis de Lafayette visited Caldwell on a triumphal tour, celebrated at the Crane Tavern, and Caldwell was given the brass cannon on the green by Colonel Peter Decatur during that visit in 1824, and" About 1816, Elias B. Caldwell and family, Presbyterians, helped found Liberia, a nation for free blacks, and the town of Caldwell, Liberia.The African Repository, p. 5. January 1868. Accessed February 12, 2022. During the 1928 Presidential campaign, Herbert Hoover visited the Grover Cleveland Birthplace with his wife.Staff. "Hoover In Appeal To Labor Warns Against Tariff Cut; Acclaimed In Jersey Tour; 10,000 In Newark Hear Him Tells Workers They Owe Welfare to Policies of the Republicans. Stresses Immigration Bar Products and Wages Protected by Curb on Influx of Low-Paid Labor, Says Nominee. Hailed In Tour Of Towns Edisons Greet Candidate and His Wife in Essex County Ride --75,000 Cheer Them.", The New York Times, September 18, 1928. Accessed July 31, 2013. "Another bright spot in the motor trip was a visit paid by Mr. and Mrs. Hoover to the birthplace of Grover Cleveland at Caldwell." Grover Cleveland lived the first four years of his life in Caldwell. In October 1897, a severe fire ripped through a large portion of Bloomfield Avenue, destroying buildings in its wake. These buildings were replaced, in part, by the Hasler Building, opposite the Presbyterian Church. This became Caldwell's first brick building. In, 1908 the Caldwell Public Library opened. It is one of 20 remaining Carnegie libraries in New Jersey. In 2022, Preservation New Jersey listed the library on its list of the state's ten most endangered historic properties.Caldwell Public Library, Preservation New Jersey. Accessed June 27, 2022. "From 1900 to 1923, Carnegie funded 36 libraries in New Jersey; 29 are still standing, including 20 still functioning as public libraries." In 1914, during a Fourth of July fireworks celebration, a bomb fell, injuring 20 people. Local churches raised funds to defray the medical bills of the injured.