South Orange is a historic suburban village located in Essex County, New Jersey. It was formally known as the Township of South Orange Village from October 1978 until April 25, 2024. As of the 2020 United States census, the village population was 18,484, an increase of 2,286 (+14.1%) from the 2010 census count of 16,198, which in turn reflected a decline of 766 (−4.5%) from the 16,964 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. Seton Hall University is located in the township.
"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.Shaw, William H. History of Essex and Hudson Counties, Philadelphia: Everts and Peck, 1884. Other sources attribute the derivation for all of the Oranges to King William III, Prince of Orange.Hutchinson, Viola L. The Origin of New Jersey Place Names, New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed August 24, 2015.
Of the 564 municipalities in New Jersey, South Orange Village is one of only four with a village type of government; the others are Loch Arbour, Ridgefield Park and Ridgewood.Cerra, Michael F. "Forms of Government: Everything You've Always Wanted to Know, But Were Afraid to Ask", New Jersey State League of Municipalities, March 2007. Accessed January 1, 2025.
On March 11, 2024, the governing body adopted a change to its charter under which "township" was dropped from the municipality's name, the name of the governing body and its leader became the council and mayor (rather than board of trustees and president of the board of trustees) and municipal elections were shifted from May to November (thus shifting term-end dates for all current elected officials from May to December 31); these changes took full effect 45 days later, on April 25, 2024."The quirky, bureaucratic reason this N.J. town just changed its official name", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, March 24, 2024. Accessed March 24, 2024. "Since 1977, what most people know as quaint South Orange Village has been officially known by the clunky name of The Township of South Orange Village. Blame it on bureaucracy, which enticed the village Board of Trustees to change South Orange to a township 46 years ago so that it could qualify for federal grants.... The village no longer has to call itself a township in order to qualify for federal money, so on March 11, the village Board of Trustees adopted a charter change that lops off 'township' and restores the town's original name, South Orange Village, adopted in 1869.... But the new charter abolishes the office of president and the Board of Trustees and replaces them with a mayor and council. It also moves elections from May to November. 'People are already calling me mayor,' Collum said, although she believes the charter change doesn't take effect until 45 days after the March 11 adoption."
History
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.Snyder, John P. The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 132. Accessed May 30, 2024. In 1978, the village's name was changed by referendum to "The Township of South Orange Village", becoming the first of more than a dozen Essex County municipalities to reclassify themselves as townships in order to 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."
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.
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, 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 Rahway 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.
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". 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. South Orange Village split off from South Orange Township in 1869 due to the desire for extensive privileges in the conduct of public affairs. South Orange Village became a haven for those who wanted freedom from the commotion of city life after the end of the American Civil War.Pierson, David Lawrence. "South Orange Village." History of the Oranges, by David Lawrence. Pierson, vol. 3, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1922, pp. 515–533. A majority of South Orange Township became what is now known as Maplewood, New Jersey.Pierson, David Lawrence. "South Orange." History of the Oranges, by David Lawrence. Pierson, vol. 3, Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1922, pp. 505–514. Gordon's Gazetteer circa 1830 describes the settlement as having "about 30 dwellings, a tavern and store, a paper mill and Presbyterian church".Welak, Naoma. South Orange: Images of American, Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2002. .
A country resort called the Orange Mountain House was established in 1847 on Ridgewood Road in present-day West Orange, where guests could enjoy the "water cure" from natural spring water and walk in the grounds that extended up the slope of South Mountain. 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.Herman, Beatrice P. The Trail to Upland Plantations, Worrall, 1976
South Orange could be reached by the Morris and Essex Railroad which opened in 1837 between Newark and Morristown. In 1869, the Morris and Essex Railroad became part of the main line of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad which ran from Hoboken to Buffalo with through trains to Chicago.Morris & Essex Railroad Co., hoboken.pastperfectonline.com. Accessed April 25, 2021.
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.Zakalak, Ulana D. Montrose Park History, Montrose Park Historic District Association. Accessed March 25, 2012. 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."Jersey Tennis Players; Opening of the Annual Tournamernt in the Orange Grounds.", The New York Times, June 29, 1886. Accessed November 6, 2019. 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 Center was up until about 1920 the clubhouse for a golf course that encompassed what is now Meadowlands Park. Until regrading was performed during the 1970s, the outline of one of the course's sand traps was still visible near the base of Flood's Hill, a spot that has historically been one of the favorite sledding spots in Essex County.