Waldwick, New Jersey, United States

🇺🇸 Waldwick is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

History Originally inhabited during the pre-Columbian era by the Lenape Native American tribe, the region surrounding Waldwick was first explored by Europeans when a Dutch trading expedition landed near there in 1610. With the creation of the Nieuw Amsterdam colony in 1624, the present site of the borough became a Dutch possession along with the rest of north-eastern New Jersey. During the period from 1624 to 1664 it was sparsely developed by Dutch settlers, mainly for agricultural purposes. With the annexation of Nieuw Amsterdam by the English in 1664 came a nearly instant increase in immigration to the region and the development of several settlements in and around the present borders of the borough.

In the mid-19th century, Waldwick and the surrounding area constituted a small settlement within Franklin Township, an area that encompassed much of north-western Bergen County. The area's population grew significantly after the Erie Railroad established a train station. On January 1, 1886, Orvil Township was formed from portions of Hohokus Township and Washington Township. The "Boroughitis" phenomenon that swept through Bergen County, in which 26 boroughs were formed in the county in 1894 alone, hit Orvil Township particularly hard, resulting in the formation of five new boroughs created from the nascent township, including Montvale and Woodcliff (now Woodcliff Lake) on August 31, 1894, Allendale on November 10, 1894, Saddle River on November 20, 1894, and Upper Saddle River formed on November 22, 1894. On April 7, 1919, a council of citizens voted to incorporate as the borough of "Waldwick", from the remaining portions of Orvil Township. With the creation of the borough of Waldwick, Orvil Township was dissolved.

Various derivations of the borough's name have been offered, including one that "Waldwick" is Old English, from "wald" (forest) and "wick" (settlement or place). According to The History of Bergen County written in 1900 by James M. Van Valen, the name Waldwick comes from a Saxon language word meaning "beautiful grove" though other sources show a related meaning of "village in a grove".

Historic places Waldwick is home to the following historic places listed on the National Register of Historic Places: • Erie Railroad Signal Tower, Waldwick Yard – Northeast end of Bonhert Place, west side of railroad tracks (listed 1983). Built in 1848 for the Erie Railroad. • Albert Smith House – 289 Wyckoff Avenue, built in 1750 • Waldwick Railroad Station – Hewson Avenue and Prospect Streets (listed 1978). The station opened in 1886 as a station along the Erie Railroad. • White Tenant House – 16 White's Lane (listed 1983, now demolished)

Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 2.07 square miles (5.35 km²), including 2.05 square miles (5.30 km²) of land and 0.02 square miles (0.05 km²) of water (0.97%).

The borough is surrounded by the Bergen County municipalities of Allendale, Ho-Ho-Kus, Midland Park, Ridgewood, Saddle River and Wyckoff.

The Ho-Ho-Kus Brook flows through the centre of the borough in a roughly southward direction.

Education Students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade are educated in the Waldwick Public School District. As of the 2020–21 school year, the district, comprised of four schools, had an enrollment of 1,630 students and 141.3 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.5:1. Schools in the district (with 2020–21 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are Crescent School with 344 students in grades K–5, Julia A. Traphagen School with 425 students in grades Pre-K–5, Waldwick Middle School with 367 students in grades 6–8 and Waldwick High School with 460 students in grades 9–12.

During the 2009–10 school year, Julia A. Traphagen School was awarded the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education, the highest award an American school can receive. It was the only school in Bergen County that year out of ten schools honored statewide and the first Bergen County elementary school to receive the honor in six years.

Public school students from the borough, and all of Bergen County, are eligible to attend the secondary education programs offered by the Bergen County Technical Schools, which include the Bergen County Academies in Hackensack, and the Bergen Tech campus in Teterboro or Paramus. The district offers programs on a shared-time or full-time basis, with admission based on a selective application process and tuition covered by the student's home school district.

In addition, Waldwick is home of the Waldwick Seventh-day Adventist School; The Village School, a Montessori school for children though 8th grade; and The Forum School, which is an alternative school established in 1954 for students who are developmentally disabled. Pre-school programs are also offered at Rainbow Corners day school, at the Methodist Church, Building Blocks Child Center at Christ Community Church (across from the high school), Building Blocks and at Saddle Acres School.

Transport: Road As of May 2010, the borough had a total of 36.30 miles (58.42 km) of roadways, of which 31.86 miles (51.27 km) were maintained by the municipality, 3.77 miles (6.07 km) by Bergen County and 0.67 miles (1.08 km) by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

Roadways travelling through Waldwick include Route 17, County Route 502 and County Route 507.

Transport: Public Waldwick is served by NJ Transit at the Waldwick train station, located at the intersection of West Prospect Street, Lafayette Place and Hewson Avenue. The station is served by both the Bergen County Line and Main Line, which run north–south to Hoboken Terminal with connections via the Secaucus Junction transfer station to New York Penn Station and to other NJ Transit rail service. Connections are available at the Hoboken Terminal to other NJ Transit rail lines, the PATH train at the Hoboken PATH station, New York Waterways ferry service to the World Financial Center and other destinations along with Hudson-Bergen Light Rail service.

Bus service between Waldwick and the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan is available via Short Line.

Awards In 2017, Waldwick was ranked the "Safest Small Town in America". This title was awarded based on 2015 FBI crime statistic data on the number of violent crimes per 1,000 residents. The rankings were done by LendEDU, a company known for its studies. By their definition, a small town has a population of over 5,000 yet under 10,000.