Ridgefield Township, New Jersey
Ridgefield Township was a township that existed in Bergen County, New Jersey. The township was created in 1871, when Hackensack Township was trisected to form Palisades Township in the northernmost third, Englewood Township in the central strip and Ridgefield Township encompassing the southernmost portion, stretching from the Hudson River on the east to the Hackensack River, with Hudson County to the south. Much of the area had been during the colonial area known as the English Neighborhood. As described in the 1882 book, History of Bergen and Passaic counties, New Jersey,
Ridgefield is the first township in Bergen County which the traveler enters in passing up the Palisades. His first impressions are much like those of old Hendrick Hudson in speaking of a wider extent of country: "A very good land to fall in with, and a pleasant land to see." The valley of the Hackensack invited early settlers in the seventeenth century, and the valley of the
Little Ferry and Bogota stations. It has, however, an independent line projected and now under construction to New York City.
Early Settlements. Ridgefield embraces the earliest settlements in the ancient township of Hackensack, antedating even the organization of that township in 1693, and of the county of Bergen in 1675. There seems to have been no town or village compactly built, like the village of Bergen, but there were settlements both of Dutch and English in and about what was subsequently known as English Neighborhood prior to 1675. The Westervelts, the Zimcrmans, the Bantas, and the Blauvelts, all coming from Holland, settled in the middle of the seventeenth century in that locality. The ancestors of Jacob P. Westervelt, now of Hackensack Village, with himself, were born in English Neighborhood. His father was born there in 1776, and was the son of Christopher Westervelt, who was born there certainly as early as 1690, and he was the son of the original ancestor of this family, who came from Holland and settled on Overpeck Creek, within the present limits of Ridgefield township, probably about 1670.[1]
In 1878, the
The passage of a revised
Notes
- ^ Clayton, W. Woodford; William Nelson (1882). History of Bergen and Passaic counties, New Jersey: with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men. Everts & Peck. pp. 245–246. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
Ridgefield Township, New Jersey 1871.
References
- "History of Bergen County, New Jersey, 1630-1923;" by "Westervelt, Frances A. (Frances Augusta), 1858-1942."
- "Municipal Incorporations of the State of New Jersey (according to Counties)" prepared by the Division of Local Government, Department of the Treasury (New Jersey); December 1, 1958.