Little Silver, New Jersey facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Little Silver, New Jersey
Borough
Parker Homestead
Seal
Map of Little Silver in Monmouth County. Inset: Location of Monmouth County highlighted in the State of New Jersey.
Census Bureau map of Little Silver, New Jersey
Little Silver, New Jersey Location in Monmouth County, New Jersey Show map of Monmouth County, New Jersey Little Silver, New Jersey Location in New Jersey Show map of New Jersey Little Silver, New Jersey Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Monmouth
Incorporated	April 28, 1923
Government
• Type	Borough
• Body	Borough Council
Area
• Total	3.32 sq mi (8.60 km2)
• Land	2.71 sq mi (7.02 km2)
• Water	0.61 sq mi (1.57 km2)  18.28%
Area rank	323rd of 565 in state 22nd of 53 in county
Elevation	16 ft (5 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	6,131
• Estimate  (2023)	6,053
• Rank	343rd of 565 in state 28th of 53 in county
• Density	2,260.7/sq mi (872.9/km2)
• Density rank	276th of 565 in state 33rd of 53 in county
Time zone	UTC−05:00 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (Eastern (EDT))
ZIP Code	07739
Area code(s)	732
FIPS code	3402540770 2
GNIS feature ID	0885282
Website

Canada Geese cross street in Little Silver, New Jersey

Little Silver is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 6,131, an increase of 181 (+3.0%) from the 2010 census count of 5,950, which in turn reflected a drop of 220 (−3.6%) from the 6,170 counted in the 2000 census.

Little Silver was established with a King's land grant in 1663 and settled in 1667. Little Silver was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 19, 1923, from portions of Shrewsbury Township, based on the results of a referendum held on April 28, 1923.

History

Prior to the settlement of Europeans, the area that is now Little Silver was inhabited by the Navesink Native Americans.

There are several tales of how Little Silver received its name. In one, brothers Joseph and Peter Parker, who settled in this area in 1667 and owned land bounded by Parker's Creek on the south and Little Silver Creek on the north, named their holdings "Little Silver" after their father's (George Parker) estate in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. The original Parker Homestead, dating to 1725 and one of the state's oldest, was acquired by the borough and is undergoing renovation.

Other explanations for the derivation of the name are the payment to Native Americans for purchase of the land and the placid appearance of the water.

The borough's earliest European residents were primarily farmers, fishermen and merchants.

Early families included:

• Parkers – Joseph and Peter Parker originally settled the area, and their original homestead at 235 Rumson Road has been declared a state historic site.
• Sickles – Harold and Elsie Sickles acquired land and opened a wholesale truck farm in 1908. The land was acquired from Harold's mother who was related to the Parkers. Transitioning from seasonal to year-round in 1998, Sickles Market became a specialty garden and food market until it closed in March 2024 after 116 years.
• Lovett – John T. Lovett owned a nursery that once covered almost half the borough, supplying large catalog houses such as Sears Roebuck, Macy's and Newberry's. In 1878 he circulated a petition to the community recommending that the name be revised and on July 30, 1879, the Post Office name was changed from "Parkersville" to "Little Silver".

The borough has had a varied history as a resort, agricultural area and fishing town. Today, the municipality is primarily residential with a range of housing types, from ranches and capes.

Little Silver separated from Shrewsbury Township in 1923. Since then, farms and nurseries have been replaced by housing. Over the years, New York City and North Jersey commuters have made Little Silver their home, traveling by rail or auto to their jobs. The Little Silver train station on Sycamore Avenue was designed by the noted American architect Henry Hobson Richardson and built in 1890. It reopened after renovations in 2003.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 3.32 square miles (8.60 km²), including 2.71 square miles (7.02 km²) of land and 0.61 square miles (1.57 km²) of water (18.28%).

The original farms and nurseries have almost all been replaced by housing today. Little Silver's location on the Shrewsbury River makes it a popular destination for boaters and water sports enthusiasts, with a public boat ramp at the Dominick F. Santelle Park off Riverview Avenue. Approximately 8% of the homes are directly on the Shrewsbury River and another third of homes are on streams that connect to it.

The borough borders the Monmouth County municipalities of Fair Haven, Monmouth Beach, Oceanport, Red Bank, Rumson and Shrewsbury Borough.

Little Silver Point is an unincorporated community located within Little Silver.

Demographics

2010 census

The 2010 United States census counted 5,950 people, 2,146 households, and 1,689 families in the borough. The population density was 2,197.3 per square mile (848.4/km²). There were 2,278 housing units at an average density of 841.3 per square mile (324.8/km²). The racial makeup was 96.42% (5,737) White, 0.29% (17) Black or African American, 0.10% (6) Native American, 1.75% (104) Asian, 0.13% (8) Pacific Islander, 0.17% (10) from other races, and 1.14% (68) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.01% (179) of the population.

Of the 2,146 households, 37.3% had children under the age of 18; 68.4% were married couples living together; 8.2% had a female householder with no husband present and 21.3% were non-families. Of all households, 18.5% were made up of individuals and 10.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.77 and the average family size was 3.18.

27.9% of the population were under the age of 18, 5.1% from 18 to 24, 19.0% from 25 to 44, 32.3% from 45 to 64, and 15.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43.8 years. For every 100 females, the population had 92.1 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 85.4 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $144,299 (with a margin of error of +/− $23,666) and the median family income was $167,659 (+/− $28,090). Males had a median income of $126,556 (+/− $27,434) versus $71,667 (+/− $13,832) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $66,069 (+/− $8,285). About 1.7% of families and 2.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 0.7% of those under age 18 and 1.7% of those age 65 or over.

Education

The Little Silver School District serves students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. As of the 2021–22 school year, the district, comprised of two schools, had an enrollment of 776 students and 77.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.0:1. Schools in the district (with 2021–22 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are Point Road School with 393 students in grades PreK-4 and Markham Place School with 380 students in grades 5-8.

For ninth through twelfth grades, students attend Red Bank Regional High School, which serves students from the boroughs of Little Silver, Red Bank and Shrewsbury, along with students in the district's academy programs from other communities who are eligible to attend on a tuition basis. Students from other Monmouth County municipalities are eligible to attend the high school for its performing arts program, with admission on a competitive basis. The borough has two elected representatives on the nine-member board of education. As of the 2021–22 school year, the high school had an enrollment of 1,247 students and 117.8 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.6:1.

Transportation

County Route 520 through Little Silver

Roads and highways

As of May 2010^[update], the borough had a total of 32.41 miles (52.16 km) of roadways, of which 25.68 miles (41.33 km) were maintained by the municipality and 6.73 miles (10.83 km) by Monmouth County.

County Route 520 passes through the heart of the borough. The closest limited access road is the Garden State Parkway via CR 520 in Middletown Township.

Public transportation

Little Silver station agent's window

NJT train at Little Silver station

Borough of Little Silver vehicle

NJ Transit train service is available at the Little Silver station, which is one of the few on the electrified portion of the line without raised platforms. The station is located between two grade crossings. When trains stop at the station, they block the roadway at one crossing or the other for entire duration of the stop, causing traffic backups. Commuter service connects the borough to Hoboken Terminal, Newark Penn Station, Secaucus Junction and New York Penn Station on the North Jersey Coast Line. The train station, constructed in 1875 by the New York and Long Branch Railroad, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

From the Raritan Bayshore SeaStreak catamarans travel to Pier 11 at Wall Street and East 34th Street Ferry Landing in Manhattan. NY Waterway ferries travel to Paulus Hook Ferry Terminal in Jersey City, Battery Park City Ferry Terminal and West Midtown Ferry Terminal in Manhattan.

Notable people

People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Little Silver include:

• Chester Apy (born 1932), politician who represented District 5B in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1968 to 1970 and again from 1972 to 1974
• James Avati (1912–2005), artist and illustrator of paperback covers
• Virginia Bauer (born 1956), advocate for families of the victims of the September 11 terror attacks who is a Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
• John O. Bennett (born 1948), former assemblyman, state senator, Senate co-president and acting governor
• Dave Bry (1970–2017), writer, music journalist and editor at Vibe, Spin and XXL
• Brian Christian (born 1984), poet and nonfiction author
• Harold Hartshorne (1891–1961), gold medal winner in figure skating
• Karl Guthe Jansky (1905–1950), the founder of radio astronomy
• Marilyn Levy (1922–2014), photographic chemist and inventor based at Fort Monmouth
• Robert Lewis Morgan (born 1952), served in the New Jersey General Assembly for one term, from 2004 to 2006, where he represented the 12th Legislative District
• Russell Ohl (1898–1987), engineer who is generally recognized for patenting the modern solar cell
• Daniel J. O'Hern (1930–2009), former Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court
• Declan O'Scanlon (born 1963), represents the 13th Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly, and served on the Little Silver Borough Council from 1994 to 2007
• Theodore D. Parsons (1894–1978), New Jersey Attorney General from 1949 to 1954
• Mike Rice Jr. (born 1969), Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's basketball coach
• Meghan Tierney (born 1997), snowboarder who competed in snowboardcross for the United States at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing,China
• Greg Trooper (1956–2017), folk singer/songwriter
• Casey Webb, television host and professional eater, best known as the host of the television series Man v. Food

See also

In Spanish: Little Silver para niños