Nutley, New Jersey facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Nutley, New Jersey
Township
Nutley Memorial Parkway
Seal
Nutley, New Jersey Location in Essex County, New Jersey Show map of Essex County, New Jersey Nutley, New Jersey Location in New Jersey Show map of New Jersey Nutley, New Jersey Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Essex
Incorporated	February 18, 1874, as Franklin Township
Reincorporated	March 5, 1902, as Nutley
Government
• Type	Walsh Act
• Body	Board of Commissioners
Area
• Total	3.42 sq mi (8.86 km2)
• Land	3.37 sq mi (8.74 km2)
• Water	0.05 sq mi (0.12 km2)  1.37%
Area rank	316th of 565 in state 13th of 22 in county
Elevation	52 ft (16 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	30,143
• Estimate  (2023)	29,538
• Rank	79th of 565 in state 10th of 22 in county
• Density	8,939.2/sq mi (3,451.4/km2)
• Density rank	44th of 565 in state 7th of 22 in county
Time zone	UTC−05:00 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (Eastern (EDT))
ZIP Code	07110
Area code(s)	973
FIPS code	3401353680
GNIS feature ID	1729715

Nutley is a township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 30,143, an increase of 1,773 (+6.2%) from the 2010 census count of 28,370, which in turn reflected an increase of 1,008 (+3.7%) from the 27,362 counted in the 2000 census.

What is now Nutley was originally incorporated as Franklin Township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 18, 1874, from portions of Belleville Township. Nutley was incorporated as a town on March 5, 1902, replacing Franklin Township. In 1981, the town was 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.

Nutley derived its name from the estate of the Satterthwaite family, established in 1844, which stretched along the Passaic River and from an artist's colony in the area.

History

Former railroad station at Franklin Avenue

Annie Oakley performing at an amateur circus at Nutley in 1894, to raise funds for the Red Cross

Nutley grew slowly as Newark developed. The first European settler in the area, recorded in the minutes of a Newark town meeting in 1693, was a Dutch painter named Bastian Van Giesen. His house, known as Vreeland Homestead, still stands today on Chestnut Street and is the location of the Nutley Women's Club. John Treat and Thomas Stagg purchased lots adjacent to Van Geisen's in 1695 and 1698 respectively. The Van Riper House is another building from the era. During the revolutionary war, the Continental Army, under the command of General George Washington, retreated from New York through Essex County and what is now Nutley.

The first brownstone quarry in Nutley is believed to have been in operation by the early 18th century and was the town's first major industry. Jobs at the brownstone quarry in the Avondale section of Nutley provided work for many Italian and Irish immigrants. Mills situated along the Third River in the area now known as Memorial Park I became Nutley's second major industry.

John and Thomas Speer, Joseph Kingsland, and Henry Duncan all operated mills in the town during the 1800s. Current streets in Nutley are named after these mill owners. Henry Duncan built several mills throughout the town and established the village of Franklinville consisting of 30 homes and a few small businesses which later became the center of Nutley. One of Duncan's buildings has been modified and now serves as the town hall. Kingsland Manor is a national historic place.

During the late 1880s, painter Frank Fowler founded an artists' colony on The Enclosure, a dead-end street that is near the Third River, a stream that runs through the town's parks. Later artist residents of the street included Frederick Dana Marsh, Reginald Marsh and muralist Michael Lenson.

Nutley's town historian, John Demmer, is the author of the book in the "Images of America" series titled Nutley; Demmer is also part of The Nutley Historical Society, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to serve the educational, cultural and historical needs of the community. The Nutley Historical Society manages the operation of The Nutley Historical Museum, housed in a former town schoolhouse at 65 Church Street.

Several other historical works on Nutley have been written by local historians, notably the late Ann Troy's Nutley: Yesterday – Today; "Nutley" by Marilyn Peters and Richard O'Connor in the "Then and Now" series; and books about the Nutley Velodrome. The board track racing facility was used in the 1930s for racing midget cars. Local resident Chris Economaki wrote extensively about the Nutley Velodrome in his autobiographical racing history Let Them All Go! as the Velodrome was the first racetrack he had visited as a child.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 3.42 square miles (8.86 km²), including 3.37 square miles (8.74 km²) of land and 0.05 square miles (0.12 km²) of water (1.37%).

Unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the township include Avondale, Franklin, Glendale and Yanticaw.

The township borders the municipalities of Belleville and Bloomfield in Essex County; Lyndhurst in Bergen County; and Clifton in Passaic County.

Demographics

2020 census

2010 census

The 2010 United States census counted 28,370 people, 11,314 households, and 7,660 families in the township. The population density was 8,384.1 per square mile (3,237.1/km²). There were 11,789 housing units at an average density of 3,484.0 per square mile (1,345.2/km²). The racial makeup was 82.50% (23,405) White, 2.21% (628) Black or African American, 0.13% (36) Native American, 9.95% (2,824) Asian, 0.01% (4) Pacific Islander, 2.97% (842) from other races, and 2.22% (631) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 11.82% (3,354) of the population.

Of the 11,314 households, 29.6% had children under the age of 18; 52.8% were married couples living together; 11.1% had a female householder with no husband present and 32.3% were non-families. Of all households, 27.5% were made up of individuals and 10.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.10.

20.7% of the population were under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 28.9% from 45 to 64, and 14.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.7 years. For every 100 females, the population had 88.9 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 86.0 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $76,167 (with a margin of error of +/− $3,896) and the median family income was $98,042 (+/− $4,394). Males had a median income of $64,736 (+/− $4,840) versus $52,410 (+/− $3,558) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $37,706 (+/− $1,918). About 3.1% of families and 4.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.9% of those under age 18 and 5.9% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

Nutley had been the U.S. headquarters of Hoffmann-La Roche and was the site of the creations of the medications Valium and Librium, later becoming one of the major R&D sites for Roche, hosting major research areas in oncology, virology and inflammation. Roche announced in June 2012 that operations at the site would end in 2013, leading to the elimination of 1,000 positions at the company, and that the facility would be shuttered by year end 2015. Located in Nutley since 1929, the company had reached a peak of 10,000 employees on the site, and the $9 million paid by the company in local property taxes accounted for 9% of the township's tax revenues.

Parks and recreation

Nutley's parks include Booth Park, DeMuro Park, Father Glotzbach Park, Msgr Owens Park, Flora Louden Park, Kingsland Park, Memorial Park I, II, III, Nichols Park, and Rheinheimer Park. They offer fields for baseball, football, basketball, lacrosse, roller hockey, and soccer among other sports. The township hosts a weekly Market Walk and Talk beginning and ending at the township farmer's market where participants take a one-hour loop through the local scenic parks.

Education

The Nutley Public Schools serve students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 2021–22 school year, the district, comprised of seven schools, had an enrollment of 4,034 students and 328.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.3:1. Schools in the district (with 2021–22 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are Lincoln School with 448 students in grades K-6, Radcliffe School with 346 students in grades K-6, Spring Garden School with 439 students in grades PreK-6, Washington School with 484 students in grades K-6, Yantacaw School with 480 students in grades K-6, John H. Walker Middle School with 618 students in grades 7-8 and Nutley High School with 1,163 students in grades 9-12.

Transportation

Roads and highways

View north along Route 21 in Nutley

As of May 2010^[update], the township had a total of 67.94 miles (109.34 km) of roadways, of which 57.00 miles (91.73 km) were maintained by the municipality, 7.71 miles (12.41 km) by Essex County, 2.45 miles (3.94 km) by the New Jersey Department of Transportation and 0.78 miles (1.26 km) by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.

The Garden State Parkway clips the southwest corner of the township, entering in the south from Bloomfield before reentering Bloomfield in the north. Route 7 runs through the north of Nutley at its border with Clifton in Passaic County to its border with Belleville, using segments of Cathedral Avenue, Kingsland Street and Washington Avenue; part of the route on Kingsland Street dips into Clifton and then back into Nutley. Route 21 follows the township's eastern border between Clifton and Belleville.

Public transportation

NJ Transit provides bus service between the township and the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan on the 192 route, to Newark on the 13, 27, 72 and 74 routes, with local service on the 709 route.

Until 1966, the Newark Branch of the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad served the township with stations at Walnut Street, Highfield Street and at Franklin Avenue. The Newark Branch tracks are now used for freight only, operated by Norfolk Southern.

Operation Nutley Cares

After Hurricane Katrina devastated the central gulf coast region on August 29, 2005, Mayor Joanne Cocchiola and Commissioner Carmen A. Orechio reached out to local residents who wanted to help victims of the devastation, and formed the Operation Nutley Cares Committee. A decision was made to adopt Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, as a sister city, Bay St. Louis, population 8,500, which sits just northeast of New Orleans, and had at least 60% of the community completely destroyed by Katrina and another 20% condemned. Monetary donations are still being accepted to help fund efforts to assist Bay St. Louis.

Notable people