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Vineland, New Jersey

Vineland is a city and the most populous municipality in Cumberland County, within the U.S. state of New Jersey. Bridgeton and Vineland are the two principal cities of the Vineland-Bridgeton metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses those cities and all of Cumberland County for statistical purposes and which constitutes a part of the Delaware Valley (the Philadelphia metropolitan area). The MSA had a population of 156,898 as of the 2010 census. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 60,780, its highest decennial count ever and an increase of 56 (+0.1%) from the 60,724 recorded at the 2010 census,  which in turn reflected an increase of 4,453 (+7.9%) from the 56,271 counted in the 2000 census. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 60,491 in 2022, ranking the city the 639th-most-populous in the country.

Vineland was formed on July 1, 1952, through the merger of Landis Township and Vineland Borough, based on the results of a referendum held on February 5, 1952. Festivities on July 1, 1952, when the merger took effect, included a parade and speeches from such notables as Senator Estes Kefauver. The name is derived from the plans of its founder to use the land to grow grapes.

Geographically, the city is part of South Jersey. It has large Italian-American and Hispanic-American populations.

History
Charles K. Landis purchased 30000 acre of land in 1861 and another 23000 acre in 1874, near Millville, and along the West Jersey railroad line with service between Camden and Cape May, to create his own alcohol-free utopian society based on agriculture and progressive thinking. The first houses were built in 1862, and train service was established to Philadelphia and New York City, with the population reaching 5,500 by 1865 and 11,000 by 1875.

Vineland was an early temperance town, where the sale of alcohol was prohibited. Landis required that buyers of land in Vineland build a house on the purchased property within a year of acquisition, that 2+1/2 acre of the often heavily wooded land be cleared and farmed each year, and that adequate space be placed between houses and roads to allow for planting of flowers and shade trees along the routes through town. Landis Avenue was constructed as a 100 ft wide and about 1 mi long road running east–west through the center of the community, with other, narrower roads connecting at right angles to each other.

After determining that the Vineland soil was well-suited for growing grapes (hence the name), Landis started advertising to attract Italian grape growers to Vineland, offering 20 acre of land that had to be cleared and used to grow grapes. Thomas Bramwell Welch founded Welch's Grape Juice, and purchased the locally grown grapes to make "unfermented wine" (i.e. grape juice). The sandy ground also attracted the glass-making industry and was home to the Progresso soup company. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, most of the city was involved in the poultry industry, which led to the city being dubbed "The Egg Basket of America."

Vineland Poultry Laboratories was started by Arthur Goldhaft. Goldhaft is credited with putting "a chicken in every pot" after developing the fowl pox chicken vaccine that saved millions of chickens from death. Goldhaft's work at Vineland Poultry Laboratories in Vineland helped protect the world's chicken supply from the fowl pox disease. Operations at the facility were closed by Lohmann Animal Health in 2007. Vineland had New Jersey's first school for the intellectually disabled, the Vineland Developmental Center, which now has an east and west campus. These institutions housed mentally handicapped women in fully staffed cottages. Henry H. Goddard, an American psychologist, coined the term "Moron" while directing the Research Laboratory at the Training School for Backward and Feeble-minded Children in Vineland. This facility was so sufficiently well known that one American Prison Association pamphlet in 1955 heralded Vineland as "famous for its contributions to our knowledge of the feebleminded".

Vineland celebrated its 150th birthday in 2011. Mayor Robert Romano initially ordered a custom cake from Buddy Valastro of Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken; the business is featured in the TLC reality television series Cake Boss. After outcry from local business owners, the order was canceled and five Vineland bakeries donated elaborate cakes for the event as well as over 1,000 servings of cake for the celebration.

Since the 1970s, the city has had an annual dandelion festival. Brought to the area by early Italian immigrants, the plant is grown as a crop by farms in Vineland.

Barbara Kingsolver's 2018 novel Unsheltered is set in Vineland.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city had a total area of 68.99 square miles (178.68 km2), including 68.39 square miles (177.14 km2) of land and 0.60 square miles (1.54 km2) of water (0.86%). Of all the municipalities in New Jersey to hold the type of City, Vineland is the largest in total area. (Hamilton Township in Atlantic County is the largest municipality in New Jersey in terms of land area. Galloway Township, also in Atlantic County, is the largest municipality in total area, including open water within its borders.)

Unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the city include Clayville, Hances Bridge, Leamings Mill, Menantico, North Vineland, Parvins Branch, South Vineland, Willow Grove and Pleasantville. That last community (adjacent to Newfield Boro) is not to be confused with the City of Pleasantville in Atlantic County.

Vineland borders the municipalities of Deerfield Township, Millville, and Maurice River Township in Cumberland County; Buena and Buena Vista Township in Atlantic County; Franklin Township and Newfield Boro in Gloucester County; and Pittsgrove Township in Salem County. The city is approximately 38 mi from the Atlantic Ocean.

2010 census
The 2010 United States census counted 60,724 people, 21,450 households, and 15,230 families in the city. The population density was 887.5 /sqmi. There were 22,661 housing units at an average density of 331.2 /sqmi. The racial makeup was 67.03% (40,703) White, 14.16% (8,600) Black or African American, 0.67% (406) Native American, 1.71% (1,036) Asian, 0.04% (24) Pacific Islander, 12.91% (7,841) from other races, and 3.48% (2,114) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 38.03% (23,093) of the population.

Of the 21,450 households, 31.3% had children under the age of 18; 46.2% were married couples living together; 18.2% had a female householder with no husband present and 29.0% were non-families. Of all households, 23.3% were made up of individuals and 10.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.76 and the average family size was 3.23.

24.5% of the population were under the age of 18, 9.4% from 18 to 24, 26.2% from 25 to 44, 26.0% from 45 to 64, and 13.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37.7 years. For every 100 females, the population had 92.4 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 88.1 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $54,024 (with a margin of error of +/− $2,798) and the median family income was $64,185 (+/− $2,216). Males had a median income of $48,974 (+/− $1,402) versus $35,513 (+/− $2,565) for females. The per capita income for the city was $24,512 (+/− $895). About 11.0% of families and 12.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.0% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over.

2000 census
As of the 2000 U.S. census, there were 56,271 people, 19,930 households, and 14,210 families residing in the city. The population density was 819.2 PD/sqmi. There were 20,958 housing units at an average density of 305.1 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 67.47% White, 13.62% African American, 0.54% Native American, 1.16% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 14.01% from other races, and 3.13% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 30.00% of the population.

There were 19,939 households, out of which 80.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.8% were married couples living together, 16.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.7% were non-families. 23.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.17.

In the city the population was spread out, with 25.7% under the age of 18, 8.3% from 18 to 24, 29.0% from 25 to 44, 22.9% from 45 to 64, and 14.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.9 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $40,076, and the median income for a family was $47,909. Males had a median income of $35,195 versus $25,518 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,797. About 9.8% of families and 13.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.3% of those under age 18 and 13.8% of those age 65 or over.

Economy
Portions of the city are part of a joint Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) with Millville, one of 32 zones covering 37 municipalities statewide. Millville was selected in 1983 as one of the initial group of 10 zones chosen to participate in the program. In addition to other benefits to encourage employment and investment within the Zone, shoppers can take advantage of a reduced 3.3125% sales tax rate (half of the $6 5/8$% rate charged statewide) at eligible merchants. Established in October 1988, the city's Urban Enterprise Zone status expires in December 2023.

The main street in Vineland is Landis Avenue. The traditional downtown area is located several blocks east and west of the intersection of Landis Avenue and the Boulevard. The Boulevard is a pair of roads that flank the main north–south railroad, which connected Vineland with Cape May to the south and Camden/Philadelphia to the north. After many years of decline, there has been much recent activity to restore the vitality of "The Avenue" and the center city area. New construction includes a new transportation center, courthouse, post office, elementary school / community center and sidewalk upgrades. In 2005, Vineland was designated a Main Street Community and, through the work of this group, money has been earmarked to continue this improvement through property and facade improvements, business retention and marketing.

Local government
The City of Vineland is governed within the Faulkner Act, formally known as the Optional Municipal Charter Law, under the Mayor-Council (Plan A), implemented based on the recommendations of a Charter Study Commission as of July 1, 1952, months after the city's formation. The city is one of 71 municipalities (of the 564) statewide that use this form of government. The governing body is a mayor, serving as the city's chief executive, and a five-member city council, serving as the city's legislature. The mayor and council are elected at-large to serve concurrent four-year terms of office in non-partisan elections held in leap years as part of the November general election. An ordinance passed by the council in 2011 shifted elections from May to November, effectively extending the term of those members serving at the time by six months.

, the mayor of Vineland is Anthony Fanucci whose term of office ends on December 31, 2024. Members of the Vineland city council are Council President Elizabeth Arthur, Council Vice President David Acosta, Ronald John Franceschini Jr., Paul F. Spinelli and Albert Vargas, all of whom serving terms of office ending on December 31, 2024.

In November 2019, the city council appointed Elizabeth Arthur to fill the seat vacated by Angela Calakos following her resignation after announcing that she was moving out of the city. Arthur served on an interim basis until the November 2019 general election, when she was elected to serve the balance of the term office.

In January 2013, Ruben Bermudez took office as the city's first Hispanic mayor.

Federal, state and county representation
Vineland is located in the 2nd Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 1st state legislative district.

Politics
As of March 2011, there were a total of 37,583 registered voters in Vineland, of which 10,388 (27.6%) were registered as Democrats, 6,109 (16.3%) were registered as Republicans and 21,059 (56.0%) were registered as Unaffiliated. There were 27 voters registered to other parties.

In the 2012 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 64.9% of the vote (15,299 cast), ahead of Republican Mitt Romney with 34.2% (8,074 votes), and other candidates with 0.9% (218 votes), among the 23,880 ballots cast by the city's 39,605 registered voters (289 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 60.3%. In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 62.6% of the vote (15,743 cast), ahead of Republican John McCain, who received 35.2% (8,862 votes), with 25,144 ballots cast among the city's 39,098 registered voters, for a turnout of 64.3%. In the 2004 presidential election, Democrat John Kerry received 53.8% of the vote (12,506 ballots cast), outpolling Republican George W. Bush, who received around 43.6% (10,131 votes), with 23,253 ballots cast among the city's 35,943 registered voters, for a turnout percentage of 64.7.

In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 55.5% of the vote (7,171 cast), ahead of Democrat Barbara Buono with 42.8% (5,527 votes), and other candidates with 1.7% (221 votes), among the 13,243 ballots cast by the city's 37,789 registered voters (324 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 35.0%. In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Democrat Jon Corzine received 52.2% of the vote (7,457 ballots cast), ahead of both Republican Chris Christie with 40.1% (5,725 votes) and Independent Chris Daggett with 4.8% (681 votes), with 14,289 ballots cast among the city's 37,092 registered voters, yielding a 38.5% turnout.

Primary and secondary
The Vineland Public Schools serves students in public school for pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. The district is one of 31 former Abbott districts statewide that were established pursuant to the decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court in Abbott v. Burke which are now referred to as "SDA Districts" based on the requirement for the state to cover all costs for school building and renovation projects in these districts under the supervision of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority. As of the 2020–21 school year, the district, comprised of 14 schools, had an enrollment of 10,266 students and 731.9 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 14.0:1. Schools in the district (with 2020–21 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics ) are Casimer M. Dallago Jr. Preschool Center / IMPACT (with 215 students; in grade Pre-K), Dane Barse Elementary School (264; K–5), Solve D'Ippolito Elementary School (474; K–5), Marie Durand School (496; K–5), Edward Johnstone School (183; 5–8), Dr. William Mennies Elementary School (596; K–5), Pauline J. Petway Elementary School (504; K–5), Anthony Rossi Elementary School (637; K–5), Gloria M. Sabater Elementary School (784; K–5), Dr. John H. Winslow Elementary School (462; K–5), Sgt. Dominick Pilla Middle School (682; 6–8), Veterans Memorial Middle School (818; 6–8), Thomas W. Wallace Jr. Middle School (783; 6–8), Cunningham Academy for students with "personal or academic challenges that prevent them from reaching their full potential" (NA; 7–12) and Vineland High School (2,589; 9–12).

Students are also eligible to attend Cumberland County Technical Education Center in Millville (with a Vineland post office address), serving students from the entire county in its full-time technical training programs, which are offered without charge to students who are county residents. The school relocated starting in the 2016–17 school year to a 200000 sqft campus in Vineland constructed at a cost of $70 million and located next to Cumberland County College. The school initiated a new full-time high school program that included 240 students who will be part of the initial graduating class of 2020.

Cumberland Christian School is a private coeducational day school located in Vineland, serving students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. The school, founded in 1946, has a total enrollment of over 1,000 students.

The city is home to two Catholic elementary schools, Bishop Schad Regional School (combining St. Francis and Sacred Heart Schools) and St. Mary Regional School. Both schools operate under the supervision of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden. Bishop Schad formed in 2007 from the merger of Sacred Heart Regional School (Sacred Heart/St. Isidore) and St. Francis of Assisi, using the Sacred Heart site. Sacred Heart High School served grades 9–12 from 1927 until its closure by the Camden Diocese in June 2013 due to declining enrollment. St. Joseph High School in Hammonton was the closest Catholic high school. However that school closed in 2020.

The Ellison School was a private, nonsectarian coeducational Pre-K–8 day school located on South Spring Road in Vineland. The school was founded in 1959 as a grade 1–3 school, and moved to its current site in 1968. By 2016 enrollment had dropped to the point where closure was considered. By late 2019 the school had 11 instructors, three assistants to the instructors, and 76 students. Ellison closed in December 2019. 25 of the students moved to the Pre-K–8 Christian school Edgarton Christian Academy, then in Newfield, which planned to move to Buena.

College
Rowan College of South Jersey Cumberland Campus (former Cumberland County College) is partially in the Vineland city limits with the other portion in Millville.

Library
Vineland Public Library (VPL) is the city's public library.

Points of interest

 * The Delsea Drive-In, located on Route 47 (Delsea Drive) north of County Route 552, was for years the only remaining drive-in theater in the state of New Jersey, the state in which they were first created in 1932 in Camden.  Today New Jersey is home to two drive-in theaters—the Delsea Drive-In and the Newark Moonlight Cinema.
 * The Palace of Depression was built by the mustachioed eccentric George Daynor, a former Alaska gold miner who lost his fortune in the Wall Street Crash of 1929; the house was known as "The Strangest House in the World" or the "Home of Junk", and was built as a testament of willpower against the effects of the Great Depression. a full restoration, undertaken by The Palace of Depression Restoration Association, is ongoing.
 * The Landis MarketPlace opened in 2011 as a two-level indoor public market and would go on to include several vendors on the upper level. In July 2015, the Amish vendors on the lower level departed and the market was purchased by the city the following month. Spataro's Pizza was the sole remaining tenant.
 * The Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Society, a museum and research library that has been in operation since 1910 and holds a large collection exhibiting the city's history.
 * In 2009, as much as $25 million in grants from the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 were allocated to help with the cleanup of the Vineland Chemical Company site. The company's owners had paid $3 million towards the cleanup of soil and water at the site polluted with arsenic and other toxic materials, though the United States Environmental Protection Agency has spent more than $120 million to remediate the Superfund site.

Media
Clear Communications owns two locally licensed radio stations; WVLT (92.1) and WMIZ (1270), with WPOV-LP (107.7) owned by the local branch of Calvary Chapel. Vineland is also the city of license for WUVP-DT (channel 65), Philadelphia's Univision station, which has studios in Franklin Township and their news operation and transmitter based in Philadelphia proper.

Roads and highways
, the city had a total of 335.15 mi of roadways, of which 234.73 mi were maintained by the municipality, 80.54 mi by Cumberland County and 19.88 mi by the New Jersey Department of Transportation and 2.79 mi by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.

Route 47 (Delsea Drive) runs almost 9.5 mi north-south in the western quarter of the city, connecting Millville in the south to Franklin Township in Gloucester County at the city's northern tip. Route 55 enters the city from Millville for 1.4 mi, heads back into Millville and re-enters Vineland, running along the western border for 8.8 mi and heads north into Pittsgrove Township in Salem County. Route 56 (Landis Avenue) heads across the city from Pittsgrove Township to its eastern terminus at Route 47.

County Route 540 (Almond Road / Park Avenue / Landis Avenue) enters from the west in Pittsgrove Township and continues for 8 mi to Buena Vista Township in Atlantic County, on the city's eastern border. County Route 552 (Sherman Avenue / Mays Landing Road) enters from Deerfield Township in the city's southwest corner and continues for 10.8 mi into Maurice River Township. County Route 555 (South Main Road / North Main Road) enters from Millville extending for 8 mi into Franklin Township.

Public transportation
NJ Transit provides bus transportation on the 313 route between Cape May and Philadelphia, on the 408 route between Millville and Philadelphia and on the 553 route between Upper Deerfield Township and Atlantic City.

Two general aviation airports are located nearby. Vineland-Downstown Airport is located 4 mi northeast of the central business district and Kroelinger Airport, 3 mi north.

Parks and recreation
The Cumberland Cape Atlantic YMCA is in Vineland. The corporate name was changed from Vineland YMCA as the board of directors decided to expand the organization's service area to Atlantic County and Cape May County. There was a previous YMCA building in Millville that in August 1990 stopped operations. In late 1997 Millville Housing Authority purchased the building, which opened as the Holly City Development Corp. Family Center in 2001.

Notable people
People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Vineland include:

 * Hakeem Abdul-Shaheed (born 1959), convicted drug dealer and organized crime leader
 * Nelson Albano (born 1954), member of the New Jersey General Assembly who has represented the 1st Legislative District
 * Nicholas Asselta (born 1951), member of the New Jersey Senate, who served on the Vineland Board of Education (1993–1996), Vineland Planning Board (1992–1993) and Vineland Environmental Commission (1992–1993)
 * Johnny Austin (1910–1983), trumpeter who played with the Glenn Miller Orchestra before forming the Johnny Austin Orchestra in 1947
 * Herman Bank (1916–2012), mechanical engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory who oversaw the design of several early spacecraft
 * Wallace M. Beakley (1903–1975), naval aviator who was a vice admiral in the United States Navy
 * Obie Bermúdez (born 1977), Latin Grammy winner for Best Male Pop Vocal Album in 2005
 * Stanley Brotman (1924–2014), Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
 * Robert Neil Butler (1927–2010), first director of the National Institute on Aging
 * Glenn Carbonara (born 1966), former professional soccer player
 * Thomas Chisholm (1866–1960), Christian songwriter who wrote Great Is Thy Faithfulness
 * Jamil Demby (born 1996), offensive tackle on the practice squad of the Los Angeles Rams of the NFL
 * Dick Errickson (1912–1999), pitcher who played in MLB for the Boston Bees / Braves and the Chicago Cubs
 * Sam Fiocchi (born 1952), member of the New Jersey General Assembly from the 1st Legislative District from 2014 to 2016
 * Darren Ford (born 1985), MLB outfielder who played for the San Francisco Giants
 * Ted Ford (born 1947), former MLB outfielder who played for the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers
 * Chris Gheysens (born c. 1972), president and chief executive officer of Wawa Inc.
 * Henry H. Goddard (1866–1957), psychologist and eugenicist and author of The Kallikak Family, who headed the Vineland Training School for Feeble-Minded Girls and Boys, where he introduced the term "moron" to describe a mild form of mental retardation
 * Jeremiah Hacker (1801–1895), Quaker reformer and journalist
 * Lee Hull (born 1965), football coach and former player who was the head football coach at Morgan State University from 2014 to 2015
 * Alan Kotok (1941–2006), computer scientist known for his early and significant contributions to the Internet and World Wide Web
 * R. Bruce Land (born 1950), politician and former corrections officer who has represented the 1st Legislative District in the New Jersey General Assembly since 2016
 * Charles K. Landis (1833–1900), founder of Vineland
 * Layle Lane (1893–1976), African American educator and civil rights activist
 * Miles Lerman (1920–2008), Holocaust survivor who fought as a Jewish resistance fighter during World War II in Nazi occupied Poland and helped to plan and create the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
 * Matthew Lipman (1923–2010), founder of Philosophy for Children
 * Jillian Loyden (born 1985), soccer goalkeeper
 * Fred Lucas (1903–1987), MLB outfielder who played briefly for the Philadelphia Phillies during the 1935 season
 * Soraida Martinez (born 1956), artist, designer and social activist known for creating the art style of Verdadism
 * John Landis Mason (1832–1902), inventor of the Mason jar
 * Matthew W. Milam (born 1961), politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2008 to 2013
 * Liv Lux Miyake-Mugler, drag performer most known for competing on season 13 of RuPaul's Drag Race
 * Don Money (born 1947), professional baseball player
 * Ryan Ogren (born 2000), musician who has performed as part of Over It and Runner Runner
 * Isiah Pacheco (born 2000), American football running back for the Kansas City Chiefs
 * John Pascarella (born 1966), soccer coach who serves as head coach of USL Championship club OKC Energy FC
 * Lou Piccone (born 1949), wide receiver and kick returner who played in the NFL for the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills, during his nine seasons in the league
 * James Louis Schad (1917–2002), auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden from 1966 to 1993
 * Jeret Schroeder (born 1969), former driver in the Indy Racing League
 * Chad Severs (born 1982), professional soccer player
 * Walter H. Seward (1896–2008), supercentenarian who was, at the time of his death aged 111, the third-oldest verified man living in the United States
 * Walter L. Shaw (1916–1996), telecommunications engineer and inventor who ended up supplying the Mafia with black boxes capable of making free and untraceable telephone calls
 * George H. Stanger (1902–1958), politician who served in the New Jersey Senate from 1938 to 1946
 * Young Steff (born 1988), R&B, Hip Hop, and Pop singer-songwriter
 * Marc Stern, attorney, business executive and philanthropist who serves as the chairman of the TCW Group
 * Muriel Streeter (1913–1995), artist known for her surrealist paintings
 * Mike Testa (born 1976), attorney and politician who represents the 1st legislative district in the New Jersey Senate
 * Mary Treat (1830–1923), naturalist/botanist and correspondent with Charles Darwin, who was the author of Injurious Insects of the Farm and Field (1882)
 * Gina Thompson (born 1973), R&B singer whose song "The Things That You Do" peaked at number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, and number 12 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks Chart
 * Mike Trout (born 1991), Major League Baseball outfielder was born in Vineland
 * Richard Veenfliet (1843–1922), painter
 * Vic Voltaggio (born 1941), Major League Baseball umpire from 1977 to 1996
 * John H. Ware III (1908–1997), member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania
 * Anthony Watson (born 1989), American-born skeleton racer who competed on behalf of Jamaica in the 2018 Winter Olympics, becoming the first athlete to represent the Caribbean nation in the winter sport
 * Mona Weissmark, psychologist who has focused on intergenerational justice
 * Thomas Bramwell Welch (1825–1903), discoverer of the pasteurization process to prevent the fermentation of grape juice
 * Elmer H. Wene (1892–1957), represented NJ's 2nd congressional district from 1937 to 1939 and from 1941 to 1945
 * Freda L. Wolfson (born 1954), District Judge for the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
 * Clarence M. York (1867–1906), attorney who served as a law clerk to the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States

title: Vineland, New Jersey


text:
Belleville, New Jersey

Belleville (French: "Belle ville" meaning "Beautiful city/town" ) 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 38,222. an increase of 2,296 (+6.4%) from the 2010 census count of 35,926,

History
Originally known as "Second River" or "Washington", the inhabitants renamed the settlement "Belleville" in 1797. Belleville was originally incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 8, 1839, from portions of Bloomfield. Portions of the township were taken to create Woodside Township (March 24, 1869, now defunct) and Franklin Township (February 18, 1874, now known as Nutley). The independent municipality of Belleville city was created within the township on March 27, 1874, and was dissolved on February 22, 1876. On November 16, 1910, Belleville was reincorporated as a town, based on the results of a referendum held eight days earlier.

In 1870, Belleville became the first city on the East Coast of the United States with a Chinatown. While much of the country (especially the Western states) had strong anti-Chinese sentiment, the town welcomed a group of Chinese workers from the West Coast who had been workers on building the Central Pacific Railroad. This group of people eventually formed the basis for Chinatowns in Newark and New York City.

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 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.

Frankie Valli and the band The Four Seasons formed in Belleville, as did The Delicates, the late-1950s and early-1960s girl group made up of Denise Ferri, Arleen Lanzotti and Peggy Santiglia.

In 1994, Congress passed a resolution recognizing Belleville as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in the United States.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 3.37 square miles (8.71 km2), including 3.30 square miles (8.54 km2) of land and 0.07 square miles (0.18 km2) of water (2.05%).

Silver Lake (2010 total population of 4,243 ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) defined by the United States Census Bureau as of the 2010 Census that is split between Belleville (with 3,769 of the CDP's residents) and Bloomfield (474 of the total).

Other unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the township include Belwood, Big Tree and Soho.

The Second River forms much of the border between Belleville and Newark as it runs through Branch Brook Park.

The township of Belleville has given itself the nickname the Cherry Blossom Capital of America, with an annual display that is larger than the famed Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C., site of the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

The township borders the municipalities of Bloomfield, Newark and Nutley in Essex County; Lyndhurst and North Arlington in Bergen County; and Kearny in Hudson County.

2010 census
The 2010 United States census counted 35,926 people, 13,395 households, and 9,001 families in the township. The population density was 10755.7 /sqmi. There were 14,327 housing units at an average density of 4289.3 /sqmi. The racial makeup was 60.55% (21,753) White, 9.12% (3,277) Black or African American, 0.35% (126) Native American, 12.00% (4,312) Asian, 0.05% (18) Pacific Islander, 13.97% (5,018) from other races, and 3.96% (1,422) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 39.34% (14,133) of the population.

Of the 13,395 households, 30.5% had children under the age of 18; 44.3% were married couples living together; 16.7% had a female householder with no husband present and 32.8% were non-families. Of all households, 27.0% were made up of individuals and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68 and the average family size was 3.29.

21.7% of the population were under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 31.1% from 25 to 44, 26.3% from 45 to 64, and 11.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37.2 years. For every 100 females, the population had 93.1 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 89.0 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $60,127 (with a margin of error of +/− $2,658) and the median family income was $69,181 (+/− $4,525). Males had a median income of $46,656 (+/− $2,959) versus $42,237 (+/− $2,818) for females. The per capita income for the township was $27,668 (+/− $1,357). About 3.7% of families and 6.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.0% of those under age 18 and 6.6% of those age 65 or over.

2000 census
As of the 2000 United States census there were 35,928 people, 13,731 households, and 9,089 families residing in the township. The population density was 10,744.3 PD/sqmi. There were 14,144 housing units at an average density of 4,229.8 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the township was 69.44% White, 5.36% African American, 0.17% Native American, 11.31% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 9.83% from other races, and 3.82% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 23.68% of the population.

As of the 2000 Census, the most common ancestries listed were Italian (30.9%), Irish (9.4%), German (6.9%), Polish (4.5%), United States (2.6%) and English (2.2%).

There were 13,731 households, out of which 29.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.0% were married couples living together, 13.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.8% were non-families. 27.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.60 and the average family size was 3.23.

In the township the population was spread out, with 21.8% under the age of 18, 8.7% from 18 to 24, 33.9% from 25 to 44, 22.2% from 45 to 64, and 13.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.8 males.

The median income for a household in the township was $48,576, and the median income for a family was $55,212. Males had a median income of $38,074 versus $31,729 for females. The per capita income for the township was $22,093. About 6.3% of families and 8.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.9% of those under age 18 and 7.8% of those age 65 or over.

Local government
Belleville is governed within the Faulkner Act, formally known as the Optional Municipal Charter Law, under the Council-Manager form of New Jersey municipal government. The township is one of 42 municipalities (of the 564) statewide that use this form of government. The governing body is comprised of a seven-member Township Council, of which the mayor and two members are elected at-large and one each is chosen from four wards, with elections held on a non-partisan basis as part of the May municipal election. Members are elected in even-numbered years to serve four-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with the four ward seats up for vote together and the two at-large seats and the mayoral seat up for vote two years later.

, the mayor of Belleville is Michael A. Melham, whose term of office ends June 30, 2026. Members of the Belleville Township Council are Deputy Mayor Vincent Cozzarelli (Ward 3; 2024), Naomy De Peña (at-large; 2026), Thomas Graziano (at-large; 2026), John J. Notari (Ward 4; 2024), Steven J. Rovell (Ward 2; 2024) and Marie Strumolo-Burke (Ward 1; 2024).

The Township Manager is Anthony D. Iacono.

Federal, state, and county representation
Belleville is located in the 11th Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 34th state legislative district.

Politics
As of March 2011, there were a total of 19,684 registered voters in Belleville, of which 7,241 (36.8%) were registered as Democrats, 2,708 (13.8%) were registered as Republicans and 9,729 (49.4%) were registered as Unaffiliated. There were 6 voters registered as Libertarians or Greens.

In the 2012 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 65.8% of the vote (8,031 cast), ahead of Republican Mitt Romney with 33.3% (4,071 votes), and other candidates with 0.9% (109 votes), among the 12,956 ballots cast by the township's 20,621 registered voters (745 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 62.8%. In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 56.9% of the vote here (7,475 cast), ahead of Republican John McCain with 41.4% (5,444 votes) and other candidates with 0.8% (110 votes), among the 13,135 ballots cast by the township's 19,378 registered voters, for a turnout of 67.8%. In the 2004 presidential election, Democrat John Kerry received 50.6% of the vote here (6,046 ballots cast), outpolling Republican George W. Bush with 48.0% (5,728 votes) and other candidates with 0.7% (130 votes), among the 11,940 ballots cast by the township's 17,411 registered voters, for a turnout percentage of 68.6.

In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 53.1% of the vote (3,170 cast), ahead of Democrat Barbara Buono with 45.8% (2,734 votes), and other candidates with 1.1% (67 votes), among the 6,050 ballots cast by the township's 20,904 registered voters (79 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 28.9%. In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Democrat Jon Corzine received 50.7% of the vote here (3,626 ballots cast), ahead of Republican Chris Christie with 42.6% (3,041 votes), Independent Chris Daggett with 4.6% (329 votes) and other candidates with 1.0% (72 votes), among the 7,146 ballots cast by the Township's 19,313 registered voters, yielding a 37.0% turnout.

Education
The Belleville School District serves public school students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 2020–21 school year, the district, comprised of 11 schools, had an enrollment of 4,548 students and 361.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.6:1. Schools in the district (with 2020–21 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics ) are Hornblower Early Childhood Center (60 students; in PreK), School 3 (322; K-5), School 4 (466; PreK-5), School 5 (375; K-5), School 7 (404; PreK-5), School 8 (464; K-5), School 9 (124; K-5), School 10 (152; K-5), Belleville Middle School (736; 6-8) and Belleville High School (1,358; 9-12).

The Belleville Public Library and Information Center had a collection of 98,603 volumes.

Roads and highways
, the township had a total of 67.17 mi of roadways, of which 57.22 mi were maintained by the municipality, 6.21 mi by Essex County and 3.74 mi by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

Route 7, Route 21 and County Route 506 all pass through Belleville.

The Belleville Turnpike Bridge (also known as the Rutgers Street Bridge) crosses the Passaic River, connecting Belleville to North Arlington. The bridge was formally renamed on July 4, 2013, as the "Lance Corporal Osbrany Montes de Oca Memorial Bridge" in memory of a United States Marine Corps soldier killed in February 2012 while serving in Afghanistan.

Public transportation
The Silver Lake station provides service to Newark Penn Station on the Newark Light Rail.

Until 1966, the Newark Branch of the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad provided train service at stations at Belleville and Cleveland Street. The New York and Greenwood Lake Railway, later the Boonton Line, also served the township. The Newark Branch tracks are now used for freight only, operated by Norfolk Southern.

NJ Transit bus service is available to and from Newark on the 13, 27, 72, 74, 90, 92, 93 and 94 bus lines.

Places of interest

 * Clara Maass Medical Center is a 469-bed teaching hospital that is part of the Barnabas Health system, founded in 1868 as Newark German Hospital, and named for Clara Maass, a nurse who died after volunteering for medical experiments to study yellow fever
 * Reformed Dutch Church of Second River – The church's original building was constructed in 1697 and replaced in 1725. A new structure was erected in 1807 after a tornado destroyed the previous church building, and the current church dates to 1853. More than 60 Continental Army soldiers are buried in the cemetery that adjoins the church.
 * Christ Church Cemetery & Mausoleum – This cemetery was originally the first Episcopal Church in the area, established in 1746 by a land grant signed by King George II. The original burial ground still exists today, accompanied by a newer mausoleum.

Belleville locations in The Sopranos

 * Episode 3 ("Denial, Anger, Acceptance"): Christopher Moltisanti's "mock execution" is on the pier in the Passaic River used by Belleville High School's crew team.
 * Episode 28 ("Proshai, Livushka"): Livia Soprano's funeral is held at the Irvine-Cozzarelli Memorial Home, across the street from Belleville Middle School on Washington Avenue.
 * Season 4- Even though Furio Giunta's house was stated to be in Nutley, its actual location was Belleville on Essex Street.
 * Episode 55 ("Where's Johnny?"): Junior gets lost and tells the policemen who find him that he lives in Belleville.
 * Episode 76 ("Cold Stones"): Rosalie Aprile briefly dates a much younger French motorcyclist named Michel, who hails from Belleville, Paris. Ro expresses a particular sense of kinship with Michel given his connection to a town with the same name as the New Jersey town where members of her inner circle live (e.g., Corrado Soprano) and do business (e.g., the Irvine-Cozzarelli Memorial Home).

1996 Torch Relay
On June 18, 1996, the Olympic Torch Relay came through Belleville. The relay entered Belleville from Rutgers, made a left onto Washington Avenue, passing the Belleville Town Hall, a right onto Belleville Avenue and stayed on Belleville into the township of Bloomfield. The torch relay ended at Atlanta, Georgia for the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Notable people
People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Belleville include:

 * Platt Adams (1885–1961), track and field athlete who was winner of gold and silver Olympic medals
 * Russell Baker (born 1925), Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Growing Up
 * Chico Borja (born 1959), former professional soccer player
 * Lonnie G. Bunch III (born 1952), museum director and historian
 * Gilbert Luis R. Centina III (born 1947), Roman Catholic priest and author
 * Ralph R. Caputo (born 1940), member of the New Jersey General Assembly who has represented the 28th Legislative District
 * Kacy Catanzaro (born 1990) is a gymnast noted for being the first woman to qualify for the finals of the television sports challenge American Ninja Warrior
 * Samuel Cornish (1795–1858), abolitionist and publisher of the first newspaper in the United States owned by African Americans
 * Bob Crewe (1930–2014), songwriter, dancer, singer, manager, record producer and fine artist best known for producing, and co-writing together with Bob Gaudio, a string of Top 10 singles for The Four Seasons
 * Robert Curvin (1934–2015), researcher and theorist on issues related to urban poverty
 * Michael Devaney (1891–1967), track and field athlete who competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics and in the 1924 Summer Olympics, and was part of the team that won the gold medal in 1920 in the 3000 meter steeplechase competition
 * Tommy DeVito (born 1936), musician and singer
 * Dennis Diken (born 1957), drummer with The Smithereens
 * Cornelius Ennis (1813–1899), cotton shipper and railroad executive who served as Mayor of Houston, Texas
 * Connie Francis (born 1938), singer
 * Dany Garcia (born 1969), businessperson, professional bodybuilder and film/television producer
 * Bob Gaudio (born 1942), singer, songwriter and producer
 * Kay Gardella (1923–2005), reporter, critic and columnist for almost 60 years at the New York Daily News
 * Frances Goodrich (1890–1984), dramatist and screenwriter, best known for her collaborations with her partner and husband Albert Hackett
 * Scott Graham (born 1965), Philadelphia Phillies broadcaster
 * David Grant (born 1965), former NFL player
 * Phil Grippaldi (born 1946) was an Olympic weightlifter who competed for the United States at the games in 1968, 1972 and 1976
 * Creighton Gubanich (born 1972), catcher who played professionally in 15 games for the Boston Red Sox in 1999 and had a grand slam as his first career hit and only career home run
 * Llewellyn F. Haskell (1842–1929), United States Army officer and a Union general during the American Civil War
 * George Hrab (born 1971), drummer, guitarist, composer and podcaster known for performing rock, funk and jazz
 * Frank Iero (born 1981), musician best known as the rhythm guitarist for the band My Chemical Romance, lead vocalist for the band Leathermouth and lead vocalist and guitarist for the band Pencey Prep
 * Nick Massi (1935–2000), early member of the Four Seasons
 * Tony Meola (born 1969), soccer goalie
 * Paul Mirabella (born 1954), MLB player for the Texas Rangers, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles, Seattle Mariners, and the Milwaukee Brewers
 * Doris Kopsky Muller (1922–1997), cyclist who was the first woman to win a national title in cycling
 * Joe Pesci (born 1943), actor
 * Daniel H. Rucker (1812–1910), U.S. Army brigadier general
 * Diane Ruggiero, That's Life series creator and Veronica Mars writer
 * Roxana Saberi (born 1977), Iranian-American journalist arrested in Iran in February 2009
 * Junior Sanchez (born 1977), DJ, record producer and remixer
 * Peggy Santiglia (born 1944), singer, songwriter and lead singer The Angels
 * Fred Schneider (born 1951), singer, songwriter, arranger and musician, best known as the frontman of the rock band the B-52's, of which he is a founding member
 * Andrew E. Svenson (1910–1975), children's author, publisher, and partner in the Stratemeyer Syndicate, who authored or coauthored more than 70 books for children, including books in the Hardy Boys and Bobbsey Twins series
 * Frankie Valli (born 1934), lead singer of the musical group The Four Seasons
 * Sharon Van Etten (born 1981), singer-songwriter
 * Gerard Way (born 1977), musician, singer-songwriter, and comic book writer best known as the lead singer of the band My Chemical Romance and writer of the comic series The Umbrella Academy
 * Mikey Way (born 1980), musician best known as the bassist for the band My Chemical Romance
 * Gus Wickie (1885–1947), German-born American bass singer, stage actor and voice of Bluto in the Fleischer Studios' Popeye cartoons from 1935 until 1938
 * Leonard R. Willette (1921–1944), Tuskegee Airman pilot killed in action in World War II flying over Germany while protecting a group of American bombers

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Belleville, New Jersey


text:
Bloomfield, New Jersey

Bloomfield is a township in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and an inner-ring suburb of Newark. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 53,105, an increase of 5,790 (+12.2%) from the 2010 census count of 47,315,  which in turn reflected a decline of 368 (-0.8%) from the 47,683 counted in the 2000 census. It is the location of the Bloomfield Green Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

History
The earliest settlers of the area were the Lenape Native Americans. The initial patent for European settlement of the land that would become Bloomfield Township was granted to the English Puritan colonists of Newark, and the area assigned to Essex County in 1675, and Newark Township in 1693. From the 1690s to about the 1720s, much of the northern and eastern land was sold to descendants of New Netherland colonists who had settled Acquackanonk, and the remainder mostly to English families. Speertown (now Upper Montclair), Stone House Plains (now Brookdale), and Second River (now Belleville and Nutley) were essentially Dutch and Jersey Dutch-speaking, while Cranetown, Watsessing, and the Morris Neighborhood (now North Center) were predominantly English. Starting in the mid-18th century, the English and Dutch neighborhoods gradually integrated, with Thomas Cadmus being among the first Dutchmen to settle in an English neighborhood.

Numerous residents served in the Revolutionary War. No significant engagements occurred in Bloomfield, although the locale was on the Continental Army's retreat route after the Battle of Long Island; British and American troops conducted foraging operations; and General George Washington is believed to have visited at least two residences. The Green was set aside to commemorate the use of that space for drilling of militia.

The Presbyterian Society of Bloomfield (now the Bloomfield Presbyterian Church on the Green) was formed in 1794 and named in honor of then-brigadier Joseph Bloomfield, commander of New Jersey troops in the Whiskey Rebellion. About the same time, the Dutch Reformed Church of Stone House Plains (now Brookdale Reformed Church) was established. The two churches became integral institutions of southern and northern Bloomfield, respectively.

Bloomfield was incorporated as a township from portions of Newark Township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 23, 1812. At the time, the Presbyterian parish's namesake was governor of New Jersey and had recently been appointed brigadier general for service in the looming War of 1812.

At the time it was incorporated, the township covered 20.52 sqmi (almost four times its current area of 5.3 sqmi) and included several municipalities which were formed from portions of Bloomfield during the course of the nineteenth century, including Belleville (created on April 8, 1839), Montclair (April 15, 1868), Woodside Township (March 24, 1869) and Glen Ridge (February 13, 1895). The Stone House Plains neighborhood was renamed as Brookdale in 1873.

In the township's first century, Brookdale farms thrived while southern Bloomfield industrialized, and the township's infrastructure, civil framework and social institutions developed. Several miles of the Morris Canal passed through Bloomfield. The Oakes woollen mill thrived as a major supplier to the Union Army.

Bloomfield was incorporated as a town on February 26, 1900. In 1904, the city of Newark failed in its attempts to reannex Bloomfield as part of the "Greater Newark" movement. 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 to take advantage of federal revenue sharing policies that allocated townships a greater share of government aid to municipalities on a per capita basis.

In the 20th century, GE, Westinghouse and Schering built major facilities, and among others, the Charms Candy Company was started and grew. After World War I, Brookdale's farms were developed into residential neighborhoods and supporting services. Substantial population growth continued into the 1950s. During World War II, while many Bloomfield men served in the armed forces, Bloomfield's farms and factories, largely staffed by women, supported the war effort. In the decades after the war, the township's industrial base steadily shut down with stricter environmental regulations, rising labor costs, and growing competition. These influences, as well as construction of the Garden State Parkway, further drove urban decay and related population turnover and stagnation through the latter part of the 20th century.

In the early 21st century, redevelopment of blighted and underutilized properties has further shifted Bloomfield towards being a primarily residential municipality.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 5.36 square miles (13.88 km2), including 5.34 square miles (13.82 km2) of land and 0.02 square miles (0.06 km2) of water (0.45%).

Silver Lake (2010 total population of 4,243 ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) defined by the United States Census Bureau as of the 2010 Census that is split between Belleville (with 3,769 of the CDP's residents) and Bloomfield (474 of the total). Brookdale (2010 population of 9,239 ) is a CDP located entirely within Bloomfield. Watsessing and Ampere North are CDPs in the southern part of the township that were first listed prior to the 2020 census.

Unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the township include Halycon. Bloomfield is in the New York metropolitan area.

The township borders the municipalities of Belleville, East Orange, Glen Ridge, Montclair, Newark and Nutley in Essex County; and Clifton in Passaic County.

Demographics
In 2014, the cost of living in Bloomfield was 20% higher than the U.S. average.

According to a 2007 report from CNNMoney.com, the quality of life in Bloomfield in terms of crime are 3 incidents per 1,000 people as compared to the "best places to live average" of 1.3 incidents per 1,000. There were 35 property crime incidents per 1,000 people in Bloomfield as compared to the "best places to live average" of 20.6.

2010 census
The 2010 United States census counted 47,315 people, 18,387 households, and 11,768 families in the township. The population density was 8920.5 /sqmi. There were 19,470 housing units at an average density of 3670.7 /sqmi. The racial makeup was 59.61% (28,205) White, 18.51% (8,757) Black or African American, 0.41% (193) Native American, 8.22% (3,891) Asian, 0.04% (21) Pacific Islander, 9.35% (4,423) from other races, and 3.86% (1,825) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 24.53% (11,606) of the population.

Of the 18,387 households, 28.3% had children under the age of 18; 44.2% were married couples living together; 14.9% had a female householder with no husband present and 36.0% were non-families. Of all households, 29.5% were made up of individuals and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.20.

21.2% of the population were under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 30.9% from 25 to 44, 26.8% from 45 to 64, and 12.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37.7 years. For every 100 females, the population had 89.6 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 86.4 males.

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $62,831 (with a margin of error of +/− $2,641) and the median family income was $77,936 (+/− $4,120). Males had a median income of $51,498 (+/− $1,805) versus $44,735 (+/− $2,867) for females. The per capita income for the township was $30,421 (+/− $1,122). About 5.8% of families and 7.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.9% of those under age 18 and 7.9% of those age 65 or over.

2000 census
As of the 2000 United States census there were 47,683 people, 19,017 households, and 12,075 families residing in the township. The population density was 8,961.5 PD/sqmi. There were 19,508 housing units at an average density of 3,666.3 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the township was 70.09% White, 11.69% Black, 0.19% Native American, 8.38% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 6.42% from other races, and 3.16% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 14.47% of the population.

There were 19,017 households, out of which 28.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.7% were married couples living together, 12.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.5% were non-families. 30.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.16.

In the township, 21.1% of the population was under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 34.0% from 25 to 44, 22.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.1 males.

The median income for a household in the township was $53,289, and the median income for a family was $64,945. Males had a median income of $43,498 versus $36,104 for females. The per capita income for the township was $26,049. About 4.4% of families and 5.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.3% of those under age 18 and 8.2% of those age 65 or over.

Parks and recreation
Brookdale Park, established in 1928, covers over 121 acres in Bloomfield and Montclair, making it the third-largest park in Essex County, of which 77 acres are in Bloomfield. Watsessing Park, which is the county's fourth-largest park, covers 69.67 acres split between Bloomfield and East Orange (60 acres in Bloomfield), and features sections of the Second River and Toney's Brook flowing through the park. Both parks are administered by the Essex County Department of Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Affairs.

The Bloomfield Parks and Recreation Department administers eight parks covering 55.23 acres.

Local government
Bloomfield operates under a special charter granted by an act of the New Jersey Legislature. The township is one of 11 municipalities (of the 564) statewide that operate under a special charter. The township's governing body is comprised of the Mayor and the six-member Township Council. The mayor and three councilmembers are elected at-large, and one member is elected from each of three wards, with all positions chosen on a partisan basis as part of the November general election. Councilmembers are elected to three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with the three at-large seats (and the mayoral seat) up for election together and the three ward seats coming up for election two years later and no election in the middle year of the three-year cycle. Bloomfield's charter retains most of the characteristics of the Town form, with additional powers delegated to an administrator.

, the Mayor of Bloomfield is Democrat Ted Gamble, who was appointed to fill a term of office ending December 31, 2025. Members of the Bloomfield Township Council are Sarah Cruz (D, 2026; Third Ward), Wartyna "Nina" Davis (D, 2025; at-large), Nicholas Joanow (D, 2026; Second Ward), Jenny Mundell (D, 2026; First Ward) and Richard Rockwell (D, 2025; at-large); one at-large seat is vacant.

The Township Council appointed Ted Gamble to serve as mayor in January 2024 to fill the seat vacated by Michael Venezia when he took office in the New Jersey General Assembly; Gamble will serve on an interim basis until the November 2024 general election, when voters will choose a candidate to serve the balance of the term of office. In February 2024, Monica Charris Tabares was chosen to fill the at-large seat expiring in December 2025 that had been held by Ted Gamble; she will be sworn into office on February 24 and will serve on an interim basis until the November 2024 election.

In January 2018, the Township Council selected Richard Rockwell from a list of three candidates nominated by the Democratic municipal committee to fill the at-large seat expiring in December 2019 that had been vacated the previous month by Carlos Pomares who resigned from office to serve on the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders. Rockwell served on an interim basis until the November 2018 general election, when he was elected to serve the balance of the term of office.

The Township Council selected Jenny Mundell to fill the vacant First Ward seat expiring in December 2017 that had been held by Elias N. Chalet until he resigned from office after being charged with accepting $15,000 in bribes in exchange for making sure that the township would proceed with the acquisition of a commercial property. After pleading guilty, Chalet was forced to resign from office and could be sentenced to five years in prison.

Emergency services
The township maintains its own police department.

The town is protected by a fire department consisting of 78 active professional firefighters who operate out of four stations, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is also a squad of volunteers. In 2009, the department received international accreditation. The Fire Prevention Bureau established in 1953 and described as the first of its kind in the state, is operated by the department. It consists of one fire inspector, one fire official and a small support staff of civilians and fire personnel. The department apparatus consist of four engines (one is a rescue pumper), one Truck/Ladder, a rescue and three reserve apparatus. Engine 1 located at the fire headquarters frequently closes due to lack of manpower.

In 2018, the Insurance Services Office once again listed the fire department as a class 2 agency, recognizing it in the top five percent of the nation's fire departments, a ranking it had held for the ten previous years. As of 2020, the department is again working toward achieving accreditation status.

The Fire Chief is Louis Venezia. He is the brother of former mayor, Michael Venezia.

Federal, state, and county representation
Bloomfield is in the 11th Congressional district and is part of New Jersey's 34th state legislative district.

Before the redistricting that followed the 2020 census, the township had been split between the 10th and 11th Congressional districts In the redistricting that went into effect in 2013, 24,480 residents in the northern portion of the township were placed in the 10th District, while 22,835 in the southern section were placed in the 11th District. Prior to the 2010 Census, Bloomfield had been part of the NJ's 8th congressional district, a change made by the New Jersey Redistricting Commission that took effect in January 2013, based on the results of the November 2012 general elections.

Politics
As of March 2011, there were a total of 28,398 registered voters in Bloomfield, of which 11,925 (42.0%) were registered as Democrats, 4,393 (15.5%) were registered as Republicans and 12,061 (42.5%) were registered as Unaffiliated. There were 19 voters registered as either Libertarians or Greens.

In the 2012 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 69.9% of the vote (13,361 cast), ahead of Republican Mitt Romney with 28.8% (5,501 votes), and other candidates with 1.3% (245 votes), among the 19,242 ballots cast by the township's 29,923 registered voters (135 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 64.3%. In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 62.9% of the vote here (12,735 cast), ahead of Republican John McCain with 35.3% (7,154 votes) and other candidates with 0.9% (186 votes), among the 20,251 ballots cast by the township's 27,981 registered voters, for a turnout of 72.4%. In the 2004 presidential election, Democrat John Kerry received 57.0% of the vote here (10,829 ballots cast), outpolling Republican George W. Bush with 41.5% (7,891 votes) and other candidates with 0.7% (208 votes), among the 19,012 ballots cast by the township's 27,995 registered voters, for a turnout percentage of 67.9.

In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Democrat Barbara Buono received 53.1% of the vote (5,808 cast), ahead of Republican Chris Christie with 45.6% (4,984 votes), and other candidates with 1.3% (141 votes), among the 11,118 ballots cast by the township's 30,606 registered voters (185 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 36.3%. In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Democrat Jon Corzine received 53.8% of the vote here (6,241 ballots cast), ahead of Republican Chris Christie with 37.6% (4,359 votes), Independent Chris Daggett with 6.6% (761 votes) and other candidates with 1.3% (147 votes), among the 11,599 ballots cast by the township's 27,929 registered voters, yielding a 41.5% turnout.

Public schools
The Bloomfield Public Schools serve students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 2021–22 school year, the district, comprised of 11 schools, had an enrollment of 6,191 students and 538.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.5:1. Schools in the district (with 2021–22 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics ) are Early Childhood Center at Forest Glen (165 students; in grade PreK), Berkeley Elementary School (446; K-6), Brookdale Elementary School (320; K-6), Carteret Elementary School (375; K-6), Demarest Elementary School (480; K-6), Fairview Elementary School (452; PreK-6), Franklin Elementary School (343; K-6), Oak View Elementary School (314; PreK-6), Watsessing Elementary School (270; K-6), Bloomfield Middle School (971; 7-8) and Bloomfield High School / Bridges Academy (1,986; 9-12).

As of the 2012–13 school year, the Bloomfield Public Schools had an actual Budgetary Per Pupil Cost of $11,848 (which is 16.4% below the statewide group average was $14,173), while Total Spending Per Pupil for the district was $15,848 (which is 16.0% below the $18,867 statewide).

Bloomfield Tech High School is a regional, countywide magnet public high school that offers occupational and academic instruction for students in Essex County, as part of the Essex County Vocational Technical Schools.

Catholic schools
Saint Thomas the Apostle Parish School, which serves grades K–8, is operated under the supervision of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark.

Colleges and universities
Bloomfield College, a liberal arts college founded in 1868, is in downtown Bloomfield near the town green. The college has approximately 2,000 students and is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.

Roads and highways
, the township had a total of 95.39 mi of roadways, of which 77.39 mi were maintained by the municipality, 13.77 mi by Essex County and 4.23 mi by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.

The major New Jersey highway artery that serves Bloomfield is the Garden State Parkway, the longest road in the state. It has four interchanges in the township. Interchanges 148 in the south of Bloomfield and 151 in the north are complete interchanges, while 149 and 150 are partials. The Parkway's Essex toll plaza is southbound just south of interchange 150 in the township. There are two service areas on the Parkway in Bloomfield, one for northbound and one southbound. Troop D of the New Jersey State Police, which patrols the full length of the Garden State Parkway, has a station in Bloomfield at northbound milepost 153.

County Road 506, 506 Spur and 509 also serve Bloomfield.

Commuter rail
South Bloomfield is served by two stations of the NJ Transit Montclair-Boonton Line to Hoboken Terminal or to Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan via the Secaucus Junction. About 55% of the weekday trains terminate in Penn Station via Midtown Direct. On weekends the line terminates in Hoboken. The Bloomfield train station is located off of Bloomfield Avenue in the downtown area. The Watsessing Avenue station is at the corner of Watsessing Avenue and Orange Street, and is located below ground.

Bloomfield used to be served by other passenger rail lines. The Rowe Street station was served by the Boonton Line until September 2002, when it was closed as part of the addition of Midtown Direct service to the township. The Walnut Street station, on the same line, was closed in 1953 when the Garden State Parkway was built through it.

Light rail
The Grove Street station on the Newark City Subway line of the Newark Light Rail at the south end of Bloomfield provides service to Newark Penn Station, created as part of an extension to Belleville and Bloomfield that opened in 2002. This station was part of the Orange Branch of the New York & Greenwood Lake Line of the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad with service to Jersey City which last saw passenger service in 1965. Freight service was discontinued in 2010 by Norfolk Southern with the loss of the last remaining shipper Hartz Mountain.

Buses
NJ Transit bus service is available to and from Newark on the 11, 27, 28, 29, 34, 72, 90, 92, 93 and 94 routes, with local service on the 709 bus line. Service to Port Authority Bus Terminal is provided by route 102. In October 2009, the Go Bus 28 route was introduced, offering service nearly all day from Bloomfield Train Station to Newark Liberty International Airport.

Airports
Bloomfield is 7.5 miles from Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark / Elizabeth, and 28.8 miles from LaGuardia Airport in Flushing, Queens.

Points of interest

 * Glendale Cemetery
 * Holsten's Brookdale Confectionery, filming location of the final scene in the final episode of The Sopranos.
 * The Oakes Estate, constructed in 1895 based on a design by Charles Granville Jones, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.

Notable events
In 1942, the Westinghouse Lamp Plant in Bloomfield produced the majority of uranium metal used in the Chicago Pile-1, the world's first self-sustaining chain reaction which was a critical early phase of the Manhattan Project to create the first atomic bomb.

On January 29, 2023, at 3 a.m. a person in a ski mask threw a lit Molotov cocktail at Temple Ner Tamid, in an apparent attempt to burn down the synagogue that was unsuccessful, with no damage done to the building. On February 1, a 26-year-old man was arrested and charged with one federal count of "attempted use of fire to damage a building", which could result in 20 years in jail and a fine of up to $250,000 if he is convicted of the crime.

Notable people
People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Bloomfield include:

• Alaa Abdelnaby (born 1968), former NBA basketball player

• James Avati (1912–2005), illustrator and paperback cover artist

• Fallah Bahh (born 1985 as Francis Flores), professional wrestler signed with Impact Wrestling

• Caleb Cook Baldwin (1820–1911), one of the first Presbyterian missionaries to Fuzhou (then Foochow), China

• Arthur Hornbui Bell (1891–1973), Ku Klux Klan leader in New Jersey in the 1920s

• Robert Birmelin (born 1933), figurative painter, printmaker and draughtsman

• Seth Bingham (1882–1972), organist and prolific composer

• William D. Bishop (1827–1904), member of the United States House of Representatives from Connecticut's 4th congressional district from 1857 to 1859

• Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910), first woman doctor

• Hank Borowy (1916–2004), Major League Baseball All-Star pitcher who played for the New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates and Detroit Tigers

• Randolph Bourne (1886–1918), radical writer and opponent of U.S. involvement in World War I

• William Batchelder Bradbury (1816–1868), composer of the tune to "Jesus Loves Me" and many other popular hymns

• Doug Brien (born 1970), placekicker who played for the New York Jets and six other teams in his 12-season NFL career

• Kevin Burkhardt (born 1974), sportscaster who is a play-by-play voices for the NFL on FOX and a reporter with SportsNet New York, who is the field reporter during New York Mets telecasts

• Thomas Cadmus (1736–1821), businessman, Revolutionary War officer and community leader

• Marco Capozzoli (born 1988), placekicker who has played in the Arena Football League for the Jacksonville Sharks

• Lou Carter (1918–2005), jazz pianist, composer, and songwriter

• William F. Conger (1844–1918), businessman and politician who served as a member of the Wisconsin State Senate

• Rajie Cook (1930–2021), graphic designer, photographer and artist

• Marion Crecco (1930–2015), member of the New Jersey General Assembly from 1986 to 2002

• Tom Cudworth (born 1964), screenwriter

• Peter David (born 1956), science fiction and fantasy author known for his work in comic books and Star Trek novels

• Frank Howard Dodd (1844–1916), publisher

• Charles Warren Eaton (1857–1937), artist best known for his tonalist landscapes who lived in Bloomfield from 1888 until his death in 1937

• Todd Edwards (born 1972), house music and UK Garage producer, an early pioneer of the genre of UK Garage

• Bud Ellor (1905–1932), professional football player who spent one season in the National Football League in 1930, playing with the Newark Tornadoes

• Bento Estrela (born 2006), professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Major League Soccer club New York Red Bulls.

• Alex Ferguson (1897–1976), pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for five different teams between 1918 and 1929

• Tom Fleming (1951–2017), long-distance runner and two-time winner of the New York City Marathon

• Connie Francis (born 1937), singer

• Bill Geyer (1919–2004), halfback who played for three seasons for the Chicago Bears

• Johnny Gibson (1905–2006), Olympic runner

• Michael Giuliano (1915–1976), politician who served two terms in the New Jersey Senate

• Roger Lee Hall (born 1942), composer and musicologist

• Ernie Hambacher (1906–1990), American football  fullback who played in the NFL for the Orange Tornadoes

• Merton Hanks (born 1968), former NFL safety who played for the San Francisco 49ers and has been the NFL's Vice President of Operations

• Larry Hesterfer (1878–1943), pitcher who played a single MLB game in 1901 with the New York Giants, in which he became the only player known to have hit into a triple play in his first major league at bat

• Benjamin Holman (1930–2007), pioneering newspaper and television reporter who was one of the nation's few prominent black journalists

• Jim Kelly (1884–1961), MLB outfielder

• Charles Kinsey (1773–1849), U.S. Representative from New Jersey

• Michael Knapp (born 2000), professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for USL Championship club New York Red Bulls II

• Mike Kochel (1916–1994), one of the seven blocks of granite at Fordham University, he played in the NFL for the Chicago Cardinals

• Andy Kostecka (1921–2007), professional basketball player who played for the Indianapolis Jets

• Ted Leo (born 1970), punk rock singer, songwriter and guitarist

• Bob Ley (born 1955), ESPN sportscaster

• Michael Maslin, cartoonist for The New Yorker

• Keven McDonald (born 1956), basketball player who is best known for his collegiate career at the University of Pennsylvania from 1974 to 1978 with the Penn Quakers men's basketball team

• Edward Page Mitchell (1852–1927), editorial and short story writer for The Sun

• R. Stevie Moore (born 1952), lo-fi music singer/songwriter

• Charles A. Morris (1853–1914), engineer and dredging inventor

• Mike Olla (born 1994), professional soccer forward

• Clayton Parros (born 1990), track and field sprinter who specializes in the 400-meter dash

• Robert A. Pascal (1934–2021), politician who served as County executive of Anne Arundel County, Maryland from 1975 to 1982

• Marion Post Wolcott (1910–1990), photographer who worked for the Farm Security Administration during the Depression

• Charlie Puleo (born 1955), retired Major League Baseball pitcher who played from 1981 to 1989 with the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves

• Philip Reilly (born 1952), fencer who competed in the team sabre event at the 1984 Summer Olympics

• Andrew J. Robinson (c. 1843–1922), builder in New York City

• Jack Robinson (1921–2000), professional baseball pitcher whose MLB career consisted of three games played in the Major Leagues for the Boston Red Sox in 1949

• Don Savage (1919–1961), Major League Baseball player for the New York Yankees in 1944 and 1945

• Mark Sceurman, graphic artist who is co-creator and publisher of Weird NJ magazine

• Anish Shroff (born 1982), ESPN sportscaster

• Thomas S. Smith (1917–2002), politician who served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1992 until his death.

• Kristjan Sokoli (born 1991), American football defensive end

• Robert Stempel (1933–2011), Chairman and CEO of General Motors

• Frank Tripucka (1927–2013), pro football Denver Broncos' quarterback. Owned Trip Distribution, Inc.

• Kelly Tripucka (born 1959), pro basketball player for several teams, including the New Jersey Nets and New York Knicks The Tripuckas are father and son, and both played their sports at the University of Notre Dame.

• Todd Tripucka (born 1954), former basketball player

• Marlene VerPlanck (1933–2018), jazz and pop vocalist whose body of work centered on big band jazz, the American songbook and cabaret

• Michael Venezia, politician who had been mayor of Bloomfield before taking office in 2024 in the New Jersey General Assembly

• E. Duke Vincent (born 1932 as Edward Ventimiglia), television producer, and was from 1960 to 1961 a naval aviator who was a member of the famed Blue Angels flying team, had a 40-year career in television writing and production, involving 2,300 hours of television

• Alexander Wilson (1766–1813), the Father of American Ornithology, lived in Bloomfield for several months in 1801, where he was employed as a schoolteacher

• Dick Zimmer (born 1944), former member of the United States House of Representatives who was the Republican candidate for United States Senate in 1996 and 2008

title: Bloomfield, New Jersey