Salt Brook starts in Summit, New Jersey

Summit, New Jersey

Summit is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. At the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 21,457. Summit had the 16th-highest per capita income in the state as of the 2000 Census....

 in the highlands south and west of Memorial Field. It then flows north and then west through Summit. It then flows through New Providence, New Jersey

New Providence, New Jersey

New Providence is a borough on the northwestern edge of Union County, New Jersey, United States. It is located on the Passaic River, which forms the county boundary with Morris County...

 where it joins the Passaic River

Passaic River

The Passaic River is a mature surface river, approximately 80 mi long, in northern New Jersey in the United States. The river in its upper course flows in a highly circuitous route, meandering through the swamp lowlands between the ridge hills of rural and suburban northern New Jersey,...

. Flooding is occasionally a problem along the Salt Brook, especially in the Memorial Field area and parts of New Providence. Local tradition is that the brook got its name when the locals dumped their salt into the brook to keep it out of the hands of advancing British soldiers during the American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

.

The brook is only about 5 miles in length and is about 15 feet across in most locations. The Western part of Summit and most of New Providence drain into the Passaic River via the Salt Brook.

There is an elementary school in New Providence located just north of the brook that is named after the brook, called Salt Brook Elementary School.