Teaneck, New Jersey
Encyclopedia
Teaneck is a township
in Bergen County
, New Jersey
, and a suburb
in the New York metropolitan area
. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 39,776, making it the second-most populous among the 70 municipalities in Bergen County.
Teaneck was created on February 19, 1895 by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature
. Teaneck was formed from portions of Englewood Township and Ridgefield Township, both of which are now defunct (despite existing municipalities with similar names), along with portions of Bogota
and Leonia
. Independence followed the result of a referendum held on January 14, 1895, in which voters favored incorporation by a 46–7 margin. To assuage the concerns of Englewood Township's leaders, the new municipality was formed as a township, rather than succumbing to the borough
craze sweeping across Bergen County at the time. On May 3, 1921, and June 1, 1926, portions of what had been Teaneck were transferred to Overpeck Township.
Teaneck lies at the junction of Interstate 95
and the eastern terminus of Interstate 80
. It is bisected into north and south portions by Route 4 and east and west ones by the CSX Transportation
River Subdivision. Commercial development is concentrated in four main shopping areas, on Cedar Lane, Teaneck Road, DeGraw Avenue, West Englewood Ave. and Queen Anne Road, more commonly known as "The Plaza".
Teaneck's location at the crossroads of river, road, train and other geographical features has made it a site of many momentous events across the centuries. After the American defeat at the Battle of Fort Washington
, George Washington
and the troops of the Continental Army
retreated across New Jersey from the British Army, traveling through Teaneck and crossing the Hackensack River
at New Bridge Landing
, which has since been turned into a state park and historic site commemorating the events of 1776 and of early colonial life. In 1965, Teaneck became the first community in the nation with a white majority to voluntarily desegregate its public schools, after the Board of Education approved the plan by a 7–2 vote on May 13, 1964. Teaneck has a diverse population, with large Jewish and African American communities, and growing numbers of Hispanic and Asian residents.
"Tiene Neck" meaning "neck where there are willows" (from the Dutch "tene" meaning willow).
When Europeans first entered the area, "Teaneck" referred to the north-south ridge that runs along present-day Queen Anne Road, with Lenni Lenape Native Americans having established camps on either side of the ridge. The Lenape in the area were led by a chief named Oratam
, who led a group that lived in a village called Achikinhesacky, on the banks of the Tantaqua (Overpeck Creek
), on the eastern slope of Teaneck Ridge near today's Fycke Lane. Conflicts between Europeans and Native Americans continued into the mid-17th century.
The first mention of permanent structures within the boundaries of present-day Teaneck dates to 1704. In subsequent years, houses and farm buildings were built on the west bank of the Hackensack River
, along the route of a Native American trail. The neighborhood that grew here came to be known as East Hackensack or New Hackensack. Another small group of Dutch
farm houses was constructed along the eastern slope of the Teaneck ridge along modern Teaneck Road. There are several of these early stone houses still standing that date back to Teaneck's 17th and 18th century Dutch farm heritage.
on the Hudson River
. Early on the morning of November 20, 1776, Washington rode by horseback from his headquarters in Hackensack through Teaneck and across Overpeck Creek to Fort Lee. There he watched as 6,000 British troops made their way by boats up the Hudson River
. He had his troops abandon their position on the Palisades
. They hastily made their way from their encampment, leaving behind their camp and most of their supplies, traveling across Overpeck Creek and through Teaneck to New Bridge Landing
(today's Brett Park). They crossed the bridge, marching barefoot, two abreast, their garments so worn that they were exposed to the cold rain that fell that day. Throughout the war, both British and American forces occupied local homesteads at various times, and Teaneck citizens played key roles on both sides of the conflict.
After the war, Teaneck returned to being a quiet farm community. Fruits and vegetables grown locally were taken by wagon to busy markets in nearby Paterson
and New York City. New growth and development were spurred in the mid-19th century by the establishment of railroads throughout the area. Wealthy New Yorkers and others purchased large properties on which they built spacious mansions and manor houses. They traveled daily to work in New York City, thus becoming Teaneck's first suburban commuters.
The largest estate built in Teaneck belonged to William Walter Phelps
, the son of a wealthy railroad magnate and New York City
merchant. In 1865, Phelps arrived in Teaneck and enlarged an old farmhouse into a large Victorian
mansion on the site of the present Municipal Government Complex. Phelps' "Englewood Farm" eventually encompassed nearly 2000 acres (8.1 km²) of landscaped property within the central part of Teaneck, on which some 600,000 trees were planted. Subsequent development and house construction were focused along the perimeters of the township, with the central part of the community remaining a large property crisscrossed by roads and trails.
of Teaneck was established on February 19, 1895 and was composed of portions of Englewood Township, Ridgefield Township and Bogota
. Teaneck's choice to incorporate as a township was unusual in an era of "Boroughitis
", in which a flood of new municipalities were being formed using the borough
form of government.
At a referendum held on January 14, 1895, 46 of 53 voters approved incorporation as a Borough. Citizens of Englewood Township challenged the creation of the borough, but accepted the new municipality as a township, given its more rural character. A bill supporting the creation of the Township of Teaneck was put through the New Jersey General Assembly
on February 18, 1895, and the New Jersey Senate
on the next day. Governor of New Jersey
George Werts signed the bill into law, and Teaneck was an independent municipality.
At its incorporation, Teaneck's population was 811. William W. Bennett, overseer of the Phelps Estate, was selected as chairman of the first three-man Township Committee, which focused in its early years on "construction of streets and street lamps (originally gaslights), trolley lines (along DeGraw Avenue), telephones and speeding traffic."
was completed in 1931, and its connection to Teaneck via Route 4 brought thousands of new home buyers. From 1920 and 1930, Teaneck's population nearly quadrupled, from 4,192 to 16,513.
Rapid growth led to financial turmoil, and inefficiencies in the town government resulted in the adoption of a new nonpartisan
Council-Manager form of government
under the 1923 Municipal Manager Law
in a referendum on September 16, 1930. A full-time Town Manager, Paul A. Volcker, Sr. (father of future Chairman of the Federal Reserve
Paul A. Volcker, Jr.
), was appointed to handle Teaneck's day-to-day business affairs. Volcker's 20-year term, from 1930 to 1950, provided Teaneck with economic stability, zoning and long-term development plans, a paid fire department and civil service for Township employees. It also established a model for future administrations.
as a part of the United States Army
's education program to show democracy in action.
After World War II
, there was a second major spurt of building and population growth. The African American population in the northeast corner of Teaneck grew substantially starting in the 1960s, accompanied by white flight
triggered by blockbusting
efforts of township real estate agencies. In 1965, after a long and difficult struggle to address de facto segregation, Teaneck became the first community in the nation where a white majority voted voluntarily for school integration. The sequence of events was the subject of a book titled Triumph in a White Suburb written by township resident Reginald G. Damerell (New York: William Morrow & Company, Inc., 1968).
As de facto racial segregation
increased, so did tensions between residents of the northeast and members of the predominantly white male Teaneck Police Department. On the evening of April 10, 1990, the Teaneck Police Department responded to a call from a resident complaining about a teenager with a gun. After an initial confrontation near Bryant School and a subsequent chase, Phillip Pannell
, an African American teenager, was shot and killed by Gary Spath, a white Teaneck police officer. Spath said he thought Pannell had a gun and was turning to shoot him. Witnesses said Pannell was unarmed and had been shot in the back. Protest marches, some violent, ensued; most African Americans believed that Pannell had been killed in cold blood, while other residents insisted that Spath had been justified in his actions. Testimony at the trial claimed that Pannell was shot in the back, and that he was carrying a gun. A fully loaded .22 caliber pistol was recovered from Pannell's jacket pocket. The gun, originally a starter's pistol, had been modified into an operable weapon that was loaded with eight cartridges. Spath was ultimately acquitted on charges of reckless manslaughter
in the shooting. Some months after Spath had been cleared, he decided to retire from law enforcement. The incident was an international news event that brought Reverend Al Sharpton
and Jesse Jackson
to the community and inspired the 1995 book Color Lines: The Troubled Dreams of Racial Harmony in an American Town, by Mike Kelly.
Teaneck, and the neighboring communities of Bergenfield
and New Milford
, has drawn a large number of Modern Orthodox
Jews who have established at least fourteen synagogue
s and four yeshiva
s (three high schools and one for young men). It is the functional center of the northern New Jersey Orthodox community, with nearly twenty kosher shops (restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets). It is within ten minutes' driving time of Yeshiva University
in New York City. This community tends to be involved with Religious Zionist
causes and offers strong support of Israel
.
Several homes in Teaneck date back to the colonial era or the period after the American Revolutionary War
and have been preserved and survive to this day. Teaneck sites on the National Register of Historic Places
are:
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the township has a total area of 6.25 square miles (16.19 km²), of which 6.05 square miles (15.67 km²) is land and 0.2 square mile (0.517997622 km²) is water (3.20%).
Teaneck is bordered to the west by River Edge
and Hackensack
which lie across the Hackensack River
, to the north by New Milford
and Bergenfield
, to the east by Englewood
and Leonia
, and to the south by Ridgefield Park
and Bogota
.
Teaneck has 24 municipal parks, of which 14 are developed. Overpeck County Park
, along the shores of Overpeck Creek, a tributary of the Hackensack River, is more than 8000 acres (32.4 km²) in size, of which about 500 were donated by Teaneck, and which is also in portions of Englewood, Leonia, Ridgefield Park and Palisades Park
.
, Teaneck has a humid subtropical climate
according to the Köppen climate classification
. The climate in Teaneck is moderated by its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean
, resulting in cooler summers and warmer winters than inland areas, though this moderating effect isn't as strong as it is in New York City.
of 2000, there were 39,260 people, 13,418 households, and 10,076 families residing in the township. The population density
was 6,486.2 people per square mile (2,505.5/km2). There were 13,719 housing units at an average density of 2,266.5 per square mile (875.5/km2). The racial makeup of the township was 56.25% White, 28.78% African American, 0.15% Native American, 7.13% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 4.16% from other races
, and 3.51% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 10.45% of the population.
There were 13,418 households out of which 34.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.3% were married couples
living together, 12.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.9% were non-families. 21.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.86 and the average family size was 3.34.
In the township the population was spread out with 25.8% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 26.1% from 25 to 44, 25.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 89.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.9 males.
The median income for a household in the township was $74,903, and the median income for a family was $84,791. Males had a median income of $53,327 versus $40,085 for females. The per capita income
for the township was $32,212. About 2.4% of families and 4.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.7% of those under age 18 and 6.7% of those age 65 or over.
Ancestry information reported in the 2000 Census reflects the diversity of Teaneck residents, with no single country accounting for more than a small fraction of the population. Residents listed Italian (6.2%), German
(6.0%), Russian
(5.3%), Irish
(5.1%) and Polish
(4.2%) as the most common countries of ancestry, and an additional 4.3% listed United States. 6.3% of residents identified themselves as being of West Indian
ancestry, of which 3.4% were from Jamaica
.
English is spoken by 74.31% of residents. Other languages (accounting for more than 1% of residents) include Spanish (10.53%), Hebrew
(2.81%), Tagalog
(1.88%), Urdu
(1.22%) and Russian (1.11%).
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After its founding as a township, Teaneck saw rapid growth in its population during the first half of the 20th century. As Teaneck changed from a sparsely populated rural area into a suburb, particularly after development of property that had been part of the Phelps estate started in the late 1920s, Teaneck's population grew rapidly, far outpacing the growth of Bergen County.
After World War II
, the 1950 Census showed growth in Teaneck (33.6%) pacing Bergen County overall (31.6%). Starting in 1960, a substantial decline in the rate of growth compared to Bergen County occurred as Teaneck reached the limits of developable land, and the township neared its peak population. Population growth in the 1970 Census was small, but positive, with Teaneck reaching its historical maximum of 42,355. Absolute declines in population followed in both the 1980 (−7.9%) and 1990 (−3.0%) data. The 2000 Census showed recovery in Teaneck's population to 39,260, though growth (3.8%) was smaller than in Bergen County overall (7.1%).
With almost no land left to develop for housing, Teaneck's population is likely to remain stable for the foreseeable future. A reluctance to permit high-rise development as a means to increase population density also places a limit on growth. Changes in family size are one of the few influences that may affect population over time.
Gang violence hit Teaneck in July 2006 with the death of Ricky Lee Smith, Jr., a teenager shot outside a house party by a member of the Bloods
gang who had attended the party. Other gang violence involving the Bloods and Crips
has erupted since then. In May 2007, the Chief of Police requested the addition of 14 new officers to Teaneck's existing 98-member police force to establish a gang unit. In June, the Township Council approved the hiring of five additional officers at a cost of $500,000 per year, though there are concerns that the gang problem in Teaneck has been "hyped".
Teaneck has received attention in the media due to sexual crimes committed against minors by New Jersey educators. Joseph White, former principal of Teaneck High School, pleaded guilty to official child endangerment in June 2006 and was sentenced to one year in prison. White had been charged in 2002 with fondling a 17-year-old student and was subsequently acquitted. James Darden, an award-winning former eighth grade teacher at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, was charged with sexual assault and misconduct in June 2007. He pleaded guilty on December 2007 to a charge of aggravated sexual assault
and faces up to 8½ years in prison when sentenced on January 18, 2008.
The December 1975 murder of Jean Diggs and her four children has never been solved. Police reported in 1977 that they had been unable to identify a perpetrator after two years and thousands of hours spent investigating the crime.
, the largest private university in the state. The Teaneck Armory
is the home of the New Jersey National Guard
's 50th Main Support Battalion.
Teaneck has four main commercial districts: Cedar Lane, north Teaneck Road, West Englewood Avenue/The Plaza and Queen Anne Road/DeGraw Avenue. Cedar Lane underwent a $3.9 million Streetscape project, completed in 2006, designed to attract additional business to the area through new sidewalk paving with brick edging, bump-outs to allow easier pedestrian crossing, old-fashioned lamp posts and street plantings.
Teaneck's largest single group of commercial ratables is the Glenpointe Centre, completed in the 1980s, which includes a 350-room Marriott hotel and 650000 square feet (60,387 m²) of Class A office space at the intersection of Interstate 95
and Interstate 80
. As of 2007, 150000 square feet (13,935.5 m²) of space was vacant, including 100,000 vacated by Eisai Pharmaceuticals
earlier in the year.
The Givaudan Fragrances Corp Creative Fragrances Centre, a division of Givaudan
, was constructed in 1972 from a design by Der Scutt
, architect of the Trump Tower
. (In late 2009 Givaudan Roure vacated the building and is seeking a new owner.)
form of government, led by a three-member Township Committee (later expanded to five seats) elected on a partisan basis. On September 16, 1930, Teaneck residents voted to establish a nonpartisan
Council-Manager form of government under the terms of the 1923 Municipal Manager Law
, with five members elected concurrently on an at-large basis. In 1962, the Council expanded to its current size of seven members and the position of Deputy Mayor was created. In 1987, a referendum to alter the form to a Faulkner Act
Council-Manager
form of government was approved, providing for staggered terms for the Council. With this change, Council elections now take place in even years on the second Tuesday in May. The Council's seven members are elected at-large in nonpartisan elections to serve staggered, four-year terms of office. The four seats elected in 2006 will expire in 2010 and the seats of the three who took office in 2008 will expire in 2012, etc.
The Township Council serves as Teaneck's governing body. It sets policies and standards and passes ordinances. It adopts an annual budget and approves contracts and agreements for services. The Council appoints the Manager, Clerk, Auditor, Attorney, Magistrate and Assessor. The Council appoints seven members of the Planning Board, the members of the Redevelopment Agency, Board of Adjustment, and all other statutory and advisory boards.
Members of the Teaneck Township Council are:
On May 13, 2008, the township voted to re-elect Monica Honis to the council (with 2,981 votes). Elnatan Rudolph (2,852) lost his bid for re-election, falling 38 votes behind his running mate. Barbara Toffler (leading the voting with 3,356 votes) and Mohammed Hameeduddin (2,890) were elected and took office on July 1, 2008, filling the seats left by Rudolph and former-mayor Jackie Kates, who did not run for re-election.
In the 2010 municipal elections, Adam Gussen, Elie Katz and Lizette Parker were re-elected to office, with former councilmember Yitz Stern taking the seat vacated by former-mayor Kevie Feit, who did not run for a second term. At its July 1, 2010, reorganization meeting the council selected Mohammed Hameeduddin to serve as mayor, making him one of the state's first Muslim mayors, while Adam Gussen was chosen as deputy mayor.
On July 1, following a municipal election, the Township Council holds an Organizational Meeting where the candidates elected (or re-elected) to serve on the Council are sworn in and begin their terms of office. The newly inducted council selects one of its members to serve as Mayor, and another to serve as Deputy Mayor, who presides in the absence of the Mayor.
The Mayor, elected by the Council from among its members after each biennial election, serves for a two-year term of office which expires upon the selection of a mayor at the subsequent reorganization meeting. The Mayor presides over all meetings and votes on every issue as a regular member. The Mayor is a member of the Planning Board and the Library Board. The Mayor appoints the members of the Library Board, and one member of the Planning Board. The Mayor executes bonds, notes, contracts and written obligations of the Township and is empowered by State Law to perform marriages.
The Municipal Manager is appointed by the Council to serve as a full-time professional chief executive officer. The Manager implements Council policies, enforces ordinances and coordinates the activities of all departments and employees and is responsible for preparing and submitting a budget to the Council. The Manager makes recommendations to the Council on relevant matters, appoints and removes Township employees and investigates and acts on complaints. The Manager appoints the Municipal Courts Prosecutor and Public Defender, members of the Rent Board and one member of the Teaneck Economic Development Corporation, and one member of the Civilian Complaint Review Board.
Teaneck is in the
, 2,198 (9.4%) were registered as Republicans
and 8,651 (36.9%) were registered as Undeclared
. There were 10 voters registered to other parties.
On the national level, Teaneck leans strongly toward the Democratic Party. In the 2008 presidential election
, Democrat Barack Obama
received 72% of the vote, defeating Republican John McCain
, who received around 27%, with 82% of registered voters participating. In the 2004 election
, Democrat John Kerry
received 69% of the vote, defeating Republican George W. Bush
, who received 30%.
determined that Bergen County had the third-highest median property tax burden in the nation ($8,708 vs. a New Jersey median of $6,579 and a national median of $1,917) and the fourth-highest level of property taxes as a percentage of median income (8.59% vs. 7.45% statewide and 3.03% nationally), based on an analysis of data from the 2009 American Community Survey
conducted by the United States Census Bureau
for all 792 counties in the United States with more than 20,000 residents. As of 2010, Teaneck's effective tax rate of $2.314 per $100 of equalized value was the fifth highest of the 70 municipalities in Bergen County, which had a countywide median effective rate of $1.882 per $100.
, just over 55% of a Teaneck property owner's tax goes to support the local school system, 36% goes to municipal taxes (including an open space tax) and the remaining 9% to county services (which also assesses an open space tax). In the decade from 2001 to 2011, municipal taxes have risen at an annual rate of nearly 5.4% and school taxes by 3.5%, while the Consumer Price Index for the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island area has gone up about 2.8% during that time span.
The 2011 tax rate was set at $2.405 per $100 of assessed value (an increase of 3.3% from 2010), which is composed of school taxes of $1.342 (up almost 3.5%), municipal taxes of $0.848 (an increase of 2.9%) and county taxes of $0.201 (up 3.6%), plus a municipal open space tax of $0.010 and a county open space tax of $0.003. The owner of a median-valued home in Teaneck, assessed at $465,300, would pay 2011 property taxes of $11,190, which would include $6,244 in school taxes, $3,992 in municipal taxes and $949 to the county (including open space levies).
The Teaneck Public Schools had a Budgetary Per Pupil Cost of $16,746 in the 2010-11 budget compared to the average of $13,587 budgeted that year by comparable districts, ranked as the 100th highest among the 104 K-12 districts in the state with more than 3,500 students.
At the April 2006 school elections, voters rejected the proposed $84.8 million budget for the Teaneck Public Schools for the 2006–07 school year by a 1,644 to 1,336 margin. Based on recommendations specified by the Township Council, the Board of Education approved $544,391 in cuts. The school budget was rejected again in 2009, with the Council cutting $1 million from the $94.8 million originally proposed.
Teaneck's four fire stations are staffed around the clock by paid full-time fire fighters. Teaneck is one of four municipalities in Bergen County
with a paid fire department, joining Englewood
, Hackensack
and Ridgewood
.
During the 2008-09 school year, the Teaneck Public Schools
served 3,924 students in pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade, down from 4,266 in the 2005-06 school year. Schools in the district (with 2008–09 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics
) include Bryant School, with 292 students in pre-K and Kindergarten; three lower schools serving grades 1–4: Hawthorne School, with 354 students; Lowell School, with 305 students; and Whittier School, with 385 students {Longfellow Elementary school was discontinued in 1998. Other elementary schools that closed prior to 1998 included Emerson and Eugene Field}; two middle schools serving grades 5–8: Benjamin Franklin Middle School, with 555 students, and Thomas Jefferson Middle School, with 626 students; and Teaneck High School
, which has an enrollment of 1,407 students in grades 9–12.
The Teaneck Public Schools
spend more per-pupil than all but seven New Jersey school districts. It budgeted spending of $17,395 per student for the 2008–09 school year on a Comparative Cost per Pupil basis (a measure that excludes out-of-district tuition payments, transportation costs and judgments against the school district), 98th highest of the 105 K–12 school districts in the state with more than 3,500 students. This is up more than $2,800 from the $14,538 spent in the 2006–07 school year, an increase of more than 15% over the two-year span. 81% of Teaneck's school funding in the 2008–09 school year came from local property taxes. (The 2008-09 median per-pupil spending in NJ was $12,723, while the average per-pupil spending was $13,632.)
Of the 2008–09 per-pupil allocation, $10,097 goes to classroom instruction (98th highest of K–12 districts in the state with more than 3,500 students), $2,645 to Support Services (85th), $1,661 to Administrative Costs (100th) and $2,532 to Operations and Maintenance (99th). The district's Median Teacher Salary of $70,250 is ranked 95th in the state in its grouping, while the Median Administrator Salary is $135,045 and ranks 101st.
For the 2008-09 school year, Teaneck High School had not met the "Adequate Yearly Progress
" requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act
, and was classed as "In need of improvement". New Jersey Department of Education's 2008-09 School Report Card showed that the high school had a graduation rate of 95.3%, down 1.6% from 2007-08. (The New Jersey state-wide graduation rate is 93.6%.)
The Teaneck Community Charter School is a charter school
that operates independently of the Teaneck Public Schools under a charter granted by the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education
. Admission is open to the public for available slots (after returning students and siblings of existing students are entered) and covers kindergarten through eighth grade, with an after school program and summer camp. As the school is a public school, no tuition is charged. Funding comes from the Teaneck Public Schools (and other home districts of non-resident students), which provides 90% of its cost per pupil in the district; the balance of funding comes directly from the state of New Jersey. The school has changed locations from 1650 Palisades Ave to 563 Chestnut Ave in the school year of 2009–2010.
, which straddles the Hackensack River
, in Teaneck and Hackensack
. The campus served 4,114 undergraduates and 2,350 graduate students as of the 2007–08 school year.
Private Orthodox
Jewish day school
s include the Torah Academy of Bergen County
(for boys) and Ma'ayanot Yeshiva High School
(for girls), both high schools (grades 9–12).
Teaneck was home to the Metropolitan Schechter High School
, a co-ed Conservative
Jewish high school, which closed its doors in August 2007 due to fundraising problems.
The Al-Ghazaly High School
is a co-ed religious day school (grades 7 through 12) primarily serving the Muslim
community. Students come from the greater Teaneck area.
The Community School is a private school, founded in 1968 to serve the bright child with learning and attentional disabilities. Both the lower school and high school
are in Teaneck.
The Teaneck Fire Department is a career fire department that has 93 uniformed members as of January 2010, out of a total 99 authorized uniformed positions. Robert J. Montgomery was named Chief of Department as of June 1, 2006. The department operates 4 Engine Companies out of four strategically placed firehouses. Additionally, a Tower Ladder, Rescue Truck and Command vehicle responds out of the main Fire Headquarters on Teaneck Road. Reserve apparatus include 2 Engines, a Rescue and a Ladder Truck that can be manned as required during high service demands. The department responds to approximately 4,000 calls per year involving structure fires, vehicle fires, electrical emergencies, natural gas releases, carbon monoxide incidents, explosions, rescues, outside fires,vehicle extrications and first responder medical calls. Past career Fire Chiefs of the department include John Bauer, William Norton, William Hillermeier, Donald Wynne Sr., Carl Anderson, Joseph Murray, William Lindsay Sr. and Joseph Murray Sr.
The Teaneck Volunteer Ambulance Corps (TVAC) was created by just a few men in 1939 to serve the residents of Teaneck, NJ. TVAC has always been Teaneck's only emergency ambulance service, and has since grown to include over 100 members in their organization. All of TVAC's members are volunteers, serving the township 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, without pay. In 2009, TVAC responded to 4,086 emergency calls, routinely saving lives and reducing suffering with their rapid response and application of Basic Life Support skills. Throughout the last 70 years, TVAC has never charged a patient nor the patient's family for service. The services of the Corps are entirely free of charge, whether the patients are residents of Teaneck, visitors, or individuals who need medical service while passing through the town. The Corps also renders service in nearby towns as part of a mutual aid system, again without charge.
The Richard Rodda Community Center, located near Route 4 at the south end of Votee Park, is a 50000 square feet (4,645.2 m²) community and recreation center completed in 1998. The facility includes two full sized gyms, a dance studio, a kitchen and several multipurpose rooms of different sizes. The Teaneck Recreation Department offers educational, sports and arts programs throughout the year. The Rodda center is home to the Senior Citizens Service Center, which offers educational and fitness activities for adults ages 55 and up, and serves hot lunch daily, provided by the Bergen County Division of Senior Services.
Teaneck is home to the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County, founded in 1953. The Bergen Society is a member organization of the American Ethical Union.
The Teaneck Community Band presents a series of five outdoor summer band concert each summer. The 69th annual series, in 2009, was sponsored by the Puffin Foundation.
The now-defunct Teaneck Cultural Arts Coalition had organized many community-wide cultural events, including an annual First Night
community celebration of the arts held for several years through New Year's 2005.
The Garage Theatre Group, Bergen County's first non-profit, professional theatre company, stages fully professional productions, with members of Actors Equity, as well as youth conservatory productions at the Becton Theatre on the campus of Farleigh Dickinson University.
Teaneck New Theatre, founded in 1986, performs productions at St. Mark's Church in Teaneck and at the Hackensack Cultural Arts Center, across the river in Hackensack, New Jersey
.
Cedar Lane Cinema is the township's lone movie theater, and hosts live performances on its stage by local performance groups. Teaneck has been the site of many films, including The Family Man
, the 2000 film starring Nicolas Cage
. The Teaneck Armory has been used for films including Sweet and Lowdown
, and for interior scenes of You've Got Mail
.
In 2007, two non-fiction volumes appeared dealing, inter alia, with Teaneck's Orthodox Jewish community. In Foreskin's Lament, writer Shalom Auslander
describes living in Teaneck and finding the Jewish community stifling and claustrophobic. In contrast, Rifka Rosenwein, in Life in the Present Tense, describes the close-knit community as a gift she couldn't imagine when living in Manhattan.
, a community in Western Bergen County, radio station WVNJ
operating at 1160 kHz on the AM dial maintains its studios at 1086 Teaneck Road. WFDU
FM-89.5 operates from studios at Fairleigh Dickinson University
, and there was a defunct AM Carrier Current version of WFDU on 640 through some time in the 1980s.
NBA
pro basketball
team were founded as the New Jersey Americans in Teaneck for the 1967–68 season, as charter members of the American Basketball Association
. The team played their home games at the Teaneck Armory for that one season, and was scheduled to play a one-game playoff at the armory. However, the circus had been booked for the week, and the game was relocated to a court in Commack, New York
that was unplayable, and the game had to be forfeited. After the one season in Teaneck, the team relocated to Long Island
and was renamed the New York Nets.
Portions of Fairleigh Dickinson University
's Metropolitan Campus are located in Teaneck, with most of the school's athletic facilities are located across the river in Hackensack. The school's University Stadium, home for its men's and women's soccer teams, lies on the Hackensack River
, just north of Route 4. The 1,000-seat stadium has hosted NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament games in recent years. The natural grass field was resurfaced with FieldTurf
in 2004.
The FDU baseball field is situated between Route 4 and University Stadium. The school received a $1 million bequest from FDU alumnus Vince Naimoli
, founding owner of the Tampa Bay Rays
, to establish a 500-seat stadium with artificial turf and lighting on the site of the current facility.
(a portion of Interstate 95
) and Interstate 80
. Teaneck is the eastern terminus of Interstate 80
, which stretches over 2900 miles (4,667.1 km) west to downtown San Francisco, California
.
Route 4 runs east-west through Teaneck, where, unlike all other towns situated along the highway, there is no commercial development. Route 4 narrows from three lanes on the eastbound section between Belle Avenue and Englewood, causing rush-hour traffic backups that may extend all the way back into Hackensack
. The New Jersey Department of Transportation
(NJDOT) has discussed a series of proposed replacement projects for bridges over the highway, which could start in 2011, pending completion of feasibility studies and design work. While the township has indicated its willingness to cede space along the Greenbelt for a third lane, the lack of space for a shoulder may preclude the creation of a full three-lane route through Teaneck, due to safety concerns by the NJDOT.
New Jersey's other main trunk route, the Garden State Parkway
, can be reached just a few miles west of Teaneck.
Access to New York City
is available for motorists across the George Washington Bridge
in Fort Lee
which can be reached by highway via Route 4 or Interstate 95, and (via the Turnpike) through the Lincoln Tunnel
in Hudson County
into Midtown Manhattan
.
bus service is available in Teaneck, with frequent service on Teaneck Road, Route 4 and Cedar Lane, and less frequent service on other main streets. NJTransit bus service is offered to the Port Authority Bus Terminal
in Midtown Manhattan
on the 155, 157, 167, 168 routes; to the George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal
on the 171, 175, 178, 186 routes; and to other New Jersey communities served on the 751, 753, 755, 756, 772, 780 routes. Scheduled bus service is also available from private companies such as Rockland Coaches to the Port Authority Bus Terminal and George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal, as well as within New Jersey. A number of jitney services provide unscheduled service along Route 4 between Paterson, New Jersey
and the George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal.
While there is no passenger train operation in Teaneck, train service is available on New Jersey Transit
on the Pascack Valley Line
at the North Hackensack
station (in River Edge
) and the Anderson Street station (in Hackensack
). This line runs north-south to Hoboken Terminal
with connections to the PATH
train from the Hoboken PATH station and New Jersey Transit connecting service to Penn Station
in Midtown Manhattan
via the Secaucus Junction
transfer station. Connections are also available at Hoboken Terminal to New York Waterways ferry service to the World Financial Center
and other destinations and for the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail
system, serving routes along the Hudson River
in Hudson County
.
Teaneck is split east and west by railroad tracks, which currently provide freight service by CSX Transportation
. Until 1959, passenger train service was provided on these same tracks by the West Shore Railroad
, with Teaneck stations at Cedar Lane and West Englewood Avenue. Commuter service was available from these stations, with 44 passenger trains operating to and from Weehawken
, with ferry service available across the Hudson River
to New York City at 42nd Street
and at the Financial District
in lower Manhattan
. Service was also available north along the west shore of the river to Albany
. Efforts are continuing to restore passenger train service on this line for the commuters heading into New York City. However, with recent decisions to extend Hudson-Bergen Light Rail service via the Northern Branch
to Tenafly
, this possibility seems far less likely.
The closest airport in New Jersey with scheduled passenger service is Newark Liberty International Airport
, 19.7 miles (31.7 km) away (about 27 minutes) in Newark
/ Elizabeth
. New York City
's LaGuardia Airport
is 14.7 miles (23.7 km) away in Flushing, Queens
via the George Washington Bridge
, an estimated 22 minutes (in ideal conditions). John F. Kennedy International Airport
in Queens
is 25.7 miles (and 34 minutes) from Teaneck. Teterboro Airport
offers general aviation
service, and is a 9.2 miles (14.8 km) drive (about 13 minutes) away.
Township (New Jersey)
A township, in the context of New Jersey local government, refers to one of five types and one of eleven forms of municipal government. As a political entity, a township is a full-fledged municipality, on par with any town, city, borough, or village, collecting property taxes and providing...
in Bergen County
Bergen County, New Jersey
Bergen County is the most populous county of the state of New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 905,116. The county is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Hackensack...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, and a suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
in the New York metropolitan area
New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also known as Greater New York, or the Tri-State area, is the region that composes of New York City and the surrounding region...
. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 39,776, making it the second-most populous among the 70 municipalities in Bergen County.
Teaneck was created on February 19, 1895 by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature
New Jersey Legislature
The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the Senate...
. Teaneck was formed from portions of Englewood Township and Ridgefield Township, both of which are now defunct (despite existing municipalities with similar names), along with portions of Bogota
Bogota, New Jersey
As of the 2010 Census, Bogota had a population of 8,187. The median age was 38.6. The racial and ethnic composition of the population was 61.0% White, 9.4% Black or African American, 0.8% Native American, 9.8% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander, 14.8% some other race and 4.1% reporting...
and Leonia
Leonia, New Jersey
Leonia is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 8,937. It is located near the western approach to the George Washington Bridge....
. Independence followed the result of a referendum held on January 14, 1895, in which voters favored incorporation by a 46–7 margin. To assuage the concerns of Englewood Township's leaders, the new municipality was formed as a township, rather than succumbing to the borough
Borough (New Jersey)
A borough in the context of New Jersey local government refers to one of five types and one of eleven forms of municipal government....
craze sweeping across Bergen County at the time. On May 3, 1921, and June 1, 1926, portions of what had been Teaneck were transferred to Overpeck Township.
Teaneck lies at the junction of Interstate 95
Interstate 95 in New Jersey
Interstate 95 is a major Interstate Highway that traverses the full extent of the East Coast of the United States, from Florida to Maine...
and the eastern terminus of Interstate 80
Interstate 80 in New Jersey
Interstate 80 is a major Interstate Highway in the United States, running from the New York City Metropolitan Area westward to San Francisco, California...
. It is bisected into north and south portions by Route 4 and east and west ones by the CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...
River Subdivision. Commercial development is concentrated in four main shopping areas, on Cedar Lane, Teaneck Road, DeGraw Avenue, West Englewood Ave. and Queen Anne Road, more commonly known as "The Plaza".
Teaneck's location at the crossroads of river, road, train and other geographical features has made it a site of many momentous events across the centuries. After the American defeat at the Battle of Fort Washington
Battle of Fort Washington
The Battle of Fort Washington was fought in the American Revolutionary War between the United States and Great Britain on November 16, 1776. It was a decisive British victory, forcing the entire garrison of Fort Washington to surrender....
, George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
and the troops of the Continental Army
Continental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...
retreated across New Jersey from the British Army, traveling through Teaneck and crossing the Hackensack River
Hackensack River
The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the suburban area outside New York City just west of the lower Hudson River,...
at New Bridge Landing
New Bridge Landing
New Bridge was a prosperous mill hamlet, centered upon a bridge strategically placed at the narrows of the Hackensack River. In the American Revolution New Bridge Landing was the site of a pivotal bridge crossing the Hackensack River, where General George Washington led his troops in retreat from...
, which has since been turned into a state park and historic site commemorating the events of 1776 and of early colonial life. In 1965, Teaneck became the first community in the nation with a white majority to voluntarily desegregate its public schools, after the Board of Education approved the plan by a 7–2 vote on May 13, 1964. Teaneck has a diverse population, with large Jewish and African American communities, and growing numbers of Hispanic and Asian residents.
Early history
The origin and meaning of the name "Teaneck" is not known, but speculation is that it could come from various Dutch or English words, or it could be Native American in origin, meaning "the woods". An alternative is from the DutchDutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
"Tiene Neck" meaning "neck where there are willows" (from the Dutch "tene" meaning willow).
When Europeans first entered the area, "Teaneck" referred to the north-south ridge that runs along present-day Queen Anne Road, with Lenni Lenape Native Americans having established camps on either side of the ridge. The Lenape in the area were led by a chief named Oratam
Oratam
Oratam was sagamore, or sachem, of the Hackensack Indians living in northeastern New Jersey during the period of early European colonization in the 17th century...
, who led a group that lived in a village called Achikinhesacky, on the banks of the Tantaqua (Overpeck Creek
Overpeck Creek
Overpeck Creek is a tributary of the Hackensack River, approximately 8 miles long, in Bergen County in northern New Jersey in the United States. The upper creek flows through suburban communities west of New York City...
), on the eastern slope of Teaneck Ridge near today's Fycke Lane. Conflicts between Europeans and Native Americans continued into the mid-17th century.
The first mention of permanent structures within the boundaries of present-day Teaneck dates to 1704. In subsequent years, houses and farm buildings were built on the west bank of the Hackensack River
Hackensack River
The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the suburban area outside New York City just west of the lower Hudson River,...
, along the route of a Native American trail. The neighborhood that grew here came to be known as East Hackensack or New Hackensack. Another small group of Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
farm houses was constructed along the eastern slope of the Teaneck ridge along modern Teaneck Road. There are several of these early stone houses still standing that date back to Teaneck's 17th and 18th century Dutch farm heritage.
Revolutionary War period
During November of 1776, General George Washington passed through Teaneck during the withdrawal of Colonial forces from nearby Fort LeeFort Lee, New Jersey
Fort Lee is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 35,345. Located atop the Hudson Palisades, the borough is the western terminus of the George Washington Bridge...
on the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
. Early on the morning of November 20, 1776, Washington rode by horseback from his headquarters in Hackensack through Teaneck and across Overpeck Creek to Fort Lee. There he watched as 6,000 British troops made their way by boats up the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
. He had his troops abandon their position on the Palisades
New Jersey Palisades
The Palisades, also called the New Jersey Palisades or the Hudson Palisades are a line of steep cliffs along the west side of the lower Hudson River in northeastern New Jersey and southern New York in the United States. The cliffs stretch north from Jersey City approximately 20 mi to near...
. They hastily made their way from their encampment, leaving behind their camp and most of their supplies, traveling across Overpeck Creek and through Teaneck to New Bridge Landing
New Bridge Landing
New Bridge was a prosperous mill hamlet, centered upon a bridge strategically placed at the narrows of the Hackensack River. In the American Revolution New Bridge Landing was the site of a pivotal bridge crossing the Hackensack River, where General George Washington led his troops in retreat from...
(today's Brett Park). They crossed the bridge, marching barefoot, two abreast, their garments so worn that they were exposed to the cold rain that fell that day. Throughout the war, both British and American forces occupied local homesteads at various times, and Teaneck citizens played key roles on both sides of the conflict.
After the war, Teaneck returned to being a quiet farm community. Fruits and vegetables grown locally were taken by wagon to busy markets in nearby Paterson
Paterson, New Jersey
Paterson is a city serving as the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 146,199, rendering it New Jersey's third largest city and one of the largest cities in the New York City Metropolitan Area, despite a decrease of 3,023...
and New York City. New growth and development were spurred in the mid-19th century by the establishment of railroads throughout the area. Wealthy New Yorkers and others purchased large properties on which they built spacious mansions and manor houses. They traveled daily to work in New York City, thus becoming Teaneck's first suburban commuters.
Phelps Estate
William Walter Phelps
William Walter Phelps , the son of John Jay Phelps, a successful New York City merchant and financier, was born in Dundaff, Pennsylvania. During his successful banking career in Manhattan, he settled in Teaneck, New Jersey, across the Hudson River...
, the son of a wealthy railroad magnate and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
merchant. In 1865, Phelps arrived in Teaneck and enlarged an old farmhouse into a large Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
mansion on the site of the present Municipal Government Complex. Phelps' "Englewood Farm" eventually encompassed nearly 2000 acres (8.1 km²) of landscaped property within the central part of Teaneck, on which some 600,000 trees were planted. Subsequent development and house construction were focused along the perimeters of the township, with the central part of the community remaining a large property crisscrossed by roads and trails.
Township formed
The TownshipTownship (New Jersey)
A township, in the context of New Jersey local government, refers to one of five types and one of eleven forms of municipal government. As a political entity, a township is a full-fledged municipality, on par with any town, city, borough, or village, collecting property taxes and providing...
of Teaneck was established on February 19, 1895 and was composed of portions of Englewood Township, Ridgefield Township and Bogota
Bogota, New Jersey
As of the 2010 Census, Bogota had a population of 8,187. The median age was 38.6. The racial and ethnic composition of the population was 61.0% White, 9.4% Black or African American, 0.8% Native American, 9.8% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander, 14.8% some other race and 4.1% reporting...
. Teaneck's choice to incorporate as a township was unusual in an era of "Boroughitis
Boroughitis
Boroughitis was a political phenomenon that spread throughout the U.S. state of New Jersey in the late 19th century, which led groups of residents to unite to form boroughs from within and among the many townships that were the prevalent form of local government at the time. This phenomenon was...
", in which a flood of new municipalities were being formed using the borough
Borough (New Jersey)
A borough in the context of New Jersey local government refers to one of five types and one of eleven forms of municipal government....
form of government.
At a referendum held on January 14, 1895, 46 of 53 voters approved incorporation as a Borough. Citizens of Englewood Township challenged the creation of the borough, but accepted the new municipality as a township, given its more rural character. A bill supporting the creation of the Township of Teaneck was put through the New Jersey General Assembly
New Jersey General Assembly
The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature.Since the election of 1967 , the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts for a term of two years, each representing districts with average...
on February 18, 1895, and the New Jersey Senate
New Jersey Senate
The New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. From 1844 until 1965 New Jersey's counties elected one Senator, each. Under the 1844 Constitution the term of office was three years. The 1947...
on the next day. Governor of New Jersey
Governor of New Jersey
The Office of the Governor of New Jersey is the executive branch for the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of Governor is an elected position, for which elected officials serve four year terms. While individual politicians may serve as many terms as they can be elected to, Governors cannot be...
George Werts signed the bill into law, and Teaneck was an independent municipality.
At its incorporation, Teaneck's population was 811. William W. Bennett, overseer of the Phelps Estate, was selected as chairman of the first three-man Township Committee, which focused in its early years on "construction of streets and street lamps (originally gaslights), trolley lines (along DeGraw Avenue), telephones and speeding traffic."
Growth in early 20th century
The opening of the Phelps Estate in 1927 led to substantial population growth in subsequent years. The George Washington BridgeGeorge Washington Bridge
The George Washington Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting the Washington Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City to Fort Lee, Bergen County, New Jersey. Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1/9 cross the river via the bridge. U.S...
was completed in 1931, and its connection to Teaneck via Route 4 brought thousands of new home buyers. From 1920 and 1930, Teaneck's population nearly quadrupled, from 4,192 to 16,513.
Rapid growth led to financial turmoil, and inefficiencies in the town government resulted in the adoption of a new nonpartisan
Nonpartisan
In political science, nonpartisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation....
Council-Manager form of government
Council-manager government
The council–manager government form is one of two predominant forms of municipal government in the United States; the other common form of local government is the mayor-council government form, which characteristically occurs in large cities...
under the 1923 Municipal Manager Law
1923 Municipal Manager Law
The 1923 Municipal Manager Law was the last type of reformed municipal government the State of New Jersey introduced in the progressive era. The law introduced to New Jersey the council-manager form of government first developed in Sumter, South Carolina....
in a referendum on September 16, 1930. A full-time Town Manager, Paul A. Volcker, Sr. (father of future Chairman of the Federal Reserve
Chairman of the Federal Reserve
The Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is the head of the central banking system of the United States. Known colloquially as "Chairman of the Fed," or in market circles "Fed Chairman" or "Fed Chief"...
Paul A. Volcker, Jr.
Paul Volcker
Paul Adolph Volcker, Jr. is an American economist. He was the Chairman of the Federal Reserve under United States Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan from August 1979 to August 1987. He is widely credited with ending the high levels of inflation seen in the United States in the 1970s and...
), was appointed to handle Teaneck's day-to-day business affairs. Volcker's 20-year term, from 1930 to 1950, provided Teaneck with economic stability, zoning and long-term development plans, a paid fire department and civil service for Township employees. It also established a model for future administrations.
Development after World War II
Teaneck was selected in 1949 from over 10,000 communities as America's model community. Photographs were taken and a film produced about life in Teaneck, which were shown in Occupied JapanOccupied Japan
At the end of World War II, Japan was occupied by the Allied Powers, led by the United States with contributions also from Australia, India, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. This foreign presence marked the first time in its history that the island nation had been occupied by a foreign power...
as a part of the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
's education program to show democracy in action.
After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, there was a second major spurt of building and population growth. The African American population in the northeast corner of Teaneck grew substantially starting in the 1960s, accompanied by white flight
White flight
White flight has been a term that originated in the United States, starting in the mid-20th century, and applied to the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions. It was first seen as...
triggered by blockbusting
Blockbusting
Blockbusting is a business practice of U.S. real estate agents and building developers meant to encourage white property owners to sell their houses at a loss, by implying that racial, ethnic, or religious minorities — Blacks, Hispanics, Jews et al. — were moving into their previously racially...
efforts of township real estate agencies. In 1965, after a long and difficult struggle to address de facto segregation, Teaneck became the first community in the nation where a white majority voted voluntarily for school integration. The sequence of events was the subject of a book titled Triumph in a White Suburb written by township resident Reginald G. Damerell (New York: William Morrow & Company, Inc., 1968).
As de facto racial segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
increased, so did tensions between residents of the northeast and members of the predominantly white male Teaneck Police Department. On the evening of April 10, 1990, the Teaneck Police Department responded to a call from a resident complaining about a teenager with a gun. After an initial confrontation near Bryant School and a subsequent chase, Phillip Pannell
Phillip Pannell
Phillip Pannell was an African American teenager killed by police officer Gary Spath in Teaneck, New Jersey on April 10, 1990. Pannell was fleeing police when he was shot; Spath was later charged and acquitted on charges of manslaughter...
, an African American teenager, was shot and killed by Gary Spath, a white Teaneck police officer. Spath said he thought Pannell had a gun and was turning to shoot him. Witnesses said Pannell was unarmed and had been shot in the back. Protest marches, some violent, ensued; most African Americans believed that Pannell had been killed in cold blood, while other residents insisted that Spath had been justified in his actions. Testimony at the trial claimed that Pannell was shot in the back, and that he was carrying a gun. A fully loaded .22 caliber pistol was recovered from Pannell's jacket pocket. The gun, originally a starter's pistol, had been modified into an operable weapon that was loaded with eight cartridges. Spath was ultimately acquitted on charges of reckless manslaughter
Manslaughter
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
in the shooting. Some months after Spath had been cleared, he decided to retire from law enforcement. The incident was an international news event that brought Reverend Al Sharpton
Al Sharpton
Alfred Charles "Al" Sharpton, Jr. is an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist, and television/radio talk show host. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential election...
and Jesse Jackson
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...
to the community and inspired the 1995 book Color Lines: The Troubled Dreams of Racial Harmony in an American Town, by Mike Kelly.
Teaneck, and the neighboring communities of Bergenfield
Bergenfield, New Jersey
Bergenfield is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 26,764.Bergenfield was formed on the basis of a referendum held on June 25, 1894, from portions of Englewood Township and Palisades Township at the height of the...
and New Milford
New Milford, New Jersey
New Milford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 16,341.New Milford was incorporated as a borough on March 11, 1922, from what remained of Palisades Township, based on the results of a referendum held on April 18,...
, has drawn a large number of Modern Orthodox
Modern Orthodox Judaism
Modern Orthodox Judaism is a movement within Orthodox Judaism that attempts to synthesize Jewish values and the observance of Jewish law, with the secular, modern world....
Jews who have established at least fourteen synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
s and four yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
s (three high schools and one for young men). It is the functional center of the northern New Jersey Orthodox community, with nearly twenty kosher shops (restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets). It is within ten minutes' driving time of Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University
Yeshiva University is a private university in New York City, with six campuses in New York and one in Israel. Founded in 1886, it is a research university ranked as 45th in the US among national universities by U.S. News & World Report in 2012...
in New York City. This community tends to be involved with Religious Zionist
Religious Zionism
Religious Zionism is an ideology that combines Zionism and Jewish religious faith...
causes and offers strong support of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
Historic homes
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...
and have been preserved and survive to this day. Teaneck sites on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
are:
- Banta-Coe HouseBanta-Coe HouseThe Banta-Coe House is a Dutch colonial-style historic home located on Lone Pine Lane in Teaneck, New Jersey, overlooking the Hackensack River on the campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University...
- 884 Lone Pine Lane (added 1983) - Brinkerhoff-Demarest HouseBrinkerhoff-Demarest HouseThe Brinkerhoff-Demarest House, is located in Teaneck, New Jersey. The house was built in 1735 by Hendricks Brinkerhoff. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 10, 1983.- See also :...
- 493 Teaneck Rd. (added 1983) - Christian Cole House
- Draw Bridge at New BridgeDraw Bridge at New BridgeThe bridge at New Bridge Landing, New Jersey was built in 1888 to replace an earlier wooden one, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 5, 1989.-History:...
- Main St. and Old New Bridge Rd. over Hackensack River (added 1989) - Adam Vandelinda House - 586 Teaneck Rd. (added 1983)
- James Vandelinda House - 566 Teaneck Rd. (added 1983)
- Caspar Westervelt House - 20 Sherwood Rd. (added 1983)
- Zabriskie-Kipp-Cadmus HouseZabriskie-Kipp-Cadmus HouseThe Zabriskie-Kipp-Cadmus House, is located in Teaneck, New Jersey. The house was built in 1751 and added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 13, 1978....
- 664 River Rd. (added 1978)
Geography
Teaneck is located at 40.890964°N 74.011156°W (40.890964, −74.011156) in the west central portion of Bergen County.According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the township has a total area of 6.25 square miles (16.19 km²), of which 6.05 square miles (15.67 km²) is land and 0.2 square mile (0.517997622 km²) is water (3.20%).
Teaneck is bordered to the west by River Edge
River Edge, New Jersey
River Edge is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 11,340.The community was incorporated as the borough of Riverside by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on June 30, 1894, from portions of Midland Township, at the...
and Hackensack
Hackensack, New Jersey
Hackensack is a city in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States and the county seat of Bergen County. Although informally called Hackensack, it was officially named New Barbadoes Township until 1921. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 43,010....
which lie across the Hackensack River
Hackensack River
The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the suburban area outside New York City just west of the lower Hudson River,...
, to the north by New Milford
New Milford, New Jersey
New Milford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 16,341.New Milford was incorporated as a borough on March 11, 1922, from what remained of Palisades Township, based on the results of a referendum held on April 18,...
and Bergenfield
Bergenfield, New Jersey
Bergenfield is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 26,764.Bergenfield was formed on the basis of a referendum held on June 25, 1894, from portions of Englewood Township and Palisades Township at the height of the...
, to the east by Englewood
Englewood, New Jersey
Englewood is a city located in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 27,147.Englewood was incorporated as a city by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township and the remaining portions of...
and Leonia
Leonia, New Jersey
Leonia is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 8,937. It is located near the western approach to the George Washington Bridge....
, and to the south by Ridgefield Park
Ridgefield Park, New Jersey
Ridgefield Park is a village in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. The population was 12,729 at the 2010 United States Census. Of 566 municipalities statewide, Ridgefield Park is only one of three with a village type of government in New Jersey, along with Loch Arbour and Ridgewood.The...
and Bogota
Bogota, New Jersey
As of the 2010 Census, Bogota had a population of 8,187. The median age was 38.6. The racial and ethnic composition of the population was 61.0% White, 9.4% Black or African American, 0.8% Native American, 9.8% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander, 14.8% some other race and 4.1% reporting...
.
Teaneck has 24 municipal parks, of which 14 are developed. Overpeck County Park
Overpeck County Park
Overpeck County Park is an county park in Bergen County, New Jersey, with major sections in Leonia, Palisades Park, Ridgefield Park, and Teaneck, surrounding Overpeck Creek, a tributary of the Hackensack River....
, along the shores of Overpeck Creek, a tributary of the Hackensack River, is more than 8000 acres (32.4 km²) in size, of which about 500 were donated by Teaneck, and which is also in portions of Englewood, Leonia, Ridgefield Park and Palisades Park
Palisades Park, New Jersey
Palisades Park is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 19,622....
.
Climate
Like New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Teaneck has a humid subtropical climate
Humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a climate zone characterized by hot, humid summers and mild to cool winters...
according to the Köppen climate classification
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...
. The climate in Teaneck is moderated by its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
, resulting in cooler summers and warmer winters than inland areas, though this moderating effect isn't as strong as it is in New York City.
2000 Census
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 39,260 people, 13,418 households, and 10,076 families residing in the township. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 6,486.2 people per square mile (2,505.5/km2). There were 13,719 housing units at an average density of 2,266.5 per square mile (875.5/km2). The racial makeup of the township was 56.25% White, 28.78% African American, 0.15% Native American, 7.13% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 4.16% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 3.51% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 10.45% of the population.
There were 13,418 households out of which 34.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.3% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 12.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.9% were non-families. 21.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.86 and the average family size was 3.34.
In the township the population was spread out with 25.8% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 26.1% from 25 to 44, 25.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 89.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.9 males.
The median income for a household in the township was $74,903, and the median income for a family was $84,791. Males had a median income of $53,327 versus $40,085 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the township was $32,212. About 2.4% of families and 4.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.7% of those under age 18 and 6.7% of those age 65 or over.
Ancestry information reported in the 2000 Census reflects the diversity of Teaneck residents, with no single country accounting for more than a small fraction of the population. Residents listed Italian (6.2%), German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
(6.0%), Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
(5.3%), Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
(5.1%) and Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
(4.2%) as the most common countries of ancestry, and an additional 4.3% listed United States. 6.3% of residents identified themselves as being of West Indian
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
ancestry, of which 3.4% were from Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
.
English is spoken by 74.31% of residents. Other languages (accounting for more than 1% of residents) include Spanish (10.53%), Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
(2.81%), Tagalog
Tagalog language
Tagalog is an Austronesian language spoken as a first language by a third of the population of the Philippines and as a second language by most of the rest. It is the first language of the Philippine region IV and of Metro Manila...
(1.88%), Urdu
Urdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
(1.22%) and Russian (1.11%).
Historical population data
| Township of Teaneck | County of Bergen | |||||
| Census Year |
Total Population |
Population Change |
Percent Change |
Total Population |
Population Change |
Percent Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 United States Census, 1900 The Twelfth United States Census, conducted by the Census Office on June 1, 1900, determined the resident population of the United States to be 76,212,168, an increase of 21.0 percent over the 62,979,766 persons enumerated during the 1890 Census.... |
768 | 78,441 | ||||
| 1910 | 2,082 | 1,314 | 171.1% | 138,002 | 59,561 | 75.9% |
| 1920 | 4,192 | 2,110 | 101.3% | 210,643 | 72,641 | 52.6% |
| 1930 | 16,513 | 12,321 | 293.9% | 364,977 | 154,334 | 73.3% |
| 1940 | 25,275 | 8,762 | 53.1% | 409,646 | 44,669 | 12.2% |
| 1950 | 33,772 | 8,497 | 33.6% | 539,139 | 129,493 | 31.6% |
| 1960 | 42,085 | 8,313 | 24.6% | 780,255 | 241,116 | 44.7% |
| 1970 | 42,355 | 270 | 0.6% | 897,148 | 116,893 | 15.0% |
| 1980 | 39,007 | -3,348 | -7.9% | 845,385 | -51,763 | -5.8% |
| 1990 | 37,825 | -1,182 | -3.0% | 825,380 | -20,005 | -2.4% |
| 2000 | 39,260 | 1,435 | 3.8% | 884,118 | 58,738 | 7.1% |
| 2010 | 39,776 | 516 | 1.3% | 905,116 | 20,998 | 2.4% |
After its founding as a township, Teaneck saw rapid growth in its population during the first half of the 20th century. As Teaneck changed from a sparsely populated rural area into a suburb, particularly after development of property that had been part of the Phelps estate started in the late 1920s, Teaneck's population grew rapidly, far outpacing the growth of Bergen County.
After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the 1950 Census showed growth in Teaneck (33.6%) pacing Bergen County overall (31.6%). Starting in 1960, a substantial decline in the rate of growth compared to Bergen County occurred as Teaneck reached the limits of developable land, and the township neared its peak population. Population growth in the 1970 Census was small, but positive, with Teaneck reaching its historical maximum of 42,355. Absolute declines in population followed in both the 1980 (−7.9%) and 1990 (−3.0%) data. The 2000 Census showed recovery in Teaneck's population to 39,260, though growth (3.8%) was smaller than in Bergen County overall (7.1%).
With almost no land left to develop for housing, Teaneck's population is likely to remain stable for the foreseeable future. A reluctance to permit high-rise development as a means to increase population density also places a limit on growth. Changes in family size are one of the few influences that may affect population over time.
Crime
, Teaneck had a violent crime rate of 187 incidents per 100,000 people, compared to a rate of 391 in New Jersey as a whole and 596 nationwide. Teaneck's property crime rate is 1860.6 incidents per 100,000 people, compared to an average of 2533.8 in New Jersey and 4296 nationally.Gang violence hit Teaneck in July 2006 with the death of Ricky Lee Smith, Jr., a teenager shot outside a house party by a member of the Bloods
Bloods
The Bloods are a street gang founded in Los Angeles, California. The gang is widely known for its rivalry with the Crips. They are identified by the red color worn by their members and by particular gang symbols, including distinctive hand signs...
gang who had attended the party. Other gang violence involving the Bloods and Crips
Crips
The Crips are a primarily, but not exclusively, African American gang. They were founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969 mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams...
has erupted since then. In May 2007, the Chief of Police requested the addition of 14 new officers to Teaneck's existing 98-member police force to establish a gang unit. In June, the Township Council approved the hiring of five additional officers at a cost of $500,000 per year, though there are concerns that the gang problem in Teaneck has been "hyped".
Teaneck has received attention in the media due to sexual crimes committed against minors by New Jersey educators. Joseph White, former principal of Teaneck High School, pleaded guilty to official child endangerment in June 2006 and was sentenced to one year in prison. White had been charged in 2002 with fondling a 17-year-old student and was subsequently acquitted. James Darden, an award-winning former eighth grade teacher at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, was charged with sexual assault and misconduct in June 2007. He pleaded guilty on December 2007 to a charge of aggravated sexual assault
Aggravated sexual assault
Aggravated Sexual Assault is when one commits an aggravated assault of a sexual nature and who wounds, maims, disfigures or endangers the life of the complainant....
and faces up to 8½ years in prison when sentenced on January 18, 2008.
The December 1975 murder of Jean Diggs and her four children has never been solved. Police reported in 1977 that they had been unable to identify a perpetrator after two years and thousands of hours spent investigating the crime.
Economy
Major institutions in Teaneck include Holy Name Medical Center and the Metropolitan Campus of Fairleigh Dickinson UniversityFairleigh Dickinson University
Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university founded as a junior college in 1942. It now has several campuses located in New Jersey, Canada, and the United Kingdom.-Description:...
, the largest private university in the state. The Teaneck Armory
Teaneck Armory
Teaneck Armory at 1799 Teaneack Road is an armory and arena located on a site in Teaneck, New Jersey. A facility of the New Jersey National Guard, it is home to the Soccer Coliseum.-History:...
is the home of the New Jersey National Guard
New Jersey National Guard
The New Jersey Army National Guard consists of over 9000 Guardsmen. The Guard is currently engaged in several worldwide and homeland missions. Units have deployed to Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan, Germany and Egypt...
's 50th Main Support Battalion.
Teaneck has four main commercial districts: Cedar Lane, north Teaneck Road, West Englewood Avenue/The Plaza and Queen Anne Road/DeGraw Avenue. Cedar Lane underwent a $3.9 million Streetscape project, completed in 2006, designed to attract additional business to the area through new sidewalk paving with brick edging, bump-outs to allow easier pedestrian crossing, old-fashioned lamp posts and street plantings.
Teaneck's largest single group of commercial ratables is the Glenpointe Centre, completed in the 1980s, which includes a 350-room Marriott hotel and 650000 square feet (60,387 m²) of Class A office space at the intersection of Interstate 95
Interstate 95 in New Jersey
Interstate 95 is a major Interstate Highway that traverses the full extent of the East Coast of the United States, from Florida to Maine...
and Interstate 80
Interstate 80 in New Jersey
Interstate 80 is a major Interstate Highway in the United States, running from the New York City Metropolitan Area westward to San Francisco, California...
. As of 2007, 150000 square feet (13,935.5 m²) of space was vacant, including 100,000 vacated by Eisai Pharmaceuticals
Eisai Co.
is a Japanese pharmaceutical company, ranking among the top 25 in the world by revenue and achieving $8 billion USD in sales for the fiscal 2008 year. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, it has some 10,000 employees, among them about 1,500 in research. Eisai is a member of the Topix 100 and Nikkei 225...
earlier in the year.
The Givaudan Fragrances Corp Creative Fragrances Centre, a division of Givaudan
Givaudan
Givaudan is a Swiss manufacturer of flavorings and fragrances. As of 2008, it is the world's largest company in the industry.-Background:The company's scents and flavors are developed most often for food and beverage makers, but they are also used frequently in household goods, as well as grooming...
, was constructed in 1972 from a design by Der Scutt
Der Scutt
Der Scutt was the architect and designer of major buildings throughout New York City and the United States....
, architect of the Trump Tower
Trump Tower (New York)
Trump Tower is a 58-story mixed-use skyscraper located at 725 Fifth Avenue, at the corner of East 56th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was developed by Donald Trump and the Equitable Life Assurance Company, and designed by Der Scutt of Swanke, Hayden Connell...
. (In late 2009 Givaudan Roure vacated the building and is seeking a new owner.)
Local government
Following its founding in 1895, Teaneck used the traditional townshipTownship (New Jersey)
A township, in the context of New Jersey local government, refers to one of five types and one of eleven forms of municipal government. As a political entity, a township is a full-fledged municipality, on par with any town, city, borough, or village, collecting property taxes and providing...
form of government, led by a three-member Township Committee (later expanded to five seats) elected on a partisan basis. On September 16, 1930, Teaneck residents voted to establish a nonpartisan
Nonpartisan
In political science, nonpartisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation....
Council-Manager form of government under the terms of the 1923 Municipal Manager Law
1923 Municipal Manager Law
The 1923 Municipal Manager Law was the last type of reformed municipal government the State of New Jersey introduced in the progressive era. The law introduced to New Jersey the council-manager form of government first developed in Sumter, South Carolina....
, with five members elected concurrently on an at-large basis. In 1962, the Council expanded to its current size of seven members and the position of Deputy Mayor was created. In 1987, a referendum to alter the form to a Faulkner Act
Faulkner Act (New Jersey)
The Optional Municipal Charter Law or Faulkner Act provides New Jersey municipalities with a variety of models of local government. This legislation is called the Faulkner Act in honor of the late Bayard H...
Council-Manager
Faulkner Act (Council-Manager)
The Faulkner Act, or Optional Municipal Charter Law, provides for New Jersey municipalities to adopt a Council-Manager government.The council consists of 5, 7, or 9 members elected by the public...
form of government was approved, providing for staggered terms for the Council. With this change, Council elections now take place in even years on the second Tuesday in May. The Council's seven members are elected at-large in nonpartisan elections to serve staggered, four-year terms of office. The four seats elected in 2006 will expire in 2010 and the seats of the three who took office in 2008 will expire in 2012, etc.
The Township Council serves as Teaneck's governing body. It sets policies and standards and passes ordinances. It adopts an annual budget and approves contracts and agreements for services. The Council appoints the Manager, Clerk, Auditor, Attorney, Magistrate and Assessor. The Council appoints seven members of the Planning Board, the members of the Redevelopment Agency, Board of Adjustment, and all other statutory and advisory boards.
Members of the Teaneck Township Council are:
- MayorMayorIn many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
Mohammed HameeduddinMohammed HameeduddinMohammed Hameeduddin is the Mayor of Teaneck, New Jersey, United States. He was elected on July 1, 2010, in a 5-2 vote by the non-partisan township council. The son of immigrants from Hyderabad, India, Hameeduddin is the first Muslim-American to be elected mayor in Bergen County, and one of a few...
(term ends June 30, 2012) - Deputy MayorDeputy MayorDeputy mayor is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official in many local governments. Many elected deputy mayors are members of the city council who are given the title and serve as acting mayor in the mayor's absence...
Adam Gussen (2014) - Monica Honis (2012)
- Elie Y. Katz (2014)
- Lizette Parker (2014)
- Yitz Stern (2014)
- Barbara Ley Toffler (2012)
On May 13, 2008, the township voted to re-elect Monica Honis to the council (with 2,981 votes). Elnatan Rudolph (2,852) lost his bid for re-election, falling 38 votes behind his running mate. Barbara Toffler (leading the voting with 3,356 votes) and Mohammed Hameeduddin (2,890) were elected and took office on July 1, 2008, filling the seats left by Rudolph and former-mayor Jackie Kates, who did not run for re-election.
In the 2010 municipal elections, Adam Gussen, Elie Katz and Lizette Parker were re-elected to office, with former councilmember Yitz Stern taking the seat vacated by former-mayor Kevie Feit, who did not run for a second term. At its July 1, 2010, reorganization meeting the council selected Mohammed Hameeduddin to serve as mayor, making him one of the state's first Muslim mayors, while Adam Gussen was chosen as deputy mayor.
On July 1, following a municipal election, the Township Council holds an Organizational Meeting where the candidates elected (or re-elected) to serve on the Council are sworn in and begin their terms of office. The newly inducted council selects one of its members to serve as Mayor, and another to serve as Deputy Mayor, who presides in the absence of the Mayor.
The Mayor, elected by the Council from among its members after each biennial election, serves for a two-year term of office which expires upon the selection of a mayor at the subsequent reorganization meeting. The Mayor presides over all meetings and votes on every issue as a regular member. The Mayor is a member of the Planning Board and the Library Board. The Mayor appoints the members of the Library Board, and one member of the Planning Board. The Mayor executes bonds, notes, contracts and written obligations of the Township and is empowered by State Law to perform marriages.
The Municipal Manager is appointed by the Council to serve as a full-time professional chief executive officer. The Manager implements Council policies, enforces ordinances and coordinates the activities of all departments and employees and is responsible for preparing and submitting a budget to the Council. The Manager makes recommendations to the Council on relevant matters, appoints and removes Township employees and investigates and acts on complaints. The Manager appoints the Municipal Courts Prosecutor and Public Defender, members of the Rent Board and one member of the Teaneck Economic Development Corporation, and one member of the Civilian Complaint Review Board.
Federal, state and county representation
Teaneck is part of the 9th Congressional district.Teaneck is in the
Politics
As of Election Day, November 4, 2008, there were 23,445 registered voters. Of registered voters, 12,586 (53.7% of all registered voters) were registered as DemocratsDemocratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, 2,198 (9.4%) were registered as Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
and 8,651 (36.9%) were registered as Undeclared
Undeclared (New Jersey)
Unaffiliated is a status for registered voters in New Jersey. Those voters who do not specify a political party affiliation when they register to vote are listed as unaffiliated....
. There were 10 voters registered to other parties.
On the national level, Teaneck leans strongly toward the Democratic Party. In the 2008 presidential election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
, Democrat Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
received 72% of the vote, defeating Republican John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
, who received around 27%, with 82% of registered voters participating. In the 2004 election
United States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
, Democrat John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
received 69% of the vote, defeating Republican George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, who received 30%.
Taxation
The Tax FoundationTax Foundation
The Tax Foundation is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank founded in 1937 that collects data and publishes research studies on tax policies at the federal and state levels. The organization is broken into three primary areas of research which are the Center for Federal Fiscal Policy, The and the...
determined that Bergen County had the third-highest median property tax burden in the nation ($8,708 vs. a New Jersey median of $6,579 and a national median of $1,917) and the fourth-highest level of property taxes as a percentage of median income (8.59% vs. 7.45% statewide and 3.03% nationally), based on an analysis of data from the 2009 American Community Survey
American Community Survey
The American Community Survey is an ongoing statistical survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, sent to approximately 250,000 addresses monthly . It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the decennial census...
conducted by the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
for all 792 counties in the United States with more than 20,000 residents. As of 2010, Teaneck's effective tax rate of $2.314 per $100 of equalized value was the fifth highest of the 70 municipalities in Bergen County, which had a countywide median effective rate of $1.882 per $100.
, just over 55% of a Teaneck property owner's tax goes to support the local school system, 36% goes to municipal taxes (including an open space tax) and the remaining 9% to county services (which also assesses an open space tax). In the decade from 2001 to 2011, municipal taxes have risen at an annual rate of nearly 5.4% and school taxes by 3.5%, while the Consumer Price Index for the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island area has gone up about 2.8% during that time span.
The 2011 tax rate was set at $2.405 per $100 of assessed value (an increase of 3.3% from 2010), which is composed of school taxes of $1.342 (up almost 3.5%), municipal taxes of $0.848 (an increase of 2.9%) and county taxes of $0.201 (up 3.6%), plus a municipal open space tax of $0.010 and a county open space tax of $0.003. The owner of a median-valued home in Teaneck, assessed at $465,300, would pay 2011 property taxes of $11,190, which would include $6,244 in school taxes, $3,992 in municipal taxes and $949 to the county (including open space levies).
The Teaneck Public Schools had a Budgetary Per Pupil Cost of $16,746 in the 2010-11 budget compared to the average of $13,587 budgeted that year by comparable districts, ranked as the 100th highest among the 104 K-12 districts in the state with more than 3,500 students.
At the April 2006 school elections, voters rejected the proposed $84.8 million budget for the Teaneck Public Schools for the 2006–07 school year by a 1,644 to 1,336 margin. Based on recommendations specified by the Township Council, the Board of Education approved $544,391 in cuts. The school budget was rejected again in 2009, with the Council cutting $1 million from the $94.8 million originally proposed.
Teaneck's four fire stations are staffed around the clock by paid full-time fire fighters. Teaneck is one of four municipalities in Bergen County
Bergen County, New Jersey
Bergen County is the most populous county of the state of New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 905,116. The county is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. Its county seat is Hackensack...
with a paid fire department, joining Englewood
Englewood, New Jersey
Englewood is a city located in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 27,147.Englewood was incorporated as a city by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township and the remaining portions of...
, Hackensack
Hackensack, New Jersey
Hackensack is a city in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States and the county seat of Bergen County. Although informally called Hackensack, it was officially named New Barbadoes Township until 1921. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 43,010....
and Ridgewood
Ridgewood, New Jersey
Ridgewood is a village in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the village population was 24,958. Ridgewood is an affluent suburban bedroom community of New York City, located approximately northwest of Midtown Manhattan.The Village of Ridgewood was...
.
Public schools
Teaneck Public Schools
Teaneck Public Schools are a comprehensive community public school district in Teaneck, New Jersey, United States, serving students in kindergarten through twelfth grade....
served 3,924 students in pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade, down from 4,266 in the 2005-06 school year. Schools in the district (with 2008–09 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics
National Center for Education Statistics
The National Center for Education Statistics is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance information in the United States...
) include Bryant School, with 292 students in pre-K and Kindergarten; three lower schools serving grades 1–4: Hawthorne School, with 354 students; Lowell School, with 305 students; and Whittier School, with 385 students {Longfellow Elementary school was discontinued in 1998. Other elementary schools that closed prior to 1998 included Emerson and Eugene Field}; two middle schools serving grades 5–8: Benjamin Franklin Middle School, with 555 students, and Thomas Jefferson Middle School, with 626 students; and Teaneck High School
Teaneck High School
Teaneck High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school, which is part of the Teaneck Public Schools district in Teaneck, New Jersey, United States...
, which has an enrollment of 1,407 students in grades 9–12.
The Teaneck Public Schools
Teaneck Public Schools
Teaneck Public Schools are a comprehensive community public school district in Teaneck, New Jersey, United States, serving students in kindergarten through twelfth grade....
spend more per-pupil than all but seven New Jersey school districts. It budgeted spending of $17,395 per student for the 2008–09 school year on a Comparative Cost per Pupil basis (a measure that excludes out-of-district tuition payments, transportation costs and judgments against the school district), 98th highest of the 105 K–12 school districts in the state with more than 3,500 students. This is up more than $2,800 from the $14,538 spent in the 2006–07 school year, an increase of more than 15% over the two-year span. 81% of Teaneck's school funding in the 2008–09 school year came from local property taxes. (The 2008-09 median per-pupil spending in NJ was $12,723, while the average per-pupil spending was $13,632.)
Of the 2008–09 per-pupil allocation, $10,097 goes to classroom instruction (98th highest of K–12 districts in the state with more than 3,500 students), $2,645 to Support Services (85th), $1,661 to Administrative Costs (100th) and $2,532 to Operations and Maintenance (99th). The district's Median Teacher Salary of $70,250 is ranked 95th in the state in its grouping, while the Median Administrator Salary is $135,045 and ranks 101st.
For the 2008-09 school year, Teaneck High School had not met the "Adequate Yearly Progress
Adequate Yearly Progress
Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, is a measurement defined by the United States federal No Child Left Behind Act that allows the U.S. Department of Education to determine how every public school and school district in the country is performing academically according to results on standardized...
" requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act
No Child Left Behind Act
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is a United States Act of Congress concerning the education of children in public schools.NCLB was originally proposed by the administration of George W. Bush immediately after he took office...
, and was classed as "In need of improvement". New Jersey Department of Education's 2008-09 School Report Card showed that the high school had a graduation rate of 95.3%, down 1.6% from 2007-08. (The New Jersey state-wide graduation rate is 93.6%.)
The Teaneck Community Charter School is a charter school
Charter school
Charter schools are primary or secondary schools that receive public money but are not subject to some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each school's charter...
that operates independently of the Teaneck Public Schools under a charter granted by the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education
New Jersey Department of Education
The New Jersey Department of Education administers state and federal aid programs affecting more than 1.4 million public and non-public elementary and secondary school children in the state of New Jersey. The department is headquartered in Trenton.The Department is responsible for ensuring that...
. Admission is open to the public for available slots (after returning students and siblings of existing students are entered) and covers kindergarten through eighth grade, with an after school program and summer camp. As the school is a public school, no tuition is charged. Funding comes from the Teaneck Public Schools (and other home districts of non-resident students), which provides 90% of its cost per pupil in the district; the balance of funding comes directly from the state of New Jersey. The school has changed locations from 1650 Palisades Ave to 563 Chestnut Ave in the school year of 2009–2010.
Private and parochial schools
Teaneck is home to the Metropolitan Campus of Fairleigh Dickinson UniversityFairleigh Dickinson University
Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university founded as a junior college in 1942. It now has several campuses located in New Jersey, Canada, and the United Kingdom.-Description:...
, which straddles the Hackensack River
Hackensack River
The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the suburban area outside New York City just west of the lower Hudson River,...
, in Teaneck and Hackensack
Hackensack, New Jersey
Hackensack is a city in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States and the county seat of Bergen County. Although informally called Hackensack, it was officially named New Barbadoes Township until 1921. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 43,010....
. The campus served 4,114 undergraduates and 2,350 graduate students as of the 2007–08 school year.
Private Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
Jewish day school
Jewish day school
A Jewish day school is a modern Jewish educational institution that is designed to provide Jewish children with both a Jewish and a secular education in one school on a full time basis, hence its name of "day school" meaning a school that the students attend for an entire day and not on a part time...
s include the Torah Academy of Bergen County
Torah Academy of Bergen County
Torah Academy of Bergen County is a four-year yeshiva high school located in Teaneck, in Bergen County, New Jersey. It utilizes a split-schedule day offering both Jewish studies and college preparatory courses...
(for boys) and Ma'ayanot Yeshiva High School
Ma'ayanot Yeshiva High School
The Ma'ayanot Yeshiva High School is a private Jewish day school for girls in grades nine through twelve, located in Teaneck, New Jersey, United States. Ma'ayanot was founded to meet the need of the Orthodox communities of Bergen County and neighboring areas for a conveniently located and...
(for girls), both high schools (grades 9–12).
Teaneck was home to the Metropolitan Schechter High School
Schechter Regional High School
Schechter Regional High School was a small, coeducational, Conservative Jewish High School, located in Teaneck, New Jersey, United States. It was founded in 2003, as an outgrowth of two lower Schechter elementary and middle schools in existence for the past 20 years. The school was led by Jay...
, a co-ed Conservative
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
Jewish high school, which closed its doors in August 2007 due to fundraising problems.
The Al-Ghazaly High School
Al-Ghazaly High School
Al-Ghazaly High School in Teaneck, New Jersey is notable as one of the oldest Islamic High Schools in the United States, being founded in 1984. The school serves 7th to 12th grade. Sr. Fatina Hanini is the current principal and Sr. Khaldiya Mustafa is the Vice Principal and Guidance Counselor...
is a co-ed religious day school (grades 7 through 12) primarily serving the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
community. Students come from the greater Teaneck area.
The Community School is a private school, founded in 1968 to serve the bright child with learning and attentional disabilities. Both the lower school and high school
Community High School, Teaneck, New Jersey
Community High School, located in Teaneck, New Jersey, United States, is a private high school designed for children aged 14–18 with learning disabilities and attention deficits...
are in Teaneck.
Public services
The Teaneck Police Department has 99 uniformed officers as of 2008, out of a total of 106 authorized uniformed positions. Robert Wilson was named Chief as of July 2008, filling the acting chief role previously held by Deputy Chief Fred Ahearn, who had been serving in that position since the departure of Paul Tiernan in 2007. The department hired its first two officers in 1914; Freddie Greene, its first African-American officer, joined the department on September 15, 1962, and its first female on January 4, 1981.The Teaneck Fire Department is a career fire department that has 93 uniformed members as of January 2010, out of a total 99 authorized uniformed positions. Robert J. Montgomery was named Chief of Department as of June 1, 2006. The department operates 4 Engine Companies out of four strategically placed firehouses. Additionally, a Tower Ladder, Rescue Truck and Command vehicle responds out of the main Fire Headquarters on Teaneck Road. Reserve apparatus include 2 Engines, a Rescue and a Ladder Truck that can be manned as required during high service demands. The department responds to approximately 4,000 calls per year involving structure fires, vehicle fires, electrical emergencies, natural gas releases, carbon monoxide incidents, explosions, rescues, outside fires,vehicle extrications and first responder medical calls. Past career Fire Chiefs of the department include John Bauer, William Norton, William Hillermeier, Donald Wynne Sr., Carl Anderson, Joseph Murray, William Lindsay Sr. and Joseph Murray Sr.
The Teaneck Volunteer Ambulance Corps (TVAC) was created by just a few men in 1939 to serve the residents of Teaneck, NJ. TVAC has always been Teaneck's only emergency ambulance service, and has since grown to include over 100 members in their organization. All of TVAC's members are volunteers, serving the township 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, without pay. In 2009, TVAC responded to 4,086 emergency calls, routinely saving lives and reducing suffering with their rapid response and application of Basic Life Support skills. Throughout the last 70 years, TVAC has never charged a patient nor the patient's family for service. The services of the Corps are entirely free of charge, whether the patients are residents of Teaneck, visitors, or individuals who need medical service while passing through the town. The Corps also renders service in nearby towns as part of a mutual aid system, again without charge.
The Richard Rodda Community Center, located near Route 4 at the south end of Votee Park, is a 50000 square feet (4,645.2 m²) community and recreation center completed in 1998. The facility includes two full sized gyms, a dance studio, a kitchen and several multipurpose rooms of different sizes. The Teaneck Recreation Department offers educational, sports and arts programs throughout the year. The Rodda center is home to the Senior Citizens Service Center, which offers educational and fitness activities for adults ages 55 and up, and serves hot lunch daily, provided by the Bergen County Division of Senior Services.
Arts and culture
The Puffin Foundation and its Puffin Cultural Forum have been leading supporters and producers of art in Teaneck, sponsoring plays and art exhibitions at it location on Puffin Way.Teaneck is home to the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County, founded in 1953. The Bergen Society is a member organization of the American Ethical Union.
The Teaneck Community Band presents a series of five outdoor summer band concert each summer. The 69th annual series, in 2009, was sponsored by the Puffin Foundation.
The now-defunct Teaneck Cultural Arts Coalition had organized many community-wide cultural events, including an annual First Night
First Night
First Night is an artistic and cultural celebration on New Year's Eve, taking place from afternoon until midnight. Some cities have all their events during the celebration outside, but some cities have events that are hosted indoors by organizations in the city, such as churches and theaters...
community celebration of the arts held for several years through New Year's 2005.
The Garage Theatre Group, Bergen County's first non-profit, professional theatre company, stages fully professional productions, with members of Actors Equity, as well as youth conservatory productions at the Becton Theatre on the campus of Farleigh Dickinson University.
Teaneck New Theatre, founded in 1986, performs productions at St. Mark's Church in Teaneck and at the Hackensack Cultural Arts Center, across the river in Hackensack, New Jersey
Hackensack, New Jersey
Hackensack is a city in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States and the county seat of Bergen County. Although informally called Hackensack, it was officially named New Barbadoes Township until 1921. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 43,010....
.
Cedar Lane Cinema is the township's lone movie theater, and hosts live performances on its stage by local performance groups. Teaneck has been the site of many films, including The Family Man
The Family Man
The Family Man is a 2000 drama film directed by Brett Ratner and starring Nicolas Cage and Téa Leoni. Cage's production company, Saturn Films, helped produce the film....
, the 2000 film starring Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage is an American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona , The Rock , Face/Off , Gone in 60 Seconds , Adaptation , National Treasure , Ghost Rider , Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , and...
. The Teaneck Armory has been used for films including Sweet and Lowdown
Sweet and Lowdown
Sweet and Lowdown is a 1999 American comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen which tells the story of a fictional arrogant, obnoxious, alcoholic jazz guitarist named Emmet Ray who regards himself as perhaps the best guitarist in the world, or second best, after his idol, Django Reinhardt...
, and for interior scenes of You've Got Mail
You've Got Mail
You've Got Mail is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Nora Ephron, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. It was written by Nora and Delia Ephron based on the play Parfumerie by Miklós László. The film is about two letter-writing lovers who are completely unaware that their sweetheart is in...
.
In 2007, two non-fiction volumes appeared dealing, inter alia, with Teaneck's Orthodox Jewish community. In Foreskin's Lament, writer Shalom Auslander
Shalom Auslander
Shalom Auslander is an American author and essayist. He grew up in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Monsey, New York where he describes himself as having been "raised like a veal". His writing style is notable for its Jewish perspective and determinedly negative outlook...
describes living in Teaneck and finding the Jewish community stifling and claustrophobic. In contrast, Rifka Rosenwein, in Life in the Present Tense, describes the close-knit community as a gift she couldn't imagine when living in Manhattan.
Media
Although licensed to OaklandOakland, New Jersey
Oakland is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 12,754.Oakland was incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 8, 1902, from portions of Franklin Township.-History:The Van Allen House...
, a community in Western Bergen County, radio station WVNJ
WVNJ
WVNJ is radio station licensed to Oakland, New Jersey, serving Bergen County, New Jersey and parts of the New York City metropolitan area. The station employs a brokered programming format and is owned by Universal Broadcasting headed by Miriam Warshaw...
operating at 1160 kHz on the AM dial maintains its studios at 1086 Teaneck Road. WFDU
WFDU
WFDU is a non-commercial, college radio station licensed to Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey. Since 1971, WFDU has broadcast from studios on the Metropolitan Campus of said college. WFDU's transmitter site is at the world famous Major Edwin Howard Armstrong tower in Alpine, NJ...
FM-89.5 operates from studios at Fairleigh Dickinson University
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university founded as a junior college in 1942. It now has several campuses located in New Jersey, Canada, and the United Kingdom.-Description:...
, and there was a defunct AM Carrier Current version of WFDU on 640 through some time in the 1980s.
Athletics
The New Jersey NetsNew Jersey Nets
The New Jersey Nets are a professional basketball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association...
NBA
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
pro basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
team were founded as the New Jersey Americans in Teaneck for the 1967–68 season, as charter members of the American Basketball Association
American Basketball Association
The American Basketball Association was a professional basketball league founded in 1967. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger in 1976.-League history:...
. The team played their home games at the Teaneck Armory for that one season, and was scheduled to play a one-game playoff at the armory. However, the circus had been booked for the week, and the game was relocated to a court in Commack, New York
Commack, New York
Commack is a census-designated place that roughly corresponds to the hamlet by the same name in the towns of Huntington and Smithtown in Suffolk County, New York, United States on Long Island...
that was unplayable, and the game had to be forfeited. After the one season in Teaneck, the team relocated to Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
and was renamed the New York Nets.
Portions of Fairleigh Dickinson University
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Fairleigh Dickinson University is a private university founded as a junior college in 1942. It now has several campuses located in New Jersey, Canada, and the United Kingdom.-Description:...
's Metropolitan Campus are located in Teaneck, with most of the school's athletic facilities are located across the river in Hackensack. The school's University Stadium, home for its men's and women's soccer teams, lies on the Hackensack River
Hackensack River
The Hackensack River is a river, approximately 45 miles long, in the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, emptying into Newark Bay, a back chamber of New York Harbor. The watershed of the river includes part of the suburban area outside New York City just west of the lower Hudson River,...
, just north of Route 4. The 1,000-seat stadium has hosted NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament games in recent years. The natural grass field was resurfaced with FieldTurf
FieldTurf
FieldTurf is a brand of artificial turf playing surface. It is manufactured and installed by the FieldTurf Tarkett division of Tarkett Inc., based in Calhoun, Georgia, USA. In the late 1990s, the artificial surface changed the industry with a design intended to replicate real grass...
in 2004.
The FDU baseball field is situated between Route 4 and University Stadium. The school received a $1 million bequest from FDU alumnus Vince Naimoli
Vince Naimoli
Vincent J. Naimoli is a businessman, and the first owner of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. -Biography:...
, founding owner of the Tampa Bay Rays
Tampa Bay Rays
The Tampa Bay Rays are a Major League Baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays are a member of the Eastern Division of MLB's American League. Since their inception in , the club has played at Tropicana Field...
, to establish a 500-seat stadium with artificial turf and lighting on the site of the current facility.
Highways
Teaneck is situated along a number of major transportation routes, including the New Jersey TurnpikeNew Jersey Turnpike
The New Jersey Turnpike is a toll road in New Jersey, maintained by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. According to the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association, the Turnpike is the nation's sixth-busiest toll road and is among one of the most heavily traveled highways in the United...
(a portion of Interstate 95
Interstate 95 in New Jersey
Interstate 95 is a major Interstate Highway that traverses the full extent of the East Coast of the United States, from Florida to Maine...
) and Interstate 80
Interstate 80 in New Jersey
Interstate 80 is a major Interstate Highway in the United States, running from the New York City Metropolitan Area westward to San Francisco, California...
. Teaneck is the eastern terminus of Interstate 80
Interstate 80
Interstate 80 is the second-longest Interstate Highway in the United States, following Interstate 90. It is a transcontinental artery running from downtown San Francisco, California to Teaneck, New Jersey in the New York City Metropolitan Area...
, which stretches over 2900 miles (4,667.1 km) west to downtown San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
.
Route 4 runs east-west through Teaneck, where, unlike all other towns situated along the highway, there is no commercial development. Route 4 narrows from three lanes on the eastbound section between Belle Avenue and Englewood, causing rush-hour traffic backups that may extend all the way back into Hackensack
Hackensack, New Jersey
Hackensack is a city in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States and the county seat of Bergen County. Although informally called Hackensack, it was officially named New Barbadoes Township until 1921. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 43,010....
. The New Jersey Department of Transportation
New Jersey Department of Transportation
The New Jersey Department of Transportation is the agency responsible for transportation issues and policy in New Jersey. It is headed by the Commissioner of Transportation...
(NJDOT) has discussed a series of proposed replacement projects for bridges over the highway, which could start in 2011, pending completion of feasibility studies and design work. While the township has indicated its willingness to cede space along the Greenbelt for a third lane, the lack of space for a shoulder may preclude the creation of a full three-lane route through Teaneck, due to safety concerns by the NJDOT.
New Jersey's other main trunk route, the Garden State Parkway
Garden State Parkway
The Garden State Parkway is a 172.4-mile limited-access toll parkway that stretches the length of New Jersey from the New York line at Montvale, New Jersey, to Cape May at New Jersey's southernmost tip. Its name refers to New Jersey's nickname, the "Garden State." Most New Jersey residents refer...
, can be reached just a few miles west of Teaneck.
Access to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
is available for motorists across the George Washington Bridge
George Washington Bridge
The George Washington Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting the Washington Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City to Fort Lee, Bergen County, New Jersey. Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1/9 cross the river via the bridge. U.S...
in Fort Lee
Fort Lee, New Jersey
Fort Lee is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 35,345. Located atop the Hudson Palisades, the borough is the western terminus of the George Washington Bridge...
which can be reached by highway via Route 4 or Interstate 95, and (via the Turnpike) through the Lincoln Tunnel
Lincoln Tunnel
The Lincoln Tunnel is a long tunnel under the Hudson River, connecting Weehawken, New Jersey and the borough of Manhattan in New York City.-History:...
in Hudson County
Hudson County, New Jersey
Hudson County is the smallest county in New Jersey and one of the most densely populated in United States. It takes its name from the Hudson River, which creates part of its eastern border. Part of the New York metropolitan area, its county seat and largest city is Jersey City.- Municipalities...
into Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan, or simply Midtown, is an area of Manhattan, New York City home to world-famous commercial zones such as Rockefeller Center, Broadway, and Times Square...
.
Public transportation
New Jersey TransitNew Jersey Transit
The New Jersey Transit Corporation is a statewide public transportation system serving the United States state of New Jersey, and New York, Orange, and Rockland counties in New York State...
bus service is available in Teaneck, with frequent service on Teaneck Road, Route 4 and Cedar Lane, and less frequent service on other main streets. NJTransit bus service is offered to the Port Authority Bus Terminal
Port Authority Bus Terminal
The Port Authority Bus Terminal is the main gateway for interstate buses into Manhattan in New York City...
in Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan, or simply Midtown, is an area of Manhattan, New York City home to world-famous commercial zones such as Rockefeller Center, Broadway, and Times Square...
on the 155, 157, 167, 168 routes; to the George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal
George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal
The George Washington Bridge Bus Station is a commuter bus terminal located at the east end of the George Washington Bridge in the Washington Heights area of Manhattan in New York City, New York....
on the 171, 175, 178, 186 routes; and to other New Jersey communities served on the 751, 753, 755, 756, 772, 780 routes. Scheduled bus service is also available from private companies such as Rockland Coaches to the Port Authority Bus Terminal and George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal, as well as within New Jersey. A number of jitney services provide unscheduled service along Route 4 between Paterson, New Jersey
Paterson, New Jersey
Paterson is a city serving as the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 146,199, rendering it New Jersey's third largest city and one of the largest cities in the New York City Metropolitan Area, despite a decrease of 3,023...
and the George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal.
While there is no passenger train operation in Teaneck, train service is available on New Jersey Transit
New Jersey Transit
The New Jersey Transit Corporation is a statewide public transportation system serving the United States state of New Jersey, and New York, Orange, and Rockland counties in New York State...
on the Pascack Valley Line
Pascack Valley Line
The Pascack Valley Line is a commuter rail line operated by the Hoboken Division of New Jersey Transit. The line runs north from Hoboken, New Jersey through Bergen County and into Rockland County, New York, terminating at Spring Valley. Service within New York is operated under contract with...
at the North Hackensack
North Hackensack (NJT station)
New Bridge Landing Station at River Edge is a New Jersey Transit rail station on the Pascack Valley Line. The station is located in River Edge, New Jersey and is located at Kinderkamack Road and Grand Street. It is one of two stations in the town; the River Edge station is also located in River Edge...
station (in River Edge
River Edge, New Jersey
River Edge is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 11,340.The community was incorporated as the borough of Riverside by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on June 30, 1894, from portions of Midland Township, at the...
) and the Anderson Street station (in Hackensack
Hackensack, New Jersey
Hackensack is a city in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States and the county seat of Bergen County. Although informally called Hackensack, it was officially named New Barbadoes Township until 1921. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 43,010....
). This line runs north-south to Hoboken Terminal
Hoboken Terminal
Hoboken Terminal is one of the New York Metropolitan area's major transportation hubs. The commuter-oriented intermodal facility, is located on the Hudson River in Hoboken, New Jersey...
with connections to the PATH
Port Authority Trans-Hudson
PATH, derived from Port Authority Trans-Hudson, is a rapid transit railroad linking Manhattan, New York City with Newark, Harrison, Hoboken and Jersey City in metropolitan northern New Jersey...
train from the Hoboken PATH station and New Jersey Transit connecting service to Penn Station
Pennsylvania Station (New York City)
Pennsylvania Station—commonly known as Penn Station—is the major intercity train station and a major commuter rail hub in New York City. It is one of the busiest rail stations in the world, and a hub for inbound and outbound railroad traffic in New York City. The New York City Subway system also...
in Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan, or simply Midtown, is an area of Manhattan, New York City home to world-famous commercial zones such as Rockefeller Center, Broadway, and Times Square...
via the Secaucus Junction
Secaucus Junction
The Frank R. Lautenberg Secaucus Junction Station is a major commuter rail hub in Secaucus, New Jersey...
transfer station. Connections are also available at Hoboken Terminal to New York Waterways ferry service to the World Financial Center
World Financial Center
The World Financial Center is a complex of buildings across West Street from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan in New York City, overlooking the Hudson River. This complex is home to offices of companies including Merrill Lynch, RBC Capital Markets, Nomura Group, the Wall Street...
and other destinations and for the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail
Hudson-Bergen Light Rail
The Hudson–Bergen Light Rail is a light rail system in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Owned by New Jersey Transit and operated by the 21st Century Rail Corporation, it connects the communities of Bayonne, Jersey City, Hoboken, Weehawken, Union City , and North Bergen.The system began...
system, serving routes along the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
in Hudson County
Hudson County, New Jersey
Hudson County is the smallest county in New Jersey and one of the most densely populated in United States. It takes its name from the Hudson River, which creates part of its eastern border. Part of the New York metropolitan area, its county seat and largest city is Jersey City.- Municipalities...
.
Teaneck is split east and west by railroad tracks, which currently provide freight service by CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation
CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...
. Until 1959, passenger train service was provided on these same tracks by the West Shore Railroad
West Shore Railroad
The West Shore Railroad was the final name of a railroad from Weehawken, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from New York City, north along the west shore of the river to Albany, New York and then west to Buffalo...
, with Teaneck stations at Cedar Lane and West Englewood Avenue. Commuter service was available from these stations, with 44 passenger trains operating to and from Weehawken
Weehawken, New Jersey
Weehawken is a township in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 12,554.-Geography:Weehawken is part of the New York metropolitan area...
, with ferry service available across the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
to New York City at 42nd Street
42nd Street (Manhattan)
42nd Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, known for its theaters, especially near the intersection with Broadway at Times Square. It is also the name of the region of the theater district near that intersection...
and at the Financial District
Financial District, Manhattan
The Financial District of New York City is a neighborhood on the southernmost section of the borough of Manhattan which comprises the offices and headquarters of many of the city's major financial institutions, including the New York Stock Exchange and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York...
in lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan
Lower Manhattan is the southernmost part of the island of Manhattan, the main island and center of business and government of the City of New York...
. Service was also available north along the west shore of the river to Albany
Albany, New York
Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...
. Efforts are continuing to restore passenger train service on this line for the commuters heading into New York City. However, with recent decisions to extend Hudson-Bergen Light Rail service via the Northern Branch
Northern Branch
The Northern Branch Corridor Project is a proposed 11-mile long rail line that would offer a mass transit rail option to residents of eastern Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, that has been unavailable for decades since passenger rail service ended on the Northern Branch in 1966 and the...
to Tenafly
Tenafly, New Jersey
Tenafly is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 census, the borough population was 14,488. Tenafly is an affluent suburb of New York City....
, this possibility seems far less likely.
The closest airport in New Jersey with scheduled passenger service is Newark Liberty International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport , first named Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport within the city limits of both Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States...
, 19.7 miles (31.7 km) away (about 27 minutes) in Newark
Newark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
/ Elizabeth
Elizabeth, New Jersey
Elizabeth is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 124,969, retaining its ranking as New Jersey's fourth largest city with an increase of 4,401 residents from its 2000 Census population of 120,568...
. New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's LaGuardia Airport
LaGuardia Airport
LaGuardia Airport is an airport located in the northern part of Queens County on Long Island in the City of New York. The airport is located on the waterfront of Flushing Bay and Bowery Bay, and borders the neighborhoods of Astoria, Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst. The airport was originally...
is 14.7 miles (23.7 km) away in Flushing, Queens
Flushing, Queens
Flushing, founded in 1645, is a neighborhood in the north central part of the City of New York borough of Queens, east of Manhattan.Flushing was one of the first Dutch settlements on Long Island. Today, it is one of the largest and most diverse neighborhoods in New York City...
via the George Washington Bridge
George Washington Bridge
The George Washington Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting the Washington Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City to Fort Lee, Bergen County, New Jersey. Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1/9 cross the river via the bridge. U.S...
, an estimated 22 minutes (in ideal conditions). John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport
John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located in the borough of Queens in New York City, about southeast of Lower Manhattan. It is the busiest international air passenger gateway to the United States, handling more international traffic than any other airport in North...
in Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
is 25.7 miles (and 34 minutes) from Teaneck. Teterboro Airport
Teterboro Airport
Teterboro Airport is a general aviation relief airport located in the Boroughs of Teterboro, Moonachie, and Hasbrouck Heights in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. It is owned and operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey...
offers general aviation
General aviation
General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...
service, and is a 9.2 miles (14.8 km) drive (about 13 minutes) away.