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Delran Township was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 12, 1880, from portions of Cinnaminson Township. Portions of the township were taken to create Riverside Township on February 20, 1895.[21]

The borough was originally formed on July 20, 1891, as the Borough of Schraalenburgh from portions of Harrington Township and Palisades Township, based on the results of a referendum held the previous day.[21] The borough was formed during the “Boroughitis” phenomenon then sweeping through Bergen County, in which 26 boroughs were formed in the county in 1894 alone.[22] On March 7, 1898, portions of the borough were annexed to Palisades Township.[23] On June 13, 1898, the borough’s name was changed to Dumont in honor of Dumont Clarke, the borough’s first mayor.[21][24][25][26]

The township dates back to February 20, 1700, when the area was still part of Burlington County. One of the earliest European settlers before 1710 was George Woolsey, formerly of Jamaica, Queens, whose father was one of the earliest pre-1650 settlers of what was New Amsterdam. His descendants maintained the family farm for over 200 years.[23]

As of the 2010 United States Census, the township’s population was 16,773,[9][10][11] reflecting an increase of 992 (+6.3%) from the 15,781 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 4,249 (+36.8%) from the 11,532 counted in the 1990 Census.[23]

The name Weehawken is generally considered to have evolved from the Algonquian language Lenape spoken by the Hackensack and Tappan. It has variously been interpreted as “maize land”, “place of gulls”, “rocks that look like trees”, which would refer to the Palisades, atop which most of the town sits, or “at the end”, among other suggested translations.[15][16][17]

Springfield was formed as a township on April 14, 1794, from portions of Elizabeth Township and Newark Township, while the area was still part of Essex County, and was incorporated as one of New Jersey’s first 104 townships by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 21, 1798. It became part of the newly formed Union County on March 19, 1857, with portions remaining in Essex County used to create Millburn. Other portions of the township have been taken to form New Providence Township (November 8, 1809, now known as Berkeley Heights), Livingston (February 5, 1813), Summit (March 23, 1869) and Cranford (March 14, 1871).[22] The township’s name derives from springs and brooks in the area.[23]

Vernon is home to Mountain Creek (formerly Great Gorge and Vernon Valley), a ski resort and water park as well as the Crystal Springs Resort’s Minerals Hotel and Elements Spa. The Hidden Valley ski resort, which opened in 1976 and occupied a 140-acre (57 ha) property that included one of New Jersey’s three remaining downhill skiing facilities, closed at the end of the 2013 season and could find no buyers at an auction held that year;[20] it has since reopened as the National Winter Activity Center. The Great Gorge Playboy Club was located in the Vernon community of McAfee, but was sold and turned into a hotel, now called the Legends Resort & Country Club. Opened in 1972 at a cost of $20 million, featuring 700 rooms and 27 holes of golf, the hotel was sold to Americana in 1982 and later was resold to Metairie Corp. which branded the property as the Legends Resort and Country Club. In 2017, the township started eviction proceedings against low-income residents who had been living in the defunct resort on a permanent basis.[21]

Hawthorne was originally part of the now-defunct Manchester Township, which was later subdivided to create Hawthorne, Haledon, North Haledon, Prospect Park, Totowa, The Heights/Columbia Heights District of Fairlawn and most of the First Ward of Paterson. The Borough of Hawthorne was incorporated from portions of Manchester Township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 24, 1898.[20] The borough was named for novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne.[21][22]

West Deptford Township was formed as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 1, 1871, from portions of Deptford Township. Portions of the township were taken to form the boroughs of National Park (April 15, 1902) and Westville (April 7, 1914).[21] Woodbury annexed portions of the township in May 1907.[22] The township was named for Deptford, which in turn was named after the English port of Deptford.[23][24]

Located within the New Jersey Meadowlands, it is the most suburban of the county’s municipalities, though large parts of the town are dedicated to light manufacturing, retail, and transportation uses, as well as protected areas.[24]