Fairfield

As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 7,466, reflecting an increase of 403 (+5.7%) from the 7,063 counted in the 2000 Census. Fairfield is the least densely populated town in Essex County. The first Europeans to settle in the area were Dutch and the place was called Gansegat. What is now Fairfield was formed on February 16, 1798, as Caldwell Township from portions of Acquackanonk Township and Newark Township. On November 6, 1963, Caldwell Township was renamed as Fairfield Township, based on the results of a referendum passed the previous day. In 1978, the borough passed a referendum reincorporating itself as a township, becoming the second of more than a dozen Essex County municipalities to reclassify themselves as townships in order to take advantage of federal revenue sharing policies that allocated townships a greater share of government aid to municipalities on a per capita basis. The Horseneck Tract was an 18,000 acre area that consisted of what are now the municipalities of Fairfield, Caldwell, West Caldwell, North Caldwell, Verona, Cedar Grove, Essex Fells, Roseland, and portions of Livingston and West Orange. In 1702, English settlers purchased 14,000 acres (57 km²) from the Lenape Native Americans for goods equal to $325. This purchase encompassed much of western Essex County, from the First Mountain to a point on the Passaic River at Pine Brook NJ.

History

The Horseneck Tract was an 18,000 acre area that consisted of what are now the municipalities of Fairfield, Caldwell, West Caldwell, North Caldwell, Verona, Cedar Grove, Essex Fells, Roseland, and portions of Livingston and West Orange. The Dutch, including many acculturated French Huguenots, initially settled this area of the Passaic River Valley after purchasing it from the Native Americans. They named it "Gansegat" which is Dutch for "duck's pond". Later in 1702, English settlers purchased 14,000 acres (57 km²) from the Lenape Native Americans for goods equal to $325. This purchase encompassed much of western Essex County, from the First Mountain to a point on the passaic River at Pine Brook NJ. The Van Ness House, constructed about 1720, is a historic home added in 1977 to the National Register of Historic Places. The Fairfield Dutch Reformed Church dates back to 1720, and its current structure is another historic site, built in 1804. The reason for the Horsenesck name has never been determined, but historians agree that it is not because of its shape. It is believed that the name was chosen because of the shape of the land, rather than the name of the Native American tribe that lived in the area at the time, which was called the "Horsenesk" or "Horse-eared" The Horsennesck Riots took place in 1701 when Proprietary Authorities began eviction proceedings against the settlers.

Geography

Fairfield Township is located in the northwest corner of Essex County, New Jersey. The township is bisected by Interstate 80 and Route 46. It has the lowest population density of any municipality in Essex County. Unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the township include Clinton and Clinton Park. Great Piece Meadows is a swamp covering 1,170 acres (470 ha). The township borders North Caldwell, West Caldwell, East Hanover Township, Lincoln Park and Montville in Morris County; and Little Falls and Wayne in Passaic County. It is located on the New Jersey Turnpike, which runs from New Jersey to New Jersey City. It also borders the Delaware River and the Hackensack River, which run between New Jersey and New York. It was the site of the Battle of the Bulge, which took place in the early 1900s. The town was named after the town of Fairfield, which was founded in 1788. The name Fairfield means "beautiful place" or "fair" in English and means "peaceful place" in French. It means "home" in Spanish. It's also known as "Fairfield" and "fairfield" in the Spanish language, which means "fair". It was named for the Fairfield Township, where the first post office was established in 1776. The current post office opened on July 1, 1776, and has been in operation since 1778. The last post office closed on December 31, 1783.

Demographics

As of the 2000 United States Census there were 7,063 people, 2,296 households, and 1,981 families residing in the township. The 2010 U.S. census counted 7,466 people and 2,103 families. The median household income was $97,361 (with a margin of error of +/ $11,797) and the median family Income was $117,004 (+/ $7,881). Males had a median income of $69,081 (-/ $15,627) versus $51,198 (- / $6,668) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $41,615 (-/$5,217) About 0.5% of families and 2.8% of the population were below the poverty line. The average household size was 2.82 and the average family size was 3.22. The racial makeup of the township was 95.63% White, 0.52% African American, 0,10% Native American, 2.40% Asian, 0.,40% from other races, and 0.54% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.45% of. the population. The population was spread out, with 22.0% under the age of 18, 7.0%. for every 100 females, the population had 94.4 males. For every 100. females ages 18 and older there were 91.8 males.

Economy

Cricket Hill, microbrewer of American Ale, Hopnotic IPA, and East Coast Lager, is based in Fairfield Township. Bradley Pharmaceuticals was headquartered here until the company was acquired by Nycomed in 2008.Telebrands, the direct marketing firm best known for its "As Seen on TV" products, is also based in the township. The township is home to the U.S. Army's Fairfield Barracks, which was built in the 1930s. The U.N. World War II Memorial is located in the town. The town is also home to Fairfield High School, which opened in the 1950s. It was the first high school in the United States to graduate from high school. The high school's football team won the state championship in the 1960s and '70s. In the 1990s, the town was home to a number of college football teams, including the University of New Hampshire, Rutgers University, and the New Jersey State College of Arts and Sciences. It is also the home of Fairfield University, where the football team was founded in the 1970s and won the national championship in 1988. The school's baseball team won its first state title in the 1980s and 1988. It also won its second state championship the year after the town won its third state title, in the 1988 season. The village has a population of 3,000. It has been the site of the Fairfield County Fair for more than 100 years.

Government

Fairfield is located in the 11th Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 26th state legislative district. As of 2022, members of the Fairfield Township Council are Mayor James Gasparini (R), Council President Michael McGlynn (R) and William Galese (R). The County Executive of Essex County is Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. (D, Roseland), whose four-year term of office ends December 31, 2022. The county's Board of County Commissioners is comprised of nine members, five of whom are elected from districts and four of whom. They are elected for three-year concurrent terms and may be re-elected to successive terms at the annual election in November. In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump received 72.5% of the vote, ahead of Hillary Clinton with 25.6%. There were a total of 5,378 registered voters in Fairfield, of which 1,378 (18.7%) were registered as Democrats, 2,072 (2,299) and 2,299 (42.7) as Republicans. There were 3,004 voters registered as Unaffiliated, with 3,009 (004%) being registered as Libertarians or Greens. The township is one of 18 municipalities (of the 564) statewide that use this form of government, which is available to municipalities with less than 12,000 residents at the time of adoption. The Mayor exercises executive power of the municipality, appoints department heads with Council approval, prepares the annual budget and has veto over ordinances.

Education

The Fairfield School District serves public school students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. As of the 2018-2019 school year, the district, comprised of two schools, had an enrollment of 669 students and 63.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a studentteacher ratio of 10.5:1. Students in public school for seventh through twelfth grades attend the West Essex Regional School District, a regional school district serving students from Essex Fells, Fairfield, North Caldwell and Roseland. Seats on the nine-member board of education of the high school district are allocated based on population, with three seats assigned to Fairfield. StenoTech Career Institute is a technical school in Fairfield that offers court reporting and medical transcription training. The district is part of the New Jersey Department of Education's New Jersey Core Public School System, which also serves students in the Essex County, New Jersey, and Essex County areas of Essex and Rockland Counties. The school district was established in 1988 and has two schools: Adlai E. Stevenson Elementary School and Winston S. Churchill School. It is one of the smallest school districts in New Jersey. It has two elementary schools, one middle school and one high school. The high school has 1,123 students in grades 912 and a middle school with 564 students in 78 and a high school with 1, 123 students in 912. It was founded in 1988, and was the first high school in Essex County.

Transportation

As of May 2010, the borough had a total of 62.10 miles (99.94 km) of roadways, of which 40.18 miles (64.66 km) were maintained by the municipality. U.S. Route 46, Route 159 and Interstate 80 all pass through the Township. NJ Transit provides bus service to Newark on the 29 and 71 routes. Lakeland Bus Lines offeres service to and from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan on its Route 46 route.Essex County Airport, managed by the Essex County Improvement Authority, is located in Fairfield. It is the only airport in the state, with a runway that can take off and land at speeds of up to 80 miles per hour (130 kilometers per hour) and a take-off point of about 30 miles (50 kilometers) per hour. The airport is located on the eastern edge of Essex County, near the town of Fairfield, New Jersey. It has a single runway, which can accommodate up to 50,000 passengers per day. It was built in the 1960s and is the largest airport in New Jersey, with an asphalt surface of more than 100 feet (30 meters) in length. It also has a terminal that can handle up to 2,500 passengers a day, and is located near the New York City Port Authority's Port Authority World Trade Center terminal, which is on the other side of the Hudson River from the airport. It opened in 1968. The borough is home to the New Jersey Medical Examiner's Office.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Fairfield, Essex County, New Jersey = 18.9. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 1. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 10. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Fairfield = 3.7 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 7,872 individuals with a median age of 43.2 age the population grows by 6.67% in Fairfield, Essex County, New Jersey population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 777.3 residents per square mile of area (300.1/km²). There are average 2.98 people per household in the 2,500 households with an average household income of $111,327 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 10.80% of the available work force and has dropped -3.41% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 22.38%. The number of physicians in Fairfield per 100,000 population = 319.6.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Fairfield = 49 inches and the annual snowfall = 20.3 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 124. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 207. 86 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 20.7 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 47, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Fairfield, Essex County, New Jersey which are owned by the occupant = 91.43%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 42 years with median home cost = $441,440 and home appreciation of -15.56%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $28.54 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $8,284 per student. There are 14.4 students for each teacher in the school, 866 students for each Librarian and 216 students for each Counselor. 3.80% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 23.33% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 11.61% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).