Glen Rock, New Jersey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Glen Rock is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 11,546. Glen Rock is ranked in 47th place among the Highest-income places in the United States with a population of at least 10,000.
Glen Rock was formed on September 12, 1894 from portions of Ridgewood Township "that being the year the county went crazy on boroughs."[1]
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[edit] Geography
Glen Rock is located at (40.961109, -74.125766)GR1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 7.1 km² (2.7 mi²). 7.0 km² (2.7 mi²) of it is land and 0.37% is water.
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 11,546 people, 3,977 households, and 3,320 families residing in the borough. The population density was 1,638.9/km² (4,246.1/mi²). There were 4,024 housing units at an average density of 571.2/km² (1,479.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the borough was 90.07% White, 1.81% African American, 0.16% Native American, 6.48% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.61% from other races, and 0.86% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.72% of the population.
There were 3,977 households out of which 43.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 75.1% were married couples living together, 6.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 16.5% were non-families. 14.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.89 and the average family size was 3.22.
In the borough the population was spread out with 29.4% under the age of 18, 3.9% from 18 to 24, 27.4% from 25 to 44, 25.6% from 45 to 64, and 13.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 94.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.5 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $104,192, and the median income for a family was $111,280. Males had a median income of $84,614 versus $52,430 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $45,091. About 2.1% of families and 2.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.0% of those under age 18 and 3.8% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Government
[edit] Local government
Glen Rock's governing body consists of a mayor and six council members elected at large on a staggered basis in partisan elections. Two council members are elected each year for three-year terms and the Mayor is elected to a four-year term of office. The Mayor is the Chief Executive Officer for the Borough.
Glen Rock operates using a Mayor / Council within the Borough form of government with the annual appointment of a full time professional borough administrator who is the Chief Administrative Officer of the Borough, responsible to the Mayor and Council.
The Mayor of Glen Rock is John van Keuren. Borough Council Members are Council President Carol Knapp, Brad Jordan, Mark McCullough, Terry Moore, Michael O'Hagan and Arthur Pazan[2].
[edit] Federal, state and county representation
Glen Rock is in the Fifth Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 35th Legislative District[3].
New Jersey's Fifth Congressional District, covering the northern portions of Bergen County, Passaic County and Sussex County and all of Warren County, is represented by Scott Garrett (R, Wantage Township). New Jersey is represented in the Senate by Frank Lautenberg (D, Cliffside Park) and Robert Menendez (D, Hoboken).
The 35th legislative district of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by John Girgenti (D) and in the Assembly by Nellie Pou (D, Paterson) and Alfred E. Steele (D, Paterson). The Governor of New Jersey is Jon Corzine (D, Hoboken).
Bergen County's County Executive is Dennis McNerney (D). The executive, along with the Board of Chosen Freeholders administer all county business. Bergen County's Freeholders are Chairwoman Bernadette P. McPherson (D, Rutherford), Vice-Chairman David L. Ganz (D, Fair Lawn), Elizabeth Calabrese (D, Wallington), James M. Carroll (D, Demarest), Tomas J. Padilla (D, Park Ridge), Elizabeth Randall (R), Westwood) and Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D, Englewood).
Other countywide elected officials are Sheriff Leo McGuire (D), Surrogate Court Judge Mike Dressler (D, Cresskill) County Clerk Kathleen Donovan (R).
[edit] Politics
Out of a 2004 Census estimated population of 11,525, Glen Rock has 7,682 registered voters (66.7% of the population, vs. 55.4% in all of Bergen County). Of registered voters, 1,405 (18.3% vs. 20.7% countywide) were registered as Democrats, 1,673 (21.8% vs. 19.2% countywide) were registered as Republicans and 4,603 (59.9% vs. 60.1% countywide) were registered as Undeclared. There was one voter registered to another party[4].
On the national level, Glen Rock is almost evenly split. In the 2004 presidential election, Democrat John Kerry received 51% of the vote here, edging Republican George W. Bush, who received around 48%[5].
Recently, an issue has been made of underage drinking occurring in the town. The Glen Rock Police Department, along with the high school administration and the local media have brought to the attention of parents an event known as "keg races," competitive beer drinking parties. In recent years, the police have broken up several parties in which teens were consuming alcohol[6].
[edit] Education
The Glen Rock Public Schools serve students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. The district consists of six schools (with 2003-04 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics), which include four K-5 elementary schools — Richard E. Byrd School with 237 students, Central Elementary school with 296 students, Clara E. Coleman School with 332 students and Alexander Hamilton Elementary School with 271 students. There is one middle school, Glen Rock Middle School, with 591 students in grades 6-8, and Glen Rock High School, which has an enrollment of 646 students in grades 9-12. The high school consistently places in the top 50 public schools in the state. Over 90% of students who attend Glen Rock High School go on to a two-year or four-year college.
Glen Rock's athletic teams have been successful in recent years. The football team won 5 consecutive state championships, from 1998-2002, and is still a power. (Grant Adams, who continued his career playing for Boston College and appeared in a pre-season game for the Philadelphia Eagles, played on the 98-00 teams.) The girls soccer team has also been a state power for a decade. (Sarah Volkomer, a member of the 2004 team was selected to that year's All-American Team.) All teams, with the exception of the Ice Hockey, and Girls and Boys Lacrosse teams, compete in the Bergen-Passaic Scholastic League (BPSL).
There is one parochial school, Academy of Our Lady which is affiliated with St. Catherine's Roman Catholic church located in Glen Rock and Our Lady of Mount Carmel in neighboring Ridgewood.
[edit] Trivia
- The TV show Ed filmed some scenes in Glen Rock.
- In October 2005, many scenes of prominent locations in town were shot for the film World Trade Center, starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Oliver Stone
- This town is probably famous among video gamers, mainly because it is the headquarters of the game developer Imagineering, once a developer of console games. In every game they had produced, the following message always appears in the title screen and in the instruction booklet: "Developed by Imagineering Inc., Glen Rock N.J.". This blatant advertising practice of displaying their hometown in their games is considered a very rare practice among game developers and is probably why this town become famous among video gamers.
- Unlike most suburban towns whose names have little or nothing to do with reality, Glen Rock was actually settled around an enormous rock left by retreating glaciers in a small valley (glen). From a 1985 The New York Times article, "Glen Rock is named for a 570-ton boulder, believed to have been deposited by a glacier, that stands at the northern end of Rock Road*, the town's main street. Called Pamackapuka, or Stone from Heaven, by the Delaware Indians, it served as a base for Indian signal fires and later as a trail marker for colonists."[7] *Note: Rock Road runs almost due East/West, so there is no "northern end"-- nor is the rock at the end of Rock Rd., which runs nearly another half mile to its western end.
[edit] References
- ^ "History of Bergen County" Vol. 1, p. 366.
- ^ Glen Rock Borough Government, accessed June 7, 2006
- ^ League of Women Voters: 2006 New Jersey Citizen's Guide to Government, p. 57, accessed August 30, 2006
- ^ "County of Bergen: Voter Statistics by Municipality, Ward & District," dated April 1, 2006
- ^ 2004 Presidential Election results: Bergen County New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety: Division of Elections, dated December 13, 2004
- ^ Glen Rock parents get eye-opener about teens, The Record (Bergen County), January 31, 2006
- ^ Elder, Janet. "If You're Thinking of Living in Glen Rock", New York Times, 1985-05-05.
[edit] Sources
- "History of Bergen County, New Jersey, 1630-1923;" by "Westervelt, Frances A. (Frances Augusta), 1858-1942."
- "Municipal Incorporations of the State of New Jersey (according to Counties)" prepared by the Division of Local Government, Department of the Treasury (New Jersey); December 1, 1958.
[edit] External links
- Glen Rock official website
- Glen Rock Public Schools
- Glen Rock Public Schools's 2004-2005 School Report Card from the New Jersey Department of Education
- National Center for Education Statistics data for the Glen Rock Public Schools
- Glen Rock Public Library
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
