Ridgefield is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 11,501, an increase of 469 (+4.3%) from the 2010 census count of 11,032, which in turn reflected an increase of 202 (+1.9%) from the 10,830 counted in the 2000 census.Table 7. Population for the Counties and Municipalities in New Jersey: 1990, 2000 and 2010, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, February 2011. Accessed May 1, 2023.
Ridgefield was incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on May 26, 1892, from portions of Ridgefield Township.Snyder, John P. The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 84. Accessed May 30, 2024.History of the Borough of Ridgefield, Ridgefield, New Jersey. Accessed September 17, 2015. The borough was named for the area's terrain.Gannett, Henry. The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States, p. 26. United States Government Printing Office, 1905. Accessed September 21, 2015.
History At the time of European colonization, the area was home to the Hackensack tribe of the Lenape Native Americans, who maintained a large settlement to the north on Overpeck Creek. Their name is an exonym taken from the territory and is translated as place of stony ground Wright, Kevin G. "The Indigenous Population of Bergen County" , Bergen County Historical Society. Accessed January 5, 2012. which describes the diminishing Hudson Palisades as they descend into the Meadowlands becoming the ridgefield that is part of Hackensack River flood plain.
In 1642, Myndert Myndertsen received a patroonship as part of the New Netherland colony for much the land in the Hackensack and Passaic valleys. He called his settlement Achter Kol, or rear mountain pass, which refers to its accessibility to the interior behind the Palisades. Originally spared in the conflicts that begin with the Pavonia Massacre, the nascent colony was later abandoned.Historical marker of Achter Col "colony" , Historical Marker Database. Accessed September 22, 2015. In 1655, Oratam, sachem of the Hackensack, deeded a large tract nearby to Sara Kiersted, who had learned the native language and was instrumental in negotiations between Native Americans and the settlers.History, Teaneck Creek Organization. Accessed July 21, 2016.Nottle, Diane. "Do You Know These Women?", The New York Times, March 1, 1998. Accessed October 1, 2014. "Even before the Elizabeths, a Dutch housewife named Sarah Kiersted was learning the language of the local Lenape Indians, possibly as early as the 1640s. She became a channel of communication between Dutch settlers and the Lenape Chief Oratam, and for her services the chief granted her almost 2,300 acres -- comprising all of Ridgefield Park and sections of Teaneck and Bogota -- in 1666." In 1668, much of the land between Overpeck Creek and the Hudson River was purchased by Samuel Edsall,Harvey, Cornelius Burnham. "Genealogical History Of Hudson And Bergen Counties New Jersey Early Settlers of Bergen County" , 1900. Accessed October 1, 2014. " In 1668 Samuel Edsall and Nicholas Varlet bought from the native Indians section 3, comprising 1,872 acres of "waste land and meadow," bounded east by the Hudson River, west by the Hackensack River and Overpeck Creek, and south by the 'Town and Corporation of Bergen.'" and soon became known as the English Neighborhood, despite the fact most of the settlers were of Dutch and Huguenot origin.Historic Englewood , City of Englewood. Accessed October 6, 2019. "In spite of the still strong Dutch character, the area became known as 'English Neighborhood' and stretched from Ridgefield to Closter."
The opening of the West Shore Railroad and Erie Railroad's Northern Branch in the mid 19th century brought suburbanization to the region, and in Ridgefield, significant industry and manufacturing.Home Page, Northern Branch Corridor Project. Accessed June 16, 2016. Grantwood was an artist's colony established in 1913 by Man Ray, Alfred Kreymborg and Samuel Halpert and became known as the "Others" group of artists.Churchill, op. cit. page 51Van Gelder, Lawrence. "Arts Briefing", The New York Times, February 12, 2003. Accessed January 5, 2012. The colony consisted of a number of clapboard shacks on a bluff. To this day the names of the streets in this part of the town—Sketch Place, Studio Road and Art Lane—pay homage to Grantwood's history.Brandon, op. cit. page 82 Kreymborg moved to Ridgefield and launched Others: A Magazine of the New Verse with Skipwith Cannell, Wallace Stevens, and William Carlos Williams in 1915."Modernism began in the magazines", The Modernist Journals Project of Brown University and the University of Tulsa. Accessed January 5, 2012. "Under the editorship of Alfred Kreymborg, this little magazine published the work of Maxwell Bodenheim, Mina Loy, Marianne Moore, Ezra Pound, Carl Sandburg, Wallace Stevens, and William Carlos Williams, playing an important role in freeing American poetry from traditional models."Stavitsky, Gail. "Afterword: Artists and Art Colonies of Ridgefield, New Jersey", Traditional Fine Arts Organization. Accessed January 5, 2012.
The initial of the New Jersey Turnpike were completed in 1952, with the original northern terminus at an interchange connecting to Route 46 in Ridgefield.Staff. "Jersey Pike Opens Final 9-Mile Link; Section Between Newark and Ridgefield Park Dedicated -- Study of Tolls Planned", The New York Times, January 16, 1952. Accessed January 5, 2012. An additional four-mile stretch of road connecting the Turnpike from Ridgefield to I-80 in Teaneck and from there to the George Washington Bridge was completed in 1964. The western spur was added in the 1970s, with its two spurs re-connecting in the western side of the borough.
In the 1970s, the area came under the auspices of the Hackensack Meadowlands Development Commission, meant to set parameters and balance development in the ecologically sensitive region. Some parts of the low-lying areas, including Skeetkill Creek Marsh, have been set apart as nature reserves and extension of system that connects to the Overpeck Reserve and Overpeck County Park.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 2.87 square miles (7.43 km2), including 2.54 square miles (6.59 km2) of land and 0.33 square miles (0.85 km2) of water (11.39%).
The borough shares borders with Carlstadt, Cliffside Park, Fairview, Fort Lee, Little Ferry, Palisades Park, Ridgefield Park and South Hackensack in Bergen County; and North Bergen in Hudson County.Areas touching Ridgefield, MapIt. Accessed March 3, 2020.Bergen County Map of Municipalities, Bergen County, New Jersey. Accessed March 3, 2020.New Jersey Municipal Boundaries, New Jersey Department of Transportation. Accessed November 15, 2019.
The borough is informally divided into three sections based on the geographical contour of the land. The first section is known as Ridgefield, and lies partly in the valley on both the east and west sides and partly on the first hill. The second section is known as Morsemere, and is located in the northern part of the borough. The third section is Ridgefield Heights, on the second hill at the extreme eastern part of the borough, running north and south.Lurie, Maxine N.; and Mappen, Marc. "Ridgefield", Encyclopedia of New Jersey, P. 693. Rutgers University Press, 2004. . Accessed January 5, 2012. "Three sections or neighborhoods make up the borough: Ridgefield, Ridgefield Heights and Morsemere."
Undercliff Junction is an unincorporated community located within Ridgefield.. Morsemere, which includes the southernmost part of Palisade Park, was named by a real estate development company in honor of Samuel F. B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph and Morse code. During the middle of the 19th century, Morse owned vast tracts of land in the borough. Ridgefield's telephone exchange was Morsemere 6 until dial service arrived in the mid-1950s. Grantwood straddles Cliffside Park.
Demographics
Racial and ethnic composition +Ridgefield borough, New Jersey – Racial and ethnic compositionRace / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)Pop 2000Pop 2010Pop 2020% 2000% 2010% 2020White alone (NH)7,1895,2154,28166.38%47.27%37.22%Black or African American alone (NH)71952000.66%0.86%1.74%Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)64100.06%0.04%0.09%Asian alone (NH)1,8813,1993,31917.37%29.00%28.86%Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)4040.04%0.00%0.03%Other race alone (NH)27351070.25%0.32%0.93%Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)1581222371.46%1.11%2.06%Hispanic or Latino (any race)1,4942,3623,34313.80%21.41%29.07%Total10,83011,03211,501 100.00%100.00%100.00%
2020 census As of the 2020 census, Ridgefield had a population of 11,501. The median age was 41.4 years. 18.9% of residents were under the age of 18 and 15.8% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 94.1 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 91.2 males age 18 and over.
100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 4,050 households in Ridgefield, of which 32.9% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 54.4% were married-couple households, 15.0% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 26.7% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 19.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
There were 4,237 housing units, of which 4.4% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.9% and the rental vacancy rate was 2.6%.
Income and poverty According to the United States Census Bureau's 2023 QuickFacts, the median household income in Ridgefield was $115,676, and the poverty rate was 5.05%.
2010 census
The 2010 United States census counted 11,032 people, 3,905 households, and 2,995 families in the borough. The population density was . There were 4,145 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup was 62.31% (6,874) White, 1.20% (132) Black or African American, 0.18% (20) Native American, 29.06% (3,206) Asian, 0.02% (2) Pacific Islander, 4.66% (514) from other races, and 2.57% (284) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 21.41% (2,362) of the population. Korean Americans accounted for 25.7% of the population.
Of the 3,905 households, 33.7% had children under the age of 18; 58.9% were married couples living together; 13.0% had a female householder with no husband present and 23.3% were non-families. Of all households, 19.9% were made up of individuals and 9.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.82 and the average family size was 3.25. Same-sex couples headed 31 households in 2010, an increase from the 24 counted in 2000.Lipman, Harvy; and Sheingold, Dave. "North Jersey sees 30% growth in same-sex couples", The Record, August 14, 2011, backed up by the Internet Archive as of February 3, 2013. Accessed October 1, 2014.
21.6% of the population were under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 30.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41.5 years. For every 100 females, the population had 92.0 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 89.5 males.