West Milford Information
History of West Milford, New Jersey
West Milford started out as New Milford in western Passaic County in the 1700s, having been settled by disenchanted Dutch from Milford, New Jersey (later renamed by the British as Newark). These same Dutch also built a town of New Milford in eastern Bergen County. By chance both New Milfords applied for a post office in 1828. As the traditional story goes, a clerk in Washington, D.C. saw New Milford in eastern Bergen County and approved their application for a post office. Next seeing a second New Milford in western Passaic County, the word "NEW" was crossed out and the word "WEST" was written in, then the application was approved. Thus, the town found out when they received their approval and New Milford in western Passaic County had became West Milford with the stroke of a quill pen.
West Milford became a municipality by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 10, 1834, when it was formed from the westernmost portions of both Franklin Township and Saddle River Township, while the area was still part of Bergen County. On February 7, 1837, Passaic County was created from portions of both Bergen County and Essex County, with West Milford as the western end of the newly formed county.
There are old name places in the township like Postville, Utterville, Corterville, Browns, Awosting, Echo Lake, Macopin, Charlotteburg (named after King George III's wife, Queen Charlotte and the town is now under the Charlotteburg Reservoir), Clinton (or sometimes called Clinton Furnance, now under the Clinton Reservoir, and the furnance still stands), Moe Mountain, Oak Ridge (a nameplace, but town is under the Oak Ridge Reservoir), Newfoundland, Apshawa, New City, and Smith Mills. Newfoundland is divided by the Pequannock River, which divides Passaic and Morris Counties; a small part of Newfoundland lays within Jefferson Township. A large part of the township is reservoir property owned by the City of Newark in Essex County for their water supply. Prior to the Second World War, the township was a resort area with trains coming from New York City to stations at Charlotteburg, Newfoundland, Oak Ridge in the south and Hewitt (also known as Sterling Forest station) and Awosting in the north. Railroad service in the south was from the New Jersey Midland starting around the 1850s and in the north around the 1870s from the Montclair Railroad, out of Montclair, New Jersey and later the Erie Railroad (before their merger with the Lackawanna Railroad).
Greenwood Lake is an interstate lake approximately 9 miles long laying in both New Jersey and New York State. It was originally called Long Pond. It was dammed up to increase the size of the lake for water power down stream. During the resort era, several steamboats operated on the lake, the most famous and grand was the two deck steamer, Montclair. These steamboats met the trains and took passengers to the various resorts around the lake in both states.
There is a seaplane area on Greenwood Lake, a few large marinas and lakeside restaurants with docks. There is a public airport called Greenwood Lake Airport just south of the lake on top of a mountain ridge and has two landing strips; one is long enough to handle small jets. Plus there is one private airport in the township on a private estate.
After World War II and for the next 20 years the area underwent a major change from a resort area to year round residences. Before there were year-round houses, the summer residence of Cecil B. Demille was West Milford. Road maps of the 1950s showing the population on the backside said 2,000 winter and 10,000 summer, now say 26,485 [Source: Hagstrom Maps].
West Milford Township is covered by several postal ZIP codes:
- 07421 Hewitt
- 07422 Highland Lakes section of Vernon Township in Sussex County.
- 07435 Newfoundland
- 07438 Oak Ridge
- 07460 Stockholm (Hardyston Township, in Sussex County)
- 07480 West Milford (Macopin)
There are a number of residential lake communities, now converted over to year-round, that had been summer resorts.
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1930 | 1,901 | — | |
| 1940 | 2,501 | 31.6% | |
| 1950 | 3,650 | 45.9% | |
| 1960 | 8,157 | 123.5% | |
| 1970 | 17,304 | 112.1% | |
| 1980 | 22,750 | 31.5% | |
| 1990 | 25,430 | 11.8% | |
| 2000 | 26,410 | 3.9% | |
| Est. 2006 | 28,144 | [2] | 6.6% |
| Population 1930 - 1990.[3] | |||
Newfoundland and Green Pond
Newfoundland is a neighborhood of West Milford located along the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway (NYS&W Rwy, formerly NYS&W RR) tracks (freight service only) and Route 23. It is also a mailing address for Green Pond (just north of the Picatinny Arsenal in Rockaway Township, Morris County), a private lake community owned by Green Pond Corporation and Lake End Corporation, which lays in Rockaway Township where the Pequannock River divides Passaic County from Morris County.
