Long Hill Township, New Jersey

Long Hill Township is a township in Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 8,629,

The township is situated in the southernmost part of Morris County bordering both Somerset and Union counties. It is bounded by the Passaic River to the south and west and to the north by the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge which covers of land overseen by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Refuge lands also lie within neighboring Chatham and Harding townships.

Originally incorporated as Passaic Township in the 1860s, residents voted to change the town's name to Long Hill Township in 1992. It includes the communities of Gillette, Stirling, Millington, Meyersville and Homestead Park. NJ Transit rail service is available at the Gillette, Millington and Stirling stations.

History

thumb|[[Millington station, one of three train stations in Long Hill Township.]]

Long Hill Township was incorporated as Passaic Township on March 23, 1866. On September 1, 1922, part of what was then Passaic Township was taken to form Harding Township. On November 3, 1992, by a 1,901 to 1,821 margin, the voters elected to change the name of the municipality to Long Hill Township, a change largely driven by the desire to avoid confusion with the City of Passaic, some away.

Garden State Fireworks, a firm based in Millington that dates back to 1890, has produced the annual July 4 fireworks show in Washington, D.C., on the National Mall. The Raptor Trust is a wild bird rehabilitation center located in Millington.

Clover Hill Swimming Club a club surrounding a lake in Millington, was the subject of lawsuit in which the Supreme Court of New Jersey ruled in 1966 that the club could not discriminate against an African American applicant for membership on the basis of the club being private.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 12.06 square miles (31.22 km2), including 11.80 square miles (30.55 km2) of land and 0.26 square miles (0.67 km2) of water (2.14%).

The Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge covers of land overseen by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and includes portions east of New Vernon Road that is unmanaged and accessible by visitors, while areas west of New Vernon Road are managed intensively and are not available to the public.

Demographics

2020 census

The 2020 United States census counted 8,629 people in 3,021 households. The median household income was $136,542.

!Pop 2010

!% 2000

!% 2010

|White alone (NH)

|7,916

|7,385

|style='background: #ffffe6; |6,576

|90.19%

|84.87%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |76.21%

|Black or African American alone (NH)

|31

|48

|style='background: #ffffe6; |73

|0.35%

|0.55%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.85%

|Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)

|10

|style='background: #ffffe6; |6

|0.11%

|0.05%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.07%

|Asian alone (NH)

|420

|520

|style='background: #ffffe6; |693

|4.79%

|5.98%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |8.03%

|Pacific Islander alone (NH)

|style='background: #ffffe6; |4

|0.01%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.05%

|Some Other Race alone (NH)

|14

|style='background: #ffffe6; |66

|0.03%

|0.16%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.76%

|Mixed Race/Multi-Racial (NH)

|93

|116

|style='background: #ffffe6; |299

|1.06%

|1.33%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |3.47%

|Hispanic or Latino (any race)

|303

|614

|style='background: #ffffe6; |912

|3.45%

|7.06%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |10.57%

|Total

|8,777

|8,702

|style='background: #ffffe6; |8,629

|100.00%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |100.00%

2010 census

The 2010 United States census counted 8,702 people, 3,105 households, and 2,434 families in the township. The population density was 734.3 per square mile (283.5/km2). There were 3,226 housing units at an average density of 272.2 per square mile (105.1/km2). The racial makeup was 90.61% (7,885) White, 0.62% (54) Black or African American, 0.09% (8) Native American, 5.98% (520) Asian, 0.01% (1) Pacific Islander, 1.06% (92) from other races, and 1.63% (142) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.06% (614) of the population.

2000 census

As of the 2000 United States census

There were 3,139 households, out of which 36.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.6% were married couples living together, 6.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.7% were non-families. 18.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.79 and the average family size was 3.19. The Township Committee is comprised of five members, who are elected directly by the voters at-large in partisan elections to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with either one or two seats coming up for election each year as part of the November general election in a three-year cycle. At an annual reorganization meeting held during the first week of January, the Township Committee selects one of its members to serve as Mayor and another as deputy mayor.

, the members of the township committee are Mayor Matthew C. Dorsi (R, 2026), Deputy Mayor Guy Thomas Piserchia (R, 2027), Scott Lavender (R, 2026), Aubrey Reichard-Eline (R, 2027) and Victor T. Verlezza (R, 2025).

Federal, state, and county representation

Long Hill Township is located in the 7th Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 21st state legislative district.

Politics

As of March 2011, there were a total of 5,854 registered voters in Long Hill Township, of which 1,154 (19.7%) were registered as Democrats, 2,245 (38.3%) were registered as Republicans and 2,450 (41.9%) were registered as Unaffiliated. There were 5 voters registered as Libertarians or Greens.

In the 2012 presidential election, Republican Mitt Romney received 60.2% of the vote (2,605 cast), ahead of Democrat Barack Obama with 39.0% (1,690 votes), and other candidates with 0.8% (34 votes), among the 4,347 ballots cast by the township's 6,187 registered voters (18 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 70.3%. In the 2008 presidential election, Republican John McCain received 57.0% of the vote (2,789 cast), ahead of Democrat Barack Obama with 41.4% (2,024 votes) and other candidates with 1.2% (60 votes), among the 4,894 ballots cast by the township's 6,155 registered voters, for a turnout of 79.5%. In the 2004 presidential election, Republican George W. Bush received 59.8% of the vote (2,808 ballots cast), outpolling Democrat John Kerry with 39.0% (1,833 votes) and other candidates with 0.7% (43 votes), among the 4,696 ballots cast by the township's 6,112 registered voters, for a turnout percentage of 76.8.

In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 75.0% of the vote (2,173 cast), ahead of Democrat Barbara Buono with 23.7% (686 votes), and other candidates with 1.3% (37 votes), among the 2,932 ballots cast by the township's 6,142 registered voters (36 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 47.7%. In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 64.4% of the vote (2,284 ballots cast), ahead of Democrat Jon Corzine with 24.4% (865 votes), Independent Chris Daggett with 10.1% (358 votes) and other candidates with 0.4% (14 votes), among the 3,546 ballots cast by the township's 6,058 registered voters, yielding a 58.5% turnout.

Education

The Long Hill Township School System serves public school students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. As of the 2019–20 school year, the district, comprised of three schools, had an enrollment of 894 students and 80.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.1:1. Schools in the district (with 2019–20 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are

Gillette School with 223 students in grades Pre-K–1,

Millington School with 397 students in grades 2–5 and

Central Middle School with 269 students in grades 6–8.

Long Hill Township's high school students in public school for ninth through twelfth grades attend Watchung Hills Regional High School in Warren Township. Students from Long Hill Township and from the neighboring communities of Green Brook Township, Warren Township and Watchung (in Somerset County) attend the school. As of the 2019–20 school year, the high school had an enrollment of 1,948 students and 160.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.1:1. The high school district's board of education has nine members, who are elected directly by the voters to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with three seats up for each year. Of the nine elected seats, three are allocated to Long Hill Township.

St. Vincent de Paul School was a Catholic school in Stirling that operated under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson. The school closed in June 2016 in the wake of declining enrollment and financial challenges. The school was recognized with the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence in 2012.

Transportation

thumb|right|[[County Route 512 (New Jersey)|County Route 512 westbound in Long Hill Township]]

Roads and highways

, the township had a total of of roadways, of which were maintained by the municipality and by Morris County.

No Interstate, U.S. or state highways directly serve Long Hill Township. The most prominent roads within the township are county routes, including County Route 512 and County Route 531. Interstate 78 and Interstate 287 are both nearby and cross adjacent municipalities.

Public transportation

NJ Transit rail service is available at the Gillette,

NJ Transit offered service on the MCM8 route until 2010, when subsidies offered to the local provider were eliminated as part of budget cuts.

Lakeland Bus Lines provides Route 78 rush-hour service from Bedminster to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan.

Communications

Long Hill is in Area code 908. The legacy exchange is 908–647 (Millington 7), is one of the last manual offices in New Jersey converted dial operation in the early 1960s.

The current cable company serving the area is Comcast which provides local TV, internet, and phone service. Most of Long Hill now also has access to Verizon's FiOS service. Original cable company Patriot Media was sold to Comcast in early 2008.

Long Hill Township operates a public service television channel on Comcast (Channel 25) and Verizon (Channel 37).

Long Hill Television

A Government-access television (GATV) cable TV channel is available for citizens of Long Hill Township that has important news updates, local activities, local weather, storm warnings, etc. It is on Comcast channel 29 (all programming) and Verizon FiOS channels 37 (public meetings and programs) and 38 (community bulletin board).

Notable people

People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Long Hill Township include:

Jessie Baylin (born 1984), singer-songwriter
David Bird (–2014), journalist and longtime reporter at The Wall Street Journal, whose work "was instrumental in the expansion of energy markets reporting in the 1990s
George B. Cooper (1808–1866), politician who was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1858, but left office after a year when Congress awarded the seat to his opponent in 1860
George Estock (1924–2010), MLB pitcher who played for the Boston Braves in 1951
Eugenio Fernandi (1922–1991), operatic tenor
Jack H. Jacobs (born 1945), Medal of Honor recipient in 1969 for his heroic actions during the Vietnam War
Robert Tappan Morris (born 1965), computer scientist and entrepreneur best known for creating the Morris Worm in 1988, considered the first computer worm on the Internet
Bill Murray (born 1997), guard for the New England Patriots
Keith Sims (born 1967), former professional football offensive lineman who played in the NFL for the Miami Dolphins and Washington Redskins

References

External links

Long Hill Township website
Long Hill Township School System
School Data for the Long Hill Township School System, National Center for Education Statistics
Watchung Hills Regional High School website
Macaroni Kid Warren website of local kids' events