Englewood’s Story
ENGLEWOOD – THE NOTABLE SUBURB
Englewood is comprised of portions of two historic localities, Liberty Pole to the west and the English neighborhood to the east and south. Beginning as a rustic retreat for privileged families in 1859, it was incorporated as a City in 1899.
EARLY SETTLEMENT UNDER DUTCH AND ENGLISH
On the basis of the explorations of the English master mariner Henry Hudson in 1609, who sailed up the Atlantic coast in the Dutch East India Company ship the “Half Moon”, the Dutch established the Province of New Netherland in 1623. There were two colonies in this area in the 1640’s, one at what is now Edgewater and one at Bogota. Both these fragile outposts of civilization were destroyed during the Indian War in 1643. The first permanent settlement here was in 1677, under English rule, when David Demarest founded a small colony in present New Milford. About 1705, Garrett Lydecker purchased 1000 acres of land between the Hudson River and Overpeck Creek and was apparently the first settler in what is now Englewood.
ENGLEWOOD AND THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
By the 1760’s there were a number of farms in this vicinity, and near the current monument, the original Liberty Pole was erected to celebrate the repeal of the hated Stamp Act. It is shown on a map drawn by Robert Erskine, Washington’s surveyor. During the war, foraging parties of both British and American forces in search of food raided farms. On November 20 th, 1776, part of the American Army passed through here in their hasty evacuation of Fort Lee, fleeing the advance of about 5,000 British soldiers under Lord Cornwallis, and who had earlier climbed the Palisades in the Closter area. Washington and the Continental Army camped in this vicinity in late August, 1780, as did also Generals Marquis de Lafayette, Anthony Wayne, and Lt. Col. Alexander Hamilton.
THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLEWOOD
Just west of th e present Monument is the site of the Liberty Pole Tavern, built in 1835 after th e previous one burned. It was a gathering place for local residents and served as a stagecoach stop and Post Office. About the same time John Van Brunt opened a store at the intersection of Grand and Forest Avenues. Later he would become on of th e principal organizers of the Northern Railroad that began operation in May 1859, connecting the end of the Erie Railroad at Piermont, New York, with Jersey City. In August, 1859 J. Wyman Jones and others filed a map of a subdivision, called “Englewood” in the County Clerks office in Hackensack. The early founding families, many; from Brooklyn, established a community and learned to govern it, setting up civic, cultural, educational, social and religious organizations and looked after their health and safety.
A new City hall was completed in 1923, and the City grew slowly until the completion of the George Washington Bridge in 1931. Englewood became very accessible to New York City and suburbanization began in earnest. Today the city is home to various sports, media, and entertainment figures. From its beginning Englewood has sought to preserve its natural surroundings, and in the 1970’s, Flat Rock Brook Nature Center was founded, with an educational building, a pond and 150 acres of woods and fields. The John Harms Center for the Arts, (renamed in 2004 as bergenPAC), founded by, and later named for the impresario and businessman John Harms, is one of the major cultural organizations in Bergen County.
THE CITY’S ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE
Englewood has five surviving stone Dutch Colonial farmhouses on Grand Avenue, all of which are listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places. The city abounds in Victorian and early 20 th century houses in all sizes, shapes and styles, and has several notable churches from the Victorian period. Dwight Morrow High School, completed in 1933, is a splendid example of Tudor-Revival style and is one of the finest educational buildings in the State.
SOME FAMOUS RESIDENTS
Since it’s beginning, Englewood has been home to various nationally known figures. In the 1880’s there was William Walter Phelps, the ultra-wealthy Minister to Austria who lived on his 2,000-acre estate in what is now Teaneck. Novelist and reformer Upton Sinclair had a 62-member commune in a former school on North Woodland Street, which burned in 1907 after only five months in operation. There was also Bernarr Macfadden, the millionaire health enthusiast who came to Englewood in 1927. Dwight Morrow, the Wall Street financier and Ambassador to Mexico, lived here for many years. Englewood was the childhood home on the lat e publisher Malcolm Forbes, Olympic Skating Champion, Dick Button and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, author and wife of Charles Lindbergh.
THE ENGLEWOOD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, 1941-2004
2004 marks the 63 rd anniversary of the founding of the Englewood Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber of Commerce has endeavored to keep relations between merchant and customer at a high professional level. Since the days of John Van Brunt’s grocery and the apple jack-dispensing Liberty Pole Tavern, the Englewood business community has grown steadily into a commercial and retail hub serving the whole Northern Valley. During the late 1930’s a rapidly expanding real estate market resulted in a great increase in local business activity. Harold Veith, active in the Englewood Board of Trade, was a strong advocate for the formation of a Chamber of Commerce, which was officially incorporated on July 3, 1941. Early members included Frank Buckley, Pat Craig, Abe Dunn, Dan Sklar, Robert Livingston, and Claude Weaver. In the 1950’s, as part of the Chamber’s activities, the Guild of Englewood Merchants (GEM) was organized. Customers were given a charge card usable at all member stores, which, in addition, offered refunds, something rarely done by small stores during that period. Englewood merchants continued to serve the basic needs of Northern Valley residents, despite the great proliferation of shopping malls in Paramus during the late 1950’s through the 1970’s.
Initially, an association of retail merchants, the Chamber created an Industrial Division in 1961, and admitted doctors and professionals later. Among the issues addressed by the Chamber in the 1960’s were traffic congestion and the need for more off-street parking. Working with the city agencies, a one-way traffic system was devised which is still in use today. The Chamber also sponsored the Christmas decorations on Palisade Avenue and helped Santa Claus arrive every year. Racial problems during the 1960’s caused a temporary decline in business activity, but efforts by the chamber, City agencies and various religious and civic groups helped to achieve a recovery by the late 1970’s. Today there are numerous popular restaurants in the City and an assortment of upscale shops and galleries. Englewood – Experience It! is a favorite theme in our advertising.
Since the early 1900’s, the flooding of Overpeck Creek has been a major problem. Beginning in the 1940’s, periodic attempts had been made to control the situation. There now is a pumping station, which the Industrial Division of the Chamber, working with local, State and Federal agencies helped to accomplish. Palisades Court is Englewood’s first retail shopping center, a development of The Real Estate Equity Co. (TREECO). The $25 million project includes a major supermarket and several national chain stores in addition to local tenants.
BUSINESS IN ENGLEWOOD
Unique to cities of its size, Englewood’s Downtown Shopping area is perhaps the most interesting and exciting in New Jersey. With over 300 ground floor retail and restaurant operators, the Englewood downtown has been the home for many unique retailers for over 50 years.
With nearly 1,000,000 square feet of retail space (and more being built), Englewood offers a variety of goods and services that exceeds many malls and downtowns in the metropolitan New York/New Jersey market. A combination of national chains such as Nine West, Ann Taylor, Starbucks Coffee, Sam Goody, Radio Shack, Group USA, Kay Bee Toys, and The Children’s Place give Englewood name recognition for newcomers and long-time customers alike. Th e presence of some of the most unique and eclectic independent entrepreneurs in the state makes Englewood a destination for upscale shoppers from throughout Bergen County’s Northern Valley and areas as far north as Nyack, New York and across the George Washington Bridge into Westchester, upper Manhattan and Long Island.
Englewood has three of the strongest niches available in any shopping area in the region: women’s upscale clothing, wedding and home furnishing and improvements. Combined with a strong traditional selection of stores including camera shops, jewelry shops, children’s clothes, hardware store, and numerous specialty shops, these niches make Englewood a natural location for retailing.
Also located in downtown Englewood is th e prestigious bergenPAC, a performing arts center that attracts over 500,000 visitors annually with such acts as Tony Bennett, Roberta Flack, David Brenner, Robert Klein, the Beach Boys, B.B. King, The Chieftains, Joan Rivers, Tom Jones and Judy Collins. The bergenPAC, along with Englewood’s numerous fine restaurants and outdoor special events (our famous Sidewalk Sale, Annual Auto Show, July concert and fireworks and Farmers Market) attracts shoppers who have a taste for good food and live entertainment.
Englewood is also a Main Street community, one of the first in the State to qualify for the program.
The Englewood Chamber of Commerce and the City Council created the Economic Development Corporation, a not-for-profit corporation, in 1979. This partnership of business and government has undertaken projects to further their mutual interest in the downtown’s vitality. Since 1987, the EEDC has managed the Special Improvement District (SID), a special tax zon e paralleling the CBD. The finds collected are earmarked specifically for promotions and improvement.
The Englewood Chamber of Commerce wishes to thank the following:
Joel Mitnick of Joel Mitnick Design Inc., cover design and Kenneth Albert of Albert Associates Inc., map.