Editing Essex Fells, New Jersey (section)

==History==
Essex Fells was part of the [[Horseneck Tract]], which was an area that consisted of what are now the municipalities of [[Caldwell, New Jersey|Caldwell]], [[West Caldwell, New Jersey|West Caldwell]], [[North Caldwell, New Jersey|North Caldwell]], [[Fairfield Township, Essex County, New Jersey|Fairfield]], [[Verona, New Jersey|Verona]], [[Cedar Grove, New Jersey|Cedar Grove]], Essex Fells, [[Roseland, New Jersey|Roseland]], and portions of [[Livingston, New Jersey|Livingston]] and [[West Orange, New Jersey|West Orange]].

In 1702, settlers purchased the {{convert|14,000|acre|km2}} Horseneck Tract—so-called because of its irregular shape that suggested a horse's neck and head—from the [[Lenape|Lenni Lenape]] [[Native Americans of the United States|Native Americans]] for goods equal to $325. This purchase encompassed much of western Essex County, from the ''Orange'', or ''First Mountain'' in the [[Watchung Mountains|Watchung Mountain range]] to the [[Passaic River]].<ref name=Thinking/>

In the late 1800s, Philadelphia developer Anthony S. Drexel realized the impact of train travel on residential development and sent Charles W. Leavitt to the northern New Jersey area near the end of the Caldwell line. Leavitt, Drexel and Drexel's son-in-law John F. Fell formed the Suburban Land Company and purchased 1,000 acres of land from the estate of Revolutionary War General William J. Gould. In order to create their residential development the group commissioned noted architect Ernest W. Bowditch. The community's name was derived by taking "Essex" from the name of the county and adding "Fells" from the name of John F. Fell which also means hill or down.<ref name=WestEssex/><ref name=PlaceNames/>

Based on an ordinance passed in 1928, commercial activity in the borough is limited to a single three-story building constructed to look like a house and two small workshops on a dead end. {{As of|2000}}, Essex Fells had 750 houses, most of which were custom built, with many occupying lots several acres in size. The borough has no apartment buildings, office buildings or traffic lights, and until recently, no condominiums. The only units available for rental are in carriage houses and other ancillary structures.<ref name=Thinking/>

In 1981, the borough was one of seven Essex County municipalities to pass a referendum to become a township, joining four municipalities that had already made the change, of what would ultimately be more than a dozen Essex County municipalities to reclassify themselves as townships in order take advantage of federal [[revenue sharing]] policies that allocated townships a greater share of government aid to municipalities on a per capita basis.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150925103452/http://www.njstatelib.org/slic_files/imported/NJ_Information/Digital_Collections/MFMG/MFMGCH6.PDF#page=3 "Chapter VI: Municipal Names and Municipal Classification"], p. 73. [[New Jersey State Commission on County and Municipal Government]], 1992. Accessed September 24, 2015.</ref><ref>[http://www.gao.gov/assets/140/137109.pdf#page=54 "Removing Tiering From The Revenue Sharing Formula Would Eliminate Payment Inequities To Local Governments"], [[Government Accountability Office]], April 15, 1982. Accessed September 24, 2015. "In 1978, South Orange Village was the first municipality to change its name to the 'township' of South Orange Village effective beginning in entitlement period 10 (October 1978 to September 1979). The Borough of Fairfield in 1978 changed its designation by a majority vote of the electorate and became the 'Township of Fairfield' effective beginning entitlement period 11 (October 1979 to September 1980).... However, the Revenue Sharing Act was not changed and the actions taken by South Orange and Fairfield prompted the Town of Montclair and West Orange to change their designation by referendum in the November 4, 1980, election. The municipalities of Belleville, Verona, Bloomfield, Nutley, Essex Fells, Caldwell, and West Caldwell have since changed their classification from municipality to a township."</ref><ref>Narvaez, Alfonso A. [https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/27/nyregion/new-jersey-journal-147786.html "New Jersey Journal"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', December 27, 1981. Accessed September 24, 2015. "Under the Federal system, New Jersey's portion of the revenue sharing funds is disbursed among the 21 counties to create three 'money pools.' One is for county governments, one for 'places' and a third for townships. By making the change, a community can use the 'township advantage' to get away from the category containing areas with low per capita incomes."</ref><ref>[[Alan Karcher|Karcher, Alan J.]] [https://books.google.com/books?id=o0BmBWloogcC#page=119 ''New Jersey's Multiple Municipal Madness''], pp. 119-120. [[Rutgers University Press]], 1998. {{ISBN|9780813525662}}. Accessed September 24, 2015.</ref> Effective January 1, 1992, it again became a borough.<ref>[https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/phc-3-32.pdf ''New Jersey: 2000Population and Housing Unit Counts2000 Census of Population and Housing''], [[United States Census Bureau]], issued August 2003. Accessed September 25, 2017. "Essex Fells borough - new incorporated place; encompasses all of former Essex Fells township."</ref>