Editing Haledon, New Jersey (section)

==History==
Haledon developed along the northern side of the industrial city of [[Paterson, New Jersey|Paterson]]. It was settled by farmers with colonial Dutch heritage including the Van Riper, Berdan, Banta, Post and Zabriskie families. Prior to the Civil War they were joined by the Roe, Leonhard and Stansfield families, who helped establish St. Mary's Episcopal Church and leading businesses including a general store and the Leonhard Wax Company.

The area became a [[streetcar suburb]] of Paterson in the years following the Civil War, with the central area known as Haledon, while the area surrounding the large pond along High Mountain Road was called Oldham. The Paterson and Haledon Horse Rail Road Company, formed in 1871, laid trolley tracks from Paterson along the current-day Belmont Avenue, which were electrified by 1888.

Many of the trolley company's owners were among the founders of the Cedar Cliff Land Company, which bought up large portions of the area, and the street names in the borough reflect these industrialists and businessmen: Morrissee, Hoxey, Van Dyke, John Ryle and Barbour.

The flat, lower part of the community was laid out in city-sized lots of {{Convert|25|by|100|ft}}, while the hillsides were plated as sites for larger Victorian "villas" for such individuals as Vice President [[Garret A. Hobart]] (now the location of William Paterson University) and the Barbour family of linen flax manufacturers. Haledon's villa development was rather limited and throughout much of the 20th century Haledon was a typical blue-collar community set by the small property sizes planned by the Cedar Cliff Land Company.

A never-constructed grand hotel was planned for the highest point of the community above the intersection of the current day Central and West Haledon Avenues. The Cedar Cliff Land Company ran newspaper advertisements targeted at upwardly mobile immigrants who worked in Paterson's silk industry, offering the city-sized lots for sale at auctions (with free lunches and brass bands) held at St. Mary's Parish Hall, and also opened the Cedar Cliff Silk Mill, which became one of several silk mills in the community.

The residential appeal of Haledon was to escape the crowded industrial city and still have access to the textile mills by using the trolley. As a result of the land sales of Cedar Cliff Land Company and of independent landowner William Buschmann, the town was settled by immigrants who came as skilled workers from textile centers in Europe.<ref>Herbst, John A.; and Keene, Catherine, et al. ''Life and Times in Silk City, A Photographic History of Paterson, NJ.'' Published American Labor Museum, 1986.</ref>

[[Paramount Dining Car Company]] was based in Haledon, and built many of New Jersey's iconic stainless steel modular diners,<ref>Gabriele, Michael C. [https://njmonthly.com/articles/eat-drink/classic-diners-jersey-gems/ "Classic Diners, Offering a Glimpse Into the Past, are True Jersey Gems"], ''[[New Jersey Monthly]]'', May 1, 2018. Accessed January 29, 2024. "Other Jersey manufacturers of that golden age included Fodero Dining Car Company (Bloomfield); Mountain View Diner Company (Singac/Little Falls); Swingle Diner Manufacturing Inc. (Middlesex); Paramount Dining Car Company (Haledon); and Manno Dining Car Company (Fairfield)."</ref> including [[White Manna]] in [[Hackensack, New Jersey|Hackensack]]<ref>Patrick, Kevin. [https://sca-roadside.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/SCA-North-Jersey-Diner-Tour-Sept-26-27-2015.pdf#page=13 North Jersey Diner Tour], Society for Commercial Archeology, September 26–27, 2015. Accessed January 29, 2024. "The White Manna in Hackensack, and the White Mana in Jersey City are the most famous little, white hamburger diners in the state. .... They were both built by Paramount, which designed the circular Jersey City White Mana as a prototype displayed at the 1939-40 New York World's Fair..... The square Hackensack White Manna was the hamburger unit Paramount actually built, and sold after World War II to a new generation of grill men who brought fame to the little hamburgers un-officially but widely known as sliders."</ref> and [[Rosie's Diner]] that was once on Route 46 in [[Little Ferry, New Jersey|Little Ferry]].<ref>Anderson, Elizabeth. [https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/11/nyregion/remembering-when-diners-were-for-more-than-just-eating.html "Remembering When Diners Were for More Than Just Eating"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', March 11, 1990. "Like Rosie's Farmland Diner of Little Ferry, known for its role in the Bounty paper-towel commercial and recently moved to Michigan, the Teamsters is a streamlined Paramount diner made in Haledon."</ref>

Haledon was incorporated in 1908, having been the Oldham district of the former Passaic County municipality of Manchester Township.<ref name=Story/>

[[Socialist Party of America|Socialist]] William Bruekmann was elected mayor in 1912 by the borough's immigrant resident base of skilled silk workers.<ref>Shea, Georgia, ''Spoiled Silk: The Red Mayor and the Great Paterson Textile Strike'' (2001)</ref> During the [[1913 Paterson silk strike]], Haledon's mayor offered the strikers the opportunity to hold meetings in Haledon, as worker meetings were prohibited in Paterson. The [[Pietro and Maria Botto House]], located on the side of a hill surrounded by open spaces, provided a natural amphitheater for labor leaders of the day to address thousands of people who gathered to hear [[Bill Haywood|Big Bill Haywood]], [[Carlo Tresca]], [[Elizabeth Gurley Flynn]] and [[John Reed (journalist)|John Reed]]. The Botto House is now a National Historic Landmark and the home of the American Labor Museum.<ref>Herbst, John A. ''A Slice of the Earth'', published by the American Labor Museum, 1981 (first published in ''New Jersey History'' by the [[New Jersey Historical Society]]).</ref>

In 2008, Councilman Alan Souto, at the time an officer with the Passaic County Sheriff's Department, was arrested for stealing heroin and cocaine from the evidence room from the sheriff's department in order to distribute narcotics, amounting to over $250,000. After being found guilty, he was sentenced to 85 months in federal prison in May 2009.<ref>Cowen, Richard. [http://www.northjersey.com/story-archives/ex-passaic-sheriff-s-officer-sentenced-to-85-months-1.1236179 "Ex-Passaic Sheriff's officer sentenced to 85 months"], ''[[The Record (North Jersey)|The Record]]'', May 18, 2009. Accessed August 13, 2015. "Souto, a former Haledon councilman and trustee on the Board of Education, was immediately led from the courtroom to begin his sentence, after Linares rejected a request that he be allowed a few weeks to gather his belongings and say goodbye to his wife and four children."</ref> Souto was replaced in April 2008 by Marc Battle, a commercial litigator and former civil rights attorney.<ref>Cowen, Richard. [http://www.northjersey.com/news/haledon-s-first-black-council-member-resigns-1.297104 "Haledon's first black council member resigns"], ''[[The Record (North Jersey)|The Record]]'', October 3, 2009. Accessed August 13, 2015. "Marc Battle, the first African-American to serve on the Borough Council, resigned the post this week, citing time constraints brought on by a new job.... Battle, 38, was appointed to the council in April 2008 to fill the unexpired term of Alan Souto, a Passaic County sheriff's officer who was caught selling drugs."</ref>