Editing Irvington, New Jersey (section)

==History==
[[Clinton Township, Essex County, New Jersey|Clinton Township]], which included what is now Irvington, [[Maplewood, New Jersey|Maplewood]] and parts of Newark and [[South Orange, New Jersey|South Orange]], was created on April 14, 1834.<ref name=Story /> The area was known as ''Camptown'' until the mid-1800s.<ref>{{cite book   |last = Gordon |first = Thomas Francis |title = A Gazetteer of the State of New Jersey: Comprehending a General View of Its Physical and Moral Condition, Together with a Topographical and Statistical Account of Its Counties, Towns, Villages, Canals, Rail Roads, &c., Accompanied by a Map |year = 1834 |publisher = Daniel Fenton |isbn = 978-0-7222-0244-9 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=8VoVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA92}}</ref> In 1850, after [[Stephen Foster]] published his ballad, ''[[Camptown Races]]'', residents were concerned that the activities described in the song would be associated with their community. The town was renamed, ''Irvingtown'', in honor of [[Washington Irving]].<ref name=History /><ref>[[Henry Gannett|Gannett, Henry]]. [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n155 <!-- pg=166 --> ''The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States''], p. 166. [[United States Government Printing Office]], 1905. Accessed December 23, 2014.</ref><ref>Hutchinson, Viola L. [http://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/356/nj_place_names_origin.pdf#page=17 ''The Origin of New Jersey Place Names''], New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed September 2, 2015.</ref>

Irvington was incorporated as an independent village on March 27, 1874, from portions of Clinton Township.<ref name=History>Siegel, Alan A. [https://irvingtonnj.gov/history-of-irvington/ History of Irvington], Township of Irvington. Accessed December 10, 2024. "On March 27, 1874, the state approved legislation that created 'a body politic' known as the Village of Irvington. Until then only a section of Clinton Township, Irvington was now an independent municipality with its own mayor, village trustees, police department (1893) and fire department (1894).... Clinton Township, which included what is now Irvington, Maplewood and parts of Newark and South Orange, was created in 1834. What remained of the old township was absorbed into Newark in 1902."</ref> What remained of Clinton Township was absorbed into Newark on March 5, 1902.<ref name=Story>Snyder, John P. [https://nj.gov/dep/njgs/enviroed/oldpubs/bulletin67.pdf ''The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606–1968''], Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 126 re Clinton Township, p. 128 re Irvington. Accessed May 29, 2024.</ref> On March 2, 1898, Irvington was incorporated as a [[Town (New Jersey)|Town]], replacing Irvington Village.<ref name=Story /> In 1982, the town was one of four Essex County municipalities to pass a referendum to become a township, joining 11 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>

From 1887 to 1965, Irvington was home to Olympic Park, a {{convert|40|acres|adj=on}} [[amusement park]] that straddled the border of Irvington and [[Maplewood, New Jersey|Maplewood]], with the main entrance on Chancellor Avenue and a side entrance on 40th Street. After the park closed, the merry-go-round was sold and transported to Disney World, in Orlando, FL. The book, ''Smile: A Picture History of Olympic Park, 1887–1965'' written by Alan A. Siegel was published in 1983 by Rutgers University Press.<ref>Di Ionno, Mark. [https://www.nj.com/njv_mark_diionno/2012/08/di_ionno_an_irvington_theme_pa.html "Di Ionno: An Irvington theme park's magic etched in stone"], NJ Advance Media for [[NJ.com]], August 28, 2012, updated March 30, 2019. Accessed August 16, 2020. "'Smile' was the theme at Olympic Park, a 40-acre amusement wonderland on the Irvington-Maplewood border, and from 1887 to 1965, it put smiles on millions of faces.... Renamed Olympic Park after the 1904 Games in St. Louis (the world was Olympic-crazy back then, too), it quickly grew into New Jersey’s largest amusement park. Called 'Newark’s Coney Island,' the landlocked park compensated for its lack of ocean with the nation’s largest fresh-water swimming pool."</ref>

The [[1967 Newark riots]] hastened an exodus of families from that city, many of them moving a few short blocks into neighboring Irvington. Until 1965, Irvington was almost exclusively white. By 1980, the town was nearly 40% black; by 1990 it was 70%.<ref>Pasculli, Diana. [https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b996f553917ee5e584ba742/t/5c1d6b1e40ec9abd16a6c004/1545431838455/Equity+Analysis_Pasculli.pdf ''The Divergent Paths of Irvington and Maplewood, New Jersey''], Spring 2012. Accessed June 27, 2022. "In the 1970s, almost all Irvington residents were white. However, the mass exodus following the Newark riots of 1967 drastically and quickly changed the racial make-up of Irvington. By 1980, Irvington was 40% black and 70% black by 1990."</ref>

On July 1, 1980, Fred Bost, was sworn in as East Ward Councilman, making him the first black person to serve on the Town Council. At age 24, Michael G. Steele became the first black elected to public office in Irvington when he won a seat on the school board on March 25, 1980, then became the township's first black mayor ten years later, when he was elected in 1990 and served for four years, followed by [[Sarah Brockington Bost]] in 1994. In 1994 Steele returned to the Board of Education to pursue his career as the district's certified School Business Administrator, serving over 22 years. The current mayor is Tony Vauss.<ref name=History />