Editing Little Ferry, New Jersey (section)

==History==
Little Ferry was formed by an act of the [[New Jersey Legislature]] on September 18, 1894, from portions of [[Lodi Township, New Jersey|Lodi Township]] and [[New Barbadoes Township, New Jersey|New Barbadoes Township]], based on the results of a referendum held two days earlier.<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. 80. Accessed May 29, 2024.</ref><ref>''History of Bergen County, New Jersey, 1630-1923'', p. 375. Only shows Lodi Township as parent municipality.</ref> The borough was formed during the "[[Boroughitis]]" phenomenon then sweeping through Bergen County, in which 26 boroughs were formed in the county in 1894 alone.<ref>Harvey, Cornelius Burnham. [https://books.google.com/books?id=EdoMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA11 ''Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey''], p. 11, New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900. Accessed September 3, 2013. "For a period of sixteen years following the passage of this act few boroughs were organized in the State, only three of them being in Bergen County.... As it was twenty-six boroughs were created in the county from January 23, 1894, to December 18, of the same year."</ref>

During the colonial era, the borough was the site of an important ferry crossing between the region's towns at [[Bergen, New Netherland|Bergen]] and [[Hackensack, New Jersey|Hackensack]], which was operated by rope on the site starting in 1659, continuing until 1826 when it was replaced by a bridge on the [[Bergen Turnpike]].<ref>Snow, Violet. [http://www.northjersey.com/realestate/130929328_Town__tries_to_improve_living__for_residents.html "Little Ferry 'tries to improve living' for residents"], ''[[The Record (North Jersey)|The Record]]'', October 2, 2011. Accessed June 7, 2012. "History is in evidence in the borough, which is named after a rope-towed ferry that provided transportation across the Hackensack River, the town's eastern border, between 1659 and 1826."</ref><ref>Hutchinson, Viola L. [http://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/356/nj_place_names_origin.pdf#page=18 ''The Origin of New Jersey Place Names''], New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed September 3, 2015.</ref><ref>[[Henry Gannett|Gannett, Henry]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=9V1IAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA188 ''The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States''], p. 188. [[United States Government Printing Office]], 1905. Accessed September 3, 2015.</ref>

[[Gethsemane Cemetery]], an African burial ground, was opened in 1860 and was used for interments until 1924.<ref>Hanley, Robert. [https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/02/nyregion/in-brief-heritage-cemetery-dedicated.html "In Brief: Heritage; Cemetery Dedicated"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', November 2, 2003. Accessed June 7, 2012. "In the late 1970s, the N.A.A.C.P. began a campaign to restore a burial ground in Little Ferry known as Gethsemane Cemetery and to recognize its historical significance. Last week the effort paid off.From 1860, when slavery was still legal in New Jersey, until 1924, at least 381 black residents of Hackensack were buried in the one-acre cemetery."</ref> The site was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1994.<ref>[https://www.nj.gov/dep/hpo/1identify/nrsr_lists/BERGEN.pdf New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places: Bergen County], [[New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection]] Historic Preservation Office, updated March 30, 2023. Accessed April 30, 2023.</ref>
[[File:361 Main Street following the Fox vault fire.jpg|thumb|left|361 Main Street following the Fox vault fire]]

In the earlier 20th nearby [[Fort Lee, New Jersey|Fort Lee]] on the [[Hudson Palisades]] was home to many [[film studio]]s of [[America's first motion picture industry]].<ref>{{Citation | last = Koszarski | first = Richard | title = Fort Lee: The Film Town | place = Rome, Italy |publisher=John Libbey Publishing |year=2004 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5w0r8YKan04C&q=Fort+Lee:+the+film+town+Door+Richard+Koszarski | isbn= 0-86196-653-8 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title = Studios and Films | publisher = Fort Lee Film Commission   | url = http://www.fortleefilm.org/studios.html | access-date = May 30, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Fort Lee Film Commission |title=Fort Lee Birthplace of the Motion Picture Industry | publisher = Arcadia Publishing | year = 2006 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ViR3b72xkK0C&q=Fort+Lee+Birthplace+of+the+Motion+Picture+Industry | isbn = 0-7385-4501-5 }}</ref> On [[1937 Fox vault fire|July 9, 1937, a major fire]] broke out in a [[20th Century-Fox]] film storage facility in Little Ferry. Flammable [[Nitrocellulose#Film|nitrate film]] had previously contributed to several fires in film industry laboratories, studios and vaults, although the precise causes were often unknown; in the Little Ferry fire, temperatures of {{convert|100|F}} and insufficient venting were the proximate causes.<ref>Verzoni, Angelo. [https://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Publications-and-media/NFPA-Journal/2017/July-August-2017/News-and-Analysis/Looking-Back "Film in Flames; The Fox Film Corporation vault fire of 1937, Little Ferry, New Jersey"], ''[[National Fire Protection Association|NFPA Journal]]'', July / August 2017. Accessed December 16, 2020. "Nitrate film, also known as celluloid film, was the most popular film from the advent of cinema through the mid-20th century. But there was a problem with it: Nitrate film was so unstable that, when exposed to high temperatures or improperly stored, it could spontaneously combust. That’s what happened on July 9, 1937, in a film storage facility owned by the Fox Film Corporation in Little Ferry, New Jersey. In the midst of a heat wave that drove daytime temperatures above 100 degrees F, a sudden ignition of nitrate film stored in inadequately vented vaults triggered a violent blast that claimed the life of a teenage boy and destroyed all of the film stored there."</ref>

[[Rosie's Diner]] (formerly the Farmland Diner) was used in the 1970s for the filming of [[Bounty (brand)|Bounty paper towel]] commercials featuring [[Nancy Walker]] as Rosie the Waitress.<ref>King, Wayne. [https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/12/nyregion/our-towns-it-s-the-last-call-at-rosie-s-diner-and-on-the-road.html "Our Towns; It's the Last Call At Rosie's Diner, And on the Road"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', January 12, 1990. Accessed June 7, 2012. "Rosie's Farmland Diner on Route 46 in Little Ferry may be the best-known diner in America, but it is still a real diner.... It was called the Silver Dollar then, but Ralph Carrado changed it to Rosie's around 1970, after it became famous. That was because of the Bounty paper-towel commercials on television. Nancy Walker played Rosie, who mopped up all sorts of diner spills with paper towels she called ''the quicker picker-upper.'' After two decades, she is still doing it."</ref>

''[[New Jersey Monthly]]'' magazine ranked Little Ferry 35th in its 2008 rankings of the "Best Places To Live" in New Jersey.<ref>[http://njmonthly.com/articles/best_of/placestolive/best-places-to-live---the-complete-top-towns-list-.html "Best Places To Live - The Complete Top Towns List 1-100"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080228122746/http://njmonthly.com/articles/best_of/placestolive/best-places-to-live---the-complete-top-towns-list-.html |date=2008-02-28 }}, ''[[New Jersey Monthly]]'', February 21, 2008. Accessed February 24, 2008.</ref>