Editing River Vale, New Jersey (section)

==History==
The earliest settlers of what would become River Vale were the [[Lenape]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]].

Before 1841, present-day River Vale was part of [[Harrington Township, New Jersey|Harrington Township]]. It used to be known as the "Over Kill Neighborhood" or just "Over Kill"—it being over the [[kill (body of water)|kill]] ([[Hackensack River]]) from [[Old Tappan, New Jersey|Tappan]]. Its southern part, known as [[Eastwood, New Jersey|Eastwood]] (named in contrast to [[Westwood, New Jersey|Westwood]]), became an independent borough in 1894, but was dissolved and re-absorbed into [[Washington Township, Bergen County, New Jersey|Washington Township]] in 1896.<ref name=Story/>

River Vale was incorporated as a township in 1906, formed from portions of both [[Hillsdale, New Jersey|Hillsdale]] and Washington Township. On July 15, 1929, part of River Vale was ceded to [[Park Ridge, New Jersey|Park Ridge]]. On May 20, 1959, territory was acquired from [[Montvale, New Jersey|Montvale]].<ref name=Story/>

In 1967, a mass grave site was discovered in River Vale from an event in 1778 during the [[American Revolutionary War]], the [[Baylor Massacre]]. This became widely known due to a February 1968 report to the Bergen County [[Board of County Commissioners (New Jersey)|Board of Chosen Freeholders]], "1778 – The Massacre of Baylor's Dragoons." The burial site was made into a county park that was dedicated on October 15, 1972.<ref>[http://www.rivervalenj.org/233/Baylor-Massacre Baylor Massacre], Township of River Vale. Accessed October 7, 2019.</ref>

On July 28, 1994, the residents of River Vale voted to [[recall election|recall]] Mayor Walter Jones, Councilwoman Patricia Geier and Councilman Bernard Salmon, following a battle between residents and the mayor and some council members over the mayor's plan to merge River Vale's [[9-1-1]] center to a regional dispatch center located in [[Park Ridge, New Jersey|Park Ridge]].<ref>James, Michael S. [https://web.archive.org/web/20140610085745/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-22545180.html "River Vale Sets Recall Election"], ''[[The Record (North Jersey)|The Record]]'', May 14, 1994. Accessed December 16, 2013. "The recall election for Mayor Walter V. Jones and two Township Council members will be held on July 26, Borough Clerk Corinne Verhille announced. Voters will be asked whether they want to remove Jones, Patricia Geier, and Bernard T. Salmon from office."</ref><ref>James, Michael S. [https://web.archive.org/web/20121103094349/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-22552204.html "New Mayor Names Allies To River Vale Posts"], ''[[The Record (North Jersey)|The Record]]'', July 30, 1994, Accessed December 16, 2013.</ref>

A River Vale resident, Henry Hoffman, directed the scrapping of {{USS|Enterprise|CV-6|6}} in [[Kearny, New Jersey|Kearny]] from 1958 to 1960. Following Hoffman's death in 1965, the stern plate of the ''Enterprise'' was placed on a [[Little League]] [[baseball field]] as a memorial. The field was later named Hoffman Field. On October 2, 2000, the stern plate was moved to the township's Veterans' Memorial Park.<ref name=Enterprise>Shepherd, Joel. [http://www.cv6.org/remember/rivervale.htm Stern Plate Dedication Ceremony], USS ''Enterprise'' CV-6, December 9, 2000. Accessed December 16, 2013. "On December 9, 2000 – a clear, crisp winter day – eleven veterans of Enterprise CV-6 joined Raymond Z. Darakjian, mayor of New Jersey's River Vale Township, Rear Admiral Richard Naughton, who commanded Enterprise CVN-65 in 1993, and other dignitaries to dedicate the stern plate of Enterprise CV-6, in its new resting place in River Vale's Veterans' Memorial Park."</ref>

In March 2004, the township became the first municipality in the state to be placed on probation by the Municipal Excess Liability Joint Insurance Fund, a fund that covers legal expenses of member municipalities and government agencies. The issue was due to the number and scope of legal cases against the township, its employees and its governance, plus what David Grub, chief executive of the fund, called "a general environment of personal attack". The fund urged the township to update employment practices and better train managers to avoid liabilities. As a result of these issues, ''[[The New York Times]]'' called the township "small but litigious".<ref>James, George. [https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/27/nyregion/communities-political-liability.html "Communities; Political Liability"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', June 27, 2004. Accessed October 7, 2019. "Call it small but litigious.... But since March, River Vale has held the dubious distinction of being the first municipality in the state ever to be placed on probation by the Municipal Excess Liability Joint Insurance Fund, a self-insured governmental agency that covers legal expenses of lawsuits incurred by its members."</ref>