Montclair, NJ

Montclair, founded in 1868, is a township in Essex County in northeastern New Jersey. Montclair is located on the First Mountain, the southernmost of the Watchung Mountains. Most of the township is on the east side of this ridge. Thus, Montclair is known for panoramic views of the surrounding area and the skyline of New York City, about 12 miles to the east.

ECONOMY AND INDUSTRIES

Montclair functions as a bedroom community for the high population of residents who work in New York City. Just 21 percent of Montclair's population both live and work in the township. According to reports, several New York media figures make their residence in Montclair.

Education and finance are major fields of employment in Montclair, accounting for a higher percentage of jobs locally than the state average. Montclair State University is the largest employer in the city.

NEIGHBORHOODS AND DISTRICTS

Montclair is noted for its historic architecture. It is home to six historic districts listed on the Register of Historic Places of both the state and country as a whole, with 92 individually listed landmarks. Works by significant architects include designs by Van Vleck and Goldsmith, Henry Hudson Holly, Charles A. Platt, Alexander Jackson Davis, and Frances Nelson, among others.

The most famous of Montclair's historic districts is the Pine Street Historic District, which is renowned as an intact working class neighborhood, with architecture ranging from vernacular style frame residences built in the 1880s to multi-story masonry buildings constructed during the early 20th century to the late 1930s with Italianate, Renaissance Revival, and Classical Revival influences. The district was originally established as an Italian-American community.

Montclair's neighborhoods are also notable for their ethnic diversity, a factor that attracts many to live there.

Montclair has a total area of just over six square miles, with some 15,600 houses, of which 15,000 are occupied. Of these, owners occupy about 8,600 and renters occupy 6,500.

EDUCATION

Montclair State University is the state's second-largest school, with roughly 17,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The school was established in 1908 and functioned as a teachers' college until the mid-1960s. It became a university in the mid-1980s, and is now the fastest-growing school in New Jersey. Yogi Berra, Bruce Willis and Allen Ginsburg all attended Montclair State University.

Montclair High School is the township's only public high school, with an enrollment of nearly 2,000. Montclair is home to Immaculate Conception, a private high school. Montclair also has one public middle school and six elementary schools.

GETTING AROUND

Montclair's identity has long been tied to rail, which first reached the area in the mid-1800s. Today, roughly a quarter of Montclair residents take public transportation, which is provided by New Jersey Transit buses and rail lines.

The Montclair-Boonton line of New Jersey Transit serves six stations in Montclair, some of which date back to the 1870s. One former rail station, the Lackawanna terminal, was closed in 1981 and converted to a shopping mall, with a new station opening two blocks east. The Montclair-Boonton Line is the only major train line serving New York City to not run on weekends.

Garden State Parkway and Interstate 280 are the nearest major highways. Also, State Highway 23 runs just west of First Mountain.

FOR VISITORS

• Washington's Headquarters: The boulder at the corner of Claremont Avenue and Valley Road marks the site of 'Washington's Headquarters,' one of Montclair's better-known landmarks. Local topography played a key part in strategy during the Revolutionary War, as the First Mountain provided lookouts for tracking the movements of the British to the east.
• Montclair Art Museum: Considering its small size, Montclair is home to a surprising number of theaters and art galleries, most notably the Montclair Art Museum, which specializes in contemporary American and Native American art.
• Bloomfield Avenue: Most of the other smaller art galleries in the township can be found in the Bloomfield Avenue section of downtown Montclair. This area also boasts an upscale shopping and dining district, and two classic theaters: the Clairidge Cinema, an art-house theater, and the Wellmont Theater, which presents both movies and live events.
• The Crane House: Located at 110 Orange Avenue, this house was built in 1796 by an ancestor of the city's founders. The house remained in the family until 1920, when it was purchased by the YWCA. After narrowly escaping demolition in the mid-1960s, the house was moved to its current location and is now a museum displaying artifacts from its time.

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

Yogi Berra Stadium at Montclair State University is the home of the New Jersey Jackals, a minor league baseball team playing in the independent Can-Am League. Oddly, the stadium itself, while on the school's campus, is technically located in Little Falls, New Jersey. Berra, the New York Yankees legend, attends roughly two Jackals games per year. The Jackals have won four Can-Am League titles in their 11-year existence.

LOCAL MEDIA

• Newspapers: Montclair has a local newspaper, the Montclair Times.
• Radio stations: WMSC 90.3 is a freeform radio station operating out of the campus of Montclair State University.
• Television: The township has a municipal public service television channel, Channel 34, where civic events are broadcast.