Hanover Township, New Jersey

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Hanover Township, Morris County, New Jersey, USA
Hanover Township, Morris County, New Jersey, USA

Hanover Township is a Township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the township population was 12,898. The township is comprised of the unincorporated communities of Whippany and Cedar Knolls.

Located just north of the historic town of Morristown and adjacent to the regional Morristown Municipal Airport, Hanover Township boasts many superb public attractions including the Whippany Railway Museum, the Frelinghuysen Arboretum, and the Morris County Library. Patriot's Path, a 26-mile-long wilderness walkway and bike trail, also passes through the Township along the Whippany River.

Hanover Township is well known in the region for having low property taxes. This is a result of many years of responsible Township management and a good mix of tax ratables.

Contents

[edit] Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 27.7 km² (10.7 mi²). 27.6 km² (10.7 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it (0.28%) is water.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census2 of 2000, there were 12,898 people, 4,745 households, and 3,620 families residing in the township. The population density was 467.2/km² (1,209.6/mi²). There were 4,818 housing units at an average density of 174.5/km² (451.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the township was 88.79% White, 1.09% African American, 0.05% Native American, 8.71% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.59% from other races, and 0.77% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.50% of the population.

There were 4,745 households out of which 32.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.8% were married couples living together, 8.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.7% were non-families. 19.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.71 and the average family size was 3.13.

In the township the population was spread out with 22.8% under the age of 18, 5.6% from 18 to 24, 30.1% from 25 to 44, 26.6% from 45 to 64, and 14.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 94.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.1 males.

The median income for a household in the township was $84,115, and the median income for a family was $93,937. Males had a median income of $59,278 versus $40,799 for females. The per capita income for the township was $37,661. About 0.7% of families and 1.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.0% of those under age 18 and 1.4% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] History

Hanover Township marks the spot of the first settlement in all of Northwest New Jersey. New Englanders established a settlement along the Whippany River in 1685 near the current location of the old Whippany Cemetery on Route 10.

Once the Province of West Jersey purchased the land from the local Lenape Native Americans, the original County of Morris was created and comprised all of what is now Morris, Sussex, and Warren Counties. It was itself divided into Townships. One of its Townships was 'Whippenny' which itself comprised all of what is now Morris County.

The name Hanover came from the House of Hanover in Germany. This namesake was given to the Township of Hanover on December 7, 1720 as a sign of respect to King George I of the House of Hanover, the British king who ruled over the American colonies in the eighteenth century. Since the creation of Hanover Township in 1720, its size has been considerably decreased as the population of the area has increased. Originally encompassing all of Morris County and parts of Sussex and Warren County, Hanover Township became too unwieldy for a single local government to maintain. The members of the government felt that Hanover Township needed to break apart into smaller towns that could provide more responsive local control, even if it meant increased taxes to support new facilities for each.

During the American Revolutionary War, George Washington and his troops often camped in, and marched through, Hanover Township.

The name Whippany is a bastardization of the Native American word 'Whippanong' which means "where the willow trees grow".[1]

The old villages of Monroe and Malapardis were consumed by development and what remains are two communities - Whippany and Cedar Knolls - which are separated by Interstate 287.

Until the post-World War II suburbanization of New Jersey, Hanover Township was a sparsely-populated industrial town known for its iron works and paper mills. This industry was driven by the ever-present power of the Whippany River. But over the second-half of the twentieth century, the Township became thoroughly suburban and a very popular place to live and do business.

Lucent Technologies has a large facility in Whippany. From the AT&T milestones in TV History: "1927: AT&T provides the first demonstration of long distance television transmission in the United States, with transmission via wire from Washington, D.C., to New York, and via radio from Whippany, N.J., to New York."

[edit] Government

[edit] Township Administration

Hanover Township employs the traditional Township form government. The Township has a five member Township Committee whose terms of office begin on January 1st following the preceding general election. Each member holds office for a term of three years. Since the Township is not divided into wards, the five members of the governing body serve at large, and represent all of the people of the Township and not any one particular section or area. A Mayor and Deputy Mayor are selected at the annual reorganization meeting by the committeemen from among the members of the Township Committee.

Members of the Hanover Township Committee are Mayor Ronald F. Francioli, Deputy Mayor John R. Tort, Jr., Len Fariello, Judy Iradi and Howard Olsen.[2]

Politics in Hanover Township are decidedly Republican. No Democrat has made a serious bid for Committee since the 1950's.

Township Hall, which was renovated and enlarged in 2003, is located at the corner of Jefferson Road and Route 10. It contains all Township offices, the Township Municipal Court, the Police Department, and the Whippanong Public Library.

The 2006 Township budget was $20.045 million. The Township's NJ Treasury/Taxation code is 1412.

[edit] Township services

The Township has its own Police Department consisting of about 30 officers in addition to a Public Works Department which handles the Township's sanitation and recycling needs. The Cedar Knolls First Aid Squad provides emergency medical coverage for the entire Township. Morristown Memorial Hospital, a level-2 regional trauma center, is about three miles away.

There are two volunteer fire districts in the Township:

The Hanover Sewerage Authority provides sewerage service for the Township. It has a treatment plant located on Troy Road.

Hanover Township contains many municipal parks and recreational facilities including:

  • Bee Meadow Park and Pool
  • Black Brook Park
  • Central Park
  • Malapardis Park
  • Monroe Center and Park
  • Township Community Center

[edit] Federal, state and county representation

Hanover Township is in the Eleventh Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 26th Legislative District.[3]

New Jersey's Eleventh Congressional District, covering western portions of Essex County, all of Morris County, and sections of Passaic County, Somerset County and Sussex County, is represented by Rodney Frelinghuysen (R, Harding Township). New Jersey is represented in the Senate by Frank Lautenberg (D, Cliffside Park) and Robert Menendez (D, Hoboken).

The 26th legislative district of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by Robert Martin (R, Morris Plains) and in the Assembly by Alex DeCroce (R, Morris Plains) and Joseph Pennacchio (R, Morris Plains). The Governor of New Jersey is Jon Corzine (D, Hoboken).

Morris County is governed by a seven-member Board of Chosen Freeholders. Morris County's Freeholders are: Margaret Nordstrom (Freeholder Director), John Inglesino (Freeholder Deputy Director), Douglas R. Cabana, Frank J. Druetzler, Cecilia G. Laureys John J. Murphy and Jack Schrier.

[edit] Education

[edit] Public Elementary

For grades K through 8, students attend the Hanover Township Public Schools. There are three public elementary schools in the Township teaching grades K-5 (Bee Meadow, Salem Drive and Mountview Road). Memorial Junior School teaches grades 6-8.

[edit] Public Secondary

Students in grades 9 - 12 attend the Hanover Park Regional High School District, attending Whippany Park High School in the Whippany section of Hanover Township. Whippany Park High School, whose doors opened in 1967, had an enrollment of 648 students, with 168 in the senior class, as of 2005.

The district also serves students from the neighboring communities of East Hanover Township and Florham Park, who attend Hanover Park High School in East Hanover.

[edit] Parochial and Private

Our Lady of Mercy School is a Catholic elementary school teaching grades K-5. There are also two private special education schools - The Allegro School and The Calais School.

[edit] Transportation

Interstate 287, Route 10 and Route 24 pass through the Township. Interstate 80, U.S. Route 46 and U.S. Route 202 are nearby.

The Morristown and Erie Railway, a small freight line, traverses the township.

[edit] Local Media

Radio stations WMTR and WDHA have studios and offices located in the Cedar Knolls section of the township.

[edit] What's in a name?

There is some confusion over the place names in Hanover Township and this is understandable given the sometimes-arcane usage of place names in New Jersey.

Whippany and Cedar Knolls are place names with no governmental meaning. They have unique ZIP codes, post offices, and Fire Departments but are otherwise simply neighborhood names.

Next to Hanover Township is East Hanover Township which has a neighborhood called 'Hanover'. Also, there is a New Hanover Township and a North Hanover Township in Burlington County, and several other Hanover Townships in Pennsylvania and Michigan. Furthermore, street signs and maps often do not identify Hanover Township but instead indicate one of the place names.

Residents of Whippany and Cedar Knolls have become accustomed to indicating that they live in either Whippany or Cedar Knolls and not in Hanover Township.

To compound the issue, the United States Postal Service insists on arbitrarily assigning ZIP Code boundaries that do not necessarily coincide with municipal boundaries resulting in Township mailing addresses which use place names outside of the Township. Whippany's ZIP code is 07981 and Cedar Knolls' is 07927.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Fariello, L., "A Place Called Whippany" (2nd ed.) L.A. Sunchild Publishing (2003).
  2. ^ Governing Body of the Township of Hanover, accessed June 5, 2006
  3. ^ League of Women Voters: 2006 New Jersey Citizen's Guide to Government, p. 58, accessed August 30, 2006

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Municipalities of Morris County, New Jersey
(County Seat: Morristown)
Boroughs

Butler | Chatham | Chester | Florham Park | Kinnelon | Lincoln Park | Madison | Mendham | Morris Plains | Mount Arlington | Mountain Lakes | Netcong | Rockaway | Riverdale | Victory Gardens | Wharton
Towns Boonton | Dover | Morristown
Townships Boonton | Chatham | Chester | Denville | East Hanover | Hanover | Harding | Jefferson | Long Hill | Mendham | Mine Hill | Montville | Mount Olive | Morris | Parsippany-Troy Hills | Pequannock | Randolph | Rockaway | Roxbury | Washington
CDPs and other Communities Budd Lake | Cedar Knolls | Cedar Lake | Convent Station | Flanders | Green Village | Lake Swannanoa | Landing | Lake Telemark | Long Valley | New Vernon | Port Morris | Stirling | Succasunna-Kenvil | Towaco | Whippany | White Meadow Lake
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