English Neighborhood

The English Neighborhood was the colonial-era name for the towns in eastern Bergen County, New Jersey between the Hudson River and the Hackensack River, particularly around its main tributary, Overpeck Creek. The region had been part of the Dutch New Netherland colony of Bergen, whose main town was located at Bergen Square in today's Jersey City (''behind the ridge'') and Vriessendael had been compromised in conflicts with the precolonial population, bands of the Lenape known by their exonyms, the Hackensack and the Tappan.

History

After the surrender of Fort Amsterdam at the tip of Manhattan and annexation of the entire Dutch province by the British in 1664, northeastern New Jersey became part of the proprietary colony of East Jersey. In order to encourage settlement the land was quickly divided and flurry of land titles were given or confirmed by the new government. While many were awarded to the existing New Netherlander population, many were given to migrating English and Huguenot settlers, some who may have come from Europe, many who made their way from New England, Long Island, or the West Indies. On June 10, 1669, Samuel Edsall, received a patent ''"for land betw. Hudson R. and Overpeck's"'', which encompassed much of the area. By 1675 it was being called the English Neighborhood. Born in Reading, England about 1630, Edsall had come to New Amsterdam at the age of eighteen, where he was listed among the new arrivals as "a bever maker," or hatter. His industry, and possibly his marriage with Jannetje Wessels, qualified him as a small burgher and property owner. He took up residence on Bergen Neck, learned the Lenape language, and acted as interpreter for Robert Treat's purchase of the Newark Tract. After the British takeover he was able to purchase of a tract of nearly two thousand acres, with a frontage of almost two and a half miles on the Hudson, extending northward
from Bulls Ferry and stretching back to Overpeck Creek and the Hackensack River, siting own farm near what is now Palisades Park. From time to time he sold or leased other parts of the estate.

In 1683, administrative districts in the form of counties were established, with Bergen County in the south to the newly created and ambiguous state line with New York. In 1693, the county was divided into two townships, separated at the current Hudson-Bergen line, with Hackensack Township to the north and Bergen Township to the south. In 1710, the nearby village of Hackensack became the county seat.

Prior to the American Revolutionary War, a liberty pole was erected at a major crossroads, but the English Neighborhood was soon occupied by the British Army after George Washington's retreat from Fort Lee, which had crossed the area. The Continental Army maintained a presence in the area to observe the movement of the British in New York. Its position between the two armies led to many foraging parties and skirmishes. sometimes called the Forage War. Major John André, executed for his collusion with Benedict Arnold, mentions the English Neighborhood in his poem ''The Cow Chase'', in which he muses on the foiling of Anthony Wayne's attempt to secure cows from Bergen.

On March 22, 1871, Hackensack Township was subdivided into three new Townships, each stretching from the Hudson River on the east to the Hackensack River in the west. The southernmost portion, the English Neighborhood, became Ridgefield Township. In 1878, the New Jersey Legislature provided for the formation of a borough within a township not exceeding four square miles. The passage of a revised Borough Act resulted in a series of subdivisions creating new boroughs. Municipalities created from Ridgefield Township (or portions thereof) were Bogota (1894), Leonia (1894; renamed "Edgewater" in 1899), Fairview (1894), Teaneck (part) (1895), Cliffside Park