West Orange
Newcomers to the area often lump all the Oranges together, but there are in fact four separate and very different communities. Orange and East Orange are urban, lower income communities.West Orange and South Orange are distinctly suburban and each has many large, expensive homes. Originally part of the city of Newark, the territory now encompassing all of The Oranges was detached to form Orange Township in 1806.West Orange was formed as a separate township in 1896. With a population of about 45,000, West Orange encompasses more than 12 square miles – making it the largest community in Essex County by land size. More than 20% of the town is open space including two large county parks: South Mountain Reservation, which houses the Turtle Back Zoo and the Richard Cody Ice Arena, and Eagle Rock Reservation, the site of Essex County’s 9/11 Memorial and stunning views of the Manhattan skyline.
West Orange’s most famous citizen, Thomas Edison, worked and lived there until his death in 1931. The laboratories where he invented the phonograph and perfected the motion picture camera now comprise the Edison Historical Site Museum in the town’s historic Main Street area. Glenmont, his stately 23 room Queen Anne-style mansion which is open to the public is located in Llewellyn Park, one of the nation’s first planned residential communities. The park is a 420 acre gated reserve with 160 homes with price tags well into the millions.
A few years ago, West Orange embarked on an aggressive development plan for the town that has seen the addition of two new upscale hotels, a large branch of Whole Foods market, the Oscar Schindler Performing Arts Center (OSPAC) an outdoor stage featuring an annual Jazz Festival, a new jazz club and a recent $250 million re-development for a section of downtown Main Street that will include both retail and residential.
New York City commuters can take advantage of West Oranges’s jitney shuttle bus service to NJ Transit train stations in Orange and South Orange. Bus service is also available to Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan and to downtown Newark.
Township website including jitney schedules: www.westorange.org
Public Schools: www.westorange.k12.nj.us
Downtown: www.downtownwestorange.org
Edison Museum: www.nps.gov/edis/
West Orange Information http://www.city-data.com/city/West-Orange-New-Jersey.html
