This article was excerpted from Images of America: Allendale.
Up until the mid-1800s, New Jersey was governed by counties and, within each county, by one or more townships. The township was the local government. Townships typically had an annual meeting each February where residents would debate and decide on local issues. In 1834, New Jersey has 125 townships, which typically had low taxes and little government. At that time, most property was farmland. Two active rail lines bypassed areas of Bergen County that would later become Allendale. A connection to these existing rail lines would help farmers quickly transport their apple, peach, and renowned strawberry harvests to urban markets, which included Paterson and Newark. In 1844–1845, local officials accepted a proposal from Col. Joseph Warner Allen, a respected surveyor from South Jersey, to plot a connection to these existing rail lines. To encourage a train stop in the area, the Mallinson and Van Houten families, nearby landowners, provided the necessary land for the depot and rail line. Colonel Allen spent several years surveying and overseeing the development of the Paterson & Ramapo Railroad through this area. With his efforts, service joining New York, Paterson, and Ramapo to the Allendale area was completed and opened to traffic on Thursday, October 18, 1848. The rail project included a depot that had no formal name, but people started calling it and its hometown Allendale in tribute to the man who guided its development. The arrival of farming families, the creation of Franklin Turnpike in 1806, and the new Allendale train depot in 1848 sparked tremendous change in the area. Better transportation brought daytrippers, commuters, and new markets for local growers. New homeowners, often coming from New York City, wanted schools, libraries, and houses of worship. Farmers wanted low taxes. These interests competed for political power. Townships constantly changed their borders to best represent their landowners. To provide further local control, school districts were established within townships around nearby schools, post offices, and train depots. Given the lack of planning, often several school districts would be established within a single township. With its many train stops, Bergen County had multiple school districts. Orvil Township, established in 1886, included five school districts, Chestnut Ridge (No. 24, 62 scholars), Saddle River Valley (No. 25, 90 scholars), Hohokus (No. 54, 106 scholars), Allendale (No. 55, 139 scholars), and Upper Saddle River (No. 59, 68 scholars). Wealthy districts would compete with poorer districts for resources. New townships, changing borders, and new school districts created governing havoc. School districts had little ability to bring tax dollars to their immediate area. In 1887, Allendale (i.e., School District No. 55) created the Village Improvement Association with A.L. Zabriskie as its president. This organization, known as the VIA, helped bring paved roads and street lighting to Allendale. To gain greater autonomy, a school district could break away from its township by becoming a borough form of government. However, the process required asking the state legislature to pass an act to establish a new borough. As this process was arduous and political, until 1875 only 17 boroughs had been created. As commuters gained political influence, they demanded a path to becoming a borough that did not require an act of the state legislature. And so, on April 5, 1878, the legislature passed the Borough Act, “An Act for the formation of Borough Governments,” allowing landowners in an area less than four square miles and with fewer than 1,000 people to seek a referendum on secession from the township to become a borough. This referendum could take place with a petition of the owners of 10 percent of the land, as measured by value, in the area in question and within 10 days’ notice of the vote. If approved, the borough would be governed by an elected mayor (serving a one-year term) and a six-member council (elected to staggered three-year terms). In late 1893, given an economic depression and a national political upheaval, Republicans, backed by commuters, took control of the state legislature. A new Borough Act of May 9, 1894, was soon approved that supplemented the Borough Act of 1878. This new act added that a new borough that included portions of at least two townships could also have its own representative on the County Board of Freeholders. With this change, becoming a borough became more enticing. However, it was the School Act of 1894 that created the mad dash to become a borough, forever known as “Boroughitis.” This School Act wiped out the former subsidiary school districts and made each township a single school district. Orvil Township would shrink from five school districts to only one. Taxpayers were obliged to pay, pro rata, existing debts of the old districts in addition to all future debts of the township for school purposes. Allendale’s School District No. 55 would suffer financially by the consolidation. Exempted from this provision were boroughs, towns, villages, and cities. And so, if a community became a borough, its school district would be independent, self-governing, and free of all previous township debts and gain a seat on the county board. Fearing everyone else would flee to become their own independent borough, thereby leaving them holding the bag, Allendale area residents began the petition process to become a borough. On September 17, 1894, as required, with property owners from three townships representing at least 10 percent of the land value in the new borough and covering less than four square miles (actually 3 5/8), the following property owners signed the petition (with their appraised land value): Orvil Township—R.V. Ackerman ($1,500), O.H.P. Archer ($11,000), J.A. Mallinson ($2,600), William H. Mallinson ($2,500), and Louise Doty ($2,500); Franklin Township—Louis Rossner ($2,000); Hohokus Township—R.V. Ackerman ($2,500), Peter D. Rapelje ($2,000), Garret G. Smith ($500), and John A. and William H. Mallinson ($700). On November 8, 1894, in the basement of Archer Memorial Church on Franklin Turnpike, qualified residents voted 100 to 11 to incorporate as the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Allendale. On November 10, 1894, Allendale was officially recognized as a borough. On April 2, 1903, with Walter Dewsnap as mayor, the council voted to shorten the name to the Borough of Allendale. So what was the impact of the Borough Acts, the School Act, and the resulting Boroughitis? From 1894 to 1895, 40 boroughs were created, with 26 in Bergen County. The rush to form boroughs was slowed down (but not stopped) when the legislature quickly passed an amendment to the School Act that stated that no borough could maintain a school separate from the township unless there were 400 children within its limits. On March 26, 1896, the state passed a bill providing that “no borough or village hereafter be incorporated in this state except by special act of the legislature.” And now, in words and pictures, the history of the borough of Allendale begins.