This article was excerpted from Images of America: Allendale.
To properly introduce Allendale’s history, it is important to first go back a few thousand years to learn about the origins of the state of New Jersey and Bergen County. Archaeologists have demonstrated that over 10,000 years ago, a land bridge brought people from Asia to North America. Some of these travelers moved east, and 1,000 years ago, they settled along the Delaware River. These original people became better known as the Lenni Lenape or Delaware people. Their homeland provided good soil to grow food and waterways for fishing and transportation.
Meanwhile, from about 500 BC, Europeans traveled east, overland and by ship, to Asia to trade for exotic goods and to learn about foreign cultures. As sailing technology advanced, the hunt was on for a shorter route to the Far East. Sponsored by European empires, explorers headed in a new direction, west, via the Atlantic Ocean. Instead, they found North America. Beginning in the late 1400s, the Lenape probably greeted the parade of Europeans who visited the coasts and waterways of North America. The explorers claimed their findings on behalf of their sponsors, which included the empires of England, the Netherlands, Sweden, and France. Upon returning home, the explorers were rewarded financially and encouraged to sail again to search for additional territories and treasures.
In the early 1600s, the Dutch began to colonize the area known today as New York and New Jersey. As colonies grew, the Lenape presence declined due to disease, intertribal fighting, and being pushed out by the Europeans. Given their diminishing numbers, they sold their property to the Europeans and scattered throughout the western United States. In 1497, John Cabot, an Italian explorer, discovered the coast of North America under the commission of King Henry VII of England. This gave England claim to North America. In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazano, an Italian explorer sailing on behalf of King Francis I of France, was the first European to explore the Atlantic coast of North America from Florida to New Brunswick, including the New York bay. This gave King Francis I his nation’s claim to the new world. In 1609, Henry Hudson, an English explorer working for the Dutch East India Company, sailed the ship Half Moon from the Delaware Bay up to Albany, along the river now named, what else, the Hudson River. Upon his return to the Netherlands, Hudson described what he had found: a magnificent harbor, wide navigable rivers, and a land rich in natural resources. The Dutch, of course, claimed the territory. As a historical footnote, some explorers sailed again, not always providing the same good fortune. Verrazano, according to one story, was eaten by natives on the island of Guadeloupe. Henry Hudson’s crew mutinied and set him adrift never to be seen again. Be careful what you ask for, I guess. In the early 1600s, based on land claimed by Henry Hudson, the Dutch established New Netherland and colonized New Amsterdam (now lower Manhattan). Peter Stuyvesant became governor. Taking advantage of John Cabot’s earlier claim, England decided to seize New Netherland from the Dutch.
On March 12, 1664, England’s King Charles II granted to his brother James, Duke of York, a royal patent for the region between the Connecticut and Delaware Rivers, establishing a proprietary colony that included New Netherland. That year, the Duke of York initiated an expedition to take New Netherland from the Dutch. With 450 men and four ships, the British navy, under command of Col. Richard Nicholls, seized the area for England. Dutch governor Peter Stuyvesant surrendered without firing a shot. England’s new colony now extended from the Delaware River to the Hudson River. The Duke of York then divided the colony into New York and New Jersey, reserving New York for himself as the “Duke’s province.” The city of New Amsterdam was renamed New York after the Duke of York. Colonel Nicholls was appointed governor of New York, serving until 1668. On June 23, 1664, the Duke of York conveyed the area of New Netherland west of the Hudson River, the present state of New Jersey, to his friends Sir John Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. It was stipulated in the conveyance that the tract should be called Nove Cesarea or New Jersey. This name was given as a compliment to Sir George Carteret for his defense of the Isle of Jersey during the English civil wars. With this, New Jersey’s birth year was later officially established as 1664. Berkeley and Carteret were given full ownership of the land. However, while the king granted his brother the duke the power of governing the area, the duke did not give his friends that same authority. Instead, the duke established Colonel Nicholls as the new governor, giving him the authority to administer New Netherland. Jurisdictional disputes arose between New York and New Jersey. In August 1673, the Dutch recaptured New Netherland from the English, holding it for approximately six months before losing it again to the British in 1674. In 1676, a series of new agreements and patents divided New Jersey, with the “West” (South Jersey today) going to Berkeley and the “East” (North Jersey today) to Carteret. This division was finalized in the Quintipartite Deed, which authorized Berkeley and Carteret (and their appointees and successors) as proprietors. This allowed them to distribute land and to govern their territories. On March 7, 1683, the Provincial Assembly passed an act creating four independent counties, Bergen, Essex, Middlesex, and Monmouth. The original boundaries of Bergen County consisted of modern-day Bergen, Hudson, and Passaic Counties as well as a small portion of Essex County (when Passaic was formed it also took a piece of Essex). On its northern border, Bergen County included a slice of Rockland County, New York, as far north as the area around Haverstraw. Bergen County’s birth year was established as 1683. The Township Act of 1693 divided counties into townships. Bergen County was divided into the townships of Bergen and Hackensack. In 1710, New Barbadoes separated from Aquackanonk Township in Essex County and joined Bergen County. Today’s Allendale would have been in New Barbadoes Township at that time.
With the property owners of both East and West Jersey acknowledging their never-ending disputes, in 1702, Queen Anne took back the authority to govern New Jersey. Landowners 0686ALLEtxt.indd 9 5/18/21 9:09 AM 10 surrendered their charters to the Crown, reuniting East and West Jersey as a single royal province. The government now consisted of a governor and a 12-member council appointed by the British monarch, along with a 24-member assembly whose members were elected by qualified colonists, each of whom were required to own at least 1,000 acres of land. In 1709, the area known as the Ramapo Tract, part of the original East Jersey, was purchased from the Lenape. This area included the future borough of Allendale. Around 1740, John Lauback and Powles Van Houten established homes in this area. At that time, Allendale would have been in Franklin Township. William Franklin, son of Benjamin, became New Jersey’s last royal governor in 1763, serving until 1776. William Livingston, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was the first American governor of New Jersey, serving from 1776 to 1790. Following Delaware and Pennsylvania, New Jersey became the third colony to ratify the US Constitution, thereby becoming a state on December 18, 1787.
As the beginnings of New Jersey and Bergen County have been properly outlined, it is now important to discuss how counties were broken into smaller governments, called townships. Borders often changed to maximize the political power of their included landowners. The center of Allendale community activity in the 1700s and 1800s would have been along Franklin Turnpike about where Archer United Methodist Church stands today. In 1710, that area would have been in New Barbadoes Township, within Bergen County. By 1772, the church would have then been located in Franklin Township. On February 5, 1849, an act of the legislature formed Allendale’s newest home, Hohokus Township, from parts of Franklin Township.
By the 1870s, as townships became unwieldy to govern, landowners formed school districts to provide further local decision making and resources. Early Allendale began to take shape as School District No. 55 within Hohokus Township. A new schoolhouse was built in 1862 on Franklin Turnpike near East Orchard Street. On January 1, 1886, the Allendale community became part of Orvil Township, which was created from the western portion of Washington Township and the southern portion of Hohokus Township. It was named for Orville James Victor, a journalist and author who lived in the area. However, Waldwick was the Orvil township seat, giving it superior political power. And so, as the need for a new school arose, where would it go? Waldwick, of course. The residents of Allendale were not happy.
In 1894, commuters and farmers, with vastly different interests, decided to separate from their townships to form their own local governments, called boroughs. The first chapter, “School Districts and Boroughitis,” tells the story how the desire for better local resources encouraged the residents of School District No. 55 of Orvil Township to join with nearby landowners in Hohokus and Franklin Townships to form the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Allendale on November 10, 1894.