You can also call (800) 717-0974, where it supposedly takes less than 10 minutes.
Mark Slade Keller Williams 917.797.5059 Good Homes Selling a Maplewood/South Orange/West Orange area
home involves many steps and having an experienced Maplewood New Jersey Real
Estate Agent and Realtor®, specializing in the Bedroom Communities of New York
City in Essex/Union County— Millburn, Short Hills, Montclair, West Orange,
South Orange, Livingston, Maplewood, Springfield, Summit, Madison, Chatham,
Scotch Plains, Fanwood, Cranford and Westfield--by your side will make the
transaction run a lot smoother. I would love to be your Maplewood/South Orange
New Jersey Area Real Estate Professional! I assist both buyers and sellers in
the Bedroom Communities of New York City, mostly served by NJ Transit’s
Mid-Town Direct Train Lines, offering commutes of 45minute or less to NY Penn
Station, with either the purchase and or sale of residential real estate.
As your Maplewood/South Orange/
West Orange New Jersey listing agent I am well versed on as your local
expert in all things in the West Orange, Maplewood and South Orange area Real
Estate Market. You can expect personalized service that includes a detailed
consultation on how to best position your Mid-Town Direct home to be
competitive in today’s market with training to provide my clients with an
in-depth Advanced Comparative Market analysis, and advice on staging. As my
office’s technology officer as well as both a Zillow Platinum Premier and
Trulia Premier agent, I use the latest and most up-to-date marketing methods to
get your home in front of as many buyers as possible. Being your New Jersey
Real Estate Agent and Realtor ® not only involves just finding the home or
selling the home, but being your guide, negotiator, advisor and advocate and
making sure that your needs and goals are met. Being your New Jersey Essex/Union
County area Realtor® (with a little bit of Morris County thrown in for good
measure) is one of my truest passions, and “Helping You Find Your Dream Home”
is my number one priority.
As an Accredited Buyer’s Agent
(ABR), I have received special training to
guide and educate you through the entire home buying process. From start to
finish, I listen to your needs and desires in what you would like and take the
information you give me to find you home. My GO-TO team can provide you the
best in Real Estate advice with regard to attorney choices, Home Inspectors and
Mortgage Loan Officers
I am also a Luxury specialist
(CLHMS), I have received special training to
guide and educate you through the entire home buying and selling process. Not
only does this extra training help me better understand this upper echelon in
real estate, its benefit include a special luxury website: www.njluxhomes.com and a corresponding worldwide luxury network that helps to
put luxury buyers and sellers together.
Don’t forget These Helpful Sites:
www.bedroomcommunitiesofnyc.com
www.njluxhomes.com
www.goodhomesforgoodpeople.com
www.unioncountyproperties.com
www.sladehomesteam.com
Let's
work together to find you find your Dream Home!
HOME.COMMUNITY.GIVING.GRATITUDE
SOUTH ORANGE
A Brief History of South Orange
South Orange is a quaint residential community boasting authentic Tudor,
Colonial, and Victorian homes, streets dotted with gaslights, beautiful parks,
and a bustling Village center.
The history of our town dates back to May 21, 1666, when Connecticut settlers
landed on the shores of the Passaic River. Guided by Captain Robert Treat and
Lieutenant Samuel Swaine, the group purchased land, now known as Newark, from
the Lenni Lenape Indians on July 11, 1666.
Those families wishing to farm moved westward into South Orange and surrounding
areas. In 1678, the Lenapes sold the settlers a second parcel of land running
from the East Branch of the Rahway River to the mountain top.
South Orange Avenue,
an Indian trail, served as the main thoroughfare. But in 1705, road statutes
required landowners to maintain the first primitive highways. These included
Main Street and Valley and Ridgewood roads. Washington and his troops often
traversed the latter during the American Revolution.
The mode of
transportation graduated from horseback, to ox-cart, to stage coach. Then in
1836, the Morris and Essex Railroad developed a single track between the
Village and Orange and operated a horse-drawn cart. A year later the line was
extended and two cars were pulled by a wood-burning steam locomotive. The
advent of the railroad established South Orange as a suburb of Newark and a
summer resort. Just after the railroad was continued through to Hoboken in
1868, the Village began its rapid transformation from a rude settlement of
farms and mills to a polished residential railroad suburb of New York and
Newark.
Swamps were drained,
roads were constructed and gas lines were laid in the 1890s. Sewers and running
water were later added. Street lamps in the town's center burned sperm oil
until 1860 when gas service became available. Electric power was brought into
the Village about 1888, although most of the streets are still lit by gas
lamps. The first telephone exchange was opened in Orange on December 6, 1879.
In 1899, a Village central office was established.
The transition of
South Orange from vast farm lands to a prestigious residential community is due
in large part to the vision of one man, New York attorney John Gorham Vose.
Taken with the rich mountain scenery, he purchased a home on Scotland Road in
1858. In 1862, he began to buy large plots of land to begin his conversion. As
building got underway, Villagers took great interest in the development of each
magnificent home. In just a few years, 175 acres between Scotland Road and
Center Street were complete. Vose christened the area Montrose. Other
successful businessmen, Turrell, Kingman, Connett, Mead, Speir, and Mayhew,
also bought farms, carved out streets, and helped change the face of the
community.
The Village Hall,
built in 1894, housed the fire department until 1930 when it was moved to Sloan
and First Streets. The police department then moved from its 1872 building just
west of the railroad into the newly vacated space in Village Hall. In March,
1972, a separate police station and Municipal Court building on South Orange
Avenue was completed.
The first U.S. Post
Office was opened in 1841 in Freeman's Store at 71 South Orange Avenue but the
Postmaster reported "receipts so dreadfully small" that business was
suspended. In 1843, another office was opened to serve the thirty families
nearby. In all, six different sites were used until 1937 when our present first
class Post Office was opened on Vose Avenue in a new building of its own. Free
mail delivery started in 1899.
Built about 1680, the
Stone House is the oldest in the Village and is still standing on South Orange
Avenue near Grove Road. The colonial house at 167 North Ridgewood Road was
built by Henry Squier in 1774 and acquired by William Redmond when he bought
the Squier farm in 1850. Later the house was leased to a dairyman named Flood
who pastured his cows in what is now Meadowland Park. Flood's Hill in the park,
used for winter coasting, was named for this family. William Redmond built the
brownstone mansion for his home which is used today by the Orange Lawn Tennis
Club. Another landmark, said to have been built around 1830 and standing until
after 1881 when it was destroyed by fire, was The Mountain House, a fashionable
water-cure supervised by two physicians, where spring water piped down the
mountain to it, was thought beneficial. A large wooden structure with two
wings, set in spacious grounds on Ridgewood Road, at the foot of the present
Glenside Road, the hotel accommodated 150 guests. Mr. Lord of Lord & Taylor
owned it in 1850 and leased it to G. Baird. The Eclipse Stage Line operated in
1830 between the hotel and Newark. Today the sole reminders of the resort are
Mountain Station and Mountain House Road, both established to accommodate
hordes of visitors who once flocked here.
South Orange was part
of Newark until 1806, when what is now the Oranges and Maplewood were set off
as "Orange Township." The name Orange came into use in the second
half of the 18th century, and was officially adopted by a meeting of the
inhabitants in 1780. The name South Orange first appeared in print in a
newspaper ad in 1793 in "Wood's Gazette." It replaced such old names
as Chestnut Hill and the Mountain Plantation.
Village government has
changed dramatically from theocracy to democracy since the 1600's. In 1776,
there were only a cluster of houses, a grist mill, a black-smith shop, a store
or two and a tavern but South Orange inhabitants were united in defense of home
and country. In 1872, civic indifference reached a peak when only 235 votes
were cast in a presidential election. Population has steadily increased: 7,200
in 1920, 13,000 in 1928 and over 16,300 in 1995. The creation of the South
Orange Township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature in 1861, led to the
granting of the Village Charter in 1869, but not until 1872 was it given
authorization to levy taxes and borrow money. In 1904, complete separation of
Village and Township was effected by action of the State Legislature, after
South Orange had agreed to remain in the school district. A copy of the 1869
Charter and its amendments, variances and supplements was printed in 1906. In
November, 1977, South Orange voters passed a new Charter for South Orange and
changed its name to The Township of South Orange Village.
