PASCACK VALLEY—This week, 130 years ago, Montvale and Woodcliff took big steps into the future when they became boroughs. Each counts the date of its founding as Aug. 31, 1894.
If you read this page regularly, you might already know that all eight of our Pascack Valley towns were once part of the sprawling Township of Washington, which included a 30-square-mile area between the Saddle River and Hackensack River. Before that, we were part of the even larger Harrington Township, and before that, up until the American Revolution, we were part of the massive Hackensack Township.
In 1894, driven by tax concerns, changing demographics, and a desire for local control, new boroughs began to rapidly secede in a phenomenon known as “Borough Fever.” Modernity was taking hold, and the old townships that had always dominated the map were seen as antiquated.
Westwood and Park Ridge broke off first, along with a little-known borough called Eastwood, which would later become part of River Vale. By the end of the summer, Montvale and Woodcliff (the “Lake” would come later, after the creation of the reservoir) were also ready to strike out on their own.
In those days, boroughs were created through referendum. The people of Woodcliff cast their votes on Aug. 28, 1894, and Montvale went to the polls two days later.
Most of the land included in Woodcliff and Montvale came from the Township of Washington, but a portion on the west also came from a place called Orvil Township.
Right about now, you might be asking yourself, “Should I have heard of Orvil Township?”
Probably not, unless you are pretty deep into local history. It ceased to exist over 100 years ago.
You see, back before Bergen County was a jigsaw puzzle of 70 municipalities, it was divided into larger townships. In our neck of the woods, it was Washington Township, which took in today’s eight Pascack Valley towns. To the east of us was Harrington Township, which is now the Northern Valley towns over by Closter, Demarest, and Northvale. To the west, there was Orvil Township, formed in 1885 and named for a prominent citizen, Orville James Victor, an author and publisher who lived in what is now Ho-Ho-Kus.
Orvil encompassed lands on both sides of the Saddle River, up to the New York State border and south to Ridgewood Township. It was hit hard by Borough Fever. Portions of Orvil were taken in the creation of Montvale and Woodcliff, in addition to Allendale, Saddle River, Upper Saddle River, and Ho-Ho-Kus. The last of it became Waldwick in 1919.
News reports from back in 1894 indicate that the people of Park Ridge had also set their sights on Orvil, and for good reason. The law at the time said that a borough was entitled to a representative on the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders if it formed from part of two or more townships. Young boroughs raced to annex any unclaimed portions of the townships adjacent to them.
The Park Ridge Mayor and Council had set Sept. 18, 1894, as the date for a referendum vote on whether to annex a portion of Orvil, but Montvale got to it first.
“The prompt action of the Montvale ‘boroughites’ offset the action of the Park Ridge people,” the Passaic Daily Newsreported on Aug. 15, 1894. “It is a victory for Montvale, as there is nothing left for Park Ridge to annex.”
On Aug. 25, the paper published this follow-up report: “Park Ridge has discovered that there is about an acre of Orvil Township not included in the surveys of Woodcliff and Montvale. On this spot, it is proposed to build some sort of house and annex it to Park Ridge. In that way, one acre of land in the Bear Hole swamp is expected to be the means of making another Chosen Freeholder.”