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In the early
1600s, Dutch families from New Amsterfoot (Long Island) and New
Amsterdam (New York) came to New Jersey and settled along the
Hackensack River and eventually throughout Bergen County (named
after the town of Bergen, in Holland). An Indian trading post was
established in 1609-1610. The first deed of land was given by the
Indians in 1630.
When the
Netherlands
surrendered their land around New Amsterdam to the British in 1664,
the Duke of York granted to Berkeley and Carteret the land west of
the
Hudson River
. Carteret selected the northern part of his share and in 1668
granted to Captain John Berry a large tract of land in the vicinity
of
Hackensack
. Through the Berry Patent, lands were conveyed to settlers who
established farms and homes throughout the area.
Maywood
was formerly part of
New
Barbados
Township
; when
Hackensack
became a village, the westerly portion of
New
Barbados
Township
became
Midland
Township
. In the beauty and diversity of its scenery, and in the
productiveness of its land, it ranked high among the townships of
the county. The Army of Revolution encamped within its borders, and
General Washington frequently honored the early settlers by his
presence.
In 1871 the New Jersey Midland Railroad, now known as the New York
Susquehanna and Western, was constructed and through the help of
property owners, a railroad station was erected at a country road
crossing and given the name
Maywood
.
The
volunteer fire department, first organized in 1893, was reorganized
into three companies, Peerless, Undine, and Protection; a keen
competition grew among them. Police protection, no serious problem
then, was provided for many years by Marshals. In 1924, a paid
police department was established.
After a period of rising prosperity and growth throughout the
Twenties,
Maywood
was hit by the same economic disaster as the rest of the country,
the Great Depression.
The
War, as most who lived then will always call World War II,
changed many lives. Young men went off to fight, some never to
return; rationing and black-outs became an established routine.
Bergen
County
and
Maywood
in the midst of wartime austerity, nevertheless enjoyed renewed
prosperity. Men and women who had been reduced to selling
door-to-door or cleaning houses to make ends meet, found jobs at
Bendix and Curtiss-Wright. Industrial
New Jersey
was hard at work, helping win the war.
The
Fifties was a decade of exploding growth, but its first years were
marred by the Korean War with the loss of more of
Maywood
s young men. New houses and, for the first time, hotly
debated garden apartments, rose in the north and south ends of town.
A new school was built and in front of it, the old Maywood
Playground, once reached only by walking through the woods, became
Veterans
Memorial Park
. To the dismay of many
Maywoodians, that worst of all invaders of peace and privacy, the
shopping mall, moved from threat to reality. It was called Bergen
Mall. We got used to it. New
residents, new organizations, new interests marked the 60s and 70s.
A municipal pool added pleasure to our summers. A fine new library
rose on
Maywood Avenue
. High school students left Bogota High for
Hackensack
, which they attend today. In
the 80s, we finally saw the completion of Lydecker Manor on the site
of the old Inter-City bus terminal; our senior citizen residence was
hotly contested, but it has turned out to be one of
Maywood
s great success stories. In
the present day, the Borough has recently completed a new municipal
complex named in honor of John A. Steuert, Jr., one of the Borough's
longest serving mayors and continues to move forward into the 21st
century, making history every day!
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