Cranford is a township in Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, located 18 mi southwest of Manhattan. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 23,847, an increase of 1,222 (+5.4%) from the 2010 census count of 22,625, which in turn reflected an increase of 47 (+0.2%) from the 22,578 counted in the 2000 census. NJ Transit rail service is available at the Cranford station, along the Raritan Valley train line, with service to Newark Penn Station and to Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan via Midtown Direct. It is part of the New York City metropolitan area. Cranford was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 14, 1871, from portions of the Townships of Clark, Linden, Springfield, Union and Westfield. Portions of the township were taken to form Garwood (in 1903) and Kenilworth (in 1907). The township's name is said to derive from the Crane family, including John Crane, who built a mill in 1720 along the Rahway River.

Historic preservation

Historic sites in the township are overseen by the Cranford Historic Preservation Advisory Board. The Cranford Historical Society, a private entity founded in 1927 and located in Hanson Park on Springfield Avenue, maintains the Crane-Phillips House (c. 1845), located at 124 North Union Avenue, as a museum.

Historic figures

Though no known Cranford residents died in the American Civil War, at least 22 were active in the Union Army at the time of General Robert E. Lee's surrender. Cranford's last surviving Civil War veteran died in 1935. James E. Warner is a former sheriff of Union County who was the namesake of the James E. Warner Plaza at the Cranford Train Station. Concerned by the then-growing pollution of the Rahway given the cleaner waters of his youth, Warner advocated for the preservation of the Rahway River and Rahway River Parkway parkland. One of Sheriff Warner's successful targets in fighting Rahway River pollution was his battle against the discharge of paper makers; one such site is now the regional theater known as the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn. The Cranford Canoe Club, built in 1908, continues to offer canoes and kayaks for rent on the river in town. Charles Hansel was co-founder of the Union County Parks Commission that preserved parkland all along the Rahway River and its tributaries in the 1920s, a greenway now known as the Rahway River Parkway. He was an engineer for the Pennsylvania Railroad and Central Railroad of New Jersey. Hansel lived in the 300 block of North Union Avenue in a home that still stands today, later moving to what is now Gray's Funeral Home, near what is now called Hansel's Dam by Sperry Park. For his Rahway River preservation efforts, a memorial copper plaque was placed to Hansel in Echo Lake Park. Joshua Bryant was Cranford's first Black law enforcement officer and the township's first Black elected official. William P. Westervelt was credited with thwarting the Baltimore Plot, an unsuccessful assassination attempt against president-elect Abraham Lincoln. He did so by cutting telegraph wires that would have alerted assassins to Lincoln's arrival.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 4.87 mi2, including 4.84 mi2 of land and 0.04 mi2 of water (0.78%). There are nine municipalities bordering the township: Garwood and Westfield to the west, Springfield Township to the north, Kenilworth to the northeast, Roselle and Roselle Park to the east, Linden to the southeast, Winfield Township and Clark to the south.

Parks

Township parks

Parks run by the township and overseen by the Cranford Recreation and Parks Department include:

County parks

Parks run by the county inside Cranford's borders (overseen by the Union County, New Jersey Parks and Recreation Department) include:

Rahway River Parkway – Cranford Section

The Rahway River Parkway is a greenway of parkland that hugs the Rahway River and its tributaries. It was designed in the 1920s by the Olmsted Brothers firm, who were the sons of the eminent landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. The Cranford section follows the banks of the meandering Rahway River as it flows south through Lenape Park, Nomahegan Park, Hampton Park, MacConnell Park, Hanson Park, Sperry Park, Crane's Park, Droescher's Mill Park, and Mohawk Park.

Cranford Riverwalk

The Cranford Riverwalk and Heritage Corridor portion of the Rahway River Parkway begins at the parklands near where Orange Avenue meets Springfield at the Cranford Canoe Club and follows the Rahway River on its path southbound to the Williams-Droescher Mill from the early 18th century. At Heritage Plaza at the southwest corner of South Avenue and Centennial, the century-old stone walls and iconic stone columns winding through woodland to Droescher's Mill are still in place, but are in need of restoration and preservation. Future plans include repairing the Kaltenbach Estate skating pond, the Victorian footbridge and Squire Williams Picnic Grove at Droescher's Mill Park.

Demographics

2010 census

The 2010 United States census counted 22,625 people, 8,583 households, and 6,154 families in the township. The population density was 4,684.6 per square mile (1,808.7/km2). There were 8,816 housing units at an average density of 1,825.4 per square mile (704.8/km2). The racial makeup was 91.85% (20,781) White, 2.62% (592) Black or African American, 0.08% (18) Native American, 2.84% (643) Asian, 0.02% (4) Pacific Islander, 1.03% (234) from other races, and 1.56% (353) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.51% (1,474) of the population. Of the 8,583 households, 33.4% had children under the age of 18; 60.2% were married couples living together; 8.4% had a female householder with no husband present and 28.3% were non-families. Of all households, 24.8% were made up of individuals and 13.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.15. 24.2% of the population were under the age of 18, 5.8% from 18 to 24, 23.6% from 25 to 44, 29.3% from 45 to 64, and 17.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42.8 years. For every 100 females, the population had 91.7 males. For every 100 females ages 18 and older there were 87.2 males. The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $107,052 (with a margin of error of +/− $5,725) and the median family income was $128,534 (+/− $7,200). Males had a median income of $81,979 (+/− $7,672) versus $61,649 (+/− $4,965) for females. The per capita income for the township was $48,008 (+/− $2,581). About 2.1% of families and 3.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.9% of those under age 18 and 8.5% of those age 65 or over.

2000 census

As of the 2000 United States census there were 22,578 people, 8,397 households, and 6,222 families residing in the township. The population density was 4,684.2 /mi2. There were 8,560 housing units at an average density of 1,775.9 /mi2. The racial makeup of the township was 93.70% White, 2.58% Black or African American, 0.04% Native American, 2.15% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.67% from other races, and 0.84% from two or more races. 3.89% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. There were 8,397 households, out of which 32.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.0% were married couples living together, 8.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.9% were non-families. 21.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.62 and the average family size was 3.09. In the township the population was spread out, with 23.3% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 24.1% from 45 to 64, and 17.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.2 males. The median income for a household in the township was $76,338, and the median income for a family was $86,624. Males had a median income of $60,757 versus $41,020 for females. The per capita income for the township was $33,283. About 1.0% of families and 2.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.5% of those under age 18 and 6.3% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

The Riverfront redevelopment project on South Avenue brought restaurants and housing into downtown Cranford. In the 1980s, Cranford founded the state's first special improvement district, which allows for the downtown district to have a special tax on building and business owners for downtown development and marketing which is managed by the Cranford Downtown Management Corporation. The DMC is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of business owners, property owners, and residents, members of which are appointed by the Township Committee.

Crime

Cranford was ranked the seventh safest municipality in New Jersey. In 2018 the Cranford crime rate was 28.47 per 100,000, which is lower than New Jersey's 208 crime rate, which is in turn lower than the United States' 381.

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Cranford has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.

Government

Local government

Cranford is governed under the Township form of New Jersey municipal government, one of 141 municipalities (of the 564) statewide that use this form, the second-most commonly used form of government in the state. The Township Committee is comprised of five members, who are elected directly by the voters at-large in partisan elections to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with either one or two seats coming up for election each year as part of the November general election in a three-year cycle. The Committee members elect a chairman of the committee who assumes the title of Mayor and another who is selected as Deputy Mayor. Both positions carry one-year terms. Four of the committee members take on departmental oversight assignments as Commissioner of Finance, Commissioner of Public Safety, Commissioner of Public Works and Engineering, and Commissioner of Public Affairs. The Mayor of Cranford does not take on a departmental assignment. The Township Committee is a part-time body and the township government is run on a day-to-day basis by the township administrator and various department heads. The chief of police is Ryan Greco, the township administrator is Lavona Patterson, and the township clerk is Patricia Donahue. , members of the Cranford Township Committee are Mayor Brian Andrews (D, term on committee ends 2026; term as mayor ends December 31, 2024), Deputy Mayor Terrence Curran (D, term on committee ends 2025; term as deputy mayor ends 2024), Gina Black (R, 2024), Paul A. Gallo (D, 2026), and Kathleen Miller Prunty (D, 2025). In June 2023, the township committee appointed Paul Gallo to fill the seat expiring in December 2023 that had been held by Jason Gareis until he resigned from office.

Women in elected office

Through 2022, a total of 12 women have been elected to the Cranford Township Committee, and four women have served as Mayor of Cranford. Barbara Brande was the first woman elected to the Township Committee and the first woman mayor of the township. Mayor Brande was elected to the Township Committee in 1974 and reelected in 1977, serving a total of six years. She was Mayor of Cranford in 1977. Carolyn Vollero, who served the longest length of time for a woman on the Township Committee—nine years—was Cranford's second female Mayor in 1994. Barbara Bilger, the township's third female mayor in 2002 and 2004, was also the first woman to serve two terms as the township's mayor. Mayor Bilger is the first Republican woman to serve as a township commissioner and as mayor. Union County Freeholder Bette Jane Kowalski is a Cranford resident and the first woman from Cranford to be elected to the Union County Board of Chosen Freeholders. Freeholder Kowalski was an unsuccessful candidate for Cranford Township Committee in 1999 and served as Union County Freeholder Chairwoman in 2007 and 2019. Female township commissioners include:

Federal, state, and county representation

Cranford is located in the 10th Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 22nd state legislative district.

Politics

As of March 2011, there were a total of 15,649 registered voters in Cranford Township, of which 4,887 (31.2% vs. 41.8% countywide) were registered as Democrats, 3,701 (23.7% vs. 15.3%) were registered as Republicans and 7,046 (45.0% vs. 42.9%) were registered as Unaffiliated. There were 15 voters registered as Libertarians or Greens. Among the township's 2010 Census population, 69.2% (vs. 53.3% in Union County) were registered to vote, including 91.2% of those ages 18 and over (vs. 70.6% countywide). In the 2020 presidential election, Democrat Joe Biden received 170,245 votes in Union County beating Donald Trump's 80,002 votes. Joe Biden won Union County with 67.3% of the vote. In the 2016 presidential election, Democrat Hillary Clinton received 6,244 votes (52.3% vs. 65.6% countywide) beating Donald Trump's 5,110 votes (42.8% vs. 30.9% countywide) and other candidates receiving a combined total of 593 votes (4.9% vs. 3.6% countywide). From Cranford, 11,947 ballots were cast out of 16,844 registered voters (70% voter turnout vs. 68.87% countywide). In the 2012 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 6,236 votes (51.0% vs. 66.0% countywide), ahead of Republican Mitt Romney with 5,772 votes (47.2% vs. 32.3%) and other candidates with 141 votes (1.2% vs. 0.8%), among the 12,223 ballots cast by the township's 16,332 registered voters, for a turnout of 74.8% (vs. 68.8% in Union County). In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 6,513 votes (49.6% vs. 63.1% countywide), ahead of Republican John McCain with 6,371 votes (48.6% vs. 35.2%) and other candidates with 164 votes (1.3% vs. 0.9%), among the 13,120 ballots cast by the township's 16,145 registered voters, for a turnout of 81.3% (vs. 74.7% in Union County). In the 2004 presidential election, Republican George W. Bush received 6,455 votes (50.4% vs. 40.3% countywide), ahead of Democrat John Kerry with 6,160 votes (48.1% vs. 58.3%) and other candidates with 111 votes (0.9% vs. 0.7%), among the 12,795 ballots cast by the township's 15,822 registered voters, for a turnout of 80.9% (vs. 72.3% in the whole county). In the 2017 gubernatorial election, Democrat Phil Murphy received 4,433 votes (53.8% vs. 65.2% countywide), ahead of Republican Kim Guadagno with 3,598 votes (43.7% vs. 32.6%), and other candidates with 207 votes (2.5% vs. 2.1%), among the 8,424 ballots cast by the township's 17,268 registered voters, for a turnout of 48.8%. In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 62.5% of the vote (4,926 cast), ahead of Democrat Barbara Buono with 35.9% (2,834 votes), and other candidates with 1.6% (124 votes), among the 8,017 ballots cast by the township's 16,108 registered voters (133 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 49.8%. In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 4,787 votes (52.3% vs. 41.7% countywide), ahead of Democrat Jon Corzine with 3,421 votes (37.4% vs. 50.6%), Independent Chris Daggett with 793 votes (8.7% vs. 5.9%) and other candidates with 82 votes (0.9% vs. 0.8%), among the 9,146 ballots cast by the township's 15,871 registered voters, yielding a 57.6% turnout (vs. 46.5% in the county).

Education

Public schools

The Cranford Township Public Schools is a comprehensive public school district serving students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 2022–23 school year, the district, comprised of seven schools, had an enrollment of 3,745 students and 334.1 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.2:1. Schools in the district (with 2022–23 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics ) are Bloomingdale Avenue School with 233 students in grades K-2, Brookside Place School with 355 students in grades K-5, Hillside Avenue School with 734 students in grades K-8, Livingston Avenue School with 253 students in grades 3-5, Orange Avenue School with 765 students in grades 3-8, Walnut Avenue School with 294 students in grades PreK-2 and Cranford High School with 1,095 students in grades 9-12. Cranford High School's curriculum focuses on technology in the schools and stresses service learning. The high school was recognized for its work in service learning and for being a national school of character. Cranford High School was ranked 51st among 328 public high schools in New Jersey in 2012 by New Jersey Monthly magazine after being ranked 13th in 2010 and was among the top-ranked high schools in the state in 2020. Lincoln School, which is the home of the district's administrative offices, also houses the district's two alternative education programs, CAP and CAMP.

Private schools

Cranford hosts several religious and private schools. Saint Michael's School, located in downtown Cranford, is a Roman Catholic parochial school which serves students in Nursery through Grade 8 and is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Elementary Schools, operating under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark. Helen K. Baldwin Nursery School at the First Presbyterian Church was founded in 1956.

Union College

The main campus of Union College is located in Cranford; the school opened in 1933 in Roselle and has been located in Cranford since 1942. The school's Cranford campus, one of four county locations, covers 50 acres and was established in 1959.

Local media

Cranford media includes:

Arts and culture

Places of worship

Transportation

Roads and highways

, the township had a total of 78.60 mi of roadways, of which 67.25 mi were maintained by the municipality, 7.77 mi by Union County, 1.72 mi by the New Jersey Department of Transportation and 1.86 mi by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. The major roadways in the township are the Garden State Parkway and Route 28 (North Avenue). The parkway runs along the eastern border of the township, connecting Clark in the south to Kenilworth in the north. The Parkway is accessible at interchange 136 to County Route 607 for Linden / Roselle / Winfield Park and at interchange 137 for Route 28, which runs east–west through the center of the township. Interchange 136 is known as the "four corners", where Clark, Winfield, Cranford and Linden meet. Cranford's Pace Car Program aims to make the township's roads safer roads by encouraging drivers to pledge to "drive within the posted speed limit", "stop at all stop signs", "stop at all red traffic lights", and "yield to pedestrians in crosswalks".

Public transportation

Rail

The Cranford station offers train service to Newark Penn Station in about 20 minutes, and to New York City Penn Station in about 49 minutes in total. The World Trade Center station on PATH can likewise be reached from Cranford in under 50 minutes (42 minutes on 6:52 am express). Cranford Station also offers transit to other points east, along with Raritan, High Bridge and numerous points west on the NJ Transit Raritan Valley Line, formerly the mainline of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. Via Newark Penn Station, Secaucus Junction and NYC Penn Station, connections are possible to most other NJ Transit rail lines, PATH trains, AirTrain Newark to Newark Liberty International Airport, Amtrak regional / long-distance trains and the Long Island Rail Road.

Bus

An express bus route (the 113x) offers nonstop weekday travel from the north side of the Cranford Station, and other Cranford points on North Avenue, to Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan in about 40 minutes. The private bus service Boxcar provides direct commuter bus routes to midtown Manhattan in about 40 minutes. NJ Transit also provides bus service on the 112 and 113 routes between Cranford and the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City and on the 59 and 66 to Newark. The 56, 57 and 58 routes provide local service.

Air

Newark Liberty International Airport is approximately 13 minutes away in Newark / Elizabeth. Linden Airport, a general aviation facility, is in nearby Linden.

Freight

The southern section of the township is bisected by Conrail's freight-only Lehigh Line (jointly owned by CSX and Norfolk Southern) along the tracks of the former Lehigh Valley Railroad. The former Staten Island Railway connects with the Raritan Valley Line in Cranford, reaching the island via the Arthur Kill Vertical Lift Bridge. That line has been rehabilitated and since 2007 between Port Newark and Howland Hook and transports containers from the Howland Hook Marine Terminal, an intermodal freight transport service known as ExpressRail.

In film and television

Several episodes in the third season of the 1990s Nickelodeon television show, The Adventures of Pete & Pete were filmed in Cranford. Episodes of the series were shot at various sites in Cranford, including Brookside Place School, Cranford High School, Orange Avenue Pool and Modern Barber Shop. Scenes for the home of the title characters were filmed at a house at 11 Willow Street. Cranford is the setting of the 2005 film Guess Who, starring Bernie Mac and Ashton Kutcher. Portions of the films Far from Heaven, Garden State, September 12 and HBO's miniseries The Plot Against America were shot in Cranford. Billy Eichner's comedy Bros filmed a Pride parade scene in Downtown Cranford. Additional film shoots in town during the 2020s have included Maybe I Do, Mothers' Instinct, Dumb Money, Eileen, Daughter of the Bride, Sweethearts, Cat Person, and Presence.

Notable people

People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Cranford include: