West Milford

West Milford, New Jersey
Township
Township of West Milford
Old Country Store at Long Pond Ironworks
Motto: "A Clean Community"
Map of West Milford Township in Passaic County. Inset shows Passaic County's location in New Jersey
Census Bureau map of West Milford, New Jersey
Coordinates: 41°05′47″N 74°23′58″W / 41.09652°N 74.39945°W / 41.09652; -74.39945Coordinates: 41°05′47″N 74°23′58″W / 41.09652°N 74.39945°W / 41.09652; -74.39945
Country	United States
State	New Jersey
County	Passaic
Incorporated	March 10, 1834
Named for	Milford, Connecticut
Government
• Type	Faulkner Act (Mayor-Council-Administrator)
• Body	Township Council
• Mayor	Bettina A. Bieri (D, term ends December 31, 2019)
• Administrator	Antoinette Battaglia
• Clerk	Antoinette Battaglia
Area
• Total	80.316 sq mi (208.018 km2)
• Land	75.090 sq mi (194.483 km2)
• Water	5.226 sq mi (13.534 km2)  6.51%
Area rank	10th of 566 in state 1st of 16 in county
Elevation	827 ft (252 m)
Population (2010 Census)
• Total	25,850
• Estimate (2015)	26,770
• Rank	96th of 566 in state 5th of 16 in county
• Density	344.3/sq mi (132.9/km2)
• Density rank	467th of 566 in state 16th of 16 in county
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	Eastern (EDT) (UTC-4)
ZIP code	07480
Area code(s)	973 exchanges: 657, 728
FIPS code	3403179460
GNIS feature ID	0882315
Website	www.westmilford.org

West Milford is a township in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 25,850, reflecting a decline of 560 (-2.1%) from the 26,410 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 980 (+3.9%) from the 25,430 counted in the 1990 Census.

West Milford started out as New Milford in what was then western Bergen County in the 18th century, having been settled by disenchanted Dutch from Milford, New Jersey (later renamed by the British as Newark). These same Dutch also built a town of New Milford in eastern Bergen County. When both New Milfords applied for post offices in 1828, a clerk in Washington, D.C. is said to have approved the other application first and assigned the name "West Milford" to the New Milford in western Bergen County in order to distinguish between the two locations.

West Milford became a municipality by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 10, 1834, when it was formed from the westernmost portions of both Franklin Township (now Wyckoff) and Saddle River Township (now Saddle Brook), while the area was still part of Bergen County. On February 7, 1837, Passaic County was created from portions of both Bergen County and Essex County, with West Milford as the western end of the newly formed county. The township was named for Milford, Connecticut.

There are old name places in the township including Postville, Utterville, Corterville, Browns, Awosting, Echo Lake, Macopin, Charlottenburg (now under the Charlotteburg Reservoir, the community was named after King George III's wife, Queen Charlotte), Clinton (or sometimes called Clinton Furnace, now under the Clinton Reservoir, and the furnace still stands), Moe Mountain, Oak Ridge (a nameplace, but town is under the Oak Ridge Reservoir), Newfoundland, Apshawa, New City, and Smith Mills. Newfoundland is divided by the Pequannock River, which divides Passaic and Morris Counties; a small part of Newfoundland lies within Jefferson Township. A large part of the township, including the New City Village area, is reservoir property owned by the City of Newark in Essex County for its water supply. Prior to the Second World War, the township was a resort area with trains coming from New York City to stations at Charlotteburg, Newfoundland, Oak Ridge in the south and Hewitt (also known as Sterling Forest station) and Awosting in the north. Railroad service in the south was from the New Jersey Midland starting around the 1850s and in the north around the 1870s from the Montclair Railroad, out of Montclair, New Jersey and later the Erie Railroad (before their merger with the Lackawanna Railroad).