Boroughitis
Boroughitis was the creation in the 1890s, usually by referendum, of large numbers of small boroughs in the American state of New Jersey. This occurred following the development of commuter suburbs in New Jersey, residents of which wanted more government services than did the long-time rural population. Forty new boroughs were formed in 1894 and 1895, with the bulk in Bergen County. The legislature scuttled the right to elect a freeholder in 1895, and ended the formation of boroughs by referendum the following year.
About Boroughitis in brief
Boroughitis was the creation in the 1890s, usually by referendum, of large numbers of small boroughs in the American state of New Jersey. This occurred following the development of commuter suburbs in New Jersey, residents of which wanted more government services than did the long-time rural population. Forty new boroughs were formed in 1894 and 1895, with the bulk in Bergen County, where townships were broken up or greatly reduced in size. The legislature scuttled the right to elect a freeholder in 1895, and ended the formation of boroughs by referendum the following year. Municipalities continued to be created by the legislature into the 20th century, and although there have been efforts at consolidation in recent years to lower the cost of government, their number has been only slightly reduced. The New Jersey Constitution gave the state government relatively weak powers over townships from the time of the Trenton Constitution in Trenton, NJ, in 1702. The state’s townships had low taxes and little government; the roads were maintained by farmers in lieu of taxes. Township meetings occurred each February; the citizens would discuss concerns, seek solutions, and collectively appoint agents to carry out their will. Voters in each township elected members of the county governing body, the Board of Chosen Freeholders. The railroad brought major changes to New Jersey beginning in the mid-19th century; the state was mostly agricultural, and the new lines made it easier for those employed in New York City or Philadelphia to live outside the urban core and yet go to work each day.
Even before the Civil War, the Brick Church station, in Orange, Essex County, about 15 miles from New York city, became the center of the nation’s first commuter suburb. New Jersey’s pattern of development was unique until 1894, with several commuter townships in a single township, something rare in the state elsewhere in the U.S. In the early 1890s Franklin’s Franklin County contained 7 school districts serving 7,74 students, for a total of 11 school districts in the county. In the late 19th century New Jersey was divided into large townships; by 1798, the state had 104 townships, and by 1834, the number had risen to 125. Increased economic activity in Essex, Morris and Sussex counties, and formation of Warren County, raised the number of townships to 125 in 1834. The state was sparsely populated when the railroad lines went through in the 1850s, making different development patterns of development than other suburban counties, such as Union and Camden, which saw more development around railroad stations. The townships acquired a new population, of commuters, who formed communities near railroad stations, and who wanted good well-lit streets and roads, quality schools, and a stake in the government. They were bitterly opposed on each issue by the rural, agricultural population, who feared that their taxes would be raised to pay for services they did not want or expect to utilize.
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This page is based on the article Boroughitis published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 09, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
