West Caldwell, New Jersey

About

West Caldwell is a township located in the West Essex area in northwestern Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located approximately 16 miles (26 km) west of Manhattan and 6 miles (9.7 km) northwest of Newark. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 11,012, an increase of 253 (+2.4%) from the 2010 census count of 10,759, which in turn reflected a decline of 474 (−4.2%) from the 11,233 counted in the 2000 census.

West Caldwell was originally incorporated as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 24, 1904, from portions of Caldwell Township (now known as Fairfield Township). In 1981, the borough was one of seven Essex County municipalities to pass a referendum to become a township, joining four municipalities that had already made the change, of what would ultimately be more than a dozen Essex County municipalities to reclassify themselves as townships in order take advantage of federal revenue sharing policies that allocated townships a greater share of government aid to municipalities on a per capita basis. The borough was named for Caldwell Township, which in turn was named for Presbyterian minister James Caldwell.