Place:West Paterson, Passaic, New Jersey, United States

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NameWest Paterson
TypeBorough
Coordinates40.894°N 74.199°W
Located inPassaic, New Jersey, United States
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Woodland Park (formerly West Paterson) is a borough in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the borough's population was 13,484.[1]

What is now Woodland Park was formed as a borough under the name West Paterson, by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 25, 1914, from portions of Little Falls Township, based on the results of a referendum held on May 1, 1914.

On November 4, 2008, the citizens of West Paterson voted to change the official name of the borough from West Paterson to Woodland Park. The new name retains the initials "W.P." and is a reference to the community's wooded areas. At a November 10, 2008 community meeting attended by 200 residents, a number of residents demanded that a recount be held if the official results showed that the measure had passed. In case the recount demand was unsuccessful, the group discussed filing a petition to change the name back to West Paterson, including discussion of how to raise the $33,000 needed to cover the cost of a special election in spring 2009 for voters to reconsider the name. By November 25, 2008, the provisional vote counts had been tallied, and the name change won by 25 votes. The Mayor and Council approved a resolution in December 2008, officially changing the borough's name to the Borough of Woodland Park, effective January 1, 2009. The name change is an attempt to "distance" itself from nearby urban Paterson, New Jersey, and all of the social ills associated with cities, including but not limited to urban blight, high crime, and drug addiction. A referendum held on November 3, 2009, affirmed the name change.

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