Rutherford

Rutherford is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, situated on a total area of 2.942 square miles.  It is an inner-ring suburb of New York City, centrally located 8 miles west of Midtown Manhattan, 12 miles from Newark International Airport, 2 miles from the NJ Turnpike and 4 miles from the Garden State Parkway.

As of the 2020 United States census, the borough’s population was 18,834, an increase of 773 (+4.3%) from the 2010 census count of 18,061.  Due to its easy access to New York City Rutherford became an early bedroom community at the initial wave of settlement in the late 19th century.  An additional building boom occurred in the 1920s, which is when the majority of the current homes in Rutherford were built.  

Photo: Victorian homes along a street in Rutherford New Jersey. Author Rhvanwinkle at English Wikipedia.

Rutherford Memorial Park spans 30 acres in the northwest corner of town along the Passaic and offers residents two baseball diamonds, five softball diamonds, a Little League Baseball field, a football stadium, five tennis courts, two basketball courts, and three playgrounds.  Rutherford also has several smaller parks including Tamblyn Field, Sunset Park, Firefighters’ Memorial Park, and Lincoln Park, home to the borough’s 9/11 memorial.

The Rutherford School District serves students in Kindergarten through twelfth grade.  Schools in the district include 2 elementary schools serving students from K-3, Lincoln School and Washington School, 2 middle schools serving students from grades 4-8, Pierrepont School and Union School, and Rutherford High School, serving students in grades 9-12.

Public school students are also eligible to attend the secondary education programs offered by the Bergen County Technical Schools, which include the Bergen County Academies in Hackensack, and the Bergen Tech campus in Teterboro or Paramus. 

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark operates Academy at Saint Mary for preschool through eighth grade and St. Mary High School.  Felician College, an independent private Roman Catholic institution, is also located in Rutherford.