Not every small town in America can live up to a realtors dream of providing top notch schools, new housing, well kept streets, and abundant recreational opportunities. Where Haledon, New Jersey currently lacks in refinement, it offsets some of this with its sense of history as well as opportunity. Read on to find out more about this small Passaic County borough.
On the western border of the city of Paterson in northern New Jersey lies a gritty town, Haledon, home to more than 8400 residents compacted into an aging one square mile borough. As a working class community, the town has long served as a bedroom community for blue collar workers who skillfully manned the textile mills that dotted the town and surrounding communities for well over a century.
Today, the mills are no longer in use and most of the buildings have since been converted to other uses. Once a community occupied mainly by Dutch and Italian immigrants, the boroughs tapestry has expanded to include residents from Eastern Europe, Latin America, and from various other parts of the world. Indeed, the shops and stores scattered throughout Haledon point to the rise of the local Muslim population,...