UNION
A suburban community that features a variety of neighborhoods, shopping options, and a solid school system
At A Glance....
Local Schools
The Union Public School District serves students in pre-kindergarten through grade twelve. The schools in the district are six Pre-Kindergarten - 4 elementary schools: Battle Hill Elementary School, Hannah Caldwell Elementary School, Connecticut Farms Elementary School, Franklin Elementary School, Livingston Elementary School, and Washington Elementary School; one grade 5 school: Jefferson Elementary School; two middle schools that serve grades 6 – 8: Burnet Middle School and Kawameeh Middle School and Union High School for grades nine through twelve.
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Union is also home to several private nursery schools and the Deron School, a private school for learning disabled students ages 5–13. St. Michael's Parish School and Holy Spirit School operate under the supervision of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark.
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Kean University, dating back to 1855, serves a total student population of almost 16,000. Called New Jersey State Teachers College when it was located in Newark, the school moved to Union in 1958, was renamed Kean College in 1973, and was granted university status in 1997.
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ABOUT UNION
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Settled in 1667, Union was the third English speaking settlement in New Jersey after Elizabeth and Newark, with the area that is now Union then called Connecticut Farms.
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Union Township was the site of the Battle of Connecticut Farms, one of the last battles between British and American forces during the American Revolutionary War. On June 6, 1780, British troops, led by Hessian General Wilhelm von Knyphausen, boarded boats on Staten Island bound for Elizabeth, New Jersey. At midnight, 5,000 troops started to land. They expected the Continental Army to give little resistance, believing that they were tired of the war and were poorly fed and paid. They also expected the citizens of New Jersey to welcome them. They were wrong on both counts and were unable to make their way to and through the Hobart Gap.
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Union Township was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on November 23, 1808, from portions of Elizabeth Township, while the area was still part of Essex County. It became part of the newly formed Union County on March 19, 1857. Portions of the township have been taken to form Linden Township (March 4, 1861), Roselle Park, (March 22, 1901), Kenilworth (May 13, 1907) and Hillside (April 3, 1913). In 1946, a group of residents pushed for the township's name to be changed to "Connecticut Farms", citing the potential benefits to area residents and businesses from the broad awareness of the historical significance of the name.
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The Township of Union is located on the northern-central edge of Union County and is bordered by eight municipalities: Hillside to the east, Elizabeth to the southeast, Roselle Park and Kenilworth to the south and Springfield Township to the west. Northwest of the township lies Millburn, to the north lies Maplewood and to the northeast lies Irvington, all in Essex County.
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Unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the township include Battle Hill, Connecticut Farms, Galloping Hill, Putnam Manor, Salem, Townley and Vauxhall.
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Union is traversed by the Garden State Parkway, Interstate 78, U.S. Route 22 and Route 82 (Morris Avenue).
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NJ Transit offers rail service at the Union train station providing service on the Raritan Valley Line (formerly the mainline of the Lehigh Valley Railroad) to Newark Penn Station. The station opened in 2003 and includes a parking lot with over 450 spaces.
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NJ Transit also provides bus service to New York City and New Jersey points on the 113, 114 and 117 routes to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan, on the 65, 66, 70 and 94 routes to Newark and local service on the 26 and 52.
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Newark Liberty International Airport is approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Union.
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For more information about Union, NJ visit:
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Union Township, NJ Information Sheet
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