Edgewater is a borough located along the Hudson River in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough had a population of 11,513, reflecting an increase of 3,836 (+50.0%) from the 7,677 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 2,676 (+53.5%) from the 5,001 counted in the 1990 Census.

The borough’s history has featured the founding of the first colony in Bergen County, contribution to the Revolutionary War, a period as a “sleepy, pastoral little town” with resort hotels in the 19th century, industrialization in the early 20th century, and a transition to a rapidly growing residential community in the late 20th century.

Native American people are known to have lived in the vicinity before the arrival of colonists in the 17th century. The Lenape were a local tribe of Native Americans associated with the neighboring borough of Fort Lee. David Pietersz Devries (also transliterated as David Pietersen de Vries), the first European settler, bought 500 acres (202 ha) of land from the Tappan tribe and established the settlement of Vriessendael in what is now Edgewater. A historical plaque placed in Veteran’s Field by the Bergen County Historical Society names Vriessendael as the first known colony in Bergen County with a founding date of 1640. Vriessendael was destroyed in 1643 in Kieft’s War by Indians reacting to foolish actions by the Director General of the Dutch West India Company, who lived across the river in New Amsterdam, as Manhattan was then known. In pioneer days, River Road was known as the Hackensack Turnpike, and Ox [sic] Hill Road was an important route to the top of the Palisades Cliff. While Oxen Hill Road still exists as a thoroughfare, another Colonial hallmark and major local industry has only recently disappeared: shad fishing. The Undercliff section in the northern section of Edgewater was originally a colony of fishermen. In the 1980s there were still about 100 commercial fishermen in New Jersey harvesting shad from their annual spring run from the Atlantic Ocean up the Hudson River to spawn. Now there are none.

Edgewater was incorporated as a municipality on December 7, 1894, from portions of Ridgefield Township as the Borough of Undercliff, based on the results of a referendum that passed two days earlier. The borough was formed during the “Boroughitis” phenomenon then sweeping through Bergen County, in which 26 boroughs were formed in the county in 1894 alone. The borough’s name was changed to Edgewater on November 8, 1899. The borough was named for its location on the Hudson River.

As of March 2011 about 2,500 Japanese-Americans combined live in Edgewater and Fort Lee; this is the largest concentration of Japanese-Americans in New Jersey.

As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 11,513 people, 5,637 households, and 3,021 families residing in the borough. The population density was 12,312.0 per square mile (4,753.7/km²). There were 6,282 housing units at an average density of 6,718.0 per square mile (2,593.8/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 53.29% (6,135) White, 4.95% (570) Black or African American, 0.14% (16) Native American, 35.47% (4,084) Asian, 0.06% (7) Pacific Islander, 3.35% (386) from other races, and 2.74% (315) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 11.10% (1,278) of the population. Korean Americans accounted for 19.6% of the population.

There were 5,637 households out of which 23.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.2% were married couples living together, 7.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.4% were non-families. 39.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.04 and the average family size was 2.76. Same-sex couples headed 38 households in 2010, an increase from the 32 counted in 2000.

Source: Wikipedia