Morris or Morristown, township vs. borough: How North Jersey towns navigate name confusion
As the mayor of Morris Township — not neighboring Morristown or Morris Plains — Donna Guariglia is no stranger to sorting out cases of mistaken identity among the three municipalities.
Sometimes the confusion comes from outsiders, such as when new businesses incorrectly advertise being in one town instead of another. But even some residents are unsure exactly where they live, a fact Guariglia found out while campaigning for the Township Committee.
"They'll say, 'No, I'm in Morristown.' And then you say, 'Well what street are you on?'" the mayor told NorthJersey.com in a recent interview. "They name the street, and you're like, 'No, actually you're a [Morris] Township resident.' They don't even realize."
The three "Morris" municipalities — all in (where else?) Morris County — are a prime example of the prevalence of North Jersey towns with the same or similar names. These include five names in Morris that apply to two towns, and more than a dozen in Bergen County that contain either or both of the words "wood" and "ridge."
This phenomenon is at least partially due to boroughitis, the creation of many small boroughs throughout Bergen County in the late 1800s. During that time, disputes between newly transplanted urbanites and long-established settlers over taxes and available services led to the splitting of towns into smaller boroughs by referendum.
Other areas of North Jersey had similar experiences that caused new municipalities to form. Mendham Borough, for instance, was originally part of Mendham Township, dating back to the latter's founding before the Revolutionary War.
The borough officially separated from the rest of Mendham in 1906 after residents wanted to establish a water utility, its website says. The township, on the other hand, opposed any addition to its infrastructure that would affect taxes.
In Sussex County, Andover Township and Andover Borough share many services, including a school district. But the township has its own police department and fire department, while criminal matters in the borough are covered by the New Jersey State Police.
Because of all the similarities, dispatchers are trained to ask whether a caller is in the township or the borough, said Eric Danielson, the chief of Andover Township police and the volunteer fire department. Technological advances allow employees to see where on the map a call is coming from — a helpful safeguard in instances where the caller is unaware or incorrect about where they are.
"You do run into those logistical technicalities every now and then," Danielson said. "We make sure we try to spell out everything in real time."
Morris County has perhaps the most convoluted group of municipal names anywhere in the state.
In addition to the "Morris" trio, Chatham, Chester, Mendham and Rockaway are all names of both a township and a borough. There is also Boonton Township, not to be confused with the town of Boonton.
Sarah Neibart, the mayor of Mendham Township, said many of the mix-ups stem from similar addresses between her township and the borough it surrounds. Most notably, there is an East and West Main Street in both municipalities, a fact that frequently causes headaches for mail carriers and other delivery services.
Neibart recalled one instance in which a township resident was receiving mortgage payments for a borough restaurant with the identical address. Another time, a roofing crew nearly began work at one home before the owner directed them to the address in the other municipality.
The issues led a group to come before the Mendham Township Committee last year and request that East and West Main Street be renamed. The committee sent out a survey to those in the area and, though not taking any official action, established the Main Street Working Group to help find solutions to problems arising from the duplicate addresses.
Many of North Jersey's other similarly named towns deal with confusion over mailing addresses as well. For example, all Morris Township homes feature Morristown's name and ZIP code (07960) in their address, so anyone unfamiliar with the area may not know that the township is its own entity.
Andover Borough has its own post office, which also serves certain parts of Green and Hopatcong, Danielson said. The township, despite being much larger, does not have a post office, so residents have a Newton or Lafayette mailing address.
Neibart believes the street address conundrum has become magnified in recent years with the rise of delivery companies like Amazon and Uber Eats. These services exist for customers' convenience, yet for residents who share addresses, they can be largely inconvenient.
"As time goes on, this issue might become larger," Neibart said. "Unfortunately, it may get worse over time even as technology gets better."
For Ridgewood Village Manager Keith Kazmark, mix-ups between his municipality and others in Bergen County — like Wood-Ridge, Ridgefield or Ridgefield Park — are relatively rare. Since he started on the job in July 2023, he can recall just one time when a document from the county was initially sent to his desk but was meant for another town.
Kazmark attributes this lack of confusion, at least in part, to Ridgewood's status as a "destination" in Bergen. The village's large population and its downtown area make it an attractive spot for visitors as well as newcomers looking to move in.
"I do think that Ridgewood sort of has a distinction with people because they've been here for something, whatever that something happens to be," Kazmark said. "I think it does stand separate in some respects from an identifying standpoint than maybe some of the smaller municipalities."
But Kazmark does have some experience with name controversies. He was on the municipal council in Woodland Park when the Passaic County borough voted by referendum to change its name from West Paterson in 2008.
After the change, Kazmark said, members of the public spoke out at numerous council meetings in an attempt to change the name back. Some of the critics pointed to the Burlington County township of Woodland and contended that the similar name would cause unnecessary confusion.
Though efforts to reinstate the name were unsuccessful, the residents' strong feelings highlighted how passionate many New Jerseyans are about their hometowns.
"We're a unique place," Kazmark said. "We're dense, we have a lot of different municipalities, a lot of different school districts. But the identity piece of it is very meaningful to people who grew up here and have a connection to the towns."
Largely due to the benefits of shared services, none of the officials in the townships of Morris, Mendham or Andover knows of any legitimate local interest in renaming the municipalities. Instead, they are content to continue the strong relationships with their counterparts while trying to mitigate potential mix-ups as well as possible.
Neibart noted that many Mendham residents have gotten to know their "doppelganger," the homeowner at the same address in the other municipality, through frequent delivery mishaps. Danielson said residents in the two Andovers have learned to live with "a lot of oddities" between their similar names and the confusion over post offices and addresses.
The Morris municipalities also get along, albeit with some gentle teasing, Guariglia said. Because Morristown Mayor Tim Dougherty refers to his town as the area's "crown jewel," township Business Administrator Tim Quinn will counter that he lives in the "warm fuzzy blanket" surrounding the county seat.
"We all get along, and yet we all take pride in our own town for what we do," Guariglia said. "But we're very supportive of each other, and anything we can work together on, we will."
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ town names can be confusing. How similar-sounding spots manage
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