North Arlington: Where the Passaic Meets the Meadows

North Arlington sits at the point where the Passaic River bends toward the Hackensack Meadowlands, a spot where Lenape people fished for centuries before Dutch settlers arrived in the sixteen hundreds. The borough broke away from Union Township and incorporated in eighteen ninety-six. It took its name from its position north of the Arlington section of Kearny, which was named for a railroad station.

For most of the twentieth century this was a ferry-and-factory town, home to soap and chemical works along the river. The church spires of Our Lady of Mount Carmel mark the Italian and Polish immigrant communities that settled here during that industrial era. Today North Arlington is a quiet residential borough of about sixteen thousand, best known locally for its river views and its proximity to the turnpike.