On the primary crossroads in Dumont, in northern New Jersey, stands a sandstone Reformed church relationship to the presidency of Thomas Jefferson. Simply up Washington Road, a Revolution-era abode survives as the general public library. Subsequent to the freight-train tracks is a diner regarded as the oldest within the state.
Dumont, an unassuming borough of 2 sq. miles, values its historical past and relative anonymity.
“A lot of people don’t find out about Dumont as it isn’t close to highways or marketed on freeway indicators,” stated Indira Monegro, 42, a registered nurse at NewYork-Presbyterian Health facility, who moved to the town closing yr. “Once I inform other folks the place I are living, they ask, ‘The place the heck is that?’”
Ms. Monegro and her husband, Jose Monegro, 43, a qualified D.J., are like many consumers who to find their method to Dumont: budget-conscious New Yorkers. The couple and their two sons in the past rented an rental within the Bronx. They checked out greater than 50 properties in Bergen County, the place Mr. Monegro has family members, sooner than paying $420,000 for a well-tended three-bedroom Cape Cod a block from the mixed elementary-middle college that their more youthful son now attends.
In Dumont, the relatives has discovered an ethnically numerous neighborhood that also is so close-knit that Mr. Monegro has grown his handyman sideline past his expectancies. “When we moved in, I used to be development our shed and a neighbor requested if I may do paintings at his space,” he stated. “Now I’ve labored in additional than 100 properties on the town. Phrase travels like wildfire right here.”
The Monegros excuse what some may believe an inconvenient location. “For us to get to Course 4” — easy methods to the George Washington Bridge — “it takes quarter-hour,” Mr. Monegro stated. “A lot of these cities, the freeway is true there. However I wouldn’t industry it.”
Invoice Beckett, the broker-owner of McSpirit & Beckett Actual Property, in within reach Tenafly, describes Dumont as “a modest the town, in the most efficient sense of the phrase” — and the uncommon position in northeastern Bergen County the place the cheap within the $500,000s is going a long way.
“Dumont has a tendency to be extra cohesive, on account of its small measurement and centralized structure,” Mr. Beckett stated. “It’s nearly square-shaped, with a middle of the town and an basic college in every nook. For the ones with young children, it’s a manageable scale.”
With plans to begin a relatives — and stung by way of the house costs on Lengthy Island, the place they grew up — Carolyn Cresci and Craig Boiarsky additionally purchased a Cape Cod in Dumont 365 days into the pandemic, theirs with 4 bedrooms. Ms. Cresci, 30, a virtual fund-raiser, and Mr. Boiarsky, 25, a knowledge analyst for a media corporate, moved from a apartment in Jersey Town, N.J.
“There have been 16 gives in this space, and I do not know how we were given it for what we paid” — $460,000, or $41,00 over the asking value — “however we really feel thankful,” Ms. Cresci stated. “We purchased it from a relatives of six who upgraded to a larger space. Their children had been disillusioned about leaving — however they stayed in Dumont. That speaks volumes concerning the neighborhood.”
With an empty fridge on their first night time there, Ms. Cresci and Mr. Boiarsky searched on Google for a spot to consume and wound up two blocks over, at Grant Side road Cafe, a convivial position identified for craft beer and thin-crust pizza — this type of watering hollow one may to find in Jersey Town or Hoboken. “Now we move there a few times every week for beverages or dinner,” Ms. Cresci stated.
What You’ll In finding
Dumont, 18 miles from Midtown Ny and 5 miles from the buying groceries department stores of Paramus, has about 18,000 citizens and an average family source of revenue of $107,172, a coloration above the county median. Its quick neighbors are two boroughs with equivalent demographics — Bergenfield and New Milford — and the more-affluent Haworth and Cresskill.
Two-lane Washington Road, operating north-south, and two-lane Madison Road, operating east-west, are the most important thoroughfares. They meet the place the steeple of Previous North Reformed Church rises over a suburban panorama of Capes and older colonials on 50-foot-wide a lot, and lawn residences constructed for squaddies getting back from International Battle II. Greater homes — most commonly split-levels — are concentrated within the a long way north, close to Haworth.
The eclectic choices in Dumont’s comfy central industry district come with a cobbler, a coffee-bean dealer, a antique fashion designer and a ironmongery store that advertises are living bait (the Oradell Reservoir, a fishing vacation spot, is within reach). They’re augmented by way of a Forestall & Store grocery store on the Bergenfield border and a strip mall on the Cresskill border.
Acknowledging that downtown is dated and wishes further parking and maybe even an ice cream store — one thing Dumont used to have — Andrew LaBruno, the mayor, stated the borough has engaged with a planner to seem into imaginable redevelopment and revitalization.
“We’d like slightly polishing as much as make the city extra full of life, and search for techniques to lure other folks to return to Dumont and spend some cash right here,” Mr. LaBruno stated, whilst admitting that “50 p.c” of citizens like issues the way in which they’re and don’t need exchange.
What You’ll Pay
New Jersey A couple of List Carrier knowledge display that from April 1, 2021, to March 31, 2022, 208 single-family properties offered in Dumont at an average value of $480,000; a yr previous, 192 single-family properties offered at an average value of $450,000. On April 20, the record provider’s web site confirmed 14 single-family properties on the market, priced from $369,900 to $619,000.
Dumont’s reasonable annual assets tax invoice was once $11,893 in 2021, in keeping with the New Jersey Division of Group Affairs, 4.5 p.c not up to the county reasonable.
On the borough’s latest rental neighborhood, the 146-unit Washington Prom, which opened in 2020 on a former agricultural assets, rents vary from $2,405 to $3,450.
The Vibe
With greater than 15 parks and playgrounds, an arboretum operating parallel to the railroad tracks and a non-public swim membership, Dumont is decidedly relatives pleasant. The fairway areas are backdrops for fairs, summer time motion pictures and concert events, and an annual 5K race.
“Dumont’s a kind of cities that in reality hasn’t modified a lot,” stated Karen DeMarco, who grew up there and runs a Fb neighborhood staff and, along with her husband, Carmine, a regional meals distribution charity from an area church. The couple moved to Dumont from Ridgefield, a Bergen County borough crossed by way of highways, 15 years in the past, when their 3 kids had been younger.
“The entire concept of with the ability to let your children get on their motorcycles and experience in the community with out you panicking — that’s Dumont,” Ms. DeMarco stated.
The eating scene skews informal. But even so Grant Side road Cafe, in a small retail cluster north of downtown, alternatives come with Fink’s BBQ Smokehouse, for pit-smoked meats; Denaro’s, for submarine sandwiches; XO Taco & Bar, for Mexican meals; Los angeles Taberna, for steak and tapas; a couple of Italian eating places and a couple of sushi spots. However for longevity, no position beats the tiny, memorabilia-filled, circa-Twenties Dumont Crystal Diner, as a lot a landmark because the previous church steps away.
The Faculties
Of the two,468 scholars within the public college district, 46 p.c establish as white, 32 p.c as Hispanic, 16 p.c as Asian and four p.c as Black.
There are 4 basic colleges: Grant, within the northeastern quadrant; Honiss, within the southeast; Lincoln, within the southwest; and Selzer, within the northwest. Honiss and Selzer additionally space the middle-school grades, 6th thru 8th.
Dumont Top Faculty, close to downtown, enrolls 785 scholars. In 2020-21, reasonable SAT ratings had been 554 in studying and writing and 558 in math, as opposed to 557 and 560 statewide.
The Trip
From Dumont, New Jersey Transit buses succeed in the Port Authority in Ny in about an hour; the fare is $6 a technique or $167 per 30 days. There is not any passenger practice provider.
The Historical past
Dumont was once included in 1894 as Schraalenburgh, an previous Dutch title some citizens concept retro. After 4 years, the borough was once renamed for the mayor, Dumont Clarke, a New York banker.
All through International Battle I, a lot of Dumont was once taken up by way of 770-acre Camp Merritt, a staging space for squaddies sure for Eu battlegrounds. Some 570,000 males, together with Harry S. Truman, handed thru sooner than boarding delivery ships in Hoboken, N.J. The 65-foot granite obelisk within the site visitors circle on the Dumont-Cresskill border memorializes the 578 squaddies, nurses and civilians who died at Camp Merritt all the way through the 1918 influenza pandemic.
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