The Montclair area
Board of Education Building
The Montclair Public Schools serve students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. Schools in the district (with 2009-10 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics[59]) are seven elementary schools (K-5, except as noted, with enrollment and magnet program listed in parentheses) — Bradford (489 students, Magnet Theme: The University Magnet), Bullock (353, Environmental Science; was Rand), Edgemont (294, Montessori), Hillside (3-5; 629, Gifted and Talented), Nishuane (K-2; 525, Gifted and Talented), Northeast (426, Global Studies) and Watchung (466, Science and Technology) — Glenfield (686, Visual and Performing Arts), Mount Hebron (581, Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) and Renaissance at Rand (252, Liberal Arts) for grades 6-8, along with Montclair High School (1,981) for grades 9-12.
Montclair is home to Montclair State University.
Montclair is also home to a host of private and parochial schools, including: Montclair Kimberley Academy, Lacordaire Academy, Immaculate Conception High School, St. Cassian’s School, Virginia Harkness Sawtelle Learning, Maria Montessori Early Learning, Montclair Cooperative School, Trinity Academy and Deron School II.
Transportation
New Jersey Transit and DeCamp Bus Lines are the providers of public transportation in Montclair. Montclair is considered a commuter town of New York City. The average Montclair commute is 38 minutes each way. 24% of commuters travelers take mass transit, while 59% drive alone. Twelve times more Montclair commuters take mass transit than the national average.[57]
Bus
NJ Transit buses 11, 28, 29, 34, 97, 191 and 705 run through Montclair, most going along the main street, Bloomfield Avenue.[58] The New Jersey transit bus routes are:
- #11 goes from Downtown Newark through Verona, Cedar Grove, and Little Falls to Willowbrook Mall in Wayne. The only Montclair street it goes along is Bloomfield Avenue.
- #28 follows the route of #29 on Bloomfield Avenue until halfway through Montclair, where it goes north along Park Street, Watchung Avenue, and Valley Road to Montclair State University, and to Willowbrook Mall on Weekends
- #29 between West Caldwell and Newark, passing through Caldwell, Verona, Montclair, Glen Ridge, and Bloomfield on Bloomfield Avenue. It goes to Parsippany at rush hour. The only Montclair street it goes along is Bloomfield Avenue.
- #34 to Newark through East Orange and Orange on some trips, otherwise it goes to Bloomfield along Orange Road, Elm Street, and Bloomfield Avenue. It goes farther to the Montclair High School during that school’s start and end times.
- #97 goes from the Montclair Center south along Orange and Harrison Roads through the Oranges.
- #191 goes from Willowbrook Mall through Little Falls to Montclair State University, then to New York City.
- #705 goes from Passaic along Alexander Avenue, Grove Street (for one block), Mt. Hebron Road and through Montclair State University to Willowbrook Mall.
All of these routes except #97, #191, and #705 were trolley lines originally, operated by the Public Service Railway. A trolley Garage existed on Bloomfield Avenue. In the 1930s and 1950s the trolleys were destroyed and replaced with buses.
DeCamp Bus Lines routes 33 and 66 run through Montclair to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City, carrying primarily commuters.
- #33 goes along Bloomfield Avenue, with some buses going onto Grove Street
- #66 goes along Orange Road, Park Street, Valley Road, and Mt. Hebron Road
Montclair State University has shuttle buses going around its campus.
The township of Montclair operates a jitney in the evening from the Bay Street train station to the southern end of Montclair.
Rail
The former Lackawanna Railroad terminal, photographed when it housed a Hollywood Video
Running through Montclair is the Montclair-Boonton Line, which goes between New York City / Hoboken and Hackettstown. There are seven railway stations serving Montclair: Bay Street, Walnut Street, Watchung Avenue, Upper Montclair, Mountain Avenue, and Montclair Heights in Montclair, and Montclair State University Station in the Great Notch area of Little Falls, New Jersey. Only Bay Street station has weekend train service. Montclair has a long history of railroads. The first railroad was built to Montclair in 1856 by the Newark and Bloomfield Railroad. It terminated at a station in Downtown Montclair. First the Morris and Essex Railroad, then the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad leased the line.
In 1868, the Montclair Railway built another line through Montclair, which caused disputes leading to Montclair’s separation from Bloomfield. Shortly afterward it was taken over by the New York and Greenwood Lake Railway, a subsidiary of the Erie Railroad. A third railroad to Morristown was planned in 1860 and construction began, but the Panic of 1873 ended the project. In 1912 the Lackawanna Railroad built a large terminal at the end of their line. The Erie and Lackawanna Railroads later merged, forming the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad, which operated both lines for many decades. They were next operated by Conrail for approximately one year, after which NJ Transit took over passenger operations and Conrail continued freight operations. Meanwhile, the 1912 terminal was closed in 1981 and converted into shops. In 2002, the two railway lines were connected with the construction of the Montclair Connection.
Air and Road
Montclair is 13 miles (21 km) from Newark Liberty International Airport, 42 miles (68 km) from JFK Airport and 31 miles (50 km) from LaGuardia Airport. The Garden State Parkway to the east, U.S. Route 46 and New Jersey Route 3 to the north, and New Jersey Route 23 to the west are slightly past the town’s borders. The main road through Montclair is Bloomfield Avenue.
There is a taxi stand off of Bloomfield Avenue in eastern Montclair, in front of Lackawanna Plaza, formerly the Montclair train station.
