Ви́нланд, Нью-Дже́рси: история и современность

City in Cumberland County, New Jersey, US

Vineland is a city and the most populous municipality in Cumberland County, within the U. S. state of New Jersey. Bridgeton and Vineland are the two principal cities of the Vineland Bridgeton metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses those cities and all of Cumberland County for statistical purposes and which constitutes a part of the Delaware Valley (the Philadelphia metropolitan area). The MSA had a population of 156,898 as of the 2010 census. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 60,780, The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 60,491 in 2022, Festivities on July 1, 1952, when the merger took effect, included a parade and speeches from such notables as Senator Estes Kefauver. The name is derived from the plans of its founder to use the land to grow grapes. Geographically, the city is part of South Jersey. It has large Italian American and Hispanic American populations.

Charles K. Landis purchased of land in 1861 and another in 1874, near Millville, and along the West Jersey railroad line with service between Camden and Cape May, to create his own alcohol free utopian society based on agriculture and progressive thinking. The first houses were built in 1862, and train service was established to Philadelphia and New York City, with the population reaching 5,500 by 1865 and 11,000 by 1875. Vineland was an early temperance town, where the sale of alcohol was prohibited. Landis required that buyers of land in Vineland build a house on the purchased property within a year of acquisition, that of the often heavily wooded land be cleared and farmed each year, and that adequate space be placed between houses and roads to allow for planting of flowers and shade trees along the routes through town. Landis Avenue was constructed as a 100 feet (30 m) wide and about 1 mile (2 km) long road running east–west through the center of the community, with other, narrower roads connecting at right angles to each other. After determining that the Vineland soil was well suited for growing grapes (hence the name), Landis started advertising to attract Italian grape growers to Vineland, offering of land that had to be cleared and used to grow grapes. Thomas Bramwell Welch founded Welch's Grape Juice, and purchased the locally grown grapes to make "unfermented wine" (i. e. grape juice). Vineland Poultry Laboratories was started by Arthur Goldhaft. Goldhaft is credited with putting "a chicken in every pot" after developing the fowl pox chicken vaccine that saved millions of chickens from death. Goldhaft's work at Vineland Poultry Laboratories in Vineland helped protect the world's chicken supply from the fowl pox disease. Operations at the facility were closed by Lohmann Animal Health in 2007. Vineland had New Jersey's first school for the intellectually disabled, the Vineland Developmental Center, which now has an east and west campus. These institutions housed mentally handicapped women in fully staffed cottages. Henry H. Goddard, an American psychologist, coined the term "Moron" while directing the Research Laboratory at the Training School for Backward and Feeble minded Children in Vineland. This facility was so sufficiently well known that one American Prison Association pamphlet in 1955 heralded Vineland as "famous for its contributions to our knowledge of the feebleminded". Vineland celebrated its 150th birthday in 2011. Mayor Robert Romano initially ordered a custom cake from Buddy Valastro of Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken; the business is featured in the TLC reality television series Cake Boss. After outcry from local business owners, the order was canceled and five Vineland bakeries donated elaborate cakes for the event as well as over 1,000 servings of cake for the celebration. Since the 1970s, the city has had an annual dandelion festival. Brought to the area by early Italian immigrants, the plant is grown as a crop by farms in Vineland. Barbara Kingsolver's 2018 novel Unsheltered is set in Vineland.

According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the city had a total area of 68.99 square miles (178.68 km2), including 68.39 square miles (177.14 km2) of land and 0.60 square miles (1.54 km2) of water (0.86%). Unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the city include Clayville, Hances Bridge, Leamings Mill, Menantico, North Vineland, Parvins Branch, South Vineland, Willow Grove and Pleasantville. That last community (adjacent to Newfield Boro) is not to be confused with the City of Pleasantville in Atlantic County. Vineland borders the municipalities of Deerfield Township, Millville, and Maurice River Township in Cumberland County; Buena and Buena Vista Township in Atlantic County; Franklin Township and Newfield Boro in Gloucester County; and Pittsgrove Township in Salem County. The city is approximately 38 mile (61 km) from the Atlantic Ocean.

The 2010 United States census counted 60,724 people, 21,450 households, and 15,230 families in the city. The population density was There were 22,661 housing units at an average density of The racial makeup was 67.03% (40,703) White, 14.16% (8,600) Black or African American, 0.67% (406) Native American, 1.71% (1,036) Asian, 0.04% (24) Pacific Islander, 12.91% (7,841) from other races, and 3.48% (2,114) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 38.03% (23,093) of the population.

As of the 2000 U. S. census,

There were 19,939 households, out of which 80.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.8% were married couples living together, 16.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.7% were non families. 23.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.17. In addition to other benefits to encourage employment and investment within the Zone, shoppers can take advantage of a reduced 3.3125% sales tax rate (half of the 6 5/8% rate charged statewide) at eligible merchants. Established in October 1988, the city's Urban Enterprise Zone status expires in December 2023. The main street in Vineland is Landis Avenue. The traditional downtown area is located several blocks east and west of the intersection of Landis Avenue and the Boulevard. The Boulevard is a pair of roads that flank the main north–south railroad, which connected Vineland with Cape May to the south and Camden/Philadelphia to the north. After many years of decline, there has been much recent activity to restore the vitality of "The Avenue" and the center city area. New construction includes a new transportation center, courthouse, post office, elementary school / community center and sidewalk upgrades. In 2005, Vineland was designated a Main Street Community and, through the work of this group, money has been earmarked to continue this improvement through property and facade improvements, business retention and marketing.

The City of Vineland is governed within the Faulkner Act, formally known as the Optional Municipal Charter Law, under the Mayor Council (Plan A), implemented based on the recommendations of a Charter Study Commission as of July 1, 1952, months after the city's formation. The city is one of 71 municipalities (of the 564) statewide that use this form of government. The governing body is a mayor, serving as the city's chief executive, and a five member city council, serving as the city's legislature. The mayor and council are elected at large to serve concurrent four year terms of office in non partisan elections held in leap years as part of the November general election. An ordinance passed by the council in 2011 shifted elections from May to November, effectively extending the term of those members serving at the time by six months. as of 2023, the mayor of Vineland is Anthony Fanucci whose term of office ends on December 31, 2024. Members of the Vineland city council are Council President Elizabeth Arthur, Council Vice President David Acosta, Ronald John Franceschini Jr., Paul F. Spinelli and Albert Vargas, all of whom serving terms of office ending on December 31, 2024. In November 2019, the city council appointed Elizabeth Arthur to fill the seat vacated by Angela Calakos following her resignation after announcing that she was moving out of the city. Arthur served on an interim basis until the November 2019 general election, when she was elected to serve the balance of the term office. In January 2013, Ruben Bermudez took office as the city's first Hispanic mayor.

Vineland is located in the 2nd Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 1st state legislative district.

As of March 2011, there were a total of 37,583 registered voters in Vineland, of which 10,388 (27.6%) were registered as Democrats, 6,109 (16.3%) were registered as Republicans and 21,059 (56.0%) were registered as Unaffiliated. There were 27 voters registered to other parties. In the 2012 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 64.9% of the vote (15,299 cast), ahead of Republican Mitt Romney with 34.2% (8,074 votes), and other candidates with 0.9% (218 votes), among the 23,880 ballots cast by the city's 39,605 registered voters (289 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 60.3%. In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 62.6% of the vote (15,743 cast), ahead of Republican John McCain, who received 35.2% (8,862 votes), with 25,144 ballots cast among the city's 39,098 registered voters, for a turnout of 64.3%. In the 2004 presidential election, Democrat John Kerry received 53.8% of the vote (12,506 ballots cast), outpolling Republican George W. Bush, who received around 43.6% (10,131 votes), with 23,253 ballots cast among the city's 35,943 registered voters, for a turnout percentage of 64.7. In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 55.5% of the vote (7,171 cast), ahead of Democrat Barbara Buono with 42.8% (5,527 votes), and other candidates with 1.7% (221 votes), among the 13,243 ballots cast by the city's 37,789 registered voters (324 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 35.0%. In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Democrat Jon Corzine received 52.2% of the vote (7,457 ballots cast), ahead of both Republican Chris Christie with 40.1% (5,725 votes) and Independent Chris Daggett with 4.8% (681 votes), with 14,289 ballots cast among the city's 37,092 registered voters, yielding a 38.5% turnout.

Rowan College of South Jersey Cumberland Campus (former Cumberland County College) is partially in the Vineland city limits with the other portion in Millville.

Vineland Public Library (VPL) is the city's public library.

The Delsea Drive In, located on Route 47 (Delsea Drive) north of County Route 552, was for years the only remaining drive in theater in the state of New Jersey, the state in which they were first created in 1932 in Camden. Today New Jersey is home to two drive in theaters—the Delsea Drive In and the Newark Moonlight Cinema. The Palace of Depression was built by the mustachioed eccentric George Daynor, a former Alaska gold miner who lost his fortune in the Wall Street Crash of 1929; the house was known as "The Strangest House in the World" or the "Home of Junk", and was built as a testament of willpower against the effects of the Great Depression. as of 2018, a full restoration, undertaken by The Palace of Depression Restoration Association, is ongoing. The Landis MarketPlace opened in 2011 as a two level indoor public market and would go on to include several vendors on the upper level. In July 2015, the Amish vendors on the lower level departed and the market was purchased by the city the following month. as of 2016, Spataro's Pizza was the sole remaining tenant. The Vineland Historical and Antiquarian Society, a museum and research library that has been in operation since 1910 and holds a large collection exhibiting the city's history. In 2009, as much as $25 million in grants from the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 were allocated to help with the cleanup of the Vineland Chemical Company site. The company's owners had paid $3 million towards the cleanup of soil and water at the site polluted with arsenic and other toxic materials, though the United States Environmental Protection Agency has spent more than $120 million to remediate the Superfund site.

Clear Communications owns two locally licensed radio stations; WVLT (92.1) and WMIZ (1270), with WPOV LP (107.7) owned by the local branch of Calvary Chapel. Vineland is also the city of license for WUVP DT (channel 65), Philadelphia's Univision station, which has studios in Franklin Township and their news operation and transmitter based in Philadelphia proper.

as of 2010, the city had a total of 335.15 mile (539 km) of roadways, of which 234.73 mile (378 km) were maintained by the municipality, 80.54 mile (130 km) by Cumberland County and 19.88 mile (32 km) by the New Jersey Department of Transportation and 2.79 mile (4 km) by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. Route 47 (Delsea Drive) runs almost 9.5 mile (15 km) north south in the western quarter of the city, connecting Millville in the south to Franklin Township in Gloucester County at the city's northern tip. Route 55 enters the city from Millville for 1.4 mile (2 km), heads back into Millville and re enters Vineland, running along the western border for 8.8 mile (14 km) and heads north into Pittsgrove Township in Salem County. Route 56 (Landis Avenue) heads across the city from Pittsgrove Township to its eastern terminus at Route 47. County Route 540 (Almond Road / Park Avenue / Landis Avenue) enters from the west in Pittsgrove Township and continues for 8 mile (13 km) to Buena Vista Township in Atlantic County, on the city's eastern border. County Route 552 (Sherman Avenue / Mays Landing Road) enters from Deerfield Township in the city's southwest corner and continues for 10.8 mile (17 km) into Maurice River Township. County Route 555 (South Main Road / North Main Road) enters from Millville extending for 8 mile (13 km) into Franklin Township.

NJ Transit provides bus transportation on the 313 route between Cape May and Philadelphia, on the 408 route between Millville and Philadelphia and on the 553 route between Upper Deerfield Township and Atlantic City. Two general aviation airports are located nearby. Vineland Downstown Airport is located 4 mile (6 km) northeast of the central business district and Kroelinger Airport, 3 mile (5 km) north.

The Cumberland Cape Atlantic YMCA is in Vineland. The corporate name was changed from Vineland YMCA as the board of directors decided to expand the organization's service area to Atlantic County and Cape May County. There was a previous YMCA building in Millville that in August 1990 stopped operations. In late 1997 Millville Housing Authority purchased the building, which opened as the Holly City Development Corp. Family Center in 2001.