Винфилд-Тауншип, Нью-Джерси: История и современность

Township in Union County, New Jersey, US

Winfield Township (also called Winfield Park) is a township in Union County, in the U. S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 1,423, The township is the sixth smallest municipality in the state. Winfield and Linden share the same ZIP Code. Winfield Township was incorporated as a township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on August 6, 1941, from portions of Clark and Linden, passing over the Governor's veto.

The Winfield Park Mutual Ownership Defense Housing Project (Project No. 28071) is a 700 unit development of 254 buildings that were originally planned and developed by and built for the defense workers of the Kearny, New Jersey, shipyards. This was the last of eight projects undertaken by the Mutual Ownership Defense Housing Division of the Federal Works Agency under the leadership of Colonel Lawrence Westbrook. In earlier stages, Winfield Park was known as the Rahway River Park Project. John T. Rowland served as the project's architect. Winfield Park is located almost immediately off of exit 136 of the Garden State Parkway; the municipalities of Cranford, Linden and Clark surround Winfield Township, a governmental entity established to enclose the Winfield Park Project. The Township is bordered on three sides by the Rahway River and Rahway River Park (which adds substantially to the park like setting envisioned by the planners). Units range in size and type from single family homes to two story (plus basement) two and three bedroom apartments, better known today as Townhouses; to one story (plus basement) two bedroom apartments; and one bedroom apartments, better known to residents as "bachelors." Within the town are located an elementary school, two store shopping center and Senior Citizen Hall, Community Center, Mutual Housing Office, and Garage, Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Squad Building, and Municipal Building/Police Office. The defense workers of the Kearny Shipyards had advocated early in 1940 for housing to be developed in the northern New Jersey area. These workers were early and vocal supporters of the National Housing for Defense Act of 1940, also known as the Lanham Act, and the mutual housing program. In January, 1941, a report on the housing requirements of the northern New Jersey area indicated that 1000 units were needed. The Defense Housing Coordinator approved the construction of a 300 unit project in the Newark/ Harrison area and a 700 unit project "to be built as a project itself sponsored by a responsible committee of the defense workers who will live in them." The housing committee had seven working policies that it had developed and that it wanted to apply to the workers' housing, all of which they believed conformed with the original intentions of the Lanham Act of 1940 ("The housing is to be wherever feasible of a permanent nature, and after the emergency has passed these homes are to be disposed of, and in that way the Government is to recoup the initial investment and they will be available for permanent homes." The cost per unit was set at, and not permitted to exceed $3000.00.) and fit well within the mutual housing program. 1. Management of all community affairs, including relations with local government, should be in the hands of the residents of the new project. 2. Each unit should be assessable for its portion of local taxes, and every effort needs to be made "that both houses and householders should be easily and naturally assimilated into the normal scheme of the locality." 3. The Federal Works Agency (FWA) would provide all streets, sewers, parks, and all other facilities for the project. 4. All dwellings built for civilian defense workers should be sold as a group to local housing corporation as soon as they are completed. 5. All stockholders in the project are, and should be considered as, householders. 6. All management and operating procedures must be carried out under the direction of the local corporation, and not under the direction of the federal government. 7. Housing Corporation must enter into a contract of sale, rather than a rental agreement, with each householder. Although the committee was completely convinced of the quality of the mutual ownership program itself, they did insist on improvements in the quality of the units over those that had been first designed and built for the Audubon Park project. They especially insisted on the construction of full basements for their new homes.

The first major job that faced the development committee was finding and selecting a suitable site for a 700 unit housing project in northern New Jersey. The United States Housing Authority provided two site selection experts, and the New Jersey State Planning Commission assisted in the site selection process. The final location had to be relatively inexpensive to purchase, near major utility networks for water, gas, electric, and sewer connections, and be in a financially stable host community with underutilized public facilities and services. Major urban areas in northern New Jersey were eliminated early because no plots of land were large enough for the project. The marshy rural areas near the shipyards were also found unacceptable early on. Quickly the committee began focusing its attention on the surrounding suburban communities, which were very popular among its work constituency. Suburban communities lacked financial stability because they lacked the industrial base necessary to keep residential property taxes low. The people of these prospective host communities were also frightened that the new project would be a direct liability rather than an asset for their towns. Early resistance from potential host communities over financial impact concerns meant that the committee had two choices: to stop the project and wait for the problems to be resolved or push ahead, utilizing the powers granted in the Lanham Act powers to overrule local resistance, but creating a great deal of friction that could potentially affect the project's future success. The housing need was so great, though, that the only viable choice was the second one, and they pushed forward to find a site. Consciously attempting to avoid conflict, the committee tried to assure potential host communities that projects built within the mutual ownership program would pay real taxes and not make payments in place of taxes as outlined in the Lanham Act of 1940. They also petitioned the United States Congress to provide additional funds to host communities that would allow them to expand public services and facilities without imposing additional local taxes. But the financial concerns of the residents only served to exacerbate other local fears about the new project. Many defense workers took these other fears very personally. "Realizing that such an influx of families would engulf them (host community) in a tidal wave of financial difficulty, the municipal government of the various towns considered, stirred up a tremendous opposition to the project and the people to live in it with untrue and unjust charges such as decreased realty values, 'tax exempt properties,' 'lower class of people,' and so forth, which are all obviously false. We are a class of people who are gainfully employed, we are law abiding, decent, and respectable, and we are Americans." Seven potential host communities were eventually identified and researched. The committee named Union Township, New Jersey as their final choice, but under intense community and [political pressure] this decision was reversed, and Clark, New Jersey was selected as the final site of the project. Colonel Lawrence Westbrook, Special Assistant in the Federal Works Agency with responsibility for the Mutual Ownership Defense Housing Division, wrote the following letter to Union Township opponents of the project, clearly showing his frustration. "Your letter to Congressmen McLean protesting the location of a proposed defense housing project in Union Township has been referred to this office. This is to advise you that a decision has been made to locate the project in Clark Township. It is desired to make it entirely clear, however, that in reaching this decision this office in no manner agrees that the numerous protests received from various persons and organizations in Union Township were based upon valid premises. We feel certain that if you and the other protesters had been acquainted with all of the facts in the situation, you would not have filed your protest. On the contrary, it is believed that you would have urged the Government to locate the project in your township. Since the project will be undertaken in your immediate neighborhood, you will have ample opportunity to determine whether or not the disadvantages to the community, as claimed by your Mayor, were based upon sound facts." Clark Township's municipal government had been very desirous of the siting of the project in their township. It had extended an invitation to the Federal Works Agency after the Union Township protests had erupted. However, the reaction of Clark's residents to the project indicates that the Township Committee did not have a good understanding of the actual desires of their constituents.

The construction of Winfield Park began on June 23, 1941, and was contracted through the MacEvoy Company of Newark, New Jersey, a company that built sections of the Newark subway, the Wanaque Reservoir, and was then working on developing reinforced concrete oil tankers (a project that failed spectacularly, and remnants of which can be still be seen off the coastline of Cape May, New Jersey). The entire Winfield project—254 buildings on 110 acres—eventually required 7500 gallons of paint; 2500 rolls of wallpaper; of lumber; and would employ 1,223 construction workers for five months. From the start, work did not proceed well. Labor Union disputes stopped construction at least once. The construction work completed by the MacEvoy Company was exceptionally poor—so poor that it attracted the attention of the Truman Committee investigating abuses with the National Defense Program. The investigation would eventually uncover the facts that the Winfield Park project lacked complete architectural or engineering plans and that financial records—at least the few that could be found—were criminally maintained. The project's construction was so badly botched that in many of the new buildings, residents discovered that nails had been hammered through water pipes, chimneys still contained the wooden forms used for their construction, roofs leaked, water pipes had never been soldered, floors were buckled, the paintwork was molding, sewer lines and pumps rarely worked, and many roads, sidewalks, and curbs had never been completed. On average, thirty seven items needed to be repaired and/or replaced in each unit to make it habitable. To accomplish this repair work, the federal government spent an additional $100,000.00 and hired a new contractor, even after the project had officially been declared complete by Westbrook. The final cost for Winfield Park, including Federal Works Agency provided public works, came to $4,392,075.55 or $6,274.00/ unit; the Lanham Act specified a limit of $3,500.00. Continuing investigations uncovered that MacEvoy Company had manipulated bids and committed extensive fraud. MacEvoy rented and sold equipment and supplies to itself at an inflated cost, provided insurance to the government for its own work, employed the son in law of one of the government inspectors on the project, and generally milked the Winfield Park Project for everything that it could. Much of this is outlined in a Life Magazine article from the November 30, 1942 issue.

The construction difficulties outlined above had a major impact on the early days of Winfield Township. On November 30, 1941, the first 145 families (popularly referred to by township residents today as the "pioneers") arrived in their new town. A planned parade from Newark, New Jersey never materialized, and the families found themselves moving into barely completed, temporarily assigned units located at the edge of the project to make the units more easily accessible across the mud flats that were supposed to be the town's roads, curbs, and sidewalks. Most units were not yet connected to utilities and, in some cases, would not be for several months, even as winter approached. Early residents vividly remember huddling around car radios, the only radios available because of lack of electricity, to hear the news of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. No fire protection was provided, but the government hired a few guards and provided bicycles for "law enforcement". The school was not yet under construction, and all school age children were sent to three different school districts. As expected, Winfield's neighbors were not warm to the new residents and were even heard to make rude comments as the township's residents trudged into their communities, in their mud covered boots, to make food purchases. Transportation to the Kearny Shipyards was difficult if not impossible when the bus provided by the government broke down. Although one would think things could not be worse, there was an outbreak of polio in Winfield, and the entire town was quarantined. But even with these difficulties, there would soon be far more applicants than available units. Quickly the township's population increased, and the new residents were employed not only by the Kearny shipyards but also by Merck & Company, National Pneumatic Company, Lawrence Engineering, and Research Company, American Type Founders Co., American Gas Accumulator, Singer Manufacturing, and many other manufacturers. The cooperative nature of the town as a mutual housing project, the difficult physical environment of the town during its early days, and the animosity exhibited toward the new residents by their neighbors all served to bind the community together, creating a very strong and vigorous community life. Volunteer Police and Fire departments were quickly established by the residents, as was a volunteer Ambulance Squad and cooperative food store. Community leaders actively sought to discover Winfield's residents' special skills and interests. They utilized this information to organize and promote an astonishing number of clubs and social groups for a community of this size. Cooperative child care was provided in a building built by the community itself. Other community construction projects included a community center and shopping center. The great community event of the early days of Winfield Township was the opening of the town's grammar school on September 8, 1943. To increase the speed of repairs of structural deficiencies caused by the MacEvoy Company's poor workmanship, the residents of the Winfield participated in a rent strike against the federal government during the first year of occupancy; it was this strike that brought the attention of the Truman Committee to the Winfield Park project. A lasting problem caused by the township's unique status was the ill defined relationship between the newly appointed Township Committee and the Mutual Housing Corporation. Both groups represented the same constituency; one (Mutual Housing) controlling all of the buildings and the other (Township Committee) with taxation authority; conflict and confusion were inevitable.

Winfield Park was the last of the Mutual Ownership Defense Housing Projects to be built and occupied. Because it was opened just before the start of the United States' involvement in World War II, it was also one of the last housing projects of a permanent nature to be built for the defense housing program. The current residents of Winfield believe that their town was built as temporary housing and are very proud of how well the structures have held up over the past 68 years thanks to their repair efforts; clearly, this grew out of the poor workmanship of the original construction. The Winfield Park Mutual Housing Corporation purchased the Winfield Park project from the federal government for $1,358,567.21 on December 28, 1950, and entered into a 45 year mortgage bearing a 3% interest rate, which was completed on July 1, 1984. By 1966, a Rutgers University economic study of the town reported that the town had "elements of a cooperative utopia, a feudal manor, and company town (with only one party and one company)." It continued on that:

"One of the apparent by products of this situation (Town and Corporation being one and the same) is that the normal inter party rivalry has been replaced by a running battle between the corporation and the township, both of which are elected by the same voters." The 1966 study also made another observation about Winfield Park. "One effect of outside resentment upon Winfield itself was to solidify sentiment among the inhabitants against their neighbors. If their neighbors didn't like Winfield, the feeling was definitely mutual. Another effect was to make the early Winfield settlers suspicious of all bureaucracy, including their own elected officers. In this respect, the trying experiences and disillusionment attending the early days of Winfield have made its citizens even more sensitive than usual to rumors respecting changes in the community structures." This sensitivity was especially prevalent in the 1960s when residents began to realize that the town's property was worth far more than the structures built upon it. Although several experts have presented proposals to Winfield for more efficient and economical use of the property—ranging from selling the entire community and splitting the profits to moving every resident into a single high rise building and then developing the remaining property for more profitable uses—residents have never considered any of these proposals very seriously. The residents have continually recommitted themselves to the mutual ownership concept. In August 2001, the entire township celebrated its 60th anniversary with a community picnic and a parade led by Grand Marshal Leona Harriot Burke (1917–2007), who had moved from Kearny, New Jersey to Winfield Park on the first move in day for new residents on December 1, 1941. Mrs. Burke had also served as the first president of the Winfield Park Volunteer Fire Department's Ladies Auxiliary.

The residents of Winfield Park were participants during the mid 1940s in a study of social interactions and patterns within public housing projects. This was one of the first studies undertaken by Columbia University Bureau of Applied Social Research under the leadership of sociologist Robert K. Merton. Merton would become one of the most influential sociologists of the 20th century; he was known as the "Father of the focus group" and was the first sociologist to win a National Medal of Science (1994). During his career, Merton coined terms including "self fulfilling prophecy" (in an article that dealt with Winfield) and "role model". Other sociologists involved in these studies included Paul Lazarsfeld, Patricia Salter West, and Marie Jahoda. Winfield Park was presented in several published articles by these researchers under the pseudonym "Craftown" and was presented as a homogeneous white middle income public housing project. In these articles, "Craftown" was often compared and contrasted with "Hilltown," a racially integrated lower income public housing project. An aspect of this research beyond interviewing every adult resident of the community was the decision to observe and provide detailed analysis and reports on community organizational meetings taking place during the summer and fall of 1945. In addition to the articles, there was also an unpublished manuscript on this research entitled Patterns of Social Life: Explorations in the Sociology and Social Psychology of Housing. When asked in 2002 why this manuscript had not been published, Merton described the period of its writing as being during the Red Scare of the post war years and his fear, along with those of the other researchers, that the study could have negatively affected Winfield Park. Merton described the mutual housing projects as some of the closest examples of functioning socialist communities within the United States and as such, was one of the primary attractions for studying Winfield Park and its residents.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 0.18 square miles (0.47 km2), all of which was land.

The 2010 United States census counted 1,471 people, 706 households, and 382 families in the township. The population density was 8,320.1 per square mile (3,212.4/km2). There were 714 housing units at an average density of 4,038.5 per square mile (1,559.3/km2). The racial makeup was 96.40% (1,418) White, 0.95% (14) Black or African American, 0.00% (0) Native American, 0.14% (2) Asian, 0.07% (1) Pacific Islander, 1.09% (16) from other races, and 1.36% (20) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.39% (94) of the population.

Winfield Township is located in the 7th Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 22nd state legislative district.

As of March 2011, there were a total of 1,030 registered voters in Winfield Township, of which 383 (37.2% vs. 41.8% countywide) were registered as Democrats, 180 (17.5% vs. 15.3%) were registered as Republicans and 467 (45.3% vs. 42.9%) were registered as Unaffiliated. There were no voters registered to other parties. Among the township's 2010 Census population, 70.0% (vs. 53.3% in Union County) were registered to vote, including 84.7% of those ages 18 and over (vs. 70.6% countywide). In the 2012 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 426 votes (59.0% vs. 66.0% countywide), ahead of Republican Mitt Romney with 271 votes (37.5% vs. 32.3%) and other candidates with 13 votes (1.8% vs. 0.8%), among the 722 ballots cast by the township's 1,053 registered voters, for a turnout of 68.6% (vs. 68.8% in Union County). In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 406 votes (51.0% vs. 63.1% countywide), ahead of Republican John McCain with 371 votes (46.6% vs. 35.2%) and other candidates with 13 votes (1.6% vs. 0.9%), among the 796 ballots cast by the township's 1,063 registered voters, for a turnout of 74.9% (vs. 74.7% in Union County). In the 2004 presidential election, Democrat John Kerry received 420 votes (51.3% vs. 58.3% countywide), ahead of Republican George W. Bush with 389 votes (47.6% vs. 40.3%) and other candidates with 6 votes (0.7% vs. 0.7%), among the 818 ballots cast by the township's 1,051 registered voters, for a turnout of 77.8% (vs. 72.3% in the whole county). In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 61.0% of the vote (282 cast), ahead of Democrat Barbara Buono with 37.0% (171 votes), and other candidates with 1.9% (9 votes), among the 477 ballots cast by the township's 1,048 registered voters (15 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 45.5%. In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 264 votes (51.9% vs. 41.7% countywide), ahead of Democrat Jon Corzine with 189 votes (37.1% vs. 50.6%), Independent Chris Daggett with 38 votes (7.5% vs. 5.9%) and other candidates with 8 votes (1.6% vs. 0.8%), among the 509 ballots cast by the township's 1,049 registered voters, yielding a 48.5% turnout (vs. 46.5% in the county).

Even though Winfield is a small community, they do have a sports program for their elementary school students. They play soccer, basketball, and baseball. They also have a year round recreational sports program.

The Winfield Township School District serves public school students in pre kindergarten to eighth grade at Winfield School. As of the 2018–19 school year, the district, comprising one school, had an enrollment of 139 students and 18.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 7.7:1. In the 2016–17 school year, Winfield had the 19th smallest enrollment of any school district in the state, with 140 students. The school offers a class for students with special needs. Public school students in ninth through twelfth grades attend David Brearley High School in Kenilworth, as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Kenilworth Public Schools. As of the 2018–19 school year, the high school had an enrollment of 757 students and 63.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.9:1. Before the current sending relationship had been established with Brearley, students had attended Rahway High School until a decision by the New Jersey Department of Education in March 2000 allowed for termination of the relationship. Students in public school for grades 9–12 may also attend the schools of the Union County Vocational Technical Schools in Scotch Plains.

as of 2010, the township had a total of 3.10 mile (5 km) of roadways, of which 3.00 mile (5 km) were maintained by the municipality and 0.10 mile (0 km) by Union County. North Stiles Street (County Route 615) forms the northeastern edge of Winfield Township. In addition, a small piece of Raritan Road (County Route 607) forms the northern border of the township. The Garden State Parkway, west of the Rahway River, just misses the municipality by about 100 yards and is accessible at Exit 136 on the Cranford / Clark border.

NJ Transit provides bus service between the township and the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan on the 112 route, with local service offered on the 56 and 57 routes. Passenger rail service is provided by NJ Transit from the neighboring communities of Cranford on the Raritan Valley Line and from the Linden station on the Northeast Corridor. Newark Liberty International Airport is approximately 12 minutes away in Newark / Elizabeth. Linden Airport, a general aviation facility, is in Linden.