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    Welcome to the Harding Township Homepage Print E-mail

    Harding Township Municipal Offices Summer Hours Schedule:  Effective July 7th through August 29th, the Harding Township Municipal Offices will be open 8:30 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. Monday through Thursday and 8:30 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. on Friday.


         Agendas for upcoming meetings can be found here Upcoming Agendas Upcoming Agendas.  We have recently begun to add approved meeting minutes to the site.  They can be found here  Upcoming Agendas Past Minutes, in folders associated with the relevant board, TC, PB, BoA, and BoH.

            Township History (from “Historic Character of Harding” brochure) Much of what is now known as Harding was an agricultural community with roots stretching as far back as the early 1700’s.  Bypassed by turnpikes, canals and railroads, Harding remained a rural backwater.

         For almost two centuries, Harding’s open and rolling landscapes reflected its agricultural use, as land had been cleared for cattle pastures, orchards and fields of grain. The Great Swamp and the slopes near Jockey Hollow were also used by local farmers for wood supply.  The villages of New Vernon, Logansville, Pleasantville and Green Village were the centers of this agricultural community; it was not unusual for villages to have a store and post office, a school of one or two rooms, churches, blacksmiths and sometimes a tavern.  Wealthy city residents in search of rural tranquility bought great swaths of farmland, enlarged old farmhouses and landscaped the grounds.  Several estate owners, desirous of better roads and wishing to deter suburban development, led the movement to form Harding Township.  And so, in 1922 the township was created from the northern half of Passaic Township (the southern portion is now called Long Hill Township) and named after the incumbent president, Warren G. Harding.

         The desire to preserve Harding’s rural character was quite evident by 1928.  An unusual private land preservation effort was begun with the New Vernon Neighborhood Restrictive Agreement, when several estate owners convinced many others to place a restrictive covenant on their land.  This pre-zoning, voluntary effort to limit development and save the pastoral qualities of over 1000 acres across Harding Township influenced subsequent zoning codes and notions of the landscapes value.

      

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    upcoming events
    July
    Township Holiday Observed
    July 4, 2008 (8:00 am - 5:00 pm)

    Environmental Commisison
    July 7, 2008 (7:30 pm - 9:30 pm)

    Township Committee Regular Meeting
    July 9, 2008 (7:30 pm - 9:30 pm)

    Board of Health
    July 10, 2008 (8:00 pm - 10:00 pm)

    Municipal Court
    July 11, 2008 (11:00 am - 2:00 pm)
    Recent Events
    Historic Preservation Commission
    July 3, 2008 (7:30 pm - 9:30 pm)

    Municipal Court
    July 1, 2008 (3:00 pm - 7:00 pm)