Contemporary Boonton developed around 1829 as a result of the construction of the Morris Canal and the establishment of the New Jersey Iron Company. Access to Boonton is provided via Myrtle Avenue (US 202), and I-287, as well as NJ Transit's Boonton Line. The town contains a traditional Main Street business district with its notable antique shops. The town is also noted for its one- and two-family homes, townhouses, and restored homes representing the Colonial, Victorian and Contemporary eras.

Boonton is bisected by I-287, a major north-south freeway, and Route 202. The two-and –a-half square mile community is almost fully developed and is the shopping center for adjacent communities. The diversified business district includes five banks, food, clothing and variety stores. The town's economic center, Main Street, is lined with a mixture of mom-and-pop boutiques and antique stores, and computer and small Internet companies housed behind turn-of-the-century brick building facades.

Victorian houses are predominant in some parts of town. Elsewhere, historic dwellings, built between 1850 and 1855, intermix with ranch and split-level dwellings, condominiums and townhouses. 

The rise from the Rockaway River, the New York skyline and surrounding plains are visible from the town’s higher elevations. Rich in colonial heritage, the town stretches north and east to Boonton Township and Montville and to Mountain Lakes and Parsippany in the South.

Since 1903, much of the early history of the original community is buried beneath the waters of the Jersey City Reservoir. Once the site of forges, rolling mills, a sawmill, a nail factory, gristmill and early homes of Dutch and English settlers, the town now dominates the hills that surround the reservoir. Stretches of the Morris Canal are still visible as is the remarkable 80-foot plane which allowed canal travelers to bypass the falls of the Rockaway River.

Board of Education: 
434 Lathrop Avenue
Boonton NJ 07005
(201) 335-3994
http://www.boontonschools.org
Kindergarten half day
Must be 5 years old by Oct. 1

Public Schools:
School Street School K-4; John Hill School 5-8; Boonton High Schoo1 9-l2


Boonton Township
Boonton Township, comprised of approximately eight square miles in north central Morris County, has retained much of its natural character and rural charm. Incorporated in 1868, the township had the earliest known roads. McCaffrey Lane, the oldest recorded thoroughfare in the area, was built in 1767, and in 1822 North Main Street was "cut" along the proposed Morris Canal route. In 1824 the Morris Canal and Banking Company was chartered and the Powerville Hotel, still standing, was built near Lock No. 11 to accommodate both canal and transient trade. It later gained fame as a pre-Civil War Underground Railroad station. In the late 1920's, the township became home to the Aircraft Radio Corporation, which pioneered electronic instrumentation for use in planes.

Schools
Rockaway Valley School (K- 8)
11 Valley Road
Boonton Township, NJ 07005
(973) 334-4162
www.rvsnj.org
Mountain Lakes High School (9-12)
96 Powerville Road
Mountain Lakes, NJ 07046
(973) 334-8400
www.mtlakes.org/hs/

There is a sending/receiving agreement in place between the Boonton Township Board of Education and Mountain Lakes Board of Education for High School. Please contact the Boonton Township Board of Education for more information.

Transportation
Nearby Routes 10, 23, 46, 202, I-80, 280 and 287 offer Boonton Residents quick access to points in the metropolitan area. Bus service to New York City is available in town on Route 46. Conrail provides train service to Hoboken. A taxi service and several limousine services are available in town. New Jersey Transport provides bus service from Morristown through Boonton and to Willowbrook Mall.

Shopping
Del’s Village Shopping Center; IGA Shopping Plaza; Willowbrook Mall, Wayne; and Rockaway Townsquare Mall.