Clifton

With much fanfare, Clifton became New Jersey's twelfth-largest city on an April night in 1917. On that day, the people voted 1,276 to 948 to change their form of government and to leave behind the name of Acquackanonk Township. With 500 people in tow, Muscatti's band made its way to the city's crossroads, at Main Street and Clifton Avenue, and played the Star-Spangled Banner. Red-and-green fireworks lit the sky as townspeople climbed into automobiles and formed an impromptu parade. From then on, Clifton was on its own path. With a striking selection of photographs, many of which have rarely been seen, Clifton tells the story of this remarkable city. It is a community that became home to industry as well as households. Following World War II, it ranked as the state's fastest-growing city. Fanned in part by its proximity to New York and the highways that crossed its border, Clifton spread into new neighborhoods that took shape on the vast farmlands to the west. As one c. 1900s building association proclaimed, Clifton had every advantage: convenience of access to business, good neighbors, beauty and variety of landscape, moderate price of land.

This new history shows the author's affection for Clifton, the city in which he grew up and now lives with his family. Philip M. Read, a graduate of Boston University, is a journalist who has worked for several New Jersey newspapers.