Dumont, NJ

Dumont's 18th-century Derick Banta House is one visible link to a settlement history that predates the borough by two centuries. A 2024 New Jersey Historic Trust grant funded an updated architectural survey of the house and 15 other properties. The state describes the area as first occupied by Tappan-Lenape people and later settled by Dutch and French Huguenots. A railroad reached the Schraalenburgh Valley in 1873, and Camp Merritt brought another period of rapid growth along Dumont's eastern edge during World War I. Schraalenburgh became a borough on July 20, 1894, then took the name Dumont in 1898 for its first mayor, Dumont Clarke. The present borough occupies 1.95 square miles. For 2020-2024, 73 percent of occupied homes were owner-occupied; the median owner-occupied value was $497,400, monthly costs for owners with a mortgage were $3,168, and median gross rent was $1,787.

Veterans Memorial Park combines ballfields, tennis and basketball courts, volleyball, a playground, picnic and barbecue areas, and the Ryan Caspare Pavilion. The recreation calendar uses that park system for organized sports and recurring events: a Memorial Day parade and egg hunt appear in spring, while Dumont Day, a 5K, a Halloween parade, and a winter festival fill later seasons. The Dixon Homestead Library on Washington Avenue opens until 8 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and provides the borough's public collections and programs. Public transportation is also visible in the center of town. As of July 2026, NJ Transit listed route 186 between Dumont and New York's George Washington Bridge Bus Station. Its Dumont A stop at Madison Avenue and Brook Street has bike racks, two accessible spaces, and 65 standard municipal permit-parking spaces.