Preakness, NJ

Preakness passed its name into American horse racing through a three-step chain. Milton H. Sanford established Preakness Stables near today's Valley Road and Preakness Avenue, then named an 1868 colt Preakness after the New Jersey farm. The horse won the Dinner Party Stakes on Pimlico's opening day in 1870, and the Maryland Jockey Club used his name for the Preakness Stakes first run in 1873. The neighborhood is now a census-defined section of Wayne Township rather than a separate municipality. It had 18,487 residents in the 2020 census across 5.67 square miles. Census estimates for 2020–2024 report that 21.8 percent of residents were born outside the United States and 34.1 percent of people age five and older spoke a language other than English at home. The name remains prominent at Preakness Valley Park, a 377-acre county property on the Wayne–Totowa border. Its public, full-service golf facility has two 18-hole courses, a clubhouse, and practice areas; in 2026 it continued as the home course for William Paterson University's golf team.

The park also contains Dey Mansion, the house museum that served as George Washington's headquarters during part of 1780. Wayne Township supplies a different kind of summer recreation at Captain Kilroy Park on Toms Lake, with a swimming lake, lap lanes, diving dock, inflatable adventure course, splash-play area, ball courts and fields, playground, pavilions, and locker rooms. The Wayne Public Library's main branch on Valley Road opens six days a week year-round and Sundays outside summer, offering digital collections, PALS Plus and Open Borrowing access, museum passes, English-language classes, and public Wi-Fi. NJ Transit Route 198 stops at Valley Road and Preakness Avenue on trips between William Paterson University, Wayne transit points, and New York's Port Authority Bus Terminal; Route 744 terminates at Preakness Shopping Center and runs toward Paterson.