At the main crossroads in Dumont, in northern New Jersey, there is a sandstone Reformed church dating to the presidency of Thomas Jefferson. Right on Washington Avenue, a Revolutionary-era house still exists as a public library. Next to the freight train tracks is an eatery believed to be the oldest in the state.
Dumont, a modest two-square-mile town, values history and its relative anonymity.
“Many people don’t know about Dumont because it’s not close to the highway or advertised on,” said Indira Monegro, 42, a registered nurse at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital who moved to town last year. highway signs. “When I tell people where I live, they ask, ‘What the hell is that?'”
Ms. Monegro and her husband, Jose Monegro, 43, a professional DJ, are like many buyers making their way to Dumont: budget-conscious New Yorkers. The couple and their two sons previously rented an apartment in the Bronx. They looked at more than 50 homes in Bergen County, where Mr. Monegro is related, before paying $420,000 for a well-maintained three-bedroom Cape Cod home, blocks from the combined primary-secondary school he attended. Their young son is currently attending a block of houses.
In Dumont, the family found an ethnically diverse community that was also so close together that Mr. Monegro successfully developed the woman he had not expected. “After we moved in, I was building a warehouse and a neighbor asked if I could work from his house,” he said. “Now I have worked at over 100 houses in town. Words spread like wildfire here. “
The Monegros defended what some might consider an inconvenient position. “It took us 15 minutes to get to 4th Street,” said Mr. Monegro, which leads to the George Washington Bridge. “Most of these towns, the highways are right there. But I wouldn’t trade it. “
Bill Beckett, brokerage owner of McSpirit & Beckett Real Estate, in nearby Tenafly, describes Dumont as “a modest town, in the best sense of the word” – and a rarity in the northeast County Bergen has a budget of around $500,000 going away.
“Dumont tends to be more cohesive, because of its small size and centralized layout,” says Mr. Beckett. “It’s almost square, with the town center and an elementary school on each corner. For those with small children, it’s a manageable scale.”
With plans to start a family – and a headache by home prices on Long Island, where they grew up – Carolyn Cresci and Craig Boiarsky also bought a Cape Cod in Dumont a year after the pandemic, their own. with four bedrooms. Cresci, 30, a digital fundraiser, and Boiarsky, 25, a data analyst for a media company, have moved from a rental home in Jersey City, NJ.
“There were 16 offers for this home, and I don’t know how we got it for what we paid” – $460,000, or $41.00 off the asking price – “but we feel grateful,” Ms. Cresci said. “We bought it from a family of six who upgraded to a larger home. Their kids were sad to leave – but they stayed in Dumont. That says a lot about the community. “
With an empty fridge on their first night there, Ms Cresci and Mr Boiarsky Googled a place to eat and spanned two blocks, at Grant Street Cafe, a fun spot known for beer craft and thin crust pizza – the kind of watering hole one can find in Jersey City or Hoboken. “Now we go there once or twice a week for drinks or dinner,” Ms. Cresci said.
What you will find
Dumont, 18 miles from Midtown Manhattan and 5 miles from Paramus shopping centers, has about 18,000 residents and a median household income of $107,172, well above the county average. Its immediate neighbors are two counties with similar demographics – Bergenfield and New Milford – and the more affluent Haworth and Cresskill.
Two-lane Washington Avenue, which runs north-south, and two-lane Madison Avenue, which runs east-west, are major thoroughfares. They meet where the steeple of the old Northern Reformed Church rises over the suburban landscape of the Capes and former colonies on a 50-foot lot, and garden apartments built for returning soldiers after World War II. Larger properties – mostly split-level apartments – are concentrated in the extreme north, near Haworth.
Eclectic offerings in Dumont’s cozy central business district include a coffee shop, a coffee bean peddler, a thrift store, and a hardware store that advertises live bait (Oradell Reservoir, a fishing spot, nearby). They are augmented by a Stop & Shop supermarket on the Bergenfield border and a strip mall on the Cresskill border.
Acknowledging that downtown is old and needs more parking and maybe even an ice cream shop – something Dumont used to have – Andrew LaBruno, the mayor, said the county has engaged with a planner to consider the possibility of redevelopment and recovery.
“We need a little bit of a boost to make the town come alive, and find a way to get people to come to Dumont and spend some money here,” Mr. LaBruno said, adding acknowledge that “50%” of residents like things the way they are and do not want to change.
What you will have to pay
New Jersey Multisite Subscription Service data shows that from April 1, 2021 through March 31, 2022, 208 single-family homes sold in Dumont for an average price of $480,000; a year earlier, 192 single-family homes sold for an average of $450,000. On April 20, the listing service’s website showed 14 single-family homes for sale, with prices ranging from $369,900 to $619,000.
According to the New Jersey Department of Communities, Dumont’s average annual property tax bill is $11,893 in 2021, 4.5% lower than the county average.
In the county’s newest apartment community, the 146-unit Washington Promenade, opening in 2020 on a former farmland, rents range from $2,405 to $3,450.
The Vibe
With more than 15 parks and playgrounds, an arboretum that runs parallel to the railroad tracks, and a private swim club, Dumont is family-friendly. Green spaces are the backdrop for festivals, summer movies and concerts, and the annual 5K race.
“Dumont is one of those towns that really hasn’t changed much,” said Karen DeMarco, who grew up there and runs a Facebook community group and with her husband, Carmine, a local. food distribution charity from a local church. The couple moved to Dumont from Ridgefield, a county in Bergen County with a highway crossing, 15 years ago, when their three children were young.
“The whole idea of being able to let your kids cycle in the neighborhood without you panicking – that’s Dumont,” says Ms. DeMarco.
Unusual dining scene. In addition to Grant Street Cafe, in a cluster of small retail stores north of downtown, options include Fink’s BBQ Smokehouse, for smoked meats; Denaro’s, for submarine sandwiches; XO Taco & Bar, for Mexican food; La Taberna, for steaks and tapas; a pair of Italian restaurants and a pair of sushi spots. But for long-term survival, no place beats the small, memorabilia-filled Dumont Crystal Diner, which, circa 1920s, is also a prominent landmark as the quaint cathedral steps away.
Schools
Of the 2,468 students in the public school district, 46 percent identify as white, 32 percent as Hispanic, 16 percent as Asian, and 4 percent as Black.
There are four elementary schools: Grant, in the northeast quadrant; Honiss, in the southeast; Lincoln, in the southwest; and Selzer, in the northwest. Honiss and Selzer also contain middle school classes, sixth through eighth.
Dumont High School, near downtown, enrolls 785 students. In 2020-21, the average SAT score is 554 in reading and writing and 558 in math, compared with 557 and 560 statewide.
Route to work
From Dumont, the New Jersey Transit bus arrives at the Port Authority in Manhattan in about an hour; fares are $6 one way or $167 monthly. There is no passenger train service.
History
Dumont was founded in 1894 as Schraalenburgh, an old Dutch name that some residents found unfashionable. After four years, the county was renamed for the mayor, Dumont Clarke, a New York banker.
During World War I, much of Dumont was occupied by the 770-acre Camp Merritt, an area for soldiers stationed for European battlefields. About 570,000 men, including Harry S. Truman, passed before boarding the convoy in Hoboken, NJ. The 65-foot granite memorial in the Dumont-Cresskill border traffic circle commemorating 578 Soldiers, nurses, and civilians died at Camp Merritt during the 1918 flu pandemic.
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