Rutherford traces its original settler and earliest history to a 17th-century Dutch family, one of the first to arrive in the nascent colony of New Netherland. Throughout the next 12 generations, this family joined thousands of others to create a quaint oasis just beyond New York City. In 1835, the sleepy farm village greeted the arrival of one of Americas first railroads with wonder and anticipation. The long history of Rutherford is rich with pioneers in government, education, the arts, medicine, and commerce. In the 1880s, a local attorney sparked a revolution in municipal government just...