It was a homeland for the Leni-Lenape Indians before it was settled by tenacious Dutch immigrants. Two centuries later, in 1881, Rutherford, New Jersey, became an independent borough the first in Bergen County.

Author William Neumann narrates Rutherford’s remarkable transition from a rural retreat popular for its abundant springs to a bustling New York City suburb. Along the way he introduces some of the town’s extraordinary citizens, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet William Carlos Williams, who led the life of a small-town doctor at 9 Ridge Road, and the local husband and wife team who founded Fairleigh Dickinson University- a love story as much as a historical achievement.