The business district of Mountainside straddles busy Route 22. But down a series of wooded back roads in this Union County borough lies another world, a rustic preserve of homes terraced on the Watchung mountains. In Mountainside, the pace is unhurried and customs are a bit old-fashioned, by choice. Sidewalks and street lights are rare, the grocer makes home deliveries and people turn out in force for the annual Little League parade. And although many residents liken the borough to an isolated country hamlet, they revel in the fact that from their perch they can see Manhattan just 24 miles away.
Mountainside is more than just a pretty place.
It has the Children's specialized Hospital and some 300 light industrial and commercial businesses, most of them along Route 22. As a result, the borough's tax rate is among the lowest in Union County. But strict zoning established three decades ago has kept the borough's 2.7 mile stretch of Route 22 free of fast-food chains and car dealerships. Stability has been Mountainside's hallmark since it broke from neighboring Westfield to become an independent borough in 1895. Until the 1950's its population hovered around 2,000 and development was slow.