West Orange was initially a part of
the city of
Newark, and remained such until November 27, 1806, when the territory now encompassing all of The Oranges was detached. On
April 13, 1807, the first government was elected, but not until
March 13, 1860, was
Orange officially incorporated as a city. Almost immediately, the
new city began fragmenting into smaller communities, primarily because of local disputes about the costs of establishing paid
police,
fire, and
street departments.
South Orange was organized on January 26, 1861,
Fairmount (later to become part of
West Orange) on March 11, 1862 and
East Orange on March 4, 1863. West Orange (including what had been
the independent municipality of Fairmount) was formed on March 14, 1863.
Thomas Edison bought a
property known as
Glenmont in 1886 as a wedding gift for his bride. It occupies 13.5 acres (55,000 m²) in the Llewellyn
Park district. The remains of both
Thomas and
Mina Edison are now buried there. Glenmont is maintained by
the National Park Service as part of the Edison
National Historic Site. The first
motion picture studio, The
Black Maria, was located on
the grounds of Edison\\\'s factory in West Orange.