BERGEN COUNTY, N.J. — Why does Bergen County have 70 municipalities?

A fascinating video published Thursday by The Bergen Record’s Michael V. Pettigano takes viewers back to the 1800s, when Bergen was farmland, railroads were transforming the region and a bitter battle between old-timers and newcomers gave birth to the municipal patchwork that exists today.

In the mid-19th century, Bergen was largely agricultural, with descendants of Dutch and German settlers living much as their families had for generations.

Then came the railroads.

New York City residents began fleeing urban life for Bergen’s open spaces. The newcomers, dubbed “Commuters,”wanted the roads, schools and municipal services they were accustomed to in the city. The longtime residents, derisively called “Punkin Dusters,” generally wanted lower taxes and fewer services.

The fight became known as “Boroughitis.”

A new law allowed residents to break away from existing townships and form boroughs. In 1894 alone, 26 Bergen County boroughs were created.

Tenafly was first, splitting from Palisades Township on Jan. 23, 1894, after a dispute over roads and taxes.

The insanity quickly spread. Russell Jones’ house sat directly on the newly drawn border between Teaneck and Bogota. When it caught fire, firefighters from the two towns reportedly stood by arguing over which department had jurisdiction.

By the 1920s, Bergen had 70 municipalities. It still does.

But there is another remarkable Bergen County story hiding inside that history: the rise of its Jewish community, and Englewood’s role in leading the way.

Jewish immigrants began settling in Englewood in the 1880s and 1890s. On Rosh Hashanah in 1896, the county’s first Jewish religious service was held there by Benjamin Sher, a Lithuanian immigrant. The congregation that grew from those services became Congregation Ahavath Torah, which next month will hold its 130th annual Rosh Hashanah davening.

And Englewood kept leading.

Alvin Moskin became the first Jewish mayor in Bergen County, serving as Englewood’s mayor from 1956 to 1959.

Decades later, Orthodox Jewish Mayor Michael Wildes continued that tradition, including his 2020 endorsement and support of Bergen Hatzalah and its growth.

That history says something bigger about Englewood.

As Jewish life expanded from a handful of immigrants into one of the largest Jewish communities in America, Englewood repeatedly found itself ahead of the curve, opening doors and embracing Jewish civic participation before many other Bergen municipalities followed.

From the first Rosh Hashanah service in 1896 to Jewish mayors and modern community institutions, Englewood has been there from the beginning.

Pettigano explains why Bergen County has so many towns.

The Jewish history explains why one of those towns has played such an outsized role in shaping Bergen’s Jewish future.