SUMMIT

19th century

Lord Chancellor James Kent, a Chancellor of New York State and author of Commentaries on American Law, retired to this area in 1837 in a house he called Summit Lodge (perhaps a namesake of the town) on what is now called Kent Place Boulevard. He lived there until 1847. Today, the lodge is part of a large mansion, at 50 Kent Place Boulevard, opposite Kent Place School.

In 1837 Jonathan Crane Bonnell, a local saw-mill owner, donated some of his land for free to the Morris and Essex Railroad, which became the Delaware Lackawanna and Western Railroad and is now NJ Transit's Morris and Essex Lines, was built over what was then called "The Summit" hill, a name later shortened to Summit. For this Bonnell is remembered as "the father of Summit" as the new railroad spurred growth. Namely, the railroad allowed Summit to outgrow neighboring New Providence, which didn't have a train station. In 1868, a hotel named "The Summit House" burned beside the railroad. In 1869, Summit and New Providence separated and the Summit area was incorporated as the "Township of Summit". In the late 19th century, the area began shifting from farmland to wealthy estates; in 1892, renowned architect C. Abbott French cleared away a crest of a "summit ridge", removing "an impenetrable tangle of wild vines ... and myriads of rattlesnakes", to build a house with a view of New York City, The Times Building, and the Brooklyn Bridge. The present-day incarnation of Summit, known formally as the City of Summit, was incorporated on April 11, 1899.

During this time, Summit was the home of America's "antivice crusader", Anthony Comstock, who moved there about 1880 and built a house in 1892 at 35 Beekman Road, where he died in 1915.

In 1889 the Wisner family built a house at 165 Hobart Avenue which later became the Reeves-Reed Arboretum. In 1891 the first library was built although it was eventually outgrown. Today it is the Summit Playhouse operated by the Paper Mill Playhouse. A post office was also built in 1893 but that too was outgrown and is today the Roots Steakhouse while a Police headquarters was built in 1896.

In the 19th century, Summit served as a nearby getaway spot for wealthy residents of New York City in search of fresh air. Weekenders or summer vacationers would reach Summit by train and relax at large hotels and smaller inns and guest houses. Calvary Episcopal Church was built in 1894–1895; the New York Times called it a "handsome new house of worship". During its peak as an escape for the wealth of New York four large resort hotels would be built in Summit, the largest, Beechwood Hotel, had over 200 rooms and one of the first elevators in the state.

20th century

In 1906 the Overlook Medical Center opened in the city while in 1912 a YMCA opened. Silk weaving, which had thrived as an industry in the late 19th century, declined in the early decades of the 20th. In 1915, there was a strike at the Summit Silk Company on Weaver Street. In the early 20th century, there was much building; in 1909, one report suggested at least 40 residences were being built (some with stables) with costs varying from $4,500 to $45,000, making it "one of the greatest periods of building activity this place, the Hill City, has known."

A new railway was constructed from what was then-called New Orange. The Rahway Valley Railroad connected Summit with the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W). In the early 20th century, both freight and passenger service were offered by this line. (Although in 2009, Union County was exploring the possibility of reactivating the long-dormant line for freight traffic.) A trolley line called the Morris County Traction Company, once ran a passenger trolley through Summit to/from Newark and Morris County, in the early part of the 20th century. Broad Street in Summit was designed and built for the trolley, which is why it is wider and straighter than most streets in the city. Portions of the rails could still be seen on it as late as the 1980s.

Relations between city authorities and businesses have not always been smooth; in 1898, city authorities and the New York and New Jersey Telephone Company had disputes about wires and telephone poles; the city acted and "wires and cables of the company were cut from the poles." There were disputes between Summit's commuters and the Lackawanna railroad about walkways; in one incident in 1905, "a number of passengers seeking to board the 6:35 train found their way barred. They made a united rush, and when the dust cleared away, the door wasn't there. It is said the company will put the door back. The commuters say they will remove it as often as it is replaced."

Following World War II, the city experienced a building boom as living outside New York City and commuting to work became more common and the population of New Jersey grew. At this point, Summit took on its suburban character of tree lined streets and architect-designed houses that it is known for today.

In 1974 there was a lawsuit to split "East Summit" off as its own municipality. Until 1973 the city had been divided into two wards, east and west, by the Erie Lackawanna Railroad tracks. Right before the 1973 municipal election new ward districts where determined that overrode the preexisting geographic boundaries in order to make the two wards roughly equal in population. Following a sweeping Republican victory in the election, the citizens of the eastern portion of the city claimed they had been gerrymandered by the city's Republican leadership in mayor Elmer J. Bennett and council president Frank Lehr. The eastern half of the city was more ethnically diverse and with a predominately Democratic voter base. As such Joseph R. Angelo was proclaimed the "Mayor of East Summit" and citizens sued the municipal government. The lawsuit to split the city in half, Mosely v. Kates, got as far as the Supreme Court of New Jersey which ultimately ruled in favor of the defendants and the city was kept whole.

In the late 1970s, Summit had a mini-bus system, with three long circular routes through most parts of Summit that were primarily designed to bring commuters to the railroad station downtown. The Velvet Underground played their first paid concert at Summit High School on December 11, 1965. The headlining act for that concert was a local band, The Myddle Class.

21st century

10 residents of Summit died in the September 11 terrorist attacks. Many worked in the World Trade Center, and commuted by rail to Hoboken. A few days after the attacks, townspeople assembled on the town green while a minister "called out the names of a dozen residents still unaccounted for after Tuesday's attack on the World Trade Center. Others in the crowd of nearly 2,000 called out names he had left out." A few World Trade Center firms moved to Summit.

Since its incorporation, Summit had been a stronghold of the Republican Party, never having a Democratic mayor, or any democratic members of the city council. This changed in 2001 with the election of Democrat Jordan Glatt to the Summit Common Council as Councilman-At-Large. Glatt would then go on to be elected Summit's 27th, and first Democratic, mayor in 2003, marking a shift in the city becoming politically competitive between the two parties.

In 2005, star baseball athlete Willie Wilson and former Summit graduate returned to Summit High School. Wilson said: "To me, Summit is a special place ... It's where it all began and I have great memories. This is where I want to help kids and youth baseball, and I want my own son and daughter to come and help me create something here." During the economic downturn of 2008–2009, Summit was listed as #6 on a list of American communities "likely to be pummeled by the economic crisis." Crime is generally not bad in the city; the summer 2010 assault of Abelino Mazariego-Torres during a robbery attempt gone awry shocked residents in what one person described as a "very small and very peaceful town." Several youths were charged in the murder.

Summit has consistently ranked high in NJMonthly's biennial Top 100 Towns. In 2019, Summit was ranked the second best place to live.