Inhabited since pre-Colombian times by the Lenni Lenape Indian tribe, the region surrounding Waldwick was first explored by Europeans when a Dutch trading expedition landed near there c. 1610. With the creation of the Nieuw Amsterdam colony in 1624, the present site of the borough, along with the rest of northeastern New Jersey, became a Dutch possession. During the period from 1624-1664 it was sparsely developed by Dutch settlers, mainly for agricultural purposes. With the annexation of Nieuw Amsterdam by the English in 1664 came a nearly instant increase in immigration to the region and the development of several settlements in and around the present borders of the borough.
On the eve of the Revolutionary War, Waldwick and the surrounding area constituted a small settlement called Franklin Township; in fact, George Washington is recorded as having slept in an inn in Waldwick in 1777. As the township grew in the years following the war, the western portion of Franklin Township broke away and named itself Orvil Township, in honor of its chief surveyor; not long after, the Erie Railroad created a stop in the township, bringing about the first major population boom in the region's history. Still later, around the 1870's, the area constituting modern-day Ridgewood broke away from Orvil, probably due to political differences; not too long afterwards, Orvil Township as a municipality began to fade. In 1919, a council of citizens voted to incorporate the remainder of Orvil Township; a committee selected the name "Waldwick" (A Light in the Woods), and in January of that year, John W. Quackenbush was elected the borough's first mayor.
Since that time, Waldwick has undergone a transformation from sleepy railroad hamlet to prosperous suburban town. The borough is home to approximately 10,000 citizens, many employed in the New York metropolitan area. It boasts two elementary schools, one junior high school, and one high school.
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