Immersed in the scenic beauty of the Pascack valley, Emerson is a picturesque suburban community. With its closely knit population, Emerson truly deserves its reputation as "The Family Town". What is now Emerson was originally formed on April 8, 1903, from portions of Washington Township as the Borough of Etna, the name of a railroad station in the community.[21] The name was changed to Emerson as of March 9, 1909
Education
The Emerson School District serves public school students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 2014–15 school year, the district and its three schools had an enrollment of 1,238 students and 98.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.6:1. Schools in the district (with 2014-15 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are Memorial Elementary School[104] with 297 students in PreK-2, Patrick M. Villano Elementary School with 335 students in grades 3-6 and Emerson Jr./Sr. High School with 572 students in grades 7-12
Transportation
The Emerson station, located at the intersection of Linwood Avenue and Kinderkamack Road, provides service on NJ Transit's Pascack Valley Line. This line runs north–south to Hoboken Terminal with connections via the Secaucus Junction transfer station to NJ Transit one-stop service to New York Penn Station and to ten other NJ Transit rail lines. Connections are available at the Hoboken Terminal to other NJ Transit rail lines, the PATH train at the Hoboken PATH station, New York Waterways ferry service to the World Financial Center and other destinations and Hudson-Bergen Light Rail service. NJ Transit provides bus service on the 165 route to and from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan