Īfter traveling through Leonia upon arriving in New Jersey by ferry at Edgewater in 1899, advertising executive Artemus Ward purchased a large piece of land and established the Leonia Heights Land Company to develop and market housing in the community. Vreeland Moore and other town leaders chose the name "Leonia" in 1865 in honor of American Revolutionary War General Charles Lee, for whom Fort Lee was named. The local economy that had been focused on agriculture underwent economic and cultural growth during the late nineteenth century, marked by the introduction of train service and was originally called West Fort Lee. Leonia's proximity to New York City and its major universities, theaters and performing venues contributed to Leonia's place in the world of art and academics, with many artists and leading thinkers finding a home there in the twentieth century. It was located on the western slope of the Palisades, and started as a quiet farming community. A third of the population was African slaves. It was settled in 1668 mainly by Dutch and English farmers, making it one of the oldest communities in the state and county. At the time of the American Revolutionary War, Leonia was known as part of the English Neighborhood, a name that survives in neighboring Englewood.
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The population was about 1,000 before the Europeans settled in the area.
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The original inhabitants of Leonia were the Hackensack tribe (Ashkineshacky) of Native Americans. 6.2 Federal, state and county representation.New Jersey Monthly magazine ranked Leonia as its 31st best place to live in its 2008 rankings of the "Best Places To Live" in New Jersey. Portions of Leonia were taken on February 19, 1895, to form the Township of Teaneck. The borough was formed during the " boroughitis" phenomenon then sweeping through Bergen County, in which 26 boroughs were formed in the county in 1894 alone. Leonia was formed as the result of a referendum passed on December 5, 1894, from portions of Ridgefield Township.
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It is a suburb of New York City located near the western approach to the George Washington Bridge. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 8,937, reflecting an increase of 23 (+0.3%) from the 8,914 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 549 (+6.6%) from the 8,365 counted in the 1990 Census. Leonia is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States.