Chapters · Leonia
“The Athens of New Jersey.”
Tucked beside the George Washington Bridge, Leonia has drawn artists, illustrators, and independent thinkers since the early 1900s. Today its tree-lined streets and walkable Broad Avenue keep that same creative, small-town spirit alive.
About the town
Leonia is a compact, residential borough in Bergen County, bordered by Fort Lee to the east and just minutes from the George Washington Bridge. Its small footprint holds an outsized history of artistic and intellectual life.
Leonia is part of New Jersey’s Gold Coast, along the Hudson.
Our history
1894
Leonia incorporated on December 5, 1894, breaking off from Ridgefield Township during the wave of borough formation that swept Bergen County that year.
1915
Artists Charles Chapman and Harvey Dunn founded a school of illustration in Leonia, anchoring an art colony that would draw more than 90 professional artists and illustrators to the borough.
1940s
Physicist Enrico Fermi lived on Summit Avenue from 1940 to 1946, joining fellow Nobel laureate Harold Urey among a circle of scientists and thinkers who called Leonia home.
Signature landmark
Leonia's five-block downtown along Broad Avenue mixes cafes, a hardware store, grocers, and restaurants reflecting the borough's diversity — from Korean fare to American classics. It remains the walkable heart of daily life in town.
Community & culture
From the 1900s onward, Leonia was home to dozens of professional artists and illustrators — including Charles Chapman, Lynd Ward, and Grant Reynard — many working from studios converted from barns and lofts.
Broad Avenue remains Leonia's commercial and social spine, a walkable strip of locally owned shops and restaurants at the center of the borough's downtown.
Just east in adjoining Fort Lee, the nation's earliest film studios operated from 1909 to 1918, placing Leonia beside the birthplace of American cinema and its landmark gateway, the George Washington Bridge.
Hometown notables
Nobel physicist, Summit Avenue resident
Nobel Prize-winning chemist
Paleontologist and author
Pediatrician and writer
The Leonia Chapter
The Leonia Chapter connects the town’s businesses to the full network of the Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce — hands-on and local, with the marketing, events, and advocacy of the wider regional chamber behind you.
Chapter contact
📍 607 Anderson Ave, Cliffside Park, NJ 07010
Serving Leonia businesses. Chapter leadership — Chair, Vice Chair, Events & Outreach Coordinators — to be announced.
Join the Leonia Chapter of the Gold Coast Chamber of Commerce and connect your business to the entire Hudson waterfront.
Access your membership profile, directory listing, and event registrations.