[21] When surveying the area now known as Maplewood, Robert Treat found several trails used by Lenape tribes of Algonquian Native Americans, though there was only sparse pre-European settlement.

They had acquired most of today's Essex County from the Native Americans through direct purchase upon first arrival and through royal assent.

These three routes resulted in the development of three separate communities that coalesced to become Maplewood and South Orange.

[22] Six families (with last names of Smith, Brown, Pierson, Freeman, Ball and Gildersleeve) came up today's Ridgewood Road and established scattered farms around a center that became Jefferson Village, named after Thomas Jefferson.

This settlement, which roughly corresponds to downtown Maplewood today, developed several mills and orchards.

John Durand, the son of Hudson River School painter Asher Brown Durand (who was born in Maplewood in 1796), describes the place as a picturesque but slightly backward community with close ties to Springfield.

It became a stagecoach stop between Newark, Jersey City (then Paulus Hook), and Morristown and thereby a center for trade and light manufacturing.

The village changed its name from North Farms to Middleville in 1830, and then to Hilton in 1880 when it was granted a post office.

In 1855, Seth Boyden settled in what was then Middleville to retire but innovated a number of agricultural products, especially berries.

Boyden also built and put into operation the first steam engines to service the railroad through Maplewood.

[23] The area became known for its orchards and related industries, including cider mills and rum distilleries, as well as honey and livestock.

[citation needed] In 1802, Jefferson Village and North Farms were named as districts within the Township of Newark.

James Ricalton, a teacher born in New York of Scottish parents who became the school district's first permanent teacher, helped set the high standard of education that persists in the school district to this day.

[31][32][33] Unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the township include Hilton and Valley View.

[43][44] In 2018 Brooke Lea Foster of The New York Times described Maplewood as one of several "least suburban of suburbs, each one celebrated by buyers there for its culture and hip factor, as much as the housing stock and sophisticated post-city life.

"[51] The township owns and operates the Burgdorff Center for the Performing Arts at 10 Durand Road.

The Center, a former Christian Science Church, was donated to the town by Jean Burgdorff, a local real estate entrepreneur.

[56] The Olmsted firm was also responsible for the landscaping at Ward Homestead, designed by John Russell Pope, and now known as Winchester Gardens, located on Elmwood Avenue.

The Maplewood Theater, designed by William E. Lehman, was where Cheryl Crawford first revived Porgy and Bess.

[76][77][78] For the 119th United States Congress, New Jersey's 11th congressional district is represented by Mikie Sherrill (D, Montclair).

[80] For the 2024-2025 session, the 27th legislative district of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by John F. McKeon (D, West Orange) and in the General Assembly by Rosy Bagolie (D, Livingston) and Alixon Collazos-Gill (D, Montclair).

As of 2025[update], the County Executive is Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. (D, Roseland), whose four-year term of office ends December 31, 2026.

[83] Essex County's Commissioners are: Robert Mercado (D, District 1 – Newark's North and East Wards, parts of Central and West Wards; Newark, 2026),[84] A'Dorian Murray-Thomas (D, District 2 – Irvington, Maplewood and parts of Newark's South and West Wards; Newark, 2026),[85] Vice President Tyshammie L. Cooper (D, District 3 - Newark: West and Central Wards; East Orange, Orange and South Orange; East Orange, 2026),[86] Leonard M. Luciano (D, District 4 – Caldwell, Cedar Grove, Essex Fells, Fairfield, Livingston, Millburn, North Caldwell, Roseland, Verona, West Caldwell and West Orange; West Caldwell, 2026),[87] President Carlos M. Pomares (D, District 5 – Belleville, Bloomfield, Glen Ridge, Montclair and Nutley; Bloomfield, 2026),[88] Brendan W. Gill (D, at large; Montclair, 2026),[89] Romaine Graham (D, at large; Irvington, 2026),[90] Wayne Richardson (D, at large; Newark, 2026),[91] Patricia Sebold (D, at-large; Livingston, 2026).

Maplewood won New Jersey Monthly magazine's Downtown Showdown in 2015, with the editor's noting the community's "myriad boutiques, art galleries and notable restaurants".

"[115] In June 2018, Maplewood unveiled permanently rainbow-colored crosswalks to celebrate LGBTQ pride across the full year.

[116] Maplewood counts among its residents a large number of theater professionals working in Broadway and off-Broadway productions, owing to the town's convenient rail access and relatively short commute via train into Manhattan.

In 2010, a group of 32 of these actors and technicians formed their own repertory theater company and named it Midtown Direct Rep, after the NJ Transit line on which they all commuted.