"Spring" by Hugh Bolton Jones. Painted by the artist in the mid 1880s on the Rahway River.Paddlers race past the Cranford Canoe Club on the Rahway River during the annual Fourth of July competition in Cranford, NJ.Looking northwest at City of Rahway water works, September 22, 2005
Part of the extended area of New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary, draining part of the suburban and urbanized area of New Jersey west of Staten Island, New York, the river is approximately 24 miles (39 km) long.[1] The upper reaches are lined with several parks while the mouth serves as an industrial access channel on the Chemical Coast.
The river was once on the lands of the LenapeNative Americans, and tradition states that the name is after Rahwack, a local tribal chief.[2][3][4]
The river is the source of drinking water for the City of Rahway.[5] Each spring, the river is stocked with approximately 6,000 trout.[6]
The river is also the source of the name of the Rahway Valley Railroad, which has a bridge over it at the Springfield-Union border.