Artemus Ward would be pleased by the Leonia of today. In 1899, his Leonia Heights Land Company set out to create a community that would be unique – an idea sparked by a trip to Leonia on the Edgewater Ferry that year. Ward, head of a New York advertising concern, envisioned a white-collar community whose residents would enjoy open space and upper-class residential environment with an emphasis on education and culture. today, while most towns in the northeast New Jersey are being urbanized rapidly, the tiny borough embraces Ward’s ideal, shunning high-rises buildings, fighting to keep its open spaces and true “bedroom community” style.