NEW JERSEY
THE AMERICAN GUIDE SERIES
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NEW JERSEY
A Guide to Its Present and Past
OFTW/r
THE
NEW I ERSE Y
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A GUIDE TO ITS PRESENT AND PAST
Compiled and Written by the Federal Writers 7 Project of the
Works Progress Administration for the State of New Jersey
AMERICAN GUIDE SERIES
ILLUSTRATED
Sponsored by The Public Library of Newark
and The New Jersey Guild Associates
THE VIKING PRESS NEW YORK
MCMXXXIX
FIRST PUBLISHED IN JUNE 1939
NEW JERSEY GUILD ASSOCIATES, INC.
Louis Adamic Dr. Paul F. Lazarsfeld
Prof. John E. Bebout Dr. Eduard C. Lindeman
Franklin Conklin, 3rd. Mrs. William Milwitzky
Alexander L. Crosby Charles A. Philhower
Mrs. Arne Fisher Joseph Reilly
Louis Ginsberg Sylvia Smith
Dr. Milton R. Konvitz Michael A. Stavitzky
Dr. William Carlos Williams
COPYRIGHT 1939 BY THE NEW JERSEY GUILD ASSOCIATES, INC.
PRINTED IN U.S.A. BY THE STRATFORD PRESS
All rights are reserved, including the right to reproduce this book
or parts thereof in any form.
Sponsors Forewords
This story of New Jersey is cause for pride to those who love the State,
but must also give pause to those who can be critical at the same time.
Its beauty and romance, its ugliness and the commonplace have been
preserved in an unusual balance by the collaborators in the evaluation of
the State.
The Editors are to be heartily congratulated upon an achievement of
note, as this Guide is a distinct contribution to a knowledge of the history
of New Jersey.
BEATRICE WINSER, Librarian
Newark Public Library
The New Jersey Guild Associates as co-sponsors with the Newark Pub
lic Library have a deep sense of satisfaction in bringing before the public
the New Jersey Guide. Here at last is an authentic story of our State that
will warm the hearts of the old residents and prove interesting reading for
anyone who may happen upon it.
Highways and wayside taverns are adequately described, but this new
kind of guide leads to strange and remote places. It undertakes excursions
into history and economics and the arts. Afield, it detours from the main
traveled roads for unexpected forays to spots that scarcely one tourist in a
thousand would find unaided places that are unknown even to the motor-
minded residents of New Jersey. In a very real sense the book lifts up fa
miliar, sun-baked stones to reveal the quiet life beneath.
Our hope is that publication of new and revised editions of the Guide
may become a New Jersey custom.
THE NEW JERSEY GUILD ASSOCIATES
WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION
F. C. HARRINGTON, Administrator
FLORENCE S. KERR, Assistant Administrator
HENRY G. ALSBERG, Director of the Federal Writers Project
Preface
NEW JERSEY: A Guide to Its Present and Past is an attempt to present
not only the background and development of old New Jersey, but also the
rapidly changing scene of the State today. If the book achieves its purpose
it will serve a contemporary need, and in addition it will preserve the flavor
of present-day New Jersey for scholars of the future.
The guide is a cooperative product, the work of field workers and re
search workers, of writers and editors, and of competent authorities in
every department of New Jersey life. Newspaper files, libraries, and many
other sources have been searched for information ; mechanics and farmers,
scholars and policemen, artists and aviators have been interviewed. Most
of the material, however, has been gathered first-hand: every major city
in the State has been studied by reporters, and field workers have traveled
every foot of the main highways from High Point Park to Cape May.
Checking and rechecking of these thousands of items have produced, it is
hoped, a minimum of error. We ask readers who find mistakes to write to
the publisher, so that future editions may be corrected.
In order to keep this one-volume guide within practical book length, it
has been necessary to abridge drastically the voluminous data assembled in
the course of the project. Much of this material, however, will be made
available in detailed studies or in encyclopedic form at a later time.
It would be an endless task to list all the consultants whose aid has
made the book possible. Special thanks are due, however, to Miss Beatrice
Winser for making available the facilities of the Newark Public Library
and for her valuable assistance; and to Dr. Milton R. Konvitz, who acted
as general consultant. Specialists in various fields have contributed ma
terially in the preparation of several of the introductory essays. Professor
John E. Bebout of the University of Newark directed the work on the
History essay and, in collaboration with Professor Fred Killian, also of
the University of Newark, contributed the section entitled Govern
ment. Professor Herbert Woodward of the University of Newark con
tributed the section on Geology, and together with Dr. Horace G. Rich
ards of the State Museum provided the material on Paleontology. Pro
fessor Carl Woodward of Rutgers University wrote most of the essay on
vii
viii PREFACE
Agriculture. The chapter entitled Archeology and Indians is the work of
Dr. Dorothy Cross of the Indian Sites Survey.
Among others who gave valuable criticism are: Sarah B. Askew, secre
tary and librarian of the State Public Library Commission ; Professor Rob
ert G. Albion of Princeton University; Theodosia Bates, director of the
New Jersey Gallery of Kresge department store, Newark; Mary Boggan,
Hackensack librarian; Henry Reed Bowen, general secretary of the New
Jersey Council of Religious Education; Van Wyck Brooks; Professor J.
Douglas Brown of Princeton University; Professor L. H. Buckingham of
Newark University ; the Reverend Ellis B. Burgess of the United Lutheran
Synod of New York; Elizabeth V. Colville, editor of Musical New Jersey;
J. Hallam Conover of Freehold; Royal Cortissoz, art editor of the New
York Herald Tribune; Elbert Cox, superintendent of Morristown National
Historical Park; Phoebe Crosby of Philadelphia; Kenneth W. Dalzell of
the American Institute of Architects; George de Cou of Moorestown ;
Professor Frank de Vyver of Duke University ; Professor Norman Foerster,
director of the School of Letters at the University of Iowa; the Reverend
William Hiram Foulkes, of Old First Presbyterian Church of Newark;
Lewis Gannett of the New York Herald Tribune; the Reverend L. Hamilton
Garner of Newark ; Marguerite L. Gates, assistant librarian, Newark ; C. A.
George, Elizabeth librarian ; Louis Ginsberg of Paterson ; Nathan L. Gold
berg, assistant editor of the Guild Reporter; Abe J. Greene, city editor of
the Paterson Evening News; the Reverend R. D. Gribbon, Archdeacon of
the New Jersey Diocese of the Protestant Episcopal Church ; Stephen Haif
Jr., trustee of the Jersey City Museum Association; Edward Sothern
Hipp, dramatic editor of the Newark Sunday Call; William S. Hunt, pub
lisher of the Newark Sunday Call; Edward Alden Jewell, art editor of the
New York Times; Laurence B. Johnson, managing editor of the New Jer
sey Educational Review ; Professor Wheaton J. Lane of Princeton Univer
sity; Frank Jewett Mather, director of the Princeton Museum of Historic
Art; Nell L. Meyers, Freehold librarian; George Miller, regional director
of the Historical Records Survey ; William Milwitzky of Newark ; Professor
Sherley Morgan, director of Princeton University School of Architecture;
Lewis Mumford ; Grace D. McKinney, religion editor of the Newark Eve
ning News; Howard D. McKinney, director of Rutgers University School
of Music; Maurice F. Neufeld, acting secretary of the New Jersey State
Planning Board; George A. Osborne, Rutgers University librarian; Fred
erick S. Osborne, director of public information at Princeton University;
William J. Pickersgill of Perth Amboy; Charles A. Philhower, superin
tendent of Westfield Junior High School; Corliss Fitz Randolph, presi-
PREFACE ix
dent and librarian of the Seventh Day Baptist Historical Society; Vergil
D. Reed, assistant director of the Bureau of the Census ; Leonard H. Rob-
bins of the New York Times; Grace D. Rose, Morristown librarian;
Joseph S. Sickler, postmaster of Salem, New Jersey ; Samuel Slaff of Passaic ;
Professor James G. Smith of Princeton University ; Mary Cook Swartwout,
director of the Montclair Art Museum; Cornelia B. Thompson, principal
of Asbury Park High School ; Professor Willard Thorp of Princeton Uni
versity; Norman F. Titus, secretary of the State Chamber of Commerce;
Lydia Weston, Burlington librarian; A. Edmund Williamson, executive
secretary of the Chamber of Commerce of the Oranges and Maplewood;
and Edmund Wilson.
This book was prepared under the supervision of Mrs. Irene Fuhl-
bruegge, State Director, and Alexander L. Crosby, State Editor, both of
whom resigned before publication.
VIOLA L. HUTCHINSON \ ^ . . . c . ^.
SAMUEL EPSTEIN / Asmtmt State Dlrectors
JOSEPH SUGARMAN, JR. ~|
IRVING D. SiJss I M
BENJAMIN GOLDENBERG
FRED EPPELSHEIMER J
_ #
Contents
SPONSORS FOREWORDS v
PREFACE vii
GENERAL INFORMATION Xxiii
CALENDAR OF EVENTS Xxix
/. New Jersey: The General View
A NEW JERSEY SILHOUETTE 3
NATURAL SETTING: 7
Geography, Topography, and Climate; Geology and Paleontology; Plant
and Animal Life; Conservation and Natural Resources
ARCHEOLOGY AND INDIANS 28
HISTORY 35
GOVERNMENT 55
INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE 69
LABOR 79
AGRICULTURE 89
TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION 96
THE PRESS 110
RACIAL AND NATIONAL GROUPS 118
FOLKLORE AND FOLKWAYS 126
EDUCATION 134
RELIGION 142
THE ARTS: 151
Literature; Theater; Music; Architecture; Painting, Sculpture, and Crafts
II. Cities and Towns
ATLANTIC CITY 189
BAYONNE 201
BORDENTOWN 207
BURLINGTON 216
CAMDEN 225
ELIZABETH 238
Xll CONTENTS
FREEHOLD 250
HACKENSACK 256
HOBOKEN 262
JERSEY CITY 270
MORRISTOWN 283
MOUNT HOLLY 292
NEW BRUNSWICK 298
NEWARK 312
THE ORANGES AND MAPLE WOOD 339
PASSAIC 345
PATERSON 349
PERTH AMBOY 361
PRINCETON 370
SALEM 390
TRENTON 398
///. Tours
TOUR 1. (New York, N. Y.) -Jersey City-Elizabeth-
Trenton- (Morrisville, Pa.), us i 417
TOUR 2. Newark-Hillside-Clinton-Phillipsburg-
(Easton, Pa.), us 22 428
TOUR 3. (Piermont, N. Y.) -Alpine-Fort Lee. us 9W 435
TOUR 4. (Suffern, N. Y.)-Pompton-Morristown-Lambertville-
(New Hope, Pa.), us 202 439
TOUR 5. (Unionville, N. Y.)-Sussex-Newton-Columbia-
(Portland, Pa.). STATE 8N, unnumbered road,
STATE 8 452
TOUR 6. (Milford, Pa.) -Montague-Newton-Trenton-
Junction with us 30. us 206 459
TOUR 6A. Montague-Walpack Center-Flatbrookville-
Rosencrans Ferry. Old Mine Rd. 472
TOUR 7. Morsemere-Dover-Hackettstown-( Portland, Pa.).
US 46 475
TOUR 8. Elizabeth-New Brunswick-Princeton. STATE 27 484
TOUR 9. Newark-Montclair-Franklin-High Point Park
(Port Jervis, N. Y.). STATE 23 490
TOUR 9A. Junction with STATE 23-Ringwood-Greenwood Lake-
Junction with STATE 23. unnumbered roads 499
CONTENTS Xlll
TOUR 10. Elizabeth-Morristown-Washington-Phillipsburg-
(Easton, Pa.). STATE 824, STATE 24 508
TOUR 11. Lambertville- Washington Crossing-Trenton. STATE 29 519
TOUR 12. Junction with STATE 30-Flemington-Frenchtown
(Uhlerstown, Pa.). STATE 12 523
TOUR 13. Middlesex-New Brunswick-Old Bridge-
Matawan. STATE 828 527
TOUR 14. West Orange-Whippany-Ledgewood. STATE 10 529
TOUR 15. Buttzville-Ringoes-Trenton. STATE 30 533
TOUR 16. (Hillburn, N. Y.)-North Arlington-Newark-
Junction with US 22. STATE 2, STATE 21 538
TOUR 17. (Staten Island, N. Y.)-Elizabeth-Plainneld-
Somerville-Junction with us 22 and us 206.
STATE 28 546
TOUR 18. Junction with us i-Perth Amboy-Toms River-
Cape May. us 9 551
TOUR 18 A. Freehold-Tennent-Monmouth Battlefield.
COUNTY 22 and 3 565
TOUR 19. Junction with us i-Hightstown-Camden-Pennsville
(New Castle, Del.), us 130 569
TOUR 20. Ocean Grove-Freehold-Hightstown-Trenton. STATE 33 579
TOUR 20A. Junction with STATE 33-Imlaystown-Fillmore.
unnumbered roads 583
TOUR 21. Matawan-Colt s Neck-Junction with STATE 35.
STATE 34 588
TOUR 22. South Amboy-Red Bank-Point Pleasant-
Lakewood. STATE 35 591
TOUR 23. Atlantic City-Berlin-Camden-( Philadelphia, Pa.).
us 30 596
TOUR 2 3 A. Egg Harbor City-Batsto-Pleasant Mills.
unnumbered roads 602
TOUR 24. Atlantic City-Malaga-Pennsville-
(New Castle, Del.), us 40 607
TOUR 25. McKee City-Williamstown-Glassboro-Bridgeport-
(Chester, Pa.), us 322 611
TOUR 26. Lakewood-Wrightstown-Camden. unnumbered roads,
STATE 38 615
Xiv CONTENTS
TOUR 27. Laurelton-Lakehurst-Medford-
Junction with STATE 38. STATE 40 622
TOUR 28. Junction with us 1 3O-Woodbury-Mullica Hill-
Salem. STATE 45 628
TOUR 29. Pennsville-Salem-Millville-Clermont. Pennsville-
Salem Rd., STATE 49 631
TOUR 29A. Salem-Oakwood Beach-Elsinboro Point. Tilbury Rd.,
Fort Elfsborg-Salem Rd. 641
TOUR 29B. Shiloh-Roadstown-Greenwich. unnumbered roads 643
TOUR 29C. South Dennis-Rio Grande-Wildwood. STATE 849 645
TOUR 30. Point Pleasant-Seaside Heights-Lakehurst. STATE 37 647
TOUR 31. (Philadelphia, Pa.)-Camden-Mount Ephraim-
Junction with us 322. STATE 42 649
TOUR 32. Mullica Hill-Pi ttsgrove-Bridgeton. STATE 46 654
TOUR 33. Brooklawn-Malaga-Millville-Tuckahoe. STATE 47 657
TOUR 34. Egg Harbor City Tuckahoe-Seaville. STATE 50 663
TOUR 35. Ship Bottom Manahawkin-Junction with STATE 40.
STATE 840 666
TOUR 3 5 A. Ship Bottom-Harvey Cedars-Barnegat City.
unnumbered road 669
TOUR 35B. Ship Bottom-Beach Haven-Holgate. unnumbered road 672
TOUR 36. Mechanicsville-Long Branch-Asbury Park-Brielle.
STATE 36, COUNTY 9, STATE 4N 675
TOUR 37. (Philadelphia, Pa.) -Palmyra- Junction with us 30.
STATE 841 685
IV. Appendices
CHRONOLOGY 689
BIBLIOGRAPHY 697
INDEX 705
Illustrations
THE STATEHOUSE, TRENTON Page 2
W . Lincoln Highton
THE PULASKI SKYWAY 4
N. J. State Highway Commission
PASSAIC RIVER FROM PULASKI SKYWAY 9
W. Lincoln Highton
SCHOOLEYS MOUNTAIN 15
W. Lincoln Highton
OYSTER FLEET ON COHANSEY RIVER 25
Charles W. Benson
THE OLD BARRACKS. TRENTON 43
W. Lincoln Highton
ROEBLING PLANT, TRENTON 73
Roebling Co.
CANNING TOMATOES, CAMDEN 77
Campbell Soup Co.
SILK MILL WORKER, PATERSON 83
Samuel Epstein
HARVESTING CRANBERRIES 91
RAILROAD YARDS, WEEHAWKEN 97
Samuel Epstein
THE "JOHN BULL" 101
UNLOADING LUMBER, PORT NEWARK 105
W. Lincoln Highton
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, GLASSBORO 135
Charles W. Benson
TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH, NEWARK 143
W. Lincoln Highton
WALT WHITMAN S TOMB, CAMDEN 155
Nathaniel Rubel
THE DEMAREST HOUSE, RIVER EDGE 173
Nathaniel Rubel
COLONIAL APARTMENTS, BORDENTOWN 177
Samuel Epstein
xv
XVI ILLUSTRATIONS
STATUE OF LINCOLN, NEWARK 183
W. Lincoln Highton
BEACH FRONT, ATLANTIC CITY 191
Fair child Aerial Surveys, Inc.
MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM ATLANTIC CITY 199
Fred Hess and Son
BAYONNE BRIDGE 205
Samuel Epstein
CLARA BARTON SCHOOL. BORDENTOWN 214
Nathaniel Rubel
HISTORICAL SOCIETY BUILDING, BURLINGTON 223
Charles W . Benson
VIEW OF CAMDEN FROM PHILADELPHIA 227
Fairchild Aerial Surveys, Inc.
WALT WHITMAN HOME, CAMDEN 233
Charles W. Benson
SHIPBUILDING, CAMDEN 236
N. Y. Shipbuilding Co.
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ELIZABETH 241
W . Lincoln Highton
RUG WEAVING, FREEHOLD 251
W . Lincoln Highton
BERGEN COUNTY COURTHOUSE 257
Samuel Epstein
S.S. LEVIATHAN AT HOBOKEN 265
W . Lincoln Highton
HOLLAND TUNNEL 273
Port of N. Y. Authority
THE MEDICAL CENTER, JERSEY CITY 281
W. Lincoln Highton
THE FORD MANSION, MORRISTOWN 290
W. Lincoln Highton
BURLINGTON Co. COURTHOUSE, MT. HOLLY 295
W. Lincoln Highton
QUEEN S BUILDING, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY 307
W . Lincoln Highton
VOORHEES CHAPEL 310
N. /. College for Women
DOWNTOWN NEWARK 315
Fairchild Aerial Surveys, Inc.
AMERICAN INSURANCE Co. BUILDING, NEWARK 321
W . Lincoln Highton
ILLUSTRATIONS Xvii
PENNSYLVANIA R.R. LIFT BRIDGE 333
Samuel Epstein
NEWARK AIRPORT 337
W. Lincoln Highton
PASSAIC FALLS, PATERSON 350
Samuel Epstein
THE WESTMINSTER, PERTH AMBOY 366
Nathaniel Rubel
NASSAU HALL, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY 373
W. Lincoln Highton
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY CHAPEL 377
Nathaniel Rubel
PRINCETON GRADUATE COLLEGE 387
Nathaniel Rubel
SALEM OAK 395
W. Lincoln Highton
BATTLE MONUMENT, TRENTON 411
W. Lincoln Highton
GEORGE WASHINGTON MEMORIAL BRIDGE 41 6
Samuel Epstein
HAMILTON-BURR DUEL MARKER 420
Samuel Epstein
GENERAL MOTORS ASSEMBLY LINE 425
General Motors Corp.
STANDARD OIL REFINERY, BAYWAY 427
Esso Marketers
WASHINGTON BRIDGE, APPROACHES 436
Fairchild Aerial Surveys, Inc.
OAKLAND 443
Nathaniel Rubel
DAIRY PLANT, POMPTON PLAINS 447
Nathaniel Rubel
SMITH S STORE, WATERLOO 455
Nathaniel Rubel
MUSCONETCONG RlVER 4^9
Samuel Epstein
PICATINNY ARSENAL 479
N. Y. Journal-American
HIGH POINT MONUMENT 491
Fairchild Aerial Surveys, Inc.
RINGWOOD MANOR 503
Nathaniel Rubel
XV111 ILLUSTRATIONS
POST OFFICE, RALSTON 515
Samuel Epstein
COVERED BRIDGE, STOCKTON 521
Samuel Epstein
CHICK HATCHERY 526
W . Lincoln Highton
HARVESTING WHEAT 537
Samuel Epstein
THE STEUBEN HOUSE, RIVER EDGE 541
W. Lincoln Highton
NEWARK WATERFRONT 545
W. Lincoln Highton
RARITAN RIVER 553
Fair child Aerial Surveys, Inc.
DUCK SHOOTING, SOUTH JERSEY 558
Fred Hess and Son
BEACH AT OCEAN CITY 561
Atlantic Studios
SURF CASTING, CAPE MAY 564
Atlantic Studios
OLD TENNENT CHURCH 567
Samuel Epstein
CHESTERFIELD FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE 573
W. Lincoln Highton
LINCOLN FORGE, FILLMORE 585
Nathaniel Rubel
SAILBOATING 595
Atlantic Studios
PINE BARRENS 603
W. Lincoln Highton
SWEDESBORO 6l4
Samuel Epstein
POTTERY WORKER, HADDONFIELD 619
U. S. NAVAL HANGAR, LAKEHURST 625
Nathaniel Rubel
HANCOCK HOUSE, HANCOCK S BRIDGE 633
W . Lincoln Highton
UNLOADING OYSTERS, BIVALVE 636
Samuel Epstein
OYSTERMEN S COMMUNITY CENTER 639
Samuel Epstein
ILLUSTRATIONS XIX
AUCTION AT GREENWICH 644
W . Lincoln High ton
HORSE BREEDING FARM, BELLMAWR 653
Charles W. Benson
PARVIN STATE PARK 659
N. J. State Dept. of Conservation and Development
KIMBLE GLASS WORKS, VINELAND 661
Nijholm
SPEEDBOATS, GREAT EGG HARBOR 665
Atlantic Studios
BARNEGAT LIGHTHOUSE 671
W. Lincoln High ton
SANDY HOOK LIGHTHOUSE 677
Nathaniel Rub el
GUGGENHEIM MANSION, LONG BRANCH 681
Samuel Epstein
BURNING MORRO CASTLE 684
Fair child Aerial Surveys, Inc.
Maps
NEW JERSEY STATE MAP back pocket
TOUR KEY MAP front end paper
METROPOLITAN AREA NORTH JERSEY reverse of State map
METROPOLITAN AREA SOUTH JERSEY reverse of State map
ATLANTIC CITY Page 196
BORDENTOWN 211
BURLINGTON 219
CAMDEN 231
ELIZABETH 243
HOBOKEN 267
JERSEY CITY 278
MORRISTOWN 287
NEW BRUNSWICK 302
NEWARK 326
NEWARK BUSINESS DISTRICT 327
PATERSON 356
PERTH AMBOY 365
PRINCETON 382
TRENTON 406
General Information
(State map showing highways, railways, topography, forests, recreational areas,
and historic and other points of interest, inside back cover. Map showing tour
routes, on end papers.)
Railroads: Pennsylvania (Pennsy) ; Delaware, Lackawanna and Western
(Lackawanna) ; Central Railroad of New Jersey (Jersey Central); Erie;
Lehigh Valley; West Shore; Baltimore and Ohio (B & O) ; and Reading
serve important points. Hudson and Manhattan R.R. (the Tubes) be
tween Newark, Jersey City, Hoboken, and New York.
Bus Lines: Interstate: Greyhound, Public Service, Pan-American, Martz,
Safeway Trailways, Golden Arrow, Champlain, Edwards, De Camp, Gar
den State, Jersey Central-Reading Transportation, and others. Intrastate:
Public Service and many small independent lines connecting principal
towns and cities.
Steamship Lines: Jersey City: Dollar Line, "Round the World"; Ameri
can Export, to Mediterranean ports; American-Scantic Lines, to Scandi
navia, Poland, Russia; Moormack, to South America. Hoboken: Gdynia-
American, to Poland, Denmark, West Indies, Bermuda ; Holland- America,
to Europe, Cuba, Mexico; Cosulich, to Mediterranean and Adriatic ports;
Red Star, to Belgium ; Lamport and Holt, to South America.
Airlines: Newark: terminal of Transcontinental & Western Air, United
Airlines, Eastern Airlines, and American Airlines. Camden: airport for
Philadelphia, terminal of United Airlines (western route), Transcontinen
tal & Western Air, Eastern Airlines, and American Airlines.
Highways: Ten Federal highways, including US i from Canada to Miami
and US 30 from Atlantic City to Astoria, Ore. All State and U. S. routes
patrolled by State police. Gasoline tax 4^.
Traffic Regulations: Speed Limits: 40 m.p.h. on open highway, 15 ap
proaching intersections; 20 in residential and business districts; unless
posted otherwise, 15 in town and city districts not controlled by lights or
traffic officers; 10 in all school or other restricted districts. General Rules
of the Road: Driver approaching intersection from right has right-of-way.
xxiii
XXIV GENERAL INFORMATION
No turn may be made at a red light, unless indicated by a green arrow or
sign. Vehicles must stop at least 10 ft. in rear of streetcars stopped for re
ceiving or discharging passengers except at established safety zone. Trol
ley cars may be passed on R. only, except on one-way streets. Vehicles
operating on roads with clearly marked lanes must keep R., using center
lanes for passing only. No passing at intersections, on hills, curves, or
other places where view is obstructed for minimum of 500 ft. Ambulances,
fire engines, and police cars have right-of-way at all times. Two braking
systems, each operating on two wheels, required. Headlights and taillights
must be lit from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sun
rise. Nonresident may operate car without permit within the State for pe
riod reciprocally agreed upon by State of residence and New Jersey. Mo
torist involved in accident must wait until police appear, and report to
them; or report to State police. Telephone operator will give direct con
nection. Trailers subject to restriction by local ordinances. Prohibited:
Parking on paved portion of highway or on any part of road unless a
i5-ft. passage is left for other vehicles, with view of 200 ft. each way.
Parking within 25 ft. of intersection, or within 50 ft. of stop sign, or
within 10 ft. of fire hydrant.
State Police Substations:
Absecon Newton
Berlin Penn s Neck
Cape May Court House Pompton Lakes
Columbus Port Norris
Farmingdale Scotch Plains
Flemington Somerville
Hightstown Teaneck
Keyport Toms River
Malaga Washington
Mantua Woodbridge
Milltown Woodstown
Netcong
Accommodations: Good hotels in larger cities. Many fine hotels at coast
and lake resorts, open in season. Tourist homes, small hotels, and dining
accommodations in nearly all towns.
Liquor Laws: Hours and days of sale and other regulations fixed by cities
and towns. Package goods sold in saloons, grocery stores, drug stores, deli
catessens, and similar places.
GENERAL INFORMATION XXV
Climate and Equipment: Topcoats or wraps should supplement summer
wardrobe at seashore, mountain, and lake resorts. Otherwise, seasonable
wardrobe will suffice. Occasional fogs in spring and fall along the shore
and lowlands. Moderate snowfall usually, but main highways are always
kept open.
Poisonous Reptiles and Plants: Rattlesnakes and copperheads, while not
common, are found in the northern mountains and in the pinelands of the
south and central areas. Poison ivy and poison sumac are common.
Information: The State department of conservation and development,
Trenton, N. J., provides leaflets and other information on State parks and
forests. Excellent maps are sold by the department at nominal prices
(write for list) ; of especial value are the atlas sheets, 27 by 37 in., cover
ing the State with 37 maps on a scale of i m. to the in. (50$ each). Bu
reaus of information on New Jersey travel and vacation resorts are main
tained by the Newark Evening News and Newark Sunday Call.
Recreational Areas: New Jersey has 120 miles of ocean front along the
Atlantic Coast and, behind it, many inlets and bays with ideal conditions
for yachting and fishing. There are more than 40 beaches, patrolled by
lifeguards. In most of the larger resorts the beach front is controlled by
the municipality, private individuals, clubs, or hotels. Free bathing is per
mitted in some of the less populous sections. The northern lake region
includes nearly 100 bodies of water in the woodlands and hills of Mor
ris, Sussex, Passaic, and Warren Counties, with large summer colonies. In
addition to Palisades Interstate Park, 1,700 acres held jointly with New
York, the State maintains the following 14 parks: Ringwood Manor,
Hacklebarney, Voorhees, Swartswood, Washington Crossing, Washington
Rock, Parvin, Mount Laurel, Musconetcong, Cranberry, Hopatcong, High
Point, Stephens and Cheesequake. There are eight forests operated by the
State and most of the State parks and forests have free facilities for pic
nics; lakes for bathing and boating; well-stocked streams for fishing, sub
ject to State laws; trails for hiking and horseback riding. Parvin and
Swartswood offer free supervised swimming. The Appalachian Trail,
Maine to Georgia, runs for 2 miles along the Kittatinny Ridge from
Delaware Water Gap to High Point Park, the highest section of the State.
Various counties have extensive park systems. The South Mountain and
Eagle Rock Reservations in Essex County enclose 2,500 acres of natural
forest, bridle paths, trails, camp sites, picnic grounds, and drives. The
most important Federal reservation is Morristown National Historical
Park. Many municipalities have recreational centers and playgrounds with
XXvi GENERAL INFORMATION
wading and swimming pools and other recreational facilities for adults
and children.
General Rules: Written permit required for fires in a State reservation.
Many fireplaces are provided. Smokers should use extreme care; causing a
fire in any forest reserve is a misdemeanor. State laws provide penalties
for cutting, injury, or removal of trees, shrubs, plants, or flowers by any
person without the consent of the owner of the property.
Fishing: Practically every species of salt-water fish natural to temperate
waters of North America is found in the coastal waters. All the larger
seashore resorts maintain fishing piers, and powerboats for deep-sea fish
ing. Surf casting, free on most beaches, is practiced at many spots. Among
the choice trout streams are the Musconetcong, Pequest, and South Branch
of the Raritan, in the northern section, and Wading River in the southern
section. In addition large-mouthed and small-mouthed bass, pickerel,
perch, and sunfish are plentiful throughout river and lake w r aters. The
State distributes annually 130,000,000 fish from the Hackettstown hatchery
and maintains five public fishing and hunting grounds. License: Resident
fishing, $2.10; nonresident, $5.50. Resident hunting and fishing, $3.10;
nonresident, $10.50. Note: Hunting and fishing laws are changed fre
quently ; tourists are advised to obtain up-to-date information. Licenses are
issued by the State fish and game commission, Trenton, N. J., through
agents including city and county clerks and other local officials.
Fishing Laws: Game fish are defined as bass, trout, pike, perch, and
pickerel. Open Seasons (dates inclusive) : Broad, brown, rainbow trout,
and salmon, Apr. i5~July 15 and Sept 1-30; bass and crappie, June 15
Nov. 30, except from Delaware River. Pike, pickerel and pike-perch, May
2o-Nov. 30 and Jan. 1-20, except from Delaware River. From Delaware
River and Bay tributaries: bass, crappie, pike-perch, pickerel, pike, and
trout, June i5~Dec. i. From Delaware River and tributaries between
Trenton Falls and Birch Creek; bass, crappie, pike-perch, pickerel, pike,
June i5~Dec. i; trout, Apr. i5~July 31. Daily Limit: Trout and salmon,
10 (trout 7 in.) ; black and Oswego bass, 20 in all (9 in.) ; rock bass, 20;
calico bass and crappie, 20 in all (6 in.). Pike, pickerel, and pike-perch,
no daily limit from open water; 10 when fishing through ice (14 in.) ; 10
from Delaware River (12 in.). Trout, 10 (6 in.), from Delaware River,
Bay and tributaries.
Prohibited: Sale or purchase of black or Oswego bass, except for propa
gating ; sale of pike-perch, pike or pickerel caught through the ice ; fishing
for trout, bass, pike-perch, pike, or pickerel after 9 p.m.
GENERAL INFORMATION XXVli
Hunting: Deer, the largest game in the State, are found chiefly in the
State forests set aside for their conservation, but many roam the mountains
of the northern counties and the pine forests of the southern plain. The
State game farms breed and release yearly about 70,000 head of small
game, including rabbits, quail, and partridge. The coastal salt marshes
and inlets abound in waterfowl. The northern lakes, rivers, and moun
tains attract quail, partridge, pheasants, etc. There is some fox hunting in
Somerset and Morris Counties, and raccoon hunting with trained dogs in
the country southwest of New Brunswick.
License: Same fee as fishing (see above).
Open Seasons (dates inclusive) : Quail, rabbit, gray hare, black or fox
squirrel, male English or ringneck pheasant, ruffed grouse, prairie chicken,
wild turkey, Hungarian partridge, Nov. lo-Dec. 15. Geese, ducks, coot
(crow ducks), and Wilson snipe or jacksnipe, Nov. 26-Dec. 25; sora,
clapper, and king rail (marsh hen or mudhen), other rails and gallinules
(except coot), Sept. i-Nov. 30. Woodcock, Oct. i5~Nov. 14. Skunk,
mink, muskrat, otter (may only be trapped), Nov. i5~Mar. 15. (No
open season on wood, ruddy, bufflehead, canvasback, or redhead duck,
brant, snow goose, Ross s goose, or swan.) Special State license required
for woodcock. Deer (only those having horns at least 3 in. long), Dec.
ly-Dec. 21. Raccoon, Nov. i-Dec. 31, excepting deer season. Daily Bag
Limits: 10 quail, 6 rabbits, 6 gray squirrels, 3 ruffed grouse, 2 male pheas
ants (30 in season), 3 Hungarian partridge; ducks (except wood, ruddy,
canvasback, redhead and bufflehead), total of 10 of all kinds; geese (ex
cept snow goose, Ross s goose, and brant), total of 4 of all kinds; 15
coot, 15 Wilson s snipe or jacksnipe.
Possession Limits: One day s bag: sora, 25; other rails and gallinules (ex
cept sora and coot), total of 15 of all kinds; woodcock, 4; deer, one buck
a year ($100 penalty for exceeding limit) ; raccoon, no daily limit, but 15
during season.
Prohibited: Use of any snare, snood, net, trap, or any device for catching
or trapping game birds or game animals; shooting at any game bird or
game animal from power boat, airplane, hydroplane, or automobile; use
of ferrets or poisons.
Yachting and Boating: Inlets and bays along the coast are lined with sum
mer yacht clubs. Important events yearly on Navesink, Shrewsbury, and
Toms Rivers, Absecon and Barnegat Bays. For motorboats, National
Sweepstakes Regatta yearly at Red Bank on the Navesink, others on the
XXviii GENERAL INFORMATION
Passaic. Speedboat races every summer at Hopatcong and other northern
lakes, and on Raritan, Manasquan, and other rivers and bays. Canoeing on
many rivers and lakes.
Golf: There are more than 100 golf courses in the State owned by pri
vate, semiprivate, and public clubs. The best known course is Baltusrol, at
Springfield, scene of many major tournaments.
Tennis: Many municipalities provide public tennis courts, and county
parks have increased tennis facilities in recent years. The Seabright Lawn
Tennis Cricket Club and the Orange Lawn Tennis Club hold annual cham
pionship matches.
Other Games and Sports: Important intercollegiate football matches are
held at Princeton and Rutgers. Other colleges, and high schools and pri
vate preparatory schools have scheduled games; Newark, Paterson, and
Trenton have professional teams. Baseball is played informally on sand-
lots all over the State. Most high schools and colleges have teams, and
Newark, Jersey City, and Trenton have professional teams. Outdoor polo
is played at Rumson and Burnt Mills. There is bicycle racing at Nutley;
automobile racing at Woodbridge; boxing and wrestling in Newark, Jer
sey City, and many other centers.
Winter Sports: An Erie R.R. snow train runs to High Point Park, where
there are miles of ski trails and a recently completed ski jump. There are
other ski jumps in county parks, closer to urban centers. All natural lakes
and those in parks are used for ice skating. Tobogganing and snowshoe-
ing are popular in many State and county parks. The North Branch of
Shrewsbury River at Red Bank has been an iceboating center for 50 years.
Lakewood, Morristown, and Atlantic City have ice carnivals, and Eliza
beth has dog- sled races. Indoor sports include polo at Newark, East
Orange, Westfield, Red Bank, and Trenton; ice hockey in the new mu
nicipal stadium at Atlantic City; track meets and basketball in armories
and halls throughout the State.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Calendar of Events
(nfd means no fixed date; locations subject to change have been left blank.)
Jan. 2nd wk
Morristown
nfd
Morristown
nfd
Atlantic City
nfd
Trenton
nfd
Elizabeth
nfd
Watchung
Reservation
Union County
nfd
Salem
nfd
Newark
Jan.
& Feb.
r i
Red Bank
nfd I
1
Jan.
or Feb. 1
/Lakewood
nfd J
\ Atlantic City
Feb.
I 4
New Brunswick
2nd wk
Newark
nfd
Atlantic City
nfd
Lake Mohawk
Mar.
20-
Plainfield
4th wk Newark
nfd Newark
Lenten Season Union City
Eastern States Skeet Champion
ship
Ice Carnival
Men s Championship Squash
Tournaments
Agricultural Show
Dog-sled Races
Cross-Country Ski Meet
Muskrat Skinning Contest
Metropolitan Opera
Ice Boat Races
Winter Sports Carnival
Ice Carnival
Twilight Concert
Dog Show
Atlantic Coast Women s Squash
Championship
Winter Carnival
Union County Badminton Tour
nament
Indoor Polo Championship
Contemporary Club, Grand Opera
Passion Play, Veronica s Veil
10
Burlington
Election of Officers of Council
(Cor. High and
of W. Jersey Proprietors
Broad Sts.)
2nd Fri.
Statewide
Arbor Day
26
Finns Point
Confederate Memorial Pilgrim
age
Sat. before
Palm Sun.
I Atlantic City
Dog Show
Palm Sun.
Atlantic City
Style Parade
Easter Sun.
Atlantic City
Easter Parade
Palmyra
Sunrise Service
Elizabeth
Sunrise Service
XXIX
XXX
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
nfd
Cape May
May
i
Paterson
15-30
Glassboro
Pitman
3 1
Camden
ist wk
Newark
2nd wk
Newark
ist & 2nd wk
South Jersey
last wk
Madison
Decoration
1
Day & every
Sat. until
r Newark
Columbus Day
J
nfd
Atlantic City
nfd
Jersey City
nfd
New Brunswick
nfd
Summit
nfd
South Orange
June
5-6
Atlantic City
Princeton
last wk
Rumson
nfd
Swedesboro
nfd
North Bergen
nfd
Camden
nfd
Paterson
nfd
Atlantic City
nfd
Newark
nfd
Maplewood
nfd
Princeton
nfd
West Orange
July
4
New Brunswick
Westfield
Newark
4-10
Wildwood
16
Hammonton
30-31 1
& Aug. i /
Rumson
nfd
New Brunswick
nfd
Barnegat Bay
nfd
Rumson
Mackerel Fleet Race from
Gloucester, Mass.
May Day Parade
Blossom Festival
Blossom Festival
Walt Whitman s Birthday Cele
bration
Horse Show
Flower Show
Blossom Time in Fruit Belts
Dog Show
Amateur Trotting Races
Horse Show
Hudson County Progress Expo
sition
Pageant and Horse Show
Horse Show
Dog Show
Flower Mart
Track Meet
Dog Show
Service at Old Trinity Church
German Day Exercises
Outdoor Mass, American Legion
Festival of Nations
National Headliners Frplic
Open-air Symphony Concerts
Golf Tournament
Westminster Choir
Rock Spring Horse Show
Outboard Motorboat Races
Sunrise Service
Amateur Trotting Races
"Mibs" (Marbles) National
Championship
Festival of Our Lady of Mt.
Carmel
Horse Show
Poultrymen s Field Day
International Star Race
Polo Meet
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
XXXI
nfd
Spring Lake
nfd
Seabright
nfd
Deal
nfd
Livingston
nfd
Rumson
Aug. 4
Elizabeth
2nd Sat.
Keyport
ist wk
Pitman
2nd wk
Atlantic City
3rd wk
Atlantic City
3rd or 4th wk
Red Bank
4th wk
Ocean Grove
nfd
Ventnor
nfd
Pitman
nfd
North Bergen
nfd
Clementon
nfd
Sea Girt
nfd
Asbury Park
nfd
Belvidere
nfd
Lake Hopatcong
Sept. i
Port Norris
20-25
New Brunswick
ist wk
Atlantic City |
ist wk
Newark
last wk
Trenton
Sat. & Sun. |
before Labor I
Atlantic City
Day J
Labor Day
Ocean City
Hohokus
Camden
Lake Hopatcong
nfd
Hohokus
nfd
Hoboken
nfd
Trenton
nfd
Far Hills
nfd
Rumson
Oct. ii
Camden
nfd
New Brunswick
nfd
New Brunswick
nfd
Three Mile Run
Tennis Tournament
Tennis Tournament
Women s Golf Tournament
Golf Tournament
Golf Tournament
Italian Night Program
Salt Water Day
Pitman Grove Camp Meeting
Moth Boat Races
Life Guards Races
National Sweepstakes Regatta
Methodist Camp Meeting
Middle Atlantic Coast Tennis
Tournament
Grange Day
Plattdeutsches Volksfest
Drum and Bugle Corps Compe
tition
Governor Day
Carnival and Baby Parade
Farmers Picnic
Motorboat Races
Sailing of 300 Oyster Vessels
Horse Show
Showmen s Variety Jubilee (In
cludes Beauty Pageant)
Trotting Meet at Weequahic
Park
State Fair
Power Boat Regatta
Yacht Club Regatta
Trotting Races
Labor Day Services
Yacht Races
Automobile Races
Drum and Bugle Corps Compe
tition
Feast of Lights (Italian)
Fox Hunt
Horse Show
Pulaski Day
Florists Day
Chrysanthemum Field Day
Coon Dog Championship
XXX11 CALENDAR OF EVENTS
nfd Newark Electrical Show
nfd Paterson Egg-laying Contest
nfd Camden Food Show
nfd Elizabeth "Own a Home" Show
Nov. 3rd wk Newark Automobile Show
nfd Newark Stamp Exhibition
Dec. 24 Burlington Singing by the Waits
3rd wk Newark Horse Show
nfd Atlantic City Eisteddfod (Welsh Festival)
PART I
THE STATE HOUSE, TRENTON
A New Jersey Silhouette
j j
NO PHRASE or nickname can supply an index to New Jersey, for in
physical and sociological composition the State is fundamentally
diverse. It is often called the Garden State ; with equal reason it might be
labeled the Factory State, or the Commuter State.
Geographically, New Jersey offers rugged hills, and a long stretch of
ocean shore attracting millions of visitors each summer ; fertile soil for or
chards and truck gardens, and miles of sandy waste covered by ferns and
stunted pines. Industrially, the State produces an amazing variety of goods.
It maintains a full quota of reasonably paid mechanics, and at the same
time numerous sweatshops paying wages of $4 and $5 a week. For genera
tions Paterson and Passaic have been national battlefields for organized
labor. Yet within walking distance of these cities are other communities
where picketing is considered a crime.
Politically, New Jersey is noted for one of the strongest Democratic ma
chines of the Nation and a hardly less virile Republican organization. It is
also a testing ground for the Labor Party movement. Culturally, the State
is enriched by Princeton and Rutgers Universities, Stevens Institute, an ex
cellent school system, the fine Newark Public Library, and several noted
museums. Yet within an hour s ride from the most densely populated sec
tions are mountain people who have lived for 150 years in ignorance and
poverty akin to that of Southern hill folk.
Since the time when New York and Philadelphia were villages, New
Jersey has been the corridor between them. Colonial post roads have
evolved into the strikingly designed concrete highways and bridges that
signify a motor-minded population. Fittingly, it was New Jersey that pio
neered with the cloverleaf intersection to sort unceasing streams of traffic.
Roads have been laid so straight and broad that the long-distance autoist
speeds across the State, seeing little except a landscape of reinforced con
crete and billboards, although many pleasant villages and quiet country lie
a little way off the main highways.
New Jersey s characteristic disunity extends back to the years of early
settlement, when the separate provinces of East Jersey and West Jersey
3
THE PULASKI SKYWAY, BETWEEN NEWARK AND JERSEY CITY
were created. The civil government and Puritanism of New England were
stamped upon the eastern province, which was to become the urban manu
facturing area, while the western province (now "South Jersey") concen
trated on agriculture and adhered largely to the Quaker faith. Although
the two provinces were united under a single government in 1702, fusion
has never been completed. Residents of southern New Jersey still look
askance at products of the northern half, especially when the product is
political oratory. The term "North Jersey" is used as a geographical des
ignation with little sentiment, but "South Jersey" is spoken of by fisher
men and farmers almost as a Virginian speaks of the Old Dominion.
In more recent years the State has become the home of tens of thousands
of people who work in New York or Philadelphia. The commuter reads
newspapers from those cities on his way to work; he rides on railroads
that, except for the Jersey Central, bear names taken from other States ;
and when he has money to spend for a good time at night, his pleasure
often falls into the category of interstate commerce. The legitimate theater
is practically non-existent within New Jersey. Night life is decentralized
by hundreds of neon-signed roadhouses, many of them large enough for a
thousand patrons.
But the State does not belong to the commuters. Of more significance
A NEW JERSEY SILHOUETTE 5
are the oystermen and fishing captains of the coast ; the truck farmers and
dairymen; and the merchants, professional workers, and industrial work
ers of towns and cities. The greatest share of New Jersey s working life is
in the factories, whose output of refined copper, petroleum products, tex
tiles, electrical equipment, machinery and other goods gives the State sixth
rank in the Nation for value of manufactures, although it is only ninth in
population.
Off the arterial roads are hundreds of small villages where the tempo
of life is in keeping with the general stores, white frame churches, and
schoolhouses ; where a good corn crop is more interesting news than the
murder of a Manhattan artist s model, and where the county s chief horse
trader is more representative of the community culture than the automo
bile dealer. People in these villages are independent of cities. They are as
firmly rooted to their homesteads as the stone walls and rail fences that
mark their lands.
Equal to the rural Jerseyman s apparent contempt for the neighboring
metropolises (whose residents buy most of his produce) is the simulated
scorn of New Yorkers for that unexplored portion of the United States
lying between the Hudson River and Hollywood. New Yorkers in general
know little of New Jersey. Although Newark is much closer to New
York s City Hall than are many sections of the greater city, it is sometimes
assumed to be a remote station on the Pennsylvania Railroad. Relatively
few New Yorkers ever have penetrated the miles upon miles of pine bar
rens on the coastal plain; they have never seen Bordentown, where the
early nineteenth century is alive on every street, nor the small villages
resting solidly in the pockets of northern mountains.
Like China, New Jersey absorbs the invader. On summer week ends,
when city asphalt is soft enough to take heel prints, the State s highways
are thronged with the cars of New Yorkers and Pennsylvanians bound for
the coast resorts. And it is to "Jersey" that apartment-worn residents of
Manhattan and Philadelphia move by thousands when the desire for space,
grass, clean air, better schools, and lower rents can no longer be denied.
Millionaires have joined the exodus across the Hudson and Delaware.
They have crowned the low-lying hills with their mansions and green
houses, converted the fields into golf courses, decorated the roadsides with
spring-blooming forsythia, and imported dogs and horses by the hundreds.
The State inherited a large foreign population from the years of whole
sale immigration, and received many additional immigrants who moved
from other States between 1920 and 1930. Lying at the back door of Ellis
Island, the industries of New Jersey absorbed so many shiploads of Euro-
6 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
peans that the foreign-born population in some manufacturing centers is
still as high as one-third. Negroes came also to work on farms or in fac
tories, and racial discrimination followed, particularly in southern New
Jersey a section that lies partly below the Mason-Dixon Line. According
to the report of the Interracial Committee of New Jersey Conference of
Social Work (1932), "Although civil rights are guaranteed by law to Ne
groes in New Jersey, their personal privileges are increasingly more lim
ited."
Holding to the older traditions are the members of local historical soci
eties, the Daughters of the American Revolution and similar organizations.
Washington fought much of the Revolution on New Jersey soil, and the
places associated with his name have been marked and preserved. Tales of
Indian raids and Indian-killing are still being told, although the Indian
population has decreased to some two hundred. Monuments to vanished
industry and commerce are the ruins of bog-iron furnaces throughout
southern New Jersey, the weed-grown ditches of the two canals that
crossed the State from the Delaware River, and hundreds of small streams
that once provided power for mills on almost every pond.
Toryism was rampant in New Jersey at the time of the Republic s birth,
and the State is still a seething mixture of liberal and reactionary forces.
Today the dominant corporation is Public Service, the vast utility concern
that sells electricity, gas, and transportation to most inhabitants of the
State. Consumers have won an initial fight for lower rates, and Camden is
the scene of what amounts to a civic crusade for public ownership.
But the average resident, particularly in the commuting belts, is perhaps
less concerned about the destiny of New Jersey than are the editorial writ
ers of the great New York dailies. The voter looks to Washington or to
his borough hall, and scarcely knows when the legislature is sitting at
Trenton. The commuter has no time to read the editorials as he sprints
alternately from train to ferry and from ferry to train. The industrial
worker s chief concern now seems to be the future of national labor or
ganizations. As for the farmer, he finds the soil good and usually votes
Republican.
Natural Settini
Geography, Topography, and Climate
NEW JERSEY is the fourth smallest State in the Union ; only Con
necticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island are smaller. It has an area of
8,224 square miles, of which 710 square miles are water surface. The State
has an extreme length north and south of 166 miles, and an extreme
width east and west of 57 miles.
With the exception of the 5O-mile northern boundary from Hudson
River to Delaware River, separating it from New York, the State is en
tirely surrounded by water, 300 miles of which are navigable. It is bounded
west and south by the Delaware River and Delaware Bay, dividing it from
Pennsylvania and Delaware. On the east it is bounded by the Atlantic
Ocean, the Hudson River, Arthur Kill, Kill van Kull, and New York
Bay, which separate it from New York.
The State falls naturally into three physical divisions of sharply differen
tiated scenery. In the north is the mountainous, lake-studded region known
as the Appalachian Highlands; in the central, or Triassic section, are
gently rolling hills, supporting most of the State s urban and industrial de
velopment; and in the large southern Coastal Plain are fruit orchards and
market gardens, swamps and pine wastes, miles of beaches and shallow
bays.
The Appalachian Highlands section, which extends northwest of a line
that might be drawn through Pompton, Morristown, Lebanon and Clinton
to Delaware River, includes slightly less than two-fifths of the State s area.
Along the northwest border are the level-topped narrow Kittatinny Moun
tains, which achieve the highest elevation in the State 1,805 ^ eet above
sea level at High Point. These mountains are part of the Appalachians.
Bisecting them is the famous Delaware Water Gap, 900 feet wide at the
base and 4,500 feet wide at the top, with sides rising to a height of 1,200
feet or more.
The thickly wooded ridges of this area form a natural park. In Sussex
7
8 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
County, more than 12,000 acres along the Kittatinny range have been set
aside as Stokes State Forest to preserve at least a portion of the State s
woodland in its pristine beauty. Winding roads and trails penetrate the
dense forest growth, and rock-strewn streams invite the fisherman.
Shut in between the Kittatinny Mountains on the west and the High
lands on the southeast is Kittatinny Valley, largest of the many fertile val
leys in this section that are used for farming and dairying.
Several parallel ridges, remarkably uniform in height, and some of the
oldest rocks in America, form the lesser elevations. Among the best-known
are the Green Pond, Schooley, Hopatcong, and Jenny Jump ; between them,
lakes, swamps, brooks and narrow valleys are frequent. Summer resorts
and large country estates are situated throughout this region. To the south
lies cleared land used for agriculture. The Highlands do not end at the
State line but stretch northeasterly to West Point, where they become the
Highlands of the Hudson, and southwestward into Pennsylvania. Eleva
tions in this area average about 800 feet.
Lake Hopatcong, in the south central section of the Appalachian High
lands district, is the largest inland body of water wholly within the State.
It has an area of 2,443 acres an d a shoreline of more than 40 miles. Green
wood Lake, with 1,290 acres, is divided between New Jersey and New
York. Nearby is Wanaque Reservoir, the State s largest artificial lake.
Scores of smaller lakes, many of glacial origin, are found in this region.
One-fifth of the State, a long strip barely 20 miles wide, the city belt of
New Jersey, lies within the Triassic Lowland division, which extends from
Delaware River to Hudson River, and north from US i (the straight-line
highway between Newark and Trenton) to the base of the Ramapo
Mountains.
Manufacturing and commerce have centered in this area, with the result
that it includes Paterson, Passaic, Jersey City, Newark, Elizabeth, New
Brunswick and Trenton every large urban center in the State with the
exceptions of Camden and Atlantic City. West and north of Newark is a
string of closely built-up residential towns: Maplewood, the Oranges,
Bloomfield, Nutley, Clifton, and suburbs of Paterson.
The red soils of the weak Triassic sandstone and shales are not utilized
extensively for agricultural development. However, the section running
southwest along the Piedmont belt, just above US i, is one of the oldest
farming districts in the State.
Rising abruptly from the sandstone plain generally characteristic of the
district are the traprock formations known as the Palisades, Sourland,
Watchung, and Cushetunk. They are forested and rise from 400 to 500
PASSAIC RIVER FROM PULASKI SKYWAY
feet above sea level. The Palisades, the most important of these, extend as
far as Weehawken from a point north of the New York boundary, gradu
ally decreasing in height. The traprock formation continues to the Kill
van Kull channel and into the Watchung Mountains west of the group of
suburbs known as the Oranges, but south of Weehawken has little scenic
appeal.
The State s three principal rivers, the Passaic, Hackensack, and Raritan,
all drain this section and are partly navigable. The Passaic, the most im
portant commercially, rises in the southern part of Morris County and
runs northeast to Little Falls, where it descends 40 feet by a cascade and
rapids. In Paterson the river drops 70 feet into a vertically-walled gorge to
form Passaic Falls, a spectacular sight when high water causes an over
flow. Usually the river s entire volume is diverted for electricity produc
tion. From the falls, the river turns southward and empties into Newark
Bay.
The Hackensack enters the State about five miles west of the Hudson,
flows parallel with that river and empties into Newark Bay, around which
are thousands of acres of marshland. The Raritan, largest river wholly
within the State, rises in Morris County, runs eastward and empties into
Raritan Bay. It drains an area of 1,105 square miles. Some of the streams
io NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
provide water power, as may be seen at Paterson, High Bridge, Potters-
ville, and Raritan.
The Coastal Plain division, comprising about 4,400 square miles, or
more than half of the State s area, sweeps inland and northward from the
ocean up to the general course of US i . One-third of the plain is less than
50 feet above sea level; two-fifths are between 50 and 100 feet; and one-
fourth is 100 feet above sea level. One-eighth of the plain consists of
tidal marsh.
Fringed though it is with these tidal marshes and containing many in
land swamps, the plain in certain areas is highly productive. The clay beds
and greensand marls of the northern section provide good farm land, pro
ducing melons, potatoes, corn, and other standard market crops. West
ward in Burlington County is one of the most important fruit-growing
districts of eastern United States.
The southern and central part of the plain is covered largely with stunted
pine woods the famous pine barrens. Throughout this area are cranberry
bogs. The swamp land yields in addition large quantities of sphagnum
moss (used by nurserymen for potting) and medicinal herbs. Early set
tlers quickly discovered the value of the Great Cedar Swamp in Cape May
County, on Tuckahoe River. Buried at shallow depths and perfectly pre
served were the trunks of giant cedars, which were hauled from the swamp
and converted into shingles and other building material.
Beaches and tidal marshes extending from Raritan Bay to Cape May on
the Atlantic Ocean, and from the Cape to Camden on Delaware River,
almost encircle the area. Sand bars along the coast have always been a
hazard to mariners and fishermen. Capped by sand dunes, the bars are
slowly becoming part of the mainland because of the accumulation of
sediment washed into the basins from the shore. Rivers with swampy
banks, the large extent of unproductive land, and a lack of good harbors
have generally retarded the development of the Coastal Plain.
From Manasquan south the coast is a succession of shallow inlets, river
mouths and long sandy beaches. Barnegat, Little Egg Harbor, and Great
Egg Harbor are the most important harbors on the southern coast. The
Delaware River is navigable up to Camden.
Principal rivers, none of which runs for more than 36 miles, are the
Pequest, Great Egg Harbor, and Maurice. The drainage pattern is den
dritic, or treelike.
The sole important elevation in this section is the Navesink Highlands
on Lower New York Bay, highest point on the open Atlantic Coast be
tween Maine and Florida.
NATURAL SETTING II
An ocean to the south and mountains in the north account in part for
New Jersey s strikingly varied climate. The southern tip of the State, at
Cape May, has a uniform summer coolness, but escapes hard winters be
cause it is out of the northern storm path and protected by the nearness
of the Gulf Stream. The northern highlands have the coldest winter weather
of any section in the State.
The mean temperatures range from 49.2 F. at Dover in the north to
55.4 at Bridgeton in the south. The highest recorded temperature in the
State was 109 at Somerville on September 21, 1895. At Riverdale in
Bergen County, a record low of 34 below zero was reported on January
5, 1904. Seacoast temperatures have never fallen to more than 10 below
zero.
Consistently mild weather has contributed to making Atlantic City an
important health and resort city. Its average winter temperature is 34,
while the summer mean is 70.
Annual rainfall throughout the State averages 48 inches, with less pre
cipitation along the southern shore and slightly more in the northern dis
trict. The State escaped the worst of the drought in 1930, receiving 19
inches of its normal 3 5 -inch rainfall in the growing season.
Snow falls in the period from November to April. The growing season,
between killing frosts of spring and autumn, varies in length from 155
days in the Kittatinny Mountain region to 203 days along the coast.
Geology and Paleontology
Geologists divide New Jersey as it is today into three provinces. The
first, known as the Appalachian Highlands Province, contains the highest
ground in the State and extends northwest from a line connecting Suffern,
Morristown, and Milford. Extending 20 miles south of the Ramapos to
US i (the Newark to Trenton highway) and lying between the Delaware
and Hudson Rivers, is the Triassic Lowland, a less elevated section. South
of US i is the lowest land in the State, comprising the Coastal Plain
Province.
Each section has been shaped by the interplay of sub-crustal forces and
external agencies such as erosion by surface water and invading ice. And
the character of each has exercised physical control over man s cultural his
tory within its boundaries. Cities, farms, and factories are placed today
largely where the results of geological processes not man suggested.
The Appalachian mountain ridge, on the northwestern boundary, re
sulted from tilted-up layers of hard rock that have withstood erosion while
12 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
the less durable rocks were gradually worn away to form the Kittatinny
Valley. The lower Highlands ridges are largely composed of hard rocks of
granite, gneiss, limestone, slate, sandstone, and siliceous conglomerates.
These rocks are the oldest in the State, consisting largely of pre-Cambrian
and Paleozoic types. Along the Ramapo Mountains on the southern border
of this region is a great fault, or fracture, dating back many millions of
years to the time when a vast block of rock-crust broke away and settled.
Although the hard sandstone ridges carry a soil sufficiently hospitable for
forest growth, the only productive soil is found on the soft shales and
limestones of the well-settled valleys.
The Triassic Lowland, a long strip barely 20 miles wide, is the urban
and industrial center of New Jersey. The underlying rocks of this section
are chiefly red sandstones and shales, which through decay have given
their color to the soil. Although not conducive to extensive farming, this
formation has provided excellent sandstone for building and roadmaking.
Several ridges in this province, notably the Watchung Mountains, have
successfully resisted erosion because of their hard volcanic rock. The
Watchungs may owe their origin to one of New Jersey s geologic oddities,
Snake Hill, which is probably the eroded stump of an ancient volcano.
This rough rock-pile has a lonely site in the Hackensack meadows, just
north of the Pennsylvania Railroad main line, where it is one of the first
things seen by outbound travelers from New York as the train leaves the
Hudson tunnel.
The most spectacular sight in this area is, of course, the Palisades of the
Hudson. Rising in places to more than 500 feet, these great stone columns
are the edge of what was once a thick sheet of molten rock that, forced
upward from great depths in the earth s interior, spread out horizontally
between layers of sedimentary sandstone and red shale like the chocolate
filling in a layer cake. Cooling slowly far beneath the surface, this layer
acquired its perpendicular columns through shrinkage and cracking. Over
a long period of time, erosion removed several thousand feet of sediment
in the layer above, finally exposing the Palisades. Because of greater hard
ness they have survived countless centuries of erosion.
For 17 miles within the State this rock wall parallels the Hudson, disap
pearing from sight near Weehawken. But the formation can be traced un
der the waters of Kill van Kull to Staten Island, where it makes a fare
well appearance as an unimposing little heap of rocks in an open field.
Soundings have shown that the canyon of the Hudson extends 400 miles
to sea a natural marvel easily comparable with the Grand Canyon of the
Colorado.
NATURAL SETTING 13
The broad Coastal Plain region is the center of New Jersey s market
gardens, pine forests, and beach playgrounds. Along the Atlantic coast
south of Point Pleasant, a long broken row of sand ridges rises above sea
level. These ridges have been built up offshore by the action of waves and
ocean currents. Similarly, tidal marshes and beaches extend around the
State from Raritan Bay on the east coast to Camden on the western
boundary.
Fertile soils are found upon the inner coastal plain. An inner belt of
Cretaceous greensands and marls, valuable as fertilizer, extends across the
State from the Raritan to the Delaware. As a whole, the area is one of
sedimentary rocks. Contrasting with the fertility of the farming district is
the great pine forest that covers more than 3,000 square miles in the
southeast.
Age of Invertebrates. Tests involving radioactive minerals indicate that
crystalline rocks in the Highlands region are at least one billion years
old. Geologists have pieced together a story of New Jersey that antedates
the dinosaur by many millions of years. At the earliest time in geological
records, the northwestern section of the State was the floor of a long and
narrow inland sea. This gulf was separated from the open Atlantic by a
mountainous barrier on the site of the present continental shelf. Erosion
gradually wore down the mountains, the soil and debris being distributed
on the floor of the sea. Ultimately this sediment converted an arm of the
sea into dry land.
The animals of this inland sea were all invertebrates; shellfish and
trilobites were dominant. The shellfish superficially resembled those of our
present sea, while the trilobites were peculiar animals, smaller but other
wise not unlike the king crab or horseshoe crab of the New Jersey coast
today. Fossils of these animals are occasionally found in quartzite and
limestone which in the form of sand and limey ooze formed the sea-floor
during this period. Perfect trilobites are very rare in New Jersey. Quarries
near Blairstown and Columbia have yielded fragments.
During the Ordovician period, which followed the Cambrian, lime
stones and shales were being deposited. The animals of the Ordovician
sea were more numerous than those of the Cambrian, but again they were
all spineless. Sponges, corals, shellfish, and trilobites are occasionally found
in the rocks deposited in this sea, for instance near Jacksonburg, New
ton, and Branchville.
Age of Reptiles. Millions of years later, during the Triassic period,
came the Appalachian revolution, when the earth s crust shivered and
14 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
made mountains. The eroded mountains near the sea were pushed bodily
northwest, wrinkling the layers of sediment that had filled this ancient
trough. These huge wrinkles were the ancestral Appalachian Mountains.
A long period of erosion followed; the newly formed mountains were
slowly worn down, their waste being spread upon an eastern piedmont that
lay, in Triassic time, between the new mountains and the relics of the old
barrier. The weight of these new deposits was too much for the earth s
crust. A large block split off and sank, squeezing upward enormous quan
tities of black lava that spread over the floor of this valley. (The line of
fracture is known today as the Ramapo fault.)
The elevation of the Appalachian Mountains left a valley between them
and the older mountains of Appalachia. Several fresh-water lakes must
have existed in this valley, for today there are remains of many fish in the
deposits that eventually filled the lakes. A great many of these fossil fish
have been found in the vicinity of Boonton.
More sediment from the bordering mountains on the east and west cov
ered the lava. Finally, earth movements tilted the entire strata to a gentle
northwestward slope; a series of fractures enabled the crustal blocks to
slip downward as they became tilted.
The irresistible forces of erosion forces that have carved New Jersey
as the State exists today continued their assault on the mountains. The
ancestral Appalachians were slowly leveled off. Another series of sedi
ments, now known as the Cretaceous, was built up along the coast, spread
ing inland over part of the Triassic rocks. This encroaching sea deposited
beds of gravel, sand, clay, and greensand marl that are important units of
the Coastal Plain today. Ancestors of the modern shellfish inhabited these
waters and built great shell beds covering many square miles; dinosaurs
waded in the coastal marshes, leaving footprints on the muds of geologic
time; sea serpents, sharks, crocodiles, and huge turtles disported nearby.
Their habitat was probably the dense vegetation or marshes near the sea.
Great forests of palmlike trees grew along the shores of these estuaries,
and tangles of huge ferns and slender branchless trees, not unlike our pres
ent horse-tail rushes, choked the marshes. The finding of a fossil cycad at
Woodbridge has suggested that the climate was much warmer than it is
today.
The dinosaurs and some of the other reptiles of this period were numer
ous, and their remains have occasionally been found in southern New
Jersey. A model of the large dinosaur (Hadrasaurus) found many years
ago near Haddonfield can be seen in the State Museum at Trenton. Shark
SCHOOLEYS MOUNTAIN, NEAR HACKETTSTOWN
teeth and bones of crocodiles and turtles are often found in deposits of
Cretaceous age.
During construction of the George Washington Memorial Bridge, ex
cavations made in Triassic rock of the Palisades revealed tracks of dino-
.saurs. Traces and skeletons of dinosaurs and other fossil animals have
been uncovered also at Fort Lee and near Princeton.
Cretaceous marine fossils deposited by the sea that covered most of
southern New Jersey are even more numerous than the terrestrial ones. The
shells of large clams and snails and the pens of a squidlike animal (belem-
nite) are often found in the Cretaceous deposits at such places as New
Egypt, Marlton, Crosswicks, Mullica Hill, and Lenola.
Age of Mammals. Once more the earth s crust moved. This time, how
ever, it was not a convulsion, but a rather gentle upward push that ele
vated the whole Atlantic coastal belt. Streams etched out new valleys, with
the hardest rock surfaces resisting erosion longest. The Delaware River
came to grips with the ancient bulk of Kittatinny Mountains a grand-
16 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
father in a range of patriarchs. Whereas the eroded remains of Kittatinny
once stood scarcely higher than the river s crest, its hard rock was now
rising anew as part of the general onward and upward movement. But the
mountain s uplift was slow enough to give the river a chance to use its
cutting tools. The Delaware did not need to carve through a mountain
wall, nor did it find a ready-made gap. It merely held its course as the
mountain rose, sawing downward through both hard and soft rock. The
result of that successful operation is the Delaware Water Gap.
Most of the ancient plane surfaces disappeared at this time, except for
the table top of the Palisades and the flat summits of venerable Schooley s
and Kittatinny Mountains. The Schooley peneplane, as it is designated by
geologists, is a conspicuous but little known souvenir of a long stage in
erosional history.
It was at the beginning of this period, the Tertiary, that the dinosaurs
and other large reptiles suddenly and rather mysteriously disappeared.
Their place was taken by the mammals. Although many kinds of mammals
were living throughout the country during this period, and New Jersey
probably had its quota, Tertiary fossils are not common.
The northern part of New Jersey was much as it is today, while the
southern part was covered several times by a warm shallow sea. Many of
the shellfish were similar to those of the Cretaceous seas, but others were
more like those of our present oceans. There are various deposits of Terti
ary fossils in New Jersey, but probably the best known is near Shiloh in
Cumberland County, where a large fauna of Miocene fossils has been
found in the marl pits.
The Ice Age. The surface of New Jersey was geologically ready for
man something less than a million years ago. Then the climate gradually
became colder. Down the valleys of Lake Champlain, the Connecticut and
St. Lawrence Rivers, long fingers of ice from Canada crept southward.
Finally these fingers merged into a solid sheet of ice that swept all resist
ance before it.
Vast quantities of rock, soil, and debris were pushed across country for
many miles. Remnants of this material, known as the terminal moraine,
still mark the former edge of the ice from Perth Amboy northward
through Plainfield, Summit, and Madison to Denville ; and from Denville
due west through Netcong, Hackettstown, and Belvidere to the Delaware
River. A line through these towns marks the southern limit of the glacier s
advance.
Mammoths and mastodons roamed the country at this time. One of the
NATURAL SETTING 17
finest specimens of mastodon found in the State is in the museum of Rut
gers University. The skeleton, remarkably complete, was excavated in 1869
from a bed of gray marl in Mannington Township, Salem County. It is 22
feet long and 9 feet 8 inches high. Six other mastodon skeletons were
found between Vienna and Hackettstown, and several teeth were recently
dredged off the coast.
Although this period, the Quaternary or Pleistocene, is called the Ice
Age, there were periods between advances of the ice when the climate was
probably milder than today. Water from melted ice flooded much of the
land adjoining the present shore line. Fossils from this warm, interglacial
sea include species that are now restricted to warmer waters off the Caro-
linas and Florida. Many specimens were recently found when sand was
pumped from the bottom of the marshes in Cape May and Atlantic Coun
ties to convert the lowlands into real estate developments. In addition to
shells, a few larger fossils were found, including bones of the deer, whale,
and numerous fishes.
Drainage systems were, of course, seriously disturbed by the arrival of the
glacier, by the newly formed deposits, and by the great amounts of water
released when the ice melted. Many of the lakes and swamps of Sus
sex County are of glacial origin. The Passaic River, which formerly pur
sued a short route seaward through the Watchung Mountains at Summit,
was blocked by morainal material. A large lake was formed behind the
mountains and temporarily overflowed near Bernardsville. As the ice edge
receded, perhaps no longer than 20,000 years ago, the river found lower
outlets for this Lake Passaic, finally adopting a hairpin course through
Paterson a 2O-mile detour. The river is still making that detour today,
the change being responsible for the spectacular Passaic Falls within the
city of Paterson. The last of Lake Passaic may be seen in the Great Swamp
near Myersville in Morris County.
Plant and Animal Life
Because of a topography that ranges from mountainous highland to
sandy plain, with marked differences in soil and climate, New Jersey has a
variety of wild life surprising in so small an area.
The greater part of the Coastal Plain, covered with deposits of loose
sand and gravel and a growth of stunted oak and pine, with some white
cedar survivors, is only the "Pine Barrens" to most residents of New Jer
sey. But for more than a century botanists have considered this region one
i8 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
of the most interesting in the United States. Swamps, drained by brownish
cedar-tinged streams, are veritable marine gardens.
On damp sandy spots near cedar swamps at 30 known places through
out the pine barrens is found the little fern, schhaea pusilla (curly grass),
the outstanding rarity of the State. Since its discovery in 1805 at Quaker
Bridge it has attracted naturalists from Europe and elsewhere. The fronds,
seldom more than five inches in length, are identified readily only by those
who know that the plant bears little resemblance to a fern.
Known to but a few is a sandy pocket, on an old wagon road in south
ern New Jersey, where the passionflower blooms profusely. It is perhaps
the only sight of its kind in the State. Vast stretches beneath the pine trees
are covered with the trailing pyxie plant, smallest evergreen shrub in the
world, growing only one-half inch high and putting forth white star-
shaped blossoms in April. Woods of the Coastal Plain are green at all sea
sons with swamp magnolia, laurel, and holly, in addition to the pines and
cedars.
The northern forest growth is in general similar to that of New Eng
land. Almost 20 varieties of oaks are common in the State, and the maple,
beech, locust, and birch are found in large numbers. Chestnut and hickory
trees, once abundant, are practically all gone. Old elms to match those of
Connecticut towns are found along village streets. In the northern swamps
the red maple and pin oak are typical. Ferns grow in greater profusion
northward.
Spring comes in New Jersey when the snowy wreaths of the shadbush
so named because it blooms when the shad are running appear on the
hillsides and in the dry open woods, along with trillium, hepatica, and the
eggshell-white blossoms of bloodroot. In the pine barrens a rare April
flower is that of the sand myrtle, a little plant with dark leaves somewhat
like those of box, and a smother of white blooms lasting many weeks. Ar
butus is found in the woodlands and on sunny slopes as well. In late
March and early April the pale yellow blossoms of the spice bush, and in
autumn its scarlet berries and brilliant gold leaves, add color to the wet
woods and marshes.
The staggerbush, with delicate, pinkish-white, nodding flower clusters,
blossoms from April to June. Wild azalea grows almost anywhere, scent
ing the air with its bright pink flowers. The plant is known also as the
pinxterbloom because it is seen on Whitsunday, for which the Dutch word
is Pinkster. On dry soil exposed to the sun is the birdfoot violet. The
showy Virginia cowslip, with pink buds opening sky-blue, takes root in
low meadows and on stream banks, blossoming throughout the summer.
NATURAL SETTING 19
Along roadsides near the shore the beach plum puts forth pure white
blossoms in May. The deep red or purple fruit of this low straggling tree
is much used for preserves ; the Indians prized it. Throughout the State the
spring green of most woodland is beautified by the delicate white of the
flowering dogwood. Woods and highways in nearly all parts of New Jersey
are graced by the mountain laurel, with pinkish-white blooms and ever
green leaves. On the borders of swamps and moist woods the fragrant
creamy-white flowers of sweetbay, or magnolia, are seen early in May.
Also found commonly on damp ground is the mayflower, or mayapple,
with umbrella-shaped leaves.
In late June and early July the partridgeberry, with delicate pinkish-
white blossoms, brightens the oak and hemlock woodlands of the north
ern counties. Neighbors of this plant are the wintergreen, with drooping
white bells ; the pipsissewa and pyrola, with waxen blossoms touched with
red; the dainty yellow ladyslipper, of the orchid family; and the rattle
snake plantain, also an orchid, with a short spike of tiny white florets
rising from a rosette of mottled leaves.
Sunny swamps are the wild-flower strongholds of mid-July, with turks-
cap lilies, the meadowrue, and pitcherplants ; tiny, glistening sundews,
unrolling white spikes; the rose-pink orchid; and the fringed orchises in
purple, yellow, and white. A patch of brilliant orange milkwort will be
seen on a sandy dike; near it bladderwort raises yellow blossoms above
the shallow water where its fringelike leaves float. Turkeysbeard, the odd
plant of the southern swamps, abounds in sandy bogs. Its short stiff leaves
curve upward, almost exactly like a turkey s beard, and there is a golden
gleam from its yellow spikes. Seed capsules are reddish-brown; the stalks
and bracts, buff.
Handsomest wild flower of its color is the rich orange butterflyweed,
seen in sandy fields and along roadsides throughout the summer. Blossom
ing in July also are the false indigo, with violet-blue flowers; the yellow
indigo; Jersey-tea, a shrub with plumy white flowers seen in dry open
woodlands and along gravel banks (used by Colonial housewives as a sub
stitute during the British boycott); the fringed bleedingheart ; the pink
turtlehead ; the brilliant blue closed gentian of the pine barrens ; the blue
cornflower of the northern fields; and of course the daisy, which turns
some northern pastures into an almost solid white. Constant companions
of the daisy are the buttercup, red and white clover, and yellow mustard.
In August, roadside fences and waste places are covered with matrimony-
vine and its purple blossoms. The vine is a runaway, having escaped from
New England gardens. Honeysuckle scents the air in many places from
20 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
the northern counties to Cape May. Another fragrant plant is the sweet
pepperbush, with snowy spikes, seen on stream banks. The sweetspire has
spikes of bell-shaped white blossoms in summer, and brilliant crimson
foliage in autumn. In low moist ground grows the cardinal flower, bright
ening the woods with its deep red torchlike spikes.
A roadside favorite during August and early September is joe-pye-
weed, its tall stalks crowned with dull pink clusters. Often seen near it
are the deep purple blooms of ironweed, and the familiar goldenrod.
Queen Anne s lace with its clusters of tiny white blossoms faintly tinged
with green, black-eyed-susan, and sunflowers, are also common along high
ways. In swampy sections the marshmallow, a shrub with large pale-pink
flowers, mingles with reeds and cattails. Damp roadside ditches are pre
ferred by the handsome tiger lily, whose spotted orange blossoms add
bright color throughout the State.
Colder weather brings out the bright hues of berries of vines and
shrubs. Perhaps the most generally admired is the bittersweet, with orange-
red berries, seen in thickets or against stone walls. Sumacs are a rich red
with foliage and fruit. In a few swamps and woods the rare witch hazel
puts forth clusters of golden blooms among its dying leaves, making a
weird but astonishingly beautiful effect after the first frost.
Vandals and Christmas peddlers have placed the native holly in danger
of extinction. The tree is still found in many sections of the Coastal Plain
(a grove of fine old trees is in the Sandy Hook military reservation),
dwarfed and misshapen by repeated stripping of its branches. Last and
brightest color display of the year is made by the black alder, whose scarlet
berries, densely crowding the branches, light up swamps and thickets long
after the surrounding foliage has turned brown.
The State has many varieties of both shore and land birds. The long
line of coast with its series of indenting bays and rivers invites a variety
of species. Most familiar is the herring gull, found in great numbers. This
bird picks up clams along the salt river banks and drops them from a
height on rocks or hard-packed sand to break them open. Sandpipers flit
along the beach, skillfully evading the incoming waves. They take flight
suddenly in a body and catch the sunlight on silver wings.
In the shallows of inlets and marshy lakes the great blue herons stand
as if on stilts, patiently waiting for a catch. The little green heron is com
mon ; the night heron and the least bittern are also found. In stunted trees
along shore roads are seen the crude nests of the American osprey or fish-
hawk, poorly built structures of sticks to which the birds return year after
year. The osprey circles over the waves until it sights a fish ; then it plum-
NATURAL SETTING 21
mets downward with closed wings, and carries the flapping prize off to its
nest. The Barnegat Bay region is famous for ducks, which give good sport
to hunters every season. In southern New Jersey, bald-headed eagles select
the tops of tall trees for their vast and weighty nests. These birds live as
long as 125 years.
The Delaware River provides a route for migratory birds, and favorable
homesites along its wooded banks. Up and down its length the bobolinks
pass. The males, in shining black and white, arrive first. When the females
join them, nests are made in upland meadows and the male pours forth
the maddest and merriest of all bird songs. Summer over, their bright
colors change to dull brown and the song becomes a sharp "chink." Many
southern species follow the river north. Among them are the mockingbird
and the summer tanager, the first with its rare song, the second with its
splotch of brilliant color.
Birds of the Allegheny zone cross the northern border of the State to
nest in the hills. These include the blue-headed vireo; the hermit thrush,
one of the best singers; and the veery, or Wilson s thrush. Some of the
rarer warblers, such as the hooded and the brilliant Blackburnian, are also
summer residents. Thousands of wood warblers cross New Jersey each
spring and fall, on their long journey between Alaska and Patagonia. It is
a great moment for a bird lover when he glimpses these tiny birds of pas
sage, beautiful in color, courageous in flight.
In New Jersey orchards bluebirds sing, and purple finches dance on
apple-tree boughs. Goldfinches match their colors with the yellow thistle.
Wood thrushes by the roadside "sing each song twice over" in the eve
ning; quail answer one another from the fence rails, while a brown
thrasher in a tree-top sings alone.
Urban areas are dominated by the ubiquitous English sparrow ; starlings
are also numerous. Robins, common in suburban regions, roost together in
the country in flocks of as many as 2,500 for protection against owls.
Flickers and other woodpeckers, wrens, catbirds, song sparrows, orioles,
brown thrashers, flycatchers, swallows and brilliant blue jays nest on the
fringes of cities, as well as in the country. The ruby-throated humming
bird is a frequent visitor to flower gardens, and the night-flying whip-
poorwill is often heard.
Foe of other birds as well as of small rodents is the shrike, which kills
for pleasure. The great northern shrike has been known to kill robins.
Captured mice are jammed onto thorns, or wedged tightly into crotches.
The barn owl is frequently seen, and the screech owl is commonly heard ;
occasionally the white Arctic owl is found in New Jersey. At Mountain-
22 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
ville in Hunterdon County is a buzzard s roost where from 75 to 100 buz
zards gather every summer.
Rose-breasted grosbeaks, which feed on potato bugs, were numerous in
New Jersey in 1907 ; since then, for reasons unknown to ornithologists,
they have been comparatively scarce. Evening grosbeaks were seen at Bel-
videre in 1916, and have been reported at other times.
Largest of New Jersey mammals is the deer, found in both northern
and southern woods. Virginia deer are stocked by the State fish and game
commission. Bears are occasionally reported in the northern woods, and a
few wildcats are left. Foxes have become so numerous in the southwestern
marsh area that marine hunts have been organized to check their depreda
tions on the valuable muskrat population. A few mink remain at large;
others are raised for their fur. Raccoons are still common, and so are
woodchucks and opossums. The porcupine is gradually becoming extinct,
and the beaver has all but vanished.
The skunk, perhaps the most dignified and fearless of all animals, has
withstood the march of urbanization and, along with the weasel, is a
source of annoyance to poultrymen. Squirrels, chipmunks, and rabbits are
seen even in suburban areas ; the flying squirrel is common in the northern
counties.
The rattlesnake and copperhead, both relatively common in northern
parts of the State, are the only poisonous reptiles. The great mountain
blacksnake, entirely harmless, attains a length of eleven feet. Among the
handsomest of New Jersey snakes are the yellow and brown-banded king-
snake, and the pine snake, with a whitish body marked with brown black-
margined blotches. As the name implies, it is a native of the pine barrens.
There are many types of turtles, including the giant sea turtle, the snap
ping turtle (chief ingredient of a prized New Jersey dish, snapper soup),
and the mud turtle (stinkpot) of wood and marsh. Hell Mountain near
Mountainville is a terrapins retreat, where many hibernate in the marshes
beside a natural spring.
Conservation and Natural Resources
Nature has endowed New Jersey with splendid physical resources that
support the vast industrial system built by man. To preserve, develop, and
stimulate the utilization of these natural benefits is the task of the New
Jersey State Department of Conservation and Development, the State Plan
ning Board, the State Fish and Game Commission, and other public and
private agencies.
NATURAL SETTING 23
The land problem involves soil conservation, forestry work, and the se
lection of areas for recreational uses or watershed purposes. Water policy
includes provision for an adequate drinking and industrial supply, main
tenance of streams and lakes for recreation and power development, pollu
tion abatement, and flood control. The classification of minerals and deter
mination of the extent and location of the supply are the work of the State
geologist. Wild life resources are conserved by fish stocking, the establish
ment of game preserves, and the limitation of hunting and fishing.
Nearly one-half the total land area of the State is forest or "wild land,"
unsuited to farming because of inferior or depleted soil. Some of these
2,000,000 acres can be reclaimed for agriculture by improved methods of
soil treatment, but the greater portion is most easily adapted to public uses
such as recreation, development of timber and water supplies, and the
preservation of wild life.
Although the pine lands of southern New Jersey are of small agricul
tural use, they have been found suitable for chicken farming and the cul
tivation of cranberries, blueberries, and timber. Similarly, dairying has
flourished in the northern part of the State, where excessive slope has
limited farming.
The principal soil conservation work in New Jersey is carried on by the
Federal and State Departments of Agriculture on demonstration projects
totaling 37,000 acres. In 1937 the legislature created the New Jersey Soil
Conservation Committee, to have general control of all soil conservation
activities and programs in the State. Crop rotation and strip cropping are
two important techniques in the effort to avoid depletion and to protect
the soil from erosion by water and wind.
For forest development as well as recreation the State maintains 8 for
ests, with a total acreage of 54,374, and 14 parks. The State forests range
in size from 21,555 acres (Lebanon) to 43 acres (Jackson). Between these
limits are the Bass River, Belleplain, Green Bank, Jenny Jump, Penn, and
Stokes Forests. Forestry work includes investigation and experimentation,
reforestation, cooperation with private landowners in forest problems, and
most important of all the prevention and fighting of forest fires.
Valuable timber in the State is largely confined to hardwoods in the
north, and yellow pine and cedar in the south. The relative percentages
of trees available are: oak, 47 percent; pine, 22 percent; maple, 7 percent;
cedar, 6 percent ; hemlock, 5 percent ; all others, 1 3 percent.
The famous Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey consist of hundreds
of square miles of stunted pine trees, swamps, and scrub growth. This
area s history is an object lesson for conservationists. The original pine,
24 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
cedar, and oak growth was recklessly cut for shipbuilding and charcoal
burning until about 1860, when it was virtually exhausted. The second
growth proved to be of poor quality, and the region has remained barren
except for small sections where the State has treated the soil in an attempt
to produce another healthy crop of pine or to develop transplanted species.
To bolster the diminishing lumber trade within the next 75 years and
to demonstrate the timber-growing possibilities of the State, the Depart
ment of Conservation and Development has purchased 35,000 acres of
idle land, and these are being improved by scientific cutting and planting.
The State also maintains two forest nurseries where several million seed
lings are grown annually for planting in State forests and for sale to
landowners. In recent years the Civilian Conservation Corps has cooper
ated with the State forester by planting 40,000,000 trees and collecting
between 7,000 and 8,000 pounds of tree seeds.
Reforestation consists of providing for immediate new growth of the
tree species best suited to a particular locality, as mature timber is cut or
destroyed. Reproduction may be effected by seedlings or sprouts from the
original stand, or by artificial reforestation where natural reproduction is
insufficient or where new tree species are desired.
The entire forest area from Port Jervis and Suffern to Cape May is
under observation from 19 lookout and auxiliary tower stations. Fires are
fought by crews with shovels, brooms, and other equipment, including
pumps capable of forcing a stream of water through a mile of hose. Air
planes, for use in large fires, are now being equipped with two-way short
wave radio apparatus. In the past 12 years there has been, in the face of a
35 percent increase in the number of fires, a 26 percent reduction in the
total area burned and a 46 per cent decrease in the size of the average fire.
The problems of adequate domestic water supply, stream pollution, and
water for power and recreation are handled by six State agencies and two
interstate committees. The most important of these are the State Water
Policy Commission and the North Jersey District Water Supply Commis
sion, which provide for an adequate water supply. The total daily domestic
and industrial consumption of water in New Jersey is estimated at between
400 and 500 million gallons. The total water resources of the State have
been placed at from 3,595 to 3,870 million gallons daily, the exact amount
depending upon the extent to which the Delaware River ultimately can be
utilized.
Important flood-control work is now in progress in the Passaic Valley,
last flooded in 1936. The program includes creation of permanent lakes or
OYSTER FLEET ON COHANSEY RIVER, GREENWICH
reservoirs in the tributary areas of the river, and widening, deepening, and
diking the river at strategic points. A flood problem that has not yet been
solved is the further reclamation of the Passaic Meadows in the Newark
area, where valuable land is now constantly under water.
According to the State Planning Board, New Jersey is weak in stream
sanitation. The $3,500,000 shellfish industry has been driven to the Maurice
River and the lower Delaware section by stream pollution in the Raritan
and Shrewsbury Rivers areas. Similarly, in waters along the Atlantic coast,
contamination by sewage and industrial waste threatens the deep-sea fish
ing industry. Oyster culture, centered in the Maurice River Cove, which
contains the largest continuous oyster acreage in the world, is under the
supervision of the Board of Shell Fisheries.
To safeguard these enterprises and to protect streams important to future
water supply, the State Planning Board recommends the formation of joint
sanitary districts to be administered by properly related committees. The
gravest situation is in the New York Bay section, where pollution threatens
26 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
the State s beaches ; this danger is being met by the work of the Interstate
Committee on New York Bay Pollution, of which New Jersey is a member.
Although the amount of power derived from water in New Jersey is
small compared to that of many other States, its annual value is estimated
in excess of $800,000.
Probably all of the State s important mineral deposits have been located
accurately by Federal and State surveys, so that now the major problem is
to control the rate of extraction. The leading minerals are greensand marl,
zinc, clay, potash, iron, talc, and quartz.
The zinc mines at Franklin are among the world s largest deposits of
this mineral, and in total production rank second only to those of the
Mississippi Valley. Ore from this locality is conspicuous because of the
three colored minerals it contains red zincite, black franklinite, and green
willemite.
The tremendous marl deposits, estimated at almost four billion tons,
are important for fertilizer, water softening, and sand stiffening in the
glass industry. The greensands take their coloring from glauconite, which
contains potash. Although commercial production from this source has not
been tried, it is estimated that a thousand-year supply of potash for the
Nation is available, should the expense of processing be justified.
The clay resources are used for fire bricks, high grade plastic pottery,
stoneware, and terra cotta. Iron mining, as late as 1880 chief among the
State s industries, has been reduced to insignificant proportions by com
petition from Lake Superior ores.
In the stone industries, the State ranks first as a producer of trap-rock.
There are also extensive white and blue limestone deposits. Sand and
gravel, important for road construction, are found in the Woodbridge and
South Amboy area. Talc, the base for talcum powder, is abundant in ser
pentine rock near Phillipsburg. Large amounts of nearly pure quartz sand,
valuable for glassmaking, are in the southern section.
The conservation of fish and game has been a cardinal point in the gen
eral conservation program of the State. Through its game management
program, it maintains ten public shooting and fishing grounds and numer
ous game preserves, many of them in the State parks and forests. These
are stocked from the State s wild life sanctuary, the State Fish Hatchery
at Hackettstown, and three State game farms. The Fish and Game Com
mission also stocks private streams and lands.
The New Jersey State Planning Board, set up by the legislature in 1934,
is preparing a master plan for the State. The board coordinates the activi-
NATURAL SETTING 2J
ties of several State departments in order to attain a better distribution of
public works expenditures in urban, agricultural, and undeveloped areas.
In its First Annual Report of Progress (1935) the board stressed the im
portance of conservation and development, showing by reports and surveys
the need for long-term planning in utilizing and protecting the State s
natural resources.
J
A RCHEOLOGISTS concerned with New Jersey usually center their in-
y\^ terest on two main problems: (i) remains of the Lenni Lenape
Indians and their ancestors or predecessors, and (2) traces of an ancient,
possibly glacial age, man. About the Indians there is much conclusive in
formation, but evidence of ancient man has been the crux of New Jersey s
major archeological dispute.
The theory of an ancient man in New Jersey was first advanced with
evidence by Dr. Charles C. Abbott, a Trenton physician, who discovered
crude argillite blades, which he assigned to the glacial period. The spot
where these remains were found in gravel along the Delaware River bluff,
one mile south of Trenton, consequently became one of the most impor
tant archeological sites in the eastern United States. An article concerning
his finds, written by Dr. Abbott in 1872, raised a storm of argument.
Late in 1887 Henry C. Mercer, curator of the Museum of American and
Prehistoric Archeology at the University of Pennsylvania, investigated the
site. He reported that "No token of an antecedent race was discovered."
Beginning in 1894 and continuing for nearly twenty years, the Abbott
farm was excavated by Ernest Volk, under the direction of F. W. Putnam
of Harvard University. Volk, agreeing with Dr. Abbott, wrote that "the
conclusive evidence . . . asserts the antiquity of man on this continent at
least as far back as the time of these glacial deposits in the Delaware Val
ley." Dr. Leslie Spier dug several trenches on the Abbott farm in 1914
and 1915. He found large stone blades, arrowheads, and other artifacts of
a simple culture differing widely from that of the historic Lenni Lenape
Indians, but he did not attempt to answer the question of its being a pos
sible Paleolithic, or Stone Age, culture.
In April 1936 the Indian Site Survey, a Works Progress Administration
project sponsored by the State Museum and directed by Dr. Dorothy Cross,
began excavations at the Abbott farm and later at other sites. Nothing has
been discovered yet that may be attributed to an ancient or glacial man.
On the contrary, what evidence has been uncovered tends to disprove Dr.
Abbott s interpretation of his findings; as an instance, designs on recently
28
ARCHEOLOGY AND INDIANS 29
unearthed pottery indicate that the earlier people responsible for them
were not of the glacial age, but lived shortly before the Lenape.
The scantiness of evidence of these earlier people is in direct contrast
to the great number and variety of Indian artifacts found by members of
the Survey and by other investigators. From the tools, implements, decora
tive or ceremonial items, weapons, skeletons, and household units discov
ered, much progress has been made in determining the life and customs of
these aborigines. Of importance are the remains of their homes, mere
darkened spots in the ground. The sunken posts around which the bark
and grass houses of the Indians were built have left their marks; and
these, when plotted out, serve as a basis for reconstructing the actual living
quarters.
The tools and agricultural and household implements afford an espe
cially good indication of the cultural level. Made primarily of stone and
clay, they demonstrate an appreciable ingenuity. Knives, drills, scrapers,
hoes, and spades were chipped into shape from the harder stones. Some of
the uses to which the tools were put can be determined. For example, the
edges of the knives sometimes have one or more notches where they have
been used for shaping rounded objects, such as reeds for arrow shafts.
Some hoes and spades show signs of having been fitted into handles. An
other method of shaping tools was by grinding and polishing. Most of the
cutting implements axes, hatchets, adzes, and gouges were made in this
way.
Mortars and pestles show one method for preparing food. Clay pots and
stone hearths also tell the story of cooking methods. (Pots and baskets
were frequently sunk in the ground, and the food cooked by placing hot
stones in the vessels. ) Food was sometimes stored in large pots of thin clay,
buried so that the rim was flush with the surface of the house floor. Some
of these pots, most of them cracked, have been recently excavated. They
are decorated with impressions of fiber or bark.
Other smaller pieces of pottery and fragments that can be reconstructed
bear elaborate incised designs extremely important in tracing tribal dis
tribution. Each group of Indians used definite patterns in decorating its
pottery, and, where given designs are found, the work is almost certainly
that of some particular group. Certain mixtures of designs show relations
between the tribes.
Among the most interesting items are ornaments made of the rarer
stones banded slate, rose quartz, steatite, serpentine, mica, schist, and clay
marl highly polished. These include pendants, beads of tubular and disk
shapes, gorgets more elaborately designed than pendants and with more
30 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
than one perforation, and banner stones. There has been much speculation
about the banner stones usually highly polished stones in the shape of
butterfly wings, which were centrally drilled or notched. Early historical
accounts suggest that they were mounted on shafts and carried as scepters,
but there is disagreement on this point. Among the rarest ornaments are
the bird stones, shaped like birds; these were made only from the finer
stones, such as slate, steatite, and serpentine. Boat stones, resembling canoes
and sometimes perforated to be worn as pendants, are also among the rare
items.
More than 15,000 implements have been found to date (1939) in vari
ous excavations made by the Indian Site Survey. Judging by the artifacts
found, the Abbott farm site must have been a favorite place for hunting,
fishing, and farming. Numerous arrowheads, spearheads, and other imple
ments of the chase have been found here, together with sinew stones, used
for making animal gut pliable, and semi-lunar knives, used for scraping
flesh from hides or for chopping meat.
The innumerable net sinkers, usually mere notched pebbles, show that
fishing was popular. Hoes, mortars, and pestles, found in surprising quan
tities, indicate that the land was cultivated even more extensively than was
formerly supposed. Axes and gouges prove that the felling of trees and
wood-working were common practices.
Indians
The Indians who inhabited New Jersey when the white man came called
their country Scheyechbi and themselves Lenni Lenape, meaning "Original
People." The Colonists named them Delawares because most of them lived
along the Delaware River.
The Lenni Lenape belonged to the general group of Algonkian Indians
in northeastern United States and eastern Canada. The larger tribe was
divided into three sub-tribes. Each sub-tribe was further divided into fam
ily groups, each having an individual totem or guardian spirit. The Minsi
(or Munsee) sub-tribe lived in the north, and used the wolf as a totem;
the Unami, in the central part of the State, adopted the turtle; and the
Unalachtigo, in the south, were known by the wild turkey.
Where the Lenape came from is uncertain. According to their own leg
end they originated in the north country, probably southern Canada. Fam
ine and war forced them southward through western New York, into
Ohio, and then eastward to the shores of the "salt sea" or Atlantic Ocean.
A remarkable record of this migration was painted in picture writing on
ARCHEOLOGY AND INDIANS 31
strips of bark and called the Walum-Olum, or "Red Score." A copy is
reputed to have been discovered in Kentucky by Constantine Samuel
Rafinesque-Schmaltz, who interpreted the pictures in 1833.
The Lenape arrived in New Jersey not many centuries before the first
white men. Possibly there were not more than 10,000 tribesmen here when
European colonization began. They were a healthy group, slightly above
average height, but it was not long before their number was decreased
considerably by small migrations, the white man s diseases, and liquor.
Large villages were built by the Lenape. During the proper seasons they
camped near their favorite hunting and fishing grounds and quarries. The
entire State was honeycombed with well-defined trails that led to these
haunts and connected the larger villages. Since Colonial roads largely fol
lowed the earlier trails, it is possible to trace many of these today. For
water travel the Lenni Lenape made extensive use of dugout canoes.
One of the most important routes was the Minisink Trail, which con
nected Shrewsbury Inlet on the Atlantic Coast with Minisink Island in the
Delaware River four miles south of Milford, Pennsylvania. On the New
Jersey mainland opposite the island was the largest Minsi village. In
numerable trails crossed the State from the Delaware to the ocean, where
the Indians went to catch shellfish, which they dried before carrying
home. The numerous shell heaps along the coast, principally in the salt
marshes near Tuckerton and Barnegat, are evidence of this practice.
Villages were composed of round and oval houses. The round structures
were usually occupied by a single family, while the more spacious oval
ones occasionally supported several households. Chiefs had large houses,
and the council houses were also roomy.
Groups of houses were sometimes provided with a stockade, a device
borrowed from the Colonists. The houses were made by placing saplings
in the ground at regular intervals around the circumference of a circle or
oval, and tying their tops together. This skeleton was covered with strips
of bark or overlapping bundles of grass, securely lashed to the framework.
A hole was left in the roof for smoke from an inside fire.
The inside furnishings were simple. Pine boughs were used for beds.
Household utensils were made of stone or wood. Occasionally wooden
benches served as seats and beds.
Skins of the deer, elk, wolf, bear, and raccoon were used in making the
Indians scanty clothing. The men wore a small loin cloth, with a blanket
thrown over the shoulder. Leggings and moccasins of skin completed the
wearing apparel, except for necklaces and armbands of sharks teeth, shells,
wooden and stone beads, and pendants. With mussel shells they pulled
32 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
out their beards and hair, leaving a scalp lock down the center of the head
to which painted feathers were frequently fastened. Chieftains sometimes
affected two locks. Faces and exposed parts of the body were painted and
tattooed with designs of snakes, eagles, turkeys, and imaginary beings.
Women wore short skirts, with a loose tunic fastened on one shoulder.
Turkey feathers were dyed and made into skirts for dress occasions. Their
hair, worn either loose or in two braids, was held in place by painted
bands of deerskin. Before marriage their faces were brilliantly painted to
attract the attention of prospective husbands. Children wore no clothing
until they were three years old, and thereafter simply a loin cloth.
Most of the food supply was secured from hunting and fishing. In cer
tain sections of the State, however, agriculture flourished. The ground was
cultivated with crooked sticks or crudely chipped hoes mounted on shafts.
For fertilizer, a dead fish was buried at the base of the growing plant.
Corn, squash, and beans were the chief products, all grown in the same
field. Corn was usually ground into meal, from which bread and a kind of
porridge called samp (adapted by the early settlers as mush) was made.
Occasionally the meal was mixed with water, rolled up in leaves, and
baked in ashes. For winter use, corn meal was charred and placed in stor
age pots sunk in the ground. Such storage pots have been found on the
Abbott farm at Trenton.
Meat and fish were boiled or broiled. Shellfish were dried, smoked, and
used as seasoning for meats or mixed with corn and beans. Broiling was
done over an open hearth fire. Heated stones were dropped into clay pots
containing food and water for boiling.
Trade was generally conducted by barter, although the Indians had a
medium of exchange in the form of small tubular shells or painted wooden
beads called wampum. Black and white beads were used, the black being
twice as valuable as the white. Wampum was used either by the piece or
by strings, usually a foot long.
The white settlers took advantage of this cheap currency, and manufac
tured it from conch and periwinkle shells in regular factories on Long
Island, at Pascack near Hackensack, and at Egg Harbor, New Jersey. This
was considered legal currency for purchasing products from the Indians
until it was outlawed toward the end of the seventeenth century.
The religion of the Lenni Lenape was very simple. They believed in one
supreme god or Manitou, who was supported by lesser beings having
charge of various parts of everyday life. Elaborate ceremonies were pre
sented in honor of the various deities, but individuals seldom prayed to
them. Each Indian had a guardian spirit, who was supposed to have his
ARCHEOLOGY AND INDIANS 33
particular interest at heart and to whom he turned in time of need. At the
time of puberty the male child was turned out into the forest, where he
remained without food or drink until some object, animate or inanimate,
feeling sorry for him, presented itself in a dream; this object then became
his guardian spirit.
From the time the first white explorer Verrazano anchored off the shores
of New Jersey in 1524 until the last group of Indians left the State in
1802, the relationship between aborigines and whites was, on the whoJe,
peaceful and friendly.
Numerous treaties were formulated, the Indian interests being taken
care of by brilliant native chieftains and sympathetic white statesmen. Per
haps the most notable chief of the Delawares was Teedyuscung, who rep
resented his people at the five councils of Easton between 1756 and 1761.
In treaty making, the Indians of New Jersey were usually affiliated with
their kinsmen on the western shores of Delaware River because they
"drank the same water." Teedyuscung represented the entire group. He
had a remarkable career as a bold warrior, opportunist Christian, eloquent
speaker, and able counselor for his tribe. Born near Trenton shortly after
the turn of the century, he became chief in 1754, and continued to rule
until 1763, when he died in his burning house.
Teedyuscung was mainly interested in restoring the prestige lost by the
Delawares in 1725, when they became subservient to the Iroquois after re
fusing to fight against the English. During this association, the Iroquois
addressed the Delawares as "women," because the women in the Iroquois
council were the ones who had the right to ask for peace, and the Dela
wares had often shown peace-loving tendencies. They were frequently
called upon as mediators during the Colonial period.
Another great leader was Oratam, chief of the Hackensacks during the
middle part of the seventeenth century, who represented his people at nu
merous peace treaties and land transfers in the northern part of the State.
The rapid decline of the Indian population after the coming of the
white men was due principally to sale of their lands, to disease, and to
liquor. By 1758 there were but a few hundred scattered over the entire
Colony. In that year the Colony purchased 3,000 acres of land for a reser
vation at the present village of Indian Mills in Burlington County. Here
were collected almost 100 Indians, mainly Unamis, who agreed to surren
der their title to all unsold lands, and attempted to form a self-supporting
community. Governor Bernard appropriately named the community Broth-
erton. The Colony erected private homes, a meeting house, a general store,
and a sawmill. The Indians kept their rights to unrestricted hunting and
34 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
fishing. Stephen Calvin, a native interpreter, was the local schoolmaster.
This Utopia did not last long, and in 1762 the group petitioned the as
sembly to pay bills for provisions, clothing, and nails.
In 1 80 1 the Indians living at New Stockbridge, New York, invited
their kinsmen at Brotherton to join them. The Lenape petitioned the legis
lature again, and a law was passed in that year appointing three commis
sioners to dispose of the Brotherton tract at public sale. The land brought
from $2 to $5 an acre, enough to pay the Indians fare to their new home,
allow a donation to the New Stockbridge treasury, and leave a remainder
that was invested in United States securities.
In 1822 the Stockbridge group moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin. Ten
years later the New Jersey contingent appealed to Bartholomew Calvin,
son of their old schoolmaster, for further monetary aid in exchange for
the relinquishment of hunting and fishing rights not mentioned in the
1 80 1 settlement. Calvin obtained a legislative grant of $2,000. In a stir
ring speech of acceptance he said:
"Not a drop of our blood have you spilled in battle; not an acre of our
land have you taken but by our consent. These facts speak for themselves,
and need no comment. They place the character of New Jersey in bold relief
and bright example to those States within whose territorial limits our
brethren still remain. Nothing save benisons can fall upon her from the
lips of a Lenni Lenape."
NEW JERSEY S position as a main corridor of eastern United States
has broadly affected her political, social, economic, and cultural
history. Lying between two metropolises, New York and Philadelphia, the
State from early times has been the highway and often the stopping place
for hordes of people of many races, religions, and cultures.
This location has brought both embarrassment and blessing. Governor
Woodrow Wilson, who thought of New Jersey as "a sort of laboratory in
which the best blood is prepared for other communities to thrive upon,"
gave the key to the State s history when he remarked in 1911 that "we
have always been inconvenienced by New York on the one hand and
Philadelphia on the other . . ." He called the State "the fighting center of
the most important social questions of our time" and explained that "the
whole suburban question ... the whole question of the regulation of cor
porations and the right attitude of all trades, their formation and conduct
. . . center in New Jersey more than any other single State of the Union."
The first white man to see, and possibly to land on, the New Jersey
shore is believed to have been the Florentine navigator, Giovanni da Ver-
razano, sailing in the employ of the French Crown. In 1524 he is said to
have anchored his vessel off Sandy Hook and with a small boat explored
upper New York Bay as far as, or almost as far as, the New Jersey shore.
Almost a century later, in 1609, Henry Hudson, employed by Holland,
sailed the Half Moon into New York Bay, dispatched a sounding party as
far as Newark Bay and then sailed up the Hudson River. Within a few
years the Dutch sent out trading expeditions and established a post at Man
hattan, the base for the invasion of New Jersey. The first known outpost
west of the Hudson River was the trading station of Bergen, founded in
1618 by colonists from the island. Five years later Captain Cornelius
Jacobsen Mey, who had sailed into the Delaware River in 1614, set up
Fort Nassau on the east bank of the river, near the present site of Glouces
ter. Mey s name survives in Cape May.
Actual settlement of the unnamed New Jersey section of New Nether-
land was slow. Accordingly, the West India Company offered the feudal
35
36 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
title of patroon and a grant of land to any member who would establish a
specific number of settlers. In 1629 the company granted to the Burgo
master of Amsterdam, Michael Pauw (Pauuw), a tract on the shore oppo
site Manhattan where his agent, Cornelius Van Vorst, began to develop an
estate called Pavonia. At the same time two other patroons, Godyn and
Blommaert, shared a grant on both sides of Delaware Bay. Both attempts
were futile, and Indian raids in 1643 drove all whites across to Manhattan
from the Jersey side. By 1645 the only Dutch survival was the Van
Vorst estate in Pavonia which had become the farm of the West India
Company.
The Swedes came to New Jersey shortly after the New Sweden Com
pany had built a fort and trading post in 1638 on the western shore of
Delaware River. A vast tract of land between Cape May and Raccoon
Creek was purchased from the Indians in 1640; small trading posts were
peopled mostly with Flemings, Walloons, and Finns. The enterprise was
poorly managed, however, and failed to attract many settlers.
The Dutch, who had reoccupied Fort Nassau after the Swedish arrival,
were for a time friendly enough with the Swedes on the Delaware to
unite with them against the encroaching English, whose claim was based
upon John Cabot s discovery of North America in 1497. However, the
Dutch unwisely considered Swedish competition in furs more dangerous
than England s territorial ambitions. During the autumn of 1655 Peter
Stuyvesant, Governor of New Netherland, peacefully took over the Swed
ish forts on the Delaware basin, thus ending the Swedish phase of the
Colony s history.
With the problems of its Rebellion and stormy Protectorate behind it,
England seriously went into the business of colonization. In 1664, Charles
II granted to his brother James, Duke of York, the Dutch domain, which
included the area now New Jersey. In the same year the English took
over New Netherland with a naval expedition. Having been treated by
the mother country as less important than the fur-bearing animals they
trapped, the few hundred Dutch and Swedish colonials in the New Jersey
section of the grant indifferently took the oath of allegiance to England.
The change in sovereigns was far more significant than the inhabitants
of Bergen, the largest settlement, could have sensed. From its experience
in Virginia and Massachusetts Bay, England was learning that permanent
settlements were commercially sounder than the trading posts established
by the Dutch and Swedes as a short-cut to riches. As an indication that
colonization was to be the English policy, the Duke of York s Deputy
Governor in New York, Richard Nicolls, immediately issued the so-called
HISTORY 37
Elizabethtown and Monmouth patents, providing for the founding of
New Jersey towns on the New England model.
While Nicolls was still at sea, the Duke of York in June 1664 created
New Jersey with a stroke of his quill. He granted the area between the
Hudson and Delaware Rivers to two of his favorites, John, Lord Berkeley
and Sir George Carteret. The area was to be known as Nova Caesarea or
New Jersey in memory of the island where in 1650 Carteret as Governor
had sheltered the Duke from Puritan England. The new proprietors com
missioned 26-year-old Philip Carteret, a cousin of Sir George, as New
Jersey s first English Governor.
York s simple act not only created New Jersey but also perplexities for
the Colony for the next 40 years. Unaware of the Duke s grant, Governor
Nicolls in New York encouraged settlements at the sites of contemporary
Elizabeth, Shrewsbury, and Middletown. These settlements, as well as that
of Newark in 1666, were made chiefly by religious dissenters from New
England and by adventurous Long Islanders. Confusion began when Philip
Carteret arrived at Elizabethtown in 1665 and was surprised to find four
families under the Nicolls grant. Some of the colonists brought by Nicolls
compromised temporarily by taking the oath of allegiance required by
Berkeley and Carteret.
When the Governor s first assembly met at Elizabethtown in 1668 with
delegates from that village and from Bergen, Newark, Middletown, and
Shrewsbury, it became clear that New England Puritanism was dominant
in the settled part of the Colony. Swearing, drunkenness, and fornication
were made penal offenses and the child over 16 who cursed or smote at
parents might incur the death penalty. The government operated under
"The Concessions and Agreements of the Lords Proprietors," which Car
teret had brought from England in 1665. This document, which may be
termed New Jersey s first constitution, contained a particularly emphatic
guarantee of religious liberty, no doubt motivated by the Proprietors de
sire to promote rapid settlement.
The smoldering controversy over the dual land grants broke out in the
assembly. Many settlers held that their grants from Nicolls and deeds of
purchase from the Indians gave valid titles to their land, and that the Pro
prietors did not have the right of government. Barred from the assembly
for this stand, a number of delegates formed the basis of an Anti-
Proprietary party which in 1670 refused to pay quitrents to the Propri
etors. The revolt spread and in 1672 five of the seven settlements
Newark, Elizabethtown, Woodbridge, Piscataqua, and Bergen held a
revolutionary assembly at Elizabethtown. They deposed Philip Carteret as
38 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
Governor and elected as "president" James Carteret, dissolute son of Sir
George. With the settlers insisting that the Duke s lease to the Proprietors
did not convey governing power, Philip Carteret hastened to England to
lay the matter before the Proprietors, that they might be able to present
their case. The King upheld the rights of Berkeley and Carteret against
the grants of Nicolls.
A sudden attack by Holland temporarily swept aside these technical
wrangles. In 1673 a Dutch fleet arrived at Staten Island and regained a
portion of Holland s New World holdings, including New Jersey but
only until 1674, when the territory was restored to England by the Treaty
of Westminster. Legally the province had thus reverted to the Crown, and
Charles II regranted it to the Duke of York who in turn reconveyed the
eastern part to Sir George Carteret. Philip Carteret returned as Governor
in November 1674; four counties (Bergen, Essex, Middlesex and Mon-
mouth) were created, and a system of courts and grand juries was estab
lished.
If eastern New Jersey seemed on the point of extricating itself from the
snarls of conflicting claims, western New Jersey was just beginning an
even more confused career. Before the King issued the charter of renewal
to York, Berkeley in 1674 turned over his proprietary rights to John Fen-
wick in trust for Edward Byllynge. Immediately these two Quakers quar
reled over their shares, and in 1676 William Penn arbitrated the case by
awarding nine-tenths to Byllynge and one-tenth to Fenwick. Byllynge,
however, became insolvent, and Penn, Gawen Lawrie, and Nicholas Lucas
were appointed trustees for his creditors. Because this action involved
New Jersey lands, it happened indirectly that William Penn s first Quaker
colony was West Jersey.
In 1675 Fenwick settled Salem with his family and a few friends. Like
Byllynge, he was soon in financial trouble ; ultimately Penn and the other
trustees acquired control of part of his land. On July i, 1676, Byllynge
and the three trustees entered into a "quintipartite deed" with Sir George
Carteret. This agreement officially clarified the previous haphazard divi
sion of the province into West and East Jersey by drawing a line north
west from Little Egg Harbor to a point on Delaware River just north of
Delaware Water Gap, Carteret retaining East Jersey, and West Jersey
passing into the hands of the Quakers.
The choice of the boundary itself represented more logic than almost
any previous act in the management of the Colony. The line cut through
what is still the least populous part of the State. Across that wasteland
there was neither commercial, political, nor religious unity. East Jersey,
HISTORY 39
the section northeast of the boundary line, has always been dependent
upon New York, while West Jersey has been linked to Pennsylvania and
Delaware. Not even modern super-highways nor radio have been able en
tirely to controvert the astuteness of the men who divided the Colony.
The "Concessions and Agreements" for the government of West Jer
sey, adopted in 1677 and largely devised by Penn himself, provided a lib
eral and surprisingly modern frame of government, although the constitu
tion was never put into full effect and it was not until 1681 that the first
assembly met. Meanwhile, the present town of Burlington had been set
tled by Quakers in 1677 an< ^ other colonists were arriving in considerable
numbers.
New Jersey was faced with a struggle for independence in 1674 when
the Duke of York sent Edmund Andros to New York with authority to
govern New Jersey as well, even though Governor Philip Carteret had re
turned on the same boat with Andros. No man to waste a prerogative,
Andros in 1676 dispatched soldiers to the Salem district and jailed Fen-
wick as a usurper, although he (Fen wick) was shortly released. The death
of Sir George Carteret in 1679 gave Andros an opportunity to employ
high-handed methods in East Jersey. Philip Carteret was warned to relin
quish the governorship; when he refused, Andros jailed him. Insisting
that all New Jersey trade should clear through New York, Andros aroused
so much popular disapproval that he was summoned to England to answer
charges, leaving Carteret master of East Jersey. A strongly worded remon
strance, probably the work of Penn and his Quaker associates, induced the
Duke of York to accept New Jersey s independence of New York.
The elimination of Andros failed to bring harmony to East Jersey and
in 1682 the province was put up at public auction. For the sum of 3,400
Penn and n associates obtained the land; their shares were divided into
innumerable fragments, many of which were purchased by Scots and other
non-Quakers. Perth Amboy, which had already attained the dignity of
port of East Jersey, was selected as the capital in 1686.
While the population of the two Jerseys grew to an estimated 15,000 in
1702, the Proprietors became, as one historian phrases it, "mere rent-
chargers." Their position was no happier than the traditional one of any
landlord. Finally, after riots and interference with government dignified
by the name of "revolution," the Proprietors of both East Jersey and West
Jersey surrendered their governing power to the Crown in 1702 and New
Jersey became a united Royal Colony under the administration of Lord
Cornbury, the Governor of New York.
Despite the merging of the two Jerseys, separate capitals were main-
4 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
tained at Perth Amboy and Burlington, the legislature meeting alternately
in the two cities until after the Revolution. And although New Jersey was
to remain under New York s Governor until 1738, the Governor held a
separate commission that recognized the political independence of the
Colony.
The Proprietors, it must be noted, relinquished only their civil author
ity. Their land rights were retained and proved a troublesome influence on
political affairs in the Colony. To this day the successors of Penn and his
associates maintain small offices in Perth Amboy and Burlington, where
they meet regularly and exercise jurisdiction over any unlocated or new
land, such as fluvial islands.
Lord Cornbury s instructions provided for a council and an assembly,
guaranteed some personal rights, and in effect formed a constitution for
the united province. New Jersey retained its own legislature and officials,
who found many causes for disagreement with the new Governor.
Cornbury was removed after five years. His successors encountered Pro
prietary disputes and continual complaints against absentee government
from New York. Finally Lewis Morris of Monmouth County was named
in 1738 as the first Governor of New Jersey alone.
Morris had frequently complained against previous Governors; but
now, as legal representative of the King, he faced the same difficulties that
formerly he had fostered. He found it hard to get troops for King
George s War, and there was frequent trouble in managing the currency.
When Morris died in 1746 his salary had been unpaid for two years, and
was never collected by his widow.
Increased population on many small farms developing throughout the
Province resulted in new rebellion against the territorial claims of the
Proprietors. Disputes over the old Nicolls grants were kept alive, and
squatters in the western part of the Colony stood their ground. The doc
trine of man s natural right to land frequently appeared. Riots against the
Proprietors broke out at Newark in 1745 and soon spread to other sec
tions, continuing under Governor Belcher until the outbreak of the French
and Indian War in 1754.
As a Royal Province New Jersey made notable economic progress, al
though it did not rank as one of the most valuable Crown possessions. The
farms yielded a variety of fruit, vegetables, poultry, and cattle, and the
grain crop was important enough to make New Jersey one of the "bread
colonies." Hunterdon County was known as the "bread basket," producing
more wheat than any other county in the Colonies. Cider and apple brandy
were then, as now, well known products. By 1775 the Colony was an im-
HISTORY 41
portant source for iron, leather, and lumber, while some glass and paper
were produced. On the whole, however, economic development suffered
from the proximity of New York and Philadelphia.
Despite the late start in settlement, population grew with fair rapidity.
By 1726 the total was 32,442 (including 2,550 slaves); 47,402 (3,981
slaves) by 1737; 61,383 (4,605 slaves) in 1745. At the outbreak of the
Revolution the population was estimated at 138,000.
Several important cultural contributions were made by the Colony. In
architecture some of the finest examples of the Dutch Colonial were built
in New Jersey comfortable stone houses, modest in scale and design, and
in harmony with their surroundings. From the early Swedish settlements
came the pattern for the typical log cabin of the American frontier. The
founding of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) and
of Queen s College (later Rutgers University) made this the only Colony
with more than one college. New Jersey was the center of the humanistic
work of John Woolman, the Quaker preacher of Mount Holly. Other
sects developed notable strength, the Baptists having been established at
Middletown in 1668, and the Presbyterians at Freehold in 1692.
Continual disagreements between the royally appointed Governors and
the popularly elected assemblies, combined with unwise commercial re
strictions put in force by the British Government, ranged New Jersey in
1774 on the side of Massachusetts against the British. In February of that
year the assembly had already followed the lead of Virginia by appoint
ing nine men as a Committee of Correspondence; similar township and
county committees sprang up during the summer. On July 21, county com
mittees met at New Brunswick as the First Provincial Congress and chose
Stephen Crane, John de Hart, James Kinsey, William Livingston, and
Richard Smith as delegates to the proposed Continental Congress at Phila
delphia.
In spite of strong Tory sentiment later proved by the organization of
six battalions of Loyalists anti-British feeling swept New Jersey. In No
vember 1774, at Greenwich on Cohansey River, a band of young men dis
guised themselves as Indians and burned a shipload of tea. Indignant citi
zens of Newark branded a New York printer "a vile ministerial hireling"
and boycotted his paper. Rejection of other Loyalist papers from New
York and Philadelphia later resulted in the founding of a local and patri
otic press. As the Royal agents desperately tried to stem the tide of the
Revolution, volunteers began drilling on village greens in the summer of
1775, and official after official yielded his authority to the aroused Colo
nists. Finally, in June 1776, the Provincial Congress arrested Governor
42 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
William Franklin, natural son of Benjamin, when he attempted to revive
the defunct assembly.
The strategy of the Revolutionary generals showed that New Jersey s
position on the Hudson and Delaware Rivers rendered the State dependent
upon the fortunes of New York and Philadelphia in war as well as in
peace. To the discomfort of the patriots of 1776 and the delight of local
patriots ever after, Washington spent one-quarter of his career as Com
mander in Chief in New Jersey, moving his army across the State four
times. Within its boundaries were fought 4 major battles and at least 90
minor engagements.
Toward the close of 1776 Washington retreated across the northern
part of the State and into Pennsylvania, seizing every boat for miles along
the Delaware to prevent British pursuit. On Christmas night he recrossed
the river and captured the Hessian garrison at Trenton in a surprise attack
that did much to rebuild the waning morale of the Revolutionaries. A few
days later, after outwitting Cornwallis at Trenton, he marched by night to
Princeton and there on January 3, 1777, defeated three British regiments.
The exhausted American Army then went into winter quarters at Morris-
town.
Coming by water route from New York, the British seized Philadelphia
in September 1777; but in June 1778, they evacuated Philadelphia and re
treated across the State, harassed by Jersey troops. Washington hurried with
his main army to intercept the British Army of General Howe in the inde
cisive Battle of Monmouth on June 28. That winter, parts of the Conti
nental Army encamped at Somerville, and in the winter of 1779-80 Wash
ington again made his headquarters at Morristown. From New Brunswick
in 1781 the American Army started its march southward to the final victory
at Yorktown. In 1783 Washington delivered his farewell address to part
of the Army at Rocky Hill, near Princeton.
The war proved a stimulus to agriculture, industry, and commerce in
New Jersey. The State s farmers, sometimes involuntarily but mostly with
the shrewdness of non-combatants, turned a handsome profit supplying
provisions to both sides. Ironworks, gristmills, sawmills, fulling mills, tan-
yards, and salt works operated at capacity. Goods brought in by privateers
and smugglers were advertised in the newspapers, indicating the luxury
possible to those who could afford it. Prices rose and labor was scarce. In
the rapid shift of values, due partly to monetary inflation, fortunes were
made and lost. The end of the war found the debtor a problem for the
first time since 1776. The lure of the West was soon to prove an attrac
tion too strong for tax-burdened farmers on worn-out lands to resist.
THE OLD BARRACKS, TRENTON
44 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
In June 1776 the fourth Provincial Congress of New Jersey had trans
formed itself into a constitutional convention and on July 2 adopted a
combined declaration of independence and constitution. The hastily drawn
document provided for its nullification "if a reconciliation between Great
Britain and these colonies should take place. . . ." Nevertheless, this con
stitution was retained for 68 years. The Colony s long struggle with Pro
prietary and Royal Governors inspired a provision for annual election of
the Governor by the legislature. This arrangement, at first adopted by sev
eral other States, obviously violated the prevailing theory of separation of
powers (executive, legislative, and judicial) in a free government. New
Jersey s first State Governor, William Livingston, was elected August 27,
1776, for one year.
In the two-house legislature, the upper chamber (the council) was com
posed of one representative from each county, a precedent for equal county
representation in the senate under the present constitution. The lower
house (the assembly) was apportioned among the counties roughly by
population.
The franchise was limited to "all inhabitants of this colony, of full age,
who are worth 50 proclamation money ..." Under laws passed in 1790
and 1797, women were permitted to vote. In 1807, however, the women
were disfranchised by a statute justified as "highly necessary to the safety,
quiet, good order and dignity of the State." This harsh stricture came
from a legislature beset with charges of fraudulent voting by women,
notably in an exciting referendum on the location of the Essex County
Courthouse. Another 1807 statute reduced voting qualifications by giving
the franchise to any taxpayer.
For brief periods, two New Jersey towns had the honor of being the
National Capital at least the temporary capital. When, in June 1783,
Congress in session at Philadelphia was confronted by mutinous troops,
demanding what it could not give, the session was adjourned to meet
again on June 30, at Princeton. There, in somewhat cramped quarters, the
National Government remained seated until November 4. A year later,
November i, 1784, Congress convened at Trenton. It was even thought
that a "Federal town" a permanent National Capital would be built
near Trenton. The plan however never materialized New York and
Philadelphia were too powerful and the Congressional session at Trenton
was very brief. Congress adjourned on Christmas Eve of 1784 to meet
again a fortnight later in New York City.
New Jersey in the days after the Revolution was grimly compared to a
keg tapped at both ends. The State s economy was seriously hampered by
HISTORY 45
commercial restrictions imposed by New York, through which most of the
State s goods had to pass. Her representatives demanded that Congress be
given power over interstate commerce and the exclusive right to lay duties
on imports. When New York and other States failed to meet their fiscal
obligations to the weak Congress, New Jersey also withheld payments to
the Federal Treasury, hoping to force more co-operative action. Finally,
New Jersey was one of the five States that participated in the Annapolis
Conference of 1786, which led to the Constitutional Convention at
Philadelphia in 1787.
At the Philadelphia convention New Jersey, long conditioned to fear
New York and Pennsylvania, became the chief spokesman for the small
States in their struggle against the Virginia or "large-State" plan for a
powerful national government with a Congress based on population. Al
though the Virginia plan was adopted for the House of Representatives,
the New Jersey plan of equal representation matured into the provision
for the balancing Senate. The small States victory was the greater one,
since Congress could not act without the consent of a majority of the
States, regardless of population.
A further New Jersey contribution to the Constitution was the all-
important clause which declares that the Constitution, laws, and treaties of
the United States shall be the supreme law of the land. From this clause,
together with the provision for a national judiciary empowered to deter
mine all legal questions involving the Constitution, the United States Su
preme Court later derived the power to harmonize Federal and State laws
with the Constitution by the process called judicial review.
Satisfaction with the document itself and with the opportunity for pro
tection against New York and other neighboring States resulted in prompt
ratification. On December 18, 1787, New Jersey became the third State to
approve the Constitution.
Between 1790 and 1840 the foundations of the State s present indus
trial system were laid. In 1791 Alexander Hamilton founded the Society
for Establishing Useful Manufactures, selecting the Great Falls of Passaic
River as the site for an industrial city, Paterson. The first factory built at
Paterson began to operate in 1794, printing calico goods. As Newark s
leather and Trenton s pottery industries grew, businessmen developed im
portant branches of commerce. Banks were chartered at Newark, Trenton,
and New Brunswick during the first decade of the nineteenth century, and
insurance began in the same period.
At Trenton, which had become the State capital in 1790, the legislature
sensed the power of trade. Many turnpike companies were chartered even
46 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
before the need for good roads was emphasized by the War of 1812. Sci
entists and inventors John Fitch and Colonel John Stevens with their
steamboats and, later, Seth Boyden with malleable iron and patent leather
accelerated the trend toward industrialization.
On this groundwork there rose, following the short depression at the
end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, a 2O-year prosperity. By 1828 the
State had about 550 miles of gravel and dirt roads under 54 charters. Be
tween 1 8 10 and 1840 New Jersey ranked third as an iron producer in the
Nation. The value of iron products in 1830 was about $657,000; glass
and pottery, $490,000; and cotton products, $1,733,000. Encouraged by
the protective tariff of 1816, investors developed water power and mill
sites for textiles and flour. By 1830 Paterson had fulfilled its early promise
and had become a busy mill town, rich with profits and scarred with labor
exploitation.
To weld the expanding sections of the State as well as to modernize the
New York-Philadelphia highway, the industrial barons of the day hurried
across-State transportation lines. Colonel John Stevens of Hoboken had
proved in 1824 that his "steam waggon" could run 12 miles an hour. Six
years later his son Robert got a charter for the Camden and Amboy Rail
road, and by 1834 the line was finished. The railroad soon absorbed the
new Delaware and Raritan Canal, which it paralleled. In 1831 the Morris
Canal between Newark and Phillipsburg opened a water route to a rich
mining district. Newark, because of its key position on the canal and rail
routes and on Passaic River, strengthened its grip as the leading city of the
State. With the stage set for even greater economic progress, the specu
lative bubble of industrial prosperity burst in the panic of 1837.
During the 1830 $ New Jersey was affected by the spirit of reform that
was sweeping the country, partly as a result of the industrial revolution.
The legislature began to allot money for public schools; hospitals were
built; and a start was made toward guarding the public health. In 1844
Dorothea Dix presented to the legislature a memorial describing the dis
graceful conditions in jails and poorhouses and the medieval treatment of
the feebleminded, epileptics, and the insane. Public indignation resulted
in prison reform and the establishment of an insane asylum. Reform was
a leading topic in public meetings and in newspaper columns. With an in
crease of almost 200,000 in population since 1790, the citizens of the
State were demanding democratization of their political structure.
It came in 1844. A constitutional convention swept away property qual
ifications for voters, provided for separation of powers among the three
governmental departments, and included a formal bill of rights and a
HISTORY 47
clause permitting amendment (the latter had been omitted from the 1776
document). The 1844 constitution has been amended only three times.
When the business cycle swung toward good times in 1845, the Cam-
den and Amboy Railroad emerged as a monopoly, since the charter, after
merger with two terminal roads, prohibited any other line between New
York and Philadelphia. So complete was the railroad s grasp of the State s
economic and political life that New Jersey was for a generation bitterly
referred to as "the State of Camden and Amboy."
Rising anti -slavery feeling together with pro-tariff and anti-immigrant
sentiment turned the State Republican in 1857, at its first opportunity to
elect a Republican Governor. But, in the crucial election of 1860, the con
flict between industrial and agricultural interests and anti-slavery men and
unionists-at-any-cost split New Jersey s electoral vote for the only time.
Lincoln received four votes and Douglas three.
In 1863 copperhead opposition to the Civil War, partly created by the
New York bankers mistrust of Lincoln, caused New Jersey to revert to
political type and elect Joel Parker, a Democrat, as Governor. Yet New
Jersey provided 88,000 troops and $23,000,000 for the war.
After 1865 profits from war supplies and a favorable location as the
nexus of the most populous and prosperous sections of the Nation con
tributed to an intense industrial activity. Paterson was processing two-
thirds of the country s silk imports; Newark could proudly hold an im
pressive trade exhibition of its varied manufactures in 1872 ; kerosene and
other oil products were being refined in Bayonne; and agriculture was
passing into its present form of lucrative truck farming. While real estate
companies plotted chimerical developments, the legislature recklessly is
sued charters for any kind of money-making enterprise. The great eco
nomic spree which lasted until the panic of 1873 fastened New York s
hold upon New Jersey more securely than ever.
The hold that the Camden and Amboy had upon the State had been
considerably weakened by 1867. In that year its opponents, seeking a char
ter for a competing line across the State, had turned the legislature into a
roundhouse battleground. When the Camden and Amboy sensed that pub
lic opinion would ultimately spell defeat, the company prudently leased
its lines to the Pennsylvania Railroad. The Pennsylvania took up in 1871
where its predecessors had left off and brought about a Republican victory
in the legislature. The railroad retained a majority in 1873, but this time
it was the legislators who felt the popular wrath. They passed a bill open
ing the State to all lines.
Although the Pennsylvania lost the battle, the State s history shows that
48 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
it won the war. The act giving any company the right to put down rails in
New Jersey was much less objectionable to the Pennsylvania than the alter
native of a special charter to a single competing line. Like its predecessor,
the new company succeeded during the next generation in maintaining a
powerful hold on the State government.
As far back as 1871, however, public opinion had caused the legislature
to attempt checks on railroad domination. In that year the railroads were
denied free loading space along the Hudson. In 1883 Leon Abbett was
elected Governor on a platform calling for railroad franchise taxes. Al
though the subservient legislature compromised on a plan for assessment
and taxation of railroad property, this action resulted in investigation of the
Lackawanna Railroad. A State audit of the company s books yielded New
Jersey several hundred thousand dollars.
Nevertheless, for more than a quarter of a century the railroads gener
ally enjoyed an extraordinary privilege to profiteer. This license illustrates
the beginning of a gradual blurring of party labels between 1870 and
1900, for even on the few occasions when the Democrats won complete
control of the State government, their efforts to curb the railroads were
feeble. Shut out of the Governorship since 1869, the Republicans had to
bid for power by such trivial stratagems as seeking the Prohibition vote
through the passing of a county option law in 1888. Such schemes faile d
to elect a Governor, but the Democrats own corruption finally lost them
the legislature in 1893. Even then the Republican victory was delayed
while eight hold-over Democratic senators attempted to steal the senate
back from the Republicans simply by organizing themselves into a rump
senate, which prevented the seating of any new members. This bold bid
was thwarted by the courts.
Except for the electoral split in 1860 and a shift to Grant in 1872, New
Jersey gave a majority to every Democratic Presidential candidate between
1852 and 1896. In the latter year Mark Hanna himself was astounded
when New Jersey gave McKinley a plurality of 87,692 over Bryan, and
elected John W. Griggs as its first Republican Governor in 30 years.
Several factors were responsible for the Republican ascendancy. As the
pseudo-agricultural party, the Democrats lost relative strength because the
number of farms decreased after 1880. At the same time, the commuter
vote, composed largely of Republicans from New York and Philadelphia,
increased. Finally, the economic eye of the State was becoming more and
more sensitive to the high-tariff button eternally pinned on the Republican
lapel.
In that era of seemingly limitless national expansion when the value
HISTORY 49
of manufactured products in New Jersey rose from $169,237,000 in 1870
to $611,748,000 in 1900 the State began to assume its present leadership
in industry. To man the prospering factories and mills, thousands of im
migrants, chiefly from southern and eastern Europe, poured into the indus
trial cities where they quickly established lasting foreign quarters. In the
brick and terra cotta works around Perth Amboy, in the heavy industries
of Newark, in the woolen mills of Passaic, in the shipyards of Camden,
and in the ceramic plants of Trenton, European skills joined with native
enterprise to further New Jersey industry.
The State, which had grown from a population of 373,306 in 1840 to
1,883,669 in 1900, was becoming a more integral part of the economic
and cultural life of the Atlantic seaboard. Much of the spirit of speed and
efficiency of New York and Philadelphia business life flowed across the
Hudson and Delaware, quickening the tempo of New Jersey s cities and
suburbs. In the same way, important cultural threads of the two metropo
lises were spun across, drawing up New Jersey in the weave.
The State s educational facilities were strengthened by the founding of
Rutgers Scientific School in 1863 and by the opening of Stevens Institute
of Technology in 1871. In the latter year a free school system was estab
lished and in 1874 a compulsory education law was passed. To Princeton
College many of the well-to-do families of New York and Philadelphia
sent their sons.
As early as the 1840*5 Cape May was a summer social capital, and after
the Civil War Long Branch became the vacation choice of Presidents as
well as the playground for the Astors and Fishes of New York, the Bid
dies and Drexels of Philadelphia. A quarter of a century later Atlantic
City and Asbury Park were performing the same service for many thou
sands of Philadelphia and New York vacationers. New Jersey s oyster and
cranberry industries catered to the national appetite, while its truck gar
dens and dairy farms supplied a large portion of the produce sold in
metropolitan markets.
For New York and Pennsylvania financiers and for corporation builders
generally New Jersey offered a special attraction. From the 1870*5 on, the
State s lax incorporation laws invited the formation of trusts and monopo
lies in hastily rented offices in Newark or Jersey City. When Lincoln Stef-
fens and the other "muckrakers" began to investigate "big business" they
contemptuously labeled New Jersey "The Mother of Trusts."
New Jersey s role as a green pasture for foaling corporations illustrates
several important characteristics of the State at the turn of the century.
Mark Sullivan, in Our Times, has raised the question of why New Jersey
50 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
"voluntarily assumed a role which made it a subject of jeering for twenty
years," after New York and Ohio court decisions had killed the trusts in
those States. He cites the theory of Steffens that New Jersey s position as
the terminal of many great railroad systems made the State responsive to
corporate influence, and he suggests that nearness to Wall Street may also
have been a factor.
Another probable reason, Sullivan points out, was the fact that many of
the ablest New Jersey citizens were commuters who took little interest in
the State in which they merely slept. "In such a community," he concludes,
"it would be easy for politicians and lawyers representing financial inter
ests to take possession of the machinery of the State and to use it to the
advantage of the interests they represented. The revenue accruing to the
State from the fees it received for providing a home for outside corpora
tions lightened the burden of taxes on New Jersey voters and their prop
erty. Many New Jersey people frankly and publicly justified the laws fa
voring the trusts on that ground."
The nineteenth century revolt against railroad domination was soon
paralleled by an early twentieth century attack on the trusts and machine
politics. George L. Record, who had broken with the Hudson County
Democratic machine, was the leader of the "New Idea" movement that
carried the assault. Closely associated with him were Mark Pagan, who
repudiated his boss after being elected the first Republican mayor of Jer
sey City in many years ; Austin Colgate, Frank Sommer, Everett Colby and
others. Their program called for election reforms, equal taxation of rail
roads and utilities, and regulation of public utilities. Although the New
Idea men accomplished little during the terms of Governors Stokes and
Fort, they had their chance with Governor Woodrow Wilson.
Paradoxically, Wilson was nominated in 1910 by the Democratic lead
ers against the opposition of the young progressives in his party. Colonel
George Harvey was looking for a 1912 Presidential candidate. He in
duced James Smith Jr., titular Democratic chief, to select Wilson as a man
who would impart a respectable tone to the gubernatorial campaign. When
the "safe" professor from Princeton University repudiated the bosses dur
ing the campaign, they did not take him seriously. When, however, after
election, Wilson successfully supported James E. Martine against Smith
for United States Senator, the machine politicians realized that they had
unwittingly elected a champion of the progressives.
Upon the strength of this victory, Wilson was able to push through his
bewildered legislature bills for direct primaries, regulation of public utili
ties, employers liability, and other reforms, which were in part inspired
HISTORY 51
and supported by some of the New Idea Republicans, notably George L.
Record. Thus Wilson sought to justify his belief in the mission of New
Jersey as a "mediating" State, destined to inspire and lead her neighbors
into better ways. His courageous and successful fight for reform made him
President in 1912, in spite of the bitter opposition of the very men who
had deliberately started him on the road to that office.
Wilson held his post in Trenton until March i, 1913, completing his
program by passage of the "Seven Sisters" acts. With these laws he hoped
to restrain monopolies and to impose penalties against individual officers
of offending corporations. Other States promptly invited the business
which New Jersey turned away; while New Jersey "mediated," they would
take the cash. With Wilson safely in Washington, the "Seven Sisters" acts
were gradually repealed until by 1920 there was hardly a vestige left, but
New Jersey never recaptured her former pre-eminence as the favorite home
for new corporations.
Ironically, at the time when the State was first perceiving the danger of
corporation control, there arose a new industrial power. In 1903 the Pub
lic Service Corporation was formed and started on its way toward virtual
control of gas and electric power, trolley and bus transportation.
Under Governor Fielder the reform movement continued at a slower
pace until it was interrupted by the World War. New Jersey s geography
and its industrial resources gave it a strategic part in the conflict. Camp
Dix at Wrightstown was an important training center, and Camp Merritt
(near Dumont) and Hoboken became known to a majority of the men
who went overseas as their last points of contact with the homeland. New
Jersey shipyards were unceasingly busy and New Jersey factories supplied
a large proportion of the Nation s chemicals and munitions. Governor
Walter E. Edge declared, however, that the outstanding features of his
wartime term were "the inauguration of the State highway system, the
Delaware River Bridge, and the Hudson River Tunnels," and the estab
lishment of the State department of institutions and agencies.
The State s post-war improvement of transportation facilities attests
Edge s perspicacity. When the automobile required another modernization
of the New York-Philadelphia highways, New Jersey responded with a
splendid and expensive highway system, a proud bid for the praise of mil
lions of travelers who annually cross its borders. Another post-war devel
opment was a widespread popular campaign against the utilities, featured
by attacks on the gas and electric rates and a spreading though scattered
demand for public ownership.
To understand New Jersey in the twentieth century, it is necessary to
52 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
visualize the progressive transformation of the State from an agricultural
to a primarily industrial and urban region. In 1890 the urban population
was about 60 percent; by 1900 it was about 70 percent, and by 1930 it
was 82.6 percent.
While wealth and industry continued to increase, agriculture declined
in relative importance. The amount of improved farming land dropped
from 1,977,042 acres in 1899 to 1,305,528 acres in 1924, although the
total value of farm produce showed a gain, largely because of the concen
trated poultry and dairy industries. On the other hand the value of indus
trial output multiplied sixfold from $611,748,000 in 1900 to $3,937,-
157,00 in 1930, and the number of wage earners rose from 241,582 to
442,328.
The total population more than doubled between 1900 and 1930, ris
ing from 1,883,669 to 4,041,334. The most spectacular growth was in the
five counties of the New York metropolitan area which reached a total of
2,496,558, about three-fifths of the State s population.
A large volume of immigration helped to push census figures upward
and to increase the diversification of population that began in Colonial
times. To the Colonial settlers Dutch, English, Scotch and smaller num
bers of French, Germans, Swedes, Negroes and others thousands of Irish
and Germans had been added by the middle of the nineteenth century.
In the latter part of the century large numbers of immigrants from south
ern and eastern Europe poured into New Jersey via New York.
The State s immigrant population was further increased between 1920
and 1930 (after the influx from Europe had been stemmed by Federal
legislation) through migration from other States. Although the foreign-
born white population of the entire Nation increased by only 111,013 in
that decade and most States showed a decline, the figure for New Jersey
rose by 106,014 to a total of 844,442 almost double the number of
foreign-born whites in 1900.
The most rapid increase in the Negro population occurred in the large
cities, beginning when World War industries mustered man power. Many
hundreds of Negroes were also imported for work as servants in the
homes of wealthy residents of Montclair and other suburban communi
ties. By 1930 the Negro population was 208,828, almost treble the figure
in 1900.
The twentieth century politics of New Jersey has continued to be domi
nated after the interruption of Woodrow Wilson s term as Governor
by the natural conservatism of the industrial and business interests. The
conservative forces have helped to defeat movements toward municipal
HISTORY 53
ownership of utilities, to hamper organization of labor, and to delay mod
ernization of the archaic property tax system.
In the political field, the blurring of party labels in the i88o s became
almost a total effacement by the i92o s. Although New Jersey remained
Republican in national politics from 1896 to 1932, except when Wilson
won in 1912, it has been much more inclined to elect Democratic Gover
nors. Since Wilson s term, the Republicans have elected only three Gover
nors, Walter Edge in 1916, Morgan Larson in 1928, and Harold G. Hoff
man in 1934. The former two derived great strength from concurrent
Presidential tickets; while Hoffman s stormy administration demonstrated
the candor with which Frank Hague, Mayor of Jersey City and the State s
most powerful Democrat, harmonized the theoretical differences of the
two major parties to obtain quick unchallenged action for his conserva
tive supporters. This unusual cooperation between Democratic and Repub
lican chieftains moved the New York Times to exclaim editorially, "If
most politics is queer, New Jersey politics is queerer."
Both Hoffman and Hague have made official efforts to check the
growth of the Congress of Industrial Organizations in mass industries.
Although locally the Democratic Party had for years advocated legislation
to curb injunctions in labor disputes, it reversed its position in 1937.
Mayor Hague explained that he felt the shift was necessary to avoid
frightening employers or prospective employers from the State.
The responsibility for piloting the State through the depression fell on
both the Democratic and Republican Parties. The administration of relief
was handled by the State until 1936, when the legislature turned it back
to the municipalities. Although the change was hailed by some as a step
toward economy and common sense, searching and severe criticism soon
came from experts of the State and Federal Governments. In 1937, a study
for the Social Science Research Council showed that the average New Jer
sey family on relief lived 40 percent below the minimum subsistence
standard, and that it was practically impossible for many of the smaller
communities to give adequate aid.
In the 1937 gubernatorial campaign the Democratic candidate, Senator
A. Harry Moore, defeated the Reverend Lester H. Clee by the slender
margin of 43,600 votes, as compared with a Moore plurality of 230,053
in the 1931 election. Dissatisfied with the results of the election of 1937,
representatives of a large portion of the 425,000 New Jersey members of
the Committee for Industrial Organization and the American Federation
of Labor held a preliminary convention in the fall of 1937, looking to
ward the formation of an independent Labor Party in New Jersey.
54 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
Despite population growth and industrial changes undreamed of in
Colonial days, the essential pattern of New Jersey history remains insepa
rable from that of her neighbors across the Hudson and Delaware Rivers.
Concrete highways, steel rails and air lanes have made New Jersey more
than ever the corridor between New York and Philadelphia. The State s
factories and farms help to sustain the economy of the neighboring me
tropolises; its homes and apartment houses shelter many thousands of
New York and Pennsylvania workers ; its industrial and labor policies, its
corporation laws and its tax system are determined always with an eye to
their effect upon competition with the neighboring States.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< <#> >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
A LTHOUGH government in New Jersey is essentially the same in gen-
jf$^ eral pattern as in each of the other 47 States, there is an amazing
number of important differences. In this treatment of the constitutional
and political structure of the State, emphasis is placed on these differences
as well as on the antiquities and the innovations of which New Jersey citi
zens are especially proud.
At the outset of the Revolution the fourth Provincial Congress of New
Jersey transformed itself into a constitutional convention and on July 2,
1776, adopted a constitution which contained a declaration of independ
ence. New Jersey was the fourth Colony to take this step; and although
the work was done hastily and was not intended to be permanent, the con
stitution was retained for 68 years.
Reflecting the antagonism of its framers to executive interference with
the legislature, the constitution was a strange document in that it violated
the "separation of powers" principle in a great variety of ways. The Gov
ernor was to be elected by the legislature every year; yet he was granted
both judicial and legislative powers. At the same time the legislature re
served a large measure of executive and judicial power for itself.
In the case of Holmes v. Walton in 1779, New Jersey set the first prece
dent after the Revolution for exercise of the power of judicial review the
right of courts to declare legislative acts invalid.
The Constitution of 1844: Despite obvious inefficiencies and inequali
ties in the original constitution and bitter attacks on it, it continued in
force until 1844. Then popular sentiment, stirred by democratic Jack-
sonian tendencies, demanded further revision. Lacking any machinery for
revising the original constitution, the legislature of 1844 simply went
ahead and called a convention. The work of the convention was ratified
at a special election on August 13. The new constitution abolished prop
erty qualifications for voters and legislators, recognized the principle of
separation of powers among the three departments of government, and
(unlike the document of 1776) included a formal bill of rights and pro
vision for amendment.
55
56 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
Only three times (1875, 1897, and 1927) in the period of nearly 100
years since its adoption has the New Jersey Constitution been amended
not because few amendments have been proposed but because the process
is extremely difficult. Amendments must be passed by two successive leg
islatures and then approved by the people, with the restriction that amend
ments may not be submitted to popular vote more often than once in five
years.
For more than 60 years attempts have been made to revise the docu
ment as a whole. But the legislature has never consented to a constitu
tional convention, largely because the senate, which is based upon equal
representation of the counties, has feared that a convention might revise
this system, thus shifting the balance of power from the less populous
counties. Industrial New Jersey therefore continues to live under a consti
tution designed for an essentially agricultural population.
Aside from its age and inflexibility, the New Jersey Constitution is dis
tinguished as one of the briefest in the country, containing only the bare
outlines of a frame of government. It embodies little regulatory law, and
the legislature is left with full responsibility for setting up administra
tive departments, most of the courts, and practically the entire system of
local government. This situation somewhat compensates for the difficult
amending process.
The Legislature: Like every other State except Nebraska, New Jersey
has a two-house legislature. But in other important respects the State s
legislative machine is distinctive. One of the seven smallest in size, it is
composed of a senate of 21 members (one for each county) and an
assembly of 60. It is one of only five State legislatures that hold annual ses
sions. New Jersey is now the only State that has annual elections for mem
bers of the lower house, and no other State has a three-year term for sena
tors. Equal representation of the counties in the State senate, giving the
balance of power to the less populous counties, is another unusual feature,
inherited from the constitution of 1776.
Members of the assembly are apportioned among the counties accord
ing to population. For more than 40 years assemblymen were elected by
districts within the counties, but in 1893 the State Supreme Court de
clared this method unconstitutional, thus requiring the election of each
county delegation at large. The matter would doubtless never have reached
the courts if both parties had not been scandalously gerrymandering the
assembly districts.
The overwhelming advantage of the smaller counties in the upper house
is shown by the fact that the four largest counties, with 54 percent of the
GOVERNMENT 57
State s population in 1930, have only 19 percent of the voting strength in
the senate. In the assembly the "Big Four" Essex, Hudson, Bergen, and
Union Counties have 52 percent of the voting power. Although much
may be said for finely balancing the legislature between the rural and
metropolitan areas, the system has been bitterly criticized. As far back as
1873 the Newark Daily Advertiser lamented editorially:
The pine-barrens have beaten the populace. Ten gentlemen, representing the
wealth, power, honor and good sense of the State of New Jersey, representing also
the bulk of its population and its true will and purpose, yesterday voted for a com
peting railroad between New York and Philadelphia. Eleven other men, whose title
is Senator, representing an innumerable host of stunted pines, growing on sand-
barrens, voted the bill down . . . You can t make pine trees vote nor endow them
with a conscience.
Because of the small size of the State, the legislature can conduct its
sessions on an unusual plan, meeting only every Monday night during the
greater part of the session. Any legislator can travel by rail or motor from
his home to Trenton in not more than three hours. This makes it possible
for members to live at home and conduct their regular professional or
business activities while the legislature is in session. It is important that
they do so, since senators and assemblymen are paid only $500 a year.
The Governor: New Jersey is the only State with a three-year term for
Governor, matching that for State senators. The Governor s salary of
$20,000 is the highest paid by any State except New York. As in a dozen
other States, the Governor may not succeed himself, but this restriction
operates more severely in New Jersey than in these other States, in each
of which the Governor enjoys a four-year term. Since 1844 only three
men have been elected twice to the Governorship: Joel Parker and Leon
Abbett each served two terms, and A. Harry Moore is now in his third
term. Another peculiarity is that in New Jersey, as in only three other
States, the Governor is the only official chosen by State- wide election.
There is no Lieutenant Governor, the next in line being the president of
the senate.
In the number and variety of offices filled by gubernatorial appointment
the Governor of New Jersey has a decided advantage over those of most
other States. For example, he appoints all State judges and county prose
cutors positions filled in many other States by election. Nevertheless his
position is not so powerful as one might suppose. Some administrative of
ficials are chosen by the legislature, and most of the others either have
terms longer than that of the Governor or administer departments headed
by boards whose members have overlapping terms.
As in only six other States, a bare majority of the legislature can over-
58 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
ride the Governor s veto; the veto power is therefore of little value. An
other serious handicap to the Governor is his incapacity to succeed him
self. Woodrow Wilson bitterly denounced this constitutional limitation in
1913, pointing out that the politicians "smile at the coming and going of
Governors as some men in Washington have smiled at the coming and go
ing of Presidents, as upon things ephemeral, which passed and were soon
enough rid of if you but sat tight and waited."
It naturally follows that no Governor except one with the most unusual
qualities or remarkable good luck can make and keep himself the domi
nant factor in State government. Woodrow Wilson did it because he rode
into office on a wave of reform sentiment that transcended party lines, and
he developed an effective technique of appealing to the people through
newspaper interviews and public addresses. Perhaps the greatest of his as
sets was his inflexible obstinacy in holding to a position, no matter how
terrifying the opposition.
New Jersey follows an acknowledged pattern in American politics, ac
cording to which the legislature and the Governor act largely in consulta
tion with party leaders. Legislative policy is frequently determined through
informal councils of legislative and party leaders.
The State is one of 1 8 in which the Governor does not have full power
of pardon. A strange feature is that the Board of Pardons includes, in ad
dition to the Governor, the chancellor and the six lay judges of the Court
of Errors and Appeals, thus injecting the highest court of the State into
what always has been considered an executive prerogative designed to cor
rect miscarriages of justice for which there was no judicial remedy.
Executive Departments: When the constitution was adopted in 1844,
the State administration consisted of little more than the Governor, six
constitutional departments, and a single State institution, the prison at
Trenton. Since that time the number of State departments and agencies
has increased steadily. The movement has been checked, but never stopped,
by occasional consolidations involving a few related departments.
Today there are more than 80 separate administrative departments in
the State government; and if the semi-independent boards heading the
several institutions and agencies are included, the total is approximately
100 distinct administrative agencies.
A rough classification shows that there are approximately a dozen de
partments or agencies dealing primarily with the State s fiscal affairs;
about half a dozen primarily engaged in maintaining law and order; 8,
not counting the 17 separate institutions and agencies under the depart
ment of institutions and agencies, responsible for protecting public health
GOVERNMENT 59
and welfare; more than 20, counting some 15 examining boards, engaged
in economic regulation and promotion; 16 or more responsible for public
works, conservation, and recreation ; and about 2 primarily devoted to edu
cation and research. A few of these departments or agencies are at present
languishing for lack of appropriations, but they may always be revived by
new funds.
The State pay roll is the best index of the phenomenal increase in gov
ernmental operations during the past few years. From the fiscal year 1916-
17 to the fiscal year 1936-37 the number of employees as reported by the
Civil Service Commission jumped from 2,900 to about 11,800; and the
pay roll climbed even more sharply from $3,600,000 to about $18,-
500,000.
The number and variety of the State departments and commissions long
have constituted an obvious argument for reorganization and simplifica
tion. For nearly 40 years such a movement has been under way, but prog
ress has been slow. In 1925 the legislature received a plan for merging 78
permanent departments into 14 large units; nothing at all was done about
this report. Four years later the National Institute of Public Administration
made similar recommendations. Nearly all of these were likewise ignored,
but some fiscal reforms were made.
Princeton University was the next institution to play doctor to the State
government. Dr. Harold W. Dodds prescribed some of the same medicine
recommended by the Institute of Public Administration, including consoli
dation of all fiscal functions under one commissioner responsible to the
Governor. But the legislature showed its characteristic distrust of the Gov
ernor and instead of unifying the financial structure added one more de
partment.
Most of the State departments are administered by boards appointed by
the Governor. Board members generally are not paid, although necessary
expenses are customarily granted and some very adequate salaries are given
to a few such as the three public utility commissioners, who draw $12,-
ooo annually. Each board usually selects the active department head, al
though the Governor appoints both the boards and the commissioners of
education and aviation. Thirteen other department heads are appointed
by the Governor subject to senatorial confirmation and in most cases with
terms longer than the Governor s. Only two department heads are ap
pointed by the Governor to hold office at his pleasure. The heads of five
important departments are elected by the two houses of the legislature in
joint session.
Confirmation of appointments by the senate is anything but an empty
60 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
form in New Jersey. Gubernatorial recommendations have not infrequently
been turned down, often under the principle of senatorial courtesy which
requires that the nominee be acceptable to the senator from his home
county. Political horse trading becomes almost imperative when the Gov
ernor must bargain with a hostile senate, a common situation in New
Jersey.
One of the most important executive departments has developed from
the old State prison and the first hospital for the insane, which opened in
1848. This, the department of institutions and agencies, administers 17 in
stitutions for the insane, feebleminded, tubercular, delinquent, and epilep
tic, and for old soldiers; and two agencies: the commission for the blind
and the board of children s guardians. Mental hygiene clinics operated un
der this department provide the services of expert psychiatrists for the or
dinary citizen who cannot afford to pay private practitioners. New Jersey s
work in this field has placed it well ahead of most other States.
An administrative curiosity in New Jersey is the department of agricul
ture. The State board of agriculture consists of eight members chosen by a
convention of delegates from the chief farm organizations of the State, an
unusual example of functional representation.
An obvious result of New Jersey s location between New York and
Philadelphia has been the necessity for working agreements with her
neighboring States on interstate construction projects and port develop
ment, the management of water supply and garbage disposal. New Jersey
operates, jointly with New York, the Palisades Interstate Park, and is also
a partner in the Port of New York Authority, builder of four great bridges
and two vehicular tunnels linking the two States, and a model for similar
publicly owned corporations throughout the country. At Camden the State
joined with Pennsylvania in building the Delaware River bridge to Phila
delphia. It was thus natural that New Jersey took the lead in 1935 in a
step for permanent commissions on interstate cooperation, to operate both
regionally and nationally.
One of nine States with civil service systems, New Jersey shares with
Massachusetts the distinction of being one of the two States in which
jurisdiction of the commission has been extended to all county and local
units operating under civil service. Only 10 of the 21 New Jersey counties
and only 22 municipalities have adopted the civil service system, but these
include the largest population areas and well over half of the full-time
employees in local units of the State.
Local Government: According to a 1937 Princeton University bulletin
GOVERNMENT 6l
there are 1,137 separate self-governing units within the State classified as
follows :
Counties 2 1
Cities 52
Boroughs 254
Towns 23
Townships 233
Villages 3
School Districts 551
Total I J I 37
In addition, the survey found about 225 special intra-municipal districts
and about a score of regional and inter-municipal districts and commis
sions. "This is the New Jersey patchwork . . . ," says the Princeton report.
The terms "city," "town," "borough" and "township" are entirely
meaningless as far as classification by size or area is concerned. The largest
city is Newark, with nearly half a million residents ; the smallest is Corbin
City, with a population of 256. The largest township is North Bergen,
population 40,714; the smallest is Pahaquarry, population 80. North Cape
May and South Cape May, with populations of 5 and 6, are the smallest
boroughs.
Patchwork government is expensive, the Princeton survey declares. Cit
ing the police organization, a 1936 bulletin says:
There are 350 separate and independent police departments in New Jersey, of
which 127 are in the five counties covering a scant 700 square miles of northeastern
New Jersey. Nowhere else in the United States is there such a concentration of sep
arate police agencies in so small an area.
This goes far to explain the fact that costs of New Jersey police protection are
not only the highest in the United States for cities of the corresponding size groups,
but in some cases they are nearly twice as high.
At the entrance to the Holland tunnel a citizen can be arrested by at least five
different sets of police officers, for violation of several sets of traffic laws.
Six municipalities have the city manager form of government, the larg
est being Trenton, a city of more than 125,000. Cape May City in 1937
abandoned the manager plan for the commission form, which is so gener
ally preferred by the larger municipalities that the Princeton experts have
labeled New Jersey "the most commission-ridden State in the Union."
Fifty-three of the 565 municipalities in the State are now operating under
the commission form authorized by the so-called Walsh Act of 1911. In
62 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
these municipalities, which include Newark, Jersey City and many other
large cities, all legislative and administrative functions of local govern
ment are vested in a single commission, usually of five persons, elected at
large every four years.
The system originally was lauded as simple, responsible, and easy for
the public to control. In practice, however, the lack of centralized respon
sibility in a single executive, the failure to distinguish between policy for
mation and administration, the designation of politically elected commis
sioners to head departments requiring able technical direction, and
especially the lack of centralized financial administration all have run
counter to the high hopes of the municipal reformers of the early part of
the century.
Under the general municipalities act the 233 New Jersey townships have
the same powers and functions as all other local units. Township govern
ment is substantially of the commission form, the principal difference be
ing that the township committeemen are elected for overlapping terms, so
that the whole committee is never voted in or out at the same time. Town
ship government, therefore, displays the same weaknesses as the pure com
mission form.
The other types of local government city, borough, town vary widely.
A relatively small number vest substantial authority in the mayor as a real
chief executive, but much more numerous are those in which administra
tive responsibility is largely taken by the council, or by committees or
boards not effectively controlled by the mayor. Thus, even these units dis
play weaknesses similar to those of townships and commission municipal
ities, especially the lack of centralized financial control. This doubtless ac
counts in large measure for the gloomy situation described by the Princeton
survey in June 1936 when it reported that the course of municipal gov
ernment in New Jersey had resulted in a gross debt of almost 20 percent
of net taxable valuation, $121,479,000 in uncollected property taxes, i out
of every 8 municipalities in default on notes or bonds, and 12 municipali
ties in virtual bankruptcy and under State supervision.
For counties, the governing body is a "Board of Chosen Freeholders"
of three, five, or nine members, which is in reality the familiar commis
sion plan again. But these boards are by no means overworked since
judges, prosecutors and some other officers are appointed by the Governor,
while the sheriff, county clerk, and surrogate are elected by the people.
All of these officials and others besides are wholly or largely beyond con
trol of the freeholders. Chief functions of the county boards are the
building and maintenance of roads and bridges, and the management of
GOVERNMENT 63
county institutions other than the jail. Salaries of the freeholders are as
high as $6,000 in the two largest counties.
Parties and Elections: Governor Woodrow Wilson advocated the di
rect primary as a means of taking the nomination of candidates and the
selection of party committee members away from the bosses and giving
the parties back to the people. Although the old-line politicians fought
for retention of the convention system, Wilson won. It is a tribute to the
ingenuity and the steadfastness of purpose of the political leaders of both
parties that the direct primary appears to have had little effect upon con
trol of the parties.
In the Democratic Party, the result perhaps has been to strengthen the
State organization led by Jersey City s present (1939) mayor, Frank Hague.
His Hudson County organization is held by students of practical politics
to be probably the most smoothly running machine in the country. Sub
stantially one-third of all the votes cast in the State Democratic primary
come from his county.
Republican leadership is more scattered, and the party s primaries often
present lively contests in striking contrast to the peaceful balloting of the
Democrats. Usually the party is controlled by a semi-permanent coalition
of leaders from Republican strongholds.
The overwhelming Democratic vote in Hudson and Middlesex Counties,
and considerable Democratic strength elsewhere, make it relatively easy
for the Democrats to elect a Governor. But apportionment in the legis
lature based on counties seriously handicaps their efforts to win a majority
in either house. Since 1910 the Democrats have elected their gubernatorial
candidate six times out of nine, whereas they have controlled both the
assembly and senate in only two years 1913 and 1914. This constant
division of State machinery between the two major parties has been cited
as justification for the system (roundly attacked by Woodrow Wilson)
under which leaders of the two parties unite in political action. This sys
tem, it is said, tends to prevent a deadlock on appointments and legis
lation.
Minor parties have played practically no part in New Jersey politics.
Great efficiency of the two major party organizations, and the support of
organized labor for candidates of one or the other party, have prevented
the Socialists and other groups from showing any considerable strength.
Annual conventions for preparing party platforms are held after the
primary elections. An interesting law names as delegates the members of
the State committee of the party, the candidates for the legislature, gov
ernorship and Congress, as well as hold-over members of the legislature.
64 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
The Administration of Justice: New Jersey courts have changed rela
tively little since the time of George III, and the intricate judicial system
is puzzling to the lawyer as well as to the layman. There are about twenty
different courts created by the constitution or by legislative enactment;
several have overlapping jurisdictions, and two or three are practically
without parallel in other States.
Charles H. Hartshorne s characterization of the New Jersey judicial sys
tem, written in 1905, is as accurate today as when it was penned: "... our
system is the most antiquated and intricate that exists in any considerable
community of English-speaking people . . . Both courts and procedure
were brought here from England by our colonial forefathers and were
worked into shape fitted to the needs of a rural community of eighteenth
century colonists. They are fundamentally in that shape today." Although
procedure has been greatly simplified since 1905, the court structure itself
has become more rather than less involved.
The State has three distinctive judicial hierarchies: the law courts, for
the trial of criminal and civil actions under statutory law ; the eqity courts^
for giving legal relief not afforded by the law courts ; and the prerogative
or probate courts, for wills and estates.
The Court of Errors and Appeals is the highest tribunal in each of
these three hierarchies. As the name implies, it handles nothing except
appeals from the lower courts. It is unique in name and structure. Six of
its sixteen members are laymen (or at least need not be lawyers), while
the other ten comprise the chancellor of the State, the chief justice and the
eight associate justices of the Supreme Court. The chancellor is the presid
ing judge. The provision for lay members, who are appointed for six-year
terms, stems from Colonial times; indeed, until 1844 the Governor and
his council constituted the court of last resort.
In the law courts the second highest body is the Supreme Court, which
handles both criminal and civil cases, although the latter are limited to
suits involving $3,000 or more. It is authorized to superintend or review
the conduct of all inferior courts and public officers. The chief justice re
ceives $19,000 a year and the eight associate justices get $18,000. The
term is seven years.
The Circuit Courts enjoy common law jurisdiction in civil cases concur
rent with the Supreme Court within the counties in which they are held,
and statutory jurisdiction in a number of specific matters. The Common
Pleas Court, consisting of from one to five judges in each county, also
deals with civil matters, but its judges hear criminal cases when they sit in
the courts of Quarter Sessions, Special Sessions, and Over and Terminer.
GOVERNMENT 65
Civil actions involving less than $500 are tried in county or city district
courts. In some counties there are also criminal district courts to relieve
the common pleas judges of lesser criminal trials. At the very bottom of
the system are the recorders courts, the police courts and local justices of
the peace.
New Jersey is one of a half dozen States in which the equity or chancery
courts are still separated from the common law courts. The chief equity
judge is the chancellor, appointed by the Governor for a seven-year term
at a salary of $19,000 a year. The chancellor, in turn, appoints ten vice
chancellors for seven-year terms at salaries of $18,000 each. The vice chan
cellors, acting theoretically for the chancellor, sit individually at strategic
points throughout the State. As mentioned above, the chancellor is also
the presiding judge of the Court of Errors and Appeals. The Chancery
Court is assisted by numerous masters in chancery appointed by the chan
cellor.
The Court of Chancery has been vigorously attacked and defended in
connection with its issuance of injunctions in labor disputes. Trade union
ists and liberals have for years unsuccessfully sought an amendment to the
State constitution that would curtail the court s power. Mortgage fore
closures, divorces, insolvencies, and guardianships are other matters that
come before this court.
In the third judicial hierarchy the chancellor and his ten vice chancellors
constitute the Prerogative or High Probate Court. As the chief probate
judge, the chancellor is known as the Surrogate General or Ordinary; and
a vice chancellor sitting on probate matters is termed a Vice Ordinary.
Appeals to the Prerogative Court lie from the Orphans Court, held by a
common pleas judge another example of the crisscrossing of the New
Jersey judicial system.
The prerogative courts have jurisdiction over matters relating to wills,
administrators and executors of estates, guardianship, and the recovery of
legacies. Uncontested wills are admitted for probate before the surrogate
of each county. The surrogate, although he is sometimes thought of as the
lowest probate judge, is in reality nothing more than an administrative
officer.
Attached to the common law system is the important Juvenile and Do
mestic Relations Court, which does not logically belong in any of the three
hierarchies. This court is held by separate judges in the four largest coun
ties Essex, Hudson, Bergen and Union. In all other counties, a common
pleas judge adds this to his multifarious duties.
Under New Jersey s juvenile court act no person under 16 is deemed
66 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
capable of committing a crime, although the Court of Errors and Appeals
has twice held that the constitutional guarantee of trial by jury renders the
Juvenile Court (which does not use a jury) incompetent to hear cases in
volving "the malicious killing of a human being." The act, one of the
most progressive in the United States, allows wide authority to the judge.
At least in the four counties with separate judges, these courts are sharing
with those in only a few other jurisdictions in the country the distinction
of blazing a trail toward a new conception of juvenile delinquency and
perhaps of crime in general.
Unusual is the fact that all State judges, from the members of the Court
of Errors and Appeals to the civil and criminal district court judges, are
appointed by the Governor with the consent of the senate. In most other
States all or nearly all judges are elected. In spite of the allegation that
politics plays a part in these appointments, New Jersey courts have attained
a high standing. One recent study of the prestige of the highest State
courts gave a better rating to the courts only of New York, Massachusetts,
and Illinois. Moreover, there is a seldom broken custom of reappointing
justices of the higher courts regardless of politics.
Attempts to simplify the judicial machinery have been defeated for
many years. Since 1930 the Judicial Council, consisting of the attorney
general and representatives of the courts, the bar association and the legis
lature, has been making recommendations for changes in the constitution,
the statutes, and the rules and procedures of the courts. Some real progress
has been made; but so far the council has been unsuccessful in securing
the adoption of its constitutional amendments, the most important of which
would create a separate high court of appeals in place of the present Court
of Errors and Appeals. This would have the result of ending the dual role
played by Supreme Court justices and the chancellor as both trial judges in
their respective courts and appellate justices in the Court of Errors and Ap
peals. The Judicial Council proposals would also eliminate lay judges, and
would create a separate court of pardons.
Penal Institutions: In contrast to its archaic legal machinery, the State s
penal institutions are as progressive as any in the land. One of the best
features is the system of segregation, classification and individual treat
ment of inmates. Criminals are classified and put in separate institutions
for men, women and youths, as well as for the feebleminded, epileptic,
tubercular and insane.
Each institution has a classification committee consisting of the superin
tendent and other officers, including a physician, a psychiatrist, a psycholo-
GOVERNMENT 67
gist, a chaplain and the director of education. This committee studies each
inmate upon admission, prescribes a course of personal treatment, and
reports periodically on progress. The advisory committee on penal institu
tions, probation and parole of the Wickersham Commission on Law Ob
servance and Enforcement in 1931, after describing this system in detail,
commented: "It is clear that there is a plan of institutional treatment,
carried on by a whole State, quite unusual in the United States."
Work is an essential part of the program. The prison industries in New
Jersey are conducted under what is called the "State use system." This
means that goods produced are sold only to State departments or agencies,
and thus do not find their way to the open market in competition with the
products of free labor.
The State has an unusually liberal probation law, under which sentence
can be suspended for practically any crime if circumstances indicate that
imprisonment would destroy the convict s usefulness without giving addi
tional protection to society. Parole is supervised by the State department of
institutions and agencies, while probation is handled by the counties. As a
result, the probation system is highly developed in some of the larger
counties, but is still in a rudimentary stage in others.
Paying for Government: What does this remarkable system of govern
ment, this bewildering aggregation of State departments and local units,
cost the people of New Jersey, and how do they pay for it? Dogmatic
answers cannot be given to these questions because of the inadequacy of
the records and because of theoretical differences in opinion as to just
what should be included in the term "cost of government." The following
statements dealing primarily with the revenue system will give, however,
a rough sketch of the problem.
According to Local Government Bulletin No. 2 of the Princeton Local
Government Survey, the total State and local taxes levied in New Jersey
for the year ending December 31, 1935, were $320,477,621. A little more
than a quarter of this amount was in State taxes, the rest in local taxes.
Since the State returns a considerable amount of its revenues to local units,
the Princeton survey points out that the total tax bill was earmarked for
expenditure by the several units of government in the following propor
tions :
State $ 58,134,259
Municipalities 133,340,732
School Districts 80,470,796
Counties 48,531,834
68 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
The Princeton report concludes, therefore, that "local government in New
Jersey, including the counties, spends over four-fifths of the State and local
tax dollar."
It must be borne in mind that the above figures do not represent actual
total expenditures or costs of government. Something less than a third of
the money used in government in New Jersey is derived from nontax rev
enues in the form of a great variety of fees, permits, grants, earnings, etc.
In addition, a considerable amount of borrowed money is spent each year,
but such money must be repaid out of receipts from taxes and other sources.
The general property tax that is, the tax on real estate and personal
property both tangible and intangible, including the tax on railroads is
the backbone of the New Jersey tax system. In 1935, according to the
Princeton survey, "the property tax provided 76 percent of the total State
and local tax revenue and 89 percent of all local tax revenues." As a result
of the incompleteness of the assessment of personal property, about nine-
tenths of the general property tax revenue is derived from real estate.
The United States Census Bureau reported that in 1932 only four States
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Arizona obtained as large a propor
tion of their State and local taxes from real and personal property as New
Jersey. This is especially remarkable in view of the fact that New Jersey
is one of the most highly industrialized States ; and the assumption would
be that financial and commercial enterprise would yield a higher propor
tion of revenue.
About 96 percent of the taxes on property goes to the counties, munici
palities and school districts. The State derives the bulk of its revenue from
other taxes; notably more than $18,500,000 from the gasoline tax, almost
as much from motor vehicle registration and license fees, and varying
but substantial amounts from transfer inheritance taxes. Corporation taxes,
including taxes on foreign insurance companies, annually yield several
million dollars, as do beverage licenses and taxes. For four months in 1935
a consumers sales tax produced good revenues, but the tax proved so un
popular that it was repealed at a special session of the legislature.
Aside from property taxes, the principal local tax revenue is derived
from public utilities. Local units also collect the poll tax, dog taxes and
miscellaneous license taxes, while the State government collects small sums
from a variety of minor taxes and licenses. The fish and game commission
collects about one-third of a million dollars from sportsmen s licenses. All
told, State and local units in New Jersey collect about 30 different kinds
of taxes. Nevertheless, New Jersey is one of 18 States with no income tax.
Industry and Commerce
A GRICULTURAL development was the chief economic interest of
jf"^ New Jersey during the early period of its existence as a Colony.
Small farms were intensively cultivated in the eastern section and large
plantations, operated mainly by Negro slaves, flourished in the west. Al
though the isolation of farm people contributed to the establishment of
home industry, it likewise stunted commercial manufacturing.
The self-supporting farm was the standard unit of the Colony s econ
omy for the two earliest generations at least. Even the small towns clus
tered at the head of tidewater regions on the eastern shore or along the
Delaware were largely devoted to agriculture. Soap, candles, textiles, even
tools were manufactured in the home by the pioneer women and children.
Trade, however, began to flourish almost as soon as the Colonists sighted
the Indians. Furs, skins, and tobacco found a ready market in England;
oil and fish in Spain, Portugal, and the Canary Islands; and agricultural
products in neighboring Colonies and the West Indies.
Gradually manufacture spread from the home to the community. The
miller, almost invariably first on the scene, was soon joined by the weaver,
fuller, tanner, shoemaker, and carpenter. Newark had a commercial grist
mill in 1671, and the earliest sawmill was established in Woodbridge in
1682. Tanning, which had been started as a business in Elizabeth in 1664
by the Ogden family, quickly led to saddlery and harness making.
The fine forests in southern New Jersey yielded their lumber to ship
carpenters of Burlington, Salem, Newton, and Cape May, where ship
building became a leading industry. Equally significant was the develop
ment of whaling from Cape May and Tuckerton; in many respects these
towns rivaled the more celebrated New England ports of the Colonial
period. Tar and turpentine were also important exports from the southern
part of the Colony.
Toward the close of the seventeenth and opening of the eighteenth cen
turies, several industries were founded in New Jersey that were destined
to become not only leading sources of wealth but traditional occupations
as well. An abundant supply of beaver, raccoon, and sheep furnished the
69
70 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
materials for hat manufacturing, which attained its greatest strength in the
southern area. At the same time, the Colony was rapidly becoming distin
guished for its brewing skill. Hoboken, still identified with beer drinking,
had the first brewery in 1642. Beer was a major interest in Burlington in
1698. Two years later, Newark made more than 1,000 barrels of cider, and
Jersey applejack seems to have been as renowned among the Colonies as it
was throughout the East during the recent prohibition era.
In several spurs of the Appalachian range, running through the north
ern and central sections of the State, lay mineral deposits unusual for their
richness and variety. The State s earliest iron works were established at
Shrewsbury in 1676 by Colonel Lewis Morris, a merchant of the Barba-
does. Forges, furnaces, and bloomeries began to appear all over the north
ern part of the State, with a concentration at Boonton, the center of seven
rich mines in Morris County which supplied most of the Nation s iron.
These mines were a mainstay to Washington s army during the Revolution.
At the same time, swamps throughout southern New Jersey were uti
lized as an important source of iron deposits. Iron-laden water impreg
nated the marshy soil ; the Indians had long used this ore, mixed with bear
grease, to make an excellent war paint. The ore was hauled to charcoal-
heated furnaces built on the banks of streams, which provided power for
the bellows and an easy means of shipping the finished product. Wey-
mouth, Batsto, and Atsion were typical iron centers thriving little com
munities a century or more ago but ghost towns today. The bog-iron
industry lasted until the middle of the nineteenth century, when competition
from the iron mines and coal-burning smelters gradually smothered it.
Copper mines were worked in New Brunswick, and in 1768 the discov
ery that the marl of Monmouth County could be used as fertilizer led to
the establishment of another new industry. Steel manufacture at this time
was concentrated principally in Trenton.
Another famous early industry in New Jersey was glass making. The
first glass factory was founded at Allowaystown in 1740 by Caspar Wis-
tar, a German immigrant. The sand of the southern part of the State
proved especially suitable for the manufacture of glass, and within a few
decades Salem County was a leading producer of bottles, jugs, pitchers,
and other glassware.
The selection of the Falls of Passaic (now Paterson) for the site of a
gigantic manufacturing enterprise marked New Jersey s emergence as an
important industrial State. Sponsored by Alexander Hamilton in 1791,
this undertaking to utilize abundant water power was part of a scheme to
make the new Nation independent of foreign industrial products. Al-
INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE 71
though this grandiose aim was not realized, the Society for Establishing
Useful Manufactures did succeed in attracting a large part of the textile
industry to Paterson.
The first census of manufactures taken in New Jersey in 1810 placed
the total industrial wealth at $4,816,288, listing textiles, hides, leather,
iron products, and liquor as the most important goods. Cotton manufac
ture and cotton machinery so completely dominated Paterson at this time
that it earned the title of "The Cotton City." Twenty-five forges indicated
the growth of mining, while items like 36,000 packs of playing cards and
300,000 pounds of chocolate candy illustrated the diversity of industry.
The invention of new processes in the manufacture of iron, notably
Seth Boyden s discovery of a method for making malleable iron in New
ark in 1826, brought increased prosperity to this flourishing business. In
1830 the East Jersey Iron Manufacturing Company established a $283,000
plant at Boonton, capable of producing 1,000 tons of malleable iron an
nually.
Boyden also contributed to the growth of the leather industry with his
process for making patent leather. Moses Combs had earlier founded the
shoe industry in Newark, and by the end of the eighteenth century a
majority of the city s industrial population was engaged in the leather
trade. Combs was also famous as the first slave owner in local history to
teach his slaves a trade in order to raise their economic and social level.
Shortly after the rise of leather Newark developed another manufacture
which has remained one of its leaders. In 1801 Epaphras Hinsdale opened
on Broad Street a jewelry factory which soon became a fashionable gath
ering place for the ladies of the town. By 1836 the industry numbered
four establishments, with an annual output valued at $225,000 and 800
workers employed. Many years, however, had to pass before the general
public would accept articles known to have been made in America. Be
lieved to be products of Paris or London, Newark jewelry, remarkable for
its workmanship, found a market in the largest cities here and abroad.
The influx of European immigrants in the 1840 $ supplied needed man
power to the State s growing factories. Paterson gradually shifted from
cotton to silk manufacture after 1840, when John Ryle devised a way of
winding silk on a spool. A decade later New Jersey ranked second only
to Connecticut in the national production of spool silk, and Paterson was
already known as "The Silk City."
In the same period, potteries were founded at Trenton, brick works
expanded enormously at Perth Amboy, and in 1852 Edward Balback es
tablished America s first smelting and refining plant, on the Passaic River
72 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
near Newark, where he refined the floor sweepings from local jewelry fac
tories. Woolen mills, formerly situated chiefly in the south at Mount Holly
and Bridgeton, began to move north to Passaic.
Old industries yielded to this amazing variety of new occupations. Be
tween 1840 and 1850 Newark alone had been producing more than 2,000,-
ooo pairs of shoes annually. On the eve of the Civil War, however, the
industry there as well as in Orange and Burlington revealed the strain of
New England competition. Similarly the discovery of rich iron deposits in
Michigan and Minnesota began to reduce the State s mining importance.
During the next 20 years the State rode the waves of prosperity born
of the Civil War. Although the conflict severely cut trade with the agri
cultural South, compensations were found in Union Army orders, and im
proved transportation facilities opened new world markets.
Textiles, locomotives (the first in the State had been built at the Rogers
Works in Paterson in 1837), carriages, and machinery achieved wide do
mestic and foreign sale. Although iron mining was headed downward, the
manufacture of heavy machinery in Newark, Jersey City, and Paterson (the
latter a center for railroad construction) appeared to make up the loss.
Railroads spread all over the State and linked New Jersey more firmly
with the rest of the Nation.
Following the panic of 1873, the State entered another period of ex
pansion in which the gains began to fit into New Jersey s industrial pat
tern as it appears today. Bayonne started on its way to becoming one of
the great oil refining centers of the world in 1875 when the Prentice Re
fining Company established a still there. John D. Rockefeller came next,
and within a decade three other companies followed Standard Oil to the
site so close to the huge oil and kerosene market in New York City. The
steel cable industry was established in Trenton by the Roebling family,
and that city became known as a center of supply for suspension bridge
construction after the Roeblings built Brooklyn Bridge.
The work of Thomas A. Edison at Menlo Park and Edward Weston at
Newark established in New Jersey a vast electrical industry, especially in
light bulbs and phonograph records, dynamos, and power plant supplies.
John Wesley Hyatt s invention of the roller bearing and celluloid and
Hannibal Goodwin s perfection of photographic film introduced important
new manufacturing activities into Newark and its environs. As electricity
replaced steam in industry, the State s manufacturing strength continued
to grow even in the face of depressions. The tremendous rise in immigra
tion from southern and eastern Europe after 1880 brought abundant cheap
labor to factories, mills, and foundries.
""/ |
WIRE MAKING IN THE ROEBLING PLANT, TRENTON
The manufacture of paper and paper boxes, slaughtering and meat
packing, and the canning of fruit and vegetables rose in importance after
the turn of the century. The hat industry, which in 1892 had produced
more than 4,000,000 hats, including a $250 sombrero, was beginning to
decline as was the production of ceramics, cast-iron piping, glass, and
jewelry. Paterson, where in the i88o s more than one-third of the Na
tion s silk factories were situated, began to feel the effects of the industrial
drift southward to cheaper labor. The dyeing and finishing of textiles,
however, increased.
At the outbreak of the World War, New Jersey, along with the rest of
the country, faced a period of industrial uncertainty, despite which econo
mists hoped that the feverish gains and losses of the two previous decades
might balance into some kind of stability. Abuse of the State s easy incor
poration laws had made it a legal dumping ground for young and ruthless
corporations, seriously in need of industrial discipline.
The guns of Europe, however, shattered the opportunity for normal
growth by plunging the State into the most intense industrialization in its
74 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
history. The production of high explosives, textiles, steel, and ships rock
eted to new heights. The Bureau of Statistics reported that expansion in
manufacturing was 400 percent greater in 1916 than in any preceding
year. Chief among the cities that benefited from the industrial resurgence
were Newark, Perth Amboy, Jersey City, and New Brunswick. The chemi
cal industry in New Jersey sprang up almost overnight. Six factories for
the production of aniline, formerly imported from Germany, were set up
within the State, the most important at Kearny. Other towns that became
chemical centers were Carteret, Chrome, Maywood, and Perth Amboy.
The success of aircraft in the war made aeronautical manufacture in
New Jersey a leading industry, chiefly represented by the Wright Aero
nautical Corporation of Paterson, one of the world s largest airplane en
gine factories.
The tide of war prosperity, except for recurrent dips such as that of
1921, continued to rise until 1929. The value of manufactures from 1919
to 1929 increased $165,091,000, whereas workers wages for the same
period rose only $10,000,000, and in the same decade, through techno
logical improvements, there was a decrease of 60,000 workers. Production
in chemical factories was 450 percent greater in 1929 than in 1914. Elec
trical supplies multiplied by 700 percent in the same period, foundry
products by 300 percent, and petroleum products by 300 percent.
Building in the middle 1920*5 prospered to such an extent that the ap
pearance of many New Jersey cities was transformed by the construction
of new skyscrapers, factories, apartment houses, small-home developments,
and public parks.
In New Jersey as elsewhere this prosperity vanished with the crash in
1929. The State, which had been increasing its industrialization at a terrific
rate since 1900, suddenly halted and backslid, so that by 1932 its formerly
busy industrial sections became silent witnesses of reckless spending and
general lack of planning. Shantytowns built of galvanized iron, packing
boxes, and other materials salvaged from dumps sprang up in front of
idle factories, and relief became the real industrial problem of the State.
The situation gradually improved. By 1934 recovery slowly began to
make itself felt throughout the paralyzed industrial structure. Production
in 1937 reached pre-depression levels in some fields, greatest gains being
made in the electrical, iron, steel, and aircraft industries. Widespread lay
offs in the latter part of the year, characterized as a "recession," inter
rupted the period of the "little prosperity."
Latest available figures (the 1935 Census of Manufactures) report 377,-
078 wage earners in New Jersey, receiving $397,170,661 in 7,468 estab-
INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE 75
lishments, the total value of manufactures being listed at $2,439,426,000.
These figures represent an increase of 21.3 percent in number of wage
earners and 43.6 percent in value of manufactures over 1933. The State
has ranked sixth in the Union for industrial production since 1850.
The most important New Jersey industries ranked according to the
value of annual output by the 1935 Census of Manufactures are petroleum
refining, copper smelting and refining, chemicals, electrical supplies, dye
ing and finishing, paints and varnishes, clothing, rubber goods, and foundry
products. On the basis of the number of workers employed, dyeing and
finishing of textiles holds first place with 16,961 employees.
The State ranks first in the Nation in smelting and refining of copper,
dyeing and finishing of textiles, and the production of rubber goods (other
than tires). It is second in the manufacture of silk and rayon and chemicals.
The greatest concentration of industry is in Newark and the surround
ing area, including Jersey City, Paterson, Passaic, Elizabeth, and Bayonne.
Centers of industry outside the metropolitan area include Camden and
Trenton on the Delaware River and Perth Amboy on Raritan Bay. Al
though the "company town" as such is rare in the State, many small com
munities surrounding the large cities depend solely upon two or three
factories or plants for their economic existence.
Petroleum refining, with a yearly output valued at $157,000,000, is
centered in Bayonne, where four large companies maintain huge plants to
which oil is piped from the Middle West. Three enormous copper and
lead smelting firms and a score of smaller gold, silver, and platinum plants
constitute the rich refining industry, with annual production valued at
$182,000,000. About one-sixth of the zinc in the United States is mined
at the New Jersey Zinc Company s plant at Franklin.
Electrical supplies, a comparatively new industry in New Jersey, are
manufactured principally in the Newark sector, where appliances, dyna
mos, and incandescent lamps are produced ; while Camden leads the coun
try in the manufacture of radios. The annual output of the electrical
industry is valued at $91,000,000.
Paterson and Passaic are the traditional homes of the textile industry.
Although the manufacture of silk, rayon, and cotton goods has been stead
ily declining in this area for the last three decades, it remains together
with finishing and dyeing of textiles the major occupation. High tax
rates, excessive power costs, and destructive price-cutting by some operators
have combined to weaken the textile industry in New Jersey. Many of the
silk and cotton manufactures have moved their machinery into New Eng
land, Pennsylvania, and the South. In 1933, when production throughout
-j6 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
the Nation was beginning to rise from the low point of 1932, the output
of silk and rayon in New Jersey was 60 percent lower than in pre-war
years. Since textiles, however, still employ a greater number of the State s
workers than any other one industry (approximately 30 percent in the
many branches), the decline constitutes one of New Jersey s most pressing
industrial problems.
Other industries that contribute significantly to the State s wealth are
cigar and cigarette manufacturing; slaughtering and meat-packing; print
ing and publishing ; canning, in Camden ; rubber goods manufacturing, in
Trenton and Passaic; shipbuilding, in Kearny and Camden; jewelry-
making, in Newark; and soap-making, in Jersey City.
New Jersey houses many industries, not included in the leading group,
which nevertheless by virtue of location or individuality are of great im
portance in the State economy. Trenton is the center of clay-products
manufacturing for the entire Nation. Lenox, Incorporated, produces a
chinaware known the world over. Trenton is also headquarters for the
three plants of the John A. Roebling Son s Company, the world s leading
manufacturers of wire cable and rope.
A number of unusual manufacturing concerns have developed in New
Jersey. In North Plainfield is one of the Nation s five telescope factories.
At Burlington is the only company in the United States which makes arti
ficial human hair and horse hair, and here also is a birch carriage factory
that manufactures jinrikshas for Japan, one-wheeled carts for Korea, and
big-wheeled trekking wagons for use on South American plantations. Red
Bank has three shops exclusively devoted to the hand-hammering of gold
leaf.
The smooth functioning of New Jersey s industrial structure depends in
large measure upon power, light, and transportation facilities, supplied
in almost monopolistic fashion by the Public Service Corporation. Formed in
1903, this corporation acts as a holding company for Public Service Gas
and Electric Company, and Public Service Coordinated Transport, both
operating companies.
A rapid process of absorbing smaller utilities has brought Public Service
to a position where it supplies about 80 percent of all electricity gener
ated throughout New Jersey and about 86 percent of all gas. There still
exist 14 independent gas companies and 10 electric companies which serve
smaller communities; about half of these are municipally owned. The
efforts of the city of Camden in 1934 to build a municipal power plant
were thwarted by the State legislature, which voted against the city s issu
ing bonds to finance the venture.
CANNING TOMATOES, CAMDEN
This threat of municipal ownership, as well as formation of citizens
committees all over the State, has caused Public Service to reduce its rates
slightly in recent years. Rates for the residential consumer are now, for
example, $2.20 for 24 kilowatt-hours and $5.41 for 100 kilowatt-hours.
Thirty-six other States, according to a Federal Power Commission report
in 1936, have lower average rates than those in New Jersey.
Public Service also holds a commanding position in local streetcar and
bus operation and in intercity transportation. In 1936 this corporation,
generally considered the largest single employer in the State, listed 19,674
workers.
Banking and Insurance: Banking in the Colonies originated in New
Jersey, when in 1682 Mark Newbie, a Quaker, persuaded the General
Assembly that his souvenir Irish copper coins ("Patrick s pence") could
be put into circulation in the neighborhood of Camden (see Tour 31).
This was the first authorized use of currency in the Colonies, and Newbie
became in effect the first American banker.
Out of this modest but shrewd beginning grew the complicated banking
jS NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
structure of present-day New Jersey. Banking did not develop into a large
commercial undertaking until about 60 years ago when industry began to
demand a unified currency, sources of credit, and a generally stable finan
cial structure to stand back of the post-Civil War expansion. Notable early
banks in the State were the Newark Banking and Insurance Company,
which in 1804 received the first bank charter in the State, and the Trenton
Banking Company. The latter, also founded in 1804, is the oldest bank in the
State. The oldest bank in Newark is the National State Bank, founded in
1812. A State department of banking and insurance, with jurisdiction over
private banks as well as State banks, building and loan associations, and
remitters of funds abroad, was established in 1891.
The national banking system in 1936 included 266 New Jersey estab
lishments out of a total of 417 banks in the State. Total resources of the
banks were listed at $2,349,705,942. Since 1900, trust companies have
increased rapidly and today dominate New Jersey banking. At present 142
such institutions have combined resources exceeding $1,000,000,000. Sav
ings banks showed a corresponding rise, the number of depositors increas
ing from slightly less than 75,000 in 1900 to 574,667 in 1936. The
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in March 1934 insured 400 New
Jersey banks with 3,153,601 accounts and deposits of $869,981,197.
The Fidelity Union Trust Co. of Newark is the State s largest and most
important banking organization. It is the 36th largest bank in the United
States and has resources exceeding $150,000,000. Second is the Trust
Company of New Jersey, in Jersey City, with resources of about $86,-
000,000. The Howard Savings Institution of Newark is the largest savings
bank in the State with 95,000 depositors and $50,000,000 resources.
Newark is the fourth largest insurance city of the Nation, outranked
only by New York City, Hartford, and Boston. Insurance in New Jersey
began in 1810, when a group of Newark business men organized a mutual
fire insurance company as a measure of public welfare, without thought of
deriving profit. This company still survives as one of the groups within
the Royal Insurance Company of London.
In 1846 the American Mutual Insurance Company was founded in New
ark. A year earlier, life and casualty insurance had been founded in Newark
with the organization of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company. In
1877 the Prudential Insurance Company was established and quickly be
came the dominant company in the State. Its success has been due mainly
to its emphasis on industrial insurance, providing for small weekly pre
miums that place a $1,000 policy within the average worker s reach, al
though at a comparatively high annual rate.
>>
E course of the workingman s struggle for higher wages and better
JL working conditions in New Jersey has followed generally the pattern
of that struggle throughout the country. Periods of prosperity usually
brought militant, stubbornly fought strikes, while depression frequently
retarded the growth of unionism and the advance toward more equitable
social and economic adjustments. The decline in union membership dur
ing the boom years 19231929 was an exception to this general pattern;
and, in the opposite direction, the less prosperous years 19331938 have
brought progressive labor legislation and increase in union membership,
though largely through the action of forces and leadership Nation-wide
in influence. The State has seldom been a leader in trade union activities,
but it has served, in many cases, as something of a proving ground for
trade union theories. On the whole, labor has traveled a rough road, for
local and State governments have been consistently conservative.
The lodging of mass production industries such as steel, textiles, oil,
chemicals, and electrical supplies in the northeastern section of the State
made New Jersey for some time an open-shop stronghold. On the other
hand, the large number of cities with more than 25,000 population pro-
Tided fertile territory for craft unions. Over the years, the embattled tex
tile workers of Paterson and Passaic have become the State s symbol of
resistance to exploitation.
Throughout the Colonial period rigid stratification of classes in both
agriculture and industry prevailed. Industrially the old guild system of
master, journeyman, and apprentice without actual guild organization was
iirmly entrenched, and in agriculture, slaves and indentured servants formed
the main classes of laborers. For every slave imported each settler received
175 acres of land, and in 1737 slaves comprised 8.4 percent of the popu
lation. Slave riots were sufficiently violent and frequent to cause a citizen
in 1772 to urge parliament to pass a law "obliging owners of the slaves
to send them all back to Africa at their own expense." The most serious
insurrections occurred probably in connection with other political events,
as at Radtan in 1734, at Hackensack in 1741, and, some years later, at
79
8o NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
Elizabethtown. As the Revolution approached, free labor began to displace
slaves and indentured servants.
The industrial revolution, which closely followed the political revolu
tion against England, created a favorable opportunity for labor organiza
tion as it replaced home manufacture with the factory system. Despite this
and the growth of many other natural fields for unionism, notably railroad
and canal construction, iron and glass making, and pottery production, or
ganization until 1850 was almost wholly confined to the older individual
crafts. The extremely harsh conditions of the Paterson textile factories
made them an exception. Here, women and children, who formed the
majority of the employees, were required to be at work at 4.30 a.m.; the
whip was frequently used to obtain speedier production, and the work day
lasted up to 16 hours.
One of the earliest recorded strikes and the first recorded sympathy
strike in America occurred in these Paterson mills in 1828. The employees,
including a large number of children, walked out, demanding restoration
of the noon lunch hour (which the company had changed arbitrarily to
one o clock) and reduction of the work day from 131/2 hours to 12 hours.
Carpenters, masons, and mechanics struck in sympathy with the millhands.
The strike was lost, although later the owners conceded the 12 o clock
lunch.
Trade unions organized by journeymen in several crafts caused the first
real wave of strikes in New Jersey. Rising costs of living unaccompanied
by increased wages during the prosperous period 1830-1836 resulted in at
least a dozen important strikes. In 1835 or 1836 shoemakers in Newark,
Paterson, and New Brunswick ; hatters in Newark ; textile workers in Pat
erson ; harness makers and curriers in Newark ; and building trades workers
in Trenton, Paterson, New Brunswick, and Newark all battled for high
wages, and in some cases for the lo-hour day. A majority of the strikes
was won by organized trade societies that closely resembled the present-
day "locals" of international unions. Early cooperation among such so
cieties was evidenced by a $203 contribution from the Newark working-
men to striking textile workers in Paterson.
Recognition of the value of such mutual aid led 16 trade societies to
form a Newark Trades Union, which today would be called a city federa
tion or central labor council. Although this body sanctioned strikes and
lent moral and financial assistance, the individual trade societies shoul
dered the brunt of strike action. The Newark group played an important
part in 1836 in the formation of the National Trades Union; New Bruns
wick also had a trades union, but it did not participate in the national
LABOR 8l
movement. Paterson s organization, grandiloquently styled "The Paterson
Association for the Protection of Laboring Classes, Operatives of Cotton
Mills, Etc.," joined with the Newark Trades Union.
Workers cooperation coupled with the burgeoning of radical thought
paved the way for labor s entry into politics during the turbulent thirties.
In September 1830 a group of farmers, mechanics, and workingmen from
Essex County met in Newark to form a Workingmen s Party. Although
the outcome is unknown, records show that the meeting demanded the
removal of property qualifications for voting, the taxation of bonds and
mortgages, and free schools. In 1834 and 1836 attempts were again made
to establish a labor party in Newark. Their failure may be traced to the
founders apparent aim to build a patchwork political party rather than a
strictly labor party, as demonstrated by their nomination of a coach lace
manufacturer for mayor.
The panic of 1837 temporarily halted the remarkable progress of the
previous decade. Along with most other trades unions, the Newark group
expired during the long depression, and in 1840 labor sacrificed its tiny
political independence to the Whig onslaught against the "panic-making"
^Democrats. The following quarter of a century was marked by the growth
of reform movements rather than militant trade unionism. Labor neglected
organization for Fourierism, land reform and the struggle for the lo-hour
day. Perth Amboy and Trenton were centers of the reform movements;
workingmen in the latter city were mainly responsible for the passage in
1851 of the lo-hour working day law which also prohibited labor of chil
dren under 10 years of age.
Out of this law, which characteristically carried no provisions for its
enforcement, developed the Paterson textile strike of 1851. This struggle
lacked the united front of the 1835 strike, and, although there was some
attempt to form a union to sustain the law, most of the strikers lost their
demands or agreed to work the lo-hour day at a reduction of wages.
Three years later a spectacular dispute arose between the directors and
the engineers of the Erie Railroad. The engineers objected to a company
rule which made them solely responsible for the safety of the trains. They
tied up the railroad s traffic, and were charged with violence against strike
breakers. The difficulties were compromised, but in 1856 a new strike oc
curred when the company discharged 10 members of a negotiating
committee which was seeking to revise the objectionable rules. The Erie
employed a strong police force to guard the nonstrikers; contemporary jour
nals warned readers against traveling on the road during the strike. Al
though the struggle was won by the company, the engineers were pre-
82 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
pared for participation in the national railroad organization that grew up
after 1852.
Despite an epidemic of strikes in the late fifties, organization activities
fell off during the Civil War. When they were resumed after 1865 it was
on a broader, more nearly national basis. New Jersey contributed to this
widening through the work of Uriah Smith Stevens, a native of Cape May,
who founded the Knights of Labor in Philadelphia in 1869. This organi
zation (whose sessions were secret until after 1878) sought to form a
national alliance of skilled and unskilled workers, women as well as men,
but its progress was impeded for almost a decade by the results of the
panic of 1873. One of the earliest New Jersey groups to join was that of
the ship carpenters and caulkers of Camden, organized in 1873 as Local
31. Other State locals were formed by Trenton printers, Jersey City me
chanics, and Newark brewery and leather workers.
During this period the State was the scene of two important events that
indicated labor s rising strength. In 1877 the Socialist Labor Party, the
oldest labor party in the country, was founded at Newark at the seconc
convention of the so-called Working Men s Party of the United States
This early organization had grown from a union of various socialist groups
(1874-76). In 1882 Peter McGuire of Camden and Matthew Maguire o
Jersey City started to campaign for the establishment of an official Labor
Day. Despite these significant trends, it was said in 1882 that the window
glass workers of New Jersey constituted the only large body of workers
in the State that had steadily maintained a trade organization throughout
the previous 15 years.
Improved conditions after 1882 swelled the membership of the Knights
of Labor, which more and more showed itself a forerunner of industria
unionism. It made rapid strides in railroads, textiles, hats, cigars, leather
machinery, and pottery. The organization reached its peak in the State in
1887 with an enrollment of 30,000 out of a total of 50,000 organizec
workers; 11,000 of these were in Newark alone.
A combination of causes brought about the sudden and swift downfal
of the Knights. The looseness and latitude of the organization made strike
operations difficult, and its leaders tended toward conciliation rather than
militancy. More serious, however, were the external obstacles and interna
wrangles arising from the invasion of mass production industries employ
ing unskilled labor. In these fields the Knights lacked the strength to cope
with the employers, who could easily dissuade immigrant labor from
unionism and could use the new arrivals as strikebreakers. Finally, the
^*tPl,4-
SILK MILL WORKER. PATERSON
84 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
advocates of the old craft union system bitterly and constantly fought the
national policy.
These dissenting factions gradually made their way into the new Ameri
can Federation of Labor which completed the local disintegration of the
Knights by a vigorous push into the State shortly after 1890. The organi
zation, set up on a craft union basis, was successful in unionizing the the
atrical, printing, metal and building trades, although brewing and textile
operatives were organized industrially. The federation concentrated on
skilled workers and, although it became the official voice of labor in New
Jersey, it generally neglected the mass production industries which domi
nated the State after 1900.
The most important struggles in New Jersey labor history have been the
Paterson silk strike in 191213, under the leadership of the Industrial
Workers of the World; the Passaic woolen and worsted strike of 1926,
the first strike in the country in which acknowledged communists played a
vital part in organization; and the Paterson silk and dye strikes of 1933
and 1934. Only the 1933 strike was notably successful. Both the silk
workers and dyers unions won recognition, with pay increased from $12
and $13 weekly to $18 and $22 in the silk mills, and wages as low as 20
cents an hour in the dye houses raised to 66 cents.
Perhaps the most ruthless labor massacre in New Jersey occurred early
in 1915 when "deputy sheriffs" hired from a Newark detective agency
fired on an unarmed group of pickets standing outside of the Williams and
Clark fertilizer factory at Carteret. A member of the local police force
testified later to the peacefulness of the strikers, whose losses were 6 dead
and 28 wounded. Twenty-two deputies were arrested on charges of man
slaughter but were later released. The following year guards of the Stand
ard Oil Company at Bayonne killed 8 and severely wounded 17 men. As
with the Carteret killings, this assault outraged even the conservative press.
For about half a century the efforts of workers in New Jersey, as else
where in the United States, to form unions have been handicapped or
crippled by the activities of industrial spies. The La Follette committee s
report (1938) on violations of the rights of labor showed that n New
Jersey corporations alone spent 12 percent of a $9,440,132 national total for
espionage, strikebreaking, munitioning, and similar activities in 1933-37.
At least 31 other New Jersey concerns were listed as clients of detective
agencies that provided spy service. All of the widely known detective
agencies had contracted with one or more New Jersey corporations to pro
vide lists of union members or workers interested in unionization; or re
ports on union meetings; or armed guards for strikebreaking or all of
LABOR 85
these services. In every important manufacturing city spies worked side by
side with the employees, often taking a prominent part in union activities,
and turning in daily reports that resulted in the sudden dismissal and
blacklisting of an unestimated number of workers.
At present the New Jersey State Federation of Labor claims approxi
mately 250,000 dues-paying members, organized in about 1,000 local
unions. There are 21 central labor bodies in the State, which include most
of the A. F. of L. local unions in the respective county districts. Strong
holds of organized labor are Newark, Passaic, Elizabeth, Trenton, Paterson
and Camden.
Of recent origin is the work of the Committee for Industrial Organiza
tion, which established a special North Jersey Council early in 1937, later
supplanted by the Greater Newark Industrial Council. Similar councils
have, been set up in Trenton and Camden. The C.I.O., with a State-wide
membership estimated (1939) at 175,000, is attempting to organize on an
industry-wide basis thousands of workers who have been neglected by
craft unions. The committee s immediate objectives in the State are the
textile, steel, heavy machinery, and electrical industries.
Although Governor Harold Hoffman warned early in 1937 that he
would tolerate no sit-down strikes involving the C.I.O., a number of such
strikes, as well as ordinary walk-outs, have been called successfully. The
organization s drive continued virtually unimpeded until December 1937
when it launched an offensive against the open-shop refuge of Jersey
City. Police of that city seized distributors of literature, prevented mass
meetings, and jailed organizers. However, in April 1938 the ban against
the distribution of literature was lifted.
The American Newspaper Guild s successful strike in 1934-35 against
the Newark Ledger (the Nation s first large-scale strike of newspapermen)
not only established the Guild as a labor power but also broke ground for
the subsequent C.I.O. drive to organize white-collar workers. Including
the Guild, C.I.O. affiliates in this field late in 1937 numbered approxi
mately 2,700 members. Among these were office, professional and insur
ance workers, architects, engineers, chemists and technicians, State and
municipal employees, retail clerks and professional medical workers. The
A. F. of L. has also organized teachers and has retained a portion of the
unionized office workers. An independent white-collar union is the State
chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.
Because New Jersey remains "The Garden State," the unionization of
agricultural and allied workers constitutes an important labor objective.
The first farm labor organization in the State developed in 1934 from a
86 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
strike at Seabrook Farms in Cumberland County. Although the A. F. of L.
subsequently chartered agricultural locals in three other counties, in 1937
the New Jersey membership of 1,500 helped to organize the international
union of United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing and Allied Workers,
which immediately affiliated with the C.I.O.
To one other class of workers the C.I.O. opened wide the door to full-
fledged unionism. In line with its drive for industrial unionism, the C.I.O.
offered Negroes equal membership with whites and established locals in
fields where Negro employees predominate. Organizers have been con
spicuously successful with junk yard, novelty and felt, and domestic work
ers. The A. F. of L. responded by increasing the Negro membership of
the International Union of Hod Carriers, Building and Common Laborers
and by organizing building service workers. The great mass of Negro
labor, spread over light industry and mercantile establishments, still re
mains unorganized.
Union labor in New Jersey keeps vigilant watch on the entrance of
"runaway shops." According to the State Federation of Labor, of 250
factories that moved to the State in 1936 approximately 200 were "fugi
tives" from trade union activities. Most of these shops were in the needle
trades; a few manufactured cosmetics, hats or textiles. They have invaded
Essex, Passaic, Union, Hudson, Morris and Monmouth Counties. In 1937
a runaway umbrella shop from New York was established at Boonton;
union organizers signed up a majority of the underpaid girls, and a strike
was called. The manufacturer moved to Pennsylvania, and again was
harried by the union. He returned to Boonton, and finally went back to
New York. There are many other instances of sweatshop operators being
pursued across State lines.
Not so progressive as the labor legislation of New York, Massachusetts
or Wisconsin, New Jersey laws protective and favorable to labor have
slowly increased since the impetus given 25 years ago by Woodrow Wil
son. In 1932 the Consumers League of New Jersey established a labor
standards committee which unites the efforts for labor legislation of a
score of progressive organizations. In 1937 the State Federation of Labor
cooperated with the Consumers League, the New Jersey League of Women
Voters and the New Jersey Federation of Women s Clubs to secure an
appropriation for the enforcement of the minimum wage statute and maxi
mum hour law for women passed in 1933. A somewhat similar coalition
succeeded in 1935 in having the legislature ratify the Federal Child Labor
Amendment.
Progressive labor continues to struggle against the power of the Court
LABOR 87
of Chancery to grant injunctions in labor disputes. An anti-injunction bill
was passed by the assembly in 1936 but was defeated in the senate. A
major factor in the defeat, it is alleged, was the withdrawal of the tradi
tional Democratic support for the bill on the ground that its passage would
frighten industry from the State.
In common with other industrial States, New Jersey is faced with the
problem of regulating industrial home work. The State department of
labor licenses these operators, but it has not had sufficient funds to enforce
even the meager health restrictions. The latest census shows that 5,000
operators have been licensed but since each family works under a single
license, the total number of home workers may well be 15,000 or even
20,000. The median wage for this type of work is figured to be 9 cents
per hour and the average family income $2.60 weekly. Major home work
products are dolls clothing, knitted goods, and powder puffs. The legisla
ture has to date failed to pass the industrial home work bill sponsored by
the Consumers League, which would drastically reduce health hazards and
raise wage levels to those paid for similar employment in factories.
Undoubtedly this menace to legitimate industry and to the preservation
of minimum wage standards accounts for a large number of New Jersey
workers who earn a sub-subsistence wage. According to a survey com
pleted in 1937 by the minimum wage division of the State labor depart
ment, 34,000 women and children receive less than $5 weekly and 292,000
less than $17.
After a generation of allying itself with either the Republican or
Democratic parties, New Jersey labor took a step toward political inde
pendence in 1935 when Labor Party tickets entered the field in Essex and
Passaic Counties. Although none of the nominees was elected, the action
led to the formation of the State-wide Labor s Nonpartisan League the
following year. Thus far the organization has endorsed two successful
candidates in the Newark city election of 1937 (one of them Vincent J.
Murphy, secretary of the State Federation of Labor), and held the balance
of power in the last gubernatorial contest. The estimated 150,000 members
of the league are expected to form the nucleus of the proposed State
Labor Party.
Along with its quest for political independence, labor is seeking eco
nomic independence by joining professional and white-collar workers in
cooperative enterprises. Cooperative leaders look to such economic activity
to provide consumers with a means of controlling prices and the cost of
living. Fifty years of effort in New Jersey resulted in the establishment by
December 1936 of 240 consumer-producer cooperatives. Of these, 120
88 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
were credit unions; 42, agricultural purchasing organizations; and 26,
urban food stores.
Consumer cooperatives, which chiefly sell groceries and fuel supplies,
are strongest in the northern and central urban areas; producer coopera
tives naturally center in the agricultural south. Jersey Homesteads, or
ganized by the Resettlement Administration in 1935, is considered one of
the most modern cooperative experiments in the United States. With a
garment factory, gardens and homes, it represents a fusion of the indus
trial, agricultural and consumer interests of cooperative enterprise. This
fusion typifies on a small scale the social goal of the cooperative move
ment.
Agriculture
NEW JERSEY is rightly called "The Garden State." Its truck-farms,
extending from the northern mountains to the southern plain, are
mere garden patches when compared with the western prairies or southern
plantations. But these gardens produce a large proportion of the fruits
and vegetables consumed in New York and Philadelphia. For these mil
lions as well as for its own, New Jersey has developed exceptionally pros
perous small farms and some of the highest types of agricultural specializa
tion.
The State has three main soil and topographical farm belts. Under
lain largely with limestone and other glacial rock, the northern counties
are hilly and in some places even mountainous. Here dairying and the
raising of grains and other field crops predominate, with scattered centers
for market gardening. Although found in all sections of the State, com
mercial poultry farms are concentrated in the northern and central areas.
In the middle counties are fertile loam lands, level or rolling, with a
rich subsoil of greensand marl. Of first rank in this section are truck
crops and potatoes. Grain, hay, fruits, and milk are secondary.
The southern counties of the level sandy coastal area contain, in addition
to a broad expanse of pine barrens, large fertile areas that yield excellent
apples, peaches, cranberries, and other small fruits and vegetables. Peach
blossoms in Burlington and Cumberland Counties make this section the
agricultural show-place of the State in spring.
When the early settlers arrived they found the Indians growing corn,
pumpkins, gourds, tobacco, and beans. Taking a lesson from the natives,
they cleared the lands, and with the help of seeds and livestock imported
from the old country, soon made New Jersey an important agricultural
colony.
Although its large wheat yield ranked New Jersey as one of the "bread
colonies" before the Revolution, the farmers were already anticipating the
present-day variety in products. Large farms had been established in the
south on which Negro slaves performed most of the work. This system
89
90 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
was readily adapted to flax-raising, a major pre-Revolutionary crop. Al
though white labor predominated in the north, Negroes were commonly
seen in the small fields and large orchards, which produced fruits, vege
tables, and cider. The hill country specialized in grazing, and about 1750
New Jersey was reckoned the leading sheep-raising Colony. By the time
the armies of Washington and the British were criss-crossing the State,
New Jersey offered a ready supply of horses and pork from the north,
flour and grain from the central part, and fruits and thread materials from
the south.
After the Revolution a period of serious depression was intensified on
New Jersey farms by the ravages of the Hessian fly in the wheat fields.
This was followed by a gradual upward trend in agriculture that reached
fruition in the middle of the nineteenth century. During the next half
century agricutural societies were formed in the several counties. Worn-
out soils were restored by the use of marl, lime, and fertilizer, and crop
yields soared.
The horse replaced the ox, and constant improvements in machinery in
creased the output of the individual farmer. A New Jerseyman, Charles
Newbold of Burlington County, had patented in 1797 the first cast-iron
plow. Newbold is said to have spent $30,000 in perfecting and introduc
ing his plow, but farmers at first refused to use it through fear that it
might poison the soil. Other improved plows were made by Peacock,
Deats and Stevens. New Jerseymen also contributed to the development
of reaping and tillage machinery and the improvement of livestock breeds.
The famous Jersey Red breed of hogs originated in the State.
With the growth of the urban population in adjoining States and the
opening up of the West in the last half of the nineteenth century, general
farming gradually gave way to specialization. The production of field
crops, hogs, and sheep declined as the cultivation of berries, fruits, and
vegetables increased. Dairying became paramount in the north, and the
rich central loam lands were given over largely to Irish potatoes, sweet
potatoes, and tomatoes. By 1900 New Jersey had truly become "The
Garden State."
During the nineteenth century New Jersey dairymen turned from the
production of butter and cheese to the production of milk for the nearby
city markets. A number of world s record cows emerged from the State s
Holstein, Guernsey, and Jersey herds. In 1898 the world-famous Walker-
Gordon farm was established at Plainsboro, where in 1930 was built the
"Rotolactor," the most advanced of mechanical milking devices. A New
I
HARVESTING CRANBERRIES, OCEAN COUNTY
Jersey farm in 1904 produced the first quart of certified milk in America.
The baby chick industry originated in Hunterdon County in 1892. New
Jersey hatcheries now annually distribute millions of baby chicks, and the
State is one of the leaders in commercial egg production. The Jersey Black
Giant breed of poultry, as suggested by the name, was developed within
the State.
Two wild fruits found by the early settlers, the cranberry and the blue
berry, were domesticated largely through the intelligent and progressive
efforts of New Jersey farmers. New Jersey now ranks second among the
States in the production of cranberries and first in the production of cul
tivated blueberries. In the 1820*5 Seth Boyden developed an improved
variety of strawberry, so large that 1 5 of them weighed a pound.
Specialization in farming has reached a remarkable peak on Seabrook
Farms, Incorporated, just north of Bridgeton. Here, on 5,000 acres owned
or leased by the corporation, industrial technique and efficiency engineer
ing have been applied to agriculture. Lands once worked by small farmers
living in perennial semi-starvation have been absorbed by the company
and converted into profitable acreage. The similarity to industrial method
92 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
extends into the financial set-up, for here is a farm with a holding com
pany, and a subsidiary company to handle canning and packing operations.
To illustrate the intense agricultural specialization: Peas are planted in
patches covering as many as 200 acres, with rows so close together that
the usual method of cultivation is impossible. Aphis and other pests are
controlled by dust sprayed from the farm s two airplanes ; and, instead of
being picked by hand, the vines are harvested whole by reapers and the
peas separated by specially built viners.
The farm has its own reservoirs, railroad sidings, and concrete high
ways, plus a trucking fleet with special refrigerating apparatus for hauling
frozen foods to market. Farm hands as well as factory girls punch time
clocks, and company police patrol the land. Two bitterly fought strikes in
1934 for higher wages and union recognition carried the industrial parallel
even further. The first strike brought a wage increase, but the second re
sulted in withdrawal of union recognition, although wages were not
altered.
Nurseries represent an even more intense type of specialization. Trees
and shrubs, vegetable and flower seeds are raised for an international
market. At Bound Brook is the largest orchid-growing plant in the country,
and Camden County has the largest dahlia farm in the State. Rose growing
is centered in Morris County; the extensive greenhouses of Madison have
given that community the nickname of the "Rose City." Nursery and
greenhouse products total nearly $10,000,000 in value annually.
The State pioneered in agricultural education and research. In 1864 the
legislature designated the Rutgers Scientific School as the Land Grant
College. In 1880 the State set up an agricultural experiment station at
New Brunswick the fifth of such State stations to be founded in this
country. The State board of agriculture was established in 1875 and reor
ganized in 1916 to provide for the present department of agriculture.
Other agencies that have contributed significantly toward the progress
of New Jersey agriculture include the various State and local agricultural
societies and associations, the high school departments of agriculture, the
State Grange with its local branches scattered throughout the State, and
the State Farm Bureau Federation.
These public and semi-public agencies have taken the leadership in de
veloping New Jersey s farms. They have provided scientific training in
agriculture for young men and women and kept farmers abreast of new
discoveries in management of soils and crops, as well as in control of
destructive insects and diseases. Farmers, manufacturers, and tradesmen
AGRICULTURE 93
have all received protection against fraud in handling farm produce and
supplies.
The agricultural experiment station conducts experiments in dairy sci
ence at Beemerville in Sussex County, a cranberry-blueberry laboratory in
Burlington County, a poultry pathology laboratory in Cumberland County,
an oyster laboratory in Cape May County ; also poultry contests in Passaic,
Hunterdon, and Cumberland Counties, and a pigeon contest in Cumber
land County.
Among the many contributions the experiment station has made to agri
cultural progress are new varieties of peaches, such as the Golden Jubilee
and the Cumberland, the new Rutgers tomato, the discovery of vaccine for
poultry bronchitis, improved fertilizers, control of potato diseases, the
reduction of the mosquito pest, improved methods of sewage disposal,
growth of greenhouse vegetables and flowers with nutrient solutions in
sand, new dairy rations, and improved strains of field crops. New facts
about human and animal nutrition have been revealed. Discoveries in soil
science and other departments have won world-wide recognition. Since
1914 the New Brunswick station has conducted the largest peach-breeding
experiment in the world, pollenizing by hand as many as 30,000 blossoms in
one season. The orchards attract thousands of visitors to the college farm.
Through the extension service of the New Jersey College of Agriculture
and the agricultural experiment station, scientific information is made
readily available throughout the State. The college, in cooperation with
the United States Department of Agriculture, maintains an office in every
county but one. Expert agents assigned to these offices give free service to
the local residents and to groups of persons who seek advice on questions
relating to agriculture and home economics. Also, thousands of boys and
girls are members of the 4-H Clubs directed through the county offices.
New Jersey farmers have suffered severely from two notorious pests.
The older and more destructive is the Japanese beetle, first discovered in
1916 at Cinnaminson. This bright metallic-green native of Japan, three-
eighths of an inch in length and about the same in width, has blazed a
destructive trail over most of the State and adjoining sections of Pennsyl
vania and Delaware. Control methods have been devised, but the beetles
are still responsible for a vast amount of damage to the business of nursery
men and to deciduous foliage from peach trees to roses in the New
Jersey area. The second pest is the Mexican bean beetle, a native of Central
America, which was reported by bean growers in 1927 as doing some
damage in Cape May County. Spraying and dusting have proved effective
94 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
in controlling the spread of this prolific insect, which kills bean plants by
feeding on the leaves until only a lacy shell remains. About one-quarter
of an inch in length, the Mexican bean beetle has yellow or copper-
colored wings with sixteen small black spots.
In recent years there has been decided progress in methods of market
ing farm produce. Through the leadership of the State department of
agriculture, standard grades have been established and ways and means
provided for marketing much produce cooperatively. Motor trucks have
largely displaced the railroads as carriers of produce, and New Jersey farm
products are now marketed at roadside stands in large quantities.
New Jersey farmers obtain many services from their marketing and
purchasing organizations. There are 57 different associations, one or more
serving every county in the State. Twenty-three of these, serving approxi
mately 6,500 members, are concerned only with purchasing various farm
supplies. Twenty associations devote themselves entirely to marketing farm
produce for their 6,000 members. Twelve combine both marketing and
purchasing and serve about 5,500 farmers. The largest purchasing organ
ization is the South Jersey Farmers Exchange in Woodstown, which buys
for 2,500 members in Salem, Gloucester, and Cumberland Counties. An
other important purchasing association is the Grange League Federation
Exchange, Incorporated, of Ithaca, New York, which serves 1,600 mem
bers in seven New Jersey branches.
The marketing organizations specialize in certain products such as blue
berries, peaches, potatoes, and poultry, or deal in general farm products.
Their fruit and vegetable auction markets are situated to serve the nine
counties in which the great fruit and vegetable supplies are grown. Largest
of the marketing associations is the Flemington Auction Market Coopera
tive Association, serving 1,300 farmers. Two other large organizations are
the Monmouth Farmers Exchange in Freehold and the Gloucester County
Agricultural Association in Glassboro.
In 1935 the Federal Census showed 1,914,110 acres of farms in New
Jersey, occupying about 40 percent of the total land area. Dairy products
are preeminent in money value, followed by vegetables, eggs, and grain.
The State leads all others in production for market of lima beans, cucum
bers, and eggplants; and it holds second place in asparagus, string beans,
spinach, and green peppers. Other important vegetable crops are tomatoes,
beets, cabbage, cantaloupes, cauliflower, celery, sweet corn, lettuce, onions,
and peas.
The money value of all crops in 1935 was $87,054,275, but a more
AGRICULTURE 95
typical figure would probably be that of 1929: $106,055,000. Values of
principal agricultural products in 1936 were:
Grain $10,219,000
Hay 4,756,000
Vegetables 15,774,000
Fruit 4,739,000
Berries 2,128,000
Potatoes 9,586,000
Sweet potatoes 2,520,000
Milk 25,500,000 *
Eggs 13,000,000 *
Baby chicks 2,200,000 *
* 1935 estimate.
SDortation
S ONE of the great natural terminals of the country, New Jersey has
developed with considerable profit to itself a transportation system
in line with the shipping and travel needs of the Nation. Its historic role
as a highway between New York and Philadelphia has made it the trans
port broker of the Middle Atlantic States.
Eight trunk railroads cross the State to converge on the west bank of
the Hudson River, where an elaborate transfer service for passengers and
freight to New York has been created. Transoceanic shipping is handled
largely by the ports of Newark, Jersey City, Hoboken, and Perth Amboy
on the east, and on the west by Camden. The State has constructed an in
land waterway along the Atlantic Coast and has dredged its navigable
streams to develop inland ports. Newark has the most important trans
continental airport in the country.
Highway traffic within New Jersey has generally assumed a cross-State
diagonal course, with the north central part dominated by US i from
Jersey City to Trenton, and the south depending chiefly on the Camden-
Atlantic City roads. The excellence of the highway system has made pos
sible a general use of busses, which are steadily eliminating the once im
portant trolleys.
Colonial transportation in New Jersey began with the Dutch settlers
cautious use of the footpaths already worn through the forests on the west
bank of the Hudson River by the Lenni Lenape Indians. The colonists
gradually widened these narrow trails, first by walking double file for
added safety, then by driving their cattle and carts over them. When
wagons and stagecoaches came into use, the trails began to assume the
appearance of roads. Many eventually developed into the broad highspeed
thoroughfares of the present highway system.
The need for communication with their countrymen across the Hudson
led the early Dutch to operate the first ferries between what are now New
96
RAILROAD YARDS, WEEHAWKEN
York and Hoboken. These were rough-hewn rowboats or flat-bottomed
rafts, which passengers were called to man whenever a squall came up. At
the same time, the colonists ventured with small skiffs on the northern
lakes and down the streams.
As settlements spread southward and trading centers developed, the
need for swifter transport became urgent. New Jersey, lying between New
York and Philadelphia, two rapidly growing cities that afforded good
markets for its products, was the birthplace of the American stage wagon.
Freight transportation, which preceded passenger conveyance, was started
shortly before 1700 between South Amboy and Burlington. Soon after
ward passengers began to ride the hard uncomfortable wagons, first adver
tised in 1723. Regular routes were established by the middle of the next
decade between South Amboy and Burlington and between New Bruns
wick and Trenton. From these points travelers were transferred to sloops
to complete the journey to New York or Philadelphia.
Intense rivalry between the through lines caused operators to improve
their service with changes of horses, stronger wagons, and more direct
routes. They filled the public prints with advertisements accusing one an-
98 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
other of deceiving and defrauding their customers, but the public profited
from the competition by quicker travel. In 1752 Joseph Borden, inaugurat
ing a new line out of Bordentown, proudly advertised a trip from New
York to Philadelphia requiring only 30 to 40 hours. This was actual driv
ing time. Allowance for stopovers, delays and breakdowns commonly ran
the total to 72 hours still a vast improvement over the original five-day
trip. Fast electric trains now cover the distance in i hour and 35 minutes.
Four, six, and sometimes eight horses were needed to haul the wagons
over the miserable dust heaps or mud bogs that served as roads. Passengers
not only had to endure the jouncing and tossing of the wagon but also
were forced often to walk up steep rises in the road or help rescue horses
stalled in a slough. The vehicles were brightly painted but hardly easy-
riding; a strip of leather nailed across the back of a seat was luxurious.
Washouts on the roads were frequent, and passengers were constantly in
danger of falling from the wagons. The only comfort on the trip was
provided by the roadside inns or the stage boats, which advertised "fine
commodious cabins, fitted with tea tables and sundry other articles of con
venience to add to the comfort of the ladies."
In 1764 a new company speeded the trip by starting a wagon in Phila
delphia and sending it over the ferry at Trenton. The same year Sovereign
Sybrandt came near to establishing an all-land route between New York
and Philadelphia by running his stage overland from New Brunswick to
Elizabethtown, thence to Paulus Hook (Jersey City) by post road. He
avoided the perils of the bays, but still required five ferryings. The time
of the trip was cut to two days in 1771 by Joseph Mercereau s "Flying
Machine," and within a few years thereafter heavy coaches were intro
duced that greatly reduced the dangers of the journey.
A direct result of the rise of coaches was the improvement of the roads.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, an inadequate road system was
sending most of the products from the farms and mines of the Delaware
Valley down that river to the Philadelphia market. Partly to bring this
trade to the east, the State began chartering turnpikes to supplant the dirt
and corduroy roads. The first of these improved highways linked the
Morris County iron mines with the infant industrial center of Newark;
others followed from Trenton to New Brunswick, Jersey City to Hacken-
sack, and Newark to New Brunswick. By 1828 the legislature had granted
54 turnpike charters. Like the old Indian trails, these turnpikes have
formed the basis for some of the best roads in the State.
Steamboats: While land routes were being speeded by simple expansion
and construction, water travel was improved by the inventive skill and
TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION 99
courage of men who saw the possibility of applying the principle of James
Watt s stationary steam engine to sailing vessels. John Fitch, a poor clock-
mender from Connecticut who lived for a time in Trenton, and Colonel
John Stevens, a rich Hoboken engineer, labored to make the steamboat a
reality on New Jersey waters.
In 1786 the State legislature granted to Fitch all rights to operate steam-
propelled craft on the waters of the State. In the summer of that year,
Fitch made his first trial on the Delaware with a queer looking boat, hav
ing a row of paddles on each side. While no great success, it warranted
the construction of two more boats in 1787-8. Fitch s best work was his
commercial steamboat of 1790. Although it carried passengers and freight
between various points along the Delaware and the Schuylkill on a regular
schedule, it received so little patronage that it was abandoned. This was,
however, 17 years before Robert Fulton prospered with his larger Cler-
mont on the Hudson.
In 1791 Stevens obtained a patent on an engine for running a boat with
paddles, and seven years later he tested his own steamboat on a run down
the Passaic from Belleville to New York and back. In 1804 he tried again
with a steamboat, the Little Juliana, having the first screw propeller.
Finally in 1808 he applied for a license to run the Phoenix, his best boat,
as a steam ferry between Hoboken and New York. This was the first steam
ferry in the world, but its career was curtailed by the Hudson River
monopoly that Robert Fulton had obtained. Stevens then took his boat
around to the Delaware, and the Phoenix became the first steamboat to
sail the open sea.
To circumvent Fulton s hold on the Hudson, Stevens and others used the
ingenious "teamboat" ferry, twin boats with a wheel between the two
hulls. Power was furnished by eight horses walking in a circle on deck
and turning a crank. It required no royalty payment to Fulton and operated
successfully for some time.
Canals: Increased activity in the northwestern mining district and the
south central agricultural area led to the construction of two canals to hasten
shipments and enlarge the State s share of the Pennsylvania trade. The
Morris Canal, chartered in 1824, passed through the iron-mining and in
dustrial district from Jersey City to Phillipsburg, connecting the Delaware
and Lehigh Rivers with the Passaic and the sea at Newark Bay. It was
completed in 1831 at a cost of $2,850,000, but never realized the hopes
of its backers. Hampered by a channel that was never large enough to
handle the heavy traffic, it paid so poorly that in 10 years it was closed.
Reopened in 1841, it closed again, and later was leased in perpetuity to
ioo NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Recently both the railroad and the canal
owners surrendered their rights to the State, but kept the Jersey City
terminal of "the ditch." In Newark the city has constructed a subway for
trolley lines in the canal bed.
The Delaware and Raritan Canal, extending from New Brunswick to
Bordentown, was in its heyday one of the three most important canals in
the United States. Chartered in 1830, it began inauspiciously, for in the
same year the legislature permitted the Camden and Amboy Railroad to
parallel it from South Amboy to Bordentown. To avoid being overcome
by the railroad, the canal owners joined their stock with the Camden and
Amboy but maintained separate operation. The combination thus obtained
a monopoly on traffic between New York and Philadelphia, all passengers
being allotted to the railroad and all freight to the canal.
The Delaware and Raritan s prosperity rested largely on coal from the
Schuylkill Navigation System, the first link in the transport of coal from
the Schuylkill section to the sea. But association with the Schuylkill later
proved disastrous, for floods, mismanagement, and railroad competition
after the Civil War crippled its trade. In 1871 the Pennsylvania Railroad
leased the Camden and Amboy and with it the ailing canal. The new
owner refused to permit coal from the Schuylkill mines, now controlled
by the rival Reading line, to pass through. This loss of 1,000,000 tons of
freight a year eliminated the Delaware and Raritan as an important water
way. It limped along doing a little business, until recently, when the Penn
sylvania surrendered the title to the State. At present the Federal and
State Governments are considering a plan to build a ship canal through
the same territory.
The Railroads: Success with the steamboat inspired Colonel John Stev
ens to work on the idea of a steam railroad. He petitioned his own State
legislature and Governor De Witt Clinton of New York to consider his
proposal for a railroad which would run trains at 18 miles an hour. This
suggestion won as little attention as his plan to connect New York and
New Jersey by a tunnel on the bed of the Hudson. In 1824, however,
when he was 75 years old, he demonstrated an experimental "steam
waggon" which ran 12 miles an hour on a circular track at his Hoboken
estate. This was the first locomotive built and operated in this country.
His son, Robert L. Stevens, carried on to complete the task of building
New Jersey s first railroad. Confidence abounded at a meeting in Mount
Holly in 1828 to promote the project; the success of the elder Stevens
and of British railway ventures swept aside the opposition of stagecoach
operators, who prophetically attacked the plan as a scheme for monopoly.
JOHN BULL," NEW JERSEY S FIRST LOCOMOTIVE
In 1830 the company obtained a charter for the Camden and Amboy
Railroad, first to be operated in the State, and sent Robert Stevens to Eng
land to buy equipment. This included all-iron rails, instead of the wooden
rails that had been tried on tramways.
After a favorable demonstration of the locomotive John Bull at Borden-
town in 1831, the Camden and Amboy speeded construction and in 1834
completed the route from Camden to South Amboy. It acquired control
of the Philadelphia and Trenton Railway Company, which had built a
line from Philadelphia to Morrisville (opposite Trenton) and owned the
rights to constructing a railroad between Trenton and New Brunswick.
By making a traffic agreement with the New Jersey Railroad and Trans
portation Company, which ran a line from Jersey City to New Brunswick,
the Camden and Amboy in 1840 consolidated its holdings and opened the
first through all-rail line from New York to Philadelphia.
Other important lines chartered and constructed in this period were the
Elizabeth and Somerville, the Morris and Essex, and the Paterson and
Hudson, all of which knitted together the growing cities of the north and
the surrounding mining and agricultural sections.
Favored by the State legislature with the necessity of paying only an
102 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
insignificant "transit fee" and with an ironclad monopoly concession on
rail transportation between New York and Philadelphia, the Camden and
Amboy rapidly grew into a powerful corporation. In return for valuable
favors received, the railroad turned over to the State 1,000 shares of stock.
The ultimate result was that the railroad entrenched itself so strongly in
the State s political field that New Jersey acquired the sobriquet of the
"State of Camden and Amboy."
Others eyed the rich monopoly with envy. The New Jersey Central Rail
road, then a small line operating across the northern part of the State,
built a line southward as far as Bound Brook. Meanwhile a railway, later
to become the Philadelphia and Reading, was laid to a point opposite
Trenton. Completion of the link between Trenton and Bound Brook
would form the competing road from New York to Philadelphia.
For five years the question of a franchise was fought in the legislature
between the backers of the new line and the Camden and Amboy. When
public opinion crystallized against the domination of the corporation, the
Camden and Amboy skillfully shifted responsibility by leasing its lines
to the Pennsylvania. The struggle became more furious as the Pennsylvania
was attacked as an "alien" interest. Bribery, violence, and subsidized news
papers were common weapons on both sides. At length the public sickened
of the battle and demanded a general law opening the State to all rail
roads, with prudent restrictions. The act was passed promptly, and the
link between Trenton and Bound Brook was assured at last.
But when the construction crews began work, the Pennsylvania applied
for injunction after injunction against the New York and Bound Brook
Railroad, as the new road was called. The fight became so acute at Penn-
ington, where the two roads crossed, that the Governor had to call out the
militia. By the time the troops restored order, the crossing had been
achieved and the grip of the railroads had been loosened, if not broken.
New Jersey has today more railroad track per square mile than any
other State. The system features concentration of terminals on the west
bank of the Hudson, feeders for ocean traffic, and eight great trunk lines
across the central and northern parts of the State. In all, 2,179 miles of
track within the State are being operated by 27 railroads, of which 15 are
first class.
Railroad construction has been concentrated in the central industrial
region of the State where travelers and shippers are offered a wide choice
of routes and schedules. In the northern and southern sections, however,
coverage and service are generally inadequate.
Across the mountains and into the valleys of the northern part of the
TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION 103
State run the Pennsylvania, the Erie, the Lackawanna, and the Jersey Cen
tral, hauling mine, forest, and farm products eastward to New York.
They also carry thousands of commuters and vacationers between the many
resorts and suburban communities in this area. The Pennsylvania, Lehigh
Valley, Reading, and Jersey Central bear the major burden of traffic in the
manufacturing belts, in which lies the New York-Philadelphia route, one
of the richest runs in the world. The large cities in this area are all linked
with their surrounding suburbs and each other by a network of minor
lines.
Agricultural south New Jersey depends chiefly upon the Pennsylvania
and the Reading for cross-State shipments of its produce to Philadelphia,
while it uses the Jersey Central for travel within the district. The State s
long seashore playground is served by the Pennsylvania, Jersey Central,
and Reading. Newark, with six trunk line stations, is the busiest railroad
center in the State. Camden, Hoboken, and Jersey City are also major
terminals.
Electrification of the Pennsylvania and the Lackawanna Lines has con
siderably increased the value of nearby real estate and has tempted thou
sands of new commuters into the State. The Hudson and Manhattan tun
nels from Newark and Jersey City to New York, constructed in 1911,
daily carry thousands of commuters over one of the busiest short runs in
the country.
Highways : New Jersey s State highway system is largely a war product.
When a vast output of munitions and war supplies was rushed to the
Atlantic coast, trunk line railroads were overloaded, and motor trucks were
drafted. Railroad freight was dumped beside the rails and reshipped by
truck.
Although in 1890 New Jersey became the first State to provide State
aid in construction of highways, the roads were not sufficiently developed
to meet the wartime need. All through the State, businessmen patronized
the motor express lines that sprang up by hundreds. The old county and
town roads nearly went to pieces under the pressure of the new freight
traffic. The slogan of "Win the War with Transportation" brought the
State into long-delayed action. The legislature in 1917 voted to build a
State system of 15 roads connecting the principal industrial and shipping
centers.
Post-war use of the motor truck demanded speed and expansion in this
program. In 1926 a special road commission recommended an expendi
ture of $300,000,000 for the highway network, half of which has been
spent on road construction and maintenance to date.
104 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
New Jersey s present highway system is generally considered to be sur
passed only by that of California. It is 26,767 miles in extent, of which
17,315 miles are "improved." The State-controlled portion totals 1,877
miles; the remainder is administered by local communities or by counties.
The Federal Government has given important aid in the improvement and
development of the State s highways. In addition to previous extensive
projects carried through under the Works Progress Administration, twenty
new county-wide projects have been approved for New Jersey (April
1938), averaging approximately one million dollars expenditure in each
county. These projects provide for improvement of principal and sec
ondary roads of the present system, construction of new roads, widening
of highways, and building of bridges and culverts. Up to March 23, 1938,
grants made to the State of New Jersey under the Public Works Ad
ministration totaled $2,817,655. These grants were made for the construc
tion of bridges and viaducts and for the elimination of various grade
crossings, the total cost of which is estimated at $6,693,221. The Civilian
Conservation Corps also has done valuable work in the improvement of
public properties in the State.
The excellence of the system, however, has not prevented an appalling
record of death and accident on the highways. One of the most dangerous
roads in the State is US i, the superhighway from George Washington
Bridge to Trenton. Efforts to reduce hazards on the roads include the
gradual elimination of the three-lane highway, considered among the most
treacherous of road designs; increased use of divided highways, and the
institution of the cloverleaf crossing. This latter device, introduced in
New Jersey, cuts down the risk of collision at congested intersections by
sorting the traffic into one-way streams without crossings. The State is
also experimenting with daylight illumination (sodium vapor lighting) to
reduce the dangers of night driving.
Three troops of State police patrol the State highways. Numerous sta
tions connected by telephone and teletype enable rapid concentration of a
force in any locality where it is needed. Headquarters are in Trenton,
where contact is maintained with the State administration and with the
commanding officer and staff of the National Guard.
Outstanding among State highways is the Pulaski Skyway over the
Newark meadows, part of US i. Three and one-half miles long, it steps
across two rivers on high cantilever bridges. No toll is charged.
Completing the highway system are bridges, tunnels, and ferries con
necting the State with its neighbors. The major links with New York City
UNLOADING LUMBER, PORT NEWARK
io6 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
are three Port of New York Authority enterprises: the $60,000,000
George Washington Memorial Bridge, running from iSist Street in Man
hattan to Fort Lee on the New Jersey side; the Holland Tunnel, extend
ing from Jersey City to Canal Street, Manhattan; and the new Lincoln
Tunnel, linking midtown Manhattan with Weehawken. Hudson River
ferries have survived the competition of the tunnels and the bridge by
reducing their rates.
Three Port of New York Authority toll bridges join New Jersey with
Staten Island. They are Bayonne Bridge between Bayonne and Port Rich
mond, with the longest steel arch span in the world (1,675 feet) ;
Goethals Bridge from Elizabeth to Howland Hook, and the Outerbridge
Crossing from Perth Amboy to Tottenville. The Delaware River Bridge,
between Camden and Philadelphia, and 10 other toll and 15 free bridges
span the Delaware.
One result of the construction of bridges and tunnels across the Hud
son has been the shift from congested Manhattan of a part of its popula
tion into New Jersey. The trend began with the construction of the Hud
son tubes, and between 1910 and 1930 Manhattan lost almost half a
million residents while New Jersey s four counties of the northern metro
politan area increased in population by 690,000.
Similarly, the rise of the motor bus since the World War has caused
amazing growth in the suburban zones of New Jersey s large cities. Rural
districts have almost overnight become modern towns with most of the
conveniences and few of the disadvantages of the urban centers nearby.
The Public Service Coordinated Transport, largest local bus operator in
the country, covers most of the State with lines that carried 292,398,000
passengers in 1936. The same company s trolley lines carried 118,075,000
passengers in that year. Like its neighboring States, New Jersey once had
an extensive network of interurban trolley lines, but streetcars have been
steadily displaced by busses. Some of the busses are equipped with trol
leys for electric operation as well. Interstate bus lines cross the State in
generally the same directions as did the Colonial stages, and have been
particularly conspicuous in competing with rail service to Philadelphia and
shore points.
Water Travel: New Jersey shares navigation of the Delaware River
with Pennsylvania and Delaware for sea-going vessels as far as Trenton,
and for small craft to Port Jervis, New York. The State s other important
navigable streams are the Passaic, Hackensack, and Raritan, all of which
afford ready access to inland ports in the industrial area. The Hudson
TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION IOy
River, Kill van Kull, and Arthur Kill are shared with New York for river
trade and ocean transport.
A plan for an important inland waterway has been suggested by the
Board of Commerce and Navigation of New Jersey. According to this
plan the old Delaware and Raritan Canal and the Delaware River, from
Trenton southward, would become links in the Intracoastal Waterway
from Boston, Massachusetts, to the Rio Grande, Texas. The project would
involve the Federal Government s making navigable this part of the Dela
ware; and opening and restoring to use the old canal, or constructing a
new one. The State maintains all inland waterways and operates State
inland waterway terminals.
The principal deepwater ports on the northwest border of the State for
overseas and coastwise transportation are Newark and Elizabethport on
Newark Bay, Perth Amboy on Raritan Bay, Jersey City and Bayonne on
New York Bay, and Hoboken, Weehawken and Edgewater on the Hud
son. On the Hudson County waterfront 100,000 passengers yearly arrive
or depart by regular transoceanic steamship lines, which also handle freight
in quantity. At Hoboken a modern feature is the seatrain steamship serv
ice that carries 101 loaded freight cars on each boat to Havana and New
Orleans. Camden, with regular steamship lines operating to Baltimore and
Hawaii, dominates ocean transport on the Delaware side.
A continuous inland waterway extends along the Atlantic Coast for 115
miles from the head of Barnegat Bay to Cape May. It is used chiefly for
pleasure sailing and the shipping of sea products, petroleum, and lumber.
Air Travel: Newark Airport is the busiest in the United States and one
of the busiest in the world. Established in 1929 as the eastern terminus of
the Nation s air mail service, it registers 125 take-offs and landings of
transport planes daily. Four of the great transcontinental systems operat
ing passenger lines use it as their terminal. As such, Newark has become
virtually synonymous in the public mind with long-distance air travel.
The Newark meadows were selected for the metropolitan terminal be
cause their situation affords excellent landing facilities and quick transfer
to New York City. Access to Manhattan is greatly facilitated by the
Pulaski Skyway and the Holland Tunnel. The first regular passenger line
was established in 1929 between Newark and Boston by American Air
Lines. While most of the other large cities in the State operate busy com
mercial airports, Camden, serving Philadelphia, is the only other regular
transport stop in New Jersey. It has recently become a transcontinental
terminus.
io8 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
Transatlantic Zeppelins have since 1924 used the United States Naval
Air Station at Lakehurst as their American terminal.
Wire Systems and Radio: Telegraph service, now extended to even the
smaller towns in the State, had its experimental origin in New Jersey. In
1838, six years before his celebrated success over a longer distance, Samuel
F. B. Morse tested the electromagnetic telegraph at the Speedwell Iron
Works near Morristown. At Princeton University, a few years before
Morse began his work, Joseph Henry, professor of natural philosophy,
constructed an electric apparatus that carried signals sounded on a bell
from his home on the campus to the Hall of Philosophy.
An important innovation in telegraph service was the introduction of
wireless newspaper bulletins at Atlantic Highlands lighthouse in 1899
during the America s Cup yacht races. Messages were transmitted from a
steamboat to the lighthouse, where they were relayed to New York City.
The telephone has quickly become an indispensable social and commer
cial instrument in the State, and perhaps more than any other modern in
vention has welded it into one large community. The New Jersey Bell
Telephone Company has created a State-wide system including approxi
mately 685,000 telephones in 1937. With 204 phones per 1,000 popula
tion reported in 1936, New Jersey ranked second only to California in the
extent of telephone service.
Conversations between all parts of the United States and Europe, Cen
tral and South America over shortwave radio telephone are transmitted
from the Bell station at Lawrenceville, and received from abroad at Net-
cong. The Radio-Marine Corporation maintains a transoceanic wireless
telegraph station at Tuckerton.
New Jersey, and specifically the city of Newark, was closely identified
with early experiments in radio broadcasting. WJZ broadcast a world
series baseball game on October 7, 1921, from the Westinghouse plant at
Orange and Plane Streets, Newark. This was the world s second station,
the first having been KDKA in Pittsburgh. The station was later sold to
become part of the National Broadcasting Company. The transmitter re
mained in Newark for a time, but was later moved to Bound Brook.
WOR, Newark s second station, started broadcasting February 22, 1922.
Built by L. Bamberger and Company and housed in its department store
building, the station has pioneered in many phases of radio. In the fall of
1922 it communicated with Self ridge s store in London, and a year later
reached Tokio. In 1924 the station asked all listeners to try to locate the
dirigible Shenandoah, which had slipped its moorings and become lost.
Soon telephone calls began to come in, and the ship s position was re-
TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION 109
layed to the crew. WOR has pioneered in spot news and symphony orches
tra broadcasts, and developed many technical improvements. It is now the
home station of the Mutual Broadcasting Company.
The 1920 $ saw the establishment of several other stations, some of
which still survive, usually under different call letters. The State now has
13 broadcasting stations and a number of experimental laboratories.
The Press
NEW JERSEY editors put "first things first" and hoe their own row.
Their determination to emphasize local news and features against
the national and international content of New York and Philadelphia
dailies has produced in an essentially urban State a prevailingly suburban
type of journalism. Almost without exception, the New Jersey press daily
declares its independence from its metropolitan rivals.
The majority follow the lead of the Newark Evening News in report
ing not only the minutiae of their own cities but also social, political, and
cultural activities of hamlets within a 5O-mile radius. An example of the
strong New Jersey sense of local importance was a News headline on
November 2, 1937: "NEW YORK ALSO VOTES TODAY." The neces
sity for this provincialism, however, becomes apparent when circulation
figures of New Jersey and out-of-State papers are compared.
Neighboring newspapers have made greatest inroads in the heavily
populated suburban areas. One New York paper alone, a tabloid, has a
weekday circulation of 199,000 and a Sunday circulation of more than
400,000 in New Jersey. Likewise, one Philadelphia daily sends to New
Jersey 65,000 copies, an eighth of its total circulation.
In comparison, the 36 English-language dailies in the State, of which
only a very few print Sunday editions, have a circulation of approximately
800,000 on weekdays and 218,700 on Sundays (including that of the
Sunday weeklies). Improved delivery facilities are increasing the circula
tion of metropolitan papers in the State without causing a corresponding
decline in that of New Jersey s own papers. Readers of out-of-State jour
nals usually buy a local paper also.
This same influence of neighboring cities caused early New Jersey jour
nalism to limp decades behind that of other Colonies. At the outbreak of
the Revolution, the population of the Colony still looked to the nine
Pennsylvania papers three of which were printed in German and to
their four contemporaries in New York for information on the Old
World and the New. James Parker s effort to establish a local publication,
THE PRESS III
The American Magazine, at Woodbridge in 1758, brought him at the
end of two years only fines and imprisonment.
The first cry of a newsboy hawking his wares in New Jersey was heard
in the fall of 1776, when Hugh Gaine temporarily moved his New York
Gazette and Weekly Mercury across the river to Newark. His innovation
in salesmanship had been preceded, a year earlier, by the appearance of
a wall newspaper at Matthew Potter s inn at Bridgeton. Three or four
hand-written sheets, every Thursday morning, attracted a swarming chat
tering crowd of farmers, teamsters, and townspeople to the walls of the
old tavern. This lively sheet, called the Plain Dealer, came to an abrupt
end after it had dealt a bit too plainly with the practice of bundling.
The heat of partisanship during the Revolution led to the rise of a
local press. The New Jersey Gazette, the State s first real paper, was pro
duced by Isaac Collins, former "Printer to the King," from the identical
plant in Burlington where, several decades earlier, Benjamin Franklin
had printed the first currency for the Province. Backed by Governor Wil
liam Livingston and members of the State legislature, this weekly appeared
as a single folio sheet, 9 by 14 inches, four columns to a page, on Decem
ber 5, 1777. Typical of Revolutionary papers, it was pledged to support
the "Interests of Religion and Liberty" and opened its columns with
"pleasure and alacrity" to "Essays useful or entertaining, or schemes for
advancement of Trade, Arts and Manufactures."
Only three contemporary New Jersey papers date back to the eighteenth
century, and only one of these, the Elizabeth Daily Journal, was founded
early enough to participate in the Revolution. Washington and Hamilton
lent "friendly assistance" to Shepard Kollock, a Chatham printer, for the
establishment of his New Jersey Journal, forerunner of the present Eliza
beth daily.
Collins Gazette waned after the peace of 1783 and finally expired in
1786. The same year brought the New Jersey Magazine and Monthly
Advertiser to New Brunswick and the Mercury and Weekly Advertiser to
Trenton short-lived, ponderous, pedantic sheets that catered mainly to
the property-holding class. For years Kollock s Journal remained the only
publication in the State with an appeal to the common man.
The passionate controversy between Hamilton s Federalism and Jeffer
son s Republicanism gave rise to new partisan papers. The present Tren
ton State Gazette and the New Brunswick Sunday Times were both
founded in 1792 to champion political movements. In Newark, John
Woods, a former apprentice of Kollock, began, on May 13, 1791, weekly
publication of Woods Newark Gazette. This ardent Federalist advocate
ii2 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
was soon opposed by one equally vehement for States rights, the Sentinel
of Freedom, founded in 1796.
The Newark Daily Advertiser, established in 1832 as a daily edition of
the Sentinel, absorbed the parent organization in the following year. It
survived until 1906 on legal advertisements thrown to it by politicans,
although it had no circulation. Today s Newark Star-Eagle, the result of a
merger of the Daily Advertiser, the Newark Evening Star, and the Morn
ing Eagle thus lays claim to the title of the city s oldest daily.
The Sentinel (originally spelled "Centinel") was typical of that intense
personal journalism which frequently led opposing editors to the dueling
grounds. The paper built up Jefferson s political machine in Essex County
and drove the Gazette out of business. A vituperative editorial in the
Sentinel of January i, 1805 commented:
The Newark Gazette expired on Tuesday of a decline which it bore with Chris
tian fortitude. This legitimate child of federalism was generated by corruption, pro
gressed in infamy, and finally died in disgrace. ... Let the people say Amen ! Amen !
Undoubtedly the fiercest anti-Federalist, however, was Philip Freneau,
sailor, scholar, and poet of the Revolution. His New Jersey Chronicle,
founded in 1795 at Mount Pleasant (now Freneau), assailed the aristo
cratic theories of Adams and Hamilton and charged that they were head
ing the Nation toward monarchy. Jefferson later made Freneau editor of
his National Gazette.
But the readers interest extended beyond politics. The new century
saw the inception of a large number of country weeklies, which generally
held with the Camden Mail "that exclusive devotion to any one party does
not afford the widest field of usefulness for a newspaper." Some of New
Jersey s prominent weeklies date back to this demand for a respite from
politics: the Sussex Register (1813) of Newton, the Monmouth Inquirer
(1820) of Freehold, the New Jersey Herald (1829) of Newton, and the
Salem Sunbeam (1844). These papers were trail-breakers for suburban
types that have remained characteristic of the State.
These old sheets did not know the meaning of "local color." Neither
the city editor nor the society reporter had appeared. Though churches
existed in abundance, there are no records left of their harvest dances or
clam bakes. The advertisements alone permit a few glimpses into the late
stagecoach and early railroad days. Exceptions were items like the follow
ing, which were widely reprinted: "A sturgeon, seven feet long, leaped
through the cabin window of a sloop moored at Bridgeton while the
crew was asleep, and did considerable damage to the cabin."
The story of a "panther hunt" near Blackwoodstown in 1819 found
THE PRESS 113
equal credulity among the rural readers. One editor explained that "the
panther is of the feline species, a sort of first cousin to the tiger, and
ranges the depth of the remotest American forests."
Payment in kind was a common occurrence: Editor Barber of Wood-
bury announced in a front page notice that his woodpile was running low
and that a few loads from his debtors would be acceptable. The editor of
the Columbian Herald once informed his subscribers that he was willing
to take "cats and grain" for the $2 yearly subscription price. The value
of cats can only be surmised.
The State s first daily paper was the Newark Daily Advertiser, founded
in 1832 as a daily edition of the Sentinel of Freedom. The Advertiser,
which ultimately became the present Star-Eagle, backed the Whigs and
the candidacy of Henry Clay. The Advertiser remained alone in the field
for more than a decade before its success inspired in rapid succession
papers in Newark, Jersey City, and Paterson. Most of these, however,
were ephemeral. The Trenton State Gazette, an old post-Revolutionary
weekly that was converted into a daily in 1847, is the only survivor.
The State Gazette inaugurated the first telegraphic news service in New
Jersey. On January 13, 1847, the publishers announced with "the greatest
satisfaction" that, "simultaneously with the morning daily papers of
Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York," they were pub
lishing that day "the proceedings of Congress yesterday, transmitted by
the Magnetic Telegraph ... a feat never before accomplished or thought
of in New Jersey." The Newark Advertiser shortly followed suit. The
old Associated Press founded in 1848 and dissolved in 1899 was used
by Thomas T. Kinney, the Advertiser s editor and publisher, as early as
1851.
At the end of the Civil War the manufacture of newsprint from wood
pulp increased the possibilities of profitable publishing. The Jersey Jour
nal of Jersey City appeared in 1867, and in the next 12 years 10 of the
existing daily papers began publication. In the same period the Newark
Sunday Call (1872) was established. Though it issues no daily edition,
it has become the most important Sunday paper in the State. Its policy
of treating New Jersey as one large community in which weddings and
politics vie for the reader s interest has made it as much a part of Sun
day morning in New Jersey as toast and coffee. The Call has been par
ticularly energetic in vivifying the history and folklore of the State.
Under the management of the Kinneys, father and son, the Newark
Advertiser became the best-equipped paper in New Jersey. They intro
duced steam power, cylinder presses, and other advanced mechanical equip-
ii4 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
ment. A worthy contemporary until its cessation in 1894 was the Newark
Evening Journal, whose militant editor, William Fuller, opposed the Civil
War and the draft, and urged fair treatment of the defeated South.
After Richard Watson Gilder had lent a distinctive literary tone to the
Advertiser, Wallace Scudder in 1883 established the Newark Evening
News which within two decades ranked with such vigorous publications
as the Springfield Republican and the Hartford Courant. Comprehensive
presentation of New Jersey and a consistently progressive technical policy
make it one of the Nation s foremost six-day newspapers. Like the Call on
Sundays, the News on weekdays throws the searchlight on a wide arc of
its own dooryard. Its earliest editions, which often resemble abridgements
of several country weeklies, justify its claim to the title, "New Jersey s
Great Home Newspaper." In April 1938 the News received the Francis
Way land Ayer Cup, offered annually by N. W. Ayer & Son, Inc., to the
daily newspaper chosen as the most outstanding for typographical excel
lence.
More than half of New Jersey s daily and Sunday papers have been
founded since the invention of the linotype machine by Ottmar Mergen-
thaler in 1885. Activity was particularly strong in the northern section,
where papers were started in Paterson, Hoboken, Plainfield, and Hacken-
sack. Expansion after 1900 gradually filled journalistic gaps in the south.
The most recent dailies in the State are the Atlantic City World and the
Ocean City Sentinel-Ledger, both founded in 1935.
Weekly newspapers have continued to spring up over the State, many
of them in saucy defiance of established dailies. Bergen County, with 70
weeklies in 71 municipalities, is now said to lead the Nation in this jour
nalistic abundance. Practically every one of these journals follows a pat
tern possessing an incipient Walter Winchell and relieving the boiler
plate material with descriptions of the actions of a small-town mayor, or
the social coup of a debutante. Legal advertising forms a large portion of
their revenue. The State has no weekly as salty and indigenous as Craw
ford s Weekly in Virginia, but Carl Wittman s Fair Lawn and Paramus
Clarion strangely enough holds its conservative readers by attacks on
fascism, irresponsible government and big business.
As a whole, country weeklies still have a precarious existence, and not
all unsuccessful present-day publishers display the sardonic humor illus
trated long ago in the Camden City Directory by a picture of a tombstone
with the inscription: "Here Lies the Camden Local News Died April
1882 For Lack of Nourishment H. R. Caulfield, Ex-Publisher."
The contemporary personality of the press in New Jersey is distinctly
THE PRESS 115
native. The large newspaper chains are represented in the State only by
Paul Block s Newark Star -Eagle and Frank Gannett s Plainfield Courier -
News. The metropolitan tabloids are imitated in a modified form only by
the Newark Ledger and a brace of Sunday weeklies. Most of the dailies
are limited to two or three editions ; and only a few, including the Atlantic
City Press and the Trenton Times, have a Sunday edition. The Newark
Evening News is perhaps the only State paper which devotes appreciable
editorial or reportorial space to international affairs and national questions,,
not directly involving New Jersey.
In style, content, and appearance New Jersey newspapers pursue a
leisurely course, mainly uninfluenced by towering headlines, colored sheets,
or adventurous type experiments. Columns and features have a decidedly
local flavor ; sports writing covers even the activities of grammar schools ;
and syndicated material has firmly entrenched itself. Among the New
Jersey journalists who have had their products syndicated was the late
Howard Freeman, cartoonist of the Newark Evening News.
The general tone of the editorial pages is conservative. For a long time,
it was strongly marked by a tendency to support the National administra
tion, irrespective of political badge. Not more than half a dozen dailies
list their politics; most of them adopt the opaque classification "Inde
pendent." In general the papers of Newark and Jersey City have spoken
for Democratic policies, while those in the southern part of the State
advocate Republican policies. There have been few hard-fought news
paper crusades against economic and political ills. The most notable cam
paigns in recent years have been those of the Newark Star-Eagle for reduc
tion of Public Service Corporation electric rates and the Camden Courier
and Post for a municipal power plant.
New Jersey publishers have displayed marked ability in developing
the business side of publishing. For thirteen consecutive years the Newark
Evening News has led the six-day papers of the country in classified
advertising. Brisk advertising managers have corraled enough space to
make the average price of a New Jersey daily three cents, and to keep the
number of pages well above sixteen.
Newspaper owners have united in the New Jersey State Press Associa
tion, which cooperates with the department of journalism at Rutgers Uni
versity in placing young writers. Devoted chiefly to an annual survey of
the newspaper scene, the publishers organization has generally followed
the American Newspaper Publishers Association in formulating both
editorial and labor policies.
The American Newspaper Guild, now numbering 245 members in the
u6 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
State, has a wide appeal in New Jersey, for the Guild won its first im
portant victory in the Newark Ledger strike of 1935. The organization
extends over the State, but is strongest in Newark and Camden, and in
Hudson County. In these areas the Guild has made the most significant
advance toward securing for editorial workers salaries and wages equal
to those long established by typographical unions.
New Jersey s large immigrant groups have developed a vigorous and
colorful press. Concerned equally with events at home and in the father
land, the foreign- language papers perhaps represent the most definite
political opinion and the most cosmopolitan spirit in the State press.
Although reduced in scope of influence by the growing Americanization
of their readers, the papers still figure prominently in the politics and cul
ture of New Jersey.
Between 1850 and 1900 the Germans composed the largest group of
foreign-born. In 1852 the New Jersey Freie Zeitung, the best-known and
most influential of all the State s German newspapers, was founded in
Newark by Benedict Prieth, a liberal who had fled his native Austria after
the abortive revolution of 1848. It flourished as a daily for more than
seven decades, and only lately has been reduced to a weekly. Other Ger
man publications followed, until Hudson County called "the most Ger
man county in the Nation" had nine, including two dailies. Another
historic German publication is the New Jersey Staats Journal, started in
Trenton in 1867.
Only the Ukrainians have a daily paper in New Jersey today. Their
Svoboda of Jersey City, founded in 1893, has maintained a steady circu
lation of 14,000. Other groups, like their English-speaking neighbors,
look largely to New York and Philadelphia for their daily reading. A
number of weeklies, such as the Italian Tribune and the Polish Kronika
of Newark, the Magyar Herald of New Brunswick, the No winy of Tren
ton and the Polak-Amerykanki of Perth Amboy, serve their respective
language readers. Several papers published in English stress the interests
of English-speaking Jews. Among them are the Jewish Chronicle, New
ark; the Jewish Ledger, Atlantic City, and the Jewish Standard and the
Hudson Jewish News, both of Jersey City. The last named paper and the
Morgen-Stern of Newark also publish Yiddish editions.
General labor news is presented mainly by a northern New Jersey edi
tion of the weekly People s Press and the monthly Union Labor Advo
cate, of Elizabeth. In December 1935 the Paterson Press was launched as
the State s first cooperatively owned newspaper, financed largely by Pater-
son workers and by members of printing trades unions of New Jersey and
THE PRESS 117
adjoining States. The paper, an outgrowth of a successful open shop
campaign by the two Paterson dailies, succumbed in September 1936
from a shortage of funds. Although the Press did not get beyond the
weekly stage, it distinguished itself by a campaign, the most outspoken
in New Jersey press history, against too high electric rates.
_v ,v v J y > v > v y v v j v v v > y M V- V- V V V- V- V V ^ V V V ^ V V ^ V
Racial and National
s
A LTHOUGH the farmlands of New Jersey have attracted immigrants
j^\^ during three centuries, the greatest influx of foreign-born has been
to the industrial centers developed within the last hundred years. Close by
New York City and the Ellis Island immigrant station, New Jersey ab
sorbed wave after wave of Europeans until today it ranks fifth among the
States in its percentage of foreign-born residents.
According to the United States census for 1930, the State had 844,442
foreign-born whites, plus 1,413,239 native whites of foreign or "mixed"
parentage, constituting together about 57 percent of the total population.
Negroes numbered 208,828, about 5 percent of the total. Native whites
of native parentage were about 38 percent of the State s population, com
pared with an average of about 57 percent for the Nation.
Leading nationalities represented in the foreign-born white popula
tion, as recorded by the 1930 census, are shown below:
Percent of
Nationalities Number Total Population
Italian 190,858 4.7
German 112,753 2.8
Polish 102,573 2.5
Irish 63,236 1.5
Russian 62,152 1.5
English 51,629 1.3
Scotch 34,72i .9
Czecho-Slovakian 32,358 .8
Hungarian 32,332 .8
Scandinavian 27,895 .7
Swedish 13,360 .4
Norwegian 7,870 .2
Danish 6,665 - 1
Austrian 24,010 .6
Dutch 14,762 .4
Englishmen, Swedes, and Hollanders were first among the white new
comers to penetrate the wilderness that was to become New Jersey. To-
118
RACIAL AND NATIONAL GROUPS 119
gather they appropriated the property of the Lenni Lenape Indians, a
friendly pastoral people. In 1930 the State had an Indian population of
213, although no Indian reservation remains.
The Swedes moved into the Delaware Bay region in 1638, and there
after remained apart from the main stream of New Jersey history. Swedes-
boro, a village of some 2,000 inhabitants on Raccoon Creek, near Camden,
is a present-day reminder of these earliest settlers. A few Scandinavian
settlements along the seacoast, of which Barnegat City is the best known,
are sustained by the fishing trade.
The Hollanders, frugal and industrious, formed a substantial and last
ing element in the population. Numerous Dutch Reformed congrega
tions scattered through Bergen and adjoining counties testify to the stub
born Dutch zeal for religious authority that figured so prominently in
European and early American events. Some of the most genial customs
of American life, including sleighing and ice-skating, Christmas festivities
and other ceremonies, were introduced by the Dutch. Most of the more
recent immigrants live in Bergen and Passaic Counties, in communities
such as Prospect Park.
But the dominant factor throughout New Jersey in Colonial days was
the English. With the Scotch they founded the old towns of Elizabeth,
Perth Amboy, Middletown, and Shrewsbury. The military seizure of the
Colony from the Dutch in 1664 decided the future Anglo-Saxon rule of
New Jersey.
By 1790 the English numbered 98,000, in a total population of 170,000.
All the political, economic and cultural principles by which the Colonists
ordered their affairs had been transplanted from Great Britain. Long after
the Revolution had broken the power of London, these principles re
tained their influence. Although the British were at first mainly an agri
cultural and official element in New Jersey, the 86,000 foreign-born Eng
lish and Scottish residents of today are chiefly employed in industry and
commerce.
By the middle of the nineteenth century the English, Dutch, Scotch,
Germans, and Irish had fused into a relatively stable society. On the
outskirts of the social structure, though not definitely segregated, were
the Negroes. Aided by State emancipation laws, they had passed from
slavery into wage labor as gardeners, tannery workers, house servants,
coachmen, and building trades workers. Their barber shops and laundries,
catering establishments, and orchestras were patronized by both races.
Some owned stores on Broad Street in Newark.
Hard times following the industrial revolution and political persecu-
120 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
tion in Europe produced the second great wave of immigration. Between
1844 and 1850 the Irish population in New Jersey more than tripled,
largely because of the severe potato famine in the homeland. Despite their
traditional hostility to the Anglo-Saxon race, the Irish speedily adapted
themselves to their new environment, and rose swiftly to economic equal
ity with other nationalities. In Newark, Jersey City, Hoboken, and Pater-
son they began as a laboring element in the factories, but before long
had acquired control of the building trades. To New Jersey they brought
a volatility unknown to the established nationalities. The Irish participated
significantly in trade unions and also formed the backbone of political
organizations that seldom supported measures of vital concern to the
workingman. The Irish have been the great fraternalists of the State, re
sponsible perhaps for the founding of more societies and orders than any
other group.
It was not, however, until the coming of the German "Forty-eighters"
political refugees from the reaction raging in Germany following the
attempt of the people to exterminate feudalism that any appreciable
change was made in certain long-established social customs in New Jersey.
For more than 200 years English Puritanism had kept watch over the
public morals of society. The "Forty-eighters," fresh from battlefields
where the great questions of economic and political liberty were being
decided, held a liberal attitude toward religion and the Sabbath. They
developed community singing, occasionally neglected business for intel
lectual pleasures, and enjoyed outdoor life to the fullest. In addition,
they became a progressive element in American politics and a force in
building the trade union movement.
The Germans applied their technical knowledge and energy to the
development of the country s resources. They became skilled workers in
many industries, particularly in the electrical field, and were mainly re
sponsible for the rise of the brewing industry.
More significantly, the Germans were pioneers in the movement for
free public education. Their love of music was reflected in the Sanger-
fest, an annual singing festival of the Germans in the northeastern part
of the United States which began in New Jersey in 1891. Largest of
German organizations in the State today is the German- American League.
In the middle decades of the nineteenth century, both Germans and Irish
were persecuted by the Know-Nothing Party, a secret society that in some
respects resembled the modern Ku Klux Klan and Black Legion. The
dour and bigoted Americans comprising this group objected to the Cathol
icism of the Irish and the political liberalism of the Germans. Although
RACIAL AND NATIONAL GROUPS 121
they organized thug onslaughts to drive the immigrants out of the coun
try, and even carried their alien-baiting to the polls, they failed to make
an appreciable reduction in the growing number of refugees and pioneers
from the Old World.
The immigrants of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
were motivated more by economic than political considerations. Leaving
their homelands, where life had been hard and crude, they converged on
the growing commercial and industrial cities of Newark, Jersey City,
Paterson, Passaic, New Brunswick, Trenton, and Camden. They estab
lished communities bordering on the very shadows of the factories, much
as their peasant ancestors clustered beneath the walls of the feudal manor.
Their economic position was modestly secure, but reports of their pros
perity were fantastically exaggerated by steamship agents in order to
bring thousands more from the Old World.
Poles began to come to New Jersey in large numbers in 1870. In Hud
son County alone they now number 23,000, most of them being employed
at heavy labor in the factories and oil refineries of Jersey City and
Bayonne. More than 5,000 Polish immigrants live in Newark, where
they are distributed among a variety of industries.
Polish women assume a large part of their families economic burden.
In Jersey City a large laundry employs nearly 1,000 Polish women, and
in the woolen mills of Passaic they number at least 5,000. Bad housing,
fatigue, and poverty have caused a certain physical deterioration among
these women, who in their native land are exceptionally handsome. The
Poles are deeply religious, and in the Greek and Roman Catholic churches
they find their chief opportunity for artistic expression. Like the Germans,
the Poles are a musical people, and singing societies and orchestras are
usually a feature of their many fraternal and national organizations.
Residents of Italian stock in New Jersey constitute more than 10 per
cent of the total of Italian stock in the United States. Late nineteenth
century arrivals for the most part, the Italians are found in every county
and in every industrial center. Some have entered agriculture, notably in
settlements near Vineland and Hammonton and generally throughout
south New Jersey. The cultivation of peppers, artichokes, and eggplants
is an Italian importation. In Chatham and Madison many Italians are
employed in greenhouses.
But the majority of Italians are found in factory and construction work.
In Paterson, national center of the silk-dyeing industry, more than 10,000
work in the dye houses. They are also numerous in the silk mills. Shrewd
in business and real estate investments, the Italians are also among the
122 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
most substantial members of the trade union movement. In Passaic County
they are the backbone of one of the Nation s largest local unions, Dyers
Local 1733.
Czecho-Slovakians are numerous in the Passaic County textile region.
Elizabeth has a number of Lithuanians. Hungarians, concentrated in and
around New Brunswick and Perth Amboy, account for more than 12 per
cent of all Hungarians in the United States. They were the nucleus for
the town of Roebling, one of the few company towns in New Jersey.
Turks, Syrians, and Armenians are also employed in the textile mills of
Paterson and Passaic.
One of the most prominent groups in New Jersey is that of the Jews,
chiefly immigrants from Poland and Russia. The earliest sizable Jewish
community grew up in Newark about 1844. This was a time of large
Jewish immigration, when thousands fled from Western and Central
Europe to escape enforced military duty and to live under more demo
cratic conditions. At first mainly pack peddlers, they later opened butcher
shops, drygoods stores and cigar factories, and within a generation had
become significant factors in the commercial and financial life of the
State. During the i88o s, religious persecution in Russia and Poland
brought an even larger number of Jews to New Jersey. Less readily
adaptable to new conditions than the earlier immigrants, they have never
theless become important as small merchants in the larger cities and, like
their German predecessors, have made a valuable contribution in the pro
fessional fields.
Today New Jersey, with 225,306 Jews (1927), is fifth in the United
States in Jewish population, and is exceeded only by New York in its
proportion of Jewish residents. The cultural and philanthropic institu
tions of the Jews form a network serving the entire State. In Newark,
where the Jewish population is approximately 75,000, they maintain 30
congregations and more than 250 charitable, social, fraternal, and com
munal bodies.
Of the 1,738 Chinese recorded in the 1930 census, the majority are
laundrymen and restaurant workers, although a few are engaged in other
forms of commerce. Only 439 Japanese were listed as residents in 1930.
The 208,828 Negroes of New Jersey (1930) are distributed mainly
in the industrial areas of Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, and Elizabeth,
though a few live in practically every rural district and small town. They
are also numerous in such residential towns as Montclair and Morris-
town, and in the resorts of Atlantic City and Asbury Park.
Large scale immigration during the nineteenth century squeezed Negro
RACIAL AND NATIONAL GROUPS 123
artisans and laborers out of industry, forcing them more and more into
menial and unorganized jobs at substandard wages. A growing poverty
pushed them into the worst sections of the cities, where disease and
apathy spread among them.
Negroes suffer serious exploitation and discrimination. In Jersey City,
for example, squalid houses in the most run-down sections cost Negro
families from $30 to $50 a month. Residential discrimination is common
throughout the State. Practically all public school systems south of Prince
ton have separate buildings or classes for Negroes (see Education ) .
Although Negroes constitute less than 5 percent of the State popula
tion, Negro deaths are 8 percent of the total; infant mortality, 12 per
cent; deaths from tuberculosis, 20 percent; unemployment, twice the
percentage for whites. Of all juvenile delinquents convicted, 24 percent
are Negroes. Having important bearing on these facts is the statement of
Egerton Elliot Hall, Rutgers University (1933):
No situation more clearly reflects the low economic status of New Jersey s Negro
population than its housing and neighborhood facilities. The President s Conference
on Home Building and Home Ownership reported: "At least three types of social
pathology have been observed to have a high and inescapable correlation with the
character of Negro residence areas. These are: (i) a high rate of delinquency, (2)
a high rate of mortality, and (3) a distorted standard of living."
In spite of these handicaps, the Negroes have registered a number of
positive advances. Illiteracy among Negroes in New Jersey was reduced
from 30 percent in 1880 to 7 percent in 1930. There are more than 500
Negro school teachers and as many professional workers in the State.
Despite discrimination, the Negro has played an important part in the
silk, rubber, steel and cigar-making industries and in agriculture.
In southern New Jersey is Gouldtown, a small village peopled chiefly
by descendants of four mulatto families who have intermarried for more
than 175 years, with only an occasional infiltration of other blood stocks.
Although situated in a poor and timber-exhausted land, the people of
Gouldtown have preserved a dignity that is reflected in the number of
teachers, ministers, and scientists who have come from the town. Lawn-
side, near Camden, the only borough in New Jersey governed entirely
by Negroes, began as a station on the Underground Railroad. The tract
of land was purchased in 1840 by Quaker abolitionists who divided it into
lots, which they sold to Negroes at low prices. From simple farmers the
inhabitants of Lawnside have grown into a group whose achievements in
self-government and in economic and social advancement have made them
interesting to Negro students and research workers from many parts of
the country ( see Tour 23 ) .
124 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
In the wild rugged country of the Ramapo Mountains in the north
live the so-called Jackson Whites, some 5,000 mountaineers as far re
moved from the urban life a score of miles away as those in eastern
Tennessee. The basis of the group was 3,500 white and black women im
ported from England and the West Indies by the British military author
ity in New York during the Revolution. After the war the women found
refuge in the New Jersey hills with exiled Indians from North Carolina
and they were soon joined by Hessians. Later Italians, Dutch, and more
Negroes added to the mixture.
Long isolation as economic outcasts in their hovels and at their miser
able jobs has made the Jackson Whites suspicious of city folk and appar
ently resigned to their fate as a racial oddity. They now constitute a
genuine social problem in a State that for the most part knows them only
as the subject of sensational newspaper stories (see Side Tour 9 A).
Many of the European groups, especially the Italians, Poles, and Hun
garians, have settled in particular quarters of the larger cities or have
founded separate towns and villages, where they keep alive the customs,
languages, and in some cases the modes of thought of their fatherlands.
The extremely large number of Italians in the State has made the study
of Italian a regular foreign language course in many of the larger high
schools.
The absorption of foreign groups is proceeding with varying degrees
of rapidity. In general, however, the Europeans wear American clothes,
talk "American," and in many cases have exchanged their own traditions
for those of their adopted country. The process has cost New Jersey many
colorful ceremonies and practices formerly common among immigrants.
The rousing German singing societies in Newark and Hoboken have vir
tually disappeared; Poles and Russians are gradually abandoning their
own Christmas and New Year s celebrations for the Santa Claus and horn-
tooting of Americans; and Italians no longer repair to the countryside
to celebrate religious festivals.
This drift is exemplified, perhaps, by the change of foreign names to
Americanized forms. Italians have been conspicuous in resisting Ameri
can nomenclature, holding to names such as "Salvatore" and "Mauriello"
that have a musical quality in contrast to the more usual clipped Anglo-
Saxon names.
Relations between the various races and nationalities, on the whole,
have been amicable in New Jersey. There have been occasional cases of
racial clash. Riots between Italians and Negroes were common during
the Italo-Ethiopian crisis, and several years ago the civil war in China
RACIAL AND NATIONAL GROUPS 125
had its repercussions in violent strife in Newark s Chinatown. Similarly,
adherents of the present regimes in Germany and Italy have indulged in
anti-Semitic activities and have in turn been subject to boycott.
The native-born American s natural curiosity to examine foreign cus
toms at first-hand has done much toward breaking down barriers. Those
who try "real" Italian spaghetti or "genuine" Hungarian goulash, or who
attend a Polish wedding or a Greek service as a spectacle, usually come
away with a more enlightened view of the minority groups. Schools and
churches have developed extensive programs both to promote Americaniza
tion and to explain foreign backgrounds to the Americans themselves.
In the large cities economic necessity has called forth considerable co
operation among the once-isolated groups. The depression itself proved in
most cases an important uniting force. Strong prejudices weakened before
common economic distress and the need for joint action, as in hunger
demonstrations in Newark in 1932 and the march of the unemployed to
Trenton in 1936. The revelation of deplorable living conditions among
industrial workers has brought community action for better housing and
improved facilities for recreation.
>Y DEFAULT, the title of official State demon has rested for nearly
a century with the Leeds Devil, a friendly native of Atlantic County
who has traveled extensively throughout southern New Jersey. Although
the exact date of his birth is not known, there is no doubt as to his
maternal parentage. A Mrs. Leeds of Estelville, a small community near
the Great Egg Harbor River, found that she was an expectant mother.
The expectations of Mrs. Leeds were neither great nor enthusiastic, and
in a petulant moment she cried out that she hoped the stork would bring
a devil.
In due time the long-billed bird made a perfect three-point landing in
either the Leeds cabbage patch or rose garden, depending on which school
of obstetrical thought the reader accepts. The sequence of events from
this point is somewhat confused. One version is that Mrs. Leeds told the
stork to take the baby back where it came from, and a few minutes later
the accommodating bird returned with a red-faced little devil tied up in a
napkin. The other story is that the human baby promptly assumed the
form of a demon and flew out of the window. At any rate, Mrs. Leeds
was surprised and perhaps regretted her hasty wish.
The young devil is believed to have spent his adolescence in the swamp
land, beyond the reach of truant officers and child guidance clinics. Soon
after attaining his majority he started going out nights and made himself
widely known to the population of southern New Jersey.
Cloven-hoofed, long-tailed, and white; with the head of a collie dog,
the face of a horse, the body of a kangaroo, the wings of a bat, and the
disposition of a lamb that is the Leeds Devil. He has never harmed a
soul, nor violated even a local ordinance. There is every reason to believe
that his nocturnal ramblings have been actuated by a sympathetic curiosity
about the affairs of man. One report is that he is writing a thesis, A
Plutonian Critique of Some Awful Aspects of the Terrestrial Life, in
preparation for a doctor s degree from the University of Hell. The more
scientifically minded people of the State therefore consider it unfortunate
that the devil s field work has been hampered by door-slammings and cur-
126
FOLKLORE AND FOLKWAYS I2J
tain-drawings. Only old Judge French showed any kindness to the demon
scholar. Every morning for years, it is said, the judge and the devil en
gaged in lively discussions of Republican politics, while breakfasting
together on South Jersey ham and eggs.
Practically everyone in southern New Jersey knows of one or more
persons who have seen the devil, but very few will acknowledge personal
.acquaintance. Councilman E. P. Weeden of Trenton was aroused on a
cold January night in 1909 by the sound of someone s trying to enter the
door. Thinking that one of his seventh ward constituents might need help
in a domestic crisis, the councilman jumped from his bed. He was amazed
to hear the flapping of wings; and from the second-floor window, he
could see impressions of a cloven hoof deep in the snow on the roof of
the porch. On the same night the devil visited the State arsenal, leaving
his characteristic hoofprints around the chicken house but not disturbing
a fowl. Although the Negro settlement at Pitman Grove was omitted
from the devil s itinerary, report of his travels was believed responsible
for a remarkable spurt in church attendance and a decline in beer drinking
that lasted for months.
A reward of $500 for the devil s capture was once offered by J. F.
Hope, a Philadelphian. Mr. Hope said that the devil was his own, and that
it was not a devil at all but a rare Australian vampire one of the only
two ever captured. The reward has never been claimed.
There is a tradition that each reappearance of the devil is an omen of
war. It was no surprise to residents of Atlantic County when the Italo-
Ethiopian conflict broke out just a few months after William Bozarth saw
the devil in the pine country at Batsto. Another person who vouches for
;a view of the devil is Philip Smith, a Negro slaughterhouse worker in
Woodstown. Smith, whose reputation for honesty and sobriety is unim
peachable, was looking out the window just before midnight on an eve
ning in 1935 when he saw the devil walking down the sidewalk across
the street. "Looked to me something like a giant police dog, kind of high
in the back," Smith related. "He walked past the grocery store and
disappeared."
Most of the State s ghosts seem to prefer haunting one particular spot.
Seven Stars Tavern, built in 1762 near Woodstown, is headquarters for a
number of ghosts, and has been called the champion haunted house of
New Jersey. The specter of the builder has been seen digging in a nearby
field, presumably for treasure hidden during the Revolution; two sisters
named Stevens said a woman s ghost visited their bedroom; and Blue
beard, a reputedly blasphemous pirate, had his neck twisted by the devil.
128 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
There was also a band of fighting ghosts, one of whom was called
Beelzebub; and a number of apparitions whose names alone survive the
Indian, the Peeping Woman, the Horse and Rider, the Hessian, and
others.
Absecon Island, near Atlantic City, is the wellspring of a group of
semi-supernatural tales centering around Lafitte, Kidd, Teach, and other
buccaneers. During violent storms the islanders are said to have lured
ships onto the dangerous Brigantine shoals in order to plunder them.
The decoy was a lantern hanging from a pole lashed to a jackass, which
was led back and forth. To a ship in the outer waters, the light would
seem that of a vessel peacefully riding out the storm in a harbor. The
shoals completed the work. The inhabitants then put off in boats and
salvaged the cargo of the wrecked boat, taking care to murder any surviv
ing members of the crew. Being deeply religious, the islanders taught
their children to pray that a ship would run aground.
In 1717 pirates were supposed to be "fifteen hundred strong at least"
along the coast, and one ship flying the skull and crossbones off Sandy
Hook was captured by a man-o -war out of Perth Amboy. Legendary
treasure has been sought in the region, but none has ever been found.
Blackbeard, who roamed along the Delaware, is said to have buried a
treasure at the base of a black walnut tree on Wood Street, in Burlington.
The hoard was guarded by a reckless Spaniard, who let himself be shot
with a charmed bullet and was buried upright. The ghost of a large black
dog that was buried with the man is sometimes seen on the street.
A different sort of treasure is reputed to be buried in the sand pits
near Downer, Gloucester County. Presumably brought there by runaway
slaves as a fund for trips on the Underground Railroad, it will be found
only by the direct descendant of such a slave, at a time when the Negro
race is again in dire need. The treasure is guarded by a giant rabbit, who
digs new hiding places faster than a brace of steam shovels whenever the
hoard is threatened.
Many stories center around a character who actually lived, Jonas Cat-
tell scout, guide, soldier, and sportsman extraordinary. He was born
near Woodbury in 1758, and during his 91 years he became southern
New Jersey s most eminent personality. Jonas first won renown early in
the Revolution, when he lured Count Donop s Hessians into a trap at
Red Bank. For 15 years after the war he was known as an unequaled
hunter and fisherman, and for 40 years thereafter he was whipper-in for
the Gloucester County Fox-Hunting Club. Even at an advanced age he
once covered 120 miles on foot in a little more than 24 hours.
FOLKLORE AND FOLKWAYS 129
During the last decade of his life the sturgeon episode occurred, and it
has never been doubted, because Jonas had a well-founded reputation for
strict integrity. One day his line jerked so hard that it nearly pulled him
overboard. Towed by a sturgeon whose tremendous size momentarily
dazed even this intrepid sportsman, his boat dashed madly upstream.
Recovering, Jonas shortened his line and finally jumped into the water,
grappled with his catch, and succeeded in heaving it into the boat. The
fish was so large that its tail drooped over the edge. It continued to strug
gle and the gyrations of the tail, acting as a propeller, drove the boat
forward at an unprecedented speed. Jonas finally had to release the mon
ster, since by then he was far from home.
Although no one else ever saw the fish, Jonas continued to lure it with
fresh joints of meat, and the two soon became friends. One time the
sturgeon took him for another ride. As they flew upstream, Jonas saw that
they were going to strike a low bridge, over which a herd of cattle was
passing. He cut the line, but the fish went on and crashed into the
bridge, from which a cow and her calf fell into the water. The sturgeon
gorged himself on the fresh beef. Soon thereafter cattle began to dis
appear from pastures bordering on streams, but no trace of the thief was
left behind. Angry farmers set a careful watch. One finally saw the
sturgeon crawl from a stream, using his tail for propulsion, and carry off
a cow. The cattle owners, however, could never capture the marauder.
They blamed Jonas as the patron of the fish, and he was kept in poverty
the rest of his life, doling out sums from his meager pension to pay the
huge meat claims.
A fishy odor also permeates the stones told about "Stretch" Garrison,
who had a farm on the Maurice River near Delaware Bay. One day he
happened to catch a shark. He slipped the anchor rope and let the fish
tow him for a while. The creature headed up the river at such a rate that
he ripped out the oyster beds for 50 yards on each side. There wasn t
much water in the river, but the shark kept right on and dug a new chan
nel for five miles up to Stretch s landing. By that time he was too worn
out to go any farther, so Stretch tied him up, and fetched a bridle, saddle,
and spade bit. After several months he finally trained the shark to gee and
haw. Stretch made a lot of money riding the shark up and down the river
every day delivering the United States mail.
Stretch was a scientific agrarian. He had trained a couple of cows to
plow, so he didn t need any horses. At night he would milk the cows and
pour the milk into a churn. The churn was rigged up to a treadmill on
which the cows stood. Before he left the barn, Stretch would put a forkful
130 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
of alfalfa hay in the rack in front of the cows, just out of reach. The
cows stood there pawing the treadmill all night trying to reach the hay,
and next morning the milk would be churned to butter. Continuous reach
ing made the cows grow bigger every day, and this gave Stretch an idea.
He had a young rooster named Big Boy, which he started to feed off the
top of a box. Next week he put the feed on top of a sugar barrel. Big Boy
did nothing all day long but jump up and down, stretching every muscle.
After a while he got big enough and strong enough to pull a truck Stretch
had to feed him from the roof of the porch, and had to use a concrete
mixer to prepare his feed.
One day Stretch mixed up a batch of concrete, colored it green, flavored
it with corn liquor, and fed it to Big Boy. The rooster ate up every bit of
it, and when it hardened he turned to stone. Stretch gave him to the city
fathers, who put him on top of the power plant and wired him for light
and sound; he made a fine fire siren. But they finally had to take him
down, because all the roosters in the vicinity were so jealous that they
crowed at him night and day.
New Jersey, as might be expected, has several tales about mosquitoes.
The first settlers of Bergen County found the district overrun with mos
quitoes, some of which were as large as sparrows. The Indians had trained
them to inoculate game with a secret preparation that paralyzed the animal
until the hunter came within arrow range. When it was found that insects
which had been fed on white blood made better hunters, the Indians en
couraged them to bite the settlers. The settlers retaliated by killing the
chief s most valuable thoroughbred. He immediately mustered his war
riors and attacked. During the height of the conflict the Indians brought
up their mosquito fleet, and the Dutch had to sue for peace.
Another legend tells of a group of men working all night in the salt
works at the Manasquan River Inlet who were besieged by mosquitoes.
The workmen crawled under a large iron kettle. The mosquitoes im
mediately began drilling into the metal; and as each proboscis appeared
on the inside, the workmen would strike it with their hammers, riveting
it fast. Finally, when a number had been hammered to the kettle, the
mosquitoes simply flew away with it after which the rest of the swarm
made short work of the men.
The large Negro colony in Atlantic City has invented a mythical char
acter, Darby Hicks. A new arrival from the South is terrified by being told
that Hicks is looking for him with a razor and two guns. Trying to find
this person and explain matters, he is sent from one place to another and
frightened by repeated warnings. Some high-strung men have been known
FOLKLORE AND FOLKWAYS 13!
to quit their jobs, buy guns and knives, and walk the Northside for
months looking for their unknown enemy.
A compound of medieval and ancient American lore survives among
the "yarb folk" of southern New Jersey. From native herbs and plants
they have developed a pharmacopoeia of simple vegetable cures. The per
centage of coincidental success has been large enough to justify a survival
of faith in their superstitions. Some of the remedies are:
Consumption : Boil two handf uls of sorrel in a pint of whey ; strain and
drink twice a day.
Corns: Apply bruised ivy leaves, and in 15 days corns will drop off.
Measles: Place a cut onion in the room of the sick child.
Warts: Rub with a radish; or rub with half a raw potato and then
throw potato over left shoulder.
To make hair grow: Wash every night with a strong concoction of
rosemary.
The old custom of growing a balsam apple into a bottle continues in
many rural places. This was done immediately after the flowering by care
fully tying the bottle on the arbor that supported the balsam vine. When
the apple was deep orange and almost ripe, presenting a beautiful appear
ance inside the glass, the stem was cut. The bottle was then filled with
whiskey and corked airtight. The contents were used for stomach dis
orders, swellings, and muscular pains.
Weather forecasts are based upon a variety of signs, some of them re
liable and others fantastic. Rain is believed due when a cat washes its
face, when birds fly close to the ground, when there is no dew in the
morning, when many snails come out, and when fish jump from the
water. The town of Washington is a center for predicting the character
of the coming winter ; local sages prognosticate on the basis of the arrival
of katydids and the behavior of caterpillars. A long or bad winter may be
expected when squirrels store an unusual quantity of nuts, or bees gather
a large store of honey or when moss is thick on the north side of a tree.
To the fishermen of south New Jersey, the sea gull is the outstanding
symbol of good luck, and to kill one is considered equivalent to commit
ting suicide. An injured gull that alights on a ship is royally treated; when
the bird recovers it is set free, always over the starboard side.
For the most part, the customs of the agricultural areas trace back to
the eighteenth century immigration from northern Europe, while those of
the industrial cities are derived from central and southern Europeans and
Negroes.
In south New Jersey, folk customs center mainly around annual farm
132 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
events and such social functions as weddings, births, and funerals. One
practice, said to be dying out rapidly, is that of a community gathering at
hog killing time, usually beginning on New Year s Day. The fattened
hogs are thrown on their backs, stuck with a long knife, and allowed to
bleed. After they are dipped into boiling water and scraped, estimates and
wagers are made on the weight. The carcass is cut up, the lard rendered,
and scrapple and sausage ground. After a plentiful supper the rooms are
cleared, fiddles and accordion are produced, and the guests take part in a
"hoedown" consisting of square and other country dances.
Berrying picnics are also popular. Quoits, charades, baseball games, and
bathing are among the recreations for which the plentitude of huckle
berries provides an excuse. Oyster suppers are an old custom in Gloucester
County, often begetting romance and marriage. Harvest home suppers are
a standby of many rural churches throughout the State; some, served in
the open, attract more than a thousand guests, among whom invariably
will be local politicians. In many towns the volunteer fire department
holds an annual fair, the main attraction being a chance on anything from
a basket of groceries to a new automobile. Salt Water Day, still observed
annually at Keyport, had its origin more than a hundred years ago, when
farmers made a yearly holiday visit to the seashore.
Among the Easter sunrise services, the one at Lakeview Memorial Park,
Burlington County, is especially impressive. This is conducted by the
Palmyra Moravian Church from a hillside altar overlooking a lake. To
the right of the altar stands a "singing tower" of chimes, and in the rear
is an immense cross brilliantly illuminated by lights of changing colors.
At the break of dawn, chorals are sung by a group attired in white sur
plices, accompanied by an ensemble of trumpets and trombones. The his
toric liturgy, which begins around 5 a.m., is attended by thousands.
In December at Atlantic City occurs the Eisteddfod, a six-day Festival
of Song that perpetuates an ancient Welsh custom derived from the trien
nial assembly of the Welsh bards and minstrels.
Hallowe en, aside from State-wide jollification, still produces two un
usual observances in Bergen County. The Welsh make a fire, and each
member of the gathering throws into it a white stone marked with his
name. He then retires for the night and looks for his stone in the morn
ing. If he does not find it, he is marked for the grave within the year
a superstition that may survive from ancient Druid beliefs. The Irish of
the same section have a much more cheery custom. Each family prepares
for the holiday supper a dish known as "callcannon," a conglomerate of
onions, potatoes, and parsnips. Placed in the mass are a gold ring and a
FOLKLORE AND FOLKWAYS 133
key. Whoever finds in his portion the ring, signifying early marriage, or
the key, meaning departure on a journey, will be the recipient of good
luck. On Thanksgiving Day, masked and costumed children parade the
streets in Jersey City and its environs begging for pennies.
The German-American societies of northern New Jersey hold an an
nual Plattdeutsches (low-German) Volksfest in North Bergen, usually
attended by from 12,000 to 15,000 persons. The program includes old
costume dances, skits, and athletic events.
Hammonton is transformed into an Italian town every July 16. From
20,000 to 25,000 persons flock there from four States to observe the Feast
of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Beginning early in the morning, mass is
celebrated each hour. The highlight of the festival is a religious proces
sion in which statues of favorite saints are carried through the streets.
In the early development of North Bergen, an area of farms and woods
beyond the boundary of the township was known as "the Jungles." This
territory, long since surrounded, now occupies three blocks near the cen
ter of town, and here arose the annual custom of crowning a "King of
the Jungle." The first authentically recorded coronation was in 1910.
On a specified day in summer, contestants strove with each other in
wrestling and in drinking ale, the winner being enthroned on a gaily be
decked barber chair. The defeated candidate then fanned the champion s
brow with brooms as he downed two more tankards to justify his exalted
position. In recent years the wrestling has been foregone for the brew now
supplied by enterprising politicians.
PUBLIC education in New Jersey developed somewhat slowly during
the first two centuries of the State s history. The progress achieved in
converting the Colonial log schoolhouse into the post-Revolutionary acad
emy was limited by the persistent idea that only those who could pay were
entitled to an education. In the last 70 years the united resources of the
State have replaced the academy with the present free school system.
The most important single advance in education was the legislative act
of 1871 which abolished all fees for instruction in public schools. Oppor
tunities for rich and poor were thus placed on a common level. The
hickory stick and the lash gradually went the way of the one-room build
ing. Even the kindergarten system, founded by enterprising women as a
means of making a living, was taken over by the State.
Cornerstone accomplishments in building an educational program were
the creation of a State-controlled system of training teachers in normal
schools, the consolidation of small, weak rural schools into larger and
stronger units, the development of a State-wide system of high schools,
and the founding of a State college with free scholarships. Federal funds
have made possible many additions to public school buildings in the past
five years. In the broadening field of adult education Perth Amboy and
the South Orange-Maplewood union have established notable lecture and
training courses that are being imitated throughout the State.
For the school year of 1936-37, the school system had an enrollment
of 779,713 pupils, of whom 192,757 were in high schools. The complete
educational program of that year cost $103,425,026 and employed 28,256
teachers. The average annual salary of day school teachers was $1,898 a
decrease of $245 since 1931. Publicly owned school buildings numbered
2,171, besides 31 rented structures. Value of buildings, land and equip
ment was listed at $341,111,987, and the net State school debt was about
$198,000,000.
Such has been the rise of what its opponents of a century ago bitterly
opposed as "a pauper system."
Once the early Dutch, Swedish, and English settlers had successfully
ti!
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, GLASSBORO
pushed the Indians away from the coasts, they turned to providing edu
cation for their young. Ministers held services in the log cabins and then
gave religious instruction to the children. On their insistence schoolmas
ters were brought from abroad to aid them.
The early log schoolhouse was about 16 feet square. Windows cut into
the log walls were covered in winter with sheepskin or oiled paper. There
was a huge fireplace at one end, and near the windows a rough desk for
the older children, who were learning arithmetic.
Frontier education was primitive. Reading was the main course, sup
plemented at times by writing, spelling, and arithmetic. The stern Dutch
and Puritan schoolmasters excelled in discipline, literally requiring their
pupils to toe the chalk line drawn across the schoolhouse floor. Slab
benches hardened the younger children against the usual punishment for
failing to toe the mark.
In the towns, the apprenticeship system in the crafts and trades aided
the progress of education. By contract the master was bound to teach his
apprentice not only his occupation but also "to read, wryte and cypher."
This led Moses Combs, an early Newark shoe manufacturer, to found a
night school for his apprentices; later the privilege was extended to
others. In Woodbridge as early as 1691 the town schoolmaster was en-
136 NEW JERSEY: TH-E GENERAL VIEW
gaged to teach until 9 o clock on winter nights, presumably for the bene
fit of apprentices and other workers.
Although these crude schools continued well into the last century, more
advanced institutions were founded in the older settlements for those able
to pay the cost. Newark Academy was opened in 1774, and the Trenton
Academy three years later. Princeton University had been established in
1746 by the Presbyterians at Elizabeth, and Rutgers was founded as
Queen s College by the Dutch Reformed Church in 1766. A Princeton
graduate opened a grammar school at Elizabethtown in the same year and
other college men followed his example.
The first move toward a free public school system in New Jersey was
made in 1813, when friends of education tried to obtain $40,000 from the
State for a school fund. After three years effort, the fund was started
with $15,000. Four years later the legislature authorized inhabitants of
townships to raise money for education of children unable to pay fees.
The State augmented its financial support in 1828 by allocating to educa
tion taxes from banks and insurance companies. In the same year, a con
vention of welfare associations at Trenton appointed a committee to
publicize the need for better schools. Nearly 12,000 children were re
ported devoid of education and one-fifth of the voters illiterate.
Although many citizens were moved by such findings, education was
still considered a luxury. It is related that the first school principal in
Newark was named primarily to curtail what the superintendent consid
ered waste of fuel. Incidental to his duties as janitor, he was to super
vise the course of study.
Clara Barton, later founder of the American Red Cross, was a pioneer
builder of the free school system in New Jersey during the middle of the
last century. Having obtained a teacher s certificate at the age of 15 in
her native Massachusetts, she offered her services without charge for three
months to aid the free school at Bordentown, a center of opposition to
"free schools for paupers." Her faith in the system was more than justi
fied by the quick growth of the school, which had an enrollment of 600
pupils in its second year.
Spurred by organizations and individuals, the State gradually assumed
its mounting obligation. New Jersey s first high school was founded at
Newark in 1838, the third oldest in the country. In 1841 the State board
of education was given general supervision over education, and in 1855
the first State normal school was founded at Trenton. Finally, 16 years
later, the legislature passed a bill declaring all public schools free. To
education was allotted the proceeds of sales from State lands under water.
EDUCATION 137
Shortly after 1870 a rapid expansion of high schools began in the north
ern and central counties. Much of the success of the movement was due to
the influence of President James McCosh of Princeton.
Since the Civil War, higher living standards for the wage earner have
fortified higher ambition for the schooling of his children. A ceaseless
demand has produced high schools in every town of importance, while
smaller neighboring districts have combined their resources to establish
high schools or have paid for tuition in nearby towns.
Through high expenditures and well-conceived planning New Jersey
has broadened the scope of its school system beyond that of many other
States. The State s educational expense per pupil is exceeded only by Cali
fornia, Nevada, and New York. The average cost for each student in av
erage daily attendance in 1932 was $126.39, against a national average
of $81.36. The outlay fell in 193637 to $113.99, a decrease of nearly
10 percent. As a result of the State s liberal educational program, the
proportion of illiterates declined from 5.1 to 3.8 percent in the period of
1920-30.
Expansion of schoolhouses and teaching staffs has been matched by
efforts to develop courses of study suitable to the special groups arising
from an industrialized civilization. The foreign-born white population of
New Jersey is now above 840,000 or about 22 percent of the whole, and
there are more than 1,400,000 white residents of foreign or "mixed "
parentage. Americanization courses have been installed in the regular
schools for the children and adult evening classes have been established.
In the central and southern parts of the State a separate elementary
school system is maintained for Negro children. This is not a State policy,
but depends rather upon the county and community, many small munic
ipalities in which there are few Negro residents being unable to afford the
double expense of a biracial system. Negroes attend all the institutions of
higher learning in the State, with the exception of Princeton University.
Despite the State s democratic educational program, Negroes often may
not teach in their own localities after graduation from the State Teachers
Colleges. Paterson, Newark, and Jersey City are among the noteworthy
exceptions to this practice. The State maintains the Manual and Industrial
School for Colored Youth at Bordentown, where 32 teachers give more
than 400 pupils occupational education and regular academic training.
For more than half a century school attendance has been required of all
children between the ages of 7 and 16. To this law has been added a
statute forbidding the employment of children under 14 years of age and
requiring those over 14 to be certified in fundamental schooling before
138 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
they may work. Continuation schools have been provided for part-time
workers; manual training, vocational, and agricultural schools have been
created in the farming and industrial areas to meet the demand for tech
nical and scientific training. An extensive program has been designed for
backward children, defectives, and cripples, as well as for the blind, deaf
and dumb.
The State has been a leader in attempting to give individual attention
to pupils, as opposed to the mass instruction of the past. Newark and
other large cities have been particularly quick to modify the old cur
riculum, to adopt modern methods of instruction, and to experiment
boldly in an effort to prepare their pupils for contemporary living.
Much remains to be done before equality of opportunity for every child
in the State is achieved. Although at present the wealthier cities and
towns are able to enlist the most qualified educators, many communities
lack funds to provide adequate teachers, buildings, and equipment.
Most school districts employ nurses who keep close watch on the pupils
to prevent epidemics and to safeguard general health. For 25 years school
districts have been required to engage physicians as medical inspectors to
ascertain physical defects of pupils. Dental clinics are being established
in increasing numbers, and health education has been incorporated into
the curriculum by State law.
The motor bus and the consolidated school have in the last 20 years
aided in overcoming some rural handicaps. Towns have pooled resources
to build consolidated schools and to obtain better instructors and equip
ment. The State has accelerated the consolidation of the rural free schools
and the extension of high school privileges by assuming three-fourths of
the cost of transporting children to school centers. There are still, how
ever, 320 one-room schools and 255 of two rooms each, housing more
than 10,000 children.
A commission named in 1932 by Governor A. Harry Moore to survey
school conditions recommended that the State should guarantee at least
$57 annually for every child of school age. Total cost to the State to sup
plement the funds of economically weak towns was estimated at $21,-
000,000 a year. Action on an equable distribution of State aid has been
delayed by the depression.
After making deductions for State institutions and losses through fail
ure of tax collection, property value decline and litigation, officers of the
New Jersey State Teachers Association estimate that in recent years State
aid to public schools has actually totaled not more than $5,500,000. This
is 6 percent of the cost of public education in New Jersey, compared with
EDUCATION 139
89 percent provided by Delaware, 66 percent by North Carolina and 33
percent by New York.
In recent years, the school tax system has failed to provide funds
promptly, causing a reduction of teaching facilities in weaker communities.
In 1934 the State had 485 fewer teachers than in 1931 although the num
ber of pupils had increased by 18,700. Salaries were delayed, courses cur
tailed, and the average teacher s salary fell from $2,143 to $1,821. In one
city 70 percent of the elementary pupils have been on part time. Cities
were forced to close summer schools and vocational evening schools, while
rural schools, hardest hit of all, were using textbooks published before
the World War, including geographies of pre-war Europe.
Much of the difficulty has been ascribed to the system of deriving
school funds almost exclusively from property taxes. Leading educators
urge that at least 20 percent of the burden be shifted to sources less likely
to dry up at the first indication of hard times.
Critics also object to State aid on the basis of the total daily attendance
of pupils in the public schools. Under this plan, by which each county
gets back a substantial portion of the money it raises for the State school
tax, the counties and communities least able to support public schools re
ceive the least assistance from the State.
New Jersey is one of five States with a State-wide tenure of office law.
A teacher cannot be removed nor his salary decreased after three years
of consecutive service, except on charges and after a hearing. However,
teachers from some communities assert that they have signed waivers re
linquishing the right to protest such dismissal or decrease in salary. Under
a law approved in 1919, pensions are provided for in the form of an
nuities from the teachers own contributions. Payment is made after the
age of 62 or following retirement, which is compulsory at 70.
The State board of education is a bipartisan body of ten, not more than
five of whom may be members of the same political party. The board ap
proves selection of county superintendents, can withhold funds from any
local board for failure to comply with State school laws, and issues teach
ers certificates, which are valid in any part of the State. Teachers cannot
be employed without certificates, and (with the exception of foreign lan
guage instructors) they are required to be citizens of the United States.
A teacher s oath of allegiance to the Constitution of the United States is
required under a law passed in 1935. No test case has resulted, and there
is no record of a teacher s refusing to comply with the law.
The State conducts six normal or training schools for teachers, situated
in Trenton, Montclair, Newark, Glassboro, Paterson, and Jersey City.
140 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
These are all four-year schools with authority to confer academic degrees,
and since 1913 all six have maintained summer schools.
New Jersey has two outstanding universities, Princeton and Rutgers. A
land-grant college since 1864, Rutgers was designated the State university
of New Jersey in 1917, and receives direct State aid and funds for free
scholarships. It ranks favorably with most State universities east of the
Mississippi and has made significant scientific and governmental contribu
tions to State progress. Its College of Agriculture maintains experimental
stations throughout the State. Established in 1918 as part of the State uni
versity is the New Jersey College for Women, which has developed rap
idly into one of the most progressive women s schools in the Nation.
Princeton, along with Yale and Harvard, is traditionally one of the
country s "Big Three." It has sent forth from its beautiful Gothic build
ings many men prominent in public affairs. Princeton has recently begun
to emphasize the social sciences and has undergone a campus democratiza
tion, largely inspired by Woodrow Wilson. The university curriculum is
particularly strong in architecture, politics, mathematics, and the classics.
Also at Princeton, although not part of the university, is the Institute
for Advanced Study, a small center for experiment and research in science
and the humanities conducted by some of the world s leading scholars.
Albert Einstein is a member of this group.
Stevens Institute of Technology at Hoboken (opened in 1871) holds a
distinguished place among the technical and engineering schools of the
country. It was the first college in the United States to grant the degree of
mechanical engineer. It has become a tradition to give only that degree,
but the M.E. carries with it training in civil, electrical, and chemical engi
neering, as well as the economics of engineering.
Organized in 1935, the University of Newark provides higher educa
tional opportunities for those in the lower income brackets in the crowded
northern New Jersey area. It represents a consolidation of New Jersey Law
School, Dana College, Mercer Beasley Law School, Newark Institute of
Arts and Sciences, and the Seth Boyden School of Business. In four years
it has achieved an acknowledged reputation as a leading liberal university.
The South Jersey Law School at Camden, Upsala College at East Orange,
and Newark College of Engineering are other well-known institutions.
New Jersey has many private schools of long-established reputation.
Among the outstanding religious schools are the College of St. Elizabeth
at Convent Station, Drew University at Madison, Seton Hall College at
South Orange, and Centenary Collegiate Institute at Hackettstown. More
than 70 schools in the State prepare students for colleges and universities.
EDUCATION 141
Among the better known preparatory schools are the Hun School at
Princeton, Lawrenceville Academy at Lawrenceville, Bordentown Military
Institute at Bordentown, and the Peddie School at Hightstown.
A widespread parochial school system under the direction of the clergy
covers the two Roman Catholic dioceses in the State. There were 263 of
these schools in 1935, with an enrollment of nearly 116,000 pupils.
New Jersey s libraries are an important adjunct to its educational sys
tem, aided by a law permitting taxes to be levied for their establishment
in any community. There are 337 municipal libraries and n county li
braries. The Newark Library, founded in 1888, achieved an exceptionally
prominent position under the leadership of John Cotton Dana. Only four
towns of more than 2,000 population are without library service. There
are 4,000,000 books in use, and many city libraries have provided outlying
rural sections with reading matter by means of the library truck. The New
Jersey Public Library Commission was established in 1900 to encourage
and aid library service throughout the State. It has headquarters at Tren
ton, where it acts as a clearing house for book requests, aids in establish
ing new libraries, and gives advice on all questions and problems that
affect libraries in New Jersey.
Several New Jersey museums contribute a broadening influence to edu
cation. Largest and widest in its service is the Newark Museum, one of
the first of such institutions in the country to specialize in science and in
dustry. It also has important art and historical collections. Noteworthy in
the historical field are the New Jersey State Museum at Trenton, the His
torical Museum at Morristown, and the Museum of the New Jersey
Historical Society in Newark. The Montclair Art Museum s collection
consists chiefly of paintings and sculpture, and the Paterson Museum fea
tures natural science. Among the museums developed by State colleges
and universities, the most important are the Stevens Institute of Tech
nology Museum at Hoboken, largely devoted to mechanics and science,
the Museum of Historic Art and various scientific collections at Princeton
University, and the geological and agricultural museums at Rutgers Uni
versity.
y j j j j j j v y M v v V V V V V V V V V V V- V- V V V V
ion
WORSHIP in New Jersey is as various as the population itself,
ranging from the guttural chants of the Greek Orthodoxy to the
carefully accented English of the Episcopalians ; from the enthusiastic dis
order of revival meetings to the heavy dignity of urban churches; from
crossroads houses of God to massive cathedrals.
In the city areas religious interest has become mainly a matter of Sun
day observance; seemingly the church exerts a diminishing influence over
its members private lives. To attract the individual s time and support, a
number of denominations in New Jersey, as elsewhere, have developed
forums, athletics, and entertainments similar to those of civic, fraternal
and labor organizations.
In smaller communities, especially those of the rural south and the resi
dential north, the church has preserved an important measure of prestige
and control. It remains strong enough in many small towns to enforce local
Blue Laws ; ministers in certain communities may reprove publicly women
who smoke and men who drink. Frequently the churches continue to be
the principal charitable and social welfare agencies.
Historically New Jersey has a reputation for ecclesiastical tolerance and
liberalism. It was one of the four original Colonies that successfully re
sisted attempts of the Church of England to create an established church.
The several individual churches, however, achieved a local hegemony no
less stringent than that of an official church. Despite the brave statement
entered into the records of West New Jersey in 1676 that "No men, nor
number of men upon earth, hath power or authority to rule over men s
consciences in religious matters," the separate churches remained until
well after the Civil War jealous institutions that would brook no other
loyalties.
Early Dutch immigrants established in 1662 at Bergen (now Jersey City
Heights) the first duly instituted church in the Colony, the Bergen Re
formed Church of the Dutch Reformed denomination under the jurisdic
tion of the Classis of Amsterdam. This denomination, however, was ham-
142
TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH, NEWARK
144 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
pered in its growth after 1664, when the English conquest of New Jersey
carried with it the adoption of English forms of faith.
The English settlements in New Jersey, following the fall of the Dutch,
were largely made by Puritans from New England and Long Island, who
quickly thwarted the Catholic hopes of James, Duke of York, and the Pro
prietors plans to establish the Church of England in the Colony. Con
necticut Congregationalists founded Newark in 1666 as a theocracy, where
voting privilege necessitated membership in the church. While the founda
tion for two centuries of Calvinist domination was being laid in northern
New Jersey, Baptists pushed down from Rhode Island in 1668 to establish
the first Baptist church south of that State at Middletown.
The Colony s spirited wrangles with the Crown brought disfavor upon
the proponents of the Church of England. The church was finally founded
at Perth Amboy in 1698, but was almost immediately made the scapegoat
in continued disputes with royal authority. It soon disappeared as the offi
cial church and was later re-established as the Episcopal Church.
In 1675 Quakers began to settle West New Jersey and established there
the oldest Friends colony in America. Adopting the southern plantation
way of life, the Quakers practiced the tolerance they preached. They op
posed war, argued against slavery (although their wealth depended upon
the continuance of the system), and set other Colonials an example by
keeping their treaties with the Indians.
New Jersey s tolerance did not extend to Roman Catholics. The Colony
legislated in 1700 against priests, instructing that they be "deemed in
cendiary and disturbers of the public peace and safety, enemies of the true
Christian religion, and adjudged to suffer perpetual imprisonment." Under
determined missionaries such as Father Ferdinand Farmer and Theodore
Schneider, Catholicism stubbornly grew, but as late as 1785 probably no
more than 1,000 Roman Catholics were in the State. Not until 1814 was
the State s first parish established in Trenton.
The Lutherans did not become an important group until 1732 when
church members from the Palatinate in Germany settled in the Mahwah
district of northern New Jersey, Oldwick, Long Valley and New Bruns
wick. In 1750 the northern Palatine Lutherans united their forces and
built the present stone church in Oldwick.
By the middle of the eighteenth century the Colony was geographically
divided into four religious units. The Dutch Reformed members were pre
dominant along the Hudson River; heirs of the Puritan tradition ruled
Newark and its environs; Perth Amboy and the central section harbored
the greatest mixture of creeds; and south and west, with the exceptions
RELIGION 145
of small groups of Baptists and Presbyterians, the land was controlled by
Quakers.
Among the minor sects that developed in New Jersey during the Colo
nial period were the Seventh Day Baptists and the Universalists. The for
mer sect was founded in 1707 at Piscataway by dissenters from the local
Baptist congregation. Although the sect was weakened in 1789 when the
Shrewsbury church as a body moved to Salem, West Virginia (then part
of Virginia), its national headquarters are still in Plainfield.
In 1770 the Reverend John Murray established the Universalist Church
of America. Murray, it is said, was wandering through the woods of
southern New Jersey after a shipwreck, when he came upon a lonely
church in the woods. Instructed by one Thomas Potter, who had built the
church with his own hands in order to expound the universal fatherhood
of God, Murray forthwith preached the first Universalist sermon in Amer
ica. At about the same time Moravians emigrated from Bethlehem, Penn
sylvania, to Hope, but according to historians, "by trusting too much to
the honesty of those with whom they had business, suffered in their pecu
niary affairs. In 1808 they returned to Pennsylvania."
Methodism started later than most of the other major sects. Although
George Whitefield had held evangelistic meetings in New Brunswick in
1740, there was no real impetus toward that faith until 1770 when Cap
tain Thomas Webb of the English Army set up an active group at Burling
ton. The following year a society was organized in Trenton, where in
1773 the first Methodist church was built. The most important force in
the early period of the church was Bishop Francis Asbury, who toured the
southern part of the State with remarkable success in organizing congre
gations.
The Revolution found Roman Catholics incensed by Crown persecu
tions ; Quakers, Baptists, and Presbyterians opposed to England ; while the
Episcopalians, a good proportion of the noncombatant members of the
Society of Friends, and some east New Jersey Calvinists remained loyal.
The revolutionary clergy apparently played an important part in the war,
for Royal agents reports frequently contained reference to "rascally minis
ters" and "perfidious preachers."
The constitution of 1776 was accounted a liberal document by its fram-
ers. In guaranteeing freedom of religious worship, it stated, however, that
no Protestant should be denied either civil rights or trial by jury on account
of his religion. It was not until the adoption of a new State constitution in
1844 that laws excluding Roman Catholics from public office were re
pealed.
146 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
The membership of Christian denominations increased rapidly between
the Revolution and the Civil War. Methodists inaugurated their celebrated
camp meetings which by 1820 were common affairs; these culminated in
the establishment of Ocean Grove in 1869, a religious resort where even
now on the Sabbath the gates are closed and bathing and automobile
traffic are prohibited on this day. The Episcopal and Baptist Churches en
joyed corresponding growth, and Roman Catholic membership was greatly
increased by immigration following the Irish famine of 1845.
An idealistic, Utopian spirit swept over the State in the 1830 $ and 1 840*5,
giving rise to a variety of sects and schisms. In 1837 Mormons settled at
South Toms River where they carried on evangelical efforts for a decade
and a half before joining their brethren in Utah. The liberal Hicksite
teachings shortly afterward caused a lively row among the usually peace
ful Quakers. Similarly, exceptionally fervent and frequent evangelism and
unauthorized public prayer meetings interrupted the peaceful progress of
the long-established churches.
Although Jews first settled in Monmouth County in the eighteenth cen
tury and Benjamin Levy, prominent London Jew, served as a Proprietor
of West New Jersey, it was not until the middle of the following century
that they were of sufficient number to found a temple. Sixty Jewish fami
lies in Newark organized Congregation B nai Jeshurun in 1848, the first
in the State, and the next year a congregation by the same name was
founded in Paterson. Until 1880 most Jewish immigrants were orthodox
believers from Western Europe, principally Germany. Quick to be inte
grated with modern America, they naturally formed the nucleus of the
reformed Jewish movement in this country. Orthodox Jews began to out
number the reformed in the late nineteenth century when Russian and
Polish persecution drove thousands out of European ghettos into the indus
trial regions of America and New Jersey.
European immigration after 1880 altered considerably the prevailingly
English character of the Christian church throughout the State. Roman
Catholicism expanded with the sizable increase in Italian population, and
the Greek Orthodox Catholic Church made considerable gains. The Ger
man Lutheran Church, although founded in Colonial times, was sig
nificantly enlarged by political and military refugees from Germany. Negroes
from the South after the Civil War also increased the membership of the
Baptists and Methodists.
The last major denomination to be founded in New Jersey was the
Christian Science Church, which first held informal meetings at Long
Branch in 1893. The First Church of Christ, Scientist, of Jersey City,
RELIGION 147
formed in 1896, was soon followed by others in Newark, Camden, and
Orange.
The United States Religious Census of 1926 (the latest available)
counted 101 denominations in New Jersey, of which 65 are named and
the remainder listed as "all others." In that year there were 3,497 churches
and 1,983,781 members. Church property was valued at $162,654,034.
Sunday schools numbered 3,064, with 489,651 students and 49,980 teachers.
The Roman Catholic Church has the largest membership in the State
with a total of 1,055,998. (U. S. Census of 1926.) A Papal decree of
December 1937, creating the Archdiocese of Newark to include the entire
State, attested official recognition of the size and importance of the
Catholic Church in New Jersey. Archbishop Thomas J. Walsh was placed
in charge. The Catholics principal sectarian activity is an elaborate parochial
school system augmented by Seton Hall College for men in South Orange,
St. Elizabeth s College for women at Convent Station, and Georgian Court
College, also for women, at Lakewood, as well as smaller institutions of
higher learning.
Roman Catholics have perhaps the most spectacular public demonstra
tions of faith of any group in the State. Especially notable is the produc
tion of Veronica s Veil, a Passion Play staged annually since 1914 during
Lent under the direction of Rev. Joseph N. Grieff at St. Joseph s Parish in
Union City. The cast requires 300 members. The Holy Name Society of
the Roman Catholic Church holds annual parades in all large communi
ties. In Newark as many as 50,000 march.
Protestant membership totals about 900,000. More than two-thirds of
this membership is divided among the denominations (figures from 1936
denominational reports ) :
Presbyterian 175,134
Methodist Episcopal 149,204
Protestant Episcopal 9 I >557
Baptist 62,998
Dutch Reformed Church in America 3 8 375
United Lutheran 37,458
Christian-Congregationalist 1 7,036
The Protestants do not subsidize an elaborate educational system. They
have, however, several important theological centers, notably the Presby
terian schools at Princeton and Bloomfield; the Dutch Reformed semi
nary, one of two in this country, at New Brunswick; and the Methodist
institution at Drew University, Madison. Several small schools are sup-
148 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
ported by the Episcopal Church. The Baptists support the International
Baptist Seminary in East Orange where foreign-born students are trained
and ordained as missionaries to their native countries. The scope and in
tensity of the struggle between modernist and fundamentalist in the schools
appears to have intensified the generally conservative trend of Protestantism
in the State.
The Jewish population of 225,306 is served by 188 houses of worship
(membership figures not available). Each synagogue or temple is an inde
pendent organization and its government is congregational. Divided into
Reformed, Conservative, and Orthodox sects, Jews differ more upon ques
tions of custom, ceremonial and theology than upon tenets of faith. Ortho
dox Jews, the largest group, stem chiefly from Russia and Poland; while
conservatives, usually representing the second generation, come also from
Eastern Europe and from Central Europe. The reform movement is con
fined mainly to Jews of German descent, with an accretion drawn from
Jews of Middle and Eastern European origin or descent.
Both the reformed temples and the orthodox synagogues engage in con
siderable philanthropic work, much of it nonsectarian. Jewish religious
instruction centers in the reformed Sunday Schools and the orthodox and
conservative in the Talmud Torahs, schools where thousands of youths
study the Hebrew language and Jewish ceremonies and customs.
Among the Negro population (208,828) the church is the most impor
tant and the financially strongest institution. Since 1812, when the free
Negroes organized the First Baptist Church at Trenton, the number of
Negro churches has increased to 412, with a membership of 71,221 repre
senting 19 denominations. The Baptist is the largest group with 159
churches and a membership of 41,129. The group next in importance, the
Methodist, established the Mount Pisgah A. M. E. Church at Free Haven
(now Lawnside) in 1813. St. Philips Church, another historic body, was
organized at Newark in 1856. The Negro church is becoming more of a
social center, and its ministers more and more interested in social and
political affairs. The rapid influx of Negroes from the South has caused a
large increase in the number of meeting places. In urban centers this
sudden increase in membership has been largely responsible for the "store
front" churches, buildings formerly used as stores.
In addition to the larger denominations there are many religious sects
of varying strength. In the south, the Quakers, with 3,546 orthodox and
Hicksite members and 29 meeting houses, still hold a prominent position.
The Greek Orthodox Church with 9 churches and 5,424 members and the
Russian Orthodox with 12 churches and 9,783 members are strongest in
RELIGION 149
the industrial cities of Newark, Bayonne, and Passaic. The last-named city
is the scene of a struggle for control of the Russian Church between mem
bers sympathetic to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Russians
opposed to this regime.
New Jersey has been fertile territory for strange religious offshoots. The
Pillar of Fire Movement, organized in 1901 at Denver, has had its national
headquarters since 1908 at Zarephath near Bound Brook. The Pillar of
Fire doctrine is described as Methodistic in character, dedicated to "true
scientific research as against false speculation of modernism and higher
criticism destructive to orthodox Christian faith." Disciples practice their
faith with such unrestrained vigor and enthusiasm that they are known
locally as "The Holy Jumpers."
The sensational cult headed by the Negro, Father Divine, maintains a
number of "Heavens" throughout the State, principally in the metropoli
tan area. The funds for the original "Heaven" in Sayville, Long Island,
are said to have been furnished by a resident of Newark, one Pinninah,
who is now called Mother Divine. From apparently inexhaustible funds
Divine provides free banquets to the destitute, purchases blocks of real
estate, and finances his $1.50 a week lodging houses. "He s God! Peace,
it s wonderful! Thank you, Father!" is the chant of his thousands of
Negro and white followers. Sometimes frenzies in New Jersey "Heavens"
have terminated in clashes with the police.
Another unusual sect is that of Jehovah s Witnesses, scattered about the
State but strongest in the northern section. Its members object to the vac
cination of school children and condemn as idolatrous the practice of salut
ing the flag. Opposition to the flag salute has been taken to the courts as
a test of civil liberties, and the Witnesses have won their point in an ap
peal to the United States District Court.
The ramifications of "Jersey Justice" have on occasion interpreted in a
narrow fashion the religious liberties apparently granted by the State Con
stitution, which ranks high for its liberality. In the celebrated case of
Eaton v. Eaton in 1936, despite constitutional guarantees to the contrary,
the Court of Chancery denied a mother the custody of her children on the
ground that her communistic and atheistic views were contrary to public
policy of the State. The decree was upheld by the Court of Errors and
Appeals, although the latter body, in its opinion, did refer to her beliefs
as "irrelevant."
Organized religion, as such, exerts practically no State-wide political
influence, although the Catholic Church successfully opposed legislation,
for the sterilization of defectives. Affected by their neighboring metro-
150 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
politan areas, churches in the northern part of the State show a general
trend toward liberalism, while those in the southern section are more con
servative. The clergy as a whole has limited its support chiefly to the more
widely accepted labor reforms, the peace movement, and good government
drives.
Attempts to make concrete this type of liberalism have cost several New
Jersey ministers their churches. The Reverend L. Hamilton Garner, an out
spoken liberal, was forced from his Newark pastorate at the Universalist
Church in 1937 after he had sponsored a community forum in which left-
wing speakers participated. For similar reasons the Reverend Archey Bali
was obliged to leave his Methodist pulpit in Ridgewood.
Two of the best-known New Jersey clergymen have won secular and
civil prominence, respectively, as exponents of a more conservative type
of religion. The Reverend William Hiram Foulkes, pastor of Old First
Presbyterian Church of Newark, was in 1937 elected Moderator of the
Presbyterian Church in the United States. In the same year the Reverend
Lester H. Clee, pastor of Newark s Second Presbyterian Church, became
titular head of the New Jersey Republican Party after losing a close race
as its gubernatorial nominee. Clee became known first for his enormously
successful Bible classes and then, while a State legislator, as the spokes
man for the Clean Government faction from Essex County.
Interchurch cooperation has made considerable progress throughout the
State. The New Jersey Council for Religious Education, successor to the
New Jersey Sunday School Association, founded in 1858, operates as a
unifying force among Protestant denominations. New Jersey is the only
State in which the national and State units of the religious groups have
set up such a cooperative staff plan. In several communities Protestant de
nominations have accepted either the John D. Rockefeller or Federal
Council of Churches plan for union and have pooled their material, as
well as spiritual, interests.
Thanksgiving and other national holidays are occasions for joint Jewish
and Christian services; seminars and institutes on marriage, crime, and
other sociological questions usually invite a complete clerical representa
tion. In Newark and the larger cities there has been a marked advance in
cooperation between Negro and white religious organizations. The cause
of world peace, however, has accounted for the greatest measure of reli
gious unity; no peace meeting in New Jersey is complete without the
benediction of priest, rabbi, and minister. Pacificism not only has welded
the churches together but also has been the strongest force for uniting
religious and lay groups on a program of common action.
The Arts
Literature
FROM the time of Philip Freneau and Francis Hopkinson in the late
eighteenth century, New Jersey has often shared in the leadership of
American letters. In much the same manner that these Revolutionary poets
led the way to the great poetic flowering of New England, Stephen Crane
a century later influenced the modern American novel. More recently, the
Humanism of Paul Elmer More at Princeton inspired the growth of a defi
nite and influential school of American criticism. Between these peaks in
New Jersey literature lies a chain of plateaus which represents a consist
ently solid contribution to American literature.
Those who, in the pre-Revolutionary era, looked to the printed word
for inspiration and enlightenment were fed, for the most part, upon a
native diet of theological dissertations, moral tracts, and political polemics.
Against this dreary mass of what Charles Lamb termed bJblia-a-biblia, or
books that are not books, only the writings of the gentle Quaker preacher,
John Woolman (1720-72), shine out conspicuously with the glow of
creative literature.
Woolman, born at Ancocas (later Rancocas) in the province of West
Jersey, served as a tailor s apprentice in his youth and then for a time had
his own shop in Mount Holly. At the age of twenty-three he joined the
Quaker ministry, spending the rest of his life as an itinerant crusader
against the social evils of his time chiefly the evil of slavery. His Journal
embodies a remarkable picture of Colonial society. "Get the writings of
John Woolman by heart" was Lamb s counsel, and Ellery Channing spoke
of the Journal as "the sweetest and purest autobiography in the language."
The Revolutionary War produced Jonathan Odell (1737-1818), a na
tive of Newark, whose rampant Toryism caused him to be driven from
Burlington to New York in 1776. There he wrote three verse satires in
which he characterized the Revolution as "a hideous hell-broth made up of
lies and hallucinations." Prime objects of Odell s vicious attacks were two
able patriot pamphleteers: William Livingston (1723-90), a vigorous
152 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
Elizabethtown Whig and the State s first Governor, and John Wither-
spoon (1723-94), president of the College of New Jersey (Princeton),
and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Witherspoon also wrote
widely on religious topics.
Although Philip Freneau (1752-1832) was a master of vitriolic political
writing and a notable influence in shaping the course of post-Revolutionary
democracy, it is as the first significant American poet that his fame en
dures. A few years after his birth in New York City, his family purchased
a summer residence known as "Mount Pleasant," near Middletown Point,
New Jersey. This became the poet s permanent home in later life, and
near it he perished in a blizzard. Notable among his poems, in addition to
some excellent patriotic verse and songs of the sea, are The Wild Honey
suckle, which has been termed "the first stammer of nature poetry in
America," and The Indian Burying Ground, the earliest treatment of an
Indian theme by an American poet.
A contemporary pamphleteering rival of the man whom George Wash
ington is said to have characterized as "that rascal Freneau," and also a
musician and poet of more than ordinary talent for his time, was Francis
Hopkinson (1737-91), who married a daughter of Colonel Joseph Bor-
den of Bordentown and after about 1773 made his home in that city.
Hopkinson s satiric masterpiece was the ballad, The Battle of the Kegs,
which described the launching of an early ancestor of the torpedo against
British ships during the Revolutionary War.
In Washington s army during its retreat across New Jersey after the dis
aster at Fort Lee in 1776 was the Englishman who has been called "the
pen of the American Revolution"; and at Newark this man began to
write the first of his Crisis pamphlets, with its famous opening sentence,
"These are the times that try men s souls." In this and a dozen or more
later issues of The Crisis, Thomas Paine (1737-1809) did a splendid
service in revivifying the flagging spirit of the Revolution. When he lived
in Bordentown, from 1781 to 1787, he was chiefly occupied with writing
on finance and economics. Paine returned there for a brief period in 1802,
momentarily forgotten in the political quarrels of a Nation which he had
helped to found.
Among the earliest of playwrights and novelists to make use of Ameri
can material, as well as the first historian of the theater and of the arts of
design in the United States, was William Dunlap (1766-1839), a native
of Perth Amboy. Here the first eleven years of his life were spent, and
here he was buried after his death in New York City. Briefer still was the
residence in his native State of a far more famous literary figure, James
THE ARTS 153
Fenimore Cooper, born at Burlington in 1789. Though his family moved
to Cooperstown, New York, soon thereafter, the novelist made use of his
native locale in The Water Witch, a tale of the New Jersey coast.
A frequent visitor who journeyed down from his home on the Hudson
River was Washington Irving (1783-1859). He began his serious literary
work in Newark during 1806-7 as a participant in roistering and baccha
nalian dinners at the Gouverneur Kemble mansion, Cockloft Hall. The
conviviality of his companions, known significantly as "The Nine Wor
thies" and "The Lads of Kilkenny," inspired the satiric Salmagundi pa
pers, the success of which set the pattern for Irving s career. He also
wrote poetry describing the Passaic River and the surrounding countryside.
As in the other arts, New Jersey s progress in literature slowed down
between 1830 and 1860. Almost the sole original spark in the mass of
indifferent writing of this period came from the Englishman, Henry Wil
liam Herbert (1807-1858). From his cottage on the Passaic River near
Newark, where he lived from 1845 until his death, he issued under the
pseudonym of "Frank Forester" a large number of stories and sketches
having to do with life and sport in the open. He also wrote several his
torical novels, less sententious and romantic than the prevailing mode.
With the Civil War a new literary leadership rose out of a profound
change in the writers point of view. The young critics, novelists and poets,
who were to influence American taste for a generation, were acutely sensi
tive to the problems of a Nation passing from agricultural infancy to in
dustrial youth. Beginning with Richard Watson Gilder s inquiry now
considered mild and culminating in the harsh portraits by Stephen Crane,
the theme of social exploration dominates the period up to 1900.
In certain respects Richard Watson Gilder (18441909) may be con
sidered the first of the moderns, typifying in breadth of artistic and literary
appreciation and in the solid virtues of conscientious citizenship two
streams of American impulse toward a more civilized life. Born in Bor-
dentown, he left the State while still a child and did not return until the
Civil War period. After some reporting experience on the Newark Daily
Advertiser, he engaged with Newton Crane in the founding of the New
ark Morning Register. In 1870 he was appointed assistant editor of Scrib-
ner s Magazine, under J. G. Holland ; and eleven years later, at the death
of Holland, the magazine became the Century and Gilder its editor in
chief.
In this position, which he held until his death, Gilder brought his creed
of citizenship to bear upon the problems of late Victorian America. He
was an early advocate of rapprochement between North and South, a stern
154 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
opponent of Tammany corruption and an active participant in an early
slum-clearance campaign in New York City. Gilder was an unfailing cham
pion of high standards and "good taste," and his editorial attitude had a
marked influence on the literary scene in America. Of his numerous vol
umes of verse, two of the best were tributes to his wife The New Day,
a series of love sonnets, and its sequel, The Celestial Passion. Though
New Jersey saw little of him after the i88o s, the State may justly claim
him as a distinguished native.
Edmund Clarence Stedman (1833-1908) combined shrewd business
ability with considerable talent as poet and critic. His charming worldli-
ness manifested itself in his conversational powers, shown at their best in
literary gatherings at his homes in Newark, Elizabeth, and Irvington,
where he lived from 1860 to 1870. Hither came Gilder and his sister
Jeannette, a pioneer in the writing of literary news; Mary Mapes Dodge,
excited by her plans for children s literature; Richard Henry Stoddard,
at the start of his career as poet and critic ; and the translator-poet, Bayard
Taylor, who was then completing his notable translation of Goethe s
Faust. Stedman s Victorianism, on the one hand, and his grasp of sound
literary principles, on the other, greatly influenced these youthful "squires
of poesy," as they romantically styled themselves. His gift of graceful
lyricism is expressed in such poems as "Pan in Wall Street" and "Creole
Lover s Song"; his anthologies of American and British poets are compre
hensive; and with George E. Woodberry he edited the standard edition
of Edgar Allan Poe.
Through the accident of illness, a little house on Mickle Street in Cam-
den became one of those literary havens that recompense aging poets for
their early struggles. Walt Whitman (181992), after ten years in Wash
ington as a newspaper correspondent, a war hospital nurse, and a Govern
ment clerk, in 1873 suffered a paralytic stroke and retired to Camden,
where his brother lived. He spent eleven years in his brother s house in
Stevens Street, and the last eight years of his life in his own home at No.
330 Mickle Street.
During much of this time he was able to get about, going down to
Timber Creek, a stream some ten miles below Camden, and enjoying walks
and talks with intimates. Whitman s Camden period was not, however,
merely the passive twilight of a creative life. Here he wrote some of his
best prose in Specimen Days and Collect (1882-83), and prepared five
new editions of Leaves of Grass (1876-92) to three of which were added
new groups of poems Two Rivulets (1876), November Boughs (1888),
and Goodbye, My Fancy (1891). Artists, writers, and others who had felt
WALT WHITMAN S TOMB, CAMDEN
the refreshing catharsis of Whitman s work frequented the house in Mickle
Street; he was hailed by the literary elect of many foreign countries. Pos
sibly no literary man ever lived to see a greater transformation of opinion
regarding his own writings.
The Camden days marked the turning point of Whitman s career in two
other respects. Now, for the first time, his writings earned him a measure
of freedom from financial worries. An article, too, published in the West
Jersey Press in 1876 which described him as "poor . . . old . . . and
paralyzed" brought a prompt influx of gifts and money from friends and
sympathizers all over the world. Both the reading public and the critics
began to see fundamental decency in Whitman s honest naturalism. A last
attempt in 1882 by sanctimonious editors to bowdlerize Leaves of Grass
aroused a courageous and successful defense of the poet by many leading
critics and editors. The "deathbed edition" of Leaves of Grass closed
Whitman s Camden period.
Whitman s years in Camden became the theme of a vast body of writ
ing, including Visits to Walt Whitman in 1890-1891, by J. Johnson and
156 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
J. W. Wallace, Walt Whitman in Mickle Street, by Elizabeth Leavitt
Keller and With Walt Whitman in Camden, by Horace Traubel. Trau-
bel s work is one of the most scrupulous and most minute records of an
author in action since Boswell s Johnson. He (1858-1919) was a native
of Camden, editor of a journal of liberal opinion, The Conservator, which
he founded in 1890 in Philadelphia.
Stephen Crane (1871-1900), perhaps the State s outstanding native
literary figure, represents chiefly a revolt against formalism and smugness
in fiction, but his gifts are too varied and individual to be easily classified.
At the age of twenty-five he published The Red Badge of Courage, a
novel of the Civil War that attracted Nation-wide attention. Then, setting
out to learn of war at first hand, he joined a Cuban filibustering expedi
tion, and suffered experiences that were later epitomized in The Open
Boat, which H. G. Wells called the finest short story in the English
language.
Meanwhile, his reputation as a writer on war brought him commissions
as war correspondent in the Greco-Turkish and Spanish- American Wars.
The private publication of Maggie: A Girl of the Streets aroused a storm
of criticism similar to that later evoked by Dreiser s Sister Carrie. Wholly
different was the reception accorded his Whilomville Stories, an authentic
record of New Jersey village life. In his two volumes of free verse, Black
Riders and War Is Kind, Crane proved himself a master of epigrammatic
compression. The last period of his life was spent in England, where he
became the intimate friend of Joseph Conrad. He died of consumption,
and was buried at Elizabeth, New Jersey. The Stephen Crane Association
was formed to acquire his birthplace at No. 14 Mulberry Street, Newark.
Lean, tall, slow-speaking, and hollow-eyed, Stephen Crane challenged
the mores of his day with a sometimes grim, sometimes half-smiling, in
tegrity. It is his honesty of viewpoint and method, together with his
interest in the effects of environment on character, that earned for him the
title of "father of the American psychological novel," though actually his
work barely preceded that of Dreiser.
Since the Revolution, New Jersey as a theme had been neglected by its
authors. In the late seventies and eighties, however, many writers, both of
New Jersey and elsewhere, began once more to use its historic and re
gional possibilities. Frank R. Stockton (1834-1902), who lived a large
part of his life in many New Jersey towns, principally Morristown, vivi
fied in Stories of New Jersey the discovery and settlement of the State and
its part in the Barbary War and the War of 1812. He is best known for
the short story The Lady or the Tiger? and for Rudder Grange and other
THE ARTS 157
novels which experimented with folk material. While Bret Harte (1836-
1902) was in Morristown from 1873 to 1876 he wrote the rousing Revo
lutionary poem "Caldwell at Springfield," celebrating the parson who fur
nished the soldiers with Watts hymnals for gun wadding and created the
battle-cry, "Give em Watts, boys!" (see Tour 10).
The Revolution and the military exploits of General Philip Kearny at
tracted the poet, Thomas Dunn English (1819-1902), who lived in
Newark from 1878 until his death. His most popular work, however, is
the sentimental lyric, "Ben Bolt," which was blared at him so often as a
song that he wished he had never composed the verse.
The salty Swedish fishing and ocean lore of Barnegat City formed the
basis for F. Hopkinson Smith s The Tides of Barnegat. This novel, writ
ten by a Pennsylvanian, is generally regarded as a highly successful treat
ment of New Jersey folk material. Among other out-of-State writers who
dipped into the State s history and personality were Joaquin Miller, author
of a ballad on Washington s crossing of the Delaware, and Mark Twain,
whose travel notes leave something to be desired in the way of compli
ment toward New Jersey.
Mary Mapes Dodge (1838-1905) played literary fairy godmother to
thousands of American children. She began as one of the pioneers in
juvenile writing with Hans Brinker: or, The Silver Skates during her two
decades in Newark and continued as the editor of the children s periodical,
St. Nicholas. For three generations her books and magazine were as in
dispensable to a well-rounded childhood as a Fauntleroy suit or a Buster
; Brown haircut. Equally essential to the experience of youths were the hun
dreds of "seventy-five centers," especially the Rover Boys series by Ed
ward L. Stratemeyer (1862-1930) of Newark. Edith Bishop Sherman of
South Orange later expanded the juvenile field by using events in the
growth of the State for background in her stories.
Besides exercising a notable influence upon American literary standards
as editor of Harper s Magazine for fifty years, Henry Mills Alden (1836
1919) of Metuchen gave ample evidence of his own ability as a writer in
three published volumes God in His World, A Study of Death, and
j Magazine Writing and the New Literature. Henry Cuyler Bunner (1855-
96) of Nutley was also a magazine editor who achieved success in author
ship, his output comprising a quantity of graceful vers de societe, two
novels, and several volumes of short stories.
Hamilton Wright Mabie (1845-1916), who lived in Summit after
1888, wrote graceful critical essays and charming myths for children. He
was one of the earliest scholars to popularize Shakespeare.
158 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
New Jersey claims a literary naturalist and scientific archeologist of
some prominence in Charles Conrad Abbott (1843-1919). Trenton was
his birthplace, and its adjacent countryside his hunting grounds. A few
miles south of the city on the banks of the Delaware was the old Abbott
homestead, "Three Beeches," which he occupied after 1874 and until
the time of his death. His delightful essays on outdoor life found a host
of readers.
Many Princeton men have been in the vanguard of the quest for prin
ciples that would govern both critical and popular writing in the twen
tieth century. Two particularly influential essayists were Henry van Dyke
(1852-1933) and Paul Elmer More (1864-1936). Van Dyke typified
the accomplished man of letters in his roles as essayist, minor poet, short-
story writer, lecturer, and religious author. More s several volumes of
Shelburne Essays gave him rank as one of America s foremost critics, and
made him the lawgiver and spokesman of the Humanists. His insistence
upon a grounding in the classics and a classical approach to literature,
however, more deeply affected critical than creative writers.
The political influence of Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) has over
shadowed his very real contribution to literature. During his Princeton
period, first as professor and later as president, he wrote six books on
literary, historical and political subjects, including the five-volume History
of the American People. While Governor of New Jersey, Wilson wrote
the highly significant The New Freedom. This most explicit statement of his
theories of government, intended to foreshadow his own administration, be
came the bible of pre-war liberals and is yet an important source for
progressive thought; its tenets were incorporated in the platform of the
Nonpartisan League. The clarity and deliberateness of Wilson s writing
profoundly affected subsequent political literature.
The Princeton Stories of Jesse Lynch Williams (1871-1929) represent
a high- water mark in collegiate fiction. Published in 1895, they marked
the first public appearance of a talented young author who had been active
in the university s literary and dramatic life. In 1900 he returned to his
alma mater to edit for three years the Princeton Alumni Weekly. His later
works plays and stories were written chiefly in New York.
Joyce Kilmer (1886-1918) of New Brunswick, through his death on a
French battlefield and one short poem, Trees, achieved a posthumous
recognition seldom accorded a minor poet. His life, after he had grad
uated from Columbia University and had taught Latin for a year in a
Morristown high school, was chiefly that of a hard-working literary critic.
In 1913 he became a Catholic, a conversion that influenced his writing in
THE ARTS 159
prose and poetry and led to one important literary work, Dreams and
Images: an Anthology of Catholic Poets.
Randolph Bourne, whose life-span covered the same years as Kilmer s,
was a native of Bloomfield. In the foreword to the posthumously pub
lished Untimely Papers (1919), James Oppenheim writes of Bourne, "He
was a flaming rebel against our crippled life, as if he had taken the cue
from the long struggle with his own body." Most of these papers are
articles first published in The Seven Arts, of which Bourne was contribut
ing editor. A group including Van Wyck Brooks, also a native of New
Jersey, began publishing this journal advocating an American cultural
life transcending nationalism. Randolph Bourne, already a contributor to
other new liberal periodicals the Dial, New Republic, and Freeman
became a leader. His earlier books, The Gary Schools and Education and
Life, had shown him a disciple of John Dewey, but the collapse of liberal
pragmatism in face of the national crisis convinced him that a new and
more creative program was necessary. With courage, sensitivity, and in
telligence he opposed the growing war sentiment in America, criticizing
particularly those intellectuals "whom the crisis has crystallized into accept
ance of war." The Seven Arts suspended publication in September 1917,
the subsidy withdrawn because of the editor s anti-war position. In 1918,
the last year of his life, he began The State, fragments of which are in
cluded in Untimely Papers. This, with The History of a Literary Radical
(edited by Van Wyck Brooks, 1920), gives some indication of what
Bourne s later work might have been. Unfinished though it is, The State
seems now to many critics a prophetic indictment of the institution when
it becomes a symbol of force rather than an expression of a people s life.
The magnet of New York began to draw writers away from New Jersey
as far back as the days of Gilder and Stedman. Dorothy Parker, Alexander
Woollcott, Robert Hillyer, and Edmund Wilson are associated with New
Jersey only by the accident of birth. Conversely, others, such as Mary
Wilkins Freeman, Joseph C. Lincoln, and Honore Willsie Morrow, have
made their homes here but have continued to write of other locales.
Contemporary literature in New Jersey reflects the diverse elements of
American writing rather than any specific qualities inherent in the State.
Princeton is the nearest approach to a literary center and there the flavor
of a more sedate period lingers in the essays of George McLean Harper,
the novels and essays of Katherine Fullerton Gerould, the travel books
and biographies of James Barnes, the historical works of William Starr
Myers, and the educational writing of Christian Gauss to mention only
a few diverse authors.
160 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
New Jersey novelists did not follow the lead of F. Scott Fitzgerald,
who based This Side of Paradise on his student experiences at Princeton.
They eschewed interpreting the spirit of the "jazz age" a decade ago, as they
now for the most part avoid the problems of industrial and social con
flict. Josephine Lawrence of Newark has come closest to current issues
with a few novels that examine the domestic and business pattern of the
middle class. Before he devoted himself exclusively to writing on dogs
and travel, Albert Payson Terhune of Pompton Plains wrote several novels
with a background of pre-war liberalism.
Greater diversity of temperament and interest characterizes the present-
day poets of the State. Amelia Josephine Burr and Mrs. Dwight W. Mor
row, of Englewood, representing the older tradition in both form and
subject matter, have produced several volumes of charming and graceful
verse.
William Carlos Williams, physician and author of Rutherford, has pub
lished The Great American Novel, A Voyage to Pagany, Life Along the
Passaic River, some translations from the French, and a considerable
amount of rather distinctive poetry. In 1926 he was awarded the Dial
prize of $2,000 for services to American literature, and in 1931 he won
a prize in poetry. His verse, free in form, is generally marked by social
implications.
A liberal in politics and poetry, Louis Ginzberg of Paterson often em
bodies a touch of mysticism in his delicately constructed lyrics. The Rev
olutionary tradition of recording the State s history and development in
verse is revived in the Jersey Jingles by Leonard H. Robbins of Montclair,
as well as in the work of Joseph Folsom of Newark.
Preoccupation with the national scene has tended to blind New Jersey
writers to the regional characteristics of their own State. No one has yet
done for New Jersey what, for instance, William Faulkner has done for
Mississippi or Robert Frost for New Hampshire. Appreciation of the local
scene has been left, as a rule, to the journalists. No poet has yet written
a ballad on the Pineys or the Jackson Whites. An outstanding story of
mill life in Passaic or Paterson remains to be written, and, save for The
Tides of Barnegat, the fishermen and oystermen of the coast are material
left unused by creative writers. This virtually unexplored field requires
only the touch of skillful authors to demonstrate its value as a source of
American literature.
THE ARTS l6l
Theater
New Jersey s theatrical history is for the most part a tale told by yel
lowed programs, dog-eared newspapers, and fading recollections. As else
where, the brightest glory of the local stage is that of its yesterdays. Today
the poor professional player seldom ventures into New Jersey but follows
the way to Manhattan, and the amateur is the hope for tomorrow and
tomorrow.
No brief candle, however, has the theater been in the State. It has
flickered and glowed for more than a century and a half and still sheds a
beam that lights good deeds in the theatrical world. As the theater is al
ways dying elsewhere, so is it always dying in New Jersey. And as it never
quite dies elsewhere, so it never quite dies in New Jersey.
Death by ecclesiastical edict was almost the fate of the Colonial theater
in New Jersey. Until the post-Revolutionary relaxing of official and self-
appointed censorship, traveling English companies, vaudeville troupes,
animal acts and jugglers waged an uneven battle against the church. The
puritanical fathers injudiciously permitted church presentations of Biblical
dramatizations, which whetted the congregation s taste for the few Shake
spearean companies that appeared in the State. The first professional pro
duction on record was that of a Shakespearean play by the Hallams, an
English touring company, in Perth Amboy in 1752. The meager profes
sional theater that did exist before the Revolution was limited to the few
large towns, and was virtually in thrall to the British stage.
Apparently the Revolutionary veterans were confronted after the war
with an earlier-day "jazz age." Peace brought a feverish quest for the
types of amusement that previously had been banned. It is possible that
British soldiers contributed to the upheaval, for according to legend
Newark s earliest theatrical performance was a production of Hamlet
enacted by British officers at Gifford s Tavern.
The earliest recorded play of American origin to be produced in
Newark, and probably in New Jersey, was an untitled piece concerning a
miserly character named Gripus, written in 1792 by Captain Jabez Park-
hurst and acted by his students at the South Street School. Although more
or less permanent companies acted in Newark, Perth Amboy, Trenton, and
other cities between 1790 and 1810, plays continued to be produced only
in taverns, schools, and churches.
The career of William Dunlap (1766-1839) of Perth Amboy fore
shadowed with prophetic accuracy the future power of the major influ-
162 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
ences on the New Jersey theater, namely the church and the Manhattan
stage. Dunlap, who lived in New Jersey until 1777, was one of the ear
liest American playwrights to handle native material and the country s
first professional playwright. His best known play is The Life of Majof
Andre, one of the first uses of a native theme by a native dramatist.
The novelty and high quality of this tragedy gave Dunlap a command
ing position in the growing theatrical world. He introduced the plays of
the German Kotzebue in translation and pioneered in applying the Gothic
"terror spirit" to American subjects, which led to the development of the
conventional mystery play. He was a more skillful writer than manager,
however, and when the Puritans attacked the theater in 1805 Dunlap s
unstable company was among the first to succumb. He nevertheless con
tinued to write plays, and in 1832 he climaxed his career with A History
of the American Theater, the first documented story of the growth of the
stage in America.
The religious reaction against the "new freedom" that had helped to
ruin Dunlap gradually brought to an end the first flowering of the native
stage. From about 1820 to 1845 the wrath of the pastors and deacons vir
tually swept bare the stages of the State. In place of Shakespeare, Sheri
dan, and Lessing, Newark and other cities subsisted on wandering troupes
of minstrels, bell ringers, and circus performers.
It required the combination of the Mexican War, the religious waver
ing of the 1 840 $, and the arrival of less inhibited German and Irish
immigrants to create a theatrical Renaissance. The opening of the Concert
Hall in Newark in 1847 with The Youthful Queen, or Christine of
Sweden, ushered in the smoky, romantic Opera House period. Until
shortly after 1880 the local stage largely forsook classic British plays for
Continental European melodramas that culminated in the corrupt Ameri
can imitations known as thrillers and tear jerkers.
Despite the many towns on the New Jersey "road" between 1850 and
1870, the erection of theaters progressed slowly. Greer s Hall in New
Brunswick first resounded to the snarls of the bloodhounds in Uncle
Tom s Cabin in 1854, and in Hoboken Niblo s Garden had a respectable
stage for German and American melodramas and romances. Perth Amboy
had no theater before 1860, and road companies had to wait until 1867
before they could play Trenton s plush-and-gilt Taylor Opera House in
stead of the wooden-benched Temperance Hall.
Temperance and puritanism persisted in the face of such increasing lux
ury and freedom. The Trenton Gazette grudgingly welcomed the city s
new theater with the following: "The influence of the theater is generally
THE ARTS 163
pernicious, socially and morally. Nevertheless, we think a place of dra
matic amusement can be maintained in this community without detriment
if it can be carefully supervised." The bluenoses were not only vigilant
about the "new drama" but also powerful enough to make performances
of Pilgrim s Progress and The Curse of Intemperance as frequent as those
of the thrillers After Dark and The Streets of New York.
The emotionalism of the puritanical propaganda plays overflowed into
the romances and contributed to their debasement into cheap and senti
mental or hair-raising melodramas. Such plays as Under the Gaslight,
East Lynne, and In the Nick of Time formed the repertory of the stock
companies that developed after the Civil War and brought the theater to
previously ignored places such as Bordentown, Paterson, Elizabeth, and
Orange.
Occasionally in Newark, where the stock company tradition dated back
to the less swashbuckling days of 1847, a troupe rose successfully to the
requirements of Shakespeare, Otway, or Boucicault. Mrs. Emma Waller
played so great a Lady Macbeth and Lady Teazle there in 1867 that she
quickly became a New York and national sensation. While not usually
productive of such players as these, the local stock companies were at
least responsible for the building of theaters that afterward housed greater
actors.
The first shower of stars burst upon the State s playhouses in the mid
i88o s. Booth and Barrett in Shakespeare, Joseph Jefferson in Rip Van
Winkle, and the Salvinis in Greek tragedy all played Newark, Trenton,
Hoboken, and other towns later scorned by touring companies. This
galaxy simultaneously dignified the one-night stand and broke the cold
grip of social disapproval of the theater. After mayor, minister, and
banker had received Edwin Booth as an artist, it was a little more difficult
on general principles to run Mrs. Jar ley and her "celebrated galvanic,
man-unmotive, non-suspension wax works" out of New Brunswick as a
menace to public decency.
Actors of smaller stature followed in the wake of these great names of
the American theater. Annually eight horses galloped down the main
streets of Bordentown and Burlington to announce the arrival of Uncle
Tom s Cabin; pictures of chorus ladies in tights revealed that the boyhood
musical delight, The Black Crook, had come back to Perth Amboy; and
posters flamed from every wall in Paterson to rekindle the town s interest
in The Still Alarm.
As serious American playwrights gradually developed, more and more
troupes turned after 1890 to the work of Augustus Thomas, Charles
164 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
Klein, Clyde Fitch, and William Gillette for respite from the earlier
blood-curdling histrionics. Companies in New Brunswick, Morristown,
Newark, Passaic, and Trenton used their new problem plays to train actors
for the greater stock companies in New York.
A new group of American stars accompanied the maturing of the
American drama. Minnie Maddern Fiske, Maude Adams, Otis Skinner,
and Walker Whiteside gave Newark and other large towns their first real
opportunity to see excellent native actors in native plays. To these greatest
days of the road, the State contributed Robert B. Mantell (1854-1928)
of Atlantic Highlands, one of the hardiest and most traveled Shake-
speareans of the century. For more than 50 years Mantell not only played
the large stands but also carried Shakespeare to high schools, churches,
and other groups unable to afford Henry Irving and Ellen Terry. Often
he was the only important actor playing the classics outside New York.
While the road still lived New Jersey became a genuinely important
factor in the American theater as a try-out center. The gay resort life of
Atlantic City seemed to Belasco, Frohman, and Brady an ideal setting for
testing shows prior to Broadway first nights. After Ziegfeld had suc
ceeded there with the world premiere of his first Follies in 1907, Atlantic
City built three theaters to appease the squabbling Broadway managers.
Shortly afterward, Newark joined the "subway circuit," giving New
Jersey many more genuine "first nights" than those enjoyed across the
Hudson. Producers later booked Asbury Park and Long Branch for sum
mer openings.
In those days of rich theatrical glory there was born in New Jersey the
modern struggle between stage and screen. The Fort Lee bluffs anticipated
Hollywood by raiding Broadway for its stars and thus became the first
motion picture production center in the world. Between 1907 and 1916,
21 companies and 7 studios here laid the foundation for the present-day
cinema industry. Primitive in method and naive in conception, the Fort
Lee producers nevertheless developed Mary Pickford, John Bunny, and
Broncho Billy Anderson, as well as the comedies of "Fatty" Arbuckle and
Mabel Normand, the adventures of Pearl White and the romances of
Theda Bara and Clara Kimball Young.
Oblivious to the motion picture threat, the stage soon yielded to the
pressure of a more immediate foe. Once again the roll of war shaped the
course of the theater in New Jersey; the road began to crumble, stock
companies disintegrated, and the upstart "flickers" invaded the old opera
houses. The muster of men, however, contained the seeds of birth as well
as those of death for the theater. Although amateur or little theaters had
THE ARTS 165
been in sporadic operation in the State since before 1900, they first became
important when they furnished the cluster of New Jersey training camps
with entertainment and diversion. After the war, little theaters became
as necessary to the well-bred community as plans for a soldiers and sailors
monument. At the same time, under the leadership of Jesse Lynch Wil
liams Theatre Intlme at Princeton, the State s colleges elevated the thea
ter from a career to a profession by instituting extensive dramatic training
courses and workshops. Even before this development in the college, the
Thalians of Barringer High School in Newark had offered musical and
dramatic productions of such unusual finish that between 1912 and 1918
they were recognized as one of the Nation s outstanding little theater
groups.
By the time the old opera houses had been wired for sound pictures,
the growth of little theaters in New Jersey was recognized as the virtual
savior of "live entertainment." Moreover, the movement converted the
emphasis on theater from the passive playgoing of thousands to the active
contact of hundreds with dramatic production and its problems. In the
last decade the groups have continued to increase so that their aggregate
audiences challenge the size of those of the professional theater.
There are now approximately 100 amateur and little theater groups in
the State. Their presentations range in interest and taste from the smart
drawing room comedies of the Montclair Dramatic Club and the Green
Door Players of Madison to Bury the Dead and other plays of social pro
test presented by the Newark Collective Theater. Many of the more im
portant groups (such as the Chatham Community Players, the Monmouth
Players of Deal, the Group Players at Trenton, and the Playhouse Asso
ciation of Summit) specialize in recent Broadway successes. The university
! theaters, notable the New Jersey College for Women Theater Workshop
and the Stevens Theater of the Stevens Institute of Technology, have led
i the way in experimenting with less well known plays and unorthodox
stage techniques. At Millburn the Paper Mill Playhouse promises to de
velop into an art center with proved theatrical productions as its nucleus.
A particularly valuable offshoot of the little theater movement is the New
Jersey Junior League Children s Theater, which presents juvenile produc
tions in Newark, Elizabeth, Orange, Englewood, and Plainfield.
While this new theater was spreading over the State, the old theater
suddenly staged a spectacular last stand in Hoboken. There in the winter
of 1928-29 Christopher Morley and Cleon Throckmorton added a chap
ter to American theatrical history by reviving the thriller of the i86o s,
After Dark, and the musical comedy, The Black Crook. The novelty of
166 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
these productions to a new generation and the lure of Hoboken s cele
brated beer came near to overshadowing the New York stage for the en
tire season. The beer continued to run the following year but not the
plays. Theatrically, however, the work of Morley and Throckmorton cre
ated a fresh interest in mid- Victorian entertainment.
Theatergoing in New Jersey today is chiefly a matter of buying two sets
of tickets one for the play, and one for the train to New York. The
"road" has been reduced to Newark, Atlantic City, and occasional events
in Montclair, Trenton, and Princeton. In recent years the New England
practice of converting barns into summer playhouses has penetrated into
New Jersey mountain and shore resorts, with particular success in Maple-
wood and Deal. Because of their inherent impermanence, however, these
ventures cannot be expected to "save the theater" in New Jersey.
That never-ending task first assumed by the little theaters has recently
been undertaken by the Federal Theater Project of the Works Progress
Administration. During 1936, 1937, and 1938 the project has presented
its varied repertoire of more than a dozen plays to thousands, many of
whom were seeing their first professional performance. As the amateur
groups continue to convert playgoers into participants, the Federal Theater
widens the potential theatrical audience. Individually realizing a greater
measure of dramatic appreciation for the State, jointly they seek to lay a
new foundation for the rehabilitation of the professional theater.
Music
The story of music in New Jersey is primarily a story of the growth of
public interest and appreciation. The musical habits of the population
have progressed from the community psalm singing of Colonial times,
through bleak periods of Victorian disapproval and disinterest, to the late
nineteenth and early twentieth century movements for widespread enjoyment
and participation. To this growth the men of music themselves com
posers, interpreters, and critics have contributed in an unusually high
degree.
The number of important New Jersey musicians has perhaps been lim
ited by the historic location of the great conservatories and concert halls
in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. The State s proximity to these
centers has, however, provided an exceptional opportunity for hearing
fine music. Similarly, New Jersey has attracted from the nearby music
capitals many of the Nation s inspired and farsighted musical educators.
Lowell Mason, Dudley Buck, and William Batchelder Bradbury estab-
THE ARTS 167
lished a lasting New Jersey tradition of leadership in the popularization
of music. The State s geographical advantage may also partially explain
its having many influential musical historians and critics. Their work ex
tends from the incidental comments of William Dunlap and the singing
texts of James Lyon before 1800 to the monumental critical histories by
Oscar G. Sonneck and John Tasker Howard.
Music in New Jersey almost literally began between the leaves of the
Colonists prayer books. And for a century and a half there it remained.
Gradually psalm singing expanded into oratorios and concerts of sacred
music. Chinks in the religious armor were timidly filled by itinerant mu
sical companies who volunteered, to the displeasure of the church, ballad
operas and "variety entertainments" in noisy taverns. No such opposition
inhibited the growth in aristocratic homes of spinet concerts and vocal
performances accompanied by the flute, which later developed into so
ciety choral groups. Despite this inroad as well as the use of gay tradi
tional music for dances, the direction of music in New Jersey up to the
Revolution was almost unswervingly celestial.
From the unsorted mass of Colonial folk tunes, ballads, and instru
mental imitations of European music emerged two New Jersey claimants
to the title of "first American composer." Characteristic of their own
period, Francis Hopkinson (1737-1791) and James Lyon (1735-1794)
wrote occasional and patriotic music. Neither was an innovator or a na
tional influence.
The year 1759 was the annus mirabilis specifically of New Jersey music,
generally of American music. For in that year Lyon composed an ode for
his commencement at the College of New Jersey (Princeton) and Hop
kinson copied his own song, "My Days Have Been So Wondrous Free,"
into a notebook containing his favorite songs. Unable to discover the
exact date of Hopkinson s composition, musical historians have differed
on the question of his priority over Lyon as the composer of the first
American song.
Hopkinson, who lived in Bordentown from 1773 until his death, was
a musical amateur, especially able on the harpsichord and therefore in
terested in chamber music. In November 1788 he published Seven Songs
-for Harpsichord or Forte-Piano, said to be the first book of music pub
lished by an American composer. The songs, which were dedicated to
George Washington, show a strong English influence. While appealing in
their freshness they are important mainly as an indication of contemporary
taste. Hopkinson also wrote the score for The Temple of Minerva, an
allegorical-political masque or opera, privately presented in 1781.
168 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
Virtually unmentioned by musical historians until the twentieth cen
tury, Lyon was first in a long line of influential New Jersey music teachers.
Six of this Newark minister s songs appeared in the collection of hymns
and songs known as Urania, published in 1761. Among them was his
adaptation of White field s Tune, the first record of a native treatment of
the tune which was to be used for America. In 1792 Lyon published
Directions -for Singing, Keys in Music and Rules of Transposition, one
of the earliest American musical texts. His work as a teacher carried him
as far north as Massachusetts.
The book for The Archers, the first commercially produced American
opera, was written in 1796 by William Dunlap of Perth Amboy. Dunlap
later sandwiched cursory musical criticism into his art and literary his
tories.
The earliest recorded concert in the State was in 1799, when permis
sion had to be obtained from the local magistrate in Newark. Singing so
cieties, recreational rather than commercial ventures, formed the backbone
of musical enterprise until about 1850. There were half a dozen choral
clubs in Newark by 1840, and others were scattered throughout the State.
They sang the works of Handel, Bach, and Mozart, which also were the
most popular program pieces for the few instrumental groups.
Such organizations aroused a lasting interest in music in the upper
levels of society and created fertile ground for the mid-century drive for
popular musical education. It was fortunate for New Jersey that in 1853
Lowell Mason (1792-1872), the dynamo of the movement to make music
a part of the public school curriculum, chose to live in Orange. Fresh
from his successful preachment of music for the masses in New England,
Mason continued his educational work in New Jersey by lectures and
concerts, and by training large choral groups. He was largely responsible
not only for the spread of musical participation but also for the con
tinuance of the religious influence. Known as "the father of American
church music," Mason returned to the earliest New England traditions
and composed many hymns that set the pattern for the stately hymnology
of the American Protestant Church. Among his better-known works are
"Nearer My God to Thee" and "From Greenland s Icy Mountains." In
1855 New York University awarded him the first honorary degree of
doctor of music in America.
While Mason was broadening the audience for music, William Batch-
elder Bradbury (1816-1868) plunged into the equally necessary task
of training music teachers. He organized the first convention of music
teachers in Somerville in 1851, and later, as a resident of Bloomfield, he
THE ARTS 169
became an important adjunct to Mason s Nation-wide work. Also a force
in the Sunday School music movement, Bradbury edited many song col
lections, among which The Golden Cham sold 2,000,000 copies.
Contemporaneous with the growth of American singing clubs and
school music was the rise of the German singing societies. The Concordia,
Germania, and Schwabischer Sangerbund added a gay and lusty note to
the rather formal and still churchified American singing. These groups,
fed by large waves of immigration, became the workingman s chief con
tact with music in Newark, Trenton, Hoboken, Bayonne and Jersey City.
National Sangerfeste attracted thousands of participants to northern New
Jersey, long recognized as the American center for German music. Bands
and small orchestras quickly followed the vocal groups and in 1855 a
touring opera company played Weber s Der Freischutz in Newark. In
the same year was founded the Newark Harmonic Society, the city s most
famous singing group.
When this society was directed in 1865 by Leopold Damrosch, perhaps
the greatest conductor of his day, and when five years later he selected a
large number of singers from Newark and Jersey City for the first of his
May Music Festivals, New Jersey music achieved maturity and national
significance. Although Damrosch and Theodore Thomas later brought
their symphony orchestras to the large cities, they did not inspire the de
velopment of instrumental groups comparable to the singing societies.
The impulse to popularize music gained new strength after the Civil
War. George James Webb (1803-1887), who lived in Orange from
1871 until his death, used Mason s technique with large choral groups,
particularly children, but concentrated on secular music. He introduced
many patriotic and folk songs into the societies repertoire and deliberately
minimized the use of hymns and anthems. Nevertheless, Webb is remem
bered chiefly for his hymn, Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus.
Dudley Buck (1839-1909) of West Orange attempted to do for in
strumental music what Mason and his successors had accomplished for
choral work. A celebrated organist and choral harmonist himself, he chose
the lecture-recital as his medium of expression and later devoted himself
to teaching. Buck was more than a popularizer, for his symphonic cantatas,
The Golden Legend and The Light of Asia, are viewed as landmarks in
the post-Civil War liberation of American music from the dominance of
European models and influence.
New Jersey s contribution to this musical declaration of independence
was enhanced by the work of Samuel A. Ward (1847-1903) of Newark
and William Wallace Gilchrist (1846-1916) of Jersey City. Ward, a
170 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
founder of the famous Orpheus Club of Newark, wrote the music for
America, the Beautiful, recognized as the most esthetically satisfactory of
American patriotic songs. Gilchrist, who was blessed with an almost un
natural gift for winning musical prizes, wrote symphonies that have been
described as "facile, yet touched with originality."
While the German singing societies were yet in their heyday (1880
90) and native groups were in the ascendance in New Brunswick, Tren
ton and Perth Amboy, the arrival of other nationalities from Europe en
riched the musical life of the State. Verdi and Rossini began to be heard
in the gay Italian taverns of Newark and Paterson; more somber Slavic
tones issued from the native instruments brought to Perth Amboy and
Bayonne from Poland and Russia; and in many cities there mingled with
the precise Protestant hymnology the majestic simplicity of Catholic music
and the plaintive chants from Hebrew synagogues.
The twentieth century development of the phonograph and the radio
has thus far retarded the desire and lessened the necessity for personal
participation in music. The instruction of Mason, Buck, and Bradbury,
which laid the foundation for intelligent listening, survived mainly in the
schools of the State. The mechanization of music did, however, stimulate
popular interest in the great artists who began to appear in New Jersey
on concert tours. Newark led the way in 1912, under the leadership of
C. Mortimer Fiske and Louis Arthur Russell, with a music festival featur
ing Metropolitan Opera stars. While choral groups declined, long years
of piano, violin, and vocal instruction pressed upon reluctant children be
gan to flower into small orchestras, string quartets, and amateur opera
companies.
Pierre Key s Music Year Book for 1938 lists 59 private organizations
actively devoted to the promotion and enjoyment of music in New Jersey.
Among these are 15 orchestras, 12 music schools, 23 choral societies, and 2
opera companies. Musical and community organizations in the larger cities
and wealthy suburbs regularly sponsor subscription concert series for half
a dozen important musical events.
Among the more prominent vocal groups are the Bach Society of New
Jersey, which annually in May presents Bach s B Minor Mass in Newark,
the Essex County Opera Association, the Montclair Operetta Club, and the
Opera Club of the Oranges. The Essex County Symphony Society annu
ally holds a music festival in Newark, presenting leading singers and
instrumentalists. The closest approach to a State-manned symphony orches
tra is the New Jersey Orchestra, drawn principally from the Oranges,
Montclair and Millburn. In December 1937 the Griffith Music Foundation
THE ARTS iyi
was established by the Griffith Piano Company of Newark to coordinate
and augment the existing musical activities of the State.
The activities of several educational institutions have enriched musical
life in the central part of New Jersey. The Princeton University depart
ment of music, under the direction of Roy Dickinson Welch, has lately
been enlarged and strengthened, notably by the addition of the well
known composer-teacher, Roger Sessions. Rutgers instruction and con
certs comprise a major portion of musical affairs in New Brunswick. The
Westminster Choir School at Princeton, where the noted composer, Roy
Harris, is a member of the staff, has achieved national recognition for the
excellence of its training, and the Princeton Theological Seminary is rec
ognized as an innovator in ecclesiastical music. To the south, both Camden
and Atlantic City support local groups and concert series.
In recent years the work of the Federal Government and of the State s
churches has increased the scope of musical appreciation. By January
1939 the 27 orchestras and bands of the Federal Music Project of the
Works Progress Administration had given 17,742 concerts to 10,884,690
people. Church music ranges from hymn singing in small towns to the
production of Bach masses and Handel oratorios in urban centers. Partic
ularly noteworthy in this field has been the revival of impressive perform
ances of Gregorian chants under the auspices of the Roman Catholic
Diocesan Institute of Sacred Music in Newark.
The Federal Government has also contributed to the discovery and
codification of a considerable body of New Jersey folk songs. Herbert
Halpert of the Federal Theater Project has recorded more than 500 songs,
including indigenous American songs, sea chanties, children s game songs,
fiddle tunes and a large number of ballads of British origin. He has con
centrated on the songs of the Pineys, swamp dwellers of southern New
Jersey. In the character of these recordings, Halpert believes he has evi
dence for the theory that southern New Jersey is the meeting place of the
northern and southern American folk song tradition.
Never rich in composers since the Federal period, New Jersey today has
a small number representing current differences in style and approach.
Dean of the group is Henry Holden Huss (1862- ) of Newark, re
nowned as teacher and pianist, composer of several concertos in the con
servative romantic moid. George Antheil (1900- ), who was born in
Trenton, has been called the enfant terrible of modern American music.
Although his Ballet Mecanique shows a vigorous and original talent, he
has yet to surmount a reputation for the merely spectacular. Midway be
tween these extremes are Philip James (1890- ), a native of Jersey City,
172 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
composer of several overtures; and Harriet Ware of Plainfield, whose
songs, cantatas, and piano pieces have made her one of the Nation s lead
ing women composers.
Other well known New Jersey musicians include Ernest Schelling
(1876 ), born in Belvidere, who holds high rank as both a com
poser and conductor, particularly of music for children; Paul Ambrose
(1868 ), organist and composer, of Trenton; Mark Andrews of Mont-
clair, a talented and original director of choral groups throughout the
State; and Jerome Kern (1885- ) of Newark, whose gift for melodious
composition, displayed in Show Boat and other popular operettas, sug
gests him as a latter-day Victor Herbert.
Among the State s prominent singers are Richard Crooks, Metropolitan
Opera tenor, who was born in Trenton and now lives in Sea Girt, and
Paul Robeson (1898 ), the noted Negro concert singer and actor, a
native of Princeton, who attended Rutgers College. Crooks made his pro
fessional debut at Asbury Park in 1910 with the late Mme. Ernestine
Schumann-Heink.
When American music began to merit detailed record and interpreta
tion, three New Jerseymen assumed the major share of that task. William
J. Henderson (1855-1937), born in Newark and educated at Princeton,
belonged to the notable group of musical critics in New York whose taste
influenced music from Boston to San Francisco. In addition to his work
on the New York Sun, he wrote a large number of books that popularized
concert and operatic music. Perhaps the greatest of American music
scholars was Oscar G. Sonneck (1873-1928) of Jersey City, whose most
valuable work was his studies in early American musical history. He was
later chief of the music division of the Library of Congress and also
pioneered in the study of American Indian music. Yielding little to Son-
neck in scholarship, John Tasker Howard (1890- ) of Glen Ridge
wrote Our American Music in 1930, the first full-length history of native
music, with unusual consideration for the general reader. Howard s work,
more essentially American in its critical attitude than Sonneck s, is un
questionably a vital chapter in the unassembled volume of American cul
tural history.
Architecture
New Jersey has produced two local styles of domestic architecture. First
was the low sandstone Dutch Colonial house, a style developed in the
Hackensack Valley, where it flourished until about 1800. During the
I i&g
THE DEMAREST HOUSE, RIVER EDGE
same period, the brick and glass industries in the southern part of the
State produced a second indigenous type of building best termed Swedish
Colonial. Throughout the nineteenth century the State was affected by a
succession of European influences, and it was not until the 1890 $ that
New Jersey again began to work out architectural problems in terms of its
own requirements. The result has been a new and refreshing approach in
design, evident in suburban planning arid resort development, but of late
more particularly in industrial buildings.
Paradoxically, the Dutch style did not begin to develop in the north
until after the English conquest of New Netherland in 1664. Introduction
of slave labor in that year made the quarrying of brown sandstone prac
ticable and was responsible for its use in the walls of the earlier home
steads. Cut from shallow quarries, it was laid in beds of clay mortar taken
from the surrounding fields and mixed with straw, which became hard
and weathertight when dry ; when pointing-up was necessary in later years,
it was done with lime mortar, leaving conspicuous white joints. Sometimes
the builders used finished cut stone only on the front facade and for the
corner quoins, filling in the remainder of the walls with coursed rubble,
as in the Demarest house at River Edge, but generally the stonework
was cut in regular coursed bond (as in bricklaying).
174 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
The predominant characteristics of the Dutch Colonial style are a long
sweeping roof line, with deep overhanging eaves at front and rear, and
close-cropped gable ends. Small houses were given a pitched roof; larger
ones a gambrel roof with the upper pitch much shortened and flattened
and the lower one lengthened and curved. In the later period the over
hang was sometimes extended and developed into a porch at front and
rear. The wall faces of the gable ends were shingled or covered with sid
ing for protection. Often the bargeboard along the raked roof line was
carved with ornament.
These houses nearly always faced south regardless of the direction of
the highway, so that the eaves afforded day-long shade from the summer
sun. As families outgrew their homes it was customary to add a wing
larger than the original building. Thus the original structure of the Vree-
land house (1818) in Leonia became the kitchen wing of a new and
more pretentious dwelling. Frequently a second wing was added at the
opposite end, forming a symmetrical composition, as in the Ackerman
and Hopper houses on Polifly Road, Hackensack.
The charm and beauty of these houses have been enhanced by time, and
the deep overhang of the eaves gives them an air of comfort and domestic
security that is not often equaled in other types of American Colonial
building.
Although the influence of the Swedes on the Dutch diminished after
1655, the architecture of the southern region of the State may be re
ferred to as "Swedish." The predominant local building material was clay
suitable for brick. The development of the glass industry, along with that
of brick, resulted in the production of a glazed brick characteristic of the
houses of West Jersey, and to this day a heritage in State industry. By
1700 William Bradway had built a house, still standing at Stowe Creek,
in which a pattern of two-colored glazed brick was used, and by 1725
this practice had become quite common locally. Occasionally red and
white bricks were used, but usually the body of the wall was red, bearing
geometric patterns in dull blue. Often the owner s initials and the date of
erection were worked into the gables in large letters and figures. This
peculiarity appears to have culminated locally in 1754 with the ornate
gable designs of the Dickinson house at Alloway.
These early brick houses are tall, narrow and rather urban in character.
Dutch influence on the architecture of the Swedes first appeared in a small
one-story house with gambrel roof, such as the William Penn house
(1685) in Burlington. It became usual, however, to add a second story,
leaving the projecting eaves along front and rear; this produced the
THE ARTS 175
"pent eaves" that became a fixed characteristic of the so-called Swedish
style. Outstanding examples are the William Hancock house (1734) at
Lower Alloways Creek and the Oakford house (1736) at Alloway.
The settlers of Salem, familiar with the English Renaissance style, in
troduced this tradition in the southern part of the State as early as 1675,
and throughout the eighteenth century the tall narrow Dutch-Swedish
houses tended to grow more nearly square. In 1804 the Morgan house
was built in Pilesgrove, a fine example of Post Colonial brickwork. The
Jacob Fox house in Washington (1813) continued the development still
further, but its tallness recalls an earlier tendency. The William Johnson
house at Lower Penns Neck (1815) marks the complete domination of
the Georgian Colonial over the Dutch-Swedish style. One of the few sur
viving public buildings of this period is the Burlington County Court
house in Mount Holly. Built in 1797 and 1808, the main courthouse is
flanked by small one-story offices in separate buildings.
The influence of the English Renaissance appeared first at Elizabeth in
1664 with the arrival there of English settlers from Long Island and the
mother country. They likewise applied the sturdy traditions of English
building and the early forms of Georgian Renaissance to their local mate
rials. By 1700 the development had been carried as far west as Morris-
town and it dominated the section until after the beginning of the nine
teenth century. In homes, public buildings, and churches it produced
forms which differed little from those of New England.
Queen s Building at Rutgers University (1825), designed by John Mc-
Comb, architect of the New York City Hall, is striking by contrast for its
austere simplicity and lack of French influence. Deep-set shuttered win-
dows are spaced evenly across the smooth sandstone wall surfaces, and the
slight break in the facade, which marks the central motif, is crowned with
a low pitched eave pediment. The center of the roof is marked by a square
Georgian lantern.
The old ecclesiastical architecture of New Jersey varied considerably
with the character and background of the communities. The settlers from
the north, although thoroughly imbued with the Georgian tradition, were
seldom satisfied with that style for their churches after 1800. Although
they erected fine churches in the Georgian manner, such as the First Pres
byterian Church (1787) in Newark, they often succumbed to adorning
them later with Gothic details. The Gothic windows of Old Trinity in
Newark were substituted for Norman windows in 1809; and lancet win
dows were introduced about 1830 in St. James Church at Piscataway, a
charming Colonial structure. Less pretentious Colonial churches are the
ij6 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
Presbyterian Church (1790) in Springfield, and Old Tennent Church
(1751) near Freehold, both of frame construction. Not far removed from
the feeling of Quaker meeting houses, their design is noteworthy for small
fenestration and for the carved detail of cornices and doorways.
The Friends who settled widely throughout New Jersey developed a
definite and rigid form of architecture, constructing their meeting houses
with an eye to substantiality, economy and simplicity. Though the meet
ing houses vary in size, they have maintained a definite form for two cen
turies: generally plain rectangular brick structures, two stories high, with
solid shutters on the first floor and louvered shutters on the second, two
entrances on the front with a small porch, covered or uncovered. They
are almost invariably set in a clearing behind sycamore trees. Good exam
ples are the Chesterfield Friends Meeting House (1773) at Crosswicks
and the one in Burlington (1764).
The State contains many examples of the Greek Revival style that be
gan in Europe toward the end of the eighteenth century, and which at
tained national popularity under the leadership of Benjamin Latrobe,
William Strickland, Robert Mills, and others. Architects copied ancient
Greek details as closely as possible, and in numerous buildings sought to
reproduce the lines of Greek temples. This severe style appears in several
houses in Flemington, notably the Redding mansion, but its use was lim
ited mostly to courthouses and churches. The Sussex County Courthouse
(1847) in Newton and the Presbyterian Church (1851) in Pluckemin
are typical examples.
From about 1850 to 1900 New Jersey suffered the ills of Victorian bad
taste. The State has its share of fretwork, spindles, checkerboard panels
and the mansard roofs of the period. Many a fine old house was ruined to
conform with the taste of the time. Ringwood Manor, an old Colonial es
tate, was so changed and enlarged that all traces of the original design
have been removed.
During this period the Victorian Gothic style developed. As in other
States, architects of the so-called practical school began reproducing early
English Gothic structures with questionable success and complete inaccu
racy. Much of their work, the style of which has unfortunately set a prece
dent for church architecture, remains in the cities. Of brick or brown
sandstone, or a combination of both, these buildings are gloomy reminders
of an uninspired period. St. John s Episcopal Church in Elizabeth is a sur
vival of this work.
Toward the end of the century the influence of H. H. Richardson and
Louis Sullivan had sadly degenerated. Their followers indulged in bizarre
WROUGHT IRON BALCONY ON COLONIAL APARTMENTS, BORDENTOWN
reproductions of modified Romanesque and Byzantine types, whose bold
mass and intricate detail appealed to the prosperous builders of the early
twentieth century. For nearly a generation this heavy manner character
ized residences, banks, churches, and other public buildings. Notable ex
amples are the Peddie Memorial Baptist Church and the Prudential In
surance Company buildings in Newark, and W. A. Potter s Alexander Hall
in Princeton.
"Collegiate Gothic" appeared in New Jersey in the buildings of Prince
ton University during the first decade of the twentieth century. Based
upon the design of the university buildings at Cambridge and Oxford,
the style is a modification of English Tudor. The use of local fieldstone
with limestone trim instead of the usual combination of brick and stone
of England gives the walls a very beautiful texture. The Commons at
Princeton (Day and Klauder, architects) with traceried fenestration and
delicate Tudor-Gothic finials and ornament is an excellent example of the
style.
School architecture throughout the State is highly specialized. Rigid
178 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
State laws for heating, ventilation, and lighting offer little opportunity
for variation on standard forms. Successful solutions to this problem are
the Dwight Morrow School in Englewood by Lawrence L. Licht, archi
tect, and the Hawthorne High School designed by Fanning and Shaw.
Another is Licht s Trenton Central High. A combination of the Georgian
Colonial and Classical Revival styles, it consists of a three-storied red
brick main building, with a Greek portico and an octagonal cupola, and
two large wings repeating these motifs on a smaller scale.
Among the newer churches, two of the most interesting are the First
Church of Christ, Scientist in Montclair and the Second Presbyterian
Church in Newark. The former achieves dignity and charm by uniting a
classic portico with a main building of Georgian Colonial design, while
the latter is a fine example of modernized Gothic, exhibiting considerable
grace despite an unconventional squatness.
Skyscrapers are not numerous. In Newark are the National Newark and
Essex Bank Building, definitely neoclassic in form and treatment with
modern detail on the plane surfaces; the Raymond-Commerce Building,
treated in a pseudo-modern manner of Gothic ancestry, with much point
less ornamentation; and the American Insurance Company Building, of
Colonial brick with limestone trim and Georgian Colonial detail. The
New Jersey Bell Telephone Company Building (Voorhees, Gmelin and
Walker, architects), while not strictly a skyscraper, is tall and massive;
it is designed in a simplified modern style with strong accenting of verti
cal lines and strongly modeled ornamental relief.
Trenton s skyline is marked by moderately high but undistinguished
buildings. Passaic, Perth Amboy, and other smaller cities each have raised
one structure that citizens sheepishly refer to as "our local skyscraper."
Elizabeth has a 15 -story Courthouse Annex, labored and awkward in con
ception, while citizens of Camden have with much justice dubbed their
22-story nondescript City Hall and Courthouse Annex, "The Milk Bot
tle." On high ground in Jersey City is the Medical Center, one of the
most impressive groups of tall buildings in the State. Of severe modern
functional design, the cluster by John Rowland compares favorably with
the Medical Center across the Hudson River.
Unique in the State are the fluttering towers and turrets of the board
walk hotels in Atlantic City and other coast resorts, where rooms facing
the water are at a premium and verticality in building perhaps is justified.
Even more suggestive of New Jersey as a playground are the gay and
ribald architectural grotesques of Deal and Elberon, summer resorts ex
traordinary. These immense barnlike castles of shingles or stucco, girdled
THE ARTS 179
by tiers of porches and sprouting myriad turrets, string along the water
front and nearby highways for miles.
Recent public buildings for the most part follow classical precedent,
with many stylistic modifications. The tendency toward simplification of
ornament and the adaptation of smooth plane surfaces in public buildings
is evident in several new post offices. Housing facilities range from the
two-room pine shack of the southern truck farmer to the baronial estates
of the commuting stockbrokers in the north. The average urban home is
the multiple dwelling, two-, three-, or four-family house, shingled and
porched, and often with a tiny plot of grass. Thousands of city dwellers
live in that peculiarly uncomfortable and unhomelike environment an
apartment above a business establishment, which may be anything from a
fish market to a garage.
Newark, Trenton, and Jersey City have a large number of apartment
houses, few of which attain a height sufficient to warrant elevators. Many
are built around an inner court. Their romantic balconies, crenelated para
pets, and random gargoyles attest the triumph of haste over taste in the
building boom following the World War. East Orange has a row of luxu
rious apartment houses, conservative in design and mostly of red brick
with white trim, suggesting a kind of suburban Park Avenue.
The problem of slum clearance has been attacked with varying success.
In Newark the Prudential Life Insurance Company erected two sets of
attractive tile-brick apartment houses, with recreation areas. One develop
ment is exclusively for Negroes. In 1937 the United States Housing Act
established a fixed rental rate for all Government housing projects. The
Stanley S. Holmes Village in Atlantic City, completed before this act had
gone into effect, maintains a relatively high rental rate; but Westfield
Acres, a series of small apartment buildings in Camden financed by the
Public Works Administration, may prove to be a genuine step toward
low-cost housing.
An interesting attempt at planned housing is the Radburn community
(Henry Wright and Clarence Stein, architects) where streets are laid out
for comfortable suburban living and the safety of children. The design of
the dwellings is, however, discouragingly monotonous, and the scheme is
cramped.
Jersey Homesteads, begun as a Resettlement Administration project, con
sists of two hundred small flat-roof houses of four to six rooms, built of
cinder block and concrete with a judicious use of glass. They appear un
attractive but are comfortable and are equipped with modern conveniences
unknown in even the better class tenements. The cooperatively owned
i8o NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
garment factory is a well designed one-story steel and glass structure. The
school building is a low flat-roof brick and concrete structure, designed
by Alfred Kastner in the modern "international" style. Vigorous treatment
of mass, effective concentration of detail, and ample fenestration fulfill
both aesthetic and functional requirements.
Industry until recently has contributed little to the New Jersey scene
except the depressing warehouselike mills of Paterson and Passaic and the
ugly red-brick factories scattered throughout Newark and other indus
trial centers. The five buildings of the CIBA Pharmaceutical Products
Company at Summit (1937) designed by J. Floyd Yewell are an excel
lent example of attractive functional design. They are of light buff brick
with purplish red brick facing on the window piers, suggesting continu
ous fenestration. The entrances are of glass brick and limestone, in pleas
ing harmony with the wall materials. An example of planning for indus
trial use is the imposing glass and steel one-story plant erected by General
Motors at Linden (1937), and the fine sleek plant of the Coca-Cola bot
tling company in Harrison (1936).
In the last few years the so-called "modernistic" style has spread rap
idly through Newark, Jersey City, and other cities, where store fronts in
the business sections are fast assuming rainbow hues in glossy plate glass
and gleaming chrome; neon light signs are integral parts of the design,
their glowing tubes forming the names of the owners as well as panels
and bands in the composition. The effect is neat, clean, and highly appro
priate. The Newark Coca-Cola plant (1936) is a notable example of the
modern trend. Its stuccoed walls are faced with black and ivory carrara,
and the doors and windows trimmed with stainless steel.
A notable example of modern industrial design is the massive office
building of the Kimble Glass Factory at Vineland. The building, designed
by William Lescaze, is constructed of brick and structural glass with lime
stone slab facing. The highly functional plan provides a spacious main
office chamber which serves as a central core around which are arranged
various minor offices, conference rooms, and lounges. The simple masses
of the building give outward expression to a well-organized plan. The
furnishings of the interior were designed by the architect.
Transportation needs have provided the State with a number of impres
sive engineering projects, notably the Pulaski Skyway, a series of finely
proportioned cantilever bridges, and Bayonne Bridge, longest steel arch
span in the world and one of the most beautiful. Also worthy of mention
are the Pennsylvania Railroad s stone arch bridge over the Raritan at New
Brunswick, and the reinforced concrete arch bridge that carries US i
THE ARTS l8l
across the same river. With New York and Pennsylvania, New Jersey
shares two splendid suspension bridges, George Washington Memorial
Bridge to New York and Delaware River Bridge to Philadelphia. The ap
proaches to George Washington Bridge were designed by Cass Gilbert.
The new hangar under construction (1939) at Newark Airport is ex
pected to provide a setting more suggestive of the terminal s importance.
Of the State s railroad stations the Pennsylvania s in Newark is most
important architecturally. Now a bus, trolley, and tube-train terminal for
the city, the massive gray Indiana limestone building is of simple design,
with a minimum of ornamentation and a maximum of intelligently
planned space. The municipal bus terminal in Hackensack, a broad build
ing of white brick and glass, is a good adaptation of the modern func
tional style.
Painting, Sculpture, and Crafts
Early art in New Jersey sprang from the industrial pattern of the Col
ony. Numerous Colonial craftsmen are honored anonymously today for
their furniture making, tavern decorating, sign painting, and weaving.
Their products are scattered through the homes of the State, particularly
in the south, and in the countless antique shops that line highways and
village main streets.
The deposits of pure quartz sand in southern New Jersey attracted Euro
pean glass workers, and by 1750 the glass industry at Wistarburgh had
become the Colony s most notable craft. It produced Wistar glass objects,
delicately colored bottles and bowls and brilliantly surfaced glasses and
globes. Remarkable for their purity of color and the originality of their
wave and whorl designs, the broad-based Wistar products are among the
most valued collectors items. In 1775 another German family, the Stang-
ers, founded a glass works at Glassboro which became equally famous for
its wares.
Pottery began with the works established by Daniel Coxe at Burlington
in 1688 and increased steadily in beauty and importance throughout the
Colonial period, culminating in the founding of the Fulper Pottery Com
pany in Flemington in 1805 and the American Pottery at Jersey City two
decades later. Stoneware, crocks, flowerpots, and brown glazed ware from
these potteries, as well as from those established later at Trenton, rank
among the choicest in the Nation.
Representative of the minor crafts were Elias Boudinot s silversmithing,
distinguished for its fine engraving; staidly colorful quilting of the Dutch
182 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
housewives along the Hudson; dignified wrought-iron gates and fireplace
pieces from the northern mine section; and accomplished cabinetmaking
of the Egerton family in the Hepplewhite style in New Brunswick around
1790.
In formal art, the most notable Colonial figure of New Jersey was
Patience Lovell Wright (1725-1786) of Bordentown, the first American
to achieve fame as a sculptor. She won international recognition for her
figures in wax, one of which, a full-length statue of William Pitt, was
placed in Westminster Abbey, the first American work so honored.
As Americans gradually became interested in painting and sculpture
New Jersey produced a number of artists whose work shows the preva
lent influences of the first half of the last century. Typical of this group
was Charles Parsons (1821-1910), a water-colorist and engraver for Cur
rier and Ives. During this period William Dunlap of Perth Amboy, an un
successful historical painter, published A History of the Rise and Progress
of the Arts of Design in the United States, which proved so valuable that
he has been called "the American Vasari."
Asher B. Durand of South Orange throughout his long life from 1796
to 1886 earned the titles of "the Nation s most distinguished engraver"
and "the father of American landscape painting." After a brilliant start
at engraving copies of portraits, he turned in 1834 to landscape painting.
The microscopic eye of the engraver working directly from nature fostered
a passion for nicety of expression. This trend characterized his work and
set the tone of the Hudson River school, which he helped to found.
The outstanding figure of the middle years of the last century was
George Inness (18251894), who spent many years of his life in Mont-
clair and some time in Perth Amboy. At first he was more or less in sym
pathy with the tradition of the Hudson River school and practiced a
method akin to Durand s. But his art, as developed here and abroad,
steadily broadened and deepened, becoming especially noteworthy for the
richness of color. Under the influence of Corot he began to sacrifice de
tail to mass and to abandon the panoramic treatment in favor of accented
composition.
Inness advanced the trend in landscape painting from the purely ana
lytic form of Durand and his followers to a genuinely romantic stage. He
sought to emphasize quality and force of emotion rather than scenic
fidelity. Nature in all seasons and all aspects of the sky attracted him in
his quest for harmony of form and mystical feeling. In his later years he
passed into a genuinely mystical period, favoring canvases of eerie fogs
STATUE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, NEWARK
184 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
and strange lights instead of the earlier landscape and pastoral compo
sitions.
Inness produced many masterpieces which rank him with the leaders of
the Barbizon school ; yet he remained essentially individual. In addition to
his celebrated views of the Delaware Water Gap, he painted much of the
New Jersey scene, particularly around Montclair. Six representative paint
ings now hang in the Montclair Art Museum. Contemporary critics are
virtually agreed that Inness is one of the foremost American landscape
painters.
By the middle of the nineteenth century cities were becoming suffi
ciently conscious of their past to install busts, shafts, and other memorials
in parks and public buildings. Art schools began to develop in Newark
and its suburbs; associations for the collection and exhibition of pictures
were formed; and in several cities there was considerable sentiment for
the erection of museums.
New crafts developed from changing industry. The looms of Paterson
wove especially beautiful silk fabrics ; terra cotta factories in Perth Amboy
turned out decorative products of a high order. Leather workers in New
ark produced fine hand-tooled work, and jewelry manufacture in that city
was lifted above a commercial enterprise by skill in designing and unusu
ally gifted workmanship. In the wake of these followed several other
craft industries which included the world-renowned Lenox china of
Trenton, the Edgewater tapestry looms, whose hand-woven products have
been praised as "American Gobelins," and the fine stained glass and eccle
siastical brasses made by the J. and R. Lamb Studios in Tenafly.
Among those American artists who revolted against European conven
tions toward the end of the century was George Inness Jr. (1864-1926),
also of Montclair. A landscape painter like his father, he was like his
father again forward looking in his attitude toward painters problems.
Ralph Blakelock (1847-1919) of Orange was even more radical in his
approach. His fantastic and imaginative art reached its height in his moon
light studies which have been termed "as individualistic as those of Albert
Pinkham Ryder." Blakelock shared the elder Inness s interest in color and
emotion but lacked the benefits of his original emphasis on detail.
Two New Jersey sculptors of the same period who helped break the
bands of neoclassic traditions, which had so limited American work,
were J. Scott Hartley (1845-1912) and Thomas Ball (1819-1911), both
of Montclair. The latter is especially significant for his equestrian "Wash
ington" and the "Emancipation" statue in Boston.
The outstanding sculpture in the State today is not, however, the work
THE ARTS 185
of New Jersey men. It includes the Newark figures of Gutzon Borglum,
the Princeton Battle Monument by Frederick MacMonnies, and the Tren
ton Battle Monument by John Duncan.
As art has become liberated, first from the church and then from the
whims of wealthy patrons, intelligent education has stimulated public in
terest. A trio of New Jersey men stands in the front ranks of the twentieth
century drive for more general appreciation of art. John Cotton Dana
(1856-1929) was the first museum director to promote the cause of con
temporary American artists by purchasing and maintaining a representa
tive collection in the Newark Museum. He was also an early exponent of
the doctrine that industry affords scope for artistic accomplishment and
appreciation. At Rutgers University John C. Van Dyke (1856-1932) for
many years used his rank as one of the Nation s most respected art critics
to awaken popular sentiment by lectures, prolific writing, and exhibits of
his private collection. The sole survivor of the three is Frank Jewett
Mather Jr. (1868- ), whose creative attitude toward the history of art
has earned him equal repute as art historian and director of the Museum
of Historic Art at Princeton University.
The 1936 edition of Who s Who in Art lists 180 painters and sculptors
in New Jersey and 14 art associations. The most active of the latter are
the Newark Museum, the Art Center of the Oranges, and the Montclair
Art Museum. Since 1936 the New Jersey State Art Committee has held
regional and State-wide exhibits. In addition to most of the larger cities,
many small towns such as Leonia, Westfield, and Hopewell periodically
sponsor showings. The Modern Artists of New Jersey have expanded
local conventional exhibitions by sponsoring travel exhibits, lectures, pub
lic forums, and demonstrations, and have secured gallery representation
for the works of young and little known artists.
The Museum of Historic Art at Princeton University presents a pano
rama of the history of art from Egyptian and Chaldean times to about
1800. Notable are its collections of Italian Renaissance painting, medieval
stained glass, ceramics, and seventeenth century prints. The chapel at Rut
gers has an extensive collection of early and middle American portraits by
Thomas Sully, John Vanderlyn, Henry Inman, and others. Among the
many historical paintings of the New Jersey Historical Society in Newark
are Gilbert Stuart portraits of Captain James Lawrence and Aaron Burr.
A worthy contemporary heir to the State s distinguished landscape tra
dition is John Marin (1890- ) of Cliffside, who has been called by
some critics "the outstanding water-colorist of his generation." Other resi
dent artists representing many trends in current art movements include
186 NEW JERSEY: THE GENERAL VIEW
Grant Reynard (1887- ) of Leonia, a conservative water-colorist ; John
Grabach (1886- ) of Irvington and Maxwell Simpson (1896- ) of
Elizabeth, modern experimentalists in many mediums; and Wanda Gag
(1893- ) of Milford, a noted illustrator. To these should be added the
versatile and perceptive George (Pop) Hart (1868-1933), who chose
Coytesville as his home but whose globetrotting resulted in an exception
ally varied body of water-color and charcoal work. Two painters who have
done much to promote popular interest are F. Ballard Williams (1871- )
of Glen Ridge, national chairman of the American Artists Professional
League, and Raymond O Neill (1893 ) of Roselle, chairman of the
New Jersey State Art Committee in 1937.
New Jersey members of the National Academy of Design number
seven. Of these Williams of Glen Ridge, Charles S. Chapman (1879- )
of Leonia, Hayley Lever (1876- ) of Caldwell, Van Dearing Perrine
(1869- ) of Maplewood, are painters. Ulric H. Ellerhusen (1879- )
of Towaco and Frederick G. R. Roth (1872- ) of Englewood are
sculptors, and Allen Lewis (1873 ) of Basking Ridge is a worker in
the graphic arts.
Associate members of the Academy include five painters, Junius Allen
(1898- ) of Summit, William J. Baer (1860- ) of East Orange,
Harvey Dunn (1884- ) of Tenafly, Henry Rankin Poore (1859- ) of
Orange, Harry M. Walcott (1870- ) of Rutherford, and Howard Mc-
Cormick (1875 ) of Leonia in the graphic arts.
PART II
Cities and Towns
Atlantic City
Railroad Station: Union Station, Arkansas and Arctic Aves., for Jersey Central,
Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines, and West Jersey R.R.
Bus Stations: 9 N. Arkansas Ave. for Atlantic City Bus Co. Lines, Atlantic Coast
Lines, Martz, Safeway Trail ways, Lincoln Transit Co.; ion Atlantic Ave. for
Quaker City, Capital Coach, National Trailways, Martz; Maine and Caspian Ave.
for Atlantic and Shore Railroad Co., Shore Fast Line; Tennessee and Atlantic
Aves. for Gray Line, Pennsylvania-Reading Motor Lines, Greyhound Lines, Public
Service; 122 S. Maryland Ave. for White Way Tours, Sight-Seeing buses.
Taxis: 5O0 for any point in the city, two passengers; io0 for each additional pas
senger.
Streetcars: Fare 70.
Rolling Chairs: For rent along boardwalk; 750 an hour for two persons, $i for
three.
Traffic Regulations: Turns may be made in either direction at intersections of all
streets except where traffic officers or signs direct otherwise. Watch street signs for
parking limitations and one-way streets. Parking meters on Atlantic Ave. and all
cross streets, and on Pacific Ave.
Accommodations: Approximately 1,200 hotels and boarding houses; many hotels
open all year, others open June 15 to October i. Rates higher in summer; com
plaints on overcharges should be sent to Chamber of Commerce.
Information Service: Atlantic City Information, Inc., 12 S. Arkansas Ave.; Atlantic
City Press Bureau, 2327 Boardwalk; Chamber of Commerce, 2306 Pacific Ave.;
Shore Motor Club of South Jersey, Hotel Ambassador, Pacific Ave.; Publicity Bu
reau, Boardwalk at Tennessee Ave.
Radio Station: WPG (noo kc.).
Theaters and Motion Picture Houses: Three theaters; 15 motion picture houses.
Swimming: Beach front, free; Hygeia Pool, Rhode Island Ave. and Boardwalk;
Ambassador Pool, Brighton Ave. and Boardwalk; President Pool, Albany Ave. and
Boardwalk; $i.
Golf: Country Club of Atlantic City, Linwood and Ocean City Clubs, on US 9,
reached by bus and streetcar from Virginia Ave., greens fee $2 ; Brigantine Golf
Club on Brigantine Beach, green fees 750, Sat. and Sun. $i.
Crabbing and Fishing: Steeplechase Pier, Pennsylvania Ave. and Boardwalk; foot
of Washington Ave. at Thoroughfare, Margate; 400 N. Massachusetts Ave.; N.
Iowa Ave. and Thoroughfare; free. Boats from Trolley Terminal Wharves at Inlet,
$2 per person, $5450 a day for chartered boats.
Baseball: Sovereign Ave. and Bader Field adjoining airport, four free diamonds.
Tennis: Albany Ave. Blvd. at airport, 12 courts, 250 per person; N. end of New
Hampshire Ave., 10 courts, free, lockers 250; Drexel Ave. bet. Kentucky and New
York Ave. for Negroes, 6 courts, free.
Riding: On beach October to May, $1.50 per hour; academies along shore road in
Bargaintown, Northfield and Absecon, summer, $i per hour.
Yachting and Speedboating: At Inlet, Longport Trolley Terminal, $i; Steeplechase
Pier, 500.
Bicycling: On Boardwalk before 9 a.m.
Trap shooting: Westy Hogan s Shooting Lodge, Absecon Blvd., open all year.
Ice Skating: Convention Hall, November i5~April 15; adm. 250.
Skee-Ball Stadium: 2429 Boardwalk, 50 per game.
189
190 CITIES AND TOWNS
Annual Events: Horse show, May; Ice Carnival, Convention Hall rink, July-Sept.;
Evening Star Yacht Club s Moth Boat Championship Regatta, August; Showmen s
Variety Jubilee (modified beauty pageant), first week in September; Absecon Yacht
Club s Margate-Longport Regatta, early September; Football, Convention Hall, No
vember; Ice Hockey (Eastern Amateur League), Convention Hall, November 15
April 15.
ATLANTIC CITY (15 alt., 66,198 pop.) is many things to many peo
ple. To an estimated 16,250,000 persons annually it is the ideal vacation
place; a carnival city as characteristic of this country s culture as Brighton
or the Riviera are of Europe s. To some it represents the concentrated
Babbitry of America on parade. To those of the city s 66,198 inhabitants
who profit from the pleasure of the 16,250,000 it is simply a year-round
business.
Atlantic City has developed neither as a super-resort of New Jersey nor
as another Coney Island, but as a glittering monument to the national tal
ent for wholesale amusement. As the pitchman who sells kitchen gadgets
on the boardwalk says at the end of his spiel: "I don t coax anybody. If
jp and get it!" And fr<
the millions come by bus, train, automobile, plane and yacht through-
you want it, come up and get it!" And from all corners of the country
out the year. Each season brings its characteristic crowd: honeymooners,
teachers, elderly retired couples, vacationing white collar workers, minis
ters, businessmen and their families. Uncoaxed, they come and get it. Of
the whole American population, only trailer-travelers who wish to bring
their trailers into the city limits are prohibited by city ordinance. The
hotels and rooming houses have no desire to see "The World s Health
and Pleasure Resort" re-established on a freewheeling basis.
Except for the fact that the city fronts the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic
City s geography is unimportant to the visiting host. Yet it plays a vital
part in their pleasure. The Philadelphians and Camdenites who come
mostly for a day or a week-end s bathing seldom learn that the peculiar
coast curve shields the section from devastating northeastern storms. Nor
do the New Yorkers, who are more likely to spend a week or a fortnight,
often realize that the Gulf Stream comes near enough Atlantic City to
temper its winter climate. Finally, few of the visitors from all over the
land notice that their mecca is actually an island: for the immense marshes
crisscrossed by highways and railways, over which every visitor gets his
first skyline glimpse of Atlantic City, hide deep channels that completely
cut off this densely populated strip of beach from the mainland.
These natural considerations are subordinated to one of the most fasci
nating man-made shows playing to capacity audiences anywhere in the
world. Here Madame Polaska reads your life like an open book; here
Ruth Snyder and Judd Gray sit for eternity in horror-stricken suspense on
an electric chair that fails to function; here an assortment of the World s
Foremost Astrologers reveal the future at so much a glimpse; here hun
dreds sit and play Bingo ; here the bright lights of Broadway burn through
a sea haze; here Somebodies tumble over other Somebodies and over
Nobodies as well.
Atlantic City is an amusement factory, operated on the straight- line,
AMUSEMENT PIERS AND BOARDWALK, ATLANTIC CITY
mass production pattern. The belt is the boardwalk along which each spe
cialist adds his bit to assemble the finished product, the departing visitor,
sated, tanned, and bedecked with souvenirs.
The boardwalk is unique. Sixty feet wide for much of its length, it is
of steel and concrete construction overlaid with pine planking in herring
bone pattern. Twenty miles of planks are used each year to keep it in re
pair. Along its four-mile length the city side is lined with huge hotels,
broken by blocks of shops, restaurants, exhibit rooms, booths, auction
houses, an occasional bank and even a private park. Architecturally the
motifs are mixed, but functionally they unite in presenting a glittering,
luxurious front.
The shops are a melange. Like the super-salesmen who operate them,
they sell anything Ming vases from China, maple furniture from Grand
Rapids, laces from the Levant, jewelry from Newark, shawls from Persia,
and ladies ready-to-wear from New York. Confectionery shops, where
one of Atlantic City s famous products, salt water taffy, is made and sold,
radiate a sickly sweet fragrance among motion picture houses, circus side
shows, frozen custard emporiums, shooting galleries, restaurants, and hot
dog and hamburger stands. Commercially, the boardwalk achieves its
greatest dignity in the permanent display shops of leading national adver
tisers and the smart shops studding the first floors of the large hotels.
The visitor may tire physically of the boardwalk, but he seldom leaves
192 CITIES AND TOWNS
it. More than a dozen business firms and the city provide pavilions and
benches where visitors may watch the passing show or gaze into the vast-
ness of the ocean.
Thirsts are quenched at automatic soda fountains where a nickel in the
slot sets in motion the mechanism that puts a paper cup abruptly under a
spout that stops flowing when the fluid is exactly one-quarter of an inch
from the top of the cup. The drinker has his choice of loganberry, choco
late, cherry, lemon and lime, fruit punch, La Pep, champagne ("non
alcoholic," the sign adds apologetically), root beer, ginger ale and grape.
Many continue the procession in rolling chairs, propelled mostly by
Negroes, who are not paid for waiting time but only for every hour they
push. Tips the uppermost consideration of the 14,000 summer workers
in Atlantic City mean more to these men than to almost any other work
ers. Cryptically, they call a small tip "a thin one" and none at all "a flat."
The miles of fine white sand eventually draw the majority of visitors
away from the miles of tough gray planks for a sun bath or a turn in the
surf. The universal appeal of the sea, the tang and smell of salt water and
sea air are probably the resort s most valuable possessions. The wide strip
of white sandy beach is dotted with cabanas, umbrellas, beach chairs, and
gaily togged bathers against the deep green of the Atlantic and the tur
quoise sky. The corps of 71 trained lifeguards is none too many when a
Sunday crowd swells the beach population to more than 500,000.
The half dozen amusement piers extend well out into the ocean at wide
intervals. "A vacation in itself" is the slogan of the largest pier; "six-ring
circus" would describe the piers more accurately. One admission price ad
mits the pleasure-seeker to any or all the goings-on: two moving picture
houses with entirely different shows, a vaudeville house, science exhibits,
a deep-sea diving horse, health talks, a chamber of horrors, a zoo devoted
to baby animals, and a dozen or so other attractions. When eyes and legs
grow weary, indoor rest rooms and outdoor solaria provide comfortable
deck chairs.
Few visitors pass up the everlasting joy of selecting souvenirs and
forget-Atlantic City-nots. First place among mementoes goes to various
knickknacks made of suedelike yellow leather purses, memorandum books,
hanging receptacles for whisk brooms, moccasins, and handkerchief boxes.
All, of course, are inscribed Atlantic City; each souvenir store is equipped
with tools that can engrave Atlantic City on anything from the back of a
turtle to a steel plate. Next in popularity are seashells ranging from com
mon clams to exotic crenulated oddities.
Young honeymooners are the most lavish buyers of mementoes. They
buy something for everyone back home and have each piece suitably in
scribed: "To Mother, from Anna and Joe"; "To Grandma, from Anna
and Joe"; "To Brother Pete, from Anna and Joe," and so on down the
family tree. One favorite item is a gaudy pillow slip embroidered with a
picture of a little cottage surrounded by flowers growing out of an orange
lawn cut down the center by a green path. Beneath the cottage scene is an
appropriate bit of verse:
ATLANTIC CITY 193
To one who bears the sweetest name,
And adds a lustre to the same,
Who shares my joys
Who cheers when sad
The greatest friend I ever had.
Long life to her for there s no other
Can take the place of my dear
MOTHER
Atlantic City, N. J.
The summer millions dwindle to winter thousands, and the pace of At
lantic City perceptibly slows down after the annual September beauty pag
eant. It is then that the city wins its reputation as a health resort. To bene
fit from the mild climate and healthful sea air come elderly folk, who
find respite from cold winters on the warm boardwalk and in the chatty
living rooms of scores of rooming and boarding houses. The city becomes
more sophisticated as a more urban group of business and professional
people arrive to catch an off-season vacation. On the winter holidays and
during the frequent conventions, however, there is a sharp, sudden return
to the carnival summertime spirit, disconcerting indeed to the entrenched
oldsters.
Backstage of the boardwalk, there is a gradual falling from the splen
dor of Atlantic City s front. Narrow side streets leading from the beach
are crowded with phalanxes of small hotels, boarding houses, restaurants,
and saloons. The majority are frame buildings and, unlike the boardwalk,
recall that Atlantic City was founded in mid- Victorian times.
The first longitudinal street that parallels the boardwalk is Pacific Ave
nue, a heavy traffic thoroughfare. Here, among restaurants and small re
tail shops, stand many of Atlantic City s civic and religious buildings. A
feature of this street is the jitney service, a steady stream of touring cars
that pick up passengers at designated corners and carry them to any desti
nation on Pacific Avenue for io0. For an additional io0 the driver will
deviate into side streets.
Atlantic Avenue, second street from the boardwalk and paralleling it,
is the city s chief business section. This is the one street where visitors can
forget that they are in America s leading seashore resort, for it is much
like the main streets of other cities of the same size. It is broad, and its
many large buildings, including the city s one metropolitan department
store, impart an air of mature solidity. Westward Atlantic Avenue abruptly
becomes the Chelsea residential section, where large villas and attractive
bungalows are fronted with well-tended lawns.
North of Atlantic Avenue the city deteriorates into a dingy section
somewhat improved by recent slum clearance and street repairing. This is
the Northside, home of Atlantic City s Negro inhabitants 23 percent of
the total population and, next to that of Newark, the most important
Negro population of the State. They form a reservoir of cheap labor for the
hotels, amusement piers, restaurants, riding academies, and private homes.
194 CITIES AND TOWNS
In addition to the large group of unskilled workers there are many profes
sional and business people. The colony supports 15 churches, a Y.M.C.A.,
a Y.W.C.A., a special playground, a public library branch, and The Eagle,
a weekly newspaper. They have three elementary schools, and hold posi
tions in the city and county governments. By tacit understanding the Ne
groes frequent certain portions of the beach at certain hours.
At the Inlet in the northeastern end of the city are several basins and
harbors where pleasure craft and the fishing fleet tie up. The city s fishing
industry, third largest of the State with approximately 3,000,000 pounds
shipped annually, predates the amusement business. Every afternoon at
about 4:30 the fleet of some two-score 5O-foot boats brings in the catch.
An even greater income, however, is obtained from the renting of boats
and crew for pleasure fishing.
The history of Atlantic City is a fabulous success story of a city that
knew what it wanted to be from its very infancy. Before 1852, when con
struction of the Camden and Atlantic Railroad began, Atlantic City was
an island waste 5 miles off the mainland and separated from it by a series
of bays, sounds, and salt meadows. It was known as Absecon (Ind., place
of swans) Island or Absecon Beach where, historians say, "The frequency
of shipwrecks and the undisturbed isolation of the island must have made
it an attractive spot for refugees from war or justice." One historian re
peats a story "that in the cupola of the first church . . . was stationed a
look-out during the hour of service to acquaint the congregation of a ves
sel drifting in, in order that the Barnegat and Brigantine Beach people
should not forestall them in reaching the scene of disaster and appropri
ating the best of what the waves would wash in."
Once the climate and beach of the Island were appraised, it was not
long before a railroad from Camden was under construction. The rail
road company assigned one of its engineers, Richard B. Osborne, to lay
out the city. To the streets running across from the beach to the marshes
he gave the names of the States; for those paralleling the beach he bor
rowed the names of seven seas: Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic, Baltic, Adri
atic, Mediterranean, Caspian. Let Mr. Osborne give his own reasons: "Its
proud name is for the nation; it has made her prominent, and will, every
year of her existence, prove more and more appropriate as she reaches her
manifest destiny the first, most popular, most health-giving and most in
viting watering-place ..."
The year 1854 was a crowded one. The city was incorporated March 3.
At the first election 1 8 of the 21 voters pushed their ballots through the
slot of a cigar box, fastened with tape. In the same year the first train ar
rived from Camden, bringing 600 passengers. Many dined at a still un
completed hotel. Other hotels were soon being built.
Meanwhile the Camden and Atlantic Land Company had bought land
at $17.50 an acre and, as a contemporary newspaper reported, planned "to
sell it some day for as high as $500 per lot." By 1877 tne pressure of traf
fic was so great that a second railroad to Camden, 54 miles away, was
built in the fast time of 98 days. This was known as the Narrow Gauge
Railroad because of its 3l/ 2 -foot gauge, 14 inches less than standard. The
ATLANTIC CITY 195
West Jersey Railroad, known as the Electric, opened in 1906; it now
maintains only a daily run to Newfield.
The boardwalk was the joint conception in 1870 of a local hotel man,
Jacob Keim, and a conductor on the Camden and Atlantic, Alexander
Boardman. They agreed that the beach was the principal attraction of At
lantic City and noticed that this attraction was nullified by cool or cloudy
weather. They had their fellow citizens sign a petition to council, and on
June 26, 1870, the first boardwalk was completed. It was set directly upon
the sands, and was only 8 feet wide. The present structure, the fifth, dates
from 1896.
The next milestone in the history of the resort was the invention of the
rolling chair in 1884. M. D. Shill, a Philadelphia manufacturer of invalid
chairs, gocarts and perambulators, came to Atlantic City and opened a
store to rent out baby carriages to summer families. He also rented out
invalid chairs for convalescents and cripples. Within a few years these in
valid chairs evolved into the double chair with a pusher. Triple chairs
followed, completing the fleet of comfortable sightseeing chairs of today.
In 1895 the picture postcard was naturalized in Atlantic City. In that
year the wife of Carl M. Voelker, a local resident, visited Germany and
returned with the idea. Mr. Voelker turned them out in his printing shop
as an advertising medium for the beach front hotels, and the fad spread
across the country.
During these late years of the nineteenth century the making of salt
water taffy became a thriving industry. The name was derived from asso
ciation rather than ingredients. The product is really a form of pulled
taffy and is sold now by three large firms operating chains of stores along
the boardwalk.
Atlantic City s showmanship achieved real individuality with the cre
ation of the amusement pier, the first of which was built in 1882. The
economic principle was the same as that of the skyscraper, except that it
operated horizontally, the aim being to occupy little space on the board
walk, yet to pack as much amusement behind the entrances as was physi
cally possible. After the first of these ingenious structures dipped its
spindly legs into the Atlantic s surf, others followed quickly. Their con
struction was facilitated, it is said, through the accidental discovery of a
Negro laborer, who, while working in Delaware Bay, noticed the effect
of water running swiftly from a hose upon the sand. His discovery of
jetting was used in sinking foundation piles for the piers.
With the establishment of the amusement pier, Atlantic City s mold
was almost unalterably shaped. Since the turn of the century the resort
has largely devoted itself to improving and modernizing the basic amuse
ment equipment and refining its technique of entertainment.
The city has shown itself determined to preserve an individuality, in
spite of, or because of, its estimated 16,250,000 visitors. It retains the
adopted metropolitan way of referring to streets as "blocks" instead of
the South Jersey-Philadelphia "squares." It has capitalized on its latitudi
nal southern location to simulate a Dixie hospitality.
Politically and commercially it has become the vortex of eastern South
196
CITIES AND TOWNS
V
To \t
U. S. 40 to Pennsyille
^ N. J. 48 to Penusgrove
N. J. 42 to
SCALE IN FEET
1000 200 ,3000:
U. S. 40 & *
To
ATLANTIC CITY
ATLANTIC CITY
197
198 CITIES AND TOWNS
Jersey. Although Mays Landing is the county seat of Atlantic County,
officials transact most of their business in branch offices at Atlantic City,
Since the World War, civic leaders have encouraged the development of
manufacturing, aware that their city, like any large resort, is subject to
sudden loss of public favor through epidemics or natural disasters.
POINTS OF INTEREST
1. The MODEL AMERICAN VILLAGE, on the Boardwalk between
Bellevue and Texas Aves., displays three houses, set at various angles to
the "Highway," on a large semicircular lawn. One house is Tudor in de
sign, constructed of masonry; another is a frame Cape Cod Colonial; the
third is a frame and stucco modern type. The number of rooms varies
from 7 to 12, and the cost of the houses from $5,000 to $15,000. Each is
furnished and equipped in accordance with the period and price. In the
rear is a town hall with stores on the ground floor and a village green in
front. The exhibit is sponsored and equipped by a hundred leading manu
facturers and builders of the country.
2. The CONVENTION HALL AND MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM
(tours with official guides hourly, 250), on the Boardwalk between Geor
gia and Mississippi Aves., is said to be the largest of its kind in the world.
Its auditorium seats 41,000 persons; the ballroom accommodates 5,000.
An organ with 32,000 pipes, also a world s record, has been built into the
structure. During the year the auditorium is transformed alternately into
an ice-skating rink, a football gridiron, a polo and horse-show field and a
steeplechase course. RADIO STATION WPG maintains its studio on the
upper floor.
3. MILLION DOLLAR PIER, Boardwalk and Arkansas Ave. (one ad
mission price for all attractions), is 1,700 ft. long and the second largest
pier in the city. It was named by its original owner, Capt. John L. Young,
now deceased, as soon as a million dollars had been spent on the still un
completed structure in 1906. In 1938 the name was changed to Hamid s
Million Dollar Pier. The captain s former home (open) on the pier, be
yond the beach line, had the unusual post office address of No. i Atlantic
Ocean. The house is three stories high, and is equipped with a conserva
tory. Shrubbery and flowers grow in the surrounding garden. From the
ocean end of the pier a fish net haul is made twice daily, at noon and 4
p.m. Species of fish which find their way into the big net include shark,
tarpon, drumfish, barracuda, ray, sea robin, and others.
4. The CENTRAL PIER (free), Boardwalk and Tennessee Ave., has
in recent years concentrated on commercial exhibits. Once the city s long
est pier (2,700 ft.), it has been destroyed three times by fire and is now
less than one-third of its original length. The chief current exhibits in
clude those of the Texas Company, the Beechnut Company, the Atlantic
City Convention Bureau, the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and the Bicycle
Trades Exhibit. There is also an arcade of small shops.
5. The STEEPLECHASE PIER (free), Boardwalk and Pennsylvania
Ave., caters to children with swings, merry-go-rounds, and other juvenile
THE MUNICIPAL AUDITORIUM, ATLANTIC CITY
amusement. It was built 800 ft. long in 1890, destroyed by fire in 1932,
and rebuilt to 1,500 ft. to serve as a fishing and yachting center. It was
originally George Tilyou s "Funny Place" where Coney Island oddities
were burlesqued.
6. The STEEL PIER (one admission price for all attractions), Board
walk and Virginia Ave., is 2,000 ft. long, the largest of all. Among its
novelties are three diving horses that, four times a day, gallop up a runway
45 ft. high and dive into a pool of water, a girl rider perched on each
back. The late Dr. W. F. Carver, an Indian scout, originated this spec
tacular entertainment 50 years ago. His daughter now trains the horses.
Other attractions are two movie houses and a zoo for baby animals.
7. The GARDEN PIER (free), Boardwalk and New Jersey Ave., looks
like the oldest but is actually the youngest pier on the boardwalk. It was
built in 1915 and its incongruous Spanish architecture is somewhat atoned
for by its fireproof construction. Garden Pier specializes in public enter
tainment; it provides bimonthly boxing and wrestling and semiprofes-
sional basketball in the winter, and stage shows and occasionally opera in
the summer.
8. The HEINZ PIER (free), Boardwalk and Massachusetts Ave., is the
highbrow of the boardwalk. Operated since 1898 by the canned-food pro
ducer, it features art exhibits, lectures, and educational-promotional dis
plays. A series of eight model kitchens includes the little Dutch Kitchen,
200 CITIES AND TOWNS
the English, the Spanish of Don Quixote s time, the American of the time
of Evangeline, the Civil War, and the modern dietary laboratory.
9. The ABSECON LIGHTHOUSE (not open), Pacific and Rhode
Island Aves., is the Eiffel Tower of Atlantic City wherever the visitor
looks he sees the i6y-ft. structure, much like an oversize factory chimney
with a glass cage perched on top. When erected in 1854 it stood 1,300 ft.
from the water front. Within the next few years the Atlantic began to en
croach on the shore line until the waves broke within 75 ft. of the light
house. Massive stone jetties were built to protect it, and as a result the
ocean retreated until now it is two long blocks away. The light was abai>
doned in 1932.
10. The MASONIC TEMPLE, NE. corner Hartford and Ventnor
Aves., is a square four-story building of Byzantine architecture, con
structed of limestone and marble. The facade is adorned with six massive
engaged columns. The cornerstone was cut from marble brought from the
legendary quarries of King Solomon.
n. The WORLD WAR MEMORIAL, corner Albany and Ventnor
Aves., is an open circular cella, with surrounding peristyle of Doric col
umns, designed by Carrere and Hastings. The marble walls are pierced
with four doors; in the center is a heroic bronze monument, Liberty in
Distress. The work of Frederick W. MacMonnies, it is a reproduction of
the sculptor s work at Varredes, France, commemorating the first battle
of the Marne. Liberty, naked but for knotted garments hanging from her
elbows, her feet mired in writhen corpses, supports an inert male figure
across her right thigh. Her distress is the one matter about which there is
no question whatever.
12. STANLEY S. HOLMES VILLAGE (open), Illinois and Baltic
Aves., is the first slum clearance project attempted in New Jersey, and
alleviates to a slight degree the housing conditions of Atlantic City s Ne
groes. Continuous structures of red brick, two and three stories high, con
tain 277 apartments and cover three square blocks. The buildings have
large windows with steel frames, a central heating plant, and entrances
that lead to the street and to spacious courts in the rear. The average rental
(including gas, electricity, heat and janitor service) is $8.08 per month
for each room. Tenants are selected from self-sustaining families only.
The village has been 100 percent occupied since one month after its
opening on April 16, 1937. Considered one of the most successful projects
in the country, it returned more than 10 percent over the cost of operation
during its first 141/2 months. Rental arrears amounting to $117.49 m J une
1938 have since been paid up.
POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
Somers Mansion, 18.7 m. (see Tour 18); Batsto, 30 m., Pleasant Mills, 30.3 m.
(see Side Tour 23 A) ; pine and cedar swamps, 32.9 m. (see Tour 35).
Railroad Station: W. 8th St. and Ave. C. for Jersey Central R.R.
Buses: Fare 50.
Streetcars and Busses: Fare 50.
Taxis: Fare 350 within city limits.
Ferry: S. end of Ave. C for Electric Ferry to Staten Island; car and passengers 250,
pedestrians 50.
Toll Bridge: Hudson County Blvd. and W. yth St. for Staten Island; car and pas
sengers 500, pedestrians 50.
Traffic Regulations: On Boulevard, stop on nearest corner on red or amber light;
i -hour parking in business district (Broadway) between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Accommodations: Rooming houses.
Information Service: Chamber of Commerce, 51 E. 22nd St.
Motion Picture Houses: Six.
Swimming: Bayonne Y.M.C.A., W. 33rd St. between Ave. C and Boulevard; Indus
trial Y.M.C.A., 259 Ave. E; open-air pool, W. 63rd St. and Boulevard; Newark
Bay at County Park, Ave. C and W. 4Oth St.
Tennis: City Park at W. i8th St.; County Park, Ave. C and W. 4Oth St.
Baseball: City Stadium, W. i4th St. and Ave. A.
BAYONNE (40 alt., 88,979 pop.) is the eastern end of the Nation s long
est oil-pipe lines the oil-refining center of the State. It is an isolated com
munity of low, crowded buildings, lying on the tip of the peninsula that
separates New York Bay from Newark Bay. Although it is closer to New
York than are Newark or Elizabeth, it lags in reflecting the influence of
the metropolis. Bayonne, in fact, at present has no hotel. Houses pack the
streets so tightly that there is not even space for a cemetery.
On all sides but its northern boundary, where it merges into Jersey City,
Bayonne is surrounded by water. On the map the city looks like a boot.
The toe is Constable Hook and it juts into New York Bay where oil tank
ers rock at company wharves. The sole of the boot is Kill van Kull. The
heel is Virgin Point, where Kill van Kull joins Newark Bay.
Physiographically the city strings its three-mile length along a ridge that
follows closely the straight shore line of Newark Bay and then slopes easily
to the low marshy shores of New York Bay. Hudson Boulevard, running
along the ridge from Jersey City to Kill van Kull, borders the eastern edge
of the better residential district, which stretches along the high ground
above Newark Bay. Bisecting the industrial section built along the foot
portion of the boot, the boulevard crosses Bayonne Bridge into Staten
Island. The business center, paralleling the boulevard, is part way down
the slope.
Outside the magnificent view across Newark Bay clear to Newark and
Elizabeth, Bayonne has little of the unusual to offer the sightseeing visitor
201
202 CITIES AND TOWNS
except the amazing oil-refinery section on Constable Hook. This is worth
a visit if the sightseer has the patience and courage to thread its mazes,
and the foresight to secure a pass that will admit him to the inner secrets
of an oil refinery. The approach is by 22nd Street, which starts from Hud
son Boulevard on the heights and descends across streets of retail stores,
through a minor industrial and tenement district, and then loses itself in
a thick forest of what appear to be gargantuan steel mushrooms. These are
the oil tanks of America s major refineries, receiving crude petroleum
pumped in unbroken streams from pipe lines that go through the Alle-
ghanies to Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and under the Mississippi River as far
west as Oklahoma and Texas. In Bayonne the crude oil is broken down
or "cracked" into crude petroleum, gasoline, kerosene, naphtha, vaseline,
various tars and pitches, and a host of minor products (such as chemicals
and drugs) that emerge into common use under disguises that only scien
tists understand.
Most of the district is fenced off into carefully guarded areas owned and
developed by the various refineries. A few of the smaller refineries are open
to visitors on application at the gate. To enter the more spectacular major
ones, however, one must obtain permits in advance, generally from head
quarters in New York City. The New York offices are frequently willing
to admit large parties under guides, but visitors are never allowed to wan
der at will. There are various causes for this intensive guarding. The nature
of many refinery products is such that a careless sightseer with a cigarette
could blow Bayonne into New York Bay; further, some of the processes
are secret. The major refineries themselves are carefully planned miniature
cities containing stores, community houses, first-aid hospitals, and restau
rants for the use of the thousands of employees.
Other water-front factories produce chemicals, garments, cork, cables,
yachts, and metal and food products. The business section stretches for
twenty blocks along Broadway, a wide street packed with small food,
clothing and accessory stores. Tall buildings and smart shops are lacking;
Bayonne s merchants sell to workers. It is first of all a workingman s city,
and its localized industries are attuned to this basic fact; so also are its
recreations and its civic life, in which latter phase the labor question most
naturally prevails. The city traditionally is open shop, but the bulk of the
working population is organized either in company or in independent
unions.
The homes in the better residential section consist of one- or two-family
frame houses set well back from the sidewalk, with trees and close-cropped
lawns. Most of them date from the building boom that followed the
World War. On Newark Bay, adjoining a residential area, are city and
county parks attractively landscaped with paths and drives, offering unex
pected contrast to the industrial development close by.
The majority of the more than 22,500 foreign-born live on the eastern
edge of the city in small frame structures, many with additions that obvi
ously were home-made. Small truck gardens and grape vines in the back
yards are a link to agricultural home countries. Poles predominate, with
Italians, Russians, Irish, and Czechs following in that order. To many of
BAYONNE 203
the police and firemen English is a secondary language, spoken with a
heavy foreign accent. Even the children speak with a distinctive inflection.
Prominent in the recreational life of the working population is the In
dustrial Y.M.C.A., erected with contributions from all the industries of
Bayonne. It has a membership of 1,600. The "Y" sponsors, at a small cost
to parents, a summer camp in Hunterdon County.
Bayonne is divided in its own estimate of itself. The difference may be
illustrated by two examples: trucks of a furniture store carry huge signs
which say that Bayonne has the "finest shops" and "the finest school teach
ers." On the other hand, a newspaper report of a 1936 meeting to protest
high taxes and bonded indebtedness was headlined: "WHERE IS BAY
ONNE GOING? TO THE DOGS, SOME SAY."
Nothing remains in the city to recall its settlement. In March 1646,
thirty-seven years after Henry Hudson stopped at the site of Bayonne be
fore his sail up Hudson River, Jacob Jacobsen Roy, a gunner at New Am
sterdam, received patent to a tract of land, called after him Konstapel s
Hoeck (Dutch, gunner s point). Other grants were not issued until De
cember 1654; a year later shelters were built as centers for Indian trading.
Shortly after, the Indians, enraged at the Dutch trading tactics, drove out
the settlers. Resettlement was made several years after the Dutch made a
treaty with the tribesmen in 1658.
The peninsula was called Constable Hook when the British gained con
trol of it in 1664, and later it became Bergen Neck. Trading shacks and
forest gave way to homes and large estates. During the next century, the
area became a pleasure center for the socialites of the New World.
Separated as it was from New Jersey s mainland and New York, Bay
onne was the scene of only a few unimportant skirmishes during the Revo
lution. With the War of 1812 came the first industrial plant, the Hazard
Powder House, which produced some powder for the Navy and for the
forts in New York Bay.
To speed the movement of troops and munitions during the Civil War,
the first railroad trestle was built across Newark Bay from Elizabethport,
which until 1864 was the railhead.
In 1869 the township, which comprised Constable Hook, Bergen Point,
Centerville, and Saltersville, was incorporated as the City of Bayonne with
a population of 4,000.
The establishment of the Prentice refinery in 1875 marked the beginning
of the city s change. The concern employed 20 men and produced 600 bar
rels of kerosene daily. The rural atmosphere gave way to increasing indus
trial clatter as in rapid succession the Standard Oil Company, the Tide
Water Oil Company and other refineries, attracted by the natural advan
tages of the location, moved in. Four docks were constructed to take care
of increasing tonnage ; railroad tracks were laid ; and pipe lines were built
to bring crude oil directly from Oklahoma and from Illinois. Kerosene was
the chief product of the cracking stills, with greases and lubricating oils as
byproducts. Pollution from gasoline products, at first generally dumped
into the bay, spoiled swimming and fishing.
Several times the Bayonne water front has blazed with spectacular oil
204 CITIES AND TOWNS
fires, one of which (1900) lasted for three days. The last big fire was in
1930, when 1 8 tanks and dockage facilities of the Gulf Refining Company
were destroyed by fire and a series of explosions with a $3,000,000 loss.
Blazing barges drifted into New York Harbor, pursued by fireboats and
tugs.
Twice the Standard Oil plant was the scene of strikes that left a heavy
toll of dead and wounded among the employees. In 1915 one hundred
still cleaners, striking for overtime pay, were joined by 5,000 other work
ers. At an expense of $250,000, the company called in a strikebreaking
organization led by Pearl Bergoff. Five men were killed by police or im
ported strike guards. Sheriff Eugene F. Kinkead arrested the strike leader,
J. J. Baly, and, when the strike was almost ended, he jailed 99 special
company guards. The company finally yielded a small increase, but wages
still remained below the prevailing level.
A year later the workers struck for a 30 percent wage increase for men
earning less than $3 a day and a 20 percent rise for all others. The result
was another series of battles that left eight workers dead and twenty-five
seriously hurt. Strikers complained that their leaders were hampered in
entering the city and that some of their local sympathizers were forced to
leave their homes. The strike ended with nothing gained. Afterward Stand
ard Oil became one of the pioneers in establishing a company union, or
employees representation system.
Although seven refining companies pay an estimated 41 percent to the
city s property tax income, Bayonne residents bear a tax rate of $51.87
(1938). The bonded indebtedness is close to the statutory limit.
One of the strangest strikes in the history of the city began in the fall
of 1937 when eight members of the American Newspaper Guild walked
out of the Bayonne Times office after the publisher failed to put a wage
and hour agreement into effect. Most of the leading Bayonne merchants
and thousands of citizens gave their support to the small band of strikers,
who finally won a sweeping victory despite a Chancery Court injunction
that practically prohibited any strike activities.
POINTS OF INTEREST
1. BAYONNE BRIDGE (toll: car and passengers 500, pedestrians 50),
Hudson County Blvd. and W. 7th St., is the longest steel arch span in the
world, exceeding a similar structure at Sydney, Australia, by 25 feet. Rest
ing on the subsurface rock at the southern end of the Palisades, it sweeps
across the Kill van Kull in a single span of 1,675 ^ eet to Staten Island.
The bridge deck is 150 feet above high water; beneath it passes a steady
procession of tugs, lighters, oil tankers and freighters. For beauty of de
sign its gray arch is rivaled in the metropolitan area only by the George
Washington Bridge (see Tour 1), a. suspension span. Designed by Oth-
man H. Ammann and Leon Moisseiff, the structure cost $16,000,000.
Since its opening in 1931, traffic has not been great enough to take care of
the carrying charges.
2. TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH, Broadway and 5th St., was
* X \
k : PfS*V
BAYONNE BRIDGE OVER KILL VAN KULL
206 CITIES AND TOWNS
erected in 1881 after the burning of an earlier edifice. Built in the Vic
torian Gothic style from plans by E. J. N. Stent, the rough brownstone
building was the scene in 1887 of the wedding of Nicholas Murray Butler,
then a young tutor in philosophy at Columbia University, to Susanna Ed
wards Schuyler, daughter of the church s chief benefactor. Another prom
inent church member was Henry Meigs, first mayor of Bayonne and a
president of the New York Stock Exchange. Early in 1938 the church
attained new distinction when the rector, the Reverend William C. Kernan,
opened the parish hall for a speech barred from practically every other
hall in Hudson County: an address by Roger Baldwin, director of the
American Civil Liberties Union, and a spearhead in the attack on Mayor
Frank Hague of Jersey City for his campaign against trade union organ
izers.
3. ELCO WORKS (open 9-5 weekdays), Ave. A and North St., is the
oldest and largest builder of standardized cruisers in the United States.
In the long, low building along Newark Bay are built small motorboats
and 125-foot yachts with a complete series of intermediate sizes. During
the World War, Elco built 722 submarine chasers. Organized in 1892,
the company s first big job was the construction of 55 electric launches for
the lagoons at the Chicago World s Fair in 1893.
Railroad Station: Pennsylvania Station, W. end Park St., for Pennsylvania R.R.
Bus Stations: 201 Main St., for Safeway Trailways; 200 Farnsworth Ave. for Pub
lic Service; Bordentown Grill for Martz Lines.
Accommodations: One hotel.
Motion Picture Houses: One.
Swimming: Delaware River, north of town.
Golf: Sunnybrae Golf Club, 3 m. NE. on State 39, 18 holes, greens fees 50^; Sat.,
Sun. and holidays $i.
BORDENTOWN (65 alt., 4,400 pop.), a wind-swept village on a bluff
rising sharply from the Delaware River, has a nineteenth century air, and a
curious mingling of European and early American architecture. The tone
of the village, set a century ago by exiled Bonapartist royalty, lingers in
the town s half-secluded atmosphere.
The main community occupies its Revolutionary site and in some re
spects the appearance has changed but little. Houses are built flush with
the red brick sidewalks, and often with no space between them. Where a
narrow passage does permit a view of the rear, gardens of boxwood and
evergreens are glimpsed. Many of the homes are of Colonial design,
wooden or brick, with shuttered windows; others show Continental in
fluence in their stucco exteriors and wrought-iron railings and trim. The
colors of the town are pastel, as though faded by sun and wind; grays,
yellows, creams, and browns predominate.
Conflicting with Bordentown s mellow charm is its small business cen
ter of conventional, suburban-type stores, in the very heart of which is a
building with a perfect example of a Colonial doorway and delicately
lined fanlight.
Along the bluff overlooking Delaware River the old houses are sur
rounded by gardens and fine trees: evergreens, sycamores, maples, willows
and elms. The gardens, all extending to the edge of the bluff, have tiny
summerhouses where the grandees of former days watched their own ves
sels and goods passing in the river and canal. Some of these houses on the
bluff resemble the "pepper boxes" of the New England coast two-storied
square dwellings with flat roofs topped by a small watchtower. On a few
of the most imposing, small signs read, "Apartments to let."
The tracks oif a Pennsylvania Railroad branch lie in a deep and narrow
cut through the center of the town; another track hugs the base of the
bluff.
Settled in 1682 by Thomas Farnsworth, an English Quaker, the village
was first known as Farnsworth s Landing. It became a busy shipping cen
ter, thanks to its location at the confluence of Delaware River and Cross-
wicks Creek. By 1734 the Landing had a stage line and packet service,
207
208 CITIES AND TOWNS
making connections at Philadelphia and at Perth Amboy for the New
York boat. This enterprise was established by Joseph Borden, for whom
the town was soon named.
The pleasant site attracted the fashionables of Philadelphia as summer
visitors. Among the Morrises, the Shippens, the Chews, the Norrises, and
the Hopkinsons a gracious social life developed.
Patience Lovell (17251785), born in Bordentown of Quaker parent
age, began as a child to model in bread crumbs and clay. As a young
woman she went abroad to study art, but it was not until she was 47 and
a widow with four children that her work received recognition. She won
international attention for her figures in wax, notably one of Sir William
Pitt which was placed in Westminster Abbey.
Bordentown was severely punished by the British for the famous "me
chanical keg plot" of the Revolution. In January 1778 the British fleet was
anchored in the Delaware at Philadelphia. One night the patriots up
stream launched a flotilla of kegs filled with gunpowder, depending upon
the river current to carry them to the fleet, which unknown to the Colo
nials had just been removed from its exposed position. Only one of the
primitive mines exploded, but it killed four men and created a panic
among the British. Thereafter every piece of flotsam was viewed with sus
picion and orders were given to fire without warning upon any unidenti
fied log, keg or barrel.
The mechanical kegs had been built in the cooperage of Col. Joseph
Borden. It was his son-in-law, the talented Francis Hopkinson, who
promptly wrote one of the best jingles of the Revolution, The Battle of
the Kegs, 22 verses that were published throughout the Colonies and
caused some British officers to wear countenances no less scarlet than their
uniforms :
Gallants, attend, and hear a friend
Trill forth harmonious ditty:
Strange things I ll tell, which late befell
In Philadelphia city.
Twas early day, as poets say,
Just when the sun was rising,
A soldier stood on log of wood,
And saw a thing surprising.
* * *
Sir William he, snug as a flea,
Lay all this time a snoring;
Nor dream d of harm, as he lay warm
In bed with Mrs. L .
* * *
Arise, arise! Sir Erskine cries;
The rebels more s the pity
Without a boat are all afloat,
And rang d before the city.
* * *
The cannons roar from shore to shore;
The small-arms loud did rattle;
Since wars began, I m sure no man
E er saw so strange a battle.
BORDENTOWN 209
Angered no less by Hopkinson s verses than by the plot to blow up the
fleet, the British sent 5 armed vessels and 24 flat-bottomed boats with
about 800 soldiers to Bordentown in May 1778. At their approach, the
townspeople destroyed more than 20 American vessels that had been lying
at the White Hill. Disappointed, the British turned on the town and razed
the home and store of Colonel Borden. As the colonel s wife sat in the
middle of the street and watched the destruction, a British officer ex
pressed his sympathy. The proud old lady retorted: ". . . This is the hap
piest day of my life. I know you have given up all hope of reconquering
my country, or you would not thus wantonly devastate it." Before they left
the British also burned two Continental galleys that had been moored up
Crosswicks Creek.
Thomas Paine, the firebrand of the Revolution, made his home in Bor
dentown with Col. Joseph Kirkbride in 1783 before buying his own house.
Here he received a cordial invitation from Washington to visit him at
Rocky Hill. Paine had been virtually ignored, and Washington hoped
thus to remind Congress of the value of his Revolutionary services.
After Paine had been rewarded by appointments to several responsible
positions he was often visited at Bordentown by Benjamin Franklin, Gouv-
erneur Morris, and other distinguished men. The gunsmith and dreamer,
John Fitch, came with plans and a proposal of partnership in the building
of a steamboat. Although Paine offered mechanical suggestions he was not
further interested.
When Paine returned to Europe and became embroiled in the affairs of
the French Revolution he still held an affectionate memory of Borden
town. In one letter he wrote: "... my heart and myself are three thousand
miles apart; and I had rather see my horse, Button, eating the grass of
Bordentown, than see ail the show and pomp of Europe."
Following his escape from the guillotine and the publication of the Age
of Reason, Paine again sought the comfort of the pleasant river town and,
more particularly, of his friend, Colonel Kirkbride. His liberal religious
views had outraged most of his former admirers, and there were few who
cared or dared to greet him. But Colonel Kirkbride welcomed his old
friend only to flee with him from a mob of jeering pursuers who forced
their way into the quiet garden and literally ran Paine out of town.
In the summer of 1790 the townspeople gathered on the bluff to cheer
the first commercially operated steamboat in America. John Fitch, the
ridiculed inventor, had at last succeeded in building a steam packet for a
service along the Delaware, and Bordentown was a scheduled stop. Two
years earlier Fitch had made an experimental trip from Philadelphia to
Bordentown.
In 1816 Joseph Bonaparte, exiled King of Spain and brother of Na
poleon, bought about 1,500 acres, which he developed into an elaborate
estate on the outskirts of the town. No alien was then permitted to own
property in the United States, and transference of title was delayed a year
pending passage of a special act by the legislature. The little kingdom on
the edge of the Delaware River earned for New Jersey the sobriquet of
"New Spain."
210 CITIES AND TOWNS
Bordentown was the scene of a peacetime mechanical feat no less re
markable than the launching of the powder kegs. In 1831 there arrived
from England a strange assortment of iron plates, pipes, bolts, nuts, rods,
and other parts. These were the makings of the first locomotive to run on
the new Camden and Amboy Railroad. To Isaac Dripps, a young mechanic
of Bordentown who had never seen a locomotive, fell the task of assem
bling these parts without the aid of a shop drawing the only item
omitted by the British manufacturers. After 2 weeks of dogged effort,
Dripps had the John Bull ready for service, and on November 12, 1831,
at a point i mile northeast of Bordentown, the engine was successfully
tested in a run with two coaches filled with distinguished passengers.
Shops employing hundreds of skilled mechanics were established in
Bordentown for the construction and repair of locomotives and coaches.
Meanwhile the Delaware and Raritan Canal was completed in 1834 from
New Brunswick to Bordentown. For the succeeding 30 years the canal as
a freight carrier made the town an important water transport center.
Bordentown was incorporated as a borough in 1825, and rechartered
as a city in 1867. Population expanded to 6,000 with an influx of Irish
and German immigrants, employed on the railroad and canal. As the
town changed its character many of the aristocrats left their fine mansions.
In 1871 the Pennsylvania Railroad dealt a double blow to Bordentown.
After it had leased both the railroad and the canal, it removed the railroad
shops to its own locations in Altoona, Pa., and Newark, and stifled canal
commerce by refusing to allow coal to be water-hauled in competition
with the railroad. Bordentown has never recovered the commercial im
portance lost in those years after the Civil War.
In the last 50 years Bordentown s population has increased less than 14
percent and there are fewer inhabitants than during the railroad boom
of the 1 850 $. Industry has hardly disturbed the rural quiet. Small fac
tories produce trousers and overalls, ice cream, dyes, and bricks. The work
ing population includes Negroes, Italians and Jews, many of whom live
on the edge of town in nondescript houses, some of them quite old.
POINTS OF INTEREST
i. BONAPARTE PARK (private), N. side of Park St., E. of 3rd St.,
is a 242-acre remnant of the i,5OO-acre tract bought in 1816 by the exiled
King Joseph of Spain. The only original building left of the luxurious
estate is the GARDENER S LODGE, near an entrance on Park Street. Ves
tiges of tunnels and grottoes today offer a contrast to the more modern
country residence that has replaced Bonaparte s home.
For 23 years, as the Count de Survilliers, the exile lived here surrounded
by a fortune in paintings and sculpture and other treasures, including
Napoleon s crown jewels. At Point Breeze, as the estate was called, the ex-
King was often host to such American statesmen as Daniel Webster, Henry
Clay, and John Quincy Adams, and on Christmas he played Santa Claus
for Bordentown s poor children.
Joseph s wife did not follow him to America, but the exile was com-
BORDENTOWN
211
BORDENTOWN
1938
212 CITIES AND TOWNS
forted in his loneliness by the charming Annette Savage, whom he se
cluded 7 miles away at Bow Hill, Trenton. The household at Point Breeze
was for a time managed by Joseph s vivacious younger daughter ; and life
was so delightful that when a commission from Mexico called to offer the
throne, Bonaparte unhesitatingly refused. With the exception of a trip to
France, he remained here until his return to Europe in 1839. Nearby lived
Charles Lucien Bonaparte, nephew of King Joseph and husband of
Joseph s daughter Zenaide. He was the author of the rare American Orni
thology (4 vols.) that, together with the work of Alexander Wilson, con
stituted an important forerunner of Audubon s famous Birds of America.
The exiled monarch had hoped that Point Breeze would remain in the
family forever. But when it passed to his grandson, Prince Joseph Lucien
Charles Napoleon, the young prince sold the land in parcels and at an
auction in 1847 the house and surrounding grounds were bought by
Thomas Richards, who sold them to Henry Beckett, onetime British consul
at Philadelphia. Beckett was nicknamed "the destroyer" when he tore
down the mansion and erected the present nondescript dwelling.
2. BORDENTOWN MILITARY INSTITUTE, S. side of Park St. be
tween 3rd and 2nd Sts., is an outstanding preparatory school for boys.
The oldest part of the main building, a five-story stone structure with a
mansard roof and small balconies over the doorway in the French style,
was occupied by a French school for girls in 1837. Later a two-story
Georgian brick addition and a two-story Colonial frame addition were
made. The 15 smaller buildings of the school, of French and Colonial de
sign, cover a campus of 55 acres. In 1870 a coeducational school was estab
lished which, in 1881, was purchased by President Bowen of the then
existent Bordentown Female College and opened as a military institute for
boys. The students are drilled according to United States Army regulations
and prepared for college, West Point and Annapolis.
3. MURAT ROW (private), 49-61 E. Park St., is a row of seven at
tached two-and-one-half-story houses of yellow stucco, with frame addi
tions at the rear and little covered porches abutting on the sidewalk. The
row was remodeled from what was once Linden Hall, the home of Prince
Napoleon Frangois Lucien Charles Murat, nephew of Joseph and Na
poleon Bonaparte. The young prince, son of Joachim Murat, King of the
Two Sicilies, and Caroline Bonaparte, came to America about seven years
after his uncle, Joseph. He was a tall, handsome, dashing chap of 20 years,
whose magnificent disregard for money cut a wide swathe in the social
life of the town.
When his uncle heard of Lucien s elopement with Caroline Fraser,
belle of Bordentown, he vowed that she should have the pleasure of sup
porting his nephew. This was, indeed, a prophetic vow; for after a few
years of lavish living the young Prince had exhausted his fortune. Faced
with the problem of supporting her children and meeting her husband s
debts, Madame Murat and her sisters converted her luxurious home into
a boarding school for sub-debs of the Bordentown district.
News of the second French Revolution in 1848 sent Murat to Europe.
His cousin Louis Napoleon named him envoy to Turin, and he sent for
BORDENTOWN 213
his family. "Friends . . . had to pay their traveling expenses, and his two
little boys were dressed in garments made from a coachman s livery . . ."
Napoleon later made Murat a prince, and both his daughters married
French noblemen.
4. HILLTOP PARK, N. end Farnsworth Ave., is a small municipal
park offering a fine view of the broad Delaware, flowing between wooded
banks and disappearing in the green distance. The park is on the bluff,
just above Cross wicks Creek and the tracks of the Trenton division of the
Pennsylvania Railroad. Parallel to the railroad is the old Delaware and
Raritan Canal, sluggish and neglected, its banks overgrown with brush.
At this spot were stables for as many as 200 mule teams, motive power
for traffic that once numbered 115 barges in a single day. Between the
canal and the river is Dike Island, formed by the dredging of the main
channel to permit the passage of ocean steamers to Trenton.
5. COLONIAL APARTMENTS (private), 1-3-5 E - Park St., occupy a
reconstructed Revolutionary tavern, the American House, which was con
ducted by Col. Oakly Hoagland of the Continental Army. The original
brick has been covered with stucco, but deterioration is evident. Around
the second floor runs a decorative iron balcony with a gilded medallion of
a woman holding a sheaf of wheat.
6. BORDEN HOUSE (private), 32 Farnsworth Ave., is a stuccoed
brick structure, painted a steel gray, with shutters and window trim in
contrasting shades. Three chimneys rise from the slate roof. Tall trees
cast their shadows on the red brick sidewalk and the three white marble
steps with their graceful iron balustrades. Built flush with the sidewalk,
the house is flanked on the north and east with a garden enclosed by an
ornate iron railing. This is the only survival of the original building
erected on this corner by the first Joseph Borden. The old house was
demolished by the British in May 1778, and Borden s son erected the
present building. From time to time its design has been modified.
7. HOPKINSON HOUSE (private), 101 Farnsworth Ave., was the
home of the statesman, Francis Hopkinson. The gable is dated 1750, and
the old red brick is mellow with two centuries of weather. A dignified
white doorway leads directly off the sidewalk; windows are large and
white-shuttered.
Hopkinson married Ann Borden, daughter of Col. Joseph Borden, and
in 1773 began the practice of law in Bordentown. He was 35 years old
and already distinguished in his profession. At this time he began his
career as a political satirist and statesman. After predicting the outbreak
of the Revolution in A Prophecy, an essay published in 1774, he became a
New Jersey representative to the Continental Congress and was one of
the State s signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Although Hopkinson served for the first two years of the war as chairman
of the Naval Board, he maintained his interest in science and art. Among
his varied achievements were a military march in honor of Washington,
and the design of the Great Seal of the United States. Recent evidence,
consisting of bills approved by the Auditor General, but not passed by
Congress, indicates that he was also a designer of the Stars and Stripes.
CLARA BARTON SCHOOL, BORDENTOWN
In one letter Hopkinson asked for a cask of wine for his services; later
he raised his request to $7,200. It was rejected because the Treasury in
sisted that others had shared in the work. In November 1778 he pub
lished Seven Songs, his best lyric poetry and said to be the first book of
music published by an American composer.
The Hopkinsons were not home during the British reprisal for the me
chanical keg plot of 1778, but the invaders dined there. One unverified
story is that they set fire to the house after removing Hopkinson s reflect
ing telescope, watchmaker s tools, and other possessions. But the officer in
charge, Capt. James Ewald, impressed by the library, decided to overlook
the rebel in honor of the scholar, and ordered the firebrands extinguished.
After Hopkinson s death in 1791 the house went to his son, Joseph Hop
kinson of Philadelphia, best known as the author of Hail Columbia.
8. FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE (not open), 302 Farnsworth Ave.,
is a plain brick structure covered with yellow stucco, hidden behind screen
ing shrubbery and crowded between the Bordentown Banking Company
building and a row of business places. It was constructed in 1740 as the
first place of worship in Bordentown. The banking company has kept the
property in good repair, but the church is no longer used.
9. CLARA BARTON SCHOOL (key at nearby house), 142 Crosswicks
St., is a tiny brick building utilized by Clara Barton for her school. Before
BORDENTOWN 215
the Revolution it was used as a school supported by fees paid by the par
ents of the pupils. Clara Barton, later to achieve fame as the founder of
the American Red Cross, came to Bordentown in 1851 to teach. Aroused
by the lack of schooling for children of the poor, she established in the
one-room building a free public school, one of the first in New Jersey
and in America. When the townspeople insisted that her work be super
vised by a male principal, Miss Barton resigned. In 1921 the building was
completely restored with funds given by New Jersey school children. It
contains a few pieces of early schoolroom furniture.
10. The GILDER HOUSE (resident custodian), Crosswicks St. opp.
Union St., a two-and-one-half -story, white frame Colonial house, was the
home in the i88o s of the Gilders four brothers and a sister who
achieved distinction in literature, the arts, and science: Richard Watson
Gilder, author, poet and editor of The Century; Joseph and Jeannette,
editors of The Critic; John Francis, composer; and William, geographer
and explorer. The house was bequeathed to the city by Rodman Gilder,
but a proposed museum has not yet been established.
11. The OLD BURIAL GROUNDS, W. end Church St., are on a hill
side overlooking Black s Creek and Delaware River. One of these old
cemeteries contains the bodies of early Quakers. Behind Christ Episcopal
Church and circled by the other burial plots is the Borden lot, now known
as the Hopkinson lot, surrounded by an ornamental fence. Here lie Joseph
Borden, founder of the settlement; Joseph Hopkinson, son of Francis;
his mother, Ann Borden Hopkinson; and Col. Joseph Kirkbride.
POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
John Bull Monument, 1 m., Prince Murat House, .5 m., John Woolston House
(c. 1710), 10.5 m. (see Tour 6) ; Jersey Homesteads, 21.1 m. (see Tour 19).
Railroad Station: Pennsylvania Station, Broad and High Sts., for Pennsylvania R.R.
Bus Stations: Broad and High Sts. for Safeway Trailways; 437 High St. for Public
Service.
Taxis: 250 and up according to distance and number of passengers.
Pier: Town Wharf, N. end High St., ferry to Bristol, Pa., io0 for passengers, no
automobiles.
Bridge: N. end Reed St. for pedestrians (io0), N. end Keirn Blvd. for automobiles
(350) to Bristol, Pa.
Traffic Regulations: One-way traffic on Broad St. on each side of railroad track.
Accommodations: Small hotels and tourist houses.
Information Service: Post Office, SW. cor. Broad St. and Locust Ave.
Motion Picture Houses: One.
Swimming: Sylvan Lakes, 1.3 m. S. on Mount Holly Rd.; Delaware River, N. of
city.
The identifying mark of BURLINGTON (20 alt., 10,844 pop-) the
single track of the Pennsylvania Railroad that runs through the center of
the main street without benefit of curb or fence. In many other respects
Burlington seems to have changed little from its eighteenth century char
acter as capital of the Province of West New Jersey. A flourishing mari
time center in the early years, Burlington has since been outstripped in
dustrially and commercially by Trenton and Camden. But the town still
serves as an outlet and marketing center for the rich agricultural region
inland, and it has some industrial importance.
No entrance to Burlington reveals the sequestered charm that is part of
the community. The State highway bypasses the town, but a number of
roads from north, east, and south cross the adjacent flatlands and tap the
business center on Broad Street. Another approach is from Pennsylvania,
by way of Bristol Bridge across Delaware River. All of these roads lead
past assorted factories and monotonously plain dwellings.
Broad Street deserves its name. There is plenty of room for the leisurely
trains of the Pennsylvania and for the long narrow wooden station, like a
corncrib, in the heart of the business district. Since 1834 locomotives and
trains have operated on Broad Street and for the same length of time the
citizens have complained about them. In 1926 the city council ordered
removal of the track, but the only progress to date has been restriction of
train speeds to 6 miles an hour and a regulation for blowing the whistle.
Many of the business buildings are the old homes of Quakers, modified
for offices or stores. Much of their original simplicity of line and material
has been retained.
The Colonial portion of Burlington, little changed during the last cen-
216
BURLINGTON 2IJ
tury, is west of High Street, lying between Broad Street and Delaware
River. Back from the river, great trees cast flickering shadows over Colonial
houses, patterned brick sidewalks, and narrow streets and alleys. Most of
the houses are of red brick, or of brick painted gray or cream. Many are
built flush with the sidewalk; stoops of two or three steps with delicate
wrought-iron railings lead to graceful doorways with shining brass knock
ers. In the rear are English style gardens with formal paths, edged in low
boxwood.
About 30 percent of the population is foreign-born. Industrial growth
has brought in Poles, Italians, and Lithuanians. Southern Negroes, who
came about 1900 for work in the iron foundries, comprise 10 percent of
the population. Many Burlington people commute to work, some as far as
New York. Hundreds are locally employed in a large silk mill, the two
iron foundries and other factories.
Burlington still clings to its volunteer fire department. Another vener
able civic organization is "The Friendly Institution," a benevolent society
founded in 1790 by the Society of Friends for relief of "the worthy poor."
The town owes its existence to the Quakers, whose influence has per
sisted to the present. Two companies of Friends, one from London and
one from Yorkshire, began the settlement in 1677. John Crips, one of the
settlers, wrote in that year:
... the country and air seems to be very agreeable to our bodies, and we have very
good stomachs to our victuals . . . The Indians are very loving to us, except here
and there one, when they have gotten strong liquors in their heads, which they now
greatly love . . .
During the following year Crips wrote:
... I do not remember that ever I tasted better water in any part of England, than
the springs of this place do yield; of which is made very good beer and ale; and
here is also wine and cyder ... As for the musketto fly, we are not troubled with
them in this place . . .
High Street was laid out with lots to the east for the Yorkshiremen and
lots to the west for the men from London. The settlement, first called New
Beverly, then Bridlington from the Yorkshire town, finally became Bur
lington. The land nurtured a steadily growing community and the new
town soon took rank as one of the first permanent settlements in the west
ern part of the Colony. The following year the ship Shield brought a
second company of Quakers. A gristmill and a sawmill were built, and in
1 68 1, after West New Jersey had become a separate province, the Colonial
Assembly designated Burlington as the capital and port of entry. The
Burlington yearly and quarterly meetings of Friends were established this
year.
Burlington was one of the first settlements to provide for public educa
tion. In 1682 an act of the assembly gave Matinicunk Island in Delaware
River to the town with the stipulation that the revenue be used for the
education of youth. The money from farm tenants on the island is still
spent for schools.
The first schoolhouse was a Quaker institution. Built in 1792 (now oc
cupied by the Young Women s Christian Association), it was constructed
2l8 CITIES AND TOWNS
partly with bricks from the meeting house erected 1683. Members of the
Church of England who came to Burlington were antagonistic to the
Quaker classes that existed long before the school was built. In 1714 the
Episcopal Society appointed as schoolmaster Rowland Ellis, who com
plained that his efforts were "beset with Heathenism Paganism Quakerism
and God knows what." Ironically, a majority of the 20 pupils enrolled
under Ellis at that time were Quakers.
The Episcopalians were no more friendly toward the very few Presby
terian newcomers. Of them, John Talbot, rector of St. Mary s, said: "The
Presbyterians here come a great way to lay hands one on another; but
after all I think they had as good stay at home, for the good they do."
Methodists and Baptists joined the settlement a good deal later. Burling
ton s fine old Colonial churches are its heritage from those first citizens.
The town was capital of the Province from 1681, alternating with
Perth Amboy after the union of West and East Jersey in 1702. During
this period Burlington was the residence of Deputy Governors Samuel
Jennings and Thomas Olive, and of Governor Jonathan Belcher.
A dozen years after its founding the town had a large pottery, salt
house, and other industries. Shipbuilding became increasingly important.
By 1744 Burlington ranked with New York, Philadelphia, and Boston as
one of the busiest ports in the country.
In 1776 the little city, then numbering 1,000, was chosen as the meet
ing place of the Provincial Congress, which there adopted the State Con
stitution. Secure in their prosperity, the citizens of Burlington did not take
the Revolution too seriously. The invasion of the town by about 400 Hes
sians in December 1776, and the cannonading in the spring of 1778 by two
British warships returning from an attack on American frigates farther up
the Delaware, were accepted with equanimity. In fact British naval officers
had to warn spectators from the Green Bank before the bombardment
started.
Burlington s position on the main thoroughfare between New York and
Philadelphia and the natural beauty of its site attracted many of the politi
cal and literary figures of the early days of the Republic. The town became
a summer resort for the fashionables of Philadelphia.
An important contribution to agricultural methods was made by Charles
Newbold of Burlington, who patented the cast-iron plow in 1797 (see
AGRICULTURE). Farmers first feared that it would poison the soil, but
their prejudice was finally overcome.
About 1838 a silkworm industry was started with acres of mulberry
trees, but the experiment failed. From the Civil War to the present Bur
lington s industries have developed substantially, but the once vital ship
ping trade has disappeared.
POINTS OF INTEREST
i. The JAMES LAWRENCE HOUSE (private), 459 S. High St., gray
stucco with white shutters, was the birthplace in 1781 of Capt. James
Lawrence. At 16 Lawrence entered the navy as a midshipman on the U.S.S.
Ganges. In the War of 1812 he distinguished himself as captain of the
BURLINGTON
2I 9
BURLINGTON
1938
220 CITIES AND TOWNS
sloop-of-war Hornet and was given command of the frigate Chesapeake.
While lying in Boston Roads, the American ship was challenged by the
British frigate Shannon. Lawrence put to sea on June i, 1813. A terrific
broadside was exchanged by the two frigates, with the Chesapeake suffering
most severely. Boarders from the Shannon were already on the American
vessel when Lawrence, mortally wounded, was carried below. His "Don t
give up the ship!" was in vain; the Americans surrendered. Four days later
Lawrence died and was buried with honors by the British.
2. The JAMES FENIMORE COOPER HOUSE (open 3-6 Sun. and
first Sat. of each month), 457 S. High St., has stucco walls lined to re
semble stones, and shares the characteristics of many other early Burling
ton homes. Noteworthy are the fine detail of the wood trim and the
graceful proportion of the windows. The house, headquarters of the Bur
lington County Historical Society, contains collections of early documents,
pictures, and relics. In this building, rented by his parents, the author of
The Leather Stocking Tales was born in 1789. Cooper s connection with
Burlington ended a year later when the family moved to New York.
3. BLOOMFIELD HOUSE (private), SE. corner S. High and Library
Sts., is a three- story brick structure with mansard roof, painted pale yellow
with white trim. It was originally the home of Joseph Bloomfield, Gov
ernor of New Jersey (180102, 180312). As a lawyer, Bloomfield success
fully defended the young patriots who burned British tea at Greenwkh
(see Side Tour 29B). He was a captain in the Revolutionary War, mayor
of Burlington from 1795 to 1800, and a brigadier general in the War of
1812. He died in 1823 and was buried in St. Mary s Churchyard.
4. The HENRY CAREY HOUSE, the first building S. of the Metro
politan Inn on S. High St., is a three-story brick structure painted cream
with brown trim, now used as a "Cocktail Grill and Restaurant" with
rooms for rent upstairs. The structure contains part of a home erected
c. 1678 by Thomas Olive, for a time acting Governor of West Jersey. In
1833 it was purchased by Henry Carey, early political economist, who
lived here until 1854. At that time the Carey homestead was one of the
most attractive spots of Burlington, with a garden extending south to
where the City Hall now stands.
5. FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE (open on meeting days), N. High
St. between Broad and Union Sts., was erected 1784 adjacent to the site
of the hexagonal structure built by the first settlers in 1683. Quiet and
severe, it stands behind a great wall with heavy iron gates deep in the
shadow of great trees, one of which, a giant sycamore, was standing in
1677. It is a typical example of the early meeting houses, with double en
trances, great windows, and pitched roof. The BURIAL GROUND behind
the meeting house, walled with brick, is the oldest cemetery in Burlington.
Tall pines shade the graves which date from 1744. Under the broad
branches of a sycamore is the GRAVESTONE OF THE INDIAN CHIEF
OCKANICKON, inscribed:
Near this Spot Lies the Body of the Indian Chief Ockanickon, Friend of the
White Man, Whose Last Words were "Be Plain and Fair to All, Both Indians and
Christian, as I Have Been."
BURLINGTON 221
6. The LIBRARY (open 3-6, 7-9 Tues., Thurs., and Sat.), Union St.
between N. High and Wood Sts., one of the oldest in the country, is still
operating under a 1757 charter from King George II. The present build
ing, brownstone and severe in line, dates from 1864. The interior is a
single high-ceilinged room encircled by a balcony. Portraits of respected
citizens, together with one of King George II, are hung in every avail
able niche.
7. The SITE OF SAMUEL JENNINGS OFFICE is now a garden, a
strip of green with a few shrubs between an apartment house at 206 N.
High St. and the Synagogue at 212 N. High St. Jennings came to Burling
ton in 1680, a recommended minister of the Society of Friends, and served
as first Deputy Governor from 1681 to 1684. In his office Benjamin
Franklin set up the first copperplate press in America, and, as an assistant
to Samuel Keimer, printed the first currency for the Province. In the same
shop Isaac Collins, printer to the King, produced the first quarto Bible of
American imprint, and New Jersey s first newspaper, the New Jersey
Gazette, which came off the press December 5, 1777. This weekly paper,
which measured 9 by 14 in., cost 25 shillings a year, and numbered among
its paid up subscribers all the members of the State legislature.
8. The THOMAS REVEL HOUSE (private), 8 E. Pearl St., is prob
ably the oldest complete dwelling in Burlington. Erected 1685 by George
Hutchinson, it was the office of Thomas Revel, registrar of the Proprietors
of West New Jersey and clerk of the assembly from 1696 to 1699. The
little house is hidden in one of the poorer sections of the town. It is two
stories in height, of brick construction, with gambrel roof and two small
dormer windows; one low-ceilinged room is downstairs and a very low-
ceilinged bedroom is upstairs. Some old china cooking utensils and other
odds and ends are kept here. The house is the headquarters of the Annis
Stockton Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
9. OLD STEAMBOAT HOTEL (private), TOO N. High St., was built
in 1774 by Adam Sheppard and was known by his name until steamboat
travel was established in 1808. The later addition of a porch and the gen
erally run-down condition detract from what was once a fine three-story
Colonial tavern.
10. The PUBLIC WHARF, N. end High St., is the municipally owned
ferry slip. From this point passengers have crossed the river since 1680.
Today a small launch leaves on the hour for Bristol, with room for a
dozen or more passengers. The first ferry in 1713 was hauled by horses on
shore, and once the steamboats from Philadelphia stopped here.
11. METROPOLITAN INN, SW. corner Broad and High Sts., is a
cream stucco building, much altered since 1751 when it was known as the
Blue Anchor Tavern. There are four stories in front, three in the rear. Its
Georgian Colonial architecture is marred by a second-floor balcony en
closed with a wrought-iron railing. A coffee shop and a bar occupy the
first floor; the rest is a hotel. For years the proprietors have met here
when the weather did not permit outdoor voting. Since 1833 passengers
listened here for the bell which announced the squeaking coaches of the
Camden and Amboy Railroad, now the Pennsylvania.
222 CITIES AND TOWNS
12. The WEST NEW JERSEY PROPRIETORS OFFICE (not open
to public), Broad St. between High and Wood Sts., is a tiny, one-room,
red brick building with white trim and a peaked roof. A yard and carriage
shed enclosed by a red brick wall adjoin the office. In the gable of the
roof is the shield or coat of arms of the Proprietors, a set of balanced
scales upheld by a tree. The office contains original documents signed by
William Penn.
The strange corporation known as the Proprietors of West New Jersey
dates back to 1676, when William Penn and his associates divided the
Province into two parts for colonization and government (see HISTORY).
The original agreement signed by the settlers, kept in the vault of the
Mechanics National Bank in Burlington, is almost unsurpassed for beauty
of diction and expresses the principles of civil and religious liberty more
clearly than any other frame of government in Colonial history. Upon it
rests much New Jersey law.
Still functioning under their charter from Charles II, the Proprietors of
West New Jersey meet here every April 13 on the corner of High and
Broad Streets to elect five members of the General Council. Four others
are elected in Gloucester (see Tour 19)- No notice of the meeting is ever
mailed, because the members, numbering thousands, are scattered over the
world. The requirements for membership are ownership of 1/32 of a
share and hereditary descent from one of the 151 original signers. Seldom
does more than a handful attend the sidewalk meetings. The council meets
at its tiny office in May; its only new business is exercise of its ancient
right to dispose of any new land created in western New Jersey. Jurisdic
tion over the rest of the State is held by the Proprietors of East New
Jersey (see PERTH AMBOY).
13. The GENERAL GRANT HOUSE (private), 309 Wood St., is a
graceful, two-story shuttered home of yellow stucco with green trim.
French windows are upstairs and down, and a delicate wrought-iron rail
around the roof of the porch is overhung with wisteria. There is a hos
pitable expanse of lawn and great shade trees, all enclosed by a green
picket fence. To this house General Grant sent his family during the Civil
War. He is said to have been in residence there the night Lincoln was
assassinated.
14. The GREEN BANK, narrow scallops of lawn at the edge of Dela
ware River, extends 3 blocks W. from Wood St. From this old-time
promenade of Burlington residents is a view of Pennsylvania farm land
a mile across the river and the finely proportioned, single steel arch of
the BRISTOL BRIDGE. The view up the river is blocked by the jutting public
dock and BURLINGTON (or Matinicunk) ISLAND.
15. SITE OF BARBARROUX WHARF, Green Bank at foot of Talbot
St., is now merely a bit of lawn and a beacon light. As early as 1698 an
important shipyard was established here where keels were laid for vessels
that sailed to all parts of the world. In 1744 the privateer Marlborough,
large enough for a crew of 150, was launched. Today the channel has
been silted so heavily that no ship of any size could reach the site of the
wharf.
BURLINGTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, BURLINGTON
16. GOVERNOR FRANKLIN ESTATE (private), S. side of Dela
ware St. between Wood and Talbot Sts., is occupied by the GRUBB HOUSE,
owned by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. It is a large dwelling of little
architectural distinction. On these grounds once stood the home of the
last Royal Governor of New Jersey, William Franklin, son of Benjamin.
He was held here for a time as a prisoner of the Revolutionists.
On the lawn is a giant SYCAMORE TREE, one of the largest trees in the
State. It measures 20 ft. 3 in. in girth. To its trunk, it is generally be
lieved, the ship Shield was moored in 1678 when it arrived with early
settlers.
17. ST. MARY S HALL, S. side Delaware St., at Ellis St., is a private
Protestant Episcopal School for girls founded in 1837 by Bishop George
Washington Doane. There are five ivy-covered stone buildings and a
chapel on the i8-acre campus, providing facilities for more than 100
students.
The BISHOP DOANE RESIDENCE (private) is on the school grounds
almost beneath Bristol Bridge. It is the official home for the Bishop of the
South New Jersey Diocese of the Protestant Episcopal Church. The house
is a low, two-story building of tan stucco with brown wood trim and a
hip roof. A square tower forms one end of the rambling structure; long
224 CITIES AND TOWNS
windows on the first story, with small diamond-shaped panes typical of
old England, extend almost to the floor.
1 8. The BRADFORD MANSION (private), 207 and 209 W. Broad
St., is an old brick house, divided for two families and painted tan on one
side and gray on the other. Elias Boudinot, president of the Continental
Congress (see ELIZABETH), built the mansion about 1798. His daugh
ter, Mrs. William Bradford, wife of the first Attorney General, lived here
until the end, preserving the charm and formalities of that vanished era.
The blue porcelain lions that once guarded the lawns were one of the
sights of Burlington, and it is said that as late as 1850 old gentlemen in
ruffled shirts, and ladies in stomachers of faded but lovely brocade were
frequent visitors.
19. OLD ST. MARY S CHURCH (not open to public), NW. corner
W. Broad and Wood Sts., built in 1703, is the oldest Episcopal Church
building of the State. The congregation, although worshiping in a newer
building, uses the communion service presented by Queen Anne. Old St.
Mary s is an interesting example of early Georgian Colonial design. Of
gray stucco with white trim, it has a slate roof crowned with a stubby,
louvred lantern and strange little slotlike transom windows. Today the
church is used for Sunday school and special meetings.
The newer ST. MARY S CHURCH, adjoining, was completed in 1854
from the plans of Richard Upjohn, architect of Trinity Church in New
York City. It is a fine, ivy-draped Gothic structure with a towering spire.
Behind the churches is the CEMETERY, originally called Christian bury
ing ground to distinguish it from the burying ground of the Quakers. In
the shadow of great trees between boxwood-lined paths lie many distin
guished citizens.
A survival of the more closely knit communal life of early Burlington
is St. Mary s Choral Society, organized in 1877 to perpetuate the old Eng
lish custom of singing the Waits on Christmas Eve. As midnight is an
nounced by the bell of Old St. Mary s the group leaves the guild house
and walks through the town, singing before the home of each member.
The ceremony ends with a hymn at the grave of George H. Allen, a
tribute to his work in preserving the custom.
POINT OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
Roebling (company town), 6.2 m. (see Tour 19).
Railroad Stations: Pennsylvania Station, W. end Market St., for Pennsylvania R.R.
and Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines; Broadway between Carman and Mickle
Sts., for Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines; City Hall Plaza, Broadway and Car
man St., for rapid transit line to Philadelphia.
Bus Stations: 209 N. Broadway for Quaker City line and Safeway Trailways; NW.
corner Broadway and Market St. for Public Service and G. R. Wood interurban lines.
Airport: Central Airport, 2 m. SE. on Admiral Wilson Blvd., for Eastern Air
Lines, United Air Lines, Transcontinental and Western Air, and American Airlines.
Taxis: 150 for first 1/5 m., 50 for each additional 1/5 m.
Trackless Trolleys and Busses: Fare 50.
Ferries: W. end of Federal and Market Sts. for ferries to Philadelphia; toll, 50
for pedestrians, 2O0 for automobile and passengers.
Bridge: N. end of Broadway for Delaware River Bridge to Philadelphia; toll, 2O0
for automobile and passengers; pedestrians free.
Traffic Regulations: Turns permitted in either direction except where signs direct
otherwise. Traffic lights throughout city; no turns permitted on red light. Watch
signs for parking limitations.
Accommodations: Hotels and boarding houses; no seasonal rates.
Information Service: Keystone Automobile Club, 631 Cooper St.; A.A.A., NW.
cor. 7th and Market Sts.
Radio Station: WCAM (1280 kc.).
Motion Picture Houses: Thirteen.
Swimming: County Park Commission Pool, Farnham Park, locker fee io0; County
Park Commission Pool, for Negroes, 9th St. and Ferry Ave., locker fee io0;
Municipal Pool, Pyne Poynt Park, free to 2 p.m., locker fee ioc^ after 2.
Tennis: Pyne Poynt Park, Farnharm Park and Dudley Grange Park, 2O0 an hour
per person.
Golf: Cooper River Country Club, Cooper River Parkway, 18 holes, greens fees
6o0, Sat., Sun. and holidays $i.
Annual Events: Yacht races, early summer, Delaware River; pilgrimage to grave of
Peter J. McGuire, Labor Day.
CAMDEN (25 alt., 118,700 pop.) is utilitarian in architecture and ar
rangement of streets. The key to the city s early development was Philadel
phia, which at the time of Camden s birth was the largest city on the con
tinent. In fact, Camden grew out of the necessity for crossing the Delaware
in order to get to Philadelphia; and the main east to west streets have
always been long, broad thoroughfares leading to the ferries.
The heavy river traffic over bridge and ferries remains an important
factor in the city s life, but Camden has acquired individual importance as
the leading industrial, marketing, and transportation center of southern
New Jersey.
Almost 300 factories, ranging from small shops to great plants occupy
ing solid blocks, have been crowded into the city without control by any
225
226 CITIES AND TOWNS
zoning plan. Industrial buildings line the water front in a phalanx and
spread out into the residential sections.
Camden represents a job and a home. It might be called a two-story
brick town, but there is beauty as well as naked utility in its brickwork.
There are diagonally patterned brick sidewalks in the older residential
districts sidewalks with as many bumps and hollows as a path across a
vacant lot. And there are simple, flat-roofed brick houses, relieved by
white marble steps and lintels, shaded by sycamores, and possessed of all
the graciousness of the Greenwich Village houses for which New Yorkers
pay extravagant rents.
There are also rows upon rows of tight boxlike houses without space
between the typical home of the Camden worker. Of red or sometimes
yellow brick, they differ little except as they may have large porches with
heavy, round columns, or small porches with slender posts, or no porches
at all. A utilitarian brown is the almost universal color for any style of
porch.
Some variation is found in the occasional use of mansard roofs and
bay windows and, more rarely, in the substitution of serpentine rock dis
tinguished by its peculiar yellow-green color or brownstone for brick.
Placed at regular intervals on many of the block-long cornices are wooden
pinnacles that resemble helmet spikes of the old German army.
Camden s busy shopping center is in character with the working popu
lation. No large department stores and few smart shops here, but an
abundance of smaller stores whose enterprising managers use every means
to increase trade. It is not unusual to find the price of scrapple written in
yellow paint on the sidewalk. On week-end nights several of the shopping
streets resemble an oriental bazaar with flamboyant posters on store win
dows, multicolored neon signs flashing.
With a less than average quota of office buildings, Camden s lawyers,
doctors, and other professional workers have followed the example of
many merchants and established themselves in the first floors of old
houses. Cooper Street, where front porches encroach upon the sidewalk in
almost every block, summarizes the city s growth. Once lined with homes
of the best people, it retains the houses along its eastern section, but sitting
rooms have been converted into real estate offices and beauty parlors ; west
ward toward the river, the facades of tall buildings that might pass for
office structures are in reality the fronts of leading factories.
Camden is compact enough for neighbor to meet neighbor in the two
subway stations. There are second-floor apartments above stores just across
the street from the towering City Hall. Prevailing breezes carry to office
workers in this fine edifice which is locally known as the "Milk Bottle"
the odor of coffee beans roasting in a nearby factory, thus creating an
atmosphere of cafe au lait for Camden s municipal government.
Side streets in some of the more congested sections barely manage to
serve as passageways. It is not unusual to find brick houses fronting on
little alleys no more than 6 or 8 feet from curb to curb. Unlike many
other industrial cities, Camden seems to make a point of keeping streets
and sidewalks neat and clean.
CAMDEN FROM PHILADELPHIA SIDE OF DELAWARE RIVER
Construction of the Delaware River Bridge cut into the heart of what
was then the fine residential section and pushed many of the more pros
perous citizens to new homesites in the suburbs. But although Camden is
lacking in private show places, it is alive to the need for public parks.
Noteworthy are Farnham Park on Cooper River, with extensive athletic
facilities (Camden is so interested in sandlot baseball that the city officially
sponsors a league) ; Dudley Park, in the eastern section of the city; and
Pyne Poynt Park, now being developed on the shore of the Delaware
River.
The civic stature of Camden may also be measured by the success of a
model housing project and by a long campaign for a municipal power
plant. As early as 1906 the voters approved a plan for building a plant,
but action was postponed because of a shortage of money and a rate cut
by the private utility. The proposition was again endorsed in 1933 by a
vote of better than 2 to i, and in 1935 by a vote of 5 to i, but each time
the citizens were blocked by legal actions instituted by Public Service
Corporation.
Akin to the depression-born squatter communities is Line Ditch, lying
at the west end of Jasper Street. It comprises about 150 one-story dwell
ings built of driftwood from the nearby rivers, scrap metal and other
junkyard gleanings. No two homes are alike, except in their miniature
reproduction of the Camden box design. The 500 inhabitants, including
228 CITIES AND TOWNS
women and children, are served by a general store and a little church
known as Line Ditch Chapel. There is no gas, electricity, or garbage col
lection, and the entire community gets water from a single tap. A Phila
delphia real estate company owns the land and collects $2 a month rent
from each family. The name Line Ditch, an old one, goes back to the
time when Little Newton Creek, the city line, was known as the Ditch.
Camden is always aware of Philadelphia, and there is a custom strictly
confined to Camden of referring to the "twin cities of the Delaware."
Some years ago Philadelphians used to say vaguely, "Camden is over there
in back of the Victor and Campbell s soup factories," and traveling Cam-
denites often said that they were from Philadelphia to forestall explana
tions. But an increasingly larger portion of the United States now knows
that Camden is a city opposite Philadelphia. In particular, Philadelphians
are aware of its location because the Camden airport serves as the terminal
for Philadelphia traffic.
Despite the inducement offered by the only leather-upholstered subway
cars in general use in the United States, so few Camden residents have
ridden across the bridge to seek recreation after dark in Philadelphia that
night train service has been canceled. Week-end parties in particular are
longer and more enjoyable on the New Jersey side of the river, for Phila
delphia taverns close at midnight on Saturday. The remark of Will Rogers
at the dedication of the Delaware River Bridge, "Now we have a bridge
we can get out of Camden when we want to," has proved something less
than prophetic.
The ties with Philadelphia are deeply rooted in the history of the two
cities. Both were permanently colonized by the Quakers, fleeing from re
ligious persecution in England. The first Camden settler was probably
William Cooper, who built a home in 1681 on the point of land below
Cooper River and named the tract Pyne Poynt. In the same year scattered
families of Friends set up a meeting, still in existence, the third established
in New Jersey.
After Cooper took over a ferry to Philadelphia the settlement be
came known as Cooper s Ferries. Virtually all the rest of the present site
of Camden was taken by John Kaighn, for whom the old village of
Kaighntown was named, and by Archibald Mickle, upon whose farm Cam
den proper developed later. But the settlement grew slowly and by the be
ginning of the eighteenth century there were fewer than a dozen clearings
in the wooded points on the Delaware. Philadelphia was more attractive
to the newcomers.
A real estate boom began in 1773 when Jacob Cooper, Philadelphia
merchant and descendant of William Cooper, laid out 40 acres as a town-
site. He named the place Camden for the first Earl of Camden, the noble
man who had befriended the Colonies during their disputes with the
mother country. Twenty-two communities in the United States have chosen
the same name.
The Revolution checked development of the new village. During the
British occupation of Philadelphia, Camden was held as an enemy outpost
and a number of skirmishes occurred within the present city limits. Years
CAMDEN 229
after the end of the war Camden continued to be more a ferry terminal
than a town.
About 1809 a small steamboat began operation as a ferry for passen
gers. Others followed, replacing the open boats that had double keels for,
use as runners when the river was frozen.
Originally part of Newton Township, Camden was incorporated as a
city in 1828 and in 1844 was made the seat of Camden County. The city s
real growth began in 1834 when it became the terminus of the Camden
and Amboy Railroad, then the longest line in the country. All-iron rails,
imported from England, were fastened to the ties with hook-headed spikes,
the invention of Robert Stevens. The first locomotive, the John Bull, a
duplicate of Stephenson s Planet, was also English-made.
For six years the line was the only through route between Philadelphia
and New York. In 1840 the railroad company opened another line from
Philadelphia via Trenton and New Brunswick direct to Jersey City, which
reduced the importance of the Camden route but strengthened the trans
portation monopoly that gave New Jersey the name of the "State of Cam
den and Amboy."
On the night of March 15, 1856, the ferryboat New Jersey left its
Philadelphia dock and caught fire in midstream. Ice floes made it impos
sible for the ferry to be beached, or for other craft to get to her aid.
Sixty-one persons perished. This disaster, coupled with the financial panic
of the following year, hindered the town s growth.
Following the Civil War, Camden was caught up in the tremendous in
dustrial expansion that was the sequel to railroad building. Swiftly the
water front was taken over by factories. When every site was filled, the
shops and mills overran the town. Industry grew steadily, aided by an in
flux of foreign-born and Negro workers. The city s 11,340 Negroes are
concentrated mainly in the district between Broadway and Mt. Ephraim
Avenue, from Kaighn Avenue to Ferry Avenue. Five separate elementary
schools, with Negro teachers, are maintained ; graduates attend one of the
city s two high schools. In the center of the Negro section is a public park
and swimming pool.
Italians and Poles predominate among the foreign nationalities, with
Englishmen and Russians next in order. The Gazeta Dla Wszystkich, a
Polish weekly newspaper published in Camden, is the principal foreign-
language journal of the city. Both the Poles and the Italians, who live in
separate districts, are active in political affairs.
Camden s marine importance is indicated by a number of shipyards, one
of which is the largest in the country. The well-equipped Camden Marine
Terminals, operated by a State agency, have, facilities for transferring car
goes directly from steamship holds to railroad cars.
POINTS OF INTEREST
i. The CITY HALL AND COURTHOUSE ANNEX, 5 th St., between
Market and Arch Sts., is a light gray granite structure of modified Grecian
design, the work of Edwards and Green, Camden architects. Twenty-two
230 CITIES AND TOWNS
stories high, it is the tallest building in Camden. From the main building
of five stories rises a 1 7-story tower, narrowing at the top into open work
resembling the neck of a bottle. On the tower is a huge new clock in place
of those that have ornamented Camden s city halls since 1876. The build
ing houses county and city offices, making it often half Republican and
half Democratic.
2. The COURTHOUSE, Broadway between Market and Federal Sts., is
of Italian Renaissance style with a dome resembling that of the Capitol at
Washington. Built in 1904, it was designed by Rankin, Kellogg and Crane
of Philadelphia. Halls and columns are of white marble and ceilings are
of Italian mosaic. In a second-floor courtroom, decorated in gold, a large
oil painting by Nicola D Ascenzo, Justice and Her Scales, hangs behind
the bench.
After Camden won the hard-fought battle to create Camden County, the
site for the courthouse caused a controversy between John W. Mickle,
president of the Federal Street Ferry Company, who wanted it on his street,
and Abraham Browning, operator of the Market Street ferry, who in
sisted that the building should be on his road. Under a compromise the
courthouse was built on Broadway, equidistant from the two ferry ap
proaches.
3. The FRIENDS SCHOOL (open 9-3 schooldays), 709 Market St., is
a small and cheerful building of red brick, erected in 1794. Three stories
high and barely wide enough for a row of three shuttered windows on
each floor, it stands by itself behind a weathered picket fence, with a
churchyard on one side and the schoolyard on the other. Except for a line
of dentils in the molding of the cornice, the building is as plain as the
one-story frame MEETING HOUSE, painted a dull gray, that stands at the
rear of the yard. The school is operated as a private, progressive institution.
Near this spot a brisk skirmish took place in 1778 during the British oc
cupation of Philadelphia. A regiment of the Queen s Rangers under
Colonel Stirling directed heavy fire against General Wayne s foraging
party in the woods along the Haddonfield road. The Americans were
forced to retire, but the British failed to capture their supplies.
4. JOHNSON PARK, Cooper St. between 2nd and Front Sts., is an
attractively landscaped block in the shadow of tall buildings of the RCA-
Victor plant. In the center stands the COOPER BRANCH LIBRARY (open
9-9 weekdays), a neoclassic building erected 1919 from the plans of
Karcher and Smith, Philadelphia architects. Behind a row of six Ionic col
umns is a mosaic frieze of opalescent glass, depicting America Receiving
the Gifts of the Nations. Composed of 100,000 pieces, the mosaic was
executed in the D Ascenzo Studios, Philadelphia. The library has 22,000
volumes.
In front of the library is a wading pool and a bronze STATUE OF PETER
PAN by George Frampton, with Peter standing on a tree stump. From the
crevices of intertwining roots peer field mice, rabbits, squirrels, birds, and
fairies. The park, library, pool, and statue were the gift of Eldridge R.
Johnson, founder of the Victor Talking Machine Company.
5. The RCA- VICTOR MANUFACTURING PLANT (open by ap-
CAMDEN
231
232 CITIES AND TOWNS
pointment), 201 N. Front St., extends to the river and covers 10 acres
with tall buildings of concrete and brick. The company is the world s
largest producer of phonograph records. Other products made by the
14,000 workers are radio and television equipment.
In 1894 a customer came to the little general repair shop of Eldridge R.
Johnson, bringing for repair one of the crude talking machines of the
time. Johnson repaired it, studied it, changed it, and finally produced the
first Victor talking machine. Leading singers and musicians were brought
to Camden from all parts of the world to make the flat disk records that
Johnson substituted for cylinders. Johnson sold out in 1927 to a syndicate
of New York bankers for $28,000,000 and retired. The company then
merged with the Radio Corporation of America.
Blue-uniformed private guards in the streets around the factory recall
turbulent scenes in the summer of 1936 when the United Electrical and
Radio Workers struck for union recognition and higher wages. The strike
gained wide attention as an issue of the courts vs. organized labor when
local judges set bail totaling more than $1,000,000. Federal Judge Wil
liam Clark reduced bail for individual prisoners from $5,000 to $100,
commenting, "It is very unwise to attempt to use the courts in a labor dis
pute ..." Settlement was made by agreement for an election, through
which the union won exclusive bargaining rights. The La Follette civil
liberties committee reported the expenditure of large sums for strikebreak
ing and espionage in the strike and pre-strike period. Since that time the
company has signed with the union a contract providing for a scale of pay
that is one of the highest in the industry and announced a new labor
policy, employing former Assistant Secretary of Labor Edward F. McGrady
as director of labor relations.
6. The ESTERBROOK STEEL PEN MANUFACTURING PLANT
(open 9-4 weekdays; guides), 8 Cooper St., is the oldest steel pen com
pany in the United States. The company was founded in 1858 by Richard
Esterbrook, an Englishman who brought 15 workers to Camden and pro
duced 10,000 pens the first year. In the plant, a five-story structure of con
crete and glass, are now employed 250 workers who make 200,000,000
pens annually. Fountains pens have also been added to the output.
7. The CAMPBELL SOUP PLANT (open 9:30 and 1 weekdays;
guides), S.W. corner 2nd and Market Sts., is the largest maker of canned
soups in the world. The plant consists of 42 buildings covering 8 blocks ;
landmarks are the water tanks on the roof, built and painted as colossal
replicas of red and white soup cans. Visitors are shown a $50,000 model
kitchen, installed in 1936. The company buys large quantities of vege
tables from New Jersey farmers, and on its own experimental land raises
young plants which are distributed to growers. In the factory the number
of employees varies seasonally from 2,500 to 8,000.
The industry began in 1869 as a small preserve factory conducted by
Joseph Campbell and Abraham Anderson. In 1897 John T. Dorrance
joined the company as a chemist at $7.50 a week. He developed the idea
of condensing soups for canning, and in 1914 became president of the
company. Dorrance amassed a fortune of $117,000,000; on his death in
THE WALT WHITMAN HOME, CAMDEN
234 CITIES AND TOWNS
1935 the State inheritance tax amounted to $15,000,000, which tempo
rarily solved the problem of raising funds for relief.
8. The WALT WHITMAN HOME (open 10-5 weekdays except
lues.; 1-5 Sun.), 330 Mickle St., is an unpretentious frame house set
democratically in a solid row of dilapidated red brick houses occupied by
Negroes and Italians. In Whitman s time the street was shaded by old
trees; today the only tree in the block is an oriental plane before the poet s
house. Built in 1848, the gray, flat-roofed dwelling was occupied by Whit
man from 1884 to his death in 1892. In 1923 it was bought by the city
and made into a museum for the foremost collection of Whitmaniana.
Among the exhibits are the cane used by the partially paralyzed poet;
the rocking chair in which he sat by the upper story window after his legs
became helpless; a great tin bathtub; a replica of the first edition of
Leaves of Grass; furniture, books, papers, medals and even the poet s
corkscrew.
When Whitman appeared in Camden in the spring of 1873, his most
productive days were behind him, but although his body was stiffened by
paralysis, his mind remained agile, and he constantly revised his poetry
and even wrote several important prose works.
As his reputation grew, his home became the Mecca of literary friends
and admirers from all over the world. There the poet modestly received
their homage and delighted to entertain his dearest companions, John Bur
roughs, the naturalist, Horace Traubel, the Camden writer who was his
Boswell, and Thomas Harned, one of his literary executors. No longer re
garded as a dangerous libertine, Whitman sunned himself into old age in
the rays of his great friendships.
He was singularly listed in the Camden directory of 1877: "Whitman,
Walt, Poet, 431 Stevens Street." To most of the citizens, however, "Neigh
bor" might have been an even more appropriate designation. Ignoring the
faint sniffs of "the best people," Whitman roamed the streets chatting
with any and all who caught his fancy. He specially lingered in conversa
tion with children and workingmen, whom he considered the clearest
voices in "the human comedy." Now and then he would drop into a tav
ern for a short drink or champagne on gala days and a long talk.
Strange-looking in his broad hat and unkempt beard, Whitman s desire to
plumb the souls of his Camden neighbors was considered even stranger.
In the autumn of 1891 the Good Gray Poet began to build his gray
stone tomb. Shortly afterward his right lung became affected ; facing death
with the same courage that had marked his life he spoke of himself as "a
little spark of soul dragging a great lummox of corpse-body to and fro."
With less fortitude than he himself had shown, Whitman s grieving
friends saw the long struggle end in March of the following year.
9. In PYNE POYNT PARK, N. end 7th St., is the JOSEPH COOPER
HOUSE (open; resident custodian), erected before 1709 by a son of the
pioneer William Cooper. It is perhaps the oldest dwelling in the city.
Cooper s home apparently set the architectural style for Camden s row-
houses. The original one-story structure, of rough stone with an irregular
pattern of thick mortar, has a two-story red brick addition of Dutch Colo-
CAMDEN 235
nial architecture. The two parts have no unity of design, color, texture, or
shape. The interior of the older section is one large room, used as a com
munity hall. Dusty and rather forlorn, it is furnished with a few camp
chairs, park benches, and a battered upright piano. At one end is a huge
brick fireplace with the original wrought-iron crane. The old bricks are
painted a brilliant red, meticulously outlined in white ; the walls are mod
ernized by an application of green stucco and splotches of gilt. The park,
situated at the confluence of the Delaware and Cooper Rivers, contains
sports fields and other recreational facilities. Cooper River was the main
highway to inland villages during the years of settlement, and it still bears
a considerable traffic in towboats and barges serving industrial plants along
its shores. The Cooper River Parkway, now under construction (1939)
along the waterway, is to be the northernmost link in a series of parkways
paralleling rivers and lakes between Camden and the ocean.
10. The BENJAMIN COOPER HOUSE (open 9-4 weekdays), NE.
corner Erie and Point Sts., was built in 1734, and is excellently preserved.
The rough-cut stone has weathered to a rich brown, blending with the
gray woodwork. The mansard roof is a particularly graceful and well-
proportioned example of the Dutch version of that style. Used now as an
office for the John H. Mathis Shipbuilding Co., the tranquil old house has
narrow lawns on each side of its stoop that merge abruptly with the gravel
and cinders of the shipyard. During the Revolution the building, also
known as the Old Yellow House and The Stone Jug, was the headquarters
of Lieutenant Colonel Abercrombie, who commanded the British and Hes
sian outpost during the occupation of Philadelphia.
11. NEWTON FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE (not open), N. side
Mt. Vernon St. between Mt. Ephraim Ave. and Camden Cemetery, built
in 1 80 1 on ground donated by Joseph Kaighn, was the first house of wor
ship in Camden. It is a two-and-one-half-story rectangular building, of
post-Colonial design, constructed of red brick with white trim. Quakers
met here until 1915. In 1935 the building was restored with PWA funds
under the direction of the Camden County Historical Society and is now
used by the city for storage.
12. In HARLEIGH CEMETERY, Haddon Ave. and Vesper Blvd., is
the TOMB OF WALT WHITMAN, a simple vault of rough-cut stone de
signed by Whitman "for that of me which is to die." Above the grilled
door is a massive triangle of stone with the poet s name. The tomb is
largely concealed by trees and shrubbery.
13. CHARLES S. BOYER MEMORIAL HALL (open Mon., Wed.,
Fri., 1-4; other days by appointment), NE. corner Euclid Ave. and Park
Blvd., contains the Camden County Historical Society Museum. Erected in
1726 by Joseph Cooper, Jr., the tapestry brick structure of Georgian Colo
nial design is two and one-half stories in height, with a double chimney at
each end. White trim contrasts with the dark brickwork; the lawns and
trees of Farnham Park form a pleasant background.
On the first floor is a collection of Indian relics, Colonial kitchen uten
sils and Civil War mementoes. A library on the second floor contains hun
dreds of volumes on south New Jersey, maps and rare manuscripts; and
TANKER MAGNOLIA UNDER CONSTRUCTION, CAMDEN
on the same floor is a completely furnished Colonial bedroom. A large col
lection of newspapers is kept on the third floor.
14. H ADDON CRAFTSMEN PRINTING PLANT (open by arrange
ment), NW. corner i9th and Federal Sts., is a modern, office-type build
ing of brick construction. Two wings with steel framework and glass sides
are equipped to produce 15,000 books daily in addition to thousands of
magazines and pamphlets. The plant is the only one in the United States
that prints Gregorian music.
WESTFIELD ACRES, N. side of Westfield Ave. between Dudley and
CAMDEN 237
32nd Sts., was financed with $3,000,000 of PWA funds. The model hous
ing project covers 25 acres and includes 18 units with a total of 514 apart
ments of 3 to 5 rooms. The buildings are three-story brick structures of
simple design, with many large, steel-framed windows. Spacious inner
courts provide adequate sunlight and ventilation. Kitchens are equipped
with electric ranges and mechanical refrigerators.
15. The NEW YORK SHIPBUILDING PLANT (open by permis
sion), 2448 S. Broadway, ranks first in size among privately owned ship
building plants in the Nation. Here were built the 888-foot Naval aircraft
carrier U.S.S. Saratoga at a cost of $40,000,000, and the 668-foot trans
atlantic liners Manhattan and Washington, largest merchant vessels flying
the American flag. The plant has facilities for simultaneous work on 28
vessels, ranging from tugs to warships. More than 5,000 workers are nor
mally employed. A 5 -month strike in 1935 won higher wages and the 36-
hour week for members of the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuild
ing Workers of America.
1 6. The DELAWARE RIVER BRIDGE, N. end of Broadway, was the
longest suspension bridge in the world when it was opened by President
Coolidge in 1926. The main span of 1,750 feet was designed by Ralph
Modjeski and built as a joint enterprise by the States of New Jersey and
Pennsylvania. The bridge is noteworthy for the beauty of its lofty steel
towers, sweeping cable lines and the decorations on the anchorages (large
carved seals of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Camden, and Philadelphia). The
towers are 385 feet above high water; the piers extend 61 feet below sea
level to bedrock on the Philadelphia side, and 85 feet on the Camden side.
Twin cables 30 inches in diameter support the 57-foot roadway, two rapid
transit tracks and foot walks with a clearance of 135 feet above the chan
nel. The entire structure is 8,536 feet long; it took 41/2 years to build and
cost $40,000,000.
POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
Grave of Peter J. McGuire, Arlington Cemetery, 4.6 m., Central Airport, 2 m.,
Red Bank Battlefield National Park, 10 m. (see Tour 19) ; Thackara House, erected
1754, 1-9 m. (see Tour 23) ; Indian King Inn, Haddonfield, 8.3 m. (see Tour 27).
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Railroad Stations: Pennsylvania Station, West Grand St., for Pennsylvania R.R.;
Jersey Central Station, Morris Ave. and Julian PL, for Jersey Central R.R., Balti
more and Ohio R.R., and Reading Co.; Jersey Central Station, ist and Merritt
Aves., for Perth Amboy and shore division of Jersey Central R.R.
Bus Stations: 287 N. Broad St. for Greyhound and Edwards; Spring and E. Grand
Sts. for Safeway Trailways; Elizabeth Arch for Public Service.
Airport: 3 m. NE. on US i at Newark for Eastern Airlines, American Airlines,
United Airlines, Transcontinental and Western Air.
Taxis : 4O0 within city limits.
Busses: 50 within city limits; no transfers.
Traffic Regulations: Turns may be made in either direction at intersections, except
where traffic lights direct otherwise. Watch signs for parking limits.
Accommodations: Two modern hotels; many tourist homes.
Information Service: Chamber of Commerce at Winfield Scott Hotel, N. Broad St.
Motion Picture Houses: Eight.
Swimming: Dowd s Municipal Pool, Front and E. Jersey Sts., June i to Labor
Day, io0 for children, 150 for adults.
Annual Events: Combined city and county sports events at Warinanco Park during
summer.
ELIZABETH (70 alt., 114,589 pop.) is southernmost in a chain of old
cities now industrialized that form continuous links along the Jersey
shore in the metropolitan area. The city s northeastern boundary is a purely
theoretical line marking the place where Newark begins. The centers of
the two cities are only 5 miles apart, and the business and residential con
tinuity between them is unbroken.
Elizabeth has seen its native American population augmented by an in
flux of workers from this country and Europe, and has watched old land
marks succumb to the demand for factories, apartment houses, and service
stations. With a water front on Newark Bay and Staten Island Sound, the
city was the natural terminus of the earliest highways and the first rail
roads. Although it is no longer an important terminal, Elizabeth has
grown in stature as an industrial and residential area.
The better residential section has a handsome assortment of shade trees
and gardens. Blue iris brightens many front yards in May; the somber
leaves of the copper beech stand out against a cheerful background of
blossoming horse chestnuts and catalpas, and the omnipresent maple. The
colors of the town, with the exception of its greenery, are those of a manu
facturing place; faded and stained reds, grays, yellows, and browns. The
white clapboard dwellings that might be expected from Elizabeth s early
American heritage are rarely found.
Houses range from the yellow brick flats and nondescript frame struc-
238
ELIZABETH 239
tures of the poorer sections to the commuters and businessmen s compact,
modern homes in the early American or English cottage style. Character
istic of the older residential district are the semi-mansions of the late nine*
teenth and early twentieth centuries: bulky structures, often with com
modious corner towers and bay windows, built in combinations of brick
and stone, shingle and clapboard, stucco and half -timber; decorated with
a fantastic variety of porch columns and moldings.
Business buildings include a full quota of the heavy-corniced brick
structures of 40 years ago. Others, of more recent construction, are simply
and neatly designed. The city s one large office building is a 1 3-story struc
ture modernly individualistic in design, its exterior richly decorated with
aluminum panels and terra cotta ornaments. Red brick factories and a few
modern industrial buildings fringe the city.
The northern end of the business district has a reminder of the days
when Elizabeth was an important railroad terminal. This is "the Arch,"
where Broad Street dips to pass under a broad stone arch of the Jersey
Central, and the viaduct of the Pennsylvania main line crosses over both
the Jersey Central tracks and the street. Trolley cars no longer thump
along Broad Street under the Arch; they have been replaced by trackless
trolleys and busses. Above is an almost unending roar of freight and pas
senger trains on the two railroads. The decline of water transportation was
followed by relocation of the city s industrial life; factories now are clus
tered mainly along the railroads more than a mile inland.
Elizabethans, because of the city s location on the metropolitan fringe,
are a mingling of the urban with the suburban. Their culture is influenced
by contact with New York s theaters, concert halls, and social movements.
The city is well stocked with churches, some of them outstanding native
specimens, others of European inspiration.
The labor movement is more advanced in Elizabeth than in the outly
ing communities. The textile workers maintain a local office, and the
building trades have a central headquarters. For nearly 50 years the Labor
Advocate, one of the State s very few labor newspapers, has been pub
lished monthly in Elizabeth.
The history of Elizabeth, oldest English settlement of the State, began
in 1664, when the English ended Dutch control of New Netherland. In
that year three Long Islanders, John Baily, Daniel Denton, and Luke Wat
son, received written license from the new English Deputy Governor of
New York, Richard Nicolls, and bought from the Indians for the cus
tomary quantity of coats, gunpowder, and kettles a large tract extending
from Raritan River to Newark Bay.
Farming operations were scarcely a year old when Philip Carteret ar
rived as the first English Governor of New Jersey. For his capital he
picked a spot in the territory of the Long Island emigrants and named it
Elizabethtown in honor of the wife of his cousin, Sir George Carteret. Sir
George and Lord John Berkeley were at that time the sole Proprietors of
all New Jersey.
In Elizabethtown Carteret compromised with the 80 Associates on divi
sion of the land. Houses were built by joint effort; so was a church, put up
240 CITIES AND TOWNS
on the Broad Street site now occupied by the graveyard of the First Presby
terian Church.
In 1668 Governor Carteret summoned the first general assembly to his
new capital. Two years later the Province was in turmoil over a dispute
that has not yet been settled. The original settlers had obtained license to
buy Indian lands from Colonel Nicolls, and they refused to pay annual
quitrents to Carteret. Carteret, unable to maintain authority, went to England
and returned with a compromise that kept peace for a time. Eventually
control of all lands passed to an organization known as the Proprie
tors of East New Jersey. When the Proprietors attempted to revive the col
lection of quitrents, the inhabitants promptly retorted that they had bought
their property from the Indians and owed not a cent to the Proprietors
or anyone else. In 1745 the controversy landed in Chancery Court; land
riots followed, and the suit, interrupted by the French and Indian Wars
and the Revolution, was never settled.
The Proprietors, with a flair for mismanagement, transferred the capital
to Perth Amboy in 1686, thinking that this village was destined for
greater things than Elizabethtown. But Elizabethtown withstood the shock
and in 1740 obtained from George II a charter as the "Free Borough and
town of Elizabeth," which called for a borough hall and a courthouse.
These were built on the site of the present Union County Courthouse. A
second charter was granted by the State legislature in 1789, and a city
charter was issued in 1855 and amended in 1863.
Elizabeth s industry developed along characteristic Colonial lines. By
1670 a merchant had established his shop; and six years later a brewer,
William Looker, began catering to the powerful thirsts aroused by day
long work in the fields and woods. Mills were established for the produc
tion of lumber and meal. Good grazing promoted the raising or sheep,
swine, and cattle, which were shipped to New York. The tanning industry
received an early start and by 1687 Elizabethtown was shipping leather
to all of the Colonies. Ships of 30 and 40 tons sailed up the Elizabeth
River as far as Broad Street. Soon Elizabeth was building its own vessels
for pursuing whales, abundant off the Jersey coast.
The Revolution halted Elizabeth s development. The city was an im
portant point in Washington s New Jersey maneuvers ; it was, in fact, the
Achilles heel in his defenses against the British in New York and Staten
Island across the Kill from Elizabeth. Time and again the British from
Staten Island made quick thrusts into the city, burning and pillaging. The
year 1780 was a particularly bad one for the village, marked by major en
counters at nearby Connecticut Farms (now Union) and Springfield, and
a series of minor skirmishes through the countryside.
Impetus to industrialization came from New York in 1835 when a
group of New York businessmen, aware of what the new railroads would
mean to Elizabeth, bought a tract of land fronting for a half-mile on
Staten Island Sound. They laid it out in long rectangular plots and named
it "The New Manufacturing Town of Elizabeth Port."
During these years the water front was busy with fishermen and oyster-
men. It was called "downtown" as opposed to the "uptown" district
-"
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ELIZABETH
242 CITIES AND TOWNS
around Broad Street, and there was violent antagonism between the two
sections. The downtown men were known as "salt water boys." At irregu
lar intervals they declared a "salt water day" that was celebrated by
throwing every available uptowner off the dock.
Formation of volunteer fire companies in 1837 made for further
breaches of the peace. There was sharp competition between the fire com
panies, not because of anxiety over the burning building, but to obtain a
hydrant for the water fight that followed every fire. Downtown Red Jacket
Engine Co. No. 4 had the jump in early morning blazes on its rivals in
the uptown Hibernia Engine No. 5, for the Red Jackets were up at 2 a.m.
getting ready to sail for the Newark Bay oyster beds. Early evening fires
provided the best competition ; the Hibernians armed a man with a poker
to prevent the Red Jackets from cutting their hose.
As a change from fighting with the uptowners, the oystermen used oars,
oyster rakes, and boathooks in repelling Staten Island oystermen who ven
tured into Jersey waters. Every morning the fleets started up the bay, re
turning at 5 p.m. At daybreak oyster dealers from Prince Bay, Staten
Island, would arrive with a large basket at the masthead, a signal that
oysters were being bought, whereupon the men would flock out to sell.
There was one downtowner who was welcome all over the city the
clam vendor who drove his little horse cart slowly through the streets,
singing hoarsely:
Fine clams, fine clams,
Fine clams, I say,
They are good to stew,
And good to fry;
And are good to make
A good clam pie.
In 1873 the first important industry, the Singer Sewing Machine Com
pany, came to Elizabeth and "The New Manufacturing Town of Elizabeth
Port" began to develop. Railroad extensions to the Pennsylvania coal fields
resulted in the building of docks at the Elizabeth and Somerville Railroad
Terminal, foot of Broadway, where freight and passengers were trans
ferred to boats for New York. Coal was shipped to ports in New England
and New York. The "Pig Iron Dock" was the center for pig iron brought
in barges from northern New Jersey and New York and shipped by train
to iron mills elsewhere in the country. The railroads stimulated the immi
gration of large numbers of Germans and Irish to the city. World War
production brought thousands of Slavs and Italians to man Elizabeth fac
tories.
Elizabeth now has 201 manufacturing plants. Products include Simmons
beds, sewing machines, Kelly presses, refined petroleum, soap, chemicals,
clothing, furniture, iron and steel machinery and other commodities to an
annual value of more than $122,000,000.
ELIZABETH
243
244 CITIES AND TOWNS
POINTS OF INTEREST
1. ST. JOHN S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 61 Broad St., erected 1860, is
of Victorian Gothic design, dull brown brick with stone trim. It stands
on a small grassy plot with an adjoining ancient burial ground, between
modern business structures. The heavily carved stonework of its 1 26-foot
tower and the contrasting bands of brick and stone have been softened by
the dark patina of age. The original church (of which there is a model
in the warden s room) was built in 1706, and demolished in 1859 to make
way for the present building.
2. The SITE OF SHEPARD KOLLOCK S PRINTING OFFICE, 39
Broad St., is now occupied by the Regent Theater Building. It was here
that Shepard Kollock, an ink-stained Revolutionist, lived and printed one
of New Jersey s first newspapers, the New Jersey Journal, still being pub
lished as the Elizabeth Daily Journal.
Kollock was born in Delaware in 1751 and learned the printing busi
ness in the office of his uncle, William Goddard, editor of the Pennsyl
vania Chronicle. He resigned from the Continental Army for the more
vital task of combating the Tory press of New York City. Kollock printed
his first issues in 1779 in Chatham, N. J. In 1785 he moved to Elizabeth
and built a combined home, printing office, and bookstore. When he died
in 1839 he was buried across the street in the Presbyterian cemetery.
3. The FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Broad St., S. of Caldwell
PI., dedicated 1786, stands in a level grassy plot dotted with venerable
tombstones and weather-beaten sarcophagi. The church is of soft-toned
Jersey brick, trimmed sparingly with white wood; the unaltered windows
in the facade are finely proportioned. A lean tapering spire rises to crown
the well-developed tower at the front. The spire, blown down by a tornado
in August 1899, was replaced in 1902. With peculiarly small brick corner
quoins, this is one of the most pleasing examples of Georgian Colonial
church architecture in the State.
The first building, a rough frame structure, served as church, court
house, and meeting place for the first general assembly of 1668. A second
church, built in 1724, was burned in 1780 by a British raiding party that
crossed on January ice from Staten Island. The following year the pastor,
the Rev. James Caldwell (see Springfield, Tour 10), was shot through the
heart at Elizabethtown Point by a Continental sentry whose command he
had been slow to obey. Upon evidence that he had been bribed to fire the
shot, the soldier was hanged.
Another prominent pastor was Jonathan Dickinson, who became the
first president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University),
which he helped to establish. The college was chartered in October 1746,
and classes met on the site of the present Sunday School building. Some
of the students boarded at the minister s house on Pearl Street between
Race Street and Washington Avenue. When the Rev. Aaron Burr (father
of his more famous namesake) became president, following the death of
Mr. Dickinson in October 1747, the institution was moved to Newark.
The PARISH HOUSE, of red brick, was erected 1917 on the Broad Street
ELIZABETH 245
corner of the property. On this site an academy for young men was built
in 1767. Among the students were Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr;
Hamilton and his teacher left the school to fight in the Revolution. The
academy, converted into a storehouse, was burned by the British in 1780.
4. The UNION COUNTY COURTHOUSE, NW. corner Broad St.
and Rahway Ave., is of gray stone in the formal classical manner, designed
by Ackerman and Ross. It was erected 1903 on the site of the old borough
courthouse burned by the British in 1780. A broad sweep of stone steps
leads up to the entrance door within a portico of fluted Corinthian col
umns, crowned with an entablature and pediment.
Behind the courthouse is the ANNEX, built 1925-31 from the plans of
Oakley and Son. The annex is a square tower, 15 stories high, overorna-
mented by numerous false window openings, Ionic pilasters, and stepped
pyramidal roof. The UNION COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY ROOM (open
2-4:30 Wed.; 9 - 30-12 Sat.), 4th floor, contains an interesting collection
of portraits, books and historical relics.
5. PUBLIC LIBRARY (open 9-9 daily), SW. corner Broad St. and
Rahway Ave., was built in 1912; a wing was added in 1929. It is a two-
story stone structure of Italian Renaissance style, the work of E. L. Tilden.
On this site was a series of famous Colonial and Revolutionary taverns:
Nag s Head Tavern, The Marquis of Granby, Red Lion, and, after the
Revolution, Indian Queen.
The New York Gazette of March 1760 reported that Elizabeth s library
was founded in 1755, had upwards of 300 volumes and expected 70 more.
In 1857 tne Elizabeth Library Hall Association, incorporated the previous
year by State charter, began a new building. The library was moved several
times before it reached its present home.
6. The OLD MILL SITE, Broad St. at Elizabeth River, adjoins the li
brary. The first mill in Elizabethtown was built here prior to 1669 by
John Ogden, one of the city s founders. Before the Revolution the mill
was owned by Barnaby Shute, an illiterate oysterman who unexpectedly
came into possession of a fortune. The tradition is that Shute essayed the
role of public benefactor by building, among other things, an elegant jail
for his town. He became insolvent shortly thereafter and was sentenced as
a debtor to be the first occupant of the new jail.
7. CARTERET ARMS (open 10-4 weekdays), 16 S. Broad St., is the
home of the Woman s Club of Elizabeth. Erected c. 1795, it is a two-and-
one-half-story building of local brick, with gambrel roof, dormers, and
attractive entrance porch. It successively housed an orphan asylum, the
public library, and the Elizabeth Historic and Civic Association.
8. CITY HALL, Elizabeth Ave. and W. Scott PL, built in 1865 on the
site of the first schoolhouse and of the old Adelphian Academy, and con
structed of raspberry-painted brick, is designed in the baronial-industrial
style of architecture so loved by the post-Civil War captains of American
industry. It retains a measure of dignity. Half of the ground floor was
originally occupied by a public market and the floor above served as drill
room for the militia. The city has no deed for the land.
9. SCOTT PARK, E. Jersey St. between E. Scott PI. and W. Scott PL,
246 CITIES AND TOWNS
preserves in the heart of Elizabeth some memory of old Elizabethtown. It
was named in honor of Lieut. Gen. Winfield Scott of Mexican War fame.
The Thomas Jefferson High School for boys faces the park on the east.
Scott s house, razed in 1928, stood nearby at 1105 E. Jersey Street. Dr.
William Barnet, a surgeon in the American Army, occupied the house
from 1763 to 1790. When his home was plundered by the British in 1781,
Dr. Barnet reported: "They emptied my feather beds in the streets, broke
in windows, smashed my mirrors and left our pantry and storeroom de
partment bare. I could forgive them all that, but the rascals stole from
my kitchen wall the finest string of red peppers in all Elizabeth."
10. The BOUDINOT HOUSE (Boxwood Hall), 1073 E. Jersey St.
(private), a home for aged women, is an ample structure with mansard
roof, tall chimneys and a massive door with a brass knocker. It was built
by Samuel Woodruff, probably as early as 1752.
On the stone steps in 1781 Elias Boudinot gave a ringing address over
the body of James Caldwell, slain pastor of the First Presbyterian Church.
After the Revolution the house was owned by Jonathan Dayton, speaker
of the House of Representatives and later U. S. Senator, for whom Day
ton, Ohio, was named. Lafayette was entertained here in 1824, leaving
a touch of Old World romanticism to color the dreams of young ladies
who attended Miss Spaulding s fashionable school at the same spot 20
years later.
Boudinot, a distinguished Revolutionist, was president of the Continen
tal Congress and a signer of the Treaty of Peace with Great Britain. In
1789, as a member of the House of Representatives, he introduced a reso
lution calling upon President Washington to proclaim a national day of
thanksgiving. The President named Thursday, November 26, Thanksgiv
ing Day.
11. BELCHER MANSION (private), 1046 E. Jersey St., stands on the
lot granted to John Ogden Jr., son of the early settler. The brick house,
well cared for, is thought to have been built before 1742 and possibly be
fore 1722 ; the Classical Revival porch was added a century later. The cove
cornice is unusual. The dignified woodwork inside is richly carved. Jona
than Belcher, Royal Governor of the Province, lived here from 1751 until
his death six years later. The Governor was a supporter of the plan for a
College of New Jersey, and the house has been called the cradle of Prince
ton University. Washington, Lafayette, and Hamilton came here in 1778
to attend the wedding of William Peartree Smith s daughter "Caty" to
Elisha Boudinot, brother of Elias.
Gov. Aaron Ogden later acquired the property and entertained Lafayette
in 1824. The house was restored in 1899 by the then owner, Warren R.
Dix, in time to entertain Lafayette s great-grandson in 1901.
12. NATHANIEL BONNELL HOUSE (private), 1045 E - J erse Y St ->
is believed to be the oldest house in the city. It was built prior to 1682 by
Nathaniel Bonnell, who had been allotted 6 acres of land for a homestead
in the late i66o s. The faded, two-story clapboard structure is in disrepair.
13. SITE OF THE ISAAC ARNETT HOUSE, 1155 E. Jersey St., is
occupied by the Elizabeth Carteret Hotel. It was called the Isaac Arnett
ELIZABETH 247
House but it is remembered now for Isaac Arnett s wife Hannah, the
Revolutionary Barbara Frietchie of Elizabeth. After Cornwallis had driven
Washington from New York in 1776, he offered amnesty to all who would
swear allegiance to the Crown within 60 days. The offer was tempting to
some citizens of Elizabeth who shared the general despondency of the
Colonists, and a group met at the Arnett house to discuss the proposition.
In an adjoining room sat Hannah, knitting and listening. When she could
stand it no longer, she flounced into the debate, ignoring her husband s
efforts to keep his wife in her place. "We may be poor and weak and
few," Hannah said. "England may have her limitless resources. But we
have something that England has not. God is on our side. Every volley
from our muskets is an echo of His voice. Shame upon you cowards!"
The amnesty was refused.
14. The ELIZABETH DAILY JOURNAL PLANT (open for group
tours by appointment), 295 N. Broad St., is a modern red brick building.
The newspaper, oldest in the State, was founded in 1779 by Shepard Kol-
lock.
15. The WILLIAMSON HOUSE, 21 Westfield Ave., is now the Elks
Home. Built in 1808 by Isaac H. Williamson (Governor 1817-29), it has
a hand-carved stair rail and trim. The building was heightened one story
when it was taken over by the Elks, and a large porch was added.
1 6. AMERICAN TYPE FOUNDERS PLANT (open for group tours
upon written application), 200 Elmora Ave., is the work of Day and
Klauder, architects. In both plan and elevation the three-story red brick
building is an admirable example of functional design. Kelly automatic
printing presses are manufactured here as well as type, casts, and printing
supplies and machinery of all kinds.
17. GALLOPING HILL MONUMENT, Galloping Hill and Colonia
Rds., is a block of Barre granite with a bronze tablet, occupying a triangu
lar plot. At this point the invading British army from Staten Island,
marching through old Elizabethtown to Connecticut Farms and Spring
field for the two battles of June 1780, turned into Galloping Hill Road.
The invaders were constantly harried by militia under Major Generals
Greene and Dickinson.
18. The CRANE HOUSE (private), 556 Morris Ave., is of New Eng
land Colonial type, having white-painted siding, second-story dormer win
dows and half-windows below the eaves, as well as the customary one-
and-one-half-story ell that served as the service wing. Built before the
Revolution, the house has been continuously occupied by the Crane fam
ily; the first of the Cranes was Stephen, who settled in Elizabethtown in
1665. An old-fashioned garden around the original well has some of the
oldest and finest red hollyhocks in Elizabeth. Seeds from these plants have
produced blossoms almost black.
19. The OLD CHATEAU (private), 408 Rahway Ave., is a large,
grayish brick building with two wings ; quoins and keystones over the win
dows are of brownstone. Erected c. 1760, the house, surrounded by trees,
stands well back from the road on unkempt grounds. It was the main
building on the estate of Cavalier Jouet, grandfather of the late Chancellor
248 CITIES AND TOWNS
Benjamin Williamson, and himself the grandson of Mayor Daniel Jouet
of Angers, France. The Old Chateau and its lands were confiscated during
the Revolution because the Cavalier remained loyal to King George III,
who had allowed his forefathers to settle in England when they were
exiled from France.
20. STATUE OF THE MINUTE MAN, ist Ave. and High St., stands
in Union Square. The sculptor, Carl Conrads, German-born Civil War vet
eran whose statue of Daniel Webster is in Washington, created a typical
militiaman: shirt open at the neck, sleeves rolled up from brawny arms,
one fist gripping the muzzle of his musket, and the head alert, as if strain
ing for sight of invading British.
The statue commemorates Colonial resistance to British invaders in June
1780. On the night of June 7 Major General Knyphausen ferried 6,000
men across from Staten Island for a surprise attack. The troops marched
up King s Highway (now Elizabeth Avenue) and met an outpost of 12
pickets at Union Square. After a first volley that mortally wounded Gen
eral Stirling the pickets prudently gave way.
Continuing their march through Elizabeth, the British were halted by
militia at Galloping Hill Road at Connecticut Farms (Union). During the
night most of the British returned to Staten Island. A small force man
aged to hold the Elizabeth shore of Arthur Kill after a sharp encounter
with the pursuing Colonials the following morning. About two weeks
later Sir Henry Clinton resumed the attack with 5,000 troops. He pro
ceeded to Springfield where he drove off an inferior force of militia and
burned the town. Later the British retired to Staten Island.
21. CITY MARKET (open 8-3 Tues., Thurs., Sat.), High St. W. of
Elizabeth Ave., has authentic farm flavor. Truck gardeners and commis
sion men back their trucks up to the curb in a solid row that extends
around the corner on 2nd Avenue and display their produce on wooden
tables, often under canvas shelters. The market is thronged with women
shoppers who leisurely make their way through a gantlet of sales cries:
"Feel those oranges look at that juice 10 for a quarter!" "Lady, them
are lovely berries. I ll show you the bottom. They re perfect!" Promptly
at 3 o clock a street-cleaning crew arrives and opens a fire hydrant to flush
the littered street.
22. OLD FERRY SITE, SE. end Elizabeth Ave. on the Arthur Kill, is
now merely a rotting municipal wharf with a railroad crane, an excellent
view and 250 years of history. Beside it is the terminal of the Elizabeth-
Staten Island Ferry, operating two single-deck, turtle-shaped boats that
are the smallest and funniest vehicular ferries in New York Harbor. Al
most a stone s throw across the channel is Staten Island, part of New York
City, but desolate marshland here, except for the large Procter and Gam
ble soap factory in the background. Westward is a fine silhouette of the
high cantilever span of Goethals Bridge (see Tour 1 7) ; below is the small
swing span of the Baltimore and Ohio R.R. bridge, little used, yet the only
rail connection for freight traffic between New Jersey and New York City.
Eastward, beyond the junction of Newark Bay with the Kill van Kull, is
the graceful steel arch of Bayonne Bridge (see BAYONNE). Along the
ELIZABETH 249
Elizabeth shore are several oil depots, lumberyards, coal-shipping docks, a
shipyard, and sand and gravel yards.
At this point sailboat ferries to New York docked as early as 1679.
Washington stepped aboard a gaily decorated barge here for his trip up
the harbor to the inaugural in New York. Steam service was begun in
1808. When rail connections with Philadelphia were completed in 1834,
Elizabeth was the transfer point for New York passengers; but construc
tion of the New Jersey Central s bridge across Newark Bay, establishing
through service to Jersey City, made the water route obsolete in the six
ties. Today little breaks the stillness except the chug of passing towboats,
the ferry company s mechanical turtles thumping their way across the
channel, the blast of a siren as the Elizabeth River drawbridge is raised,
and the drone of transport planes making for Newark Airport.
23. ST. PATRICK S CATHEDRAL, 213 Court St., of Victorian Gothic
design, is constructed of light gray stone. Its tall spires are conspicuous
landmarks. The cathedral, erected 1887, is opposite Jackson Park, one of
the half-dozen green squares in Elizabeth and reputedly the site of an In
dian burying ground. Adjoining is St. Patrick s High School, oldest Catho
lic secondary school of the State.
24. SINGER SEWING MACHINE PLANT (open for group tours
upon written application), SE. end Trumbull St., is the largest industry of
Elizabeth. Tall, many-windowed brick buildings are weathered and well
covered with vines. In 1851 Isaac M. Singer placed on the market his first
sewing machine, intended to be set up and operated on the packing case in
which it was delivered, and propelled by a wooden treadle and pitman. By
1873 the demand for the machines was so great that the few small facto
ries in New York were combined and moved to Elizabethport, where about
7,000 persons are now employed.
25. NEW JERSEY PRETZEL PLANT (open weekdays), 816 Liv
ingston St., employs deaf mutes hired through the State Department of
Institutions and Agencies. The pretzel bending done by these workers is
one of the few old handicrafts defying the machine age, since no one has
succeeded in inventing a machine to put the twist in a pretzel.
POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
General Motors plant, Linden, 3.8 m. (see Tour 1); Edison Memorial Tower,
Menlo Park, 9.7 m. (see Tour 8) ; Liberty Hall, former home of Governor Living
ston, 1 m., Springfield Presbyterian Church, Revolutionary landmark, 6.1 m. (see
Tour 10).
Railroad Stations: Pennsylvania Station, Broad and Throckmorton Sts., for Penn
sylvania R.R. ; Jersey Central Station, Jackson and Mechanic Sts., for Jersey
Central R.R.
Bus Station: Municipal Parking Lot for Lincoln Transit, Asbury Park and New
York Transit; 23 W. Main St. for Gray Line; 6 E. Main St. opp. Courthouse for
Public Service.
Traffic Regulations: Watch street signs for parking limitations.
Accommodations: One hotel, tourist homes.
Information Service: Municipal Bldg., W. Main St.; Public Library, E. Main St.
Motion Picture Houses: Two.
Trotting Races: Freehold Race Track, Park Ave. and W. Main St.
FREEHOLD (170 alt., 6,894 pop.) seen from the air is a dot among
squares and oblongs of contrasting green fields edged with reddish clay.
Up to the town s very doorstep spread the fields and woodlands of the
gently rolling land of Monmouth County, the second richest agricultural
county in the United States.
Without drawing too heavily on its storied past, Freehold has individu
ality produced by a fusion of rural, urban, and residential life. In an unob
trusive way it seems to embody America s growth from farm to factory.
But country atmosphere dominates the town. Main Street is broad and tree-
lined, and many stores in the small business section are in former private
dwellings, but rarely is a horse tethered to the hitching posts along the
curb.
Surrounding this provincial core is an industrial growth concentrated
in a large rug factory that has blended with the community rather than
altered it into a factory town.
Although Freehold has a full quota of industrial workers as well as
business people and retired farmers, there is nothing that could be called
a slum section. The town has an almost uniform degree of prosperous living
equaled by few other New Jersey communities. Homes in the residential
area range from Colonial through Victorian to contemporary American
architecture, with a predominance of white-painted frame structures. There
is plenty of room for lawns and trees oaks, elms, maples, horse chestnuts,
lindens, honey locusts, and copper beeches. Almost every house has a gar
den bright with such flowers as the oriental poppy, blue bachelor s button,
lemon lily, and lavender iris.
Its position as county seat makes Freehold the center for the surround
ing farm country. Traffic chokes the business section, especially when big
farm trucks carry summer produce to the New York and Philadelphia
markets. A steady stream of beach-bound motorists pours through the
250
RUG WEAVING, FREEHOLD
252 CITIES AND TOWNS
town on summer week ends, providing trade for several antique shops.
Main Street, once the King s Highway and the old Burlington Trail, ap
proximately follows a route once used by Indians, pioneer settlers, British
and American soldiers, and early stagecoaches.
The first white settlement in the Freehold district was made about 1650.
A permanent village was established here in 1715 by Scots from New
Aberdeen (now Matawan), who had earlier left England because of perse
cution by Charles II. They chose the name of Monmouth Court House
from Monmouthshire in England.
Coastal residents complained that politics was responsible for selection
of a courthouse site in the inland wilderness, and the record shows that,
at the very least, shrewd business sense was involved. In 1714, one year
after passage of an assembly act designating Freehold Township as the
site, John Reid bought an extensive tract of land. He sold part of his
holdings to the county authorities for a courthouse site at the bargain
price of 30 shillings, and immensely increased the value of the rest of his
property.
Colonists gathered in the courthouse to protest the Boston Port Bill;
later, in a more militant mood, they heard news of the battles of Lexing
ton and Bunker Hill. In 1778 Freehold saw part of the Battle of Mon
mouth (see Tour ISA). On June 27, the day before the fighting, Sir
Henry Clinton and his army, retreating from Philadelphia to New York,
occupied the town. The British commander and his staff established them
selves in the present Moreau House.
The first of two early attacks occurred near the present high school on
the northeastern edge of the town. On the slight rise of ground now
known as Monument Park, behind the present courthouse, Col. Butler s
detachment of Revolutionaries fired a heavy volley in the second skirmish,
dispersing a body of the Queen s Rangers, the celebrated Tory corps.
During the hot Sunday on which Washington s troops tried to shatter
the British forces, soldiers of both sides thronged in and out of the village.
Lafayette led a party of horsemen down Main Street past the courthouse;
various buildings were converted into military hospitals; and local resi
dents fired on the escaping British from the shelter of trees and fences.
The New Jersey Gazette later published a withering letter describing Brit
ish outrages, and accusing General Clinton of conduct by no means to his
credit.
The last important local episode of the Revolution was a public funeral
in 1782 for Capt. Joshua Huddy, the Revolutionist who was summarily
hanged by Tories as an act of vengeance ( see Tour 18).
By 1795 a post office was opened, under the shorter name of Mon
mouth. Six years later the name was changed to Freehold by postal author
ities to avoid confusion with other Monmouths in the county. The first
newspaper, the Spirit of Washington, appeared during the years 1814-15;
and in 1834 the Monmouth Democrat, still in existence, was established.
Several private schools were functioning at the middle of the century, one
of which, the Freehold Institute, remains as the Freehold Military School,
a preparatory institution.
FREEHOLD 253
A stage line with railroad connections at Hightstown enabled Freehold
residents in 1836 to reach New York or Philadelphia in 7 hours. Plank
roads were built to Howell and Keyport, speeding the transportation of
marl and farm produce for shipment by water. The Freehold and James-
burg Agricultural Railroad began service in 1853, and the marl pits at
Farmingdale were later tapped by the Squankum Railroad. Both are now
part of the Pennsylvania Railroad. A line paralleling the old plank road
to Keyport was finally opened as the Freehold and New York Railway in
1880, and was later taken over by the Jersey Central.
A disastrous fire destroyed the courthouse and a number of buildings in
1873. The heat was so intense that no trace of the courthouse bell, placed
in 1809, was ever found.
During the past half-century Freehold has progressed steadily as a cen
ter of agricultural enterprise, known chiefly for heavy shipments of po
tatoes. Modern concrete highways, some of them following the route of
old toll roads, radiate from the town like the spokes of a wheel.
POINTS OF INTEREST
1. The COURTHOUSE, Main and Court Sts., stands in the center of
Freehold, facing a maple-shaded lawn. Built in 1874 and remodeled after
a fire in 1930, the stone structure is a conservative modern adaptation of
Georgian Colonial design. There are two one-story porticoed entrances,
and on the center of the roof ridge, a Georgian Colonial cupola with a
clock. The building stands behind the site of the old courthouse, where
General Clinton left more than 45 disabled men to be cared for by the
Americans at the time of the Battle of Monmouth.
2. MONUMENT PARK, Court St., N. of the courthouse, a half-acre
wedge of lawn, contains MONMOUTH BATTLE MONUMENT. The 94-foot
shaft, capped with a statue of Liberty Triumphant, was designed by
Emelin T. Littell and Douglas Smythe. Around the base are five bronze
bas-reliefs by J. E. Kelly depicting battle scenes, including Molly Pitcher
at her husband s gun (see Tour ISA). The cornerstone was laid in 1878
on the looth anniversary of the battle; 6 years later the unveiling took
place.
3. MONMOUTH COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION BUILD
ING (open 11-5 daily except Mon.; 2-5 Sun.; adm. 250 on T lours.), 70
Court St., is a graceful Georgian Colonial reproduction, a two-story brick
building with pitched slate roof and white-painted woodwork. The en
trance door is arched, with a well proportioned pediment above. Designed
by J. Hallam Conover of Freehold, the building was opened in 1931.
Housed in memorial rooms of authentic dignity are exhibits that include
battle maps, the bell of the second courthouse, the writing desk of James
Wilson, signer of the Declaration of Independence, mementoes of old
racing days, and a fine collection of Colonial furniture. There is a LIBRARY
(open 1-5 daily except Mon.; 2-5 Sun.) consisting of books, documents,
church records, newspaper clippings, and paper money. In the unfinished
attic is an assortment of household utensils, cradles and old chests.
254 CITIES AND TOWNS
4. ST. PETER S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 33 Throckmorton St., is con
sidered the oldest church in use in New Jersey. Scottish and English
Quakers built the original structure consisting of four walls and a roof
but no floor in 1683 at Topanemus, 4 m. north of Freehold. Prominent
in the meeting was George Keith, a Presbyterian Scot who came to Amer
ica as a Quaker convert. A voyage to England changed Keith s mind and
his faith once more; he returned as a Church of England missionary and
converted all of the Topanemus Quakers. St. Peter s was moved south to
Freehold, changing its denomination but not its congregation en route.
The church was used as a hospital by the British at the Battle of Mon-
mouth ; at other times the Americans used it as a barracks and ammunition
station. The white-shingled, two-story structure has a small, graceful bel
fry above the front gable. It has been extensively altered.
5. FREEHOLD RACE TRACK (trotting races during summer; 1:30
Sat., adm. 500 for parking and grandstand; holidays, adm. 500 parking,
50$ grandstand), NW. corner Park Ave. and W. Main St., was reopened
1937 after a number of years of idleness. The track has changed little since
1873 when it first drew crowds from miles around. From the glaring red
and yellow barns grinning Negro stable boys lead blanketed horses for
exercise, trainers drive their sulkies around the course, and race track
frequenters, many in the traditional checked suits, watch from the rail.
The track was once the main attraction of the county fairs.
6. HANKINSON MANSION or Moreau House (private), 150 W.
Main St., was built by a member of the Hankinson family in 1755 and is
the oldest residence in Freehold. Great shade trees and a broad expanse
of lawn add to the cool stateliness of the white shingled green shuttered
mansion. The back of the structure faces the street. The house was built
by the same workmen who erected Tennent Church (see Tour ISA) three
years earlier, and repeats the detail of the exterior cornice and several in
terior features of the church. A hallway n 1 /^ feet wide opens into spacious
drawing rooms with fine mantels and paneled doors. A crude painting of
a naval scene, above the fireplace in the great bedchamber, has been at
tributed to an unknown Hessian soldier. Clinton and his officers stayed
here the night before the Battle of Monmouth, forcing the widow Conover
to sleep in a chair in the milk-room, a lean-to still standing.
William Forman, sea captain and happy bachelor, bought the house and
lived here with his brothers and sisters. Capt. James Lawrence was enter
tained by Forman, whose sisters strewed the hero s path with roses while
the guests drank his health with opalescent wine. To Forman were ad
dressed the lines of Philip Freneau s poem, The Seafaring Bachelor:
In all your rounds tis wondrous strange
No fair one tempts you to a change
Madness it is, you must agree,
To lodge alone till forty-three.
The captain died a bachelor.
7. A. AND H. KARAGHEUSIAN CARPET FACTORY (open by
permission), Jackson and Center Sts., is the business that originated the
FREEHOLD 255
trade name "Gulistan" or "American Oriental." The factory covers several
blocks and employs 1,500 persons; even larger plants are operated by the
company in China and Persia.
In the designing department a dozen artists seek usable patterns, bor
rowing material from museums and libraries, copying old or new Oriental
rugs, or executing original designs. The artists have their choice of 3,500
colors and shades, all combinations of the primary red, blue, and yellow.
The jacquard weaving of Wilton rugs is done with a series of perforated
cards that pass over perforated cylinders connecting with needles, which
in turn guide the weaving of the design somewhat in the manner of a
player-piano. Strands not in use are raised to different levels and hidden
in the bosom of the carpet until needed. At the same time a short, thin
blade attached to a wire cuts the yarn, making the pile. A loom 15 feet
wide, largest for Wilton rugs in this country, is here. For Axminster rugs,
the design is transferred to a series of spools ; each is one row in the rug,
being used but once each time the pattern is made. To set up a loom for
a 1 2 -ft. rug, 8 girls must work 10 days on 4 setting machines. Large rugs
were made here for the Radio City Music Hall in New York and for the
new United States Supreme Court Building.
POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
Freneau Farm, 9-9 m. (see Tour 18); Molly Pitcher s Well, 1.4 m., Monmouth
Battlefield and Tennent Church, 3.8 m. (see Tour ISA) ; Our House Tavern, 7.3 m.
(see Tour 20).
Railroad Stations: Main St. Station, Mercer and Main Sts., for New York, Sus-
quehanna and Western R.R. ; Essex St. Station, Essex St. and Railroad Ave., for
New Jersey and New York R.R. and Erie R.R.
Bus Stations: Municipal Bus Terminal, River St. opposite Demarest Place, for
Public Service, Garden State Line, Flying Eagle Suburban Line, Westwood Trans
portation Co.; Public Service Terminal, State and Mercer Sts., for local busses; 352
Main St. for Greyhound.
Taxis: 350 within city limits.
Streetcars and Local Busses: 50; no transfers.
Accommodations: Boarding houses.
Information Service: Bergen County Chamber of Commerce, 210 Main St.
Motion Picture Houses: Three.
Swimming: Y.M.C.A., 360 Main St.; Y.M.H.A., 211 Essex St.; Hackensack Swim
ming Pool, River St. and Hackensack Ave. ; Maple Springs Beach, Hackensack Ave.
near Route 4; Garden Suburbs, Central Ave.
Tennis: High school field, First St. opp. Hackensack high school; Oritani Field
Club, 18 E. Camden St.; Johnson Park, Main St. and Fairmont Ave.; Garden
Suburbs, Central Ave.
Annual Events: Bergen County Salon of Photography, Fox Theater, March; Bergen
County Electrical and Home Modernization Show, Hackensack Arena, April ; Garden
Federation Exhibit, Woman s Club, September.
HACKENSACK (134 alt., 24,568 pop.) is gaining in importance among
the industrial cities encircling New York, because of its strategic position
in the network of modern highways traversing northern New Jersey. The
old city lies on the west bank of the Hackensack River, halfway between
Paterson and the Hudson, and shows on its face the new blood pumped
into it by the road development of the past decade.
Hackensack is built on the flatlands of a tidal river and like most such
communities its local scene changes as its population growth stretches its
boundaries. Most of the older section lies close to the river. The newer
sections and many of the better residences are found on the higher ground
that gradually rises to the west and north of the old business section. The
civic center, where the courthouse and other public buildings are situated,
is the focal point of several highways. Main Street, the principal thorough
fare, extends northward from this point.
The crush on Main Street makes unmistakable the suddenness of the
city s recent change. The narrow, north-south street is jammed with traffic
from all over Bergen County, and its sidewalks are closely packed with
blocks of modern, neonized and black-glass store fronts which have already
crowded out most of the leisurely older shops. Chain stores, in particular,
have been erected so quickly and in such abundance that often their flash
ing signs are almost larger than their Main Street footage.
256
BERGEN COUNTY COURTHOUSE, HACKENSACK
The vista of Main Street, looking north, shows in addition to the jum
ble and squeeze of shops, a lo-story skyscraper, several impressive banks,
and the latest in ornate motion picture houses, where again the size of the
signs promises at least a Roxy or Radio City Music Hall. Shops have al
ready spread to the adjoining side streets.
The many markets and bargain shops along Main Street attest Hacken-
sack s position as the hub of Bergen County. Its daily paper is significantly
called the Bergen Evening Record, and its publisher, John Borg, is a domi
nant figure in the city and county political life. Organizations such as the
Young Men s Hebrew Association, the Young Men s Christian Associa
tion, the Child Welfare Association, and many others in Hackensack label
themselves "of Bergen County." Despite this county-consciousness and a
large percentage of commuters to New York and elsewhere in northern
New Jersey, Hackensack has long been noted for its independence and
individuality.
Oratory and litigation from 71 squabbling Bergen County municipali
ties are concentrated here at the county seat. To Hackensack come lawyers
and politicians, drawn by pre-election maneuverings, and the editors of
some 70 weekly newspapers that are nourished by legal advertising and en
livened by occasional investigations of municipal misconduct. Equally a
258 CITIES AND TOWNS
part of civil life are the caravans of defendants and witnesses whose testi
mony makes talk for the town, and ammunition for editors and politicians
alike.
Hackensack s industrial life is chiefly the manufacture of bricks, cement,
slippers, and haberdashery. Low wages, especially for women workers, pre
vail in the clothing factories. Along the river, navigable only to Hacken-
sack, is the sole industrial scene in the city; here are brickyards, a battery
of oil tanks, a stone crusher plant, and warehouses with long lines of rum
bling motor trucks and heavy barges. Southeast from the city spread the
Hackensack meadows, a tidal flat covered with marsh grass. A crisscross
of ditches has been dug by governmental agencies to check mosquito
breeding.
In the residential sections the town has preserved an atmosphere of
age and tradition. Streets here bear the names of New Jersey counties,
Essex, Union, Passaic, etc., and those of pioneer families whose descend
ants are still active in the community, Zabriskie, Banta, and Hopper. Sum
mit Avenue, a broad, tree-lined street, represents the long-established citi-
2ens with rows of large late-Victorian mansions surrounded by ample
greenery. Gradually these homes yield to a newer section distinguished by
a more frequent use of brick and granite and the styling of the 1920*5.
Down along the hill, upon which the better homes stand, sprinklings of
modern adaptations of Colonial, English, and Norman styles mix with typ
ical frame suburban dwellings and survivals of old Hackensack. Through
out the town at random points there are many authentic Dutch Colonial
homes, sturdy reminders of the original citizenry. Hackensack is a gen
ealogist s paradise where research flourishes.
The city s foreign-born population of 20.5 percent is largely concen
trated in the area west of Hudson Street and south of Essex Street. It is
almost a separate community, with a dominant population of Italians and
a much smaller percentage of Poles. Most of the foreign-born work for
public utilities, trucking firms, or contractors and live mainly in a typical
Hackensack miscellany of old frame houses, recent bungalows, and an oc
casional brick structure.
The most sharply defined racial colony in Hackensack is the Negro sec
tion of about five blocks along First Street between Berry Street and Central
Avenue. Although old wooden houses in varying states of repair give the
area a more residential appearance than the average Negro urban section,
dwellings are excessively crowded, with two and three families often liv
ing in a one-family house. The one school is attended almost exclusively
by Negro children with teachers of both white and black races. Many of
the 2,530 Negroes are active in the movement to better their economic
position through political action, and have won recognition to the extent
of three Negro appointments to the local police force.
The name Hackensack is supposed to be of Indian origin, but the exact
derivation is vague. A favorite local pastime is the collection of different
versions of the Indian spelling. These range from Achkinchesacky to
Hockumdachgue, and new contributions are constantly being made. It
has also been suggested that the town was named after an old tavern called
HACKENSACK 259
the Hock and Sack, which sold hock, a popular Rhine wine, and sack, an
appetizing sherry. This theory is more colorful than probable.
Hackensack dates back to 1647 when the Dutch from Manhattan estab
lished a trading post on the lands of Chief Oratam. Governed by the
Council of New Netherland, the region was later known as New Bar-
badoes after the island whence came the original grantees. By 1700 the
village was stamped with a Dutch imprint despite the English conquest.
Until 1921, when the town received a city charter, its official name was
still New Barbadoes.
The Revolutionary period was a turbulent one in Hackensack, with Tory
and patriot intrigue. Foraging parties of Continentals and redcoats skir
mished over the entire country. In 1780 Hessians and British plundered
the village and set fire to the old courthouse on the Green.
After the war Hackensack continued to develop as a commercial and
political center. In the early iSoo s the Hackensack Turnpike was built,
connecting the town with Hoboken, and making Hackensack the freight
depot for northern New Jersey. The so-called "Windjammers of the Hack
ensack" plied the river and bay to New York City, further enhancing the
community s shipping importance.
The conservatism of Hackensack s population was demonstrated when
the Civil War broke out, popular sentiment favoring slavery to such an
extent that an Abolitionist editor had his print shop raided, and the Union
flag was publicly burned on the Green.
Construction of the New Jersey and New York Railroad station in
1869 accelerated Hackensack s growth as a residential community, the suc
ceeding years being marked by large-scale real estate operations.
Incorporated as a separate governing unit in 1868, Hackensack, or New
Barbadoes, had its affairs administered until 1933 by a group known as
the Hackensack Improvement Commission, formed under an act of the
State legislature in 1856. This body obtained mail delivery in 1858; in
troduced the gas street light in 1868 ; and the telephone exchange in 1882.
The twentieth century brought an influx of a large commuting population.
With the abandonment of the Improvement Commission, Hackensack s ex
periments with municipal government turned to the present city manager
form, which has been conspicuously successful.
POINTS OF INTEREST
i. The GREEN, S. end Main St., was the Revolutionary camping
ground for both American and British regiments. Encircled by a row of
hedges and interspersed with flowers and shrubbery, the handkerchief-size
square is a well-kept lawn traversed by concrete walks. The county s first
courthouse, built on the Green in 1732, was burned to the ground by Hes
sian mercenaries in 1780. In Colonial days stocks and pillories for crim
inals stood here. Among the monuments are a bronze STATUE OF AN
AMERICAN SOLDIER, erected as a war memorial in 1924, on a concrete
and granite base with scenes representing all American wars, and a STATUE
OF GENERAL ENOCH POOR, Revolutionary war hero.
260 CITIES AND TOWNS
2. The CHURCH ON THE GREEN (First Dutch Reformed) (open
weekdays on request), NE. corner of the Green, is one of the oldest
churches in New Jersey. Built in 1696, rebuilt in 1728, and then enlarged
at various intervals until 1869, the red sandstone structure is a fine ex
ample of Dutch Colonial church architecture, and the prototype of the
other churches in Bergen County. Eleven members of the French Hugue
not congregation three miles up the Hackensack River became communi
cants of the Dutch church. They brought from the French church stones
bearing their names, some of which still form part of the present struc
ture. Early in the nineteenth century a doctrinal controversy threatened to
divide the congregation. In the midst of one bitter meeting, it is related, a
bolt of lightning struck the keystone over the doorway, splitting it in two.
Regarding this as a divine omen, the rival factions immediately settled the
dispute. The adjacent cemetery contains the remains of many of Bergen
County s pioneer settlers.
3. The MANSION HOUSE, NE. corner Main St. and Washington PL,
facing the Green, was built in 1751 by Peter Zabriskie and is still operated
as a restaurant. A three-story, whitewashed sandstone building, it is of
simple Dutch Colonial design, square and unadorned. A veranda which
formerly ran along the front of the house was torn down many years ago.
After the fall of Fort Lee in 1776, Washington was quartered here.
4. The BERGEN COUNTY COURTHOUSE, opp. the Green, con
structed in 1912, architecturally is one of the most successful buildings in
the State. This neo-classic structure designed by J. Riley Gordon was well
conceived in proportion, detail and setting. The straightforward treatment
of the entrance portico, with columns placed m antis, is strong and pleas
ing.
Directly east of the courthouse is the BERGEN COUNTY JAIL, a striking
five-story building with modern lines and medieval battlements. The light
brick surface is handsomely illumined at night by flood lights. Only the
unobtrusive bars and screens on the windows indicate the building s use.
5. The BERGEN COUNTY ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDING, cor
ner Main and Hudson Sts., designed by Tilton, Schwanewede and Githens,
is neoclassic in style, excellent both in scale and detail. Completed in
1933, its four stories of Arkansas marble are well composed in a mass of
great dignity. The building houses county agencies and administrative de
partments.
6. The JOHNSON FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY (open 9-9 weekdays),
274 Main St., also houses the HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS of the Bergen
County Historical Society (open 10-6 weekdays). In addition to documents
of various kinds the exhibit includes a large square stone used as a coun
terbalance in early hangings, a dugout canoe and other Indian relics. The
building is of rock-faced Belleville stone in Victorian style, with a fancy
bell tower and vine-covered walls.
7. The MUNICIPAL BUS TERMINAL, River St. opp. Demarest PL,
is a modern one-and-one-half-story structure of white-faced brick and
glass. Designed by Spencer Newman and opened in 1937, it was financed
jointly by the city and the Works Progress Administration. The severity
HACKENSACK 261
of the functional style is relieved by effective planting on the approaches.
The terminal serves most busses operating in the Hackensack section.
8. The TERHUNE HOUSE (private), 450 River St., near the Ander
son Street bridge, is now shielded from the adjacent highway by a gal
vanized iron wire fence. Built in 1670 by John Terhune, a Hollander, it
is the oldest building in Hackensack, and has the first known gambrel roof
in New Jersey. The low porch, a later addition, faces the south, overlook
ing a broad expanse of the Hackensack River. It is shaded by a giant elm,
said to be more than 600 years old. Few changes have been made in the
Dutch Colonial house of whitewashed sandstone since it was built.
9. The HOPPER HOUSE, 249 Polifly Rd., now an inn, was built be
tween 1816 and 1818 by slaves. It is an interesting example of how even
the resolute Dutch succumbed to the Georgian influence in architecture.
Although the original Dutch characteristics are reflected in the side and
rear elevations, the front door is inconsistent with the general design.
POINT OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
Steuben House, 2.7 m. (see Tour 16).
Railroad Station: Hudson PI. for Lackawanna R.R. and Hudson Tubes (connect
with Pennsylvania R.R. and Erie R.R.).
Bus Station: E>. L. & W. Station and Hudson Tubes for Public Service.
Taxis: 2 50 within city limits.
Piers: E. end 5th St., Holland-American, Cosulich Freight and Navigazione Libera
Triestian Lines; E. end 8th St., Gdynia-American, Red Star and Pan-Atlantic Lines;
E. end yth St., Bristol City and Ellerman-Wilson Lines; E. end i4th St.,
Scandinavian-American Line; E. end i5th St., Lamport and Holt Line; Hudson PI.
and E. end i4th St., Lackawanna ferries.
Streetcars: Fare 50.
Traffic Regulations: Numbered streets, one-way, alternating (E. on odd-number
streets). Parking limited on Washington St. and Willow St.
Accommodations: Hotels and rooming houses.
Information Service: Chamber of Commerce, i Newark St.; Lackawanna Terminal,
Hudson PI. (day and night).
Motion Picture Houses: One first-run; 3 others.
Athletic Fields: Columbus Park, Clinton and 9th Sts.; Oxford Oval, next to Lacka
wanna Terminal, S. of 9th St.
Swimming: Y.M.C.A., I3th and Washington Sts.
Tennis: Columbus Park, Clinton and 9th Sts.; Stevens Institute, 8th and Hudson
Sts.; Hoboken Tennis Courts, Elysian Park.
HOBOKEN (10 alt., 59,261 pop.), incorrectly pronounced "Hobucken"
by railroad conductors and a considerable part of the population, has three
picturesque characteristics: a water front given over to commerce on a
super-technicalized scale; a survival of the nineties, revealed in the staid
solidity of the old-fashioned streets back of the water front ; and a certain
cosmopolitan atmosphere, due largely to the presence of restaurants and
cafes where the European culture that started them still remains. Outstand
ing also is Stevens Institute, one of the first-rank engineering colleges of
the country. The old residents and the Institute people do not apologize
for Hoboken ; they like it. Here they find much of the pleasurable life
however different in form that marked the town 80 years ago when it
was a resort for the first families of New York.
The city is cramped in a mile-square area between the Hudson River
and the rump of the Palisades. Downtown Hoboken borders Jersey City;
at Washington Street the workers in one factory can cross from one city to
the other without leaving their room. On the northern boundary are Union
City on the heights and Weehawken on the narrow strip of river front.
There is hardly any empty space except for the little block-square parks
and the Institute campus. Factories, stores, and out-of-date tenements are
crowded together flush with the sidewalk. The most densely populated city
262
HOBOKEN 263
in the United States, Hoboken has evenly laid-out streets in both direc
tions, each packed with a mass of low, flat-roofed buildings.
The shopping district on Washington Street consists of three-, four-,
and five-story painted brick or stucco buildings in an unbroken line on
both sides of the wide street. Only a few of the stores show signs of re
cent renovation. Many of the entrances are raised a step above the street
level in the style of the small town Main Street.
Near the college campus is a row of three- and four-story brownstone
houses with high stoops, some of them with tiny patches of lawn protected
by loose iron fences. On the northern slope of Castle Point are handsome,
spacious homes with sloping terraces and broad lawns. Built of white stone
or brick in the best style of the early 1900*5, they stand on the highest
ground in the city.
To seamen, as well as to visiting New Yorkers, River Street is the heart
of Hoboken. An almost unbroken row of saloons, with cheap hotels and
flats above, stretches along one side of this broad, paved street. On the
other side are the entrances to the piers on Hudson River, protected by
high wire fences. During the arrival and departure of great liners, River
Street resounds to the rattle of innumerable trucks and taxis, the footsteps
of excited, hurrying travelers and their friends. Between times the street
is a Rialto of the seamen of all nations, interspersed with stevedores and
longshoremen. The swinging doors of the many saloons admit tieless work
men in blue denim shirts, or loitering sailors looking for a berth. In
larger backrooms the seafarers meet the local citizenry to dance at night
to the music of small jazz bands, mechanical pianos or phonographs, or
drink beer at small tables with checkered cloths.
Nothing more strikingly illustrates the post-war change in America s
maritime life than the stories of River Street s yesterdays, and its life today.
The River Street saloons, the sailors boarding houses and resorts have
been known the world over to sea-faring men for generations. The shop-
talk of the seven seas was town gossip on River Street sidewalks. Strangers
from inland could listen wide-eyed to casual stories of hardship and ad
venture, of hardboiled captains and wily owners, of nautical feats of sail
and steam. Today the same saloons and sidewalks are still frequented by
the jerseyed men of all nations who bear unmistakable stamp of their sea
faring life. But the talk among these seamen is of unions and labor prob
lems, of fabulous financing of steamship corporations as viewed from sail
ors eyes, of horsepower and turbines and tonnage. The tang of the sea
still permeates River Street, but the sailor has turned from a hardbitten
adventurer into a trade unionist of a mechanized, technical craft.
Through this same area are taverns and dance halls of a different type
where a respectable German clientele finds quiet entertainment reminiscent
of Continental cafes, and excellent food, served in the best German tradi
tion. There are larger places with old-fashioned fixtures, decorated mirrors,
and cut-glass doorways outside swinging doors. Hoboken has been famous
for its beer since 1642, though none is brewed here today.
Smoke-dirtied factories at the northern end of the city manufacture a
variety of metal, chemical, food, leather, and foundry products, furniture
264 CITIES AND TOWNS
and technical equipment. Ten steamship lines, three of them carrying pas
sengers as well as freight, and five railroads, one of them serving only
manufacturers in the city, make Hoboken a transportation center.
The majority of the population is of Italian extraction, although the
German, Irish, and Polish nationalities are well represented. Most of the
workers are employed in the factories, on the railroads, or on the docks
that line the water front.
As early as 1640, the Lenni Lenape Indian territory of Hobocan Hack-
ingh (land of the tobacco pipe) was settled by the Dutch of New Amster
dam. Shortly after, the Indians, aroused by a ruthless Dutch massacre in
1643, drove the settlers out and burned all the buildings with the excep
tion of a brewery. The first in America, it had been built in 1642 by Aert
T. van Putten, one of the earliest settlers. Peter Stuyvesant bought the
land back from the Indians and later his relatives sold it to Samuel Bayard.
Very little occurred to differentiate Hoboken from other towns in New
Jersey before the coming of Col. John Stevens, inventor and financier, who
bought the whole area for $90,000 when the extensive land holdings of
William Bayard, the Tory grandson of Samuel, were confiscated and or
dered sold by the Bergen Court of Common Pleas. In 1804 Stevens
mapped the territory into what he called the "New City of Hoboken"
and auctioned the lots in New York.
Stevens put into service in 1811 the first regular steam ferry in the
world, the Juliana. As early as 1808, however, he had operated the
Phoenix, a steamship of his own design, as a ferry. He was forced to
abandon the venture when Robert Fulton, who had secured sole rights
to steam travel on the Hudson, objected. The Phoenix, sent south to Dela
ware River, was the first steamship to navigate at sea.
Colonel Stevens also devised the first iron floating fort, never com
pleted although huge sums were spent on it; he drew plans for a vehic
ular tunnel on the bed of the Hudson, and for a bridge from Castle Point
to Manhattan. In 1824, after arguing the feasibility of railroad transpor
tation with doubting capitalists, Stevens built a locomotive and, on a circu
lar track in Hoboken, conducted the first successful run in the United
States.
Hoboken soon acquired world fame as a resort. Beer gardens, fireworks,
mountebanks, and waxworks brought New York s citizens over in droves,
and the beautiful country so close to the metropolis attracted society peo
ple and literary and artistic celebrities. John Jacob Astor built an extensive
villa on the city s shores; Washington Irving, William Cullen Bryant,
Martin Van Buren, and other prominent people vacationed here. In Ho
boken was founded the New York Yacht Club with John Cox Stevens,
son of the colonel, as its first commodore. Organized baseball had its be
ginning in Hoboken. The first game was played in 1846 on the Elysian
Fields by Hoboken s Knickerbocker Giants and New York.
The River Walk was soon packed hard and smooth by pleasure-seeking
visitors, and Sybil s Cave became a lovers rendezvous. The cave figured
in one of Hoboken s early scandals when the body of Mary Rogers, a
pretty young New York tobacco shop clerk, was found floating in the river
S. S. LEVIATHAN AT HOBOKEN TERMINAL
near the entrance. Edgar Allan Poe based his story, The Mystery of Marie
Roget, on the newspaper accounts of the murder.
Hoboken s separation from North Bergen and its incorporation as a
city in 1855 marked the beginning of a new development in its history.
Industrialists were attracted by the ease of communication with New York
and the advantages of the water front. An influx of labor, mainly Irish,
came with the industries. Later the Hamburg- American Line made Hobo-
ken its American terminus.
A $10,000,000 fire that resulted in 145 deaths broke out in the North
German Lloyd line dock on the afternoon of June 30, 1900. Two blocks
of the water front blazed, and several ships, including the Main, Bremen,
and Saale, endangered shipping as they floated burning into the harbor.
The fire probably started from a burning bale of cotton which, tossed over
board from a cargo ship, ignited a wooden pier.
When Hoboken was chosen as a major point of embarkation during the
World War, strict military rule was imposed on the city. Anti-German
feeling rose quickly and with disastrous effect on the German families
who had made their homes here. The United States seized the larger por
tion of the steamship properties as a war measure and has held them ever
since.
The labor required for the shipment of war supplies brought the popu-
266 CITIES AND TOWNS
lation to an abnormal high. After the War, the exodus of many workers
caused the failure of a number of businesses established during the boom.
During 1928 and 1929 Christopher Morley and his associates brought
back the sophisticated New York crowds that once pressed into the two
old theaters by presenting the melodramas of another generation. After
Dark and The Black Crook kept the Rialto and Lyric alive with eager
sightseers; "Seidel over to Hoboken" became a national phrase. But the
competition from Harlem was too strong in 1929. The novelty- seeking
crowd drifted away, and the theaters were closed, to reopen as third-run
moving picture houses.
STEVENS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
The buildings of Stevens Institute climb up the southern slope of Castle
Point. With the single exception of the Castle, they are dark reddish
brown structures, undistinguished architecturally, and for the most part
clustered together off the campus lawns.
When Col. John Stevens was in the midst of his experimental work he
conceived the idea for an "academy for the training of the young." But it
was his son Edwin who carried out the plan after recouping much of the
fortune lost by his inventive father. In 1867 the younger Stevens willed
$150,000 for erection of a building and $500,000 as an endowment.
Four years later Stevens Institute was opened. Of the 21 students who
enrolled the first year, one was graduted in 1873. The first faculty was
headed by Dr. Henry Morton, formerly secretary of Philadelphia s Frank
lin Institute. With him were a group of outstanding scientists of the day.
In 1902, when Dr. Morton died, the presidency of the college was taken
over by Alexander Crombie Humphreys. During the quarter-century of
President Humphrey s tenure, Stevens experienced its greatest growth. Un
der the present administration of Dr. Harvey Nathaniel Davis, two new
dormitories were constructed in 1937.
The only degree offered to the approximately 500 students, who may
receive training in all branches of engineering, is that of Mechanical En
gineer. Stevens is the only engineering school in the country with this
system. The Institute maintains a summer engineering camp of 375 acres
at Johnsonburg (see Tour 5), where six weeks of actual field practice are
given in the open country.
All campus buildings are open on weekdays, except as noted.
i. The ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, 5th St. between River and
Hudson Sts., known to students and alumni as "The Old Stone Mill," is
a three-story brownstone structure with a mansard roof. In the center of
the building, a four-story square tower rises above the plain wooden door
way, flanked by small Corinthian columns. This was the original home of
the Institute. Its ivy-covered walls distinguish it from the other buildings
on the 3O-acre campus. Formerly it housed all departments of instruction,
but today it contains only the administration offices and the departments of
physics, machine design and shop practice. The auditorium, scene of the
HOBOKEN
26 7
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JERSEY CITY
268 CITIES AND TOWNS
founding of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in 1880, has
been equipped for sound and lighting by the. students.
2. The LIBRARY BUILDING, SE. corner Hudson and 6th Sts., is a
simple, three-story red-brick building. Facing 6th St. is a severe classic
doorway flanked by wrought-iron lamps, the entrance to the LIES ME
MORIAL (open on application to librarian). The library contains the Leo
nardo da Vinci collection of more than 1,000 items, including a complete
set of reproductions of the da Vinci manuscripts and books on da Vinci in
French, English, German, and Italian. A collection of Stevens papers is
also preserved, among them the 1803 patent for the first tubular boiler and
the prophetic Documents to Prove the Advantages of Railways and Steam
Carriages over Canal Navigation, a pamphlet written in 1812 when Colo
nel Stevens was trying to persuade New York authorities to sponsor a rail
road rather than the proposed Erie Canal.
3. The GATEHOUSE (private), E. end 6th St., was originally the en
trance to Colonel Stevens house. The gate and the gatehouse are built of
serpentine rock, greenish-yellow stone of peculiar appearance. A small
octagonal tower divides three smaller gates from the main gate which ad
joins a larger tower, also octagonal.
4. In the center of the campus grounds is the WILLIAM HALL
WALKER GYMNASIUM, an ornate, three-story oval building of old red
brick. The gymnasium, with its surrounding balcony, occupies the second
and third floors. In the basement is a tile swimming pool.
5. On Castle Point, overlooking the Hudson, stands STEVENS CAS
TLE, a spacious, three-story drab stucco building with a four-story watch-
tower facing the river. The building, constructed in 1853 as the home of
John C. Stevens, is a students dormitory.
Cleverly hidden behind a panel in the basement is the entrance to an
old tunnel that led down through the cliff to the river road. There was
much secrecy connected with the tunnel. Old residents say that it was dug
before the erection of Stevens Castle, perhaps during the Revolutionary
War. Or it may have been designed by Colonel Stevens at the time he was
drawing plans for his contemplated vehicular tunnel under the Hudson.
That Stevens should have made such a tunnel is not improbable; he was
noted for extravagant experiments and absorption in his work. Once, when
lying in bed with no paper at hand, he began to sketch the idea for a new
machine on the back or his wife s nightgown. He asked her if she knew
the figure he was drawing. "Yes," she answered, "the figure of a fool."
Fronting the river at the Point is the narrow strip of greenery compris
ing HUDSON PARK, a favorite rendezvous for strollers.
6. The NAVY BUILDING, SE. corner River and 6th Sts., a long,
three-story, nondescript building of red brick, houses laboratories and
classrooms for the departments of civil and electrical engineering, the gen
eral alumni office and the MUSEUM (open 12-5 Wed. and by appoint
ment). The exhibits on the first floor indicate the development of mechan
ical locomotion. Early bicycles, automobiles and trucks are shown ; airplane
propellers and motors; gasoline engines and one of the earliest steam
turbines. On display, too, are the motors used in the Selden patent suit,
HOBOKEN 269
when Henry Ford s claim as the inventor was contested ; the first Ford car,
built in 1899 and used as evidence of infringement in the litigation; and
the "Selden Buggy," really a buggy with the shafts removed and an engine
suspended over the front axle. Steam engines of various types, a section of
the wooden water main of Aaron Burr s Manhattan Co. which was laid in
1799-1800, and many other mechanical and electrical devices are in the
museum.
The building also houses the EXPERIMENTAL TOWING TANK, a long
tank about three feet deep filled with water. Boat models are towed from
one end to the other by motors in efficiency experiments.
OTHER POINTS OF INTEREST
7. The HOF BRAU HAUS, 42 2nd St., is the restaurant where Chris
topher Morley and his circle came for relaxation after the play. It is fre
quented by many New Yorkers who come for German food and German
music, with diners and drinkers joining in the song if not starting it.
8. An APARTMENT HOUSE (private), 1203 Washington St., is the
former home of Hetty Green, once known as the world s richest woman.
Recent additions of tiled lobbies and Venetian blinds give some semblance
of modernity, though not much change has taken place in the five-story
bright yellow brick building.
For Hetty Green, noisy, happy-go-lucky Hoboken held a particular
charm: cheap rent and low taxes. Mrs. Green had no financial interests
here when she rented a flat in the best apartment house in Hoboken in
1895. She was still close to her immense treasure in the Chemical National
Bank on lower Broadway, and her rent was only $19 a month. Under var
ious names she lived here until 1916, moving from flat to flat in the
block of apartments. Just after she had lent $4,500,000 to the city of New
York, a summons was issued for her because she had failed to pay the $2
dog tax in Hoboken. Swearing that she would never pay, she fled to Man
hattan, returning only after her daughter had paid the tax. One of the
reporters who dogged her constantly caught her fancy when he climbed
into her apartment by way of the fire escape. She presented him with a
bouquet of artificial flowers, commenting that she had paid $1.50 for it
and that real flowers would have cost just as much and would have died
within a day.
9. The SEATRAIN LINE, river front at E. end of Lipton Tea factory,
is the only freight service of its kind in the world. Each Tuesday a ship
docks and unloads full railroad freight cars; more cars are loaded Wed
nesday into the track-lined holds and the ship sails for New Orleans and
Havana.
The two vessels of the company are specially constructed to accommo
date their freight. Four different levels, each equipped with four lanes of
railroad tracks, afford space for 101 freight cars. A huge well in the cen
ter of the ship, stretching across the whole width, is the entrance to the
tracks on the different levels. The ship is docked beneath a 12 5-ton travel
ing crane that lifts movable sections of track on which the railroad cars
are placed and lowers them to position in the central well or on the dock.
Jersey
a/ /
Railroad Stations: Exchange Place Station, Exchange PI., for Pennsylvania R.R.;
Pavonia Ave. and Hudson River for Erie R.R. and New York, Susquehanna &
Western R.R. ; Johnston Ave. and Hudson River for Jersey Central R.R., Baltimore
& Ohio R.R., and Philadelphia & Reading Co.; Journal Square and Exchange PI.
for Lehigh Valley R.R. ; Journal Square, Grove and Henderson Sts., Exchange PI.
and Erie for Hudson & Manhattan R.R.
Bus Station: Journal Square for Safeway Trailways, Greyhound, Martz, Golden Ar
row, Public Service, Champlain, Edwards.
Taxis: 250 for 2 m. ; 2O0 each additional mile.
Piers: Morgan St. and Hudson River for American Export Lines; i2th St. and
Hudson River for Dollar Line; Exchange PI. for Moore-McCormack Line; Pier B,
E. end Grand St., for excursion boats; Pier C, E. end York St., for Pennsylvania
R.R. commercial and excursion boats; Lackawanna Pier, E. end i6th St., for com
mercial boats ; Pennsylvania Terminal, Exchange PI., ferry to Cortlandt St., New York
(all-night service), and to Desbrosses St. and Brooklyn; Jersey Central Terminal,
E. end Johnston Ave., ferry to Liberty St. and W. 23rd St., New York (all-night
service) ; Erie Terminal, E. end Pavonia Ave., ferry to Chambers St. and W. 23rd
St.; S. end Washington St. for Gap ferry to Johnston Ave. section of Jersey City.
Streetcars and Busses: Fare 50 within city; Public Service busses from Exchange PL
to Newark, making all local stops (io0).
Traffic Regulations: Traffic lights at chief intersections; no turns on red light unless
sign permits. One-hour parking limit in business section; parking restricted at
Journal Square. Watch signs for one-way streets.
Accommodations: Hotels and boarding houses.
Information Service: Chamber of Commerce, i Newark Ave.; Auto Club of Hudson
County, 3010 Hudson Blvd.
Radio Stations: WAAT (940 kc.) ; WHOM (1450 kc.).
Motion Picture Houses: Seventeen.
Swimming: Washington Park, North St. and Central Ave., 250 (150 for children) ;
350 Sat., Sun., holidays.
Tennis: Lincoln Park, W. end Belmont Ave., 40 courts, 250.
Annual Events: Lincoln Association annual dinner, Lincoln s birthday or nearest ob
servable date; Holy Name Society parade, first Sunday after first Monday in October.
Millions of people carelessly regard JERSEY CITY (60 alt., 316,715
pop.) as a necessary rail and motor approach to Manhattan, but Jersey
City advertises that it has "Everything for Industry." The daily commuters
and motorists never see enough of the community to realize the accuracy
of Jersey City s self-description. The propitious location of the city, close
to the tremendous financial and consumer markets of New York City and
metropolitan New Jersey, is an advantage equaled by its geographical posi
tion on upper New York Bay. This favorable situation has furnished Jersey
City with shipping facilities which, in turn, have drawn motor routes and
rail lines.
Hardly evident to autoists and bus passengers are hundreds of freight
270
JERSEY CITY 2JI
sidings and main line tracks, the wharfs and piers of the water front, the
barges and the freighters that carry heavy cargoes from the factories.
The concrete and glass bulk of the American Can Company plant beside
the ramp that descends from the Pulaski Skyway and the warehouses along
the Holland Tunnel approach are the industrial samples that the city shows
to the pounding stream of motor traffic that flows from the heights to the
depths. The train passengers see equally little fleeting glimpses from the
windows of the Erie, Jersey Central, Lackawanna, or Pennsylvania coaches
form a blurred and incomplete picture-while the commuters who use the
Hudson Tubes view the city from its basement, hewn out of the tough
rock of the Palisades.
Thus relatively few outsiders are familiar with the surface of this city,
spread upon a peninsula between the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers, di
rectly west of Manhattan.
Although many of the residents work in New York or in nearby com
munities, Jersey City is their home town as well as their home. Of primary
interest is politics. In city and county employees and in their families has
been instilled a political awareness that transcends interest in other civic
and cultural problems. An elaborate framework of political clubs provides
a social outlet for voters of all leading nationalities. Nonpolitical recrea
tion is found in the motion picture houses and in sports, since dance halls
and night clubs are prohibited. Nearby New York City provides other
cultural and amusement channels.
Its site at the upper end of New York Bay has made Jersey City the
terminal for nine trunk line railroads and steamship lines. Leading indus
trial products are soaps, pencils, cans, mouth wash, cigarettes, macaroni,
meats, and steel. Other factories among the hundreds in the city produce
a variety of goods ranging from electric elevators to pinless diapers.
The city s area, originally limited to Paulus Hook and Van Vorst Town
ship, is partly the result of consolidations with neighboring communities
Bergen, Communipaw, Greenville, Claremont, Hudson City, Pamrapo, and
Marion. Within living memory, parts of the city were swamps. Several sec
tions still display characteristics of various stages in its spasmodic com
mercial and political growth. The downtown district, site of the original
Paulus Hook settlement, is a rail and ship terminal with a large share of
the city s factories. Many of the industrial plants consist of the first red
brick structure surrounded by additions, some of them converted from old
dwellings, stables or hotels.
Thoroughfares leading to the water front meet with a chaos of side streets
that cross and interlace, forming odd-shaped islands upon which squat
equally odd-shaped structures. Skeletons of abandoned buildings stand
crumbling in the shadow of newer factories, humming with the roar of
machinery. The residential streets are lined with tightly packed rows of
two- and three-story brownstone or brick houses. Some are old and unoccu
pied, seemingly held erect only by the support of the neighboring struc
tures.
The Newark Avenue shopping district, most important of half a dozen
scattered business centers, consists of numerous small shops of variegated
272 CITIES AND TOWNS
architecture and color. Nearness of the Manhattan retail section has de
prived Jersey City of department stores commensurate with its size.
Hudson Boulevard, the principal north and south traffic artery of the
county, cuts through the center of Jersey City at Journal Square, a broad
plaza constructed in 1925. The square serves as a terminal for hundreds of
busses of local and interurban lines. By night its three large motion picture
houses and its brightly lit restaurants are crowded with patrons from up
and down the peninsula.
South of the square, Hudson Boulevard penetrates the apartment house
district, where tall and elaborate buildings are squeezing out the remain
ing private homes of wealthier citizens. Homes of undistinguished archi
tecture lie farther south to the point where Jersey City imperceptibly
merges with its neighbor, Bayonne. North of Journal Square the boule
vard climbs the shoulder of the Palisades, with continuous urbanization
into Union City.
The city has a foreign-born population of 70,313 (22 percent), includ
ing 16,097 Italians and 12,432 Poles. Germans are third in number, with
9,631; next in order are the Irish, 8,741; Russians, 4,415; and English,
2,807. There are 12,575 Negroes. The Polish residents have preserved to
a notable degree many of their native customs, such as the large family
gathering on Christmas Eve at which sacred wafers are eaten.
The site of Jersey City was first important as a North Jersey gateway for
the Dutch traders who settled Manhattan. That relationship was expanded
when the settlers began bringing their farm products to New York. Prob
ably the first permanent settlement was made shortly after 1629, when
Michael Pauw bought a tract from the Indians. Under the colonization
plan of the Dutch West India Company he was required to settle fifty
persons on the land. Cornelius Van Vorst, sent by Pauw to establish a
plantation named Pavonia, enjoyed civil and judicial power, and enough
prosperity to entertain the directors general of New Netherland. The house
that he built in 1633 is supposed to have stood near the present corner of
Fourth and Henderson Streets. Later Michael Paulez (or Paulusen), the
company s overseer of trade with the Indians, occupied a house at Paulus
Hook.
Dissatisfied with the feudal patroon system, the company bought out
Pauw in 1634 for about $10,000 and built two houses at Pavonia; another
was erected at Communipau (Pauw s community). After 1638 the com
pany s officers obtained grants from Director General Kieft.
Unscrupulous trade practices against the Indians, plus Kieft s demand for
tribute and his subsequent massacre of innocent Raritans, resulted in bloody
reprisals by both sides. When peace was declared in 1645 only the Van
Vorst manor had escaped destruction. Ten years later the Indians raided
the settlement again after another provocative act. Governor Stuyvesant
refused to permit settlement until 1660, when he granted a petition on
condition that the colonists live in a fortified community. The first court
was established in 1661.
The village of Bergen was laid out as an 8oo-foot square surrounded
by a log palisade. Two streets, now Academy Street and Bergen Avenue,
HOLLAND TUNNEL UNDER HUDSON RIVER
intersected to form a public square, today known as Bergen Square. Within
a year the settlement was large enough to require regular communication
with New Amsterdam, and William Jansen began operating a rowboat
ferry three times a week. For cattle and other cargo a flat-bottomed sloop
was used. In 1662 the settlement hired a combination voorleser (sermon
reader) and schoolmaster, being unable to afford an ordained minister.
The transition to English rule in 1664 took place smoothly, with thirty-
three Dutch families later signing an oath of allegiance. At about that
time a rough log church was built for the Dutch Reformed congregation ;
it was probably the first church erected in the Province. For many years
the Dutch Reformed Church had an important role in the affairs of the
growing community, which was chartered as a town in 1668 by Governor
Philip Carteret.
During the next century the town was concerned with little besides farm
ing. Establishment of improved ferry service in 1764 was followed several
years later by the building of a race track at Paulus Hook. The opening
of a new land route to Philadelphia made the Hook a vital link between
New York and the south and west; formerly a monopoly had been en
joyed by Elizabethtown and Perth Amboy, which had better water connec
tions with New York.
274 CITIES AND TOWNS
Close by the ferry was a tavern with stables, all under the same manage
ment. Schedules were carefully disarranged so that ferry passengers from
New York arrived too late for the southbound stage in the morning, and
had to stay overnight at the tavern.
An outpost of the British Army held a fort on Paulus Hook during the
occupancy of New York. On the night of August 18, 1779, Major (Light
Horse Harry) Lee led 300 men south from the American camp on upper
Hudson River in a bold attack on the garrison. Crossing a moat at low tide,
Lee s force stormed the fort at 3 o clock in the morning and captured 159
men, about one-third of the defending force. The Americans lost only two
killed and three wounded, and escaped northward before their retreat was
cut off by other British detachments.
Speculative New Yorkers cast appraising eyes upon the site of Jersey
City in 1804, immediately after Col. John Stevens auction of lots in Ho-
boken. John B. Coles, a flour merchant, laid out city blocks in the Bergen
area. Anthony Dey, a young New York lawyer, acquired land and ferry
for a perpetual annuity of 6,000 Spanish milled dollars.
Dey s company was incorporated as the Associates of The Jersey Com
pany under a charter that made the organization, in effect, the civil gov
erning body. The real estate boom, however, was anything but resounding.
Although a red brick tavern was built and a few small industries came, the
political domination of the Associates hindered growth. Another obstacle
was New York s claim to riparian rights up to the low-water line on the
Jersey shore, which hindered the building of piers and wharves. The
boundary dispute was unsettled for many years.
Steam ferry service began in 1812 with the Jersey, built by Robert Ful
ton. A passenger reported that the crossing was made in fourteen minutes
as thousands watched from both shores, all "gratified at finding so large
and so safe a machine going so well."
During this period, when the population consisted mainly of boatmen
and transients and the town had neither jail nor policemen, the Hook be
came known for dog fights, bull baits, and drunken brawls. Efforts to ob
tain an autonomous government were balked by the Associates, who had
great influence with the legislature. Finally the citizens succeeded in in
corporating the City of Jersey in 1820, but the Associates retained special
powers until 1838.
The year 1834 was a turning point in the city s growth. A treaty setting
the line between New York and New Jersey in the middle of the Hudson
River, while New York got Staten Island, gave the city access to its own
water line. Terminals of the New Jersey Railroad (later the Pennsylvania)
and the Paterson and Hudson Railroad (later the Erie) were established
in Jersey City. Horse-car service to Newark, begun in September 1834,
was replaced by steam in 1838. Meanwhile the Morris Canal, with its west
ern terminal on Delaware River, had been extended from Newark to
Jersey City in 1836.
Several important industries had already been established. As early as
1760 the Lorillard Tobacco Company had started a snuff factory. In 1884
JERSEY CITY 275
the firm opened a night school for the 250 children then employed. Dum-
mer s Jersey City Glass Company, later famous for its flint glass, began
operations in 1824. The fireworks factory built by Isaac Edge Jr. became
a training school for American pyrotechnists. Some of the foremost Ameri
can potters learned their trade at the plant of the American Pottery Com
pany, which was one of the first factories to compete successfully with lead
ing English producers.
Other industries included Colgate soaps, Dixon pencils, steel, paper,
beer and whisky. By 1860 the population was 29,000, an increase of al
most 150 percent in nine years. Jersey City opened its first stockyards in
1866, and it was also for a time the western terminal of the Cunard Line,
beginning in 1847.
The city was an important station on the Underground Railroad. Slaves
were sent North hidden in the dead air space between cabins on Erie Canal
boats. During the Civil War thousands of troops passed through the rail
road stations and the city contributed full quotas of men.
Railroad and political battles colored the latter part of the nineteenth
century. The monopolistic hold of the United Railroads (later the Pennsyl
vania) on the Jersey City water front was broken when the Jersey Central
dumped New York refuse on tidal flats and built a terminal. Another
terminal was established when the Erie Railroad blasted a tunnel through
Bergen Hill.
The political struggles supplied such incidents as the Hudson County
"Horseshoe," which gerrymandered nearly the whole Democratic vote into
one assembly district, and an election in which ballots were printed on
tissue paper so that more could be stuffed into each ballot box. Consolida
tions with neighboring communities were preceded by street and sewer con
tracts whose addition to the merged public debt caused an intolerable tax
burden. The election of Mark Pagan, a New Idea Republican, as mayor
in 1901 temporarily halted political scandals.
Construction of a railroad tunnel to Manhattan had been attempted as
early as 1874. But it was not until William G. McAdoo, later Secretary
of the Treasury, became interested in the project that it was completed
(1909-10). The Hudson Tubes brought an increase in the number of fac
tories and in the working population.
The Black Tom explosion on the Communipaw water front during the
night of July 30, 1916, has been called the only successful German war
plot in the country, although international litigation to fix responsibility
and damages has not been concluded. Ammunition-laden railroad cars blew
up with such violence that residents of Connecticut and Maryland felt the
shock. The damage was estimated at $20,000,000, of which the greater
part was in Jersey City. Loss in broken windows in the metropolitan area
amounted to more than $1,000,000. Only seven lives were lost, although
75 mm. shells struck Ellis Island and other nearby places. After the United
States entered the war, the city s factories were busy supplying materials
to the Government.
St. Peter s College, chartered in 1872, closed during the war when more
2j6 CITIES AND TOWNS
than half of its faculty and students enlisted. The college, conducted by
the Society of Jesus, reopened in 1930 and now has more than 400 stu
dents.
Improvement of transportation facilities continued after the World War.
Construction of the Holland Tunnel for vehicular traffic under the Hudson
River was begun in 1920 by the Port of New York Authority and com
pleted in 1927 at a cost of $48,400,000. The tunnel, used by an average
of 32,500 vehicles daily, has been a money maker from the start. Twin
tubes of two lanes each lie 72 feet below water level; the longer measures
8,557 feet (exceeding by 342 feet the length of the new Lincoln Tunnel
at Weehawken). They are handsomely finished in white tile. Patrolmen
are stationed at close intervals through the tubes. If a motorist has a flat tire,
the nearest patrolman presses a button and within five minutes a tractor
arrives. The tire is changed free or, if the driver has no spare, his car is
towed from the tunnel without charge. Blowing of horns is prohibited be
cause the loud echo might make the nervous driver swing over into the
adjoining lane, thus breaking another rule. Air in the tunnel is changed
every minute and a half by blower fans.
The city adopted the commission form of government in 1913. In that
year Frank Hague, a Democrat who began his political career as a city hall
janitor, was elected one of the commissioners. Four years later he became
mayor, and he has since been continuously reelected by huge majorities.
In addition to the mayoralty, Hague has held a vice chairmanship in the
Democratic National Committee since 1924.
The per capita cost of government in Jersey City, listed as $65.80 in
1936, is the highest among the larger New Jersey cities. A well-publicized
item in Jersey City s budget is the police force. Newark has 1,162 police
men, or 2.6 per 1,000 population, while Jersey City has an estimated force
of 1,000, or 3.2 per 1,000.
Jersey City s police force, in addition to its usual duties, has prevented
picketing and meetings for the purpose of union organization. Hague was
once a close friend of labor leader Theodore Brandle. Brandle admittedly
managed to become a union officer and officer of an employers league so
that he could "serve both sides" at the same time. While Brandle was be
coming a millionaire labor leader with Hague s backing, Hague himself
was not opposed to labor organization in Jersey City. But when Brandle
refused to call off a strike of iron workers against the open shop contrac
tors for the Pulaski Skyway in 1932, Hague charged that he was a "gorilla
labor leader." Almost immediately after this denunciation Brandle s union
agreed to accept his resignation by a vote of 359 to i. Since that time
Hague s attitude has been openly anti-union. During 1937-8, after seven
trade unionists had been jailed without a jury trial for distributing hand
bills, national attention was drawn to the issue of civil rights in Jersey
City. The American Civil Liberties Union, and the CIO, brought joint suit
against Hague and others of the city administration to secure court orders
permitting the exercise of civil liberties.
In October 1938 Federal Judge William Clark handed down a 15,000-
word decision enjoining city officials from interfering with the plaintiffs
JERSEY CITY 277
right to distribute leaflets and display placards similar to those exhibited at
the time the suit was instituted. He upheld their right "to be and move
freely in Jersey City," and "to address public meetings in the parks." The
decision was hailed as a sweeping victory by the plaintiffs, while Hague
pointed out that the ordinance requiring permits for public meetings had
been upheld, and that the city would continue trying to keep "radicals and
Reds" out.
The Medical Center, outstanding for size and equipment among New
Jersey hospitals, is partly supported by Jersey City. The city also conducts
the Special Service Bureau, a plan for the treatment of juvenile delin
quency that has the approbation of social welfare workers throughout the
country. The bureau coordinates the activities of the police and the board
of education, saves young offenders from the stigma of a police record,
and maintains a behavior clinic.
POINTS OF INTEREST
1. OLD BERGEN CHURCH, SW. corner Highland and Bergen Aves.,
is a dark brownstone and brick structure flanked by a lawn. Massive brown-
stone columns support a simple pediment, and the building is topped by a
squat, square tower; the lack or a spire is distinctly felt. Cemented into
the front wall between the two doorways are stones from the two previous
churches, with the inscription: "1680 W-Day." "Kerk Gebouwt Het Yaer
1680. Bowt in Het Yaer 1773." The first structure was small and of oc
tagonal design. For many years collections were in wampum, which was
sold by the deacons to heads of families. The black velvet collection bags
were attached to long poles and equipped with small bells to rouse the
congregation at collection time. The present building was dedicated in
1842 with a Dutch sermon understood by many of the congregation.
Church records were kept regularly in Dutch until 1793, and occasionally
thereafter.
On the lawn of the church was an old CANNON, now relegated to the
cellar because the carriage is broken. The firing of the gun each Fourth of
July was the official city celebration of the holiday. An attempt to revive
the custom, using an obsolete three-inch fieldpiece, proved unsuccessful
because window panes in the vicinity did not survive the concussion.
2. The VAN WAGENEN HOUSE (private), 298 Academy St., shelters
descendants of the Dutch family that in 1650 received a share of the land
from Kill van Kull to Weehawken, deeded by the Indians to Peter Stuy-
vesant. Inside the late i9th century stone building hangs the original of
this deed, together with documents bearing the seal of Philip Carteret
and other pre-Revolutionary officials. The original building, which stood
on the same spot, has contributed some of its doors, walls, and windows to
the present structure. It is also known as the "Apple Tree House" because
Lafayette, who made his headquarters here on a foraging expedition in
1779, entertained Washington at dinner under a large apple tree. From a
portion of this tree, blown down in 1821, was made a very handsome
gold-mounted cane, given to Lafayette, with this inscription: "Shaded the
2 7 8
CITIES AND TOWNS
oo JERSEY CITY
1938
^
JERSEY CITY 279
hero and his friend Washington in 1779: presented by the Corporation of
Bergen in 1824."
3. The STATUE OF PETER STUYVESANT, NE. corner of Bergen
Sq., stands in front of Public School n. The figure of the irascible,
wooden-legged last Dutch Governor was sculptured by Massey Rhind.
An inscription notes the establishment in Bergen of the first organized
church and the first school in New Jersey. The first teacher and voorleser,
Engelbert Steenhuysen, was licensed in 1662 and allowed 250 gilders
in wampum annually and "some other stipulations beside the school
money . . ."
4. SITE OF THE SIP MANOR, SE. corner Newkirk St. and Bergen
Ave., is now a business corner with only a tablet to mark its historic signif
icance. The most recent account says that the house was built in 1664 by
Nicholas Varleth and acquired in 1699 by Jan Arianse Sip. It was moved
in 1928 to Wychwood, a real estate development in Westfield, N. J. The
gardens were famous in old Bergen. It is said that Peter Stuyvesant often
stopped to admire the flowers in the shade of a huge willow tree, the same
tree from which Cornwallis is supposed to have hanged three spies.
5. The SAFETY MUSEUM (open 9-4 weekdays), 571 Jersey Ave.,
is housed in the top floors of the State Department of Labor offices. It is
an exhibit of charts on occupational diseases and of safety devices on
power presses, laundry and woodworking machines, and other equipment
that employers must use to comply with State laws.
6. The COLGATE-PALMOLIVE-PEET PLANT (not open to public),
105 Hudson St., covers seven blocks with its 44 buildings, in which soaps,
talcums, dentifrices and other products are made. The business began in
1806 when William Colgate set up his soap kettles in New York. In 1847
the factory was moved to Jersey City and in 1928, through merger with
Palmolive-Peet Company, it became one of the world s foremost soap
manufacturers.
The site is part of Old Paulus Hook. Up to the turn of the century the
Hudson House, the tavern built by the Associates, was part of the plant,
as was McCutcheon s Farmer s Hotel, a once famous hostelry.
The COLGATE CLOCK, facing the bay, has kept time for New York
harbor over a generation. The present clock, 50 ft. in diameter with a
minute hand weighing 2,200 Ibs., was erected in 1924 to replace a smaller
one; Colgate s advertising department says it is the largest clock in the
world. Night workers in lower Manhattan office buildings can read the
hour from the illuminated hands.
7. The IONIC HOUSE (not open to public), 83 Wayne St., was built
by a Dr. Barrowe early in the i9th century. Five tall Ionic columns, two
stories in height, stand in front of this great, boxlike, clapboard building,
which is painted a dark green. Now used as a social center for members of
the adjoining St. Matthew s Church, the house has been extensively
changed. High-ceilinged rooms are trimmed with mahogany; silver handles
are on the massive mahogany doors. Even the gas fixtures have something
more than the basic ugliness of their kind ; they are gilded figures of draped
women resembling the figureheads of sailing ships holding torches
280 CITIES AND TOWNS
from which the jets project. Mr. August E. Kopp, resident sexton, has one
of the few remaining glazed pitchers from the kilns of the American Pot
tery Co., a local pottery that won many international awards for its work.
8. PUBLIC LIBRARY (open 9 a.m.-8:30 p.m. weekdays, reading room
9 a.m. -10 p.m.; reading room only, 2-9 p.m. Sun.), Jersey Ave. and Mont
gomery St., of Italian Renaissance design, is constructed of brick, trimmed
with granite. It was designed by Brite and Bacon, and opened in 1901. In
addition to 381,000 volumes, the library has three notable collections. On
the museum floor is the OTTO GOETZKE GEM COLLECTION, probably the
world s most complete exhibit of precious and semiprecious stones, repre
senting the 30-year hobby of a Newark jeweler. One of the rarest of the
5,000 specimens is alexandrite, a variety of chrysoberyl found only in the
Ural Mts. It is grass-green by day and columbine-red under artificial light.
Another unusual specimen is olivine, a greenish pebble mined from Ari
zona soil by ants. The gems are in charge of the Jersey City Museum Asso
ciation, which has other exhibits in the Bergen, Pavonia, and Greenville
branches of the library. The ALLEN COLLECTION, consisting chiefly of
household furnishings and wearing apparel of the i9th century, and the
large JOHN D. McGiLL COIN COLLECTION are in the main library. The
library has 13 branches.
9. JOSEPH DIXON CRUCIBLE PLANT (not open to public), 167
Wayne St., is the only concern in the world handling a full line of graphite
products including crucibles, paints, greases, and motor brushes in addi
tion to millions of pencils. The business was started in 1827 in Salem,
Mass., to manufacture graphite products, and shortly afterward moved to
Jersey City. The production of pencils, now the main item, was an after
thought. Highly specialized machinery puts the graphite and the clay, com
ponents of the "lead," through a number of processes lasting several weeks.
Other machines shape the lead, encase it between two pieces of grooved
cedar, "cure" and shape the erasers, and turn out a finished pencil.
10. The MEDICAL CENTER, Baldwin Ave. at Montgomery St., is the
largest hospital in the State, with beds for 1,800 patients. Four main build
ings of light yellow brick and terra cotta, designed by John T. Rowland,
rise 14 to 23 stories, forming the most imposing segment of the city s sky
line. A lo-story structure houses the nationally known Margaret Hague
Maternity Hospital, with accommodations for 400 mothers and their babies.
More babies are born here probably than in any other hospital of the Na
tion; the total for 1936 was 5,088. Of the 6,096 mothers admitted in that
year, only 20 died, giving a maternal mortality of about one-third of i per
cent. The infant mortality was 2.5 percent. Both figures are well below the
national average. The center is equipped to provide free care for all types
of diseases.
11. LINCOLN PARK, W. end Belmont Ave., consists of 287 acres
extending to Hackensack River. Almost half of the area has been de
veloped part on reclaimed marshland with 11 baseball diamonds, 6
football fields, 18 tennis courts, a swimming pool, a quarter-mile track
and other sports facilities. The park has a fine sunken garden and a foun
tain. The heroic STATUE OF LINCOLN, Belmont Ave. at Hudson Blvd.,.
THE MEDICAL CENTER, JERSEY CITY
282 CITIES AND TOWNS
erected in 1929, was the work of J. E. Fraser; it is the third largest in the
United States. A large lake is used for miniature yacht races and ice skat
ing. The park is the largest unit of the Hudson County park system.
POINT OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
Newark Airport, 6.2 m. (see Tour 1).
Railroad Station: Lackawanna Station, Morris and Elm Sts., for Lackawanna R.R.
Bus Station: Park PI. N. for De Camp, Public Service, and interurban lines.
Taxis: 350 for one passenger, 500 for two, 250 for each additional passenger within
city limits.
Traffic Regulations: Traffic lights in business section. Watch signs for parking
limitations and one-way streets. All traffic around the park is counter-clockwise.
Accommodations: Small hotels and tourist houses; no seasonal rates.
Information Service: Bus Terminal, 77 Park PI.; Chamber of Commerce, 10 Park
PI.; Morristown Library, SW. corner Miller Rd. and South St.; information bureau
on Park PI. N., April through October.
Motion Picture Houses: Three.
Swimming: Municipal pool, Burnham Park, seasonal rates; 250 for children, 50^
for adults, lockers free; health certificate by local physician required.
Annual Events: Water carnival and ice carnival at Burnham Park; Firemen s Parade,
October.
It was once the boast of MORRISTOWN (400 alt., 15,197 pop.), a town
with an extraordinary heritage from Revolutionary times, that within a
radius of one mile from the Green lived more millionaires than in any
other equal area in the world. It may not have been true. But this Colonial
town is still marked by obvious signs of the extreme wealth brought here
in the mauve decade and the years following.
Many of the millionaires long ago left for the more exclusive hills of
nearby Bernardsville, Bedminster, Peapack, and Far Hills, where they could
escape the annoyance of heavy automobile traffic. A number of the great
houses were emptied during the depression, when the second generation
was unable or unwilling to maintain them. Homes that cost hundreds of
thousands were torn down to escape the burden of taxes, or sold at bargain
prices (in one instance for less than the cost of the greenhouse) and re
modeled on a smaller scale.
Today Morristown is being taken over by the well-to-do middle class.
The change is welcomed by businessmen. As one banker commented, "It
is better for Morristown to have 20 families in $15,000 or $20,000 homes
than one millionaire on 20 acres."
Morristown spreads along both banks of the narrow Whippany River,
partly occupying the shoulder of Mount Kemble, with a 59y-foot peak,
Fort Nonsense, in the city limits. Gillespie Hill is westward, Horse Hill to
the north, and Normandy Heights to the east. From this snug setting roads
radiate through the well-kept acres of gentlemen farmers to the surround
ing communities.
Although only forty-fifth in size among the cities of New Jersey, Mor-
283
284 CITIES AND TOWNS
ristown, the Morris County seat, is something of a metropolis in miniature.
Its banks serve residents of four counties, and from dusk to midnight a red
neon glow is reflected above its embryonic skyline. These things are con
temporary window dressing for Morristown s Revolutionary heart. The soil
in this green basin has never lost the imprint of Washington and his army,
visitors here for two critical winters.
There is an air of remote timelessness about the tree-bordered streets,
blue flagstone sidewalks, and picket fences. Modern apartment buildings
have sprung from the midst of old-fashioned houses, but the visitor still
feels that the place is changeless. The park, formerly known as the Green,
is at the very center of the community. From this Colonial green all im
portant streets take their courses. Oflke buildings and two of the larger
churches front on the park, with its winding pathways beneath great old
trees. There is the same cumulative weather color that is found in old New
England villages.
Through a bowery valley that divides the town, the winding Whippany
River flows in a shallow bed. Once the center of the Colonial village, the
vicinity of Spring and Water Streets on the riverside is now a typical slum
section, housing a population largely Negro in an area known to its resi
dents as Little Hollow.
Although Morristown is primarily residential, there are several small
industrial enterprises, producing rubber goods, clothing, beach umbrellas,
pharmaceuticals, and novelties. Wages, in many instances, are low and dic
tate a standard of living for the home-town workers that contrasts with the
prosperity of the commuting residents.
When, about 1710, word came to the settlement at Newark that iron
ore was plentiful beyond the Watchung Mountains, a small number of
pioneers struck out on a wilderness road to engage in a new industry. One
group selected a site at the foot of the present Water Street in Morristown,
in the small valley (now known as The Hollow), and named their new
village West Hanover. Newcomers spread to the tablelands above and
formed a ring of improved properties around a central green which later
became Morristown Green.
In 1739 a new county was laid out within the bounds of Hunterdon
and named in honor of Lewis Morris, the first governor of New Jersey.
The first session of the Morris County court was held in the tavern of
Jacob Ford, the appointed justice. At this convening, the township of
Morris was legally defined. Within two years the population was large
enough to support a log church. A courthouse was built in 1755.
During the Revolution, when the demand for munitions tested the young
industrial resources of the Colonies, no fewer than forty-five forges were
operated in Morris County. In addition there were sawmills and gristmills
on every sizable stream. The iron industry became the most important fac
tor in the development of Morristown and neighboring communities.
No Briton or Hessian set foot in Morris County except as a prisoner, for
the town was relentlessly defended as a key point in the theater of war.
General Washington was aware of the natural advantage of Morristown s
site on the frontier of the highlands. Good roads provided quick communi-
MORRISTOWN 285
cation with Philadelphia and Congress, and made it easy to concentrate
military supplies within striking distance of the British.
Washington led his exhausted army here in January 1777 for winter en
campment in the Loantaka Valley after the victories at Trenton and Prince
ton. He returned with his troops to pass the winter of 1779-80. The men
were quartered in crude huts in Jockey Hollow, while Washington made
the Ford House his headquarters. With his army s condition even worse
than it had been at Vallege Forge, the commander-in-chief established a
quota system for levying supplies upon the various counties. He wrote to
a friend that the men sometimes went "five or six days together without
bread" and that at one time "the soldiers ate every kind of horse food but
hay."
Count Pulaski helped to maintain morale by exercising his cavalry corps
before the Ford House. His special stunt was to fire his pistol while at full
gallop, toss it into the air, catch it, and hurl it at an imaginary enemy
ahead. With one foot in the stirrup, and his horse still galloping, Pulaski
would then swing to the ground and pick up the gun. Some of the best
Virginia horsemen suffered bad falls in attempts to duplicate this feat.
During this winter occurred the court martial of Gen. Benedict Arnold,
requested by the officer himself after the Supreme Executive Council of
Pennsylvania had accused him of partiality to Tories and rudeness to
American civil authorities when he was in command of Philadelphia. The
trial was staged in the old Dickerson Tavern (no longer standing) with
Maj . Gen. Robert Howe as presiding officer. The verdict was a recommen
dation for a reprimand by General Washington, a comparatively mild pun
ishment, but one that stung the young officer. Arnold remained in the serv
ice only at the insistence of Washington, who placed him in command of
West Point. There he entered into a plot with Major Andre s men to de
liver the fortification to the British. It is said that Washington laughed
heartily only once during his stay in Morristown and that was when he
was describing Arnold s ludicrous appearance as he galloped from the Rob
inson house near West Point to seek safety on a British vessel.
From 1780 until the fall of 1781 Continental troops were in and about
the north New Jersey area. The Pennsylvania Line was quartered at Jockey
Hollow in the winter of 1780-81 and from there went north to meet the
troops that Washington was assembling at Newburgh for the final march
to Yorktown.
When the iron industry diminished before Western competition during
the nineteenth century, Morristown became largely a residential and shop
ping town. Thomas Nast, the cartoonist who created the Tammany tiger
and pilloried Boss Tweed, made his home here. Bret Harte and Frank R.
Stockton lived in Morristown for a time.
Rail connections between Morristown and Newark, over the tracks of
the Morris and Essex Railroad, were established in January 1838. Today,
approximately 1,200 persons commute daily to clerical jobs and executive
positions in the cities of the metropolitan district, while a number of out
siders come to Morristown for work.
Tallyhos were characteristic of the recent decades when Morristown was
286 CITIES AND TOWNS
peopled by millionaires and horse lovers. On any bright Sunday morning
a walker along the tree-lined roads leading into the town might have been
startled by the blast of a horn in the distance, then the fast beating of
horses hoofs, a flash of color from gaily liveried footmen a cloud of dust
and the bright equipage would be lost to sight. Famous were the annual
parties given by the late Otto Kahn for his staff of servants and caretakers,
numbering upwards of one hundred, on his forested estate in the Nor
mandy Park section. The entire house was turned over to his employees,
with continuous music and the best of refreshments provided.
POINTS OF INTEREST
MORRISTOWN NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK, the first Na
tional Historical Park established and maintained by the Federal Govern
ment, lies partly within Morristown and partly in the city s environs. The
park was created by an act of Congress in 1933 and was dedicated on July
4 of that year by Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of the Interior. The three units
(Ford House, Fort Nonsense and Jockey Hollow), comprising more than
1,000 woodland acres of hill, glen and landmark, provide a fitting memo
rial to Washington s troops. (Information available at superintendent s
office in Historical Museum, rear of Ford House, 230 Morris Ave., daily
except Sunday; and at field office in Jockey Hollow, daily except Christ
mas.)
i. FORD HOUSE (open 9-5 weekdays), 230 Morris Ave., ranks second
only to Mount Vernon as a storehouse of Washington relics and associa
tions, although it was looked upon for almost a century as just another
place where Washington had slept. But in 1873 it was acquired by a group
who organized the Washington Association of New Jersey and the house
was transformed into a Revolutionary museum.
When in the winter of 1779-80 Morristown became again the military
capital of the United States, Mrs. Theodosia Ford, widow of Col. Jacob
Ford Jr., Revolutionary powdermaker, offered her home to General Wash
ington, his wife and his staff.
Built by Ford in 1774 and quickly acknowledged as one of the finest
residences in Morristown, the symmetrical facade of the house is designed
in the Georgian style, with strong horizontal lines accentuated by a heavy
cornice and hip roof. Wide boards placed horizontally simulate a surface
of dressed stone. Especially notable is the entrance motif the arched door
way and the window above. The entrance leads to a great central hall with
authentic period furniture. In the mansion are household furnishings, and
pieces of the china and silver used by Washington, Lafayette, and other
Revolutionary generals.
THE HISTORICAL MUSEUM, a fireproof building directly behind the man
sion, recently built by the National Park Service of the Department of the
Interior, was opened February 22, 1938. Exhibits include valuable Wash-
ingtoniana, notably a number of the General s letters, a Gilbert Stuart
portrait, the suit Washington wore on the evening of his inauguration, one
of his swords, a cane, and his camp chest. Typical Kentucky rifles used by
MORRISTOWN
287
MORRISTOWN
NATIONAL
HISTORICAL
PARK
288 CITIES AND TOWNS
American troops arc displayed, as well .is British arms, and other accoutre
ments. A iO4-pound link, of the great iron chain, stretched across the Hud
son to prevent the British fleet from reaching West Point, is part of the
collection. Two dioramas depict the mutiny of the Pennsylvania Line, and
Washington s meeting with Lafayette on the steps of the Ford House after
the Litter s return horn his mission to France in 1780. The museum li
brary has 2,000 volumes, chiefly on early American history.
A bronze STATUE OF Ciixi K AL WASHINGTON on a giant stallion stands
on a granite pedestal opposite the Ford House at the intersection of Morris
and Washington Aves. Cast at Florence, Italy, it is the work of Frederick
Roth of Englewood and the gift of E. Mabel Clark of Morristown.
2. FORT NONSENSE, NW. on Washington St. from Park PL to Court
St., W. to end of road, 0.5 ;;;., occupies the northeastern end of a high
ridge that projects into Morristown. This small earthen work lias been re
constructed by the National Park Service. It was originally built in 1777
by Washington s orders for the defense of military supplies stored in Mor-
n.Ntown. In later years this purpose was forgotten and people, coming to
feel that the fort had never been of value, dubbed it Fort Nonsense.
3. JOCKEY HOLLOW, NW. on Washington St. front Park PI. to
Western Ave. ; W. to Jockey Hollow Rd., 2.5 /;;. (road well marked), ex
tends along the early roads bctwen New Vcrnon, Mendham and Morris-
town. A large amount of work has been done by the Civilian Conservation
Corps in re-creating typical log huts and other units of the Continentals
camp grounds of 1779-80 and 1780-81. From old maps and war records
the locations of trails and roadways have been charted. Signs guide visi
tors to sites occupied by various brigades, to a reconstructed hospital hut
and to other points of interest. Lead bullets flattened by human teeth have
been found on the camp site. Soldiers who had been caught stealing food
from nearby farms customarily chewed on a bullet as the lash was laid
on their bare backs as many as 100 times or more.
It was here that the grave mutiny of some 2,000 veteran troops of the
Pennsylvania Line occurred on Jan. I, 1781. Poorly fed and clothed, un
paid for twelve months, convinced that the recruiting officers had deceived
them on the terms of enlistment, and angered because new recruits were
being offered the handsome bounty of three half joes ($26.43), t ne mcn
seized six field-pieces and prepared to march to Philadelphia for collective
bargaining with Congress. In a brief skirmish the mutineers killed one
officer, and several men were wounded before the leaders forced a dissent
ing minority to join them. General Wayne attempted to intervene, but the
popular commander was warned that he would be put to death if he fired
his pistols. He was assured that the mcn would willingly take his orders if
the British should attack. With two colonels, Wayne accompanied the men
as far as Princeton, where a form of arbitration was agreed upon that re
leased most of the men from service. Meanwhile, Sir Henry Clinton had
sent two emissaries to the revolters, offering a handsome sum if the men
would lay down their arms. No less angered by this reflection on their
Revolutionary loyalty than by their grievances against Congress, the mu
tineers turned over the British agents to Wayne, who promptly executed
MORRISTOWN 289
them. A small granite block under a great oak marks the GRAVE OF CAP
TAIN ADAM BETTIN, who resisted the revolt.
THE JOCKEY HOLLOW WILD FLOWER TRAIL (entrance L. from Jockey
Hollow Rd., 0.1 ;/;. SW of junction with Camp Rd. and opposite parking
area) is a loop of 1.3 in. through meadows, swamp and wooded hillsides
bordering Primrose Brook. Along the footpath are native flora. Bridges
and other structures are few and simply designed.
THE WICK HOUSE (open .9- 5 JM/y), NE. corner Mendlum-New Ver-
non Rd. and jockey Hollow Rd., was built in 1746 by settlers from Long
Island. Its long sweeping roof line, single chimney, and low eaves are
clearly the heritage of Southold and Southampton. Characteristic also is the
use of hand-hewn shingle siding on the front of the house and clapboard-
ing on the other three sides.
Capt. Henry Wick of the Colonial cavalry lived here, but it was his
daughter who made history for the farmhouse. One winter day, so the
story goes, Miss Temperance Wick was returning on horseback alter sum
moning a physician for her mother. Colonial troopers tried to commandeer
her favorite white horse. "Oh, surely," Tempe is said to have remon
strated, "you will let me ride him home first!" With that she brought
down her whip on the horse s flanks and he took the hill at a gallop. At
the farmhouse, the girl led the horse through the kitchen and into her
bedroom. The soldiers came, searched the barn and nearby woods, and left.
Another version is that Tempe rode her horse straight into the house with
out stopping to dismount. Conceding the liberal dimensions of Colonial
door-frames and the delicate proportions of Miss Wick, the question re
mains: Who opened the door Tempe, or the horse?
OTHER POINTS OF INTEREST
4. DR. JABEZ CAMPFIELD HOUSE (open 10-5 Tues., Fri.), 5
Olyphant PI., erected 1760, was the scene of Alexander Hamilton s suc
cessful courtship of Elizabeth Schuyler in the winter of 1779-80. The
building is simply designed with flush eaves at the gable ends and a
bracketed cornice. The entrance porch was added later. Owned by the
Daughters of the American Revolution, the house contains a line collec
tion of Colonial furniture.
5. SANSAY MANSION (private), 17 De Hart St., was built in 1807
by a man who was probably the most popular daiucmaster of the State. It
is a large, boxlike stnuture of modified Georgian Colonial design, with
white-painted clapboards. Monsieur Sansay s origin was obscure, but he
could teach the feather step and spring step far better than any of his
nearby competitors. When Lafayette visited Morristown again in 1825, he
was entertained at a dinner here.
6. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 65 Park PL, is a limestone
structure with a large clock on the tower. Of a style that may be classified
as Romanesque, the barrack-like structure does not compare with the fine
Colonial church of classic Greek design that it replaced. The earlier build
ing served as a hospital for Continental troops. Approximately 150 soldiers
: ":?>s
THE FORD MANSION, MORRISTOWN
MORRISTOWN 291
are buried in the old cemetery where stones date back to 1728. A plain
marker indicates the GRAVE OF GENERAL JOHN DOUGHTY, who became
the third commander in chief of the United States Army.
7. MUNICIPAL BUILDING, South St. between Pine and Elm Sts., is
one of the most sumptuous city halls in the State, although hardly in keep
ing with Morristown s Colonial atmosphere. It was built in 1918 as the
$400,000 home and private museum of Theodore N. Vail, former presi
dent of the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. He bequeathed it to
the city with an endowment of $200,000 on condition that a duplicate
amount be raised by the town. The civic response was less than hearty,
some persons pointing out that the cost of maintaining the marble and
granite mansion would be large. Finally an agreement was made which
enabled the city to take possession without doubling the endowment al
though a sizable sum was spent for interior alterations. On the site of Mr.
Vail s old house in front of the city hall, a lagoon and cenotaph were built
as a war memorial. The mansion, designed by W. W. Bosworth, is finely
executed in the Italian Renaissance style with light gray Italian marble.
A wide veranda flanked by marble balustrades leads to the entrance ; above
is a colonnaded second-floor balcony. The entrance has two cast bronze
doors with eight panels by Charles Kecht, depicting scenes in the history
of Morristown. The original casting cost about $21,000, and two addi
tional ones were made before the cast was satisfactory. Within, the double
staircase of self-supporting masonry is a notable example of arch con
struction. Teakwood, oak and mahogany were used extensively for the
floors and trim.
.. 8. MORRIS COUNTY COURTHOUSE, Washington St. between Court
St. and Western Ave., is an early i9th century building designed by archi
tects Carter and Lindsey. The two-story structure of brick and sandstone
is surmounted by a colonnaded and louvered belfry topped with a golden
dome and weathervane. Four simulated Ionic columns divide the arched
windows of the second story; in the pediment is a figure of Justice. The
entrance, not unlike that of a private home, has a one-story portico with
a pair of Ionic colonnettes on both sides. The courthouse is attractively
painted in cream and white.
POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
Site of Speedwell Iron Works, 1.1 m., Alfred Vail House, 1.2 m., Kemble House,
Revolutionary headquarters, 3.6 m., Van Doren Mill, .5.6 m. (see Tour 4); The
Seeing Eye, training school for dogs to lead blind, 4 m. (see Tour 14).
Railroad Station: Pennsylvania Station, 35 Madison Ave., for Pennsylvania R.R.
Bus Stations: Main and Washington Sts. for Public Service; 1 m. S. on State 38
for Quaker City Line.
Taxis: 2O0 and 250 to any part of town.
Traffic Regulations: R. and L. turns at all intersections; watch street signs for park
ing limitations.
Accommodations: Two hotels, many tourist homes.
Information Service: Post Office, Washington St.; traffic officer, Washington and
Mill Sts.
Motion Picture Houses: One.
Swimming: Mill Dam Park, S. end Wall St.; Rancocas Creek, W. edge of town.
Annual Events: Horse show, variable date during spring, 5 m. S. on Medford Rd.
An old Quaker town and the Burlington County seat, MOUNT HOLLY
(30 alt., 6,573 PP-) * s named for a mountain that has everything ex
cept size. The holly-covered hill, a miniature Fuji cone, rises to an altitude
of 183 feet from a level clearing in the northern part of the original 300-
acre tract upon which the town was built. Rancocas Creek flows from the
flatlands east of the hill. The stream crosses Main Street, the principal
thoroughfare, near the center of the city and then turns eastward to the
Delaware River, 12 miles distant.
Mount Holly is the center of an important agricultural area. Roads lead
to it from all directions, traversing rolling country where fine fruit orchards
are bright with blossoms in late April and early May.
Broad, shaded streets give the impression of a slow-moving country
town. In the town s center modern stores adjoin old houses erected by
early Quakers. Many of the homes are square structures of two and three
stories, built flush with patterned brick sidewalks as in Burlington and
Bordentown. Architecturally they are notable for their simplicity of line
and detail, and distinguished by their solid wooden shutters, heavy hard
ware and wrought-iron railings and fences. Paint is used sparingly. The
whiff of wood smoke, present even on a hot summer day, indicates the
type of stove used in many of the old houses.
Along maple-lined High Street in the western part of the town live the
wealthier citizens. Their houses, set in the midst of neatly clipped lawns
and attractive gardens, shaded by fine trees, include typical examples of
Victorian Gothic architecture as well as pretentious modern styles. In con
trast to High Street is the collection of dilapidated dwellings and plain
shacks on the southern edge of Mount Holly. This district is called Tim-
buctoo because, it is said, the first persons to live here were descendants of
slaves from Timbuctoo.
292
MOUNT HOLLY 293
In 1676 Thomas Rudyard and John Ridges purchased a share of land
from Edward Byllynge and the trustees of West Jersey. In 1701 Edward
Gaskill and Josiah Southwick bought Ridges 871 acres, on part of which
the town now stands. In 1723 the North Branch of Rancocas Creek was
dammed for a sawmill and, later for a gristmill. An iron works was
established about 1730 by Isaac Pearson, Mahlon Stacy and John Burr;
British raiders later destroyed the works, which had been supplying can
non and shot for the Continental Army.
During the Revolution Mount Holly was occupied at times by British
troops, who converted the old Friends Meeting House into a commissary.
In 1779 the same building was used for sessions of the legislature when,
during November and December, the town was the temporary capital of
the State. Gov. William Livingston at that time named Thursday, Decem
ber 9, 1779, as the first Thanksgiving Day to be officially observed in the
State, in accordance with a Congressional resolution.
An act of the legislature transferred the county seat from Burlington to
Mount Holly in 1796, and the courthouse was erected in that year. Con
struction of the Burlington and Mount Holly Railroad half a century later
strengthened industrial enterprise. By then the town had five mills, a
woolen factory, nine stores, a bank, two newspapers and a boarding school.
In 1865 the population of Mount Holly was 3,878, and the town en
joyed steady progress as a small manufacturing and trading center. Some
years later Hezekiah Smith built his locally famous bicycle railway, a
monorail line, to Mount Holly from nearby Smith ville (see Tour 26).
Since 1915 there has been little increase in industry or population.
Most of the workers are employed in a score of small factories, chiefly
knitting and weaving mills with leather goods manufacturing also im
portant.
For many years Mount Holly has been publicized for the activities of
Ellis Parker, former chief detective of Burlington County, who enjoyed
a reputation as a suburban Sherlock Holmes. The bizarre climax of
Parker s career was his conviction in 1937 on a charge of kidnaping Paul
Wendel and obtaining by torture a confession of the Lindbergh murder.
The false confession was used to delay the execution of Bruno Richard
Hauptmann for the Lindbergh crime.
POINTS OF INTEREST
i. The COUNTY BUILDINGS, Main St. between Garden and Union
Sts., are grouped as a unit with the large COURTHOUSE, erected 1796, in
the center and the smaller SURROGATE S OFFICE and ADMINISTRATION
BUILDING, built 1807, on either side. The courthouse in particular is an
outstanding example of Georgian Colonial design adapted to a public
building. It is a two-story, yellow brick structure, with white trim, green
shutters, and a well-proportioned tower. The entrance is lighted by a
Colonial lantern; over the great oak door is the coat of arms of New
Jersey in granite, and a graceful fanlight. The surrogate s office and the
administration building are both one-story structures of brick, painted
yellow, with green shutters and white trim.
294 CITIES AND TOWNS
2. The FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE (not open to public), 77 Main
St., is a red brick building of severely plain design, with white trim and a
slate roof, erected 1775 and enlarged in 1850. The enlargement accurately
follows the simplicity of the original style so that the new portion of the
rectangular box is indistinguishable from the old. Two large sycamores
and a growth of ivy soften the exterior. Within, the old benches show
marks left by the butcher knives of the British commissary department at
the time when enemy troops were quartered in the town.
3. The BRAINERD SCHOOL (private), 35 Brainerd St., is a small,
one-story brick building, brightly painted in yellow with solid shutters of
green and white trim. Crowded between adjoining houses, the school is
built flush with the red brick sidewalk and shaded by a large maple. In
this building, erected 1759, the Rev. John Brainerd taught in 1767. From
the nearby church the missionary made such fiery denunciations of British
rule that the Hessians burned the structure before evacuating the town in
1778.
4. The STEPHEN GIRARD HOUSE (private), 211 Mill St., is a two-
story, gray clapboard structure with heavy green shutters. Additions, mak
ing up about two-thirds of the house, largely spoil the charm of the
original two-room structure, which is marked by a wide end chimney.
Girard, remembered for the fortune that helped to finance the War of
1812 and that established Girard College, a Philadelphia school for orphan
boys, came to Mount Holly in 1777 from Philadelphia. He brought with
him his young bride of a few months, Mary Lum, daughter of a ship s
carpenter. In the basement of this house he opened a shop for tobacco,
tea, rum, sugar, molasses and raisins. "He is said then to have been a little,
unnoticed man, save that the beauty of his wife . . . worried and alienated
his mind." Girard returned in 1778 to Philadelphia, where he entered
foreign trade with a fleet of vessels named after his favorite philosophers
and accumulated the fortune that made him a power in banking. It was
the wife, not the financier, who ultimately died as a hospitalized mental
case.
5. The MILL STREET HOTEL (open), 67 Mill St., is the last remnant
of the Three Tun Tavern of Colonial times. A "tun" was a hogshead or
measure for liquor, and a tavern was known as a one-tun, two-tun or
three-tun inn depending on its size. Erected 1720, it is one of the oldest
buildings in Mount Holly. The original brick walls, revealed in places
through a crumbling coat of stucco, were incorporated in the present
structure which, altered many times, is still used as a hotel. A covered
cobblestone driveway leads to the rear where stagecoaches once stopped in
the carriage yard.
6. The JOHN WOOLMAN MEMORIAL BUILDING (open daily
except Tues., March-Oct.), 99 Branch St., was built in 1771 by the noted
Quaker as a home for his daughter. Maintained as a tearoom by a memorial
association, and attracting hundreds of pilgrims from the United States
and abroad, the small red brick house of two stories with a white clap
board addition recaptures with startling realism the atmosphere of Colonial
days. Beyond the white picket fence lies a fragment of old America, com-
BURLINGTON COUNTY COURTHOUSE, MOUNT HOLLY
296 CITIES AND TOWNS
plete with narrow brick walk, well with sweep, formal garden edged with
boxwood, sundial and old trees. Indoors the smell of decades of wood
fires permeates the house. From the hand-hewn beams of the low ceilings
sage and gourds hang drying. A great corner fireplace has a blackened
kettle hanging from the crane. Behind the dwelling is a small frame guest
house, with limited overnight accommodations.
Born near Rancocas in 1720, John Woolman settled in Mount Holly
at 20 "to tend a shop and keep the books" for a shopkeeper and tailor.
He later became a successful merchant but gave up merchandising and
confined himself to his tailoring trade because "Truth required me to live
more free from outward cumbers." Woolman was also a conveyancer, but
he refused to draw a will or write a bill of sale in which a slave was in
volved. He traveled extensively among wealthy slaveholding Quakers to
urge the liberation of their slaves, and he was instrumental in awakening
the Society of Friends to the evils of slavery. During a religious mission
to England in 1772, he died at York.
Woolman is known today chiefly for the spiritual and literary beauty of
his Journal, the second book selected by Dr. Charles W. Eliot for the
Harvard Classics, and pronounced by Henry Crabb Robinson "a perfect
gem!" Of Woolman, the English critic and diarist said: "His is a schone
Seele, a beautiful soul." In the world of religious thought, appreciation for
Woolman has grown steadily. His religion was one of love for God and
for his fellow men of all races and creeds. "To turn all the treasures we
possess into channels of universal love," he wrote in his Journal, "be
comes the business of our lives."
7. The RELIEF FIRE COMPANY HOUSE, 15 Pine St., is the head
quarters of what is perhaps the oldest active volunteer company in the
United States. The original company was organized July 9, 1752, as the
Britannia; in 1787 the name was changed to Mount Holly Fire Company.
In 1805 the firemen adopted the present name of their organization. The
company has the original articles of agreement and a number of old leather
buckets bearing the name "Britannia" and the date 1752. Behind the fire-
house stands the original engine shelter, a small one-room building of
hand-sawed boards, the inside blackened with age and the exterior painted
a brilliant green.
8. MOUNT HOLLY PARK, N. end High St., surrounds MOUNT
HOLLY (good path to summit), a distinctive bump in the low terrain.
Barber and Howe observed almost a century ago that the hill was "said
to be the highest land in the southern portion of New Jersey. From its
summit an uninterrupted prospect is had, in every direction where no
Alps o er Alps arise." Many other parts of southern New Jersey, how
ever, have elevations exceeding that of Mount Holly.
On December 23, 1776, Count von Donop and a large force of Hessians
engaged in an artillery duel here, directing their fire against some 500
American troops under Colonel Griffin on Iron Works Hill, S. Pine
Street. Griffin lured the Hessian force from Bordentown to cut off support
for Colonel Rail s garrison at nearby Trenton, which was overwhelmed by
Washington s surprise attack 3 days later.
MOUNT HOLLY 297
On the flatlands immediately to the west of the Mount stands the old
grandstand of the Mount Holly race track, its huge ornate structure
reminiscent of the pre-war decade when this race track figured importantly
in turf events of central New Jersey. The race track has not been used
in recent years except for occasional motor races.
POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
Mount Laurel State Park, 11.3 m., ruins of Hanover Furnace, 25.7 m. (see
Tour 26).
Railroad Stations: Pennsylvania Station, junction of Albany and French Sts. and
Easton Ave., for Pennsylvania R.R. ; Sandford St. between Remsen and Throop
Aves. for Raritan River R.R.
Bus Stations: Pennsylvania Station for Public Service and Greyhound; 22 French
St. for Safeway Trailways.
Taxis: 350 within city limits.
Local Busses: Fare 50.
City Dock: Burnet St. near Commercial Ave.; excursion and fishing boats.
Traffic Regulations: Turns may be made in either direction at intersections of all
streets, except where traffic officers direct otherwise; watch street signs for parking
limitations and one-way streets.
Accommodations: Two modern hotels, several smaller hotels and boarding houses.
Information Service: Chamber of Commerce, Woodrow Wilson Hotel, George St.
and Livingston Ave.
Motion Picture Houses: Six.
Swimming: The Natatorium, 507 Livingston Ave., 250 weekdays, 4O0 Sat. and Sun.;
open only in summer.
Annual Events: Iris Field Day and Nurserymen s Field Day, New Jersey State
College of Agriculture, May; Commencement exercises of Rutgers and New Jersey
College for Women, June; Poultrymen s Field Day and Farm Crops Field Day,
New Jersey State College of Agriculture, July; outboard motorboat races on Raritan
River, July 4; Flower Show/ Horse Show, September; Rutgers University athletic
contests, October through May.
NEW BRUNSWICK (125 alt., 34,555 pop.), situated on the south bank
of Raritan River, combines the attributes of a manufacturing center, a
college town, a market place and a county seat. It is far enough from other
cities to live independently, even though the Pennsylvania Railroad desig
nates it as the southwestern boundary of the New York commuting area.
A visitor in 1778 described New Brunswick as a "dismal town, but
pleasantly situated." The riverside site is almost as pleasant as ever, but
industrial development has converted the green shore into an area of brick-
walled factories and old frame tenements.
The original green of the Colonial village is suggested by the tree-
shaded square around which the municipal and Middlesex County build
ings are grouped, and by the campuses of Rutgers University and its two
affiliated schools : the New Jersey College for Women and the New Jersey
State College of Agriculture. Half circling the city, these institutions
occupy much of the high ground along Raritan River, which forms the
northern and eastern boundaries of New Brunswick.
George Street, the main thoroughfare, is lined with modern shops.
Glass-fronted first stories are topped with beauty parlors and offices of
298
NEW BRUNSWICK 299
lawyers and dentists. Above the low skyline of two- and three-story brick
and frame buildings rise the eight-story, white stone building of the First
National Bank ; the nine-story, red brick Hotel Woodrow Wilson ; and the
delicate white spire of the chapel at the New Jersey College for Women.
The automotive confusion at the business center, George and Albany
Streets, brings together the main elements which constitute New Bruns
wick. Cars from the surrounding area outnumber local vehicles three to
one, especially on Saturday nights when parking space is almost invisible.
Out-of-town shoppers must thread their way through crowds of girls
from New Jersey College for Women, young men from Rutgers, and
a polyglot industrial population, emptying its pay envelopes. Albany
Street lunchrooms, famous for hot dogs and hamburgers, serve the throng,
while the students seek food and drink in a black and chromium cafe,
cannily decorated with football murals. Many shoppers make a last stop
for weekend supplies at the open fruit and vegetable stands in the Little
Hungary section at the western end of Albany Street.
An embankment supporting the main line tracks of the Pennsylvania
Railroad divides the city. The shabby yellow brick station has long been
a favorite subject of complaint in letters to the New Brunswick Home
News, but the arched stone bridge across the Raritan ranks as one of the
finest of its kind in the State.
The city is known as a manufacturing center for surgical supplies and
Pharmaceuticals. The needle trades are gaining in importance, and the
manufacture of cigars and cigar boxes absorbs another part of the 15,000
local workers. The foreign-born, comprising 27 percent of the population,
are largely employed in New Brunswick s factories. Germans, Poles, Hun
garians and Italians are the most numerous nationalities, in the order
given.
The area around New Brunswick was occupied by the Lenni Lenape
Indians and one* or two white settlers when John Inian and 10 associates
from Long Island bought about 10,000 acres in 1681. Inian and his asso
ciates were English. They established an English hegemony which was
not threatened until 1730 when Dutch settlers from Albany began to
change the national character of the community.
In 1686 Inian established- a ferry, for which he received exclusive rights
in 1697, and built a new road to Delaware Falls (Trenton). The locality,
previously known as Prigmore s Swamp, was called Inian s Ferry in 1713.
On the water front were built the first homes, and taverns for wayfarers.
For a time it seemed that the Landing, 1.5 miles upstream at the head
of navigation, would eclipse Inian s Ferry as a townsite. But the fact that
ships could reach the Landing only when the tide was favorable, while
Inian s Ferry was accessible at all times, spoiled the Landing s chances.
Now it is little more than a bridge with a background of meadow lands
populated chiefly by cows.
The name Brunswick, in honor of King George I, also Duke of Bruns
wick, first appears in court records of 1724. In 1730, when the settlement
consisted of 125 families, it received a charter from King George II. The
300 CITIES AND TOWNS
Dutch Reformed Church, which is known to have been in existence in
New Brunswick as early as 1717, subsequently became a strong influence
in civic life. Methodism made a start in 1740 when the evangelist, George
Whitefield, preached to an immense crowd from the tail end of a wagon
before the Reformed Church.
New Brunswick soon became one of the great agricultural depots of
the Colony. Every stream that could turn a wheel had its mill. Ware
houses and inns were erected, and the river front was lined with vessels.
Construction of the barracks in 1759 and their occupation by British
troops after 1767 strengthened Tory sentiment among the wealthier citi
zens. Two years before, however, patriots had burned in effigy a delegate
to the Stamp Act Congress for refusing to oppose the unpopular act. The
crisis reached a head in 1774 when the Provincial Congress met here and
chose delegates to the Continental Congress. Subsequent prohibition of
trade with the enemy seriously injured commerce in New Brunswick, then
a town of about 150 families.
Washington and his defeated army, retreating from New York, entered
New Brunswick on November 28, 1776. Later, the general wrote, "In
short, the conduct of the Jerseys has been most infamous. Instead of turn
ing out to defend their country, and affording aid to our army, they are
making their submissions as fast as they can. If the Jerseys had given us
any support we might have made a good stand at Hackensac, and after that
at Brunswick ..." On December i, Sir William Howe led the British
into the city for a destructive occupation of seven months.
Compensating for the unsoldierly conduct of the local troops New
Brunswick rivermen turned their whaleboats into fighting ships. They did
so much damage in nightly raids upon British vessels around New York
Bay that an expedition of 300 men was sent here to destroy the fleet of
Capt. Adam Hyler, best known of the privateers. The burning of his boats
and a skirmish with American militia was the last fight in or around the
town.
Washington again brought his army to New Brunswick after the incon
clusive battle at nearby Monmouth (Freehold) in the summer of 1778.
And it was here that the Commander in Chief issued his unexpected order
in 1781 for the march south that resulted in the British capitulation at
Yorktown.
Trade revived after the war, and in 1784 the growing town was in
corporated as a city. The first American railroad charter was granted in
1815 to John Stevens for a line from "near Trenton, to ... near New
Brunswick" but the road was never started. Rail service came with the
building of the New Jersey Railroad, whose passengers were shuttled by
stagecoach across Raritan River to the New York connection until 1838
when through service was made possible by a new railroad bridge.
The busy port attracted Cornelius Vanderbilt, who had begun to amass
his fortune with the steamship Bellona. However, New Brunswick s im
portance as a shipping terminal began to wane in 1834 when the Delaware
and Raritan Canal, 42 -mile waterway to Bordentown, was opened. For a
time, though, the city benefited from the through traffic. The canal boom
NEW BRUNSWICK 3OI
was short-lived; railroad competition and domination put the canal boats
out of business, although nominal operation continued to 1933.
By the middle of the nineteenth century the city had grown to 8,693.
There were 120 stores, i bank, 8 churches, and 2 schools for girls. Rutgers
College, after weathering financial crises and suspensions, was an estab
lished institution. In addition to a carriage factory, a cotton mill and sev
eral shipyards, New Brunswick had three units of the newly developed
rubber industry, producing rubberized sheets, carriage tops and boots.
Other products of the period were machinery, wallpaper, shoes and
hosiery.
The manufacture of pharmaceuticals was begun in 1886 by Johnson and
Johnson. In 1916 the pharmaceutical industry was augmented by the ar
rival of E. R. Squibb and Sons. The National Musical String Company,
founded in 1897, produced the first harmonicas in America, and has since
become the world s largest maker of steel strings.
After 1900 the city s industrial pattern changed. The promising rubber
industry moved westward to get more room for expansion, but the empty
factories were quickly occupied by the needle trades and other newcomers.
The old carriage factories were succeeded by an automobile plant in 1910
when the Simplex Automobile Company began operations. During the
World War the Wright-Martin Aircraft Corporation made Hispano-Suiza
and Liberty motors in the Simplex factory, which is now used by the Inter
national Motor Company for the production of automotive parts.
Steady industrial growth has been the main stream of New Brunswick s
history since 1850. But political controversies, revival movements, and a
celebrated murder case have rippled the current. In the early nineties, when
the city council was deadlocked on the choice of a president, a coin was
tossed, it is said, to decide the vote. The Democrats charged that the Re
publicans had used a double-headed coin. The city s saloons once enjoyed
such excellent patronage both downstairs and up that reformers declared,
"It would be an injustice to the devil to condemn him to live in New
Brunswick." Crusading evangelists moved in, set up their tents on Living
ston Avenue and "converted" hundreds.
The Hall-Mills murder put New Brunswick on newspaper front pages
in 1922 and again at the time of the trial in 1926. The Rev. Edward W.
Hall, rector of the fashionable Protestant Episcopal Church of St. John the
Evangelist, had been found shot to death under a crab apple tree in De
Russey s Lane, near the city. Beside him lay the mutilated body of Eleanor
Mills, a choir singer. Hall s widow, from the old and wealthy Stevens
family, was tried for murder with two of her brothers; all were finally
acquitted. The most important testimony for the State was given by the
"Pig Woman," Mrs. Jane Gibson, who said that while she was riding her
mule in nocturnal search for a pig thief she saw four persons at the scene
of the killings.
At present (1939) the city has approximately 100 factories producing,
in addition to the goods already named, chemicals, rugs and linoleum,
fireworks, furniture, incubators, and clothing.
302
CITIES AND TOWNS
NEW BRUNSWICK
1938
NEW BRUNSWICK
303
N. J. COLLEGE
FOR WOMEN
304 CITIES AND TOWNS
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY
Eighth oldest institution of higher learning in the country, and the only
state university with a Colonial charter, Rutgers University (buildings open
unless otherwise indicated) was founded as Queen s College in 1766 to
prepare ministers for the Dutch Reformed Church. The university now
includes the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Engineering, School
of Chemistry, Department of Ceramics, New Jersey College of Agricul
ture, School of Education, New Jersey College for Women, New Jersey
College of Pharmacy (at Newark), University Extension Division and the
University College, which conducts evening courses in Newark and New
Brunswick. The combined enrollment for all the colleges, evening courses,
and special courses is 9,993. The faculty numbers 500.
The university has several scattered campuses, which tend to decentralize
student life. In the northwestern part of the city is Queen s Campus, with
the oldest buildings and fine trees. University activities are centered at
Queens. Neilson Campus, with the library and technical departments, lies
north of Queens. Still farther north is Bishop Campus, consisting chiefly
of dormitories. The recently acquired River Road Campus, with a stadium,
golf course and athletic fields, is on the opposite shore of Raritan River.
In the southeastern part of the city, separated from Queen s by the busi
ness district, is the campus of New Jersey College for Women. It is a
colorful place in spring when the great cherry tree beside College Hall and
the dogwood and crab apple near the chapel are in bloom.
Directly south of the women s campus is the college farm, a y5O-acre
tract with the six buildings and the greenhouses of the New Jersey College
of Agriculture and the State Agricultural Experiment Station. The work
manlike aspect of this section is relieved by apple and peach orchards.
In contrast with nearby Princeton, many of whose students are from all
parts of the country, the Rutgers undergraduates are chiefly from New
Jersey s middle class. Most of the students are preoccupied with the serious
business of getting an education and preparing themselves for earning a
living after graduation. Nevertheless, several of the fraternity houses along
College Avenue suggest an opulence in marked contrast to the democratic
tone of the campus.
Although the college s charter was granted in 1766 by George III
through Governor William Franklin, the school did not open until No
vember 1771. Eighteen-year-old Frederick Frelinghuysen was hired as the
entire faculty; there was one graduate at the first commencement in 1774.
When the British occupied New Brunswick in 1776, Frelinghuysen left
to serve as an artillery officer. The institution was moved from the old
Red Lion Tavern building in New Brunswick to Millstone and then to
North Branch, but returned at the end of the war.
Classes were suspended between 1795 and 1807 for lack of funds. In
1811 the college was established on its present campus when Queen s
Building was first occupied. Two lotteries netted the young institution
about $27,000, plus a number of lawsuits from dissatisfied ticketholders.
The General Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church had taken over the
NEW BRUNSWICK 305
college in an arrangement that lasted 57 years. When control of the col
lege was returned to its trustees in 1864, the New Brunswick Theological
Seminary became the separate institution that it is today.
During the period of church domination, the college officers anticipated
the technique of obtaining large grants from wealthy individuals. Henry
Rutgers, 8o-year-old philanthropist, was a member of the Collegiate
Church in New York whose pastor, the Rev. Dr. Philip Milledoler, had
become president of Queen s College in 1825. Prudently the trustees re
named the college for Mr. Rutgers. Then they waited. After an anxious
year, they received from Colonel Rutgers a draft for $200, to be spent for
a bell. Later, Rutgers understanding ly contributed a $5,000 bond.
When the college was designated in 1864 to receive $5,800 annually
from the sale of government land, the work of the present State College
of Agriculture began on a 9o-acre farm.
Rutgers College became a State institution in 1917. A year later the
New Jersey College for Women was opened as an affiliated institution.
In 1924 the name "Rutgers College" was discarded for "Rutgers Uni
versity." Since then the School of Education has been opened and the
New Jersey College of Pharmacy, at Newark, has been absorbed.
Rutgers University is a State institution in a very real sense. Its educa
tional work is by no means limited to the approximately 2,500 men and
women undergraduates in the various colleges. County extension agents
bring practical advice to housewives and farmers, answering questions on
canning, poultry disease, and other problems of the home and farm.
Campus buildings are thrown open for conventions; each year the uni
versity sponsors institutes on labor, banking and the press. Faculty mem
bers are constantly in service as speakers before women s clubs, civic
groups and other organizations.
i. QUEEN S BUILDING, Hamilton St. between George St. and Col
lege Ave., is the central building of Queen s Campus, and the home of
the university s administrative offices. It is one of the best examples of
Post-Colonial college architecture in the country. Designed by James
McComb, architect of New York s City Hall, it was occupied as the first
structure 14 years before the central section and cupola were completed in
1825. It is simple in mass and fenestration, relieved by a delicate cornice
and low-pitched pediments, and crowned with a fine Georgian lantern.
The somber brownstone walls are overgrown with ivy, which has mellowed
the lines of the composition. Queen s represents the culmination of classic
simplicity in the development of the architecture during the early Re
publican period. Offices open within from the broad center hall, from
which a divided stairway leads to the second floor.
The CANNON on the lawn before the building was a gift from the
Federal Government, marking the end of a campus war with Princeton
College. In 1875 a group of Rutgers sophomores raided the Princeton
campus and returned with a cannon, but not the one that Princeton men
had boasted of stealing from Rutgers years earlier. After a reprisal by
Princeton students, both sides returned stolen goods and Rutgers got a
new cannon.
306 CITIES AND TOWNS
2. GEOLOGICAL HALL, W. of Queen s Bldg. (open 9-5 weekdays),
another brownstone structure dedicated in 1873, has a collection of min
erals, Indian relics and New Jersey fossils, including a mastodon from a
marl pit near Salem in 1869.
3. WINANTS HALL, NE. corner College Ave. and Somerset St.,
houses the college postoffice, a cafeteria and dormitory rooms. The largest
building on Queen s Campus, it has a columned porch, a brownstone first
story and brick second and third stories. It was designed by Van Campen
Taylor and erected in 1890.
4. SOPHIA ASTLEY KIRKPATRICK CHAPEL, E. of Queen s Bldg.,
a brownstone building erected in 1872, contains more than 90 portraits
of university presidents, trustees and other notables. Among the painters
were Thomas Sully and John Vanderlyn. Memorial windows presented by
graduating classes are in keeping with the French Gothic architecture.
5. DANIEL S. SCHANCK OBSERVATORY (not open), SW. corner
Hamilton and George Sts., was erected in 1865. Constructed of cream-
painted brick and modeled after the Temple of the Winds in Athens, it
has two octagonal towers linked by a short passageway.
6. The RALPH VOORHEES LIBRARY (open 8 a.m.-ll p.m. Mon.-
Fri.; 8-6 Sat.; 2-6 Sun.; 8-12 holidays), Hamilton St. between George
St. and College Ave., opposite Queen s Bldg., contains 261,469 volumes
and 150,000 pamphlets, maps and manuscripts. It is known for its collec
tions of original documents relating to New Jersey and New Brunswick
history, among them the Joyce Kilmer manuscript collection, letters to
George Washington, and the records of many of the State s oldest families.
The library also has the Defoe collection of first and second edition
pamphlets, the Henry Janeway Weston memorial collections of books and
pictures dealing with Napoleon I, and the Thomas L. Janeway memorial
collection of casts and photographs. Among the historical relics are a com
pass, chain and vernier that belonged to Washington; early prints, draw
ings and paintings; and a coin collection. Erected in 1902, the building is
a squat structure of brownstone designed in the classic manner. The archi
tect was Henry Rutgers Marshall.
7. NEW JERSEY HALL (open upon application to Zoology Dept.),
Hamilton St. between College Ave. and George St., built in 1888, is of
raspberry-red brick, three stories high, with corner towers. The building
contains 25,000 specimens of seed plants and oysters.
8. CERAMICS BUILDING (open on application to Ceramics Dept.),
536 George St., is of red brick, in modified Georgian Colonial style. Vari
ous ceramic wares are manufactured on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The department also maintains ceramics exhibits.
9. UNIVERSITY GYMNASIUM, College Ave. between Morrell and
Senior Sts., is of modified Georgian Colonial architecture. It was built in
1931 on the grounds where the Nation s first intercollegiate football game
was played by Rutgers and Princeton on Nov. 6, 1869. With 25 men on
each team, Rutgers won, 6-4.
10. COLLEGE HALL, N. side of George St., E. of Bishop St., is
the central unit of the campus of the New Jersey College for Women.
QUEEN S BUILDING, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY, NEW BRUNSWICK
308 CITIES AND TOWNS
This converted brownstone residence, which was the entire college in
1918, now houses the administrative offices. Most of the other campus
buildings were erected after 1918 and are largely of modified Georgian
Colonial architecture.
11. ELIZABETH RODMAN VOORHEES CHAPEL, E. of College
Hall, is designed in the Post-Colonial style. Built in 1926 from designs by
Ludlow and Peabody, it is finely proportioned and noteworthy in the lack
of over-ornamentation. The building has a slender white spire.
12. WOODLAWN (not open), Clifton Ave S. of George St., was the
home of James Neilson, trustee and benefactor of the university. The
colonnaded white frame house, built early in the i9th century, faces a
broad lawn, and resembles Mount Vernon in its architectural simplicity.
13. NEW JERSEY STATE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE and the
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, S. corner George St. and
Nichol Ave., are housed in red brick buildings adjacent to tracts used for
experimental farming. Here approximately 800 students obtain theoretical
and practical training in scientific agriculture, for utilization in farming,
teaching or in business associated with agriculture. The Experiment Sta
tion under the auspices of the Federal Government, established in 1880,
seeks improved farming methods and new ways of fighting insect pests and
plant diseases. The work of the station and the college has become widely
known. A tablet marks the SITE OF THE JOHANNIS VOORHEES HOME
STEAD, built c. 1720 and partly burned by the British troops. The building
was renovated and acquired by the trustees of the university in 1864. From
this house scientific farm investigations concerned with tests of marl,
manures and chemical fertilizers in the growing of corn, potatoes, wheat,
clover and other crops were carried on as early as 1867. In 1872 the New
Jersey Board of Agriculture was organized here.
OTHER POINTS OF INTEREST
14. SITE OF THE WHITE HART TAVERN, NE. corner Albany and
Peace Sts., is occupied by a lunchroom that utilizes a few floorboards and
beams from the old hostelry in which the Provincial Congress met in
1776. Washington was host to his staff in the White Hart on July 4, 1778,
after the Battle of Monmouth. Benjamin Franklin, and Samuel and John
Adams, were also entertained here.
Meetings of the New Jersey Medical Society, the State s first medical
organization, were held in the tavern. The organization was formed in
1766 at the call of the Rev. Dr. Robert McKean, preacher, teacher and physi
cian. A group of foremost doctors agreed to conduct their practice on the
highest ethical standards. The legislature empowered the society to ex
amine all candidates for the degree of M.D. and to confer diplomas. One
of the founders was Dr. John Cochran, a member of Washington s staff
who was referred to by the General in his lighter moments as "Dear Doc
tor Bones."
15. SITE OF COCHRANE S TAVERN, SW. corner Albany and Neil-
son Sts., is occupied by the Public Service building. In the former tavern
NEW BRUNSWICK 309
General Charles Lee was imprisoned during his trial for insubordination
after the Battle of Monmouth in 1778 (see Tour ISA). Colonel Simcoe,
the British raider, was also held here. One owner of the tavern was Ber-
nardus Le Grange, most notorious Loyalist of New Brunswick, whose
effigy was burned by angry Revolutionists and whose property suffered
heavily at the hands of the commissioners of forfeited estates.
16. CHRIST P.E. CHURCH, SW. corner Church and Neilson Sts., a
simply designed building of white-trimmed brownstone, stands on the site
of the original i8th century English Church. The first church, erected
1743, with the exception of the tower, was taken down and rebuilt into
the present structure in 1852, all the stone being utilized.
17. FIRST REFORMED CHURCH, Neilson St. between Bayard and
Paterson Sts., was completed 1812 as the successor to two earlier structures.
Of gray stone with brownstone quoins, the church has a white, three-tiered
clock tower. In the graveyard are buried many Revolutionary soldiers and
members of old New Brunswick families, some of them beneath stones
dated as early as 1746. Under the pastoral care of Theodorus Jacobus Fre-
linghuysen (1720-1748) the church was a powerful influence in New
Jersey.
18. RUTGERS PREPARATORY SCHOOL, NW. corner College Ave.
and Somerset St., was founded as Queens College Grammar School when
the college was established. A separate institution, it is one of the 12 old
est schools in the Nation. The recitation rooms are in a compact three-
story structure of brick, painted dull yellow with brown trim. Dormitories
and the gymnasium are several blocks N. on George St. An early adver
tisement informed parents that if their children were sent here, "the strict
est Regard will be paid to their moral Conduct, (and in a word) to every
Thing which may tend to render them a Pleasure to their Friends, and an
Ornament to their Species."
19. NEW BRUNSWICK THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, 17 Semi
nary PI., consists of three buildings forming an open square known locally
as Holy Hill. HERTZOG HALL, the massive, cream-colored central build
ing, is used for classrooms and a dormitory. A tablet on a boulder at the
entrance marks the SITE OF A BRITISH REDOUBT (1776-77). At the edge
of the hill above the river an American battery under Capt. Alexander
Hamilton covered the crossing, while Washington and his troops rested
in the city for a few days during the retreat of 1776. SUYDAM HALL (open
2-5 weekdays), of dark red brick, has a Biblical collection of relief maps
and coins of the early Christian era, and a number of miniatures and
larger figures of gods and goddesses in ivory. SAGE LIBRARY (open 8:30-
5:30 Mon.-FrL; 8:30-1 Sat.; 7:30-10 Mon.-Thurs. eves.; 8-10 Fri. eve.)
contains rare books on religion and art.
20. A heroic STATUE OF WILLIAM THE SILENT, Seminary PI.
opposite the Seminary, was presented to the university in 1927 by the
Holland Society of New York. The statue, considered the best piece of
sculpture in the city, is a duplicate made by Toon Dupuis of The Hague
from the original plaster model of Lodewyk Royer, i9th century Dutch
sculptor.
VOORHEES MEMORIAL CHAPEL, NEW JERSEY COLLEGE FOR WOMEN
NEW BRUNSWICK 311
21. JOHNSON & JOHNSON PLANT (not open to public), 500
George St., consists of 51 red brick buildings along the river, adjoining
the Rutgers campus. Founded in 1886, the company has become one of
the world s largest makers of surgical and medical supplies, and the city s
chief employer of labor.
22. BUCCLEUCH PARK, N. end College Ave., is a landscaped tract
of 73 acres on high ground overlooking Raritan River, just E. of Landing
Lane Bridge. At the base of the slope, across the canal, a footpath (once
a towpath) parallels the abandoned Delaware and Raritan Canal. The
WHITE HOUSE (open 3-5 Sun. and holidays, May 30 to Labor Day), in the
park, near the intersection of College Ave. and George St., is a large clap
board and brick house painted white, of fine Georgian Colonial design.
The entrances, doorways and both interior and exterior trim are typical of
the excellent craftsmanship of the later Colonial period. It was built in
1729 by Anthony White, whose wife was the daughter of Lewis Morris,
Colonial Governor. During Howe s occupation of New Brunswick the
house was in British hands. Valuable hand-painted panels in the lower
hallway, depicting scenes in India and landmarks of Paris, are said to have
been imported from France early in the i9th century. The house has a
collection of Colonial furnishings and apparel.
23. BIRTHPLACE OF JOYCE KILMER (open 10-10 daily), 17 Cod-
wise Ave., is a simple frame house, now the headquarters of Joyce Kil
mer Post of the American Legion. The house contains memorabilia of the
poet, who is best known for Trees (see Literature).
24. GUEST HOUSE (open on application at Public Library, adjoin
ing), 60 Livingston Ave., was erected 1760 on another site by Henry
Guest, a whaler and tanner. A good example of Colonial architecture, the
house has ashlar stone walls and is remarkably free of ornament. Rare
laces and shawls are exhibited in the building. Guest s son, Moses, a mili
tia captain, helped capture the notorious British raider, Col. John Graves
Simcoe. The most distinguished occupant of the building was Tom Paine,
pamphleteer of the Revolution, who hid here from the British during the
war.
25. E. R. SQUIBB & SONS PLANT (not open to public), Georges
Rd., manufactures pharmaceutical supplies, serums, vaccines, antitoxins
and proprietaries. The company was established in 1858 by Dr. Edward R.
Squibb, United States Navy Surgeon and one of the first experimenters
with anesthetics.
POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
Grave of Abraham Clark, 12.7 m., Edison Memorial Tower, 7.8 m. (see Tour 8) ;
-Rutgers University Stadium, 2.4 m. (see Tour 13).
Railroad Stations : Pennsylvania Station, Raymond Blvd. and McCarter Highway, for
Pennsylvania R.R., Lehigh Valley R.R. and Hudson and Manhattan R.R. ; Jersey
Central Station, 836 Broad St., for Jersey Central R.R., Baltimore and Ohio R.R.
and Reading Co. ; Lackawanna Station, Broad St. at Lackawanna PL, for Lackawanna
R.R.; Erie Station, E. end 4th Ave., for Erie R.R.
Bus Stations: Public Service Terminal, 80 Park PI., for Public Service, Greyhound,
Ail-American, Golden Arrow, Jersey Central-Reading, Safeway, Martz, Pan-
American, Champlain, and Edwards. Pennsylvania Railroad Station also for Public
Service, Greyhound, Champlain, and Jersey Central-Reading; 1190 Raymond Blvd.
for De Camp.
Airport: 1.8 m. S. on McCarter Highway; 1 m. E. on US i to Newark Airport
for Eastern Airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines, and Transcontinental and
Western Air.
Taxis: Yellow Cabs, 150 first 1/4 m., 50 each additional *4 m -> a ^ other cabs, $o0
flat within city limits.
Streetcars and Busses: 50 within city limits; no transfers.
Traffic Regulations: No turns on red lights; no turns at Broad and Markets Sts.
Watch street signs for parking limitations, one-way streets, and prohibited turns.
Accommodations: Hotels and boarding houses; no seasonal rates.
Information Service: Newark Evening News, 215 Market St.; Newark Sunday Call,
71 Halsey St.; Chamber of Commerce, 20 Branford PI.; Public Service Terminal,
80 Park PI.; Public Library, 5 Washington St.
Theaters and Motion Picture Houses: Shubert Theater, vaudeville and occasional
road shows ; Mosque Theater, concerts and occasional opera ; 5 5 motion picture
houses.
Golf: Weequahic Park, 9 holes, greens fees 250 per person Mon.-Fri., 500 Sat.,
Sun. and holidays. Hendricks field golf course, 18 holes, 5O0 per person Mon.-Fri.,
$i Sat., Sun. and holidays.
Tennis: Weequahic and Branch Brook Parks, io0 per hour.
Boating: Weequahic and Branch Brook Parks, 3O0 per hour.
Fishing: Weequahic and Branch Brook Parks.
Riding: Weequahic and Branch Brook Parks.
Baseball: Ruppert Stadium, 258 Wilson Ave., International League.
Annual Events: Metropolitan Opera (one night), January; Dog Show, second
week in February ; Indoor Polo Championship, fourth week in March ; Horse Show,
first week in May, and third week in December; Flower Show, second week in
May; Trotting Races, every Saturday from May 30 to October 12, also July 4 and
first week in September; Symphony Concerts (open-air), variable dates during
June; Electrical Show, October; Automobile Show, third week in November; Stamp
Exhibition, November. Bach B Minor Mass, May.
NEWARK (33 alt., 442,337 pop.) occupies the western bank of the
Passaic River where it joins Newark Bay. Westward, the wooded skyline
of the Watchung Mountains overlooks the city and its suburbs. Eastward
the city faces the gaunt flatlands of the Hackensack, with Jersey City and
New York often visible from its taller buildings.
312
NEWARK 313
Newark is the metropolis of New Jersey, and the focus of the vast com
plex of industrial and suburban cities that modern machinery and trans
port has made of the northeastern corner of the State. From the days of
sail and stagecoach, most of the great transportation routes from the south
and west have concentrated here. Successively steam, automotive, and air
transportation have followed the same trend for the same natural causes.
The grouping of giant modern industries in this area is a logical conse
quence; so that today this two-century-old city presents the picture of a
huge industrial beehive built over the staid old seaport and local market
center that was once Newark. Since 1890 the city s population has dou
bled, and the variety of national admixtures that are always a part of this
sort of expansion in America has given Newark a genuinely cosmopolitan
tone.
Downtown Newark lies close to the remnants of the old seaport town.
Broad Street, its richest and most striking thoroughfare, roughly parallels
the Passaic River in this region, and then continues southward through the
wilderness of thronging, busy streets, as the river recedes to the east. Mar
ket Street, an important business artery, crosses Broad Street at right an
gles, going eastward to the river front, now given over to railroad yards
and giant factories.
The center of it all is the corner of Broad and Market Streets, known
for decades as "The Four Corners." This point has been called the third
busiest traffic center in the United States. A traffic control tower stands
approximately on the site of the community water pump used in Colonial
times when Broad and Market was the village square.
Market Street is the older business thoroughfare. As the shopping cen
ter of the city it has kept pace with the growth of the Newark area. It is
not so spacious as its rival, Broad Street, but its building line on either
side presents a facade of retail shops with variegated window displays,
broken by an occasional motion picture theater. The city s largest depart
ment store is on Market Street.
The straight, spacious reach of Broad Street from Lincoln Park to Mili
tary Park where it bends to parallel the Passaic River, ranks among the
attractive commercial thoroughfares of the country. On this mile of excep
tionally wide street, with its landscaped restful parks at each end, are the
city hall, many churches, banks, and the city s skyscrapers, housing insur
ance companies, banks and administrative offices of the area s industries.
Broad Street serves also as a promenade for the office worker and the
shopper. Its sidewalks are thronged all day, and when the big insurance
companies and banks and offices dismiss their employees even its spacious
ness becomes crowded to a degree unsurpassed in other metropolitan areas.
Architecturally Newark s important business buildings are functional
structures, mostly free of excessive ornamentation. Cream and buff are the
prevailing colors; brick and limestone the more usual materials. Largely
the product of the prosperous 1920*5, the newer structures are a cheering
contrast to the Bank Street mass of grim, granite buildings erected by
banks and insurance companies in the i89o s.
The business district of Newark is pierced by a number of narrow alleys
314 CITIES AND TOWNS
relics of village years that are used as shortcuts by pedestrians, as de
livery routes by truck drivers and as atmospheric location by restaurateurs.
Many of them record, perhaps, the indecisive courses of the settlers cattle
as they strayed home from grazing on the village green; one follows a
dog- leg course, and has a motion picture theater at the joint. On warm
summer days the shaded asphalt of the alleys is a refuge for store and
office workers during lunch hours.
The majority of Newark s business and professional people work in the
office buildings of this area. Three downtown institutions, Bamberger s de
partment store, the Prudential Insurance Company and the Public Service
Corporation (the State s foremost public utility), alone have almost 22,000
employees. For the youth of the city, in particular, this trio almost makes
Newark a "company city." Most young Newarkers have worked at one
time for "Barn s," "the Pru" or "the P.S."
Workers and shoppers travel to and from the outer residential districts
mainly by bus. Most of the busses are orange-yellow vehicles with the red-
triangle insignia of Public Service. The main streets of the city are con
tinually crowded with busses, since downtown Newark is the terminal not
only for local transport but also for a multitude of suburban bus lines. On
several lines trackless trolleys have replaced streetcars and gasoline-run
busses.
This endless stream of bus, trolley and automobile traffic away from the
Broad and Market intersection divides into approximately 10 branches,
each headed for a more or less residential district. These loosely defined
population areas have developed as Newark has slowly crept up and out
from the banks of the Passaic River. Some are almost as old as the Four
Corners; others date back only 30 years or less. Two or three are highly
nationalized; most are as much a population melange as the city itself. A
few wear the marks of wealth and beauty; the rest exhibit in row upon
row the standard or substandard American home.
The old Forest Hill and Woodside sections in the north of the city still
have the best homes, occupied largely by the group of citizenry that has
the strongest historical feeling for Newark. Here the large frame and
brick houses, comfortably spaced and attractively landscaped, reflect the
character of their occupants. Alongside Victorian houses, early and late,
have risen many apartment houses that tend to modernize the section, and
sectional feeling is disappearing.
To the west is the contrasting Silver Lake area, with comparatively mod
ern bungalows and six- and eight-family houses built within the last quar
ter of a century to house that section of the Italian population which first
became economically able to move from the downtown slum area.
An apartment house belt follows the outer fringe of the business sec
tion. It is most heavily developed in the south along Clinton Avenue and
the adjoining streets. Newark has not the number of apartment houses
that might be expected for a city of its size, but the proportion of fairly
modern buildings is evidence of new construction since the early 1920 $.
Brick is the prevailing material; often excess ornamentation reveals the
preferences of the builders. Many of the buildings, however, are sober
DOWNTOWN NEWARK AND PASSAIC RIVER
brick structures around an inner court; most are only six or eight stories
high.
The Weequahic section, on the southwestern boundary of the city, de
veloped when a zoning ordinance that had forbidden apartment construc
tion lapsed in 1925. This district has some of the most attractive newer
homes in the city.
Southeast of the Pennsylvania Railroad main line, and limited on two
other sides by the Central Railroad of New Jersey and the Pennsylvania
freight line, is the Ironbound district, a triangular section of lowland sol
idly built with workers frame houses, and blackened by the city s most im
portant industrial plants. Because the shape of the land resembles the neck
of a bottle it is also called Down Neck.
Once a most desirable residential section, it is now a strange mixture of
century-old Newark families and European immigrants. The street names
of Rome, Paris, Amsterdam and London attest World War changes from
old German names rather than the rich variety of nationalities. Berlin
Street .was left unscathed because its two unfinished blocks had not been
recorded on the books of the municipal bureau of streets.
The Ironbound district is even more a separate part of the city than its
steel-railed boundaries would indicate. Scores of small independent retail
shops serve a population which seldom visits the other portions of Newark.
A lower middle-income area rather than a slum, Down Neck was chosen
as the site of the Chellis- Austin apartments, built in 1931 by the Prudential
316 CITIES AND TOWNS
Insurance Company as an experiment in medium-cost housing for residents
of moderate income. Few Newarkers from other sections see the district
frequently except from the Pulaski Skyway along its eastern edge; many
know only by hearsay of its existence.
A general monotony in housing, characterized by browns and grays,
shows in that part of the Hill section to the west of the Four Corners.
The bulk of the city s Negro population is concentrated here between
Avon Avenue and South Orange Avenue, extending east almost to Broad
Street. Their homes constitute the city s gravest housing problem, for they
are mostly dilapidated tenements in roughly paved streets. In this section
the poorly paid workmen buy three slices of bread for a penny, six ciga
rettes for a nickel and two soft drinks for six cents.
The remainder of the Hill section consists of Clinton Hill, composed
mainly of one-family homes with an occasional apartment house; and a
large area of tenements, partly occupied by a German colony.
In the northwestern part of the city are the Roseville and Vailsburg sec
tions, which present old Newark with a suburban facing. Perhaps more
than any other district, Roseville has a community sense, emphasized by
homelike frame dwellings, strips of lawn and quiet streets. In Vailsburg,
lying near Maplewood and Irvington, the prevalent housing unit is the
two-family structure, set close to the curb and fronted with an iron rail.
The mortar that binds these bricks of the Newark social and economic
structure is the city s impressive industrial development. Originally the
major factor in its manufacturing growth was the city s situation on the
Passaic River, which forms the eastern boundary. Now all the modern
facilities of rail, motor transport, and air traffic are concentrated around or
near this water front. The narrow channel, deep enough for ocean-going
vessels, is spanned by a dozen highway and railroad drawbridges leading
to the vast markets and sources of raw materials beyond. The winding
water front, covered with docks, factories, lumberyards, railroad sidings
and a sprinkling of dingy dwellings, shows how completely industry has
conquered the city. Aside from the Ironbound district, which houses the
breweries and paint and varnish plants, there is no well-defined industrial
area. Small and large factories alike have penetrated into the residential
and commercial sections, giving the impression that industrialization is
virtually complete.
It has been said that every kind of product sold in the United States is
manufactured in Newark. That is pardonable exaggeration; yet it is true
that the city supports an amazing variety of factories, with an output rang
ing from jewelry to dynamos, from dentifrices to beer, from electric light
bulbs to leather goods. Among the largest plants are those of General
Electric, Weston, Westinghouse, the L. E. Waterman Company, the Cellu
loid Corporation, the Hoffman Beverage Company, the Wiss Cutlery Com
pany and the Hollander Fur Dyeing Company.
Insurance dominates the city financially. Newark ranks as the fourth
largest insurance center in the Nation and the second largest life insurance
city in the country. The 19 Newark companies employ more than 30,000
office workers. The Prudential Insurance Company of America, chartered
NEWARK 317
in 1877, is the titan organization. Other important companies are the Mu
tual Benefit Life Insurance Company, the American Insurance Company,
the Firemen s Insurance Company and the Globe Indemnity Company.
The city s racial and economic diversity has been synthesized by a uni
formly excellent school system. Newark has pioneered in education since
1794 when a local shoe manufacturer, Moses Combs, initiated classes for
his apprentices. The city was one of the first in the United States to estab
lish summer schools (1885), the second to set up all-year schools (1912),
and the third (1838) to erect a high school building forerunner of the
present Barringer High School.
Newark was one of the first large cities to test many modern educational
techniques, previously demonstrated only in small communities. Especially
valuable experiments have been conducted with the platoon system or
work-study-play plan. Under this system all activities classrooms, audi
toriums, gymnasiums, shops, and laboratories are in use every hour of the
day. The school is divided into two parts. While one of the schools is in
classrooms, the other is in special activities, auditorium, playgrounds, and
gymnasiums. This means that only 15 classrooms are needed for a 3o-class
school, it is possible to supply a school seat for every child when he needs
it, and the special facilities are available at no greater cost than it takes to
supply classrooms only under the traditional plan. Local educators were
among the earliest exponents of visual education as an aid to classroom
teaching, and important work has been done in vocational instruction and
in the use of motion pictures for English, history and science courses.
More recently Newark has set a brilliant example for large cities in pro
viding special training for physically and mentally handicapped children.
Despite this imposing record, Newark, like its huge neighbor across the
Hudson, suffers from overcrowded schools.
In the field of higher education are included the University of Newark ;
the State Normal School ; the New Jersey College of Pharmacy, a division
of Rutgers University ; the Newark College of Engineering, and the New
ark Technical School.
Newark has come a long way from the Anglo-Saxon stock of its found
ers. Close to Ellis Island, the growing industrial community has absorbed
a large percentage of immigrants. In 1938 the foreign-born and children
of foreign-born numbered approximately 295,000, slightly more than
three-fifths of the total population. The Irish and Germans, totaling re
spectively 23,400 and 36,900, have since 1850 established themselves as
integral elements in the community. The Irish helped to build the city and
then assumed political control, while Germans founded the brewing indus
try and introduced singing societies and sports programs.
Since 1880 Italians have been numerically the dominant European na
tionality group. Although most of the 85,300 have been absorbed into
manufacturing and construction, many have been successful in business
and politics. Two decades after the arrival of Italians, Poles came in large
numbers to work in heavy industry and construction; the Polish popula
tion is 35,600.
Jews were the only group drawn to Newark primarily by its trade possi-
3*8 CITIES AND TOWNS
bilities. After a gradual influx of German Jews, there was a sharp rise
between 1880 and 1900 in Jewish immigration from Russia and Poland.
Most of the city s 65,000 Jews are now engaged in business or the profes
sions. More recent arrivals are the 38,800 Negroes. The Negro popula
tion was small until they came by thousands to work in World War indus
tries. Although many of the race live in poverty, others have succeeded in
rising to at least middle income living standards and have been conspicu
ous in the State for leadership in Negro welfare.
In the inescapable process of Americanization, the city s races and na
tionalities are slowly losing their individuality. A strong reciprocal influ
ence between them and the older American population shows itself in
many spheres. Since the World War the native-born increasingly have fre
quented the foreign quarters. In turn, the foreign districts have been stead
ily diminishing, as the residents have moved into less nationalized sections.
The Urban League and the Interracial Committee promote direct co
operation between the white and black races. The European groups have
united with each other and with the American population through the ac
tivities of such civic bodies as the Ironbound Community House, the Sil
ver Lake House, the Welfare League and educational and church organi
zations. These tendencies foreshadow the cosmopolitan community in
which the taste and experience of the Old World blend with the energy
and optimism of the New.
Newark was settled in 1666 by Capt. Robert Treat and 30 families from
New Haven and the vicinity. The village on the Passaic was the result of
five years search for a site where these former Connecticut citizens could
obtain self-government and religious freedom.
In his haste to develop the territory, Governor Philip Carteret had
promised to eliminate the Indian title to the settlement. His neglect in
this detail brought the colonists face to face with angry Hackensack In
dians almost as soon as they had disembarked. Complete peace was estab
lished in 1667 when the settlers purchased a tract extending from the
Passaic River westward to the Watchung Mountains.
The source of the name Newark remains buried with the original set-
lers. It has recently been disproved that the inspiration came from New-
ark-on-Trent, the supposed English home of the Reverend Abraham Pier-
son, pastor of the first church. Scholars have therefore returned to the older
interpretation that the name was originally the Biblical New Ark or New
Work, meaning a new project.
Whatever the origin of its name, Newark was unmistakably founded as
a theocracy with the Puritan Congregational Church securely in control of
village affairs. The church quickly erected a barrier around the religious
freedom won by emigrating from New Haven. Church membership was a
prerequisite to owning land, holding public office and voting. The church
maintained such strict supervision over personal and public life that early
Newark was more Puritan than much of New England itself.
The severity of ecclesiastical rule discouraged new settlers. Like many
other religious communities, Newark grew slowly within a narrow arc
NEWARK 319
prescribed by its Puritan leaders. They established a school in 1676, laid
out military training grounds and encouraged gristmills, tanneries and
small shops which made the little community self-sustaining.
The Puritan hegemony was first openly challenged in 1687. The Rev.
Abraham Pierson Jr., who succeeded his father as the town pastor, clashed
with the conservatives. Five years later they coldly permitted him to retire
and return to Connecticut, where he became the first president of Yale
College.
It took another generation, however, in which more liberal Englishmen
settled in Newark, to break the religious monopoly of Old First Church.
About 1733 Col. Josiah Ogden, a pillar of this organization, which had
become Presbyterian in 1719, gathered in his wheat on the Sabbath rather
than let it be ruined by the rain. He stoutly defended himself before the
outraged membership and finally withdrew from the church. Ogden then
joined with the local Church of England missionaries and founded Trinity
Church.
Despite this rupture, Newark moved through the eighteenth century as
a Puritan town, with a Puritan interest in education and commerce and a
Puritan horror of secular art and pleasure. In 1748 the College of New
Jersey, afterward Princeton University, moved from Elizabethtown to
Newark with the Rev. Aaron Burr Sr., pastor of Old First Church, as pres
ident. The college remained until 1756, when it was transferred to
Princeton. In the same period forges and foundries began to work the
products of nearby iron mines. Before the time of the Revolution, Newark
was of sufficient commercial importance to warrant the building of roads
connecting with ferries to New York.
The war itself divided Newark into Tories who gave ample aid to Lord
Cornwallis and other British commanders who encamped here, and Revo
lutionaries whose cooperation won the praise of Colonial generals. Wash
ington used Newark as a supply base on his retreat across the State in
1776. In addition to a number of raids and skirmishes in the center of the
village, two battles and a skirmish were fought at Springfield, part of
which was then Newark.
The value of trade and manufacture was one of the lessons learned by
the city from the Revolution. Factories increased. In about 1790 Moses
Combs founded the shoe industry and a few years later one-third of New
ark s working population was engaged in some form of the leather trade.
The impetus came from an abundant stand of hemlock trees on the nearby
Orange Mountains, which provided bark for tanning.
Hand-in-hand with prosperity went an escape from religious scrutiny,
and the town supported three of the finest taverns in the country. Possibly
attracted by a carefree society group, the exiled Frenchman, Talleyrand,
Tisited Newark in 1794 and stayed at what was later the David Ailing
House on the corner of Broad and Fair Streets. The length of his stay is
uncertain but it is likely that while in Newark he devoted much time to
study and writing. In the next decade Tom Moore, the Irish poet, was en
tertained by the Ogden family, and Washington Irving was inspired to
320 CITIES AND TOWNS
write the Salmagundi papers by many gay evenings at old Cockloft Hall,
the Kemble Mansion, which stood on the corner of Mt. Pleasant Avenue
and Gouverneur Street.
Finance, commerce and industry quickened the conversion of Newark
from a sprawling agricultural village into an important business center.
The first bank, the Newark Banking and Insurance Company, was organ
ized in 1804, and six years later the Newark Fire Insurance Company
wrote the first of millions of Newark policies. One of the Newark com
panies established in this period has preserved from its earliest days a yara
to the effect that when an Elizabeth woman, who was insured for $500,.
fell critically ill, the officers became alarmed lest the company expire with.
her. Accordingly, the president had the best local doctor attend her and sat
at her bedside himself until she recovered.
After the War of 1812, new industries pushed Newark into the posi
tion of New Jersey s leading city, which it has held ever since. In two dec
ades the manufacture of jewelry, begun by Epaphras Hinsdale in 1801,.
had become a leading occupation; Seth Boy den s work in patent leather
gave tremendous impetus to the leather trade; and by 1831 hat making,
and brewing occupied large numbers of workmen.
Transportation developments began to link the growing city with the-
rest of the eastern seaboard. One of the State s earliest railroads the New
Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company began operation in 1834.
from Newark to Jersey City, while the Morris Canal, completed to Phil-
lipsburg three years earlier, provided an outlet for Newark s products in.
Pennsylvania and the west.
In 1836 Newark was incorporated as a city with William Halsey as its
first mayor. The population of nearly 20,000 was no longer exclusively of
Puritan gentry; the growth of industry had resulted in the formation of
1 6 trade societies, chiefly among plasterers, bricklayers, and corset makers..
By 1836 they were bidding for political power as labor organizations.
For two decades following the panic of 1837 economic progress was
slow, but this period witnessed an increased interest in social reform and
entertainment. Criminals were better treated and the mentally ill were re
garded less as offenders against decent society. In 1848 a theater inaugu
rated a long history of romantic and tragic drama in Newark. By 1855
Germans had settled Newark in large numbers, and their Saengerfests
made the city one of the national centers of German music.
The outbreak of the Civil War seriously threatened a large intersec-
tional trade which Newark had established with the South. As an offset,
however, to the manufacturers fears, the war boomed industry; hat and
shoe factories operated at full capacity to fill army orders and a general
prosperity was enjoyed. A visit from Abraham Lincoln en route to his.
first Washington inaugural helped to solidify community sentiment. New
ark sent 10,000 to the Union armies.
Modern Newark dates from the close of the Civil War. An industrial
exposition in 1872 showed that the city was becoming more and more
diversified in its manufacturing interests, although brewing, jewelry, and
leather still maintained the lead. But while these industries were at their-
. II
AMERICAN INSURANCE COMPANY BUILDING, NEWARK
322 CITIES AND TOWNS
peak, the scientific age was beginning to transform completely the city s
industrial character. In 1869 John Wesley Hyatt invented celluloid and
laid the basis for the important plastic industry. Eighteen years later the
Rev. Hannibal Goodwin developed a process which later turned celluloid
into film for photographic negatives. Thomas A. Edison s invention of the
electric light bulb in nearby Menlo Park was responsible for the rise of a
new industry in Newark. Later Edward Weston carried on the Edison tra
dition with many important electrical inventions.
The post-Civil War period was marked also by the city s finest literary
flowering. Stephen Crane (1871-1900), the novelist, was its greatest liter
ary figure. His contemporary, Mary Mapes Dodge (1838-1905), created
the children s classic, Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates, and Edmund
Clarence Stedman (1833-1908), banker-poet-editor, conducted literary
salons in and around Newark for a decade. Richard Watson Gilder (1844-
1909), editor of the Century, worked for a time after the Civil War on the
old Newark Advertiser and with Newton Crane founded the Newark
Morning Register. Noah Brooks (1830-1903), well known at the end of
the last century as a journalist and author of books for boys, was editor of
the Newark Daily Advertiser in 1884.
By the turn of the century the newer, electrified industries were crowd
ing out the old steam crafts and preparing Newark for its future leader
ship in heavy, mass industrial enterprise. Municipal government under
Mayor Joseph Haynes aided the upswing with improved water facilities,
new buildings and sincere efforts to harmonize the interests of industry and
the city. Similarly, the once independent unions contributed toward stabili
zation by consolidation into the American Federation of Labor.
The World War heightened Newark s position as an industrial center
and laid the foundation for its future as a port. While factories worked on
24-hour schedules, the Federal Government developed struggling Port
Newark into an army base and prepared it for major shipping operations.
The citizenry invested nearly $200,000,000 in Liberty Bonds and sent more
than 20,000 men into the fighting service.
Post-war prosperity made Newark more than ever the hub of northern
New Jersey. Apartment houses in the residential districts and skyscrapers
on Broad Street gave the city a metropolitan appearance. Airplanes re
placed the earlier mosquitoes in flights over the old Newark meadows, and
in 1929 the airport was designated the eastern air mail terminal. In 1935
a city subway, built in the bed of the Morris Canal, and a new Pennsyl
vania Railroad station were opened to modernize the city s transport sys
tem. By 1938 all trolley cars had been eliminated on downtown surface
lines.
In recent years the influence of New York City has strongly colored
Newark s social and industrial life. With the development of modern
transportation after the Civil War, New York City overflowed into New
Jersey. A network of automobile highways followed the railroads across
the Hackensack meadows, with the result that Newark began increasingly
to share New York City s suburban population with the New Jersey cities
NEWARK 323
along the Hudson, without losing its identity as the market center for the
west.
This overflow from New York was a basic cause of the sudden expan
sion in the 90*5, noted above. Factories began crowding out the older resi
dential districts along the river and along the main line of the Pennsyl
vania railroad between New York and New Jersey. The residents began
moving to the higher ground farther up the river and along the base of
the Watchung Mountains ; then the wealthier commuting class from New
York saw the advantages of the Watchungs as a residential haven, and
soon the old villages which surrounded the city became prosperous some
of them very expensive communities that reflect suburban New York
life more than they do the quieter tempo of interior New Jersey.
The completion of the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad in 1911 be
tween Newark, Jersey City, and New York under the direction of William
Gibbs McAdoo greatly accelerated the intermingling of the population
and speeded the development of the city. The new rapid transit attracted
thousands from Manhattan to Newark and its suburbs, and in turn made
"going to New York" for business or pleasure a Newark habit. Today, un
counted thousands commute daily to Manhattan offices and shops on the
jerky red trains of the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad known to everyone
as "the Tubes." The same trains bring a substantial number of New York
ers to jobs in Newark. Additional thousands of men and women who work
in the banking, insurance and industrial offices of Newark have homes and
interests in outlying suburbs. Like the New Yorkers they are only day
time Newark residents.
The city s newsstands offer further evidence of Newark s split person
ality. The logotypes of New York dailies outnumber those of Newark
papers by a ratio of almost 3 to i, and a large display of suburban and for
eign language papers rivals the local publications. The patriarchal New
ark Evening News is the most influential paper of the city and State. The
Sunday Call, published only once a week, is as much a part of most New
ark homes as the radio. Nevertheless, thousands of Newarkers daily sup
plement local papers with New York publications.
The result of these pulls to New York on the east and to suburbs on the
west, is that modern Newark is very little a city of common interests. Yet
between these sizable commuting groups exists a larger and less well de
fined mass that may be called the population proper of Newark. These citi
zens range from descendants of those who sailed from Connecticut in 1666
to those who sailed from Genoa, Odessa or Danzig in 1896. Bankers and
machinists, jurists and janitors, teachers and night school pupils they
compose the aggregate, dynamic Newark.
Within the lifetime of a middle-aged Newarker, the city has altered its
Puritan rhythm and outlook to conform with those of the power age. Its
population of 246,000 in 1900 was resigned to a single high school; seven
cannot accommodate the present demand. Important department stores
have replaced a row of sleepy "emporiums." The century-old evil of pol
lution in the Passaic River has been largely curtailed by construction of a
324 CITIES AND TOWNS
sewer serving several municipalities. Responsibility for these changes rests
not only with the national spirit of progress but also with shrewd and
careful planning by Newark leaders.
Notable among these was the late Mayor Thomas L. Raymond, who
was responsible for many outstanding improvements, including Newark s
deep-water port, airport, water supply system, well-lighted and well-paved
streets, and its railroad and other transportation improvements. He had the
gift of being able to visualize civic needs two or three decades ahead, and
he had the energy to act upon his ideals.
While Mayor Raymond was busy transforming the physical and indus
trial scene, John Cotton Dana, Newark Librarian for 27 years, was equally
active in broadening Newark s cultural life. Mr. Dana s creative energy
has made the library and museum dynamic forces in Newark citizenship.
In 1931 the city s first liberal arts college was named Dana College in
honor of "Newark s first citizen." The city has for the most part genuinely
striven to build the economic and cultural life which these two men envi
sioned. In the mind of the forward-looking Newarker, the preeminence of
Newark Airport symbolizes the transformation of Newark into a twenti
eth century city.
The most impressive picture of Newark s civic growth is the night view
of Newark from the Pulaski Skyway. Against the background of the gently
sloping Watchung Mountains stands a cluster of modern skyscrapers. Be
fore these towers gleam the red and white signs of nationally known fac
tories. In the foreground an occasional barge or boat appears on the wind
ing Passaic River. To the north, myriad street lamps and house lights dot
the vast darkness, and to the south, the beacons of Newark Airport stream
toward the stars.
POINTS OF INTEREST
(Points of Interest 1-10 and 15-24 are shown on Newark Business District map.
Points 11-14, 22, and 25-32 are shown on the more inclusive Newark map.)
i. The FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 820 Broad St., stands aris
tocratic and serene at the Broad and Market bus stop, the busiest in New
ark. The fine old building is the corporate successor of the original church
of the Puritan Congregationalist founders of Newark. In 1719 the mem
bership became Presbyterian. The present building was begun in 1787 and
dedicated four years later. Until the middle of the following century, when
town, school and church were no longer an indissoluble trinity, it was the
center of the Presbyterian control of town affairs.
Known affectionately to people of all faiths as "Old First," the church
today draws its membership from among the oldest and wealthiest fami
lies in the city, serves as an unofficial mentor in ecclesiastical affairs, and
has not hesitated from time to time to champion the love of liberty which
its founders sought to preserve. Its financial security rests partially on its
title to the valuable land opposite on Broad Street where the church build
ings originally stood.
The building is an excellent example of Georgian Colonial architecture.
The freestone was quarried on Bloomfield Avenue and the mortar was
NEWARK 325
made from piles of clam shells left by the Indians along the banks of
Newark Bay. The gambrel roof behind the slender tower is a typical New
Jersey touch.
2. NATIONAL NEWARK BUILDING, 744 Broad St., opened in
1931, is the tallest building in the State (472 ft; 35 stories). Its design,
by John H. and Wilson C. Ely, is a successful application of classical
forms to the requirements of the skyscraper. Ten murals on the mezzanine
by J. Monroe Hewlett and Charles Gulbrandsen depict symbolically the
growth of trade and commerce in Newark.
3. MILITARY PARK, Broad St., Park PL, Rector St. and Raymond
Blvd., was laid out by the founders of Newark as a military training
ground and was known for more than two centuries as the Lower Com
mon. Today it preserves something of its original use as a community
gathering spot, for it has the air of New York s Union Square. It is the
popular forum for political soap-boxers, religious enthusiasts, and outdoor
orators of every species. The Park has a statue of Frederick T. Freling-
huysen, American statesman.
TRINITY EPISCOPAL CHURCH, NW. end of the park, is the only New
Jersey church in a public park. Its origin is traced to about 1733. Then,
according to legend, Col. Josiah Ogden broke with the older First Presby
terian Church over his right to gather wheat on the Sabbath. The first
building was erected in 1743, destroyed by fire in 1804, and restored five
years later. Only part of the tower of the original Colonial building re
mains. The Gothic Revival windows in the present structure date from re
building in 1809; the Norman entrance doors and porch are still later ad
ditions, though probably made before 1830. There is still a popular but
groundless belief that Trinity Church would forfeit its site to the city if
the steeple were painted any color except white.
The chief memorial in the park is a large bronze group, THE WARS OF
AMERICA, by Gutzon Borglum, in memory of the land and naval forces in
all national wars. It includes 42 human figures on a granite base, sur
rounded by a low fence of overlapping bronze swords. The outstanding
sculpture represents soldiers of the conflicts of 1776, 1861, and 1917.
At the S. end of the park is the n 2-foot LIBERTY POLE which resem
bles an electrical tower; it is on the spot where the original pole was
erected in 1793.
A STATUE OF MAJ. GEN. PHILIP KEARNY, commander of the New
Jersey volunteers in the Civil War, stands in the NE. corner of the park.
In DOANE PARK, a triangular plot immediately N. of Military Park,
is a BRONZE STATUE OF MSGR. GEORGE HOBART DOANE, Civil War
chaplain, rector of St. Patrick s Cathedral, and an outstanding citizen of
the last century.
4. The UNIVERSITY OF NEWARK, 40 Rector St., is the result of a
merger, effected in 1935, of five of Newark s older institutions of higher
education Dana College, Mercer Beasley Law School, Newark Institute
of Art and Sciences, New Jersey Law School, and Seth Boyden School of
Business. Under the new administration with Dr. Frank Kingdon as
president, the university consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, the
326
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NEWARK
327
NEWARK
BUSINESS DISTRICT
1938
328 CITIES AND TOWNS
School of Business Administration, and the College of Law. The brick
building remodeled from the plant of the old Ballantine Brewery, has a
central section of six stories, with three- and four-story wings. At present
it has no campus; students often congregate in the adjacent Rector Street
and around a nearby cemetery. Although it carried through its first com
plete year s program with these limited building facilities in 193637, the
institution already ranks high as one of the cultural centers of the city. It
has a library of approximately 13,000 volumes. It is co-educational, and
the registration in 1938 was 1,800 students, with a faculty of 125 members.
5. The NEW JERSEY BELL TELEPHONE BUILDING, 540 Broad
St., is considered one of the finest of the city s large buildings. Designed
in what its architects, Voorhees, Gmelin, and Walker, call with originality
"the American perpendicular style," it well represents the dignity of mass
in modern architecture. Its facade of buff brick is adorned with pilasters
sculptured by Edward McCartan and sandstone corner bays which provide
a substantial base for the 2O-story structure. Since the building was opened
in 1929, a soft orange glow cast over the top has been one of the night
sights of Newark.
6. WASHINGTON PARK, Broad St., Washington PL, and Washing
ton St., set aside as a market place in 1667 and later known as the Upper
Green, is now the background for statues and tablets honoring the great
of the city and Nation. At the S. end of the park is J. Massey Rhind s
STATUE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, which shows the general taking leave
of his army at Rocky Hill. This is one of three Newark monuments given
by Amos Van Horn, a local merchant.
Facing Broad St. on the E. side of the park is a bronze MONUMENT TO
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, cast in Rome by Giuseppe Ciocchetti. It was
presented to Newark in 1927 by the associated Italian societies of the city.
At a traffic intersection a few feet from the northern extremity of the
park is the BRIDGE MEMORIAL, a shaft with the carved figures of an Indian
and a Puritan at its base. Executed by Gutzon Borglum, the memorial
marks the site of the Colonial market place.
In the central part of the park is a STATUE OF SETH BOYDEN, whom
Thomas A. Edison regarded as one of "America s greatest inventors." The
statue by Karl Gerhardt portrays Boyden at his anvil, shirt sleeves rolled to
the elbow, a steam locomotive model in one hand and a book in the other.
It was unveiled in 1890.
Boyden was attracted to Newark in 1815 by the city s reputation as a
leather center. In his shop near the site of the monument he developed the
process of making patent leather. Not being a promoter, he ignored the
fortune that lay in his invention and went on to successful experimenta
tion with zinc refining, the air brake, steam locomotive improvement, and
the Hilton strawberry.
Boyden did his most important work in ten years of experimentation to
produce cast iron that was not brittle and could be properly worked or
hammered on an anvil. The result was his perfection in 1826 of the proc
ess of making malleable cast iron.
His uncommercial attitude toward his inventions brought him slight re-
NEWARK 329
turns, and in later years he worked at a Hilton factory for $1.50 per day.
He died in poverty at the age of 81.
7. NEWARK MUSEUM (open 12-5 Tues.-Sat.; 7-9 Thurs.; 2-6 Sun.;
summer schedule, 12-5 Tues.-Sat.), 49 Washington St., was founded in
1909 by John Cotton Dana to encourage the study of the arts and sciences
and as a means of making graphic to Newarkers the history and value of
their home industries. Originally situated on the fourth floor of the library
building, the institution is now housed in a $750,000 limestone structure
of severe classic design which Louis Bamberger, a local merchant, pre
sented to the city in 1926. The handsome three-story building directly ad
joins the Y.W.C.A. building which makes impossible a full appreciation
of the museum. The architect was Jarvis Hunt.
Adjacent to the main museum building on the north and connected with
it by an enclosed passageway is THE MUSEUM ADDITION BUILDING,
opened in May 1938. This modern four-story brick structure houses the
Junior Museum and lending department of the museum. Two-and-one-
half floors are occupied by departments of the nearby Newark Public
Library.
Directly in front of this building on Washington St. is the BALLANTINE
HOUSE, built in 1878 by a prominent Newark brewing family. It is used
for the museum s administrative offices and trustees rooms.
John Cotton Dana was a pioneer in applying the theory of a "func
tional museum," an institution of immediate practical use to the citizens of
its community. Frequently changing displays in the fields of fine and dec
orative arts, industrial design and processes, history and education, charac
terize its exhibition policy. Activities for adults include an arts workshop,,
a nature club, and a natural science program.
The museum is widely known for its work with children and for its
place in the city s educational system. More than 5,000 children who have
paid io0 for life membership in the Junior Museum, meet regularly in
groups to draw, model, sew, and to study nature and Indian lore. Class
visits to the museum s exhibits are a regular feature of the city school cur
riculum, and the lending collection of more than 10,000 objects is drawn
heavily upon by teachers.
As early as 1914, Dana advocated the acquisition of the work of living
American artists, and since that time, the museum has built up a note
worthy collection of American paintings and sculpture. It has also been
conspicuous in encouraging New Jersey artists by exhibits and purchases
of their work. Among other important possessions of the museum are the
Crane collection of Tibetan art and religious objects, the Rockwell collec
tion of Japanese prints, painting and sculpture and the Disbrow science
collection.
The THOMAS L. RAYMOND WALLED GARDEN, behind the building, con
tains typical New Jersey flora, semitropical plants and trees, and a vegetable
patch tended by the Junior Museum. A section is overlaid with historic
street pavings of Newark, including cobblestone, flagstone, and Belgian
block.
In the rear of the garden stands the OLD STONE SCHOOLHOUSE, New-
33 CITIES AND TOWNS
ark s oldest school building. This one-story brownstone structure with a
miniature belfry was built in 1784 on Chancellor Ave., where it stood until
1938 when the Works Progress Administration moved it stone by stone
to its present site. The building was visited by Washington in 1797.
8. The SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Washington and James
Sts., is a fine example of modernized Gothic design composed of suitable
plane surfaces relieved by carefully detailed, low-relief ornamental but
tresses and stone traceried windows. In the auditorium are 26 stained-glass
windows of various sizes that depict outstanding local citizens, spiritual
leaders, and incidents in the life of Christ. The present building replaces
one destroyed by fire in 1930. It is on the site or Newark s first foundry,
erected in 1768.
9. NEWARK PUBLIC LIBRARY (open 9 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri.;
9-1 Sat.), 5 Washington St., is the dean and fountainhead of Newark s
cultural institutions. Founded in 1888, it pioneered in civic responsibility
and wove itself into the cultural and economic fabric of the city under
John Cotton Dana, librarian from 1902 to 1929. He carried the library to
the people, publicized it, and demonstrated its usefulness in developing
citizenship. Mr. Dana made the library itself a force in civic improvement,
whether the issue was as large as governmental reform or as small as effi
cient garbage collection. His desire to link the library with every phase of
public life resulted in the establishment in 1904 of the business branch, the
first of its kind, now a city-owned building, at 34 Commerce St.
The Main Library s four-story Renaissance building, faced with lime
stone, dates from 1901. The main building and the 8 branches contain
more than 577,000 books, a collection of 723,335 photographs and prints,
and 24,496 maps. There is also an information file of 139,500 clippings and
pamphlets. Through its school department the library augments the work
of every teacher in the city school system. It is one of the few large libraries
in the country that admit the public to the stacks.
10. The JOHN PLUME HOUSE (private), 407 Broad St., was prob
ably standing in 1710 and is said to be the oldest dwelling in Newark. It
is now the rectory of the adjoining House of Prayer, Protestant Episcopal
Church built in 1849. Although both its exterior and interior show nine
teenth century alterations, the two-story red sandstone house is the city s
only pre-Revolutionary building. Genuinely in the Colonial tradition, its
gambrel roof perhaps shows Dutch influence and the bracketed cornice is
of special architectural interest.
During the Revolution the redoubtable Mistress Ann Van Wagenen
Plume drove Hessian soldiers from the parlor where she found them chop
ping wood ; later she locked a stray Hessian in her ice house. The knocker
formerly on the door of the rectory is reputed to have been made from a
piece of steel on the Hessian s hat, presented to Mistress Plume by the
American soldiers as a reward for the capture.
More than a century later the Rev. Hannibal Goodwin developed in the
rectory a flexible photographic film which made possible the motion pic
ture. Handicapped by the continual breaking of the glass stereopticon
plates that he used to illustrate Bible lectures, he sought a substitute.
NEWARK 331
In 1887 he applied for a patent on photographic films that could be
wound on a spool and used in a camera. During the n-year delay in
granting the patent, a chemist in the employ of the Eastman Kodak Com
pany applied for a similar patent and the company began to make a cam
era which embodied Goodwin s idea. Two years after receiving his patent
Goodwin died, and only after years of litigation was his widow able to
win a judgment (1914), shortly before her death.
11. NEW JERSEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY BUILDING (open 10-
4:30 Tues.-Sat.), 230 Broadway, is a handsome modernized Georgian-
Colonial structure, modeled after the Old Philadelphia Hospital. Founded
in 1845, the society became established in 1931 in its present home. In
addition to various personal memorabilia, the society has a collection of
valuable early manuscripts (available on special request). These include
the original copy of the Concessions of the Proprietors of the Colony, and
various grants, patents, Indian deeds, and other documents of the seven
teenth century. Among the paintings are Gilbert Stuart portraits of Capt.
James Lawrence and Aaron Burr, and others of Gen. Peter Schuyler and
Richard Stockton, Signer of the Declaration of Independence.
12. SACRED HEART CATHEDRAL, Clifton and 6th Aves., was be
gun in 1898 according to the plans of Jeremiah O Rourke but the interior
is still unfinished (1939). The final cost is estimated at $4,500,000. It was
originally thought that a wealthy Catholic congregation would develop in
the surrounding neighborhood, but the opposite has proved true. The
cathedral is now used only for important church activities, such as the in
vestiture of a bishop. Of medieval French Gothic design, the two towers,
232 feet high, are set obliquely to give an effect of depth. I. E. Ditmars
was the second architect.
13. BRANCH BROOK PARK, W. of Clifton Ave. between Orange
St. and city line (Belleville), is the largest of the Essex County parks. Al
most 500 acres in area, it has extensive facilities for many sports including
football, baseball and golf; there are also clay and grass tennis courts,
two lakes for boating, fishing, and skating, facilities for open-air concerts,
and a playground with equipment especially designed for crippled chil
dren. Japanese cherry trees have been planted by Mrs. Felix Fuld in the
eastern end of the park.
14. NEWARK ACADEMY, 215 ist St., is the city s leading private
school, and its oldest. Among its alumni today are many of the substantial
leaders of industrial and civic life in Newark, and throughout the I9th
century it was the focal point of education for the higher-income class of
citizens, preparing students for the leading colleges of the United States
and England, or fitting them for participation in local life according to the
traditional standards of the city. The academy was founded in 1774. At
various times during the Revolution it was a barracks for American troops,
with the consequence that British raiders burned its one building in 1780,
by way of retaliation. The school had a hard struggle for existence for
some years afterward and in 1785 money for the school was raised by sev
eral lotteries including one of a slave who had been given to the academy.
From 1802 to 1859 the academy was co-educational, but since the latter
332 CITIES AND TOWNS
date has received boys only. The three-story modernized Georgian Colo
nial style building with a two-story wing, erected in 1930, houses a prepar
atory school with accommodations for more than 300 boys. The academy
has 250 students, with a staff of 25 masters.
15. ESSEX COUNTY HALL OF RECORDS, High St. and i 3 th Ave.,
a conventional neo-classic building, erected in 1927, Guilbert and Betelle,
architects, strikes a brighter note in a section of small stores and brick and
frame houses. About the entrance is a group of carved stone figures de
picting the purchase of the site of Newark and its environs from the Lenni
Lenape Indians.
1 6. ESSEX COUNTY COURTHOUSE, Springfield Ave. and Market
St., is a modified Renaissance building with a granite base and marble
structure. Built in 1906 the beautifully proportioned structure is the work
of Cass Gilbert. More noteworthy than the seven murals in the main rooms
and under the central dome is the historical painting by Frank D. Millet
in the former grand jury room. It portrays the rebuke given in 1774 to the
last Provincial Chief Justice of New Jersey by the foreman of the grand
jury in reply to the jurist s charge that the grievances of the Colonists
against Great Britain were imaginary. The Landing of Philip Carteret, the
most celebrated painting of the illustrator, Howard Pyle, hangs in one of
the civil court rooms.
In the plaza of the courthouse is the famous seated bronze STATUE OF
ABRAHAM LINCOLN by Gutzon Borglum. In its grasp of the Lincoln spirit
the statue is considered second only to that by Daniel Chester French in
Washington. Since its unveiling in 1911, an integral part of a Newark
child s experience has been to clamber up the legs, sit in the bronze lap or
perch on the stovepipe hat alongside.
17. BAMBERGER S DEPARTMENT STORE, 131 Market St., now
owned by R. H. Macy and Company of New York, is the largest in New
Jersey and ranks fourth in sales among the Nation s department stores. It
is the home of the Bamberger Broadcasting Service, station WOR, a unit
of the Mutual Broadcasting System. Beginning with the personal charity
and civic contributions of Louis Bamberger and the late Felix Fuld, the
store has shown unusual ability to combine cultural and business interests.
It has sponsored symphony orchestras and opera performances, art and his
torical exhibits, symposia on public questions and educational activities. In
February 1938 the store staged a "panorama," entitled "New Jersey, One
of America s Great States," outlining the history and potentialities of New
Jersey.
18. The PENNSYLVANIA R.R. STATION, Raymond Plaza West,
Raymond Blvd. and Market St., is an imposing tribute to Newark s his
tory as a transportation center. Jointly constructed by the railroad and the
city and opened in 1935, it is used as a terminal for railroad trains, trol
leys, busses, and tube trains.
The main building, of neo-classic design, has two massive arched en
trances in a facade of limestone piers and glass. The architects, McKim,
Mead, and White, have designed and executed the building on an appro
priately monumental scale. Platforms to the north and south of the build-
LM. ^L.-~3Z ^-taaMF-tr- ta
PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD LIFT BRIDGE, NEWARK
334 CITIES AND TOWNS
ing are sheathed with monotone brick walls, pierced by a design of modern
fenestration and glass brick. Passengers reach the platforms by escalators
and stairways.
The waiting room is spacious and high-ceilinged. Decorative plaques rep
resent the advance of transportation from the canoe and horse to the rail
road and airplane. A blue ceiling, walnut benches, and four large hanging
globes of white bronze and flashed opal glass combine to make the atmos
phere of the room unusually cheerful. Citizens expect that the increasing
use of this terminal will show the necessity for improvement of its unim
pressive surroundings.
Directly east of the Pennsylvania station is a LIFT BRIDGE spanning
Passaic River over which run the railroad s tracks. Said to be an outstand
ing example of this type of bridge construction, it can be raised in feet
in 85 seconds to give 135 feet of clearance above mean high water. The
bridge measures 528 feet including approaches, and there are about 5,000
tons of steel in the superstructure.
CHINATOWN, Mulberry St. between Lafayette and Franklin Sts.,
was, until the post-War deportation of thousands of Chinese, one of the
most exotic and dangerous places in Newark. Broken windows and rusted
iron today in the once brightly illuminated Arcade, L. off Mulberry St.,
suggest little of the bazaars, jade shops, and tea houses that once attracted
thousands of visitors. The present chop-suey restaurants occupy sites where
gourmets once feasted on Chinese delicacies and where tong warfare and
unrestrained gambling reached the point of a public menace. At one time
Newark s Chinese population exceeded that of New York, and the section
supported a self-styled "Mayor" whose "edicts" city politicians heeded.
The number and importance of the Chinese is now insignificant.
19. CITY HALL, Broad St. between Greene and Franklin Sts., of late
French Renaissance design, was erected in 1906. The four- story limestone
structure, with its huge heavily ornamented dome, houses the city s admin
istrative offices. The architects, Mowbray, Uffinger and Ely, have been
criticized for sacrificing function and requirements to obtain an enormous
interior. Cited examples of this are the immense rotunda with wide bal
conies, and the inadequate stairways. Decorations in rococo style har
monize with the monumental interior.
20. FEDERAL BUILDING, facing Federal Square between Franklin
and Walnut Sts., is a ponderous neo-classical structure of conservative de
sign; Lehman and Totten were the architects. Opened in 1936, it houses
on the first floor the main post office and on the upper floors the United
States District Court and the offices of various Federal agencies. Critics
of the building hold that the interior hardly fulfills the promise of the
dignified exterior. The walls are finished with salmon marble, and the
ceiling is sky-blue over the entries.
21. The STEPHEN CRANE HOUSE, 14 Mulberry PI., is an unin
habited, neglected building in squalid surroundings suggestive of the at
mosphere of much of the author s writing. The Stephen Crane Association
made every effort to preserve it as a museum, but without success. Crane
was born November i, 1871, in the staid, red brick house in what was
NEWARK 335
then a fashionable section of the city. Last of 14 children of a Methodist
minister, he lived a life which clashed violently with his ecclesiastical New
Jersey background. When he was about three, the family moved to Bloom-
ington, then to Paterson, and then to Port Jervis, N. Y. At 16 he began
gathering news for his brother s news bureau in Asbury Park. He left
Syracuse University before completing his course and sought newspaper
employment in New York.
At this period he wrote Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, a harshly realistic
novel which publishers refused to handle. He published it himself, with
no financial success. While discouraged at the penury of the literary trade,
he wrote his masterpiece, The Red Badge of Courage, a Civil War story.
Following this success, he set out to learn of war at first hand by report
ing the Greco-Turkish and Spanish-American wars. At the end of the latter
he went to England, where he continued a friendship with Joseph Conrad.
Long a victim of tuberculosis, Crane succumbed in Germany in 1900, leav
ing his friends to speculate on the greatness he might have achieved had
he lived more than 30 years. He is buried in the family plot at Hillside,
N.J.
22. The L. E. WATERMAN PLANT (open by appointment), 140
Thomas St., was opened in Newark in 1921. The four-story building is of
red brick with cream trim. Within, 500 workers are employed chiefly in
the manufacture of ink, pen points and metal accessories. Barrels are made
elsewhere and shipped here for assembly. The most interesting sight in the
plant is the assembling of a fountain pen. In the MUSEUM on the second
floor an exhibit shows the development of the fountain pen. On display
are a gold-mounted pen that belonged to President William McKinley, the
pen used to sign the peace treaty of the Sino- Japanese War of 1894-95,
and a desk set taken to Little America in 1929 by Admiral Richard E.
Byrd.
23. LINCOLN PARK, Broad St., and CLINTON PARK, Washington
St. and Clinton Ave., mark the end of the main downtown business area.
In Clinton Park is J. Massey Rhind s excellent bronze reproduction of the
Verrochio STATUE OF BARTOLOMEO COLEONO, fifteenth-century Venetian
soldier. One of the few equestrian statues in the city, it was the gift of
Christian Feigenspan, Newark brewer. Because of the reported decay of
the original in Venice, this copy is considered of great value.
In Lincoln Park, opposite, neither statue nor tablet commemorates Lin
coln. The MEMORIAL FLAG POLE was sculptured by Charles Niehaus and
celebrates the World War victory.
24. TEMPLE B NAI JESHURUN, 783 High St., houses the State s
oldest Reformed Jewish congregation, organized in 1848. The present tem
ple and school were dedicated in December 1915. Standing on a hill, the
temple is of modified Moorish design, reminiscent of a mosque without
minarets.
25. The DOUGLASS AND HARRISON APARTMENTS, 1-117 Som
erset St., were designed as a slum clearance project exclusively for Negroes.
Owned by the Prudential Insurance Co., and originally characterized as
low-cost housing within the reach of the average Negro working family,
336 CITIES AND TOWNS
the project is in reality medium-cost housing with rentals ranging from
$8.50 to $10 a room, close to the level of average apartment rents in
Newark. The 12 brick buildings, 5 and 6 stories high, occupy 2 solid city
blocks; there are 754 units of 2 to 5 rooms each.
The project was developed with the close cooperation of city authorities.
After purchasing the land for $2,350,000, the insurance company resold
about three-fifths of it to the city for $1,200,000 for development by the
city for park purposes. Construction costs (approximately $1,800,000)
were reduced through the help of the city and the Civil Works Adminis
tration in grading the entire site; the strip of land between the buildings
is now maintained as a city park. The apartments, built in 1933 and 1935,
were named for Frederick Douglass, former slave and distinguished aboli
tionist leader, and Richard B. Harrison, "De Lawd" of the Negro play,
The Green Pastures.
26. PRINCE ST., between Spruce St. and Springfield Ave., resounds
with Jewish accents from pushcart peddlers at the curb and vigorous bar
gaining in kosher food stores and retail dry goods shops. Despite the many
synagogues along the six blocks, most of the Jewish merchants live else
where. The chief inhabitants of the flats above the stores are Baptist and
Methodist Negroes. When the pushcarts are closed down for the day, the
section changes from a little Ghetto to a little Harlem.
27. CITY SCHOOLS STADIUM, Bloomfield and Roseville Aves, is a
municipally owned, open-air amphitheater, seating more than 14,000,
used primarily for school athletics and educational programs. Band and
orchestra concerts, pageants, operas and dramatic spectacles have been pro
duced on the large shell stage.
28. In the FEIGENSPAN BREWERY (open by appointment), 50
Freeman St., originated a genuine Newark commercial slogan, "P.O.N."
Despite latter-day efforts to change its meaning to everything from "Pride
of the Nation" to "PON My Honor," the founder, Christian Feigenspan,
intended it to stand for "Pride of Newark." "P.O.N." achieved national
repute during Prohibition when, for seven years, while the plant itself was
closed, the illumined letters blazed from the building across the Newark
meadows, indicating that hope burned eternal in the brewer s breast.
The brewery, founded in 1875, consists of two square blocks of 20
red brick buildings which give the impression of a single building. In ad
dition to the brewing process, the plant affords a view of canning and bot
tling by gas compression. It employs 750 persons.
29. WEEQUAHIC (Ind., bead of creek) PARK, between Meeker
Ave. and city line (Hillside and Elizabeth), covers more than 300 acres
and includes a 9-hole golf course, 12 clay tennis courts, bridle path, sev
eral large recreation fields for football, baseball and soccer, and an 85-
acre, spring- fed lake stocked with game fish. Rowboats may be rented at
the boathouse at the northern end of the lake.
The park has the oldest trotting track in the State, where every Satur
day afternoon from May to October the Road Horse Association of New
Jersey holds races (free). A grandstand seating 5,000 adjoins the race
NEWARK AIRPORT
track. The southwestern side of the park is especially well landscaped and
contains a beautiful rose garden.
On DIVIDENT HILL, the highest point in the park, is a tablet mark
ing the scene of a meeting of 1668 at which the founders of Newark and
Elizabethtown reached a boundary agreement.
30. The WESTON ELECTRICAL INSTRUMENT PLANT (group
tours by appointment), 614 Frelinghuysen Ave., was founded in 1888 by
the Newark inventor and scientist, the late Dr. Edward Weston. As the
manufacturer of electrical, radio and aircraft instruments, Weston typifies
the power age in Newark industry.
In the half-dozen low, red brick buildings 1,200 workers make and
exhibit a variety of products that quickly demonstrate the dominance of
electricity in modern life. Outstanding perhaps is the "Photronic" photo
electric cell, developed by Doctor Weston in 1931. This cell can be made
to actuate any of a number of devices by its response to varying light
conditions. It was used at the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago
in 1933 to pick up rays from the star Arcturus to turn on the electric light
which officially opened the exposition.
Among Doctor Weston s other inventions are the first reliable instru
ment for measuring direct current, and several devices for blind flying and
landing in aviation.
338 CITIES AND TOWNS
31. NEWARK AIRPORT (open day and night), on US i, 3 m. SE.
from Broad and Market Sts., brings more advertising to the city in a week
than all the "Made in Newark" insignia achieve in a year. Busiest commer
cial airport in the world, it registers 125 scheduled take-offs and landings
daily, and about 100 others. Passengers in 1937 totaled 270,000; so many
of these were celebrities that two Newark newspapers run special airport
columns. It is estimated that more than 30 percent of all air traffic (pas
senger, mail and express) throughout the United States is cleared through
Newark airport, which serves as the terminal for New York City.
The flat fields and parking lots with their unkempt hangars are grad
ually being improved in better keeping with the precise operations which
chart and guide the planes. Municipally owned, the field covers about 600
acres ; its chief structures are the municipal administration building, built
with CWA funds in 1935, and the waiting rooms of the four commercial
air lines.
Although the port at present does not compare with Croydon in Lon
don or LeBourget in Paris in design and layout, it will be vastly benefited
by the new hangar under construction (1939) by the Works Progress Ad
ministration. The four major lines will be housed in one mammoth hangar,
i, no feet long and 150 feet wide, costing $3,900,000.
Opened in 1928 at a cost to date of $10,000,000, the airport was desig
nated the following year as the eastern airmail terminal. It quickly became
the eastern passenger travel center. Night landings and take-offs, requiring
a galaxy of lights and precision of action, provide a striking spectacle. The
heaviest traffic, however, is between 4:30 and 6:30 p.m.
32. PORT NEWARK, on Newark Bay adjoining the airport, has been
transformed in 30 years from a desolate marsh to a seaport terminal rep
resenting a public and private investment of more than $90,000,000. It
covers 2,200 acres, has 12,000 feet of marginal docks, including space for
20 freight steamers, and large warehouses.
POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
General Motors Plant, 8.9 m. (see Tour 1) ; Sip Manor House (1664), 13 m.
(see Tour 2) ; Davis House (1676), 3.2 m., Eagle Rock Reservation, 7.2 m. (see
Tour 9) ; Lionel Plant, 3.1 m. (see Tour 16).
Railroad Stations: East Orange Lackawanna Stations, N. Grove St., N. Arlington
Ave., Brick Church Plaza and Ampere Plaza, for Lackawanna R.R. ; Erie Stations,
Prospect St. and Brighton Ave., for Erie R.R. ; Orange Lackawanna Stations, Lacka
wanna Plaza and Highland Ave., ror Lackawanna R.R. ; Erie Station, Washington
St., for Erie R.R. ; South Orange Lackawanna Stations, Sloane St. and Montrose
Ave., for Lackawanna R.R. ; West Orange Erie Stations, Main St., Tory Cor., and
Llewellyn Ave., for Erie R.R. ; Mapleivood Lackawanna Station, Oakview Ave., for
Lackawanna R.R.
Bus Station: Orange Main and N. Essex Sts. for De Camp Lines.
Taxis: Rates vary from 3 50 to 500 per ride.
Traffic Regulations: Turns at intersections controlled by traffic lights. Watch signs
and curb markings for parking restrictions.
Accommodations: Five hotels in East Orange, several smaller hotels and tourists
homes in East Orange, Orange and West Orange.
Information Service: East Orange Chamber of Commerce and Civics, 19 S. Harri
son St. ; City Hall, Main St.
Motion Picture Houses: East Orange 4, Orange 4, South Orange i, West Orange 2,
Maplewood i.
Golf: West Orange Public Golf Course, Prospect Ave. bet. Eagle Rock and Mt.
Pleasant Aves., 18 holes, greens fees 5O0; Sat., Sun., holidays $1.50.
Annual Events: Orange Founders Day, February 9. West Orange Horse Show,
October. East Orange Art Exhibition, spring and fall. South Orange Dog Show,
May; Orange Lawn Tennis Club Tournament, May; Horse Show, October.
MAPLEWOOD and the four ORANGES (Orange, East Orange, West
Orange, and South Orange) are not governmentally a unified city, but all
together they constitute a homogeneous community. Rising gradually from
the lowlands around Newark upward along the slopes of the Watchungs
to the west, the five municipalities pride themselves upon a mountain-plain
relationship with the nearby metropolis. The large percentage of well-
to-do residents among the 162,000 population gives this relationship a
sociological as well as a geographical reality.
These municipalities do not resent their title of "typical American sub
urbs." It is grounded in civic independence, a high proportion of one- and
two-family homes, and a paucity of grimy manufacturing plants. Residents,
however, refine this distinction yet another stage by referring officially to
the Oranges and Maplewood as "New York s most beautiful suburbs."
The justice of these two designations helps to define the Oranges and
Maplewood. The typical achievements are the efforts largely of the older
citizens, Jerseymen for several generations. This stock has combined with
that of the 15,000 commuters of more recent origin to create a cultural
atmosphere that has produced the Art Center of the Oranges, the South
Orange-Maplewood Adult Education Center, homes which are show-places
339
340 CITIES AND TOWNS
of the State, exceptional transportation facilities, and branches of smart
Fifth Avenue shops.
Men of wealth and position from New York and Newark, among
them many educational and religious leaders, have built handsome estates
on the hills and in the valleys alongside those of financial and commercial
tycoons. While the 442,337 people of Newark are represented in Who s
Who in America by 77 names, 130 are listed from the 162,000 popula
tion of the Oranges and Maplewood.
Indicative also of the personality of the composite community is its
politics. The Republican-Democratic division follows almost precisely the
economic cleavage. Thus, wealthy and conservative South Orange annually
returns a 5-2 Republican victory, while the large working-class population
of Orange votes Democratic, 8-5. An almost even split usually results in
West Orange, where fashionable Llewellyn Park elbows the Edison plant.
Maplewood s slightly larger upper middle-class group explains its 2-1 Re
publicanism over East Orange s 5-3.
These non-Republican islands are in many senses the obstacle to com
plete homogeneity. In full view of the mountain castles lie rows of squalid
homes in Orange and West Orange, and close by the superb East Orange
apartment houses are Negro and poor-white tenements. The community
has done handsomely in providing traditional public benefits, although it
has not experimented far in economic reconstruction.
Bankers and brokers willingly support a splendid school system, to
which most of them send their children in preference to private schools.
Parks and playgrounds have been developed extensively for those who can
not stroll on their own greensward nor play on their own tennis courts.
Health standards in most of the towns are high.
The Oranges and Maplewood have been markedly progressive in public
consideration of family problems. A mock-trial in 1935 in which youth
convicted its elders of neglect and mismanagement resulted in an Institute
of Marriage and the Home, part of the Institute of Family Relations spon
sored by the five towns Council of Social Agencies and Welfare.
The desire to nurture these urban advantages without incurring the dis
advantages of large urbanization perhaps best explains the community s
faint disdain for Newark, the neighboring manufacturing center. This su
periority is underlain with a constant fear of governmental absorption by
the metropolis of Essex County. No less than the corporation executive on
the hill, the Italian truck farmer in the valley glowers at the thought of
union with Newark; to each, the suburban city represents the triumph of
his individuality. Thus it follows that the Oranges and Maplewood agree
wholeheartedly, even too wholeheartedly, with Mark Twain s roguish re
mark: "There s something nice about Newark. I think it s the suburbs."
East Orange
EAST ORANGE (170 alt., 68,020 pop.) is the largest of "The Oranges"
and closest to the center of Newark, being less than two miles distant via
THE ORANGES AND MAPLEWOOD 341
Orange Street. Two of its three main streets, Central Avenue and Main
Street, are closely packed for blocks with shopping areas marked by spe
cialty shops, good restaurants, and business establishments. These sections
achieve a note of smartness with attractive branches of New York depart
ment stores.
Street after street of resolute late- Victorian frame houses characterize
East Orange as a residential center. Except for an occasional bungalow,
recent building has been limited to large apartment houses that tower
above the city s spacious, landscaped one-family dwellings. An uneven
glow from the gas street lamps and a vista of fine oaks and maples in
variably warn the Newarker that he is "over the line."
Newarkers first "went over" to what is now East Orange in 1678. The
community remained a part of Orange until the Civil War when its Re
publicanism forced it to break from the parent city and assume the inde
pendent status of a town, and the name of East Orange. For the balance
of the century it grew slowly; its population was only 30,000 when it was
incorporated as a city in 1899.
Although East Orange has never become a manufacturing center, since
1900 a number of industrial plants have been established throughout the
city. Among the more important products are electric motors and genera
tors and miscellaneous machinery.
Citizens take pride in their $1,000,000 MUNICIPAL CENTER, com
pleted in 1929. The buildings are impressively designed in Italian Renais
sance style, and they house one of the State s acknowledged exemplary
governments. Outstanding achievements of the mayor and council govern
ment are the city s health and recreation programs. The public school sys
tem has a high ranking, and the library system includes the central build
ing and three branches.
The city is the home of two institutions of higher education. UPSALA
COLLEGE, Springdale Ave. and Prospect St., was founded in 1893 and
is conducted by the Swedish Lutheran Church. Approximately one-third
of its 400 students who take liberal arts courses are of Swedish extraction.
All of the 14 college buildings, except a girls dormitory and the chapel,
are old frame mansions renovated for educational use. The PANZER
COLLEGE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HYGIENE, 139 Glen-
wood Ave., has an enrollment of 150 students who prepare for teaching
physical education. The plant consists of an administration building, a
large gymnasium, a library, a fully equipped laboratory and several class
rooms.
Orange
ORANGE (170 alt., 35,399 pop.) adjoins East Orange to the west and
is the problem mother of all the other Oranges. As her offspring broke
away they became so prosperous that Orange is now a poor relation whose
behavior is sometimes a matter of family concern. Because its location in
the valley of the Watchungs lacks the scenic beauty of the newer towns,
the city has failed to achieve their social and financial eminence. Though
342 CITIES AND TOWNS
often snubbed for teas and dinners, Orange sits in at all family conclaves
but not as matriarch.
Smallest in area of the five communities, Orange s inability to grow in
any direction helps to explain its cultural and social lag. Its continued
leadership in industry has earned it the largest Negro and foreign popula
tions of any of the suburbs.
Orange was settled in 1678 with the aristocratic name of the Mountain
Plantations. It is believed to have been afterward renamed in honor of
William, Prince of Orange, who became William III of England. Up to
the Revolution, Orange farmers were noted for their resistance to the Colo
nial government and were quick in 1776 to come down from the moun
tains to fight the British. After the war the governing Presbyterians char
acteristically turned to education, founding an academy in 1785 and a
public library in 1793.
The industrial revolution brought the shoe industry to Orange, where
it flourished as the leading manufacture until a decade after the Civil War.
When it began to wane under competition from New England, it was re
placed by hat manufacturing, for which the town was renowned until the
turn of the century. Since that time Orange has been a center for electrical
supplies, drugs and calculating machines.
Concentrated on Main Street, the business district of Orange has the
air of a neighborhood shopping area of a large city. Stores are old and
rather small and tend toward "bargain centers." Into them pour the fac
tory workers from homes along the side streets. Like nearby Newark,
Orange has the commission form of government, and its civic history un
der this form has been less happy than the administrations of the other
Oranges and Maplewood.
West Orange
WEST ORANGE (190 alt., 24,327 pop.), immediately to the west of
Orange, presents the sharpest contrasts within any one of the five com
munities. A small shopping district concentrated along Main Street sepa
rates age-worn workers homes and several small factories from the elabo
rate mansions and magnificent landscape of Llewellyn Park.
The catalyzer between these extremes is the spirit of Thomas A. Edison.
Rows of two-story frame houses, bordered by neatly kept lawns, are over
shadowed by the steel-concrete buildings of the EDISON PLANT (open
on application), 51 Lakeside Ave. To this site the inventor moved in 1887
from Menlo Park and here he experimented with and perfected the mov
ing picture machine, the phonograph and the alkaline storage battery. To
day the plant occupies 29 acres and employs 2,100 workers in the manufac
ture of storage and primary batteries, portland cement, electrical controls,
and the Ediphone for business dictation. Plans are under way to make a
permanent museum of EDISON S LABORATORY (open 9-5 weekdays).
In front of the building stand two four-wheeled car trucks, parts of the
first and second commercial electric locomotives built by Edison in 1880
THE ORANGES AND MAPLEWOOD 343
and 1882. Inside are a replica of the first phonograph, the actual kineto-
phone of 1912 (a talking machine), and numerous Edison writings and
awards. It was to this West Orange laboratory that reporters came on Feb
ruary n, 1927, when Edison celebrated his 8oth birthday. At that time
the old scientist was asked, "Is there a God?" The answer, written on a
slip of paper, was: "I do not know do you?"
Before the arrival of Edison, West Orange was but a small town which
had separated from Orange in 1862. Since the establishment of the plant,
it has developed into a well-run, modernized community, distinguished for
its own suburb of LLEWELLYN PARK (gates open only to visitors of
residents). Home of the Colgates, the Edisons, and of Maj. Gen. George
B. McClellan, Governor of New Jersey after the Civil War, the area re
tains the unspoiled beauty of the mountains supplemented by skillful land
scaping. It was here that the first large-scale naturalization of such flowers
as the crocus, narcissus and jonquil was undertaken in this country.
South Orange
SOUTH ORANGE (150 alt., 13,630 pop.) lies due south of Orange and
West Orange. It is the smallest in population, most beautiful in natural
setting, and richest in purse of the five communities. Its mountainous to
pography helps to maintain its social atmosphere.
With the exception of the shopping center on South Orange Avenue in
the valley, the village is mostly a succession of vast, beautiful estates rising
up the slopes of the First Watchung Mountains. On the East Orange
boundary are a few small real estate developments where bungalows and
two-family houses are adapted to more modest purses. The population in
cludes 300 Negroes, 800 Italians, and several Japanese, the latter employed
on the mountainside estates.
Known originally as the Orange Dale section of Orange, South Orange
was established as a village in 1869. Governed by a non-salaried board
of trustees and a president, it is one of the few incorporated villages in the
State. Its few manufactures include toilet preparations, bituminous prod
ucts, and cement blocks. The village has pooled its educational resources
with those of Maplewood to achieve a first-class school system. It has been
a leader in the crusade to exterminate the Jersey mosquito.
The village is the home of SETON HALL COLLEGE, South Orange
Ave., founded in 1856 by the Catholic clergy of Newark Diocese. Since
its separation from the religious seminary 10 years ago, the school has de
veloped a cosmopolitan student body which now numbers 419. It has five
buildings of stone quarried in nearby Belleville.
Maplewood
MAPLEWOOD (140 alt., 21,321 pop.) lies immediately south of South
Orange and some four miles west of Newark s business center. Hence by
344 CITIES AND TOWNS
no stretch of the compass could it properly be called "North Orange," as
it so often is by Newarkers fond of rounding out the nomenclature of the
Oranges. Incorporated in 1922, Maplewood is the youngest and in many
ways the most progressive member of the Orange family.
Considerably less baronial than South Orange, with which it is closely
associated, the town has a large percentage of owner-occupied one-family
houses, smart and modern in appearance. There is a small shopping dis
trict on Springfield Avenue, similar to that in South Orange, another on
Maplewood Avenue, and a few factories. Maplewood is especially prouc
of its recent growth, a 350 percent population increase in the 15 years
following 1920.
Outstanding is COLUMBIA HIGH SCHOOL, 17 Parker Ave., used
with two junior high schools and nine elementary grammar schools jointly
by both Maplewood and South Orange. The high school houses the South
Orange-Maplewood Adult Education Institute, a program of instruction
and lectures, many of which are conducted by professors from Princeton
University.
Maplewood s most historic spot is the TIMOTHY BALL HOUSE
(open), 425 Ridgewood Ave., built in 1743 and excellently preserved. At
this two-and-one-half-story Colonial farmhouse of frame and stone, George
Washington was a frequent visitor during the Revolution. The commander
in chief was related on his mother s side to Timothy. The building was
altered in 1772 and again in 1919 when it was opened as Washington Inn.
Outside the old house still stands the historic walnut tree to which Wash
ington used to tie his horse.
Railroad Stations: Erie Station, Main Ave. and Jefferson St., for Erie R.R. ; Van
Houten and Passaic Aves. for Lackawanna R.R.
Bus Stations: 665 Main Ave. for Greyhound; 686 Main Ave. for Manhattan Transit;
707 Main Ave. for Public Service, Inter-State, Inter-City, New Jersey-New York
Transit and local busses.
Local Busses: Fare 50.
Traffic Regulations : No turns on red light. Parking meters throughout business dis
trict at car-length intervals, 50 per hour.
Accommodations: Hotels, tourist homes.
Information Service: Traffic Bureau, Dept. of Public Safety, 336 Passaic St.
Motion Picture Houses: Five.
Swimming: Y.W.C.A. and Y.M.C.A.; Passaic Boys Club, Pulaski Park (Passaic
River).
PASSAIC (70 alt., 62,959 pop.) is a hustling textile town that, in spite of
perennial complaints, has not yet rid itself of the double line of railroad
tracks which run for about eight blocks through the center of the city.
Bounded on one side by Passaic River, 15 miles upstream from Newark
Bay, the city is bordered on the other three sides by the semicircular area
of residential Clifton.
The long scar of the Erie Railroad main line across the face of the city
is Passaic s identification mark. Each day more than 70 trains pass through
the center of town, congesting traffic, blackening the streets and buildings
with their smoke. At the crossings are darkened, two-story gateman s tow
ers, each topped by a slanting roof and a stove-pipe chimney. On the curbs
are silvered wooden booths for police who operate the traffic signals.
Main Avenue is the shopping center, lined by two- to four-story build
ings with offices on the upper floors, and neon signs before tightly packed
shops of modern appearance on the sidewalk level. Towering above these
structures is an n -story bank building, the local skyscraper.
Main Avenue also is Passaic s residential dividing line. From the ridge
on the west, the broad, twisting streets of the residential district dip sud
denly into the center of the town. One- family houses predominate; some
are of modern architecture, while there are many imposing wood dwellings
of the Georgian Colonial type, well spaced with deep well-kept lawns.
East of Main Avenue a progressively shabbier area stretches down to
the river. Here the streets are narrow, with frame dwellings and congested
tenements crowded beside huge factories. This is the "Dundee Section,"
where one-half the population is crammed into one-sixth of the city s area.
Living in this section are most of the foreign-born who comprise about
one-third the total population. Numerically the Poles are first, followed in
345
346 CITIES AND TOWNS
turn by the Italians, Russians, Hungarians, Slovaks, Germans, Austrians,
Dutch, Scotch, English, and Irish.
Through this area flows the sluggish Dundee Canal with its trash-laden
bottom and oily scum. Almost everywhere are churches, some of them
merely remodeled homes; others spread out over half a block or more.
Twenty years ago the "shawled woman of Passaic" symbolized the pov
erty of workers in the Dundee section. Today shawls are seen only on the
older women ; most of the others wear berets, or go hatless. The foreign-
born cling to the language of their native countries, and many little sta
tionery stores carry a full quota of foreign-language newspapers.
Many Old World customs and folkways are perpetuated in church cere
monials and lodge celebrations. The Russian bride and groom still eat
from the same plate with the same fork at their wedding, and Italians
still celebrate their saints days with open-air, electrically lit pageantry,
although these festivals are becoming increasingly commercialized.
Parochial schools have kept alive the mother tongues by teaching for
eign languages. Lately this practice has been furthered by language schools
formed by private organizations whose members are anticlerical. Cultural
organizations such as the Polish National Home, the Slovak Catholic Sokol
(falcon or hero), and the Matica Slovenska (Slovak mother) foster an ap
preciation of the old customs and new developments in the homelands.
The Sokol, for example, publishes two national newspapers and sponsors
a boys organization comparable to the Boy Scouts; the Matica Slovenska
is the chief Slovak cultural institute, with headquarters in Czechoslovakia.
Passaic is one of the centers of the Nation s woolen industry. One of
its mills the Botany Worsted Mills claims to be the world s largest
complete unit for the manufacture of woolens. Other important industries
include handkerchief factories, with a daily output of 1,000,000 (almost
two-thirds of the Nation s total), rubber manufacturing, and garment
making.
Dutch traders were the first settlers of Passaic (Ind., peaceful valley).
In 1678 Hartman Michielsen sailed up Passaic River from Manhattan,
purchased Menehenicke Island, now Pulaski Park, from the Lenni Lenape
Indians, and established a fur trading post. In 1685 Michielsen, together
with his three brothers and ten others from Communipaw (Jersey City),
acquired the extensive Acquackanonk Patent. Other Dutch adventurers
followed the "Fourteen Farmers of the Acquackanonk."
During the Revolutionary War, Passaic, then known as Acquackanonk
Bridge, was occupied by Washington s troops, retreating from the British.
Lord Cornwallis and the British Army later entered the village. After the
war Passaic continued its slow, steady growth as an important river port
and agricultural center.
When the railroads began after 1830 to push their way through the Pas
saic valley, shipping and farming gradually gave way before industrial
undertakings. The Dutch, Irish, and the few German families that had
settled the area as farmers were followed by Slavic immigrants, attracted
by the rising industry. In 1854 its name was changed to Passaic after the
river around which its life centered. Six years after Passaic was chartered
PASSAIC 347
as a city (1873), the ^ rst trickle of immigrants from Central Europe be
gan. George B. Waterhouse, head of a concern of manufacturers of shoddy,
brought seven Hungarian immigrants to Passaic from Castle Garden, the
Ellis Island of that day. In 1890, the year the Botany Worsted Mills were
established, Polish families started to arrive in a steady stream that eventu
ally made them the predominant national group in the city s population.
What newspapers called the first labor riot in the city s history took
place on May 5, 1906, during construction of the Passaic Herald building.
The police and fire departments, aided by citizens, fought with striking
members of an excavators union. About one-third of the strikers were
wounded, and many were arrested.
Organization of textile labor was long delayed by the Wool Council,
official employment agency for the five largest manufacturers, and by a city
ordinance that prohibited meetings without a permit. January 1926, how
ever, saw the beginning of a textile workers strike, destined to attain na
tional importance because of the issue of civil liberties involved. It was
precipitated by the discharge of a workers committee that was asking the
restoration of a 10 percent pay cut at the Botany Mills and spread to other
mills until some 15,000 workers were out.
A year of strife followed, marked at times by police attempts to sup
press public meetings as illegal. This brought liberal and radical leaders
from all over the country to the scene to protest the restrictions on free
speech. Several arrests followed. Norman Thomas, later Socialist candidate
for President of the United States, was hauled down from the crotch of a
tree from where he had attempted to address a meeting. He was arrested,
but the case was never prosecuted. Ultimately the United Textile Workers
took over the strike. The mill owners finally agreed to union recognition,
and to arbitration. The union did not hold its strength during the ensuing
decade, but under the Textile Workers Organizing Committee (formed
1936) a new unionization drive began.
During prohibition bootleggers and hijackers battled constantly for con
trol of the Passaic area. So extensive were the operations that it was only
mildly exciting to the citizenry when a pipe line was discovered under Pas
saic River conveying molasses from Wallington, on the opposite shore. In
Passaic, the molasses was manufactured into alcohol and then pumped
back to Wallington.
POINTS OF INTEREST
1. The VAN SCHOTT HOUSE, 125 Lexington Ave., in Revolutionary
times, was the parsonage of the old Dutch Reformed Church. Although
the building has lost many of its original Dutch lines, it retains a pitched
roof bearing two cupolas and wide verandas with white columns. The
house, now occupied as an undertaking establishment, received its name
from Dr. Gerald J. Van Schott, who purchased and renovated it in 1899.
2. The TORNQVIST CORNICE, a curious piece of i9th century hand
work, is perched on top of a garage, one of three pinkish brown buildings
belonging to a sheet metal company, at 175 Washington PL The cornice,
348 CITIES AND TOWNS
about 25 feet long and painted a dirty buff, has an intricate floral design
with decorative urns at each end. A sign tells that it was made by Peter
Tornqvist for the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876.
3. In ARMORY PARK, between Gregory Ave. and Prospect St., is an
old BURIAL VAULT, constructed as a morgue c. 1690. Built into a grass-
covered mound, it has a brown sandstone front about 10 feet high; iron
bars permit a free view of the interior. In 1921, during development of
the park, several bodies were found in the vault. One was that of a fully
uniformed Union soldier.
4. In CITY HALL PARK, Paulison Ave. S. of Passaic Ave., is the
CITY HALL, a square brown sandstone structure, three stones in height,
with towers at each corner. The building was planned in 1872 as a home
by Charles McKnight Paulison, prominent citizen, but the panic of 1873
overtook Paulison before his mansion was completed. The unfinished house
was bought and turned over to the city in 1891 by a group of interested
citizens; the city then completed it. City Hall retains the name of Pauli-
son s Castle. It stands on a steep hill called Tony s Nose ; one Passaic his
torian explains that the name is derived from Gen. Anthony Howe, whose
British troops drove the Continentals from the city. There is no record of
Gen. Anthony Howe at Passaic. Anthony Wayne, however, encamped there
Dec. 9, 1778.
5. SS. PETER AND PAUL S RUSSIAN ORTHODOX GREEK-
CATHOLIC CHURCH, NE. corner Monroe and 3rd Sts., is said to have
been built with money donated by the Czar in 1911. The building is
square, resembling churches in Moscow, with a huge dome and minarets
at each corner. The congregation is sharply divided (1939) over whether
the church shall be placed under the jurisdiction of a bishop sympathetic
to the U.S.S.R. or one who, faithful to the Czar, fled during the Revolu
tion. Litigation and even physical combat have marked the dispute.
6. The SITE OF ACQUACKANONK LANDING, 139-153 River
Drive, shows little sign of its original activity. Early in the i8th century
products from miles around were hauled here for shipment to New York.
During its heyday, the Landing was a center of amusement ; around it were
grouped the stores and taverns that attracted farmers. Only a few bulk
heads and pilings remain.
Railroad Stations: Erie Station, Market St. and Railroad Ave., for Erie R.R.; Lacka-
wanna Station, Lackawanna Plaza and Marshall St., for Lackawanna R.R.; Madison
Ave. and Ellison St. for New York, Susquehanna and Western R.R.
Bus Stations: Market and Church Sts. for Public Service, Inter-City and Manhattan
Lines ; Ellison St. at City Hall for Public Service and independent lines.
Local Busses: Fare 50 each zone.
Taxis: 250 in city limits.
Traffic Regulations: Left turns may be made at nearly all intersections. No right
turns on red lights. Watch street signs for parking restrictions and one-way streets.
Parking meters in business section, 50 per hour.
Accommodations: One first-class and several other hotels in center of city.
Information Service: Alexander Hamilton Hotel, Market and Church Sts.; Traffic
Department; Room 15, City Hall, Market and Washington Sts.
Motion Picture Houses : Ten, one with vaudeville.
Athletic Fields: Hinchliffe Stadium, Liberty and Maple Sts.; Eastside Park, E. end
of Broadway at Passaic River; Westside Park, Totowa and Preakness Aves.; Sandy
Hill Park, Market and Carroll Sts.; Pennington Park, McBride Ave. and Nagle St.
Swimming: Barbour s Pond, Garret Mountain Reservation, S. end of New St., free.
Tennis: Eastside and Westside Parks.
Golf: Passaic County Course, 27 holes, greens fee for county residents 750 week
days, Sat. $i, Sun. and holidays $1.25; for nonresidents $i weekdays, Sat., Sun.,
and holidays $2 (before noon), $1.50 (after noon) ; N. on W. Broadway to Union
Ave., L. to Totowa Rd., R. l]/ 2 m.
Annual Events: Industrial Exhibit, January 24; Easter Sunrise Service, Garret Moun
tain; Model Boat Regatta, May; Festival of Nations, June.
PATERSON (84 alt, 138,513 pop.) is one of the few American cities
that have turned out almost exactly as they were planned. Alexander
Hamilton envisaged a great industrial city at the Great Falls of the Passaic,
and at the site he chose has developed the third largest city of the State
and the manufacturing and commercial center for 500,000 people in
northern New Jersey.
Built mainly on higher ground lying within the hairpin curve of Passaic
River eighteen miles from its mouth at Newark Bay, Paterson is shadowed
on the southeast by the rocky slope of Garret Mountain. The tightly
built business center is separated from the chief residential area by the
Erie Railroad tracks, elevated on an embankment and a series of bridges.
Above the rock-walled chasm of Passaic Falls the river s original beauty
has been largely preserved in a well-landscaped park; downstream, at the
opposite end of the city, another fine park stretches to the bank. Between
the two parks the stony channel is hemmed by brick-walled factories or
dull frame houses, and spanned by a number of bridges. Too shallow for
navigation, the river serves only as a source for power at the Falls.
349
PASSAIC FALLS AND HYDROELECTRIC PLANT, PATERSON
The general appearance of the city bespeaks its industrial history. The
greatest obstacle to order and symmetry is the random location within its
8.36 square miles of ubiquitous mill buildings. They are usually three- and
four-story structures of dusty brick with rows of high windows running
the length of each floor. Scores of manufacturers may occupy partitioned
shops in a single building. Most of the mills are built flush with the side
walk ; the monotonous clatter of the looms echoes up and down the street.
Tall water towers usually stand next to the buildings.
The millworkers home often is a ramshackle tenement, or else a plain
two-family house of frame construction. Crowded in the river section,
sometimes braced against the old stone walls of the channel itself, or
standing in lonely clusters on the outskirts of the city, these buildings gen
erally lack the brightness of paint and flowers and grassplots. The impres
sion is one of faded grays, browns and mustard yellows. Paterson s real
color, usually missed by the visitor, is in the gay fabrics woven on the
looms.
Artisans, small merchants, and others of the middle-income group have
fairly modern homes, but the best residential area is the Eastside. Here are
lawns and shrubbery in abundance and trim rows of maples on every
street. The houses range from small and neatly designed structures of brick
or frame to pretentious stucco dwellings in the Spanish style, equipped
with tennis courts, and three-car garages. Some of these homes rest upon
PATERSON 351
high ground overlooking the broad curve of Passaic River and offering a
distant view of Manhattan s skyscrapers.
Lying between the Eastside and the shopping district is a section of
modern apartment houses, churches and older houses, some with turrets
and stone towers reminiscent of the period when a man demonstrated
architecturally that his house was his castle.
The business life of the city is concentrated chiefly on three thorough
fares: Main Street, Broadway, between Main and Paterson Streets, and the
section of Market Street that lies between the Erie Railroad Station and
Main. An unusual number of banks of varying late Victorian architecture
dominate the downtown district. Two up-to-date department stores, the
one modern hotel, the leading motion picture house, and a miscellany of
smaller shops and restaurants give the feeling of a shopping area. North
east of Market Street is Broadway, a conglomeration of drygoods stores,
open-air markets, and bargain centers which serve the majority of the in
dustrial population.
Paterson residents are known as walkers. Taxicab drivers earn little,
despite the attraction of exceedingly low rates. It is a common saying that
to walk twice around the City Hall is to meet half of your friends. Local
news and gossip often travel faster by word of mouth than by publication
in the local newspapers.
For a century Paterson has been a nationally known proving ground in
the struggle between employers and workers. Its industrial reputation as
"The Silk City" has been balanced by its renown for hard-fought strikes,
many resulting from technological improvements in the weaving industry
elsewhere that have spelled meager wages and the stretchout for weavers
operating Paterson s old-fashioned looms.
Since the city has 25,000 union members, much of the talk concerns
labor conditions. So conscious is the average Paterson worker of the city s
labor history that the dates of marriages, trips, and other personal events
are commonly fixed by the year of an important strike. A Paterson strike
converts the downtown district into a huge picket line and a mass meeting.
In recent years the dyers union has turned out as many as 5,000 members
on a single picket line.
The city s reputation for labor disputes has for years distressed all the
elements involved the labor organizations, the chamber of commerce, and
the city officials. In 1936 the city administration sought a solution by estab
lishing The Industrial Commission with an expert in industrial problems
as consultant. The law provides representation on the seven-man commit
tee for mill owners, the bar, bankers, manufacturers, the chamber of com
merce, service organizations, labor, and the mayor, ex officio.
Although its main purpose is to strengthen Paterson s industries, the
commission also aims to anticipate labor difficulties and to avoid strikes by
conferences and arbitration. It played a conspicuous part in the silk settle
ment of June 1937, and intervened in a number of other disputes, but by
its nature lacks the power to alter fundamental economic maladjustments.
Business leaders incline to the belief that outside agitators are the cause of
strikes. The millworkers retort that $10 weekly wages are the reason; and
352 CITIES AND TOWNS
the larger manufacturers, who would prefer to pay better wages, declare
that they are helpless in the face of Paterson s own brand of sweatshop
competition, the family shop.
The proprietors of these shops are known as "cockroach bosses." The
term, coined by a young girl organizer during the 1931 strike, has been
accepted with self -contempt by the family shop bosses themselves, who
believe in organization to protect themselves against the price-cutting con
verters (jobbers) but cannot stay organized.
These 400 manufacturers constitute the "curb exchange," a sidewalk
trading place on Washington Street between Ellison and Market Streets.
From early morning until late afternoon the manufacturers mill around,
selling raw silk, buying finished silk, sight unseen; here family-shop op
erators contract to weave the converters raw silk on a commission basis.
Only acts of God and man, such as stormy weather or an Oriental war,
clear the place. Even more than the large manufacturer, the cockroach
boss is sensitive to the tide of Asiatic affairs.
Although scores of silk mills have moved from Paterson and few of the
remaining shops have even as many as 100 employees, the industry still
produces every kind of goods from fancy ribbons to coffin linings. The
dominant industry is silk dyeing, whose 15,000 workers handle 75 percent
of the Nation s textile output. Other important manufactures of Paterson
are men s shirts, women s underwear, airplane motors, and other metal
products.
The variety of Paterson s population equips it for an international out
look. More than 30 percent of the population is foreign born. Italians,
Jews, Syrians, Poles, Germans, Russians, and Irish predominate. They form
the backbone of the trade union movement and they have brought to Pat
erson a keen European interest in the arts and sports.
When the city is not talking labor problems, it is listening to concerts
in music halls, participating in open forums at churches or "Y s," attend
ing amateur theatricals, or using one of the city s many playgrounds. Pater
son has drawn on its own character to attract cultural events and entertain
ments. This has been achieved, on the one hand, by capital s traditional
patronage of the arts, and on the other by labor s quest for personal de
velopment.
Dutch settlers were early attracted to the great cataract on the Passaic
which had been described to them by the Indians. In 1679 they obtained
the first tract of land within the present bounds of Paterson. Many of the
Dutch pioneers bore names still common in the city. For more than a cen
tury the Falls were merely an attraction for visitors, and the settlement re
mained small.
Then in 1791 Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, helped
form the Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures (S.U.M.). The
New Jersey Legislature voted the company perpetual exemption from
county and township taxes and gave it the right to hold property, improve
rivers, build canals, and raise $100,000 by lottery. The company selected,
from a number of sites offered, the Great Falls of the Passaic River, which
at that time had "no more than ten houses." Hamilton had favored this
PATERSON 353-
place, which he had seen during the Revolution, but he "did not make
public this idea of his at the time, for fear that some of the men who did
not live near the Passaic Falls might not contribute." Money was set aside
by the S.U.M. for factories, and Major Pierre L Enfant, designer of Wash
ington, D. C, was hired to build a system of raceways.
Paterson grew out of the Society s 700 acres above and below the Pas
saic Falls and was named for William Paterson, then Governor of New
Jersey. It was a company town, and its workers began to exhibit signs
of dissatisfaction. S.U.M. records tells of "disorderly" calico printers as-
early as 1794. This resulted in the closing of the mill the first lock-out
in American history and the forerunner of a long string of industrial
struggles.
The town continued to grow as an industrial center. When one industry
failed, others replaced it. About 1825 Paterson became known as the
"Cotton Town of the United States." Oxen are reputed to have provided
power for the first cotton spinning here in a mill known as the Bull
House.
In 1828 Paterson gave America its first factory strike when cotton work
ers quit their looms to protest a change in the lunch hour. The owners
had asserted that the health and comfort of child workers would be im
proved by a i o clock dinner instead of a meal at 12, making a more equal
division of the day. The employees countered with a surprise demand for
reduction of working hours from 13^/2 to I2> Carpenters, masons and
mechanics of Paterson also walked out, the first recorded instance of a
sympathy strike in the United States. Although the strike was lost, it made
a strong impression on the community, and the owners afterward restored
the 12 o clock lunch hour.
In 1831 the Morris Canal, penetrating the coal fields of Pennsylvania,
was opened. The railroad came to town a year later when the tracks of the
Paterson and Hudson River Railroad were laid. Both the canal and the
railroad gave impetus to the town s development. In 1836 Samuel Colt
established his mill, and the original Colt repeating revolvers were manu
factured. In 1837 John Clark s modest machine shop produced one of the
earliest American locomotives, the Sandusky, which was fashioned after an
imported English model. Within 44 years 5,871 engines were made in
Paterson and shipped to all parts of North and South America.
Silk manufacturing was permanently introduced to Paterson in 1840
when a plant under the supervision of John Ryle was established in the
Old Gun Mill. By 1850 the new industry surpassed cotton and Paterson
became known as the "Silk City." One year later the town was incorpo
rated, and by 1860 its population reached approximately 19,600. Attracted
by the rising silk industry, immigrants from Ireland, Germany, Italy, and
Russia poured into Paterson, so that by 1870 the city had enough skilled
workers to handle two-thirds of the raw silk imported into the United
States.
Many of the foreign workers had been forced to flee Europe for cham
pioning various liberal causes. When, in 1886, conditions in local silk
mills became unbearable, they led in calling a three-hour strike. The next
354 CITIES AND TOWNS
important strike was a three-week walk-out in 1902, led by McQueen and
Grossman, two Philosophic Anarchists.
That year brought a series of major disasters to the city. A fire started
on February 8 and destroyed almost 500 buildings, including the City Hall
and the entire business section. It was halted a mile from its starting point
with the help of Jersey City and Hackensack firemen, who fought the
blaze from roofs. Ruins of the fire had barely cooled when on March 2
the swollen Passaic River engulfed the lower portions of the city and
swept away bridges, homes and buildings, causing damage of more than
$1,000,000. Several months later a tornado struck the city, uprooting trees
and houses and crippling vital services.
The silk industry reached its peak in 1910 when 25,000 workers in 350
large plants wove close to 30 percent of the silk manufactured in this coun
try. Three years later all mills came to a standstill when workers, under
the leadership of the Industrial Workers of the World, struck for the
maintenance of the two-loom system (two looms for each worker to tend)
against the owners plans for an increased number.
The workers walked out on February 1 5 ; the employers raised the
American flag on their empty mills and declared a lock-out. Carlo Tresca,
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, "Big Bill" Haywood, and John Reed, the young
Harvard poet, came to lead the picket lines. When one picketer was killed,
Haywood led 15,000 workers in the funeral procession. School children
struck in sympathy with their parents, and gigantic mass meetings were
held in the neighboring borough of Haledon, whose residents were largely
sympathetic. Reed, who was jailed during the walk-out, staged the famous
"Paterson Pageant" in Manhattan s Madison Square Garden for the bene
fit of the strikers. It was the greatest strike in Paterson history, but the
workers went back to their looms in July, defeated.
In 1924, 20,000 workers waged an unsuccessful fight against the four-
loom system. Manufacturers, blaming labor troubles, began hunting for
sites with lower taxes, cheaper power, and more docile workers. By 1925
the exodus had begun. There were 700 plants then, but the factories were
much smaller than formerly.
Although Paterson is still the largest single silk-producing center in the
country, the industry has been seriously curtailed. Reasons for the decline
are: antiquated plants that are unable to compete with newer mills of the
South, Pennsylvania, and New England; the introduction of rayon; and
the break-down of large units into small "cockroach" shops. Today 4,000
workers weave about 12 percent of the Nation s silk.
The growth of the dyeing industry in Paterson has offset the decline of
silk manufacturing. Some of the largest plants in America, processing 70
percent of the Nation s silk and rayon, are here. Proximity to the New
York market and the soft waters of the Passaic River led to the establish
ment of this industry. Its 15,000 workers emerged from the 1933 strike
with the Dyers Local 1733, the largest union in New Jersey. Inspired by
the collective-bargaining clause of the National Industrial Recovery Act,
the strike was the first successful one in many years.
PATERSON 355
POINTS OF INTEREST
1. GARRET MOUNTAIN RESERVATION, Valley Rd. at the Lack-
awanna R.R. bridge, is a 5yo-acre park and picnic ground on the rocky
heights overlooking the city. Woodland trails, picnic groves, and broad
lawns are maintained by the Passaic County Park Commission. Garret
Mountain is said to have been named about a century ago for a secret so
ciety that met in garrets at the homes of its members.
LAMBERT CASTLE, on the mountain slope within the reservation, was
built in 1891 by Catholina Lambert, an immigrant who became wealthy as
a silk manufacturer. The building is a ponderous castellated structure of
rough-surfaced red and gray stone, generously fenestrated, balconied and
terraced. It now houses the administrative offices of the Passaic County
Park Commission and the PASSAIC COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY MU
SEUM (open 1-5 Wed., Thurs., Fri.; 10-5 Sat., Sun.). One room contains
the furniture used by Garret A. Hobart of Paterson, who was Vice
President in the first McKinley administration. Paintings and antiques are
displayed in other rooms. The interior of the building is noted for scroll
work on the newelposts, stained glass windows, and elaborately decorated
ceilings.
From the OBSERVATORY TOWER, near the castle and on the highest ele
vation of the mountain, stretches a fine view of the countryside for miles
around and of the closely packed homes and mills of Paterson.
2. PATERSON MUSEUM (open 1-5 Mon.-Fri.; 10-5 Sat.), 268 Sum
mer St., contains one of the most complete mineral collections in the State.
Other exhibits are Indian relics and curios, insects, reptiles, birds, fossils,
and historical displays. The most interesting object is the 1 4-foot sub
marine built in 1878 by John P. Holland in the Old Gun Mill yard. This
was Holland s first attempt at an under-water craft, and it promptly sank
on its first trial in the Passaic River. Several other attempts were made, in
one of which Holland kept the boat down for 24 hours, but he finally
abandoned it to the river bank, where it sank into the mud. Almost 50
years later the hulk was located with a magnet and dug up by several
Paterson youths who presented it to the museum.
3. DANFORTH MEMORIAL LIBRARY (open 9-8 weekdays), SE.
corner Broadway and Auburn St., is the main building of Paterson s public
library system. The gray limestone structure, designed in straightforward
formal Classic style, is the work of Henry Bacon. The dignified interior is
finished in limestone and marble. It also houses an art gallery, featuring
Paterson painters.
4. WASHINGTON MARKET, Washington St. between Fair St. and
Hamilton Ave., is an open-air produce center consisting of open front
stores and a few stalls along the sidewalk. It is not so large as it was 15
years ago, but it is still one of the noisiest and busiest spots of the city on
afternoons and Saturday evenings.
5. The PASSAIC COUNTY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, SE.
corner Ward and Hamilton Sts., served as the postoffice until 1932. Built
in 1898 in Flemish style, its prototype was the Haarlem Market in Hoi-
356
CITIES AND TOWNS
PATERSON 357
land. Its red brick walls are generously banded, trimmed, keyed, and
quoined with gray limestone. The style, selected as a tribute to the pioneer
Dutch of the territory, is incongruous in its modern surroundings.
6. LITTLE ITALY, vicinity of Market, Cross and Mill Sts., is one of
the sections inhabited almost exclusively by Italians. Frame houses, most of
them lacking paint and many in disrepair, are built close together for the
length of each block. The only substantial and modern buildings of the
district are a school and ST. MICHAEL S CHURCH, a yellow brick structure
of modified Gothic design. On March 19 Sicilians in this district honor St.
Joseph, the patron saint of Sicily; specially baked delicacies are exhibited
in unusual displays and afterward given to the poor. Feasting and dancing
mark St. Michael s Feast Day, September 29. On October 12, Columbus
Day, the Italian societies turn out in full uniform with bands and banners
to parade through the business district. At LAZZARA S Music HALL, Cross
and Ellison Sts., Italian opera companies make occasional appearances, and
labor unions hold frequent meetings.
7. EASTSIDE PARK, Broadway and McLean Blvd., on high ground
overlooking Passaic River, is a municipally owned recreation center. Note
worthy is the 2,ooo-foot floral embankment in the pattern of an English
garden. In the central area are the GENERAL PULASKI MONUMENT and
the SOLDIERS MONUMENT. The park has a deer paddock, and more
squirrels at large than the park department wishes.
8. WESTSIDE PARK, Totowa and Preakness Aves., on Passaic River
above the falls, also maintained by the city, has winding pathways over a
gentle slope shaded by blue spruce and pine. There are terraces, flower
gardens, lawns and shrubbery, and athletic fields. Canoes and rowboats are
available.
In a small plaza is exhibited the FENIAN RAM, John P. Holland s first
successful submarine. Launched in 1881, the 31 -foot craft was financed
largely by contributions from the Irish brotherhood known as the Fenian
Society. A popular but erroneous belief was that the submarine was in
tended for use by the Irish against the British Navy. It was powered with
a one-cylinder combustion engine and built for a crew of three. In a trial
off Staten Island, the Fenian Ram dove 100 feet below the surface and
remained submerged for an hour. The vessel lacked a periscope, however,
and after Holland had startled a large number of ferry and tugboat cap
tains around New York harbor by his sudden appearances, the submarine
was sunk in collision with a ferry at Weehawken. Later it was salvaged.
The Government ignored the Irish schoolmaster s invention until 1893,
when a contract was finally awarded. Seven years later the Navy Depart
ment accepted its first submarine, the Holland. The inventor, like Hudson
Maxim, thought that his device would make war impracticable, but he
lived to see the beginning of the World War.
9. WRIGHT AERONAUTICAL PLANT (group tours arranged on
application), 1120 E. i9th St., is the largest airplane engine factory in the
United States. A subsidiary of the Curtiss-Wright Corporation, it occupies
25 acres of land and employs more than 3,500 persons, producing an-
358 CITIES AND TOWNS
nually more than 2,000 engines. The plant was established in Paterson in
1920 and since 1928 has expanded sixfold.
10. CITY HALL, Market St. between Washington and Colt Sts., is a
three-story gray limestone building with a weathered copper dome sur
mounting a small tower. Erected in 1894 and rebuilt after the fire of 1902,
it is the work of John M. Carrere, architect, and exemplifies his taste for
the multi-plastered, arched, balustraded and heavily corniced work of the
French Beaux Arts of that period. THREE BRONZE STATUES, portraying
Alexander Hamilton, Vice President Garret A. Hob art, and Nathan
Barnert, philanthropist and former mayor, stand in front of the building.
Projections in the facade are a favorite gathering place of thousands of
starlings, whose concerted chirping is easily heard above the noise of
traffic. Toward nightfall the birds gradually settle down on narrow ledges,
packed so closely that they resemble a mourning band across the building.
A few years ago it was planned to drive the starlings away with Roman
candles, but protests from bird lovers deprived the town of this spectacle.
11. The OLD RACEWAY, NW. corner Prospect and Van Houten
Sts., is a sluggish stream 12 feet wide flowing between the sidewalk and
the mills, and crossed at intervals by plank bridges. Originating in Passaic
River above the falls, it has followed this course for almost a century, al
though its first value to the mills has long been outmoded by the develop
ment of electrical power. The waters of the raceway are used by adjoining
dye plants. It does not follow the course of the first raceway built shortly
after the founding of Paterson in 1792; rapid establishment of new fac
tories made it necessary to alter the route.
12. FAMILY SHOPS, Grobart, Harmony, and Industry Mills (open on
application), 11 Van Houten St., are crowded floors, partitioned off into
units where entire families work 60 hours a week for about $12 each.
Shafts fly up and down, shuttles weave in and out, and motors drone as
father, mother, son and daughter scurry around four looms each, twisting
and tying fine silk threads. A family shop consists of 8 to 20 looms, one
quill-winding frame and odds and ends scattered over an oily, cage-like
floor. Winding wooden stairs lead to electrically-lit factories where the
smell is foul and the din is great. Most of the manufacturers show eye-
strain and slight deafness from their work. These men the "cockroach
bosses" of Paterson deny that they run the looms. "The looms run us,"
is their saying. Their overalls and shirts are tattered and grimy; their
hands are oily and calloused.
In these buildings thousands of yards of silk are woven each week for
dyeing. Most of the raw silk comes from Japan; small quantities are im
ported from China, Syria, and Italy. After the skeins are wound on bob
bins, the threads of about 1,000 spools are wound around a beam by means
of a warping frame resembling a large wheel.
The beam is placed on a loom after it is attached to a harness which
moves up and down to allow the shuttles to be thrown back and forth,
weaving the warp s threads into cloth. Each shuttle contains a quill of
thrown silk or filling. Pieces of about 70 yards each are taken off each
loom every three days, and are shipped to dye houses.
PATERSON 359
13. The OLD GUN MILL (open on application), NW. corner Mill
and Van Houten Sts., is a two-story brick structure occupied by the Arrow
Textile Print Works. The building was erected 1836 by Samuel Colt, who
here manufactured the first successful revolvers. Colt got his patent in
1835, and New York capitalists supplied money for the Patent Arms Com
pany. The War Department, however, held that the revolver was im
practical, and the enterprise was temporarily abandoned. After the Colt
pistol had been tested in the Seminole War, large Government orders
were awarded and the factory was busy until peace forced a shutdown in
1840. Shortly afterward Colt sold his last revolver to an Indian trader.
Upon the outbreak of the Mexican War an order for 1,000 revolvers was
given to the manufacturer; lacking a model, he had to pay a large price
for one of his guns. This order was filled at Whitneyville, Connecticut.
In the same mill Christopher Colt, brother of the inventor, began in
1839 the first silk weaving in Paterson. After a few months he gave up
the project.
14. A HYDROELECTRIC PLANT and a STEAM PLANT of the
Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures (known throughout Pater-
son as S.U.M.) are in the gorge of Passaic River, just below the falls.
From the sidewalk a steep, sodded embankment slopes to the level of the
large brick buildings.
In 1791 Governor William Paterson of New Jersey signed the charter
giving the tax-free Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures the right
to organize and sell stock. Not until 1814, when a drastic reorganization
of the S.U.M. took place and the Colt family became virtual dictators of
the corporation s affairs, did a business boom start the society on the road
to financial success. The history since then has been stormy, marked by
numerous court cases and disputes with other organizations.
In 1824 the Morris Canal and Banking Company sued to gain rights to
the Passaic River. The court ruled in 1829 that S.U.M. possessed title "to
the flow of all the waters of the Passaic at the great falls, in their ancient
channel without diminution or alteration."
Public opinion forced the society to relinquish its lottery rights in 1848,
but the host of other charter privileges remained. When the hydro
electric plant was installed in 1912, the city of Paterson attempted to tax
its operation, but the court again ruled in favor of S.U.M. Another suit
was lost by the city in 1937. The municipal government contended that
the society already had enjoyed 140 years of special rights and that by
giving up manufacturing in 1796 and leasing the sites out to private
concerns, it has forfeited its tax-exempt privileges.
15. PASSAIC FALLS, the best known scene of the Paterson area,
plunges 70 feet from a rocky shelf into a vertically walled chasm just above
the S.U.M. plants. Only during periods of melting snows or heavy rains
does the waterfall exist ; at other times the flow of Passaic River is entirely
diverted by a S.U.M. dam just above the falls. In flood stage the yellow
torrent throws up a fine mist that fills the gorge, and the roar can be heard
for several blocks.
A steel footbridge spans the gorge but this is closed to the public by
360 CITIES AND TOWNS
S.U.M., owner of the falls. The adjacent shelfland, once a popular picnic
ground, is accessible to sightseers. Had it not been for the action of the
great glacier in blocking the old outlet of Passaic River some 20 miles
southwest of Paterson, neither the falls nor the river would exist here
today.
POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
Little Falls Laundry Plant, 9.4 m., Montclair Art Museum, 12.8 m. t Grover
Cleveland House, 14 m., Eagle Rock Reservation, 14.7 m. (see Tour 9).
Railroad Station: Smith St. between Maple and Prospect Sts. for Pennsylvania R.R.
and Jersey Central R.R.
Bus Stations: Smith and State Sts. and Smith and Water Sts. for Public Service and
independent lines.
Taxis: 150 first J /4 mile, 50 each additional 1/4 mile.
Ferry: Foot of Smith St. for Tottenville, Staten Island; 250 for pleasure car and pas
sengers; Baltimore & Ohio R.R. connection to N. Y.
Bridges: Outerbridge Crossing to Staten Island, 500 for pleasure car and passengers;
Victory Bridge to South Amboy and shore points, free.
Accommodations: Five hotels and several tourist houses.
Information Service: Public Library, 196 Jefferson St.
Motion Picture Houses: Five.
Swimming: Two beaches, Water St.; adm. 50.
Tennis: Hayes Park, foot of Brighton Ave.
Boating: Boat Basin, foot of Water St.
PERTH AMBOY (117 alt., 43,516 pop.) conceals beneath a rather un
kempt modern industrial surface a Colonial seaport with a history that
goes back to 1651. Scarcely one descendant of an original family remains
in the city, but a few old homes and historic buildings are still in use
here as a rooming house or a roadside tavern, there as a private dwelling
or a particularly decrepit unit of some slum area.
Highways from New Brunswick and the industrial cities of the north
meet a network of roads from central New Jersey and the Atlantic coast
that converge at Victory Bridge. To the east, narrow Arthur Kill separates
the city from Tottenville, Staten Island.
To motorists bound to or from the Jersey shore, Perth Amboy consists
of five traffic lights that sometimes tie up week-end traffic for miles. While
cars creep along or come to a prolonged halt, drivers lean out to discuss
with each other this red menace to the freedom of the road.
Passengers on the Tottenville Ferry from Staten Island get a more com
plete picture as the little red boat skirts the industrial water front, solid
with wharves and factories, and eases into its slip at the foot of Smith
Street. Beyond the slip, lining the bluff that fronts Arthur Kill and over
looks Raritan Bay, are some of the older homes, with occasional lookout
towers patterned to the type of bygone architects and builders.
Leading from the labyrinth of picket-fenced corridors in the ferry house
is Smith Street, rising sharply for two blocks. The rise effectively hides
the city, isolating the ferry house and its environs like a quiet fishing vil
lage. There is no intimation of the industrial community just over the hill.
From this spot, where Perth Amboy itself began, Smith Street runs west
361
362 CITIES AND TOWNS
as a traffic-burdened shopping center, flanked by two- and three-story brick
buildings of indiscriminate architecture with stores on the street level and
offices in the upper stories. The street takes on a momentary modernity
as it passes Perth Amboy s lone skyscraper, the lo-story Perth Amboy Na
tional Bank at New Brunswick Avenue and State Street and finally disap
pears amid huge factories and blackened pitted fields beyond Convery
Boulevard.
Smith Street is the backbone of Perth Amboy, creating a city out of the
diverse national and economic groups that live here. Poles, Russians, Hun
garians, and Czechs come out of their working class section known as
"Budapest;" the Irish (and now Poles, too) leave behind the area called
"Dublin;" Danes and Germans emerge from the bosoms of their nation
alist groups, and meet in the anonymity of this street with the democratic
name. Seventy-two percent of Perth Amboy s population consists of the
foreign-born and their American-born children; Slavs predominate, with
Danes and Italians next.
There are approximately 100 factories within the city, and their prod
ucts range through cigars, vaseline, refined metals, neckties, lead pipe,
asphalt, munitions, cables, lingerie, and auto parts, to the total value of
about $274,000,000 annually. But Perth Amboy s basic industry is the
manufacture of ceramic wares tiles, bricks, terra cotta, and porcelain,
made from rich local deposits of clay. Rows of kilns with tapering snouts
pointing skyward are a characteristic feature of Perth Amboy and its en
virons.
The concentration of industry on this point of land is due to the pres
ence of the fine natural harbor of Raritan Bay; the Raritan River, which
flows into it; and Arthur Kill (or Staten Island Sound), one of the water
ways serving New York City.
Perth Amboy is one of the few United States cities of its size with a
volunteer fire department. Formed in 1880 after a tremendous blaze, the
department quickly attracted members with a provision for lifetime ex
emption from taxes. The number of firemen and ex-firemen who pay no
taxes has now become so great that any attempt to establish a paid depart
ment is resisted by a large bloc of non-taxpaying voters.
The site of Perth Amboy was part of a large tract purchased from the
Indians in 1651 by Augustine Herman, a Staten Island Dutchman. After
the English took possession of New Jersey, the charter to Woodbridge in
1669 stipulated "that Ambo Point be reserved ... to be disposed of by
the lords proprietors." Political difficulties during the next decade probably
hindered settlement. In 1682 the twelve new proprietors described the
point as "a sweet, wholesome, and delightful place," a view evidently long
held by the Indians, who used it as a camp ground and for fishing excur
sions in the bay. The proprietors announced their "purpose by the help of
Almighty God, with all convenient speed, to build a convenient town, for
merchandise, trade and fishery, on Ambo Point." They contributed 1,200
to build a house for each, and by August 1683 three buildings had been
completed.
Two years later the population took a sudden spurt when the Earl of
PERTH AMBOY 363
Perth permitted the immigration of nearly 200 oppressed Scots, many of
whom were in prison as dissenters. These were soon joined by other Scots,
English merchants, and French Huguenots. In 1686 the steadily growing
commercial and shipping center was designated capital of East New Jersey.
In 1718 Perth Amboy was granted the charter that makes it the oldest in
corporated city in New Jersey. Five years later in Perth Amboy, William
Bradford, official State printer, printed the Session Laws of 1723, the first
printing in New Jersey.
The Indians had called this point of land Ompoge (large level piece of
ground). Through a series of corruptions it became Ambo and then Ambo
Point. This name persisted even though the community was dubbed New
Perth in honor of the Earl; finally the two were blended into Perth Am
boy. There is a story that the name arose when Indians, unfamiliar with
Scottish kilts, referred to the Earl of Perth as a squaw. "No! Not squaw!"
the Scot is supposed to have answered. "Perth am boy!" The nobleman,
however, never crossed the Atlantic.
Tories were active in Perth Amboy at the outbreak of the Revolution, but
several of the town s Royalist families fled when Revolutionists arrested
Governor William Franklin and occupied the Governor s House in June
1776. Six months later the British jailed Richard Stockton, one of the five
New Jersey signers of the Declaration of Independence.
During the war, Perth Amboy s tactical position at the mouth of Raritan
River highway for the whaleboat raids of Revolutionaries upstream
made it a goal for the contending armies. The town was occupied succes
sively by the Americans under General Mercer and by the British under
General Howe. Benjamin Franklin, Edward Rutledge, and John Adams
stopped at Perth Amboy Inn in 1776 on their way to the conference on
Staten Island, at which they refused Sir William Howe s offer of amnesty
in exchange for surrender.
For twenty years after the Revolution, Perth Amboy was poor and bar
ren, but from about the turn of the century until the Civil War the town
enjoyed some vogue as a summer resort. The Governor s House was trans
formed into the Brighton House, a fashionable hotel, which became the so
cial center for the hypochondriac rich utilizing the waters at the nearby
spa. The city s industrial development began during the i86o s; its clay
deposits were exploited, and steamboats replaced the sailing vessels. In
1832 South Amboy was made the terminal of the Camden and Amboy,
the State s first railroad.
During this period, Eagleswood Military Academy was built as a school
for young men. Eagleswood was also the home of Sarah Grimke, her sis
ter Angelina Weld, and Angelina s husband, Theodore D. Weld, who
were pioneers in the woman- suffrage movement and ardent Abolitionists.
The school and home became the visiting place for many of the Abolition
ists of the day, including William Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips,
and served as an important station of the Underground Railroad. One of
the buildings is now part of a ceramics works.
Rebecca Spring, wife of the owner of Eagleswood, was also an Abolition
ist. When John Brown and his companions were taken at Harper s Ferry
364 CITIES AND TOWNS
and condemned to death, Mrs. Spring wrote to Aaron Dwight Stevens,
one of the condemned men, and asked that she might bring his body for
burial to Eagleswood. He replied that he was indifferent to what happened
to his body after the spirit had left it, but agreed that she might bury him
if his poverty-stricken father did not claim his body. Albert Hazlett, friend
and conspirator with Stevens, also wrote to Mrs. Spring asking her to bury
him by the side of his comrade. She visited the two men in the Baltimore
jail and supplied them with food and clothing. After the execution the
bodies were brought to Eagleswood and buried. In the 1890 $ the bodies
were disinterred and sent to North Elba, N. Y., to lie with that of John
Brown on his old farm.
The Lehigh Valley Railroad, which came to Perth Amboy in 1859, fore
cast the town s industrialization. After the Civil War, Perth Amboy gave
itself wholeheartedly to the wave of industrial expansion that rolled over
the land. With the establishment of new factories, foreign workers moved
into the city, and the descendants of early residents gradually withdrew.
Among the factories that followed the already firmly established ceramic
industry was the refinery of M. Guggenheim Sons, a most important link
in the chain of mines and smelters that in 1900 acquired control of the
American Smelting and Refining Company. In 1912 the workers at the
refineries struck against the 12 -hour shift. Armed guards and strikebreakers
broke the strike after a number of bloody street battles that resulted in the
death of four strikers.
POINTS OF INTEREST
i. The WESTMINSTER (private), 149 Kearny Ave., is the heart of
Perth Amboy s history. But the rambling mass of weather-worn brick stand
ing at the summit of Kearny Ave. hill contains little more than the foun
dation and the shell of the first two floors of the house, built on this site
between 1768 and 1770 at the order of the Proprietors of East New Jer
sey. The original house was rented from the Proprietors in 1774 by Wil
liam Franklin, last Royal Governor. Benjamin Franklin visited his son
here before the outbreak of the Revolution but left when it was apparent
that William would not change his allegiance. At midnight of June 17,
1776, Capt. Nathaniel Heard of Woodbridge and his Continental troops
broke into the house and arrested Franklin. Mrs. Franklin remained for a
time, but shortly afterwards the Colonials established Revolutionary head
quarters here.
On July 2, 1776, Washington, anticipating that the British would at
tempt to sail up the Raritan and so drive a wedge between the American
armies in New York and Philadelphia, installed General Mercer here to
lead Perth Amboy troops in a counteroffensive. Mercer withdrew from
Perth Amboy in December and joined Washington in the retreat from New
York. Immediately after the American retreat, General Howe occupied
Perth Amboy and used the Governor s House as headquarters.
After the Revolution the house was neglected; it was sold and resold
and survived two fires. It was rebuilt as Brighton House in 1815. Matthias
PERTH AMBOY
365
PERTH AMBOY
1938
THE WESTMINSTER, PERTH AMBOY
Bruen, at one time America s richest man, later acquired the hotel and re
named it Bruen House.
Bruen s son, who inherited the property, conveyed it to "The Presbyterian
Board of Relief for Disabled Ministers and the Widows and Orphans of
Deceased Ministers." This group called the place The Westminster. It was
abandoned by them in 1903 and reverted to the Bruen heirs who then sold
it to real estate developers. The grounds were divided into building lots,
and The Westminster, after another series of sales, finally became a room
ing house.
2. PARKER CASTLE (private), Water St. one block N. of Smith St.,
is the oldest house in Perth Amboy. It was the home of many generations
of the Parker family, prominent in local and State affairs. The rear portion
was erected in 1723, and the front in 1789. At one time the site of the
tall, gaunt old house of time-darkened clapboards was the most desirable
in town. Standing at the crest of the rise that overlooks Raritan Bay, a
three-story clapboarded section towers above the two-story brick section
built on a lower level. In the midst of rusting debris and piles of gravel
and sand the house is in imminent danger of being engulfed by factories
inching their way along the water front.
3. KEARNY HOUSE (private), Hayes Park, SE. end Catalpa Ave.,
was built in 1780 by the Kearnys, who were one of Perth Amboy s leading
families. The two-story frame building, painted a dark yellow and scarcely
PERTH AMBOY 367
showing its age, was moved to the park from High Street when demolition
was threatened. Repairs were begun in June 1938 to convert it into a mu
seum.
Michael Kearny married Elizabeth Lawrence, Revolutionary poet and
editor. This lady became known to the literary world of the day as "Mad
ame Scribblerus," a pseudonym by no means a poor characterization of her
verse. Of her half-brother, Capt. James Lawrence of "Don t give up the
ship!" fame, Madame Scribblerus wrote:
My brave, brave Jim s a sailor Jack
Upon the treacherous sea
A sailor who loves poetry
All taught to him by me.
4. CITY HALL, City Hall Square, a white brick building with green
trim, is on the site of the Old Jail and Courthouse, ordered built in 1713.
The courthouse, also rebuilt in 1767, served as a school, meeting place of
the Colonial Assembly, and pulpit from which George Whitefield, the
Billy Sunday of his day, preached some of his fire and brimstone sermons.
The present mansard-roofed structure, erected in 1870, was built around
part of the old courthouse.
In the square park in front of City Hall is a STATUE OF GEORGE WASH
INGTON, done in terra cotta by Nils Nillson Ailing, a local sculptor. The
statue was commissioned and presented to the city by Scandinavian resi
dents in 1896. In recent years this little park has been used for a pictur
esque demonstration of the progress of Americanization in the polyglot
city. Local societies of expatriates of various European nations have taken
to planting commemorative trees on the rim of the circle of the Washing
ton Statue as a token of devotion to their new country.
5. SURVEYOR GENERAL S OFFICE (open Wed., adm. $1.50), City
Hall Square, is a tiny, boxlike brick building of a dirty buff color, built
just after the Civil War. Here are held the semiannual meetings of the
General Proprietors of the Eastern Division of New Jersey, an amazing
relic of the Colonial land-grant system. Whenever new land appears in
New Jersey, the Proprietors of either the Eastern Division or the Western
Division (see BURLINGTON) lay claim to it; and a quitclaim from the
Proprietors is necessary for possession. For example, alluvial deposits from
the Shrewsbury River created an island some years ago, which was duly
sold. The corporation has valuable stock holdings. Any descendant of the
original Proprietors who holds at least a 96th part of a share is entitled to
a vote.
6. ST. PETER S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, Rector and Gordon Sts., is
the home of the oldest Episcopal Parish in New Jersey. In 1698 the Bishop
of London, on the petition of several proprietors, appointed the Reverend
Edward Perthuck to the parish. Services were held in one of the houses
fitted out as a church. When the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
was organized in 1701, it sent to the Province the Reverend George Keith,
who included Perth Amboy among his stops. A church was chartered in
368 CITIES AND TOWNS
1718 and completed in 1722. From its tower Perth Amboy patriots kept
watch on the activities of Tory neighbors across the Kill. The present brick
building of Gothic style was erected 1853 on the foundations of the earlier
church. Within are the original pews, and a paten and chalice presented
to the church in 1728. The adjoining CEMETERY contains the graves of
Perth Amboy s earliest settlers. John Watson, the first portrait painter in
America, and William Dunlap, the earliest American-born playwright to
use native material, are buried here.
7. FIREMEN S MONUMENT, Alpine Cemetery, 703 Amboy Ave.,
commemorates the death of nine firemen who were killed when their en
gine crashed into a locomotive June 15, 1921. The statue is of a walrus-
moustached fireman in full regalia, holding the nozzle of a hose.
8. OUTERBRIDGE CROSSING (toll: car and passengers 500), ap
proach E. end Grove St., is a cantilever span across Arthur Kill to Totten-
ville, Staten Island. The bridge was named for Eugenius H. Outerbridge,
former chairman of the Port of New York Authority, which built it in
1928. From plaza to plaza the length is 10,200 feet, with truss spans of
2,100 feet and a clearance of 135 feet. A consistent money loser, the
bridge has never enjoyed the traffic that was expected from the $10,000,-
ooo investment.
9. ATLANTIC TERRA COTTA PLANT (open for group tours upon
written application), 59 Buckingham Ave., the first ceramic factory estab
lished in Perth Amboy, started operations in 1846 as A. Hall and Sons,
manufacturers of porcelain household wares. It now specializes in terra
cotta work from local clay. Products of its kilns were the pediment of the
Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the roof of the new Supreme Court
Building in Washington. The plant also supplied special variegated brick
and gold tile with black glaze trim for the new Dutch Colonial Perth Am
boy Post Office.
10. RARITAN COPPER WORKS of the International Smelting and
Refining Co., a subsidiary of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. (open for
student group tours upon written application), S. end Elm St., is the fore
most refining plant for copper, silver, and gold imported at Perth Amboy.
Foreign nations send more than $1,000,000 a month in gold and silver
into New Jersey through the port of Perth Amboy; a similar amount en
ters Perth Amboy via the port of New York, and an even greater quantity
comes by rail from American mines. Much of this is refined here. All
commercial forms of refined copper, such as wire bars and ingots, are pro
duced here, in addition to by-products of refined silver and gold, platinum,
palladium, selenium, tellurium, copper sulphate, and nickel sulphate. The
plant is one of the largest in the world using the electrolytic process of
refining.
u. OLD STONE HOUSE, Convery PL N. of Smith St., a one-and-one-
half-story frame building with a new concrete front, was part of Eagles-
wood Military Academy and later served as a studio for George Inness,.
who lived in Perth Amboy for about three years 1865 to 1868. Every
thing but the foundations, walls and gambrel roof has been completely-
changed since Inness worked here. The building is now a roadhoese.
PERTH AMBOY 369-
POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
General Motors- Assembly Plant, 13 m. (see "Tour 1) ; Freneau Farm, 14.9 m. (see
Tour 18); Marlpit Hall (museum), 17.9 m. (see Tour 22); Monmouth Battle
field, 28.4 m. (see Side Tour ISA).
Princeton
Railroad Station: Princeton Station, foot of University PL, for Pennsylvania R.R.
Bus Station: 182 Nassau St. for Trenton Transit Co. and Greyhound; Bayard Lane
and Stockton St. for Somerset Bus Co. (No local service.)
Taxis: One passenger within borough limits, 350; more than one passenger, 2 50
each.
Streetcars: Witherspoon and Spring Sts. for Trenton and Princeton Transit Co. (No
local service.)
Accommodations: Two hotels; numerous inns, tourist homes, boarding houses.
Information Service: Princeton Travel Bureau, University Store, on campus W. of
Nassau Hall; Borough Hall, Stockton St. opposite Princeton Battle Monument.
Theater and Motion Picture Houses: McCarter Theater; 3 motion picture houses.
Swimming: Brokaw Memorial Pool, open to townspeople during summer.
Skating: Hobart Baker Rink, open Tues. and Thurs. evenings, Sat. morning (adm.
4 o0).
Boating: Carnegie Lake, Washington Rd., for crew racing and canoeing.
Golf: Springdale Golf Club, Stockton PL and College Rd.; greens fee, $2 week
days, $3 Sat., Sun. and holidays; $1.50 and $2 when accompanied by member.
Baseball: University Field, Olden St. and Prospect Ave.
Annual Events: All-Star Ice Carnival of Princeton Nursery School at Baker Rink in
February; Talbott Music Festival of Westminster Choir School, Princeton Inter-
scholastic Track Meet, both at Palmer Stadium during May; Princeton Interscho-
lastic Tennis Championships, on university courts, May; Invitation Track Meet,
Palmer Stadium, June; athletic contests at announced dates during collegiate year;
Princeton Commencement Week, usually third week in June.
PRINCETON (200 alt., 6,992 pop.) lives for Princeton University. A
division between town and campus cannot be made. The gates to the
campus open on Nassau Street, the main thoroughfare, lined with shops
that blazon the orange and black Tiger colors ; the railroad station follows
the collegiate Gothic style of the newer university buildings ; stores, board
ing houses and hotels cater largely to Princeton men and their guests.
Townspeople cheer Princeton football teams, attend commencements and
gather for Princeton entertainments.
The aristocracy of the village, including resident Princeton graduates
and trustees of the university, mingles freely with the faculty, forming a
mature social group that serves as a stabilizing influence for the continuous
flow of youth.
The old order is deeply rooted in the eighteenth century village, spread
along a low ridge in one of the most pleasantly green sections of the State,
but the bright scions of the twentieth century have been grafted onto the
little town. Filling stations and lubritoriums elbow antique shops and old
houses along Nassau Street where horns once sounded in the days of coach
racing; and glistening store fronts yield abruptly at the second-floor level
-to age-darkened original clapboard.
370
PRINCETON 371
Palmer Square, the $4,500,000 civic center intended to remake Prince
ton into a "square town," lies north of Nassau Street, along a 4oo-foot
front between John and Baker Streets. The plot was partly occupied by
Negro slums until 1936, when a corporation headed by Edgar Palmer,
New Jersey zinc magnate, began reconstruction. Under the direction of
Thomas Stapleton of New York, architect, it is expected that by 1941
Princeton s Colonial charm will be recaptured. Old Nassau Inn has gone;
in its place stands a charming reproduction of a Colonial tavern, complete
with gambrel roof, first floor overhang and low kitchen wing. But it is
something of a shock to find the tavern firmly attached to a large, four-
story, yellow brick structure which houses the guests.
The fagade of the motion picture house, a native Colonial fieldstone
gable flanked by little Colonial arcades attached to low wings, grows di
rectly out of a massive brick wall the body of a modern auditorium. In
side the theater, the walls of the foyer are finished in metal; the shell-
shaped and serrated ceiling of the auditorium, based upon Dr. H. Lester
Cooke s isophonic curve theory of the perfect reflection of sound, is called
the first of its kind in the world. Rambling around the sides of the square
is a series of smaller apartment units, each a reproduction of a particular
Colonial prototype, each one highly pleasing, but in the mass giving the
restless effect of a museum collection of architectural Americana.
The Pennsylvania Railroad and the university have combined to make
Princeton a society center of New Jersey. Close enough to New York and
Philadelphia for convenient commuting, the town is yet sufficiently se
cluded for businessmen, scholars, statesmen and scientists to retire to its
retrospective and scholastic calm.
The business life of Princeton is largely sustained by the university. No
manufacturing is permitted within the borough limits.
The advantages of the site, and the academic atmosphere generated by
Princeton University have attracted other educational institutions. These
include Princeton Theological Seminary, the Institute for Advanced Study,
Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, Hun Preparatory School, West
minster Choir School, St. Joseph s College, Mercer Junior College, Miss
Fine s School and Country Day School.
The half-dozen Quaker families who settled in the Princeton area in
1696 were not the first in this region. Predating them by 15 years was
Capt. Henry Greenland, that irascible insurgent who was instrumental in
dissolving the Colonial legislature in 1681. His plantation, established the
same year, occupied most of what is now the town. One of the Quaker set
tlers was Richard Stockton II, whose descendants played an important part
in national affairs. At first the settlement was called Stony Brook after the
small stream that borders two sides of Princeton, but in 1724 the residents
chose the name of Prince s Town (later shortened to Princeton) supposedly
because of the proximity to King s Town (Kingston). Princeton was an
important coaching center then: sometimes as many as 15 coaches would
start off each way on Nassau Street, part of the New York-Philadelphia
highway.
The town was slow to build until the middle of the eighteenth century
372 CITIES AND TOWNS
when Princeton University was moved here from Newark and a Presby
terian Church was formed. During the years prior to the Revolution both
the students and townspeople were active in the cause for independence.
The State government was organized in Princeton under the new consti
tution in 1776, and the Council of Safety, a wartime tribunal with official
power, met in Princeton several times. The village became a target for
Tory hatred ; farms were plundered and families destroyed by the maraud
ing British.
Toward sunrise of January 3, 1777, Washington and his main army of
a scant 2,500 men approached Princeton after an all-night march over an
ice-covered back road from Trenton, where Cornwallis and his superior
main army slept in the belief that they would crush the Americans at sun
rise. In Princeton were three British regiments under Colonel Mawhood,
and three troops of dragoons.
Washington divided his troops at first, but then led the Pennsylvania
militia to support the troops of General Mercer who had been bayonetted
in an advance action. The British, in the face of the entire American Army,
prepared for a heavy assault. Washington made several futile attempts to
rally his tired troops. Finally he reined his horse facing the enemy and sat
motionless. With Washington still between the lines, both sides leveled
their rifles. A roar of musketry was followed by a shout from the Ameri
cans as the British lines gave way. When the smoke cleared, Washington
unharmed urged his men on in pursuit.
The battle ended in Nassau Hall (where two of the British regiments
had taken refuge) when a daring militia captain with a handful of men
charged into the hall. About 100 of the enemy had been killed and nearly
300 were made prisoners. Although the American loss did not exceed 30,
the brief fighting took a heavy toll of officers. General Mercer died of
his wounds nine days later.
Washington led his tired men off on the Rocky Hill road, just in time
to escape the pursuing forces of Cornwallis, and headed for winter en
campment. The victory at Princeton, coming on the heels of the maneuver
at Trenton a week earlier, went far toward establishing new confidence
throughout the Colonies in Washington s tatterdemalion troops. Frederick
the Great went so far as to characterize Washington s strategy as the most
brilliant operation in all military history.
In the summer of 1777 the first State legislature met at Princeton, and
was addressed by William Livingston, first Governor of the State. At these
sessions the original State seal, first in the new Nation, was adopted.
From June to November of 1783 the town was the Nation s capital.
Threatened in Philadelphia by unpaid soldiers who were imitating the
Pennsylvania Line mutineers, the Continental Congress, "one by one, hur
riedly in the night, fearing abduction by their threateners," left Pennsyl
vania and established offices at Princeton. To be close to the proceedings,
Washington was summoned to Princeton. He moved with his family to
Rocky Hill (see Tour 8), where he lived for 3 months and wrote his his
toric farewell address to the army.
After the Revolution the quiet stability of Princeton was undisturbed
*?>:
El
II
NASSAU HALL, PRINCETON
374 CITIES AND TOWNS
except by occasional student riots and, to a less extent, by the War of 1812,
in which a number of Princeton men fought. In 1813 the borough of
Princeton was reincorporated with added territory.
Princeton men were mainly responsible for drawing the town out of the
stream of New York-Philadelphia traffic. It was largely their money that
financed construction of the Camden and Amboy Railroad (1834) and the
Delaware and Raritan Canal (1832), neither of which passed through the
town.
Before and during the Civil War, Princeton was divided on the slave
question. But when the many southern students did not return after their
holidays in 1863, sympathy grew for the northern cause. Feeling was not
unanimous, however, and even during the course of the war two pro-
northern students were expelled for dousing a southern sympathizer under
the town pump. More than 100 Princeton students served with commis
sions in the two armies.
After the Civil War the town had an abortive industrial boom. The
New Jersey Iron Clad Roofing, Paint and Mastic Company, incorporated
in 1868, evidently borrowed its name from Civil War naval vessels. An
other company was formed in the same year to exploit a patented process
for seasoning wood and preventing mold in fabrics, but the business was
hampered by a series of fires and explosions.
The borough obtained a new 49-section charter in 1873, which drew
the following comment from a contemporary historian: "It is like a gar
ment cut much too large for the person who is to wear it, but the town
may grow up to the dimensions of this charter in time." This cautious
prophecy has been partly fulfilled; the 1880 population of 3,209 was in
creased by a scant 700 in the ensuing 20 years, but was finally doubled in
the 1930 census.
The Spanish-American War had little effect upon the then rapidly ex
panding university, although many students volunteered for service. More
than 5,000 Princeton men were in uniform during the World War, and
a scholarship was founded in memory of each of the 151 who died in
service.
Princeton University
Princeton University, mellowed by the traditions of two centuries of
student life, is the product of a continued liberalization of the educa
tional concept upon which it was founded. It was a wave of practical
frontier students that first jolted the college from its narrow position as a
Presbyterian school; it was a group of forward-looking educators who at
tracted other men of international distinction to Princeton s service; and
it was the liberal spirit generated by both these forces that has directed
the continued growth and widening influence of the Nation s fourth oldest
university.
The 8oo-acre campus, separated only by Nassau Street from the town,
slopes gradually to Lake Carnegie. With Nassau Hall as a nucleus, the
campus reflects the varying architectural tastes and styles of the 180 years
PRINCETON 375
during which the buildings were erected. But the lawns, the trees and the
spreading ivy give a feeling of harmony. Nassau Hall and the older dormi
tories nearby sound a frank note of the determined righteousness of the
Presbyterian founders. Farther from Nassau Hall, the buildings are usually
collegiate Gothic, a pleasing, refreshing and refined style based upon the
collegiate architecture of Tudor England. Short flights of steps lead from
one building level to another, following the contour of the land. The
neatly trimmed, crisscrossing paths do not follow a formal plan ; they were
laid after students had marked out a trail by constant usage. Many students
use bicycles in going to and from classes, but there is no feeling of crowd
ing until the machines are stacked in piles in the entries of classrooms.
Princeton offers varied liberal arts and science subjects from which the
student must elect 36 semester courses in his four years of study for the
Bachelor of Arts degree. He completes his required credits with a compre
hensive examination and a thesis in the field of his major. The program of
humanities is designed to give a broad survey of contemporary life with a
specialized course in a particular field. The School of Public and Interna
tional Affairs, conducted principally for juniors and seniors preparing for
a public career, comprises the departments of history, politics, economics
and social institutions. Each student in the division is required to take
"the conference on public affairs," an undergraduate seminar-type course
concerned with contemporary problems. The two professional schools,
engineering and architecture, and the School of Public and International
Affairs have both undergraduate and graduate departments. The Graduate
School offers courses leading to Master of Arts, Master of Fine Arts and
Doctor of Philosophy degrees. Fellowships and scholarships are available
to exceptional students.
In the sophomore, junior and senior years, class instruction in the read
ing departments (philosophy, languages, history, etc.) is augmented by
informal conferences on the extra-class reading. This arrangement, known
as the Preceptorial System, is "meant not only to stimulate interest in the
subject-matter of the course, but also to bring students into more intimate
contact with their teachers than is possible in the more formal exercises of
the classroom." Six or seven men meet with the preceptor in informal con
ferences, aimed at discovering and correcting misconceptions or confusion
in the student s mind and stimulating and enlightening him with regard
to the study in hand.
The university has a faculty of 365. Undergraduate students (for the
school year ending in 1938) numbered 2,388, and advanced students
totaled 277. A Negro has never been admitted.
Princeton has always made an effort to prepare its students for public
service. During its first 20 years the majority of graduates entered the
Presbyterian ministry and were instrumental in founding many important
schools and colleges. Under Witherspoon, the fighting parson, the trend
turned toward political service. Among his graduates were a President,
a Vice President, 10 Cabinet officers, 12 Governors, and scores of Con
gressmen and State legislators. Of the graduates from 1800 to 1850, i
out of 12 became members of the executive, judicial or legislative branches
376 CITIES AND TOWNS
of State governments. This tradition of public service led Woodrow Wil
son to describe the Princeton of Witherspoon s day as "the seminary of
statesmen."
Princeton men are required by college regulations to "conduct them
selves in a manner becoming scholars and gentlemen." By way of clarifica
tion it is set forth that students may not bring liquor into their rooms,
nor there entertain a woman alone at any time nor, when the woman is
attended, after 6 p.m. After every examination the student signs a pledge
on his "honor as a gentleman" that he has not cheated. Participation in a
riot considered almost a right by students of a century ago is ground
for dismissal. Unless exempted by the dean, freshmen and sophomores
must attend at least one-half of the Sunday chapel services, and all under
graduates are forbidden to maintain or operate a motor vehicle in Prince
ton or vicinity. Marriage is also prohibited for undergraduates, except with
the dean s approval.
Except for these and other minor regulations, the Princeton student is
relatively free. A minority has participated actively in liberal factions of
national student groups and peace movements. The Veterans of Future
Wars, an organization formed to ridicule out of existence the soldier s
bonus bill, did not accomplish this purpose, but when the group disbanded
the officers pointed out that they had "awakened the people of the country
to the absurdity of war." In a more frivolous manner, Princeton men tem
porarily set up a bureau to offer solace by mail to the lonely hearts of
Vassar College.
Many students work their way through college, but the campus also has
its counterpart of town society. This consists of the heirs of blue-book
families, the cosmopolitan style-setters for the collegiate world. Between
these two groups lies the great bulk of students. As upperclassmen, most
Princeton men eat in one of several clubs, the Princeton substitute for the
fraternity system. Fronting on Prospect Avenue, the clubs range in archi
tectural style from English Tudor to Georgian Colonial. Wealthy students
week-end in New York or Philadelphia, or sometimes take advantage of
opportunities to visit friends at one of the eastern colleges for women.
After the spring vacation, seniors are permitted to wear "beer suits," white
canvas jackets and overalls that fit loosely as pajamas and wrinkle just as
easily.
By choosing carefully a relatively small percentage of those who apply
for admission, Princeton has maintained high standards. The faculty is
distinguished by many scholars of international reputation.
The College of New Jersey (as Princeton was first called) was opened
at Elizabeth in 1747 as the result of a movement, begun in 1739 by the
Synod of Philadelphia, to meet a need for Presbyterian educators. The
original faculty consisted of one man, President Jonathan Dickinson, who
was assisted by a tutor in instructing the six students. Upon the death of
Dickinson, the college was moved to the Newark parsonage of the new
president, the Rev. Aaron Burr (father of the Vice President). There the
first commencement was held November 9, 1748.
The account book of Samuel Livermore, class of 1752, preserved in the
UNIVERSITY CHAPEL, PRINCETON
library, gives a picture of student life. For his trip from Boston to New
York, 19 days, he carried:
5 quarts of West Ind. Rum
l /4 lb. Tea @ 485
Canister
1 doz. Fowls
2 lb. loaf sugar @ 8s
i doz. & 8 lemons
3 Ibs. butter
box
i
7 s 6d
I2S
6s
8s
1 6s
95
I2S
5S
7 155 6d
Mr. Livermore s wardrobe included, among other things, 13 shirts and 7
pairs of stockings, but only i pair of breeches. For his studies he carried a
Bible, Latin and Greek testaments and grammars, a Latin dictionary and
lexicon, Ward s Introduction to Mathematics, Gordon s Geography, and
a copy each of Virgil and Cicero.
37 8 CITIES AND TOWNS
Seeking a new site, the trustees favored Princeton as the halfway point
between New York and Philadelphia. The larger town of New Brunswick,
however, was first given an opportunity to provide land and money;
neither condition was met, and Princeton s grant was thereupon accepted
in 1752. Four years later the college was moved to the newly completed
Nassau Hall, "the largest stone building in the Colonies."
Money raising was a serious problem. The stern Presbyterian fathers saw
nothing irregular, however, in obtaining funds from lotteries. Five of the
seven authorized by the legislature brought not only money but also dis
putes with the winners, and the last two were abandoned.
A growing spirit of revolt against English authority crystallized when
the Rev. John Witherspoon, who had been brought from his native Scot
land in 1768 to direct the college, urged the Colonies to declare them
selves free. "We are not only ripe [for independence]," he thundered,
"but rotting." The students promptly organized a militia company, and
for almost eight years the college existed precariously. Nassau Hall was
alternately occupied by both armies, yet all commencements except that of
1777 took place on schedule.
Witherspoon accomplished the long, uphill task of reorganizing and re
building the college after the war. Upon his death in 1794 Dr. Samuel
Stanhope Smith, his son-in-law, became president and the college passed
into what has been called the "reign of terror." Although Presbyterian
leaders criticized Dr. Smith for his "liberality," he established such strict
rules for student conduct that the undergraduates beat their tutors and dis
charged huge cannon crackers. The burning of Nassau Hall in 1802 was
laid to students ; half a dozen young men were expelled.
Dr. Smith s successor, the Rev. Ashbel Green, devised an even more
tyrannical discipline that led to the "rebellion of 1817." Shortly after mid
night on a January morning the students locked up their tutors and set fire
to the outbuildings. When townspeople came to the aid of the college
authorities, the rebels barricaded themselves in Old North and held it for
a day by virture of cutlasses and pistols. The disturbance was finally
quelled, but until Dr. Green resigned in 1822 he continued to make rules
and to put all of his remarkable powers at work to enforce them.
While these administrators were partly occupied in limiting student
freedom, they were also instituting liberal educational reforms. The estab
lishment of professorships in natural history and chemistry during Smith s
administration was the first provision for regular study of these subjects in
an American college, outside of medical curricula.
Under the relatively peaceful administrations of Presidents Carnahan
and Maclean, an increased enrollment and sizable gifts made possible new
buildings and curricular extensions. A law school, added for a short pe
riod during Dr. Carnahan s tenure, indicated that the College of New
Jersey was outgrowing the limits of a classical educational institution.
Under Carnahan s administration the lightening of discipline was dem
onstrated in a curious way. The students adopted a coverall gown of bril
liantly figured calico which hid any defects of hasty dressing. As John
Jackson Haley of the class of 1842 wrote to his father: "In regard to a
PRINCETON 379
loose gown, I observe they are very fashionable here, made like overcoats
with plain rolling collars much like the OLD fashioned open vest collar ,
& wadded skirts. The students wear them to Prayers, recitation & about
college. They extend about half way between the knee & foot, in length,
are made of fancy calicoes, to suit the taste."
During the term of the university s most loved president, Dr. James
McCosh (1868-1888), the system of elective studies, now functioning in
every major university, was adopted. The change upset the rigid theory of
church-sponsored instruction, and paved the way for the graduate school
of specialized study, opened in 1877.
Many anecdotes about McCosh are still told. Making the rounds one
night, the president noticed that a light was burning after hours in a
student s room. McCosh knocked sharply on the door and demanded ad
mittance. "Who is it?" the student called. "It s me, Dr. McCosh," was the
answer. "Go to!" came the prompt retort. "If you were Dr. McCosh, you
would have said, It s I! " The President, his reputation as a grammarian
at stake, withdrew in silence and in later years told the story on himself.
It was a Hallowe en custom to take Dr. McCosh s old closed buggy from
the carriage house and drag it miles into the country. In 1887 the students
were successful in getting the buggy out quietly ; they trotted and ran with
it almost to Kingston, where they turned into a farmyard. At that moment,
Dr. McCosh poked his head through the window and said, "Thanks so
much for the ride, boys. Now, if you will, please drive me home again."
A fuller measure of personal freedom and responsibility for students
was achieved in 1893 when the honor system of unsupervised examina
tions was instituted. During the 1 4-year term of President Francis L. Pat-
ton 17 new buildings v/ere erected and on October 22, 1896 the i5oth
anniversary of the chartering of the College of New Jersey the name was
changed to Princeton University.
Woodrow Wilson, the first Princeton president who was not a clergy
man, is remembered for three great reform fights. He won the first, for
the institution of the preceptor system, an adaptation of the English tu
torial system. Next he campaigned for the division of the school into col
leges or "quads" in which the students would live and eat. This plan
threatened the exclusive eating societies supported by wealthy students who
fostered what William Allen White has called "the Junior Union League
Club" attitude. Influential alumni aided the student opposition, and Wilson
lost.
The loss of his third fight had much to do with Wilson s resignation
and his entry into politics. The controversy concerned the location of the
graduate school, but it was deeper than that. Wilson wished the school
to be an integral and democratic part of Princeton, while a group of trus
tees led by Dean Andrew F. West insisted upon a secluded institution,
associated with the university in name only. Carrying his fight to sympa
thetic alumni in the west, Wilson made a national issue of his thesis: "I
cannot accede to the acceptance of gifts upon terms which take the educa
tional policy of the university out of the hands of the trustees and faculty,
and permit it to be determined by those who give money." He won the
380 CITIES AND TOWNS
first engagement when he persuaded the trustees to decline a $1,000,000
gift. But when a second gift of $10,000,000 (which later shrank to
$2,000,000) came from the Isaac C. Wyman estate, with Dean West
named as executor, Wilson knew that refusal would be impossible. He
was beaten.
Princeton has not yet raised a monument to its illustrious president. No
granite shaft, however, will be a more fitting memorial than the develop
ment of Wilson s ideal for his university: "Princeton in the Nation s serv
ice." The culmination of this ideal educationally was the establishment
of the School of Public and International Affairs in 1930.
John Grier Hibben, professor of philosophy, was elected to succeed Wil
son in 1912 ; he served until a year before his death in an automobile acci
dent in 1933. Under President Hibben the administrative reorganization
of the university was virtually completed. Faculty autonomy was assured,
and greater economic security for the teaching staff was provided. Presi
dent Hibben introduced a pioneering plan of study designed to foster the
individual initiative of the student. The university expanded both mate
rially and scholastically, particularly bolstering its work in pure science.
Since 1933 the president has been Dr. Harold Willis Dodds, formerly
professor of politics at Princeton, and editor of National Municipal
Review.
Important work has been done by two survey groups. The industrial re
lations section has made several revealing studies of working conditions,
wage levels and capital-labor relationships; the Princeton Local Govern
ment Survey has published a series of graphic analyses of the financial and
administrative organization of New Jersey municipalities. A number of its
suggestions have been incorporated in State laws.
The Princeton University Press is doing distinguished work in typog
raphy. In addition to publishing noteworthy texts and theses, it produces
books of verse and fiction. Although a separate institution, the press is
under direction of the university trustees, faculty and alumni.
UNIVERSITY POINTS OF INTEREST
1. FITZ RANDOLPH GATEWAY, named for Nathaniel Fitz Ran
dolph, who gave the land for the first building, is the main campus en
trance. The gateway, with its great wrought-iron gates and stone piers
crowned with eagles, is the work of McKim, Mead and White. The gates
are opened only on special occasions. Students regularly use the small side
entrances.
2. NASSAU HALL, the first campus building, is a three-story sandstone
structure, with low pitched roof surmounted by a white wooden lantern.
When Robert Smith of Philadelphia erected Nassau Hall in 1756, he pro
duced all the building he could for the money and wasted very little on
superfluous ornament. Stylistically it follows the later Renaissance of Eng
land. The entrance gable motif of arched doorway with stone balcony and
arched window above is disproportionate, but age has lent the building
a soft dignity, and ivy has relieved the Presbyterian severity of the rhyth-
PRINCETON 381
mic rows of windows. Sleek bronze tigers, the work of A. Phimister Proc
tor, flank the entrance steps. The tiger, the Princeton symbol, is derived
from the orange and black colors on the Princeton Heraldic device.
Each year another ivy vine is planted by the graduating class. Stones
bearing the class numerals are set in the building after a custom begun in
1870.
To honor Princeton s war dead the entrance of the building was re
modeled in 1920 as a MEMORIAL HALL. Beyond Memorial Hall is the
FACULTY ROOM, originally used as the college chapel. In this room
funeral services of the Aaron Burrs, father and son, were held, and here
Washington received the thanks of the Congress at the end of the war.
On the walls are portraits of Woodrow Wilson; William, Prince of
Orange and Nassau, for whom the building was named ; and Washington,
by Charles Wilson Peale, in a frame once used for a portrait of George
II. The portrait is said to have been decapitated by a shell when Alexander
Hamilton bombarded the British troops barricaded in the building. It was
at Nassau Hall that Congress, frightened out of Philadelphia, received the
first official news of the Peace of Paris (1783) ending the Revolution, and
two days later received the first accredited representative of a foreign
power, the Minister of the Netherlands.
The entire building is used for administrative purposes, although until
the beginning of the I9th century it housed the dormitory, refectory, class
rooms and chapel.
3. The DEAN S HOUSE, NW. of Nassau Hall, facing Nassau St., is
now the official residence of the Dean of the Faculty. It was built at the
same time as Nassau Hall for the president s house, and was used by all
presidents from 1756 to 1879. John Adams, later President of the United
States, wrote in his diary of a visit to the fiery Witherspoon in 1774. On
a study window is an inscription scratched on the glass in 1804.
4. TWO GIANT SYCAMORES, each 90 feet high and 3 feet in diam
eter, are the only ones left of the row of STAMP ACT TREES which were
planted before the Dean s House in 1765 at the order of the university
Board of Trustees. Because they were planted the same year that England
passed the Stamp Act, they have always been associated with that legis
lation.
5. FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, Nassau St., is a Greek Revival
structure with columns in antis, flanked by rectangular unembellished walls.
Built in 1835, the church is the third on the site. Before erection of the
first building in 1766, the congregation attended chapel services conducted
by presidents of the college, who were then Presbyterian ministers. During
the Revolution the original structure suffered at the hands of both the Brit
ish and Colonial troops. From 1766 to 1896 college commencements were
held in the successive churches.
6. MADISON HALL, SE. corner Nassau St. and University PI., houses
the university commons. Erected in 1916 and designed in the collegiate
Gothic style by Day and Klauder, the walls are of local fieldstone with
unusually delicate Gothic detail. The hall is composed of three units, each
containing two refectories and connected to a central kitchen unit. Fresh-
3 82
CITIES AND TOWNS
PRINCETON
383
PRINCETON
1938
384 CITIES AND TOWNS
men and sophomores are compelled by university rule to take their meals
at Madison, and a number of upperclassmen prefer to do so. Standing
on the approximate site of the Fitz Randolph burying grounds, the hall
was named for President James Madison, class of 1771, and was paid for
by gifts from Mrs. Russell Sage and from alumni and friends of the uni
versity.
RUSSELL SAGE TOWER is part of HOLDER HALL, adjoining dormitory
on the east. The quadrangle contains the CLOISTER, with stone vaulting and
lively Gothic ornament. These dormitories were planned on the quad
rangle principle, President Wilson s substitute for the upperclass clubs.
His thought was that the students occupying each court would by the
very proximity of their situation be annealed into a group, much on the
order of the colleges of English universities.
7. ALEXANDER HALL, the gift of Mrs. Charles E. Alexander, was
built in 1892. The architect, William A. Potter, used an adaptation of the
Richardsonian Romanesque without much success. The building is semi
circular in plan; its most conspicuous feature is the great expanse of slate
roof, broken by enormous stone dormers and supported on ponderous
arches. The interior is decorated with Byzantine mosaics. Lectures are given
in this auditorium.
8. A REVOLUTIONARY CANNON, in the main quadrangle behind
Nassau Hall, with only the breech above the ground, is the center of an
old tradition and the theme of the students "Cannon Song." At each
commencement the graduates break clay pipes over the "Big Cannon," as
it is known, to indicate the severing of college ties.
9 and 10. CLIO HALL and WHIG HALL, the homes of two of the
oldest collegiate literary societies in America, are the work of A. Page
Brown. Identical in design, they are the epitome of the Greek Revival style
white marble reproductions of Grecian temples with Ionic hexastyle
porticoes. Both were built as replacements in 1893. Originally the Clio-
sophic Society was known as the Well-Meaning Society, and what is now
the Whig Society was the Plain Dealing Society. In the buildings are
lecture rooms, libraries and recreation rooms for members.
A CANNON, sunk into the ground between the two buildings, was the
object of a famous quarrel (the "Cannon War") with Rutgers University
students in 1875 (see NEW BRUNSWICK).
ii. The UNIVERSITY LIBRARY (open 8 a.m.- 12 midnight; Sun. 2
p.m.-12 midnight; summer 8 a.m.-5 p.m.) is formed by the architecturally
unhappy union of the Chancellor Green and Pyne Library buildings. The
two brown sandstone structures are connected by a room containing the
delivery desk and the card catalog.
The CHANCELLOR GREEN BUILDING, designed by William A. Potter
and erected in 1873, is of Tudor Gothic design. The building contains the
general reading room.
PYNE LIBRARY, the southern half of the combined structure, erected
1897 and also designed by Potter, is a heavy Victorian building. Most of
the library s 900,000 volumes and 116,000 unbound pamphlets and peri
odicals are kept here. The library also has the Hutton collection of death
PRINCETON 385
masks, the William Seymour theater collection, almost 300 papyri, a col
lection of cuneiform tablets, and a large number of documents and other
special collections.
12. JOSEPH HENRY HOUSE (private), SW. corner Nassau St. and
Washington Rd., a severely simple, three-story yellow stone dwelling, is
the residence of the Dean of the College. Designed by Professor Henry in
the Classic Revival style and built in 1838, the house was moved to its
present site in 1925. From 1832 to 1848 his benign features and vigorous
frame were familiar on the campus and in Nassau Hall, where he taught
classes in natural philosophy. Henry left the university to become the first
director and secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, a position that he
held until his death in 1878. His achievements in science, especially in
electricity, and his activity in the organization of scientific groups, won
broad recognition.
13. The UNIVERSITY CHAPEL, erected 1928, is of Gothic design. It
is austere, reserved, and somewhat "cathedralesque" in its delicacy. Into
the 7 2 -foot-high arched nave and transept a deep blue light filters through
stained glass windows. Seats for 2,000 persons make this one of the three
largest college chapels in the world; the others are the University of Chi
cago chapel and the chapel of King s College, Cambridge University, Eng
land. On the heads of architects Cram and Ferguson have been poured
both the vindictiveness of outraged stylists and the high praise of appre
ciative architectural authorities in a battle that began when the chapel was
erected and has been vigorously continued.
14. The MUSEUM OF HISTORIC ART (open 2-5; summer by ap
pointment) is a two-story structure of mottled yellow brick, designed by
A. Page Brown in a modified Romanesque style, popular when the build
ing was erected in 1889. In addition to the finest collection of Veronese
art in the country, the museum contains exhibits of coins, medals, gems,
marbles, plaster casts of ivory objects and representative art of the Far
East, the Near East and Europe. Notable among the paintings is that of
Aaron Burr, the younger, believed to be the work of Gilbert Stuart.
15. McCORMICK HALL, adjoining the art museum, was erected in
1922-26. The three-story building, designed by Cram and Ferguson in a
free adaptation of several styles, is constructed of brown sandstone and
yellow stucco. The structure houses the school of architecture, the art de
partment, the Marquand Library of Art and some 340,000 architectural
photographs.
1 6. PROSPECT, the large mansion set in spacious grounds S. of Mc-
Cosh Walk, is the home of the president of the university. The house was
built by John Notman in 1849 on the site of Col. George Morgan s home,
and was acquired by the university in 1878.
17. The UNIVERSITY GYMNASIUM, erected 1903 from the plans of
Cope and Stewardson, harmonizes with the collegiate Gothic style of archi
tecture. The main entrance opens into a trophy hall where athletic prizes
are displayed. Murals painted by William Yarrow show 13 kinds of col
lege sports. The BROKAW MEMORIAL, built in 1892 and adjoining the
gymnasium, contains the swimming pool.
386 CITIES AND TOWNS
1 8. GUYOT HALL, SE. corner of the campus on Washington Rd., a
light red brick, four-story building topped by four towers, is the home of
the departments of geology and biology. An ornate structure in Tudor-
Gothic style, it was designed by Parrish and Schroeder and built in 1909.
In the eastern section are zoological, anatomical, physiological and botani
cal laboratories. The GEOLOGICAL and BIOLOGICAL MUSEUMS have collec
tions of fossil plants, vertebrates and minerals. More than 40,000 volumes
are in the departmental libraries.
19. PALMER MEMORIAL STADIUM, built in 1914 from the design
of H. J. Hardenbergh, is a U-shaped structure of reinforced concrete with
seats for more than 50,000 persons. Until the fall of 1937, the excellently
coached football teams of Herbert O. Crisler performed for the enrich
ment of the Princeton tradition and the more tangible enrichment of the
athletic association. The association operates, however, under a standing
deficit of $75,000. Although President Dodds attracted national attention
in 1936 by his request that spectators keep liquor out of the stadium, the
janitors still pick up empty bottles after every game. Invitation track meets
annually attract large crowds.
20. LAKE CARNEGIE, on Washington Rd., formed by damming
Stony Brook and Millstone Creek, is used for intercollegiate boat races in
the spring, and for interclass contests in the autumn. The lake, 3.5 m.
long and 800 ft. wide, was the gift of Andrew Carnegie in 1906.
21. McCARTER THEATER, University Place, designed by D. K. Este
Fisher of the class of 1913, is a stone building with a small tower. Its
rough-textured red stonework is in sharp contrast to the blue-gray tone of
the other Gothic buildings. Thomas N. McCarter, of the class of 1888 and
president of Public Service Corporation, joined with the Triangle Club in
providing funds for erection of the theater in 1929. Broadway companies
on tour use the well-equipped stage, but the most important production is
the annual musical show of the Triangle Club, the Princeton dramatic or
ganization. The show goes on tour each year; many of its original songs
have become popular.
22. The GRADUATE COLLEGE, built in 1913, stands where part of
the Battle of Princeton was fought. The collegiate Gothic buildings are
grouped around a central quadrangle known as THOMSON COLLEGE,
named for Senator John R. Thomson, whose widow gave the site. Adjoin
ing the quadrangle is CLEVELAND TOWER (open on special request), 173
feet high, a memorial to President Grover Cleveland, who was a Princeton
resident and a university trustee. In a memorial chamber at the base of the
tower a curious echo is heard. Unhampered by any necessity of harmoniz
ing his work with previous buildings, Ralph Adams Cram has produced
a beautifully proportioned cluster of Gothic dormitories that seem to grow
easily from the base of the great tower, a masterpiece of Gothic form and
detail, expressing as the architect explained the aspirations of higher
learning.
PROCTER HALL, gift of the soap manufacturer, the late William Cooper
Procter, member of the class of 1883, is the refectory and the chief pub
lic room. A memorial window, the work of Mr. and Mrs. William Willet,
i
GRADUATE SCHOOL AND CLEVELAND MEMORIAL TOWER, PRINCETON
who made the chancel window at West Point Military Academy, repre
sents the Light of the World illuminating the seven liberal arts. The lower
section shows Christ, as a child in the temple, under instruction by mem
bers of the Sanhedrin, the ancient Jewish council and tribunal. Seven lancet
windows above contain the figures of the seven Liberal Arts. Pure and
rather primitive colors are used in a treatment redolent of the i4th century.
The Holy Grail window by Charles J. Connick illustrates the familiar
legend. A great organ, intricate carving over the fireplace, and portraits
about the hall make this one of the most impressive of the campus
buildings.
OTHER POINTS OF INTEREST
23. INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY, 20 Nassau St., has its
administrative headquarters in a five-story, red brick office building, the
tallest in Princeton. Academic work is carried on in Princeton University
388 CITIES AND TOWNS
buildings. The institute was organized in 1930 when Louis Bamberger,
Newark merchant, and his sister, Mrs. Felix Fuld, contributed $5,000,000
to enable scholars to continue independent research beyond the Ph.D. level
"under the guidance and stimulus of distinguished men." Actual work in
mathematics began in 1933. In 1934 an anonymous gift of $1,000,000
made possible the organization of a school of economics and politics; a
school of humanistic studies was added in 1935. Dr. Abraham Flexner is
the institute director (1939); the best-known faculty member is Dr. Al
bert Einstein, naturalized German refugee. Einstein leads a quiet life in a
small frame house with his daughter and secretary ; he is seen occasionally
at the motion picture houses and at McCarter Theater. The great physicist
has been known to put aside his papers in order to solve a problem in
simpler mathematics for a delegation of prep school boys who had failed
to find the ansver in an examination.
24. The PRINCETON BATTLE MONUMENT, intersection of Nas
sau, Mercer and Stockton Sts., is a 5O-foot block of Indiana limestone with
high relief figures of Washington leading his troops, urged on by a wom
an representing Liberty. General Mercer, who was mortally wounded in the
battle, is distinguishable among the figures. The monument is the work of
Frederick W. MacMonnies.
25. AVALON (private), 59 Bayard Lane, so named by Dr. Henry van
Dyke, writer and poet, is a three-story yellow stucco house with a spacious
encircling veranda, an example of the southern influence. White wooden
Corinthian columns rise two stories in front, and smaller Ionic columns
are at the side entrance. It is believed that part of the house was built by
Dr. Edmund Bainbridge in the i8th century. The widow and descendants
of Dr. van Dyke still live there.
26. WESTLAND (only garden open 9-5 weekdays), 58 Bayard Lane,
a three- story dwelling built in 1854 by Commodore Stockton, stands in a
large grove of old trees. The big yellow stucco house with white and green
shutters was the home of ex-President Cleveland, who named it Westland
in honor of his friend, Dean West of the Princeton Graduate School, and
is still the residence of Cleveland s widow, now Mrs. Thomas Jex Preston
Jr-
27. MORVEN (private), Stockton St. and Library PL, is the result of
numerous additions to the home originally built in 1701 on land pur
chased from William Penn by Richard Stockton, grandfather of the Signer
of the Declaration of Independence. The house, set behind a broad lawn
and old trees, is of yellow-painted brick, three stories high with two-story
wings. The Greek Revival porch has blotted out most of the dignity and
grace of the original Colonial portion. When Cornwallis, pursuing Wash
ington in 1776, made his headquarters here, the British dug up the garden
and found two of three chests known to have been buried by the Stock
tons. Washington, Lafayette, Rochambeau and other prominent Colonial
figures were entertained at Morven.
28. The BARRACKS (private), 32 Edgehill St., was a portion of the
earliest Stockton Homestead, erected early in the i8th century. Two and
one-half stories in height, the fieldstone house is a plain, rectangular struc-
PRINCETON 389
ture with its side to the street and its entrance on a short lane. A high
stone wall has a springhouse in one corner. British occupancy of the house
in 1777 is said to have been the origin of its name, but historians agree
that the Barracks was probably named during the French and Indian War.
29. PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, Mercer St. between
Library PI. and Alexander St., is the oldest seminary of the Presbyterian
Church in America. It was established as a graduate school for training
clergymen in 1812. The buildings, spread out on almost two square blocks,
are of brown stone or brick. Almost 200 students, including many from
foreign countries, attend the seminary.
30. BAINBRIDGE HOUSE, 158 Nassau St., is the home of the Prince
ton Public Library (open 10-9 daily, except Sun.; summer 10-11, 3-9; Sat.
10-1). The little, two-story frame house of faded yellow with a painted
brick veneer is noteworthy for the fine proportion of the windows and the
graceful door. Commodore William Bainbridge, commander of the Consti
tution, was born here; during the Revolution the house was headquarters
for General Howe. Students and faculty members, as well as townspeople,
use the library s 14,075 volumes.
31. PRINCETON CEMETERY, NE. corner Witherspoon and Wiggins
Sts., is the resting place of many distinguished Americans. At the southern
edge are the graves of all dead presidents of Princeton except Finley, Dick
inson and Wilson. Vice President Aaron Burr is also buried in this plot;
the legend of a secret burial by night is untrue, for Burr was given full
honors at the college chapel. Elsewhere are the graves of Grover Cleve
land, Paul Tulane, founder of Tulane University; members of the Colo
nial Assembly and the Continental Congress, and many Presbyterian lead
ers. The oldest monument, dated 1761, marks the grave of a young college
student.
32. WESTMINSTER CHOIR SCHOOL, Chestnut St. opposite Hamil
ton Ave., comprises four modernized Georgian Colonial buildings of red
brick, with slender Ionic columns and well-spaced dormers, erected in
1934. The gracefully proportioned structures were designed by Sherley W.
Morgan, head of the Princeton school of architecture. Dr. John Finley
Williamson, president, organized the nonsectarian school in 1926 to train
directors of church music. The 175 students follow a rigid course in phys
ical training as an aid to voice culture and can often be seen jogging along
the Princeton highways. Degrees of Bachelor and Master of Music are
given.
POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
Drumthwacket, Pyne estate, 0.6 m.; Tusculum, Witherspoon s home, 1.7 m.;
Lav/renceville School, 4.4 m. (see Tour 6); Castle Howard Farm, 1.2 m.; Berrien
House, Washington s headquarters, 4.7 m. (see Tour 8).
Railroad Station: Grant St. and Hubbell Ave. for Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore
Lines.
Bus Station: E. Broadway and Market St. for Public Service.
Taxis: 150 and 250 within city limits.
Traffic Regulations: 2 -hour parking on Broadway (business district).
Accommodations: 2 hotels; tourist homes.
Motion Picture Houses: Two.
Tennis: Johnson Park.
Annual Events: Muskrat skinning contest in February, County Courthouse, Broad
way and Market St.
SALEM (16 alt., 8,048 pop.) is like an old, old sampler with a few bright
spots; but it is time-worn and frayed. The old brick Georgian Colonial
houses facing the brick-paved streets would stir envy in a Williamsburg
reconstructionist, and the square, heavy, frame structures, typical of the
Civil War era, are a living memorial to another historical period. Modern
history, too, is represented by the semicircling rim of factories and faded
workers homes.
Because of its geographical position, 3 miles east of Delaware River and
off main highways, Salem has developed as a relatively isolated community.
The moorland quality of its surroundings adds to this sense of isolation.
From the west the approach is over great tidal flats, partially submerged
at spring tide and swampy always. The flats end abruptly with a small
navigable stream known locally as Salem Creek, or Fenwick Creek, or oftener
just "The Crick." This is Salem s western boundary, lined with wharves and
modern factories that produce glassware, canned foods, linoleum and
chemicals. Crossing a drawbridge the highway becomes a street that leads
into West Broadway, the city s main thoroughfare. North, east and south
the boundaries fade imperceptibly into miles of flat farm lands, across
which modern highways reach Salem from Philadelphia and the Atlantic
coast.
The streets are broad, shaded with venerable trees. Once they were
muddy or covered with oyster shells, and traversed by feet bent on history-
making errands. They are quiet streets seldom touched by the stream of
traffic that cuts across the State.
The houses are built close to the sidewalk. Sometimes there is a tiny
lawn, closely cropped, set off from the pavement by an intricately scrolled
wrought-iron fence, or a row of iron staples about 3 feet high. Large,
luxuriant gardens bloom at the rear of the homes.
It is the decorative system of its homes, however, that gives Salem a
quality all its own. Some builders of a past generation seem to have been
390
SALEM 391
endowed with an extraordinary gift for lacy scrollwork, with which they
adorned the exteriors of many of the old homes. Succeeding builders have
carried the idea forward until now the visitor seems surrounded with
wooden filigrees, delicate or unsightly but all original and distinctive to
each house. Even the shabbier sections try to cover their defects with crude
ornamental woodwork. Where this is not practical the householders paint
doors and wood frames with startling colors.
In the center of the town are the stores of the business district, many
the remodeled first stories of old buildings. Wood and metal awnings
overhang the sidewalk and for the space of about half a block make a solid
protective cover. Imperceptibly the business houses give place to homes
fronted by unused hitching posts and carriage blocks.
Recent increases in population have changed the little Quaker town.
However, there is still among the inhabitants a pride in the community s
past history and traditions which are closely linked to the more than 50
existing Colonial houses of the early settlement. In dusty attics priceless
antiques are stored, treasures handed down through generations. Many
souvenirs of pre-Revolutionary vintage still occupy places of importance
in the living rooms of the homes; others have been donated or lent to
historical collections. Through the windows, ladder-backed chairs and an
cestral portraits can be seen.
The Salem section has long been famous as a fur market for muskrat
pelts. An outstanding community event is the muskrat skinning contest in
February at the county courthouse. The 1937 champion set a record by
skinning 10 "rats" in 3 minutes and 16 seconds; in the same contest a
one-armed contestant outstripped several two-armed competitors. Fox
hunting with hounds is also a popular sport, but within recent years farm
ers and chicken fanciers have almost exterminated the foxes.
Saturday is market day. Farmers from the surrounding area come to the
county seat to lay in supplies for the following week ; the streets lose their
tranquillity and acquire a layer of banana and orange peels and apple
cores. Children are sent to the movies, while basket-carrying parents walk
up and down before the rows of stores. The custom is as old as the colony,
and the advent of the automobile has rather strengthened than lessened it.
This small-town atmosphere gives no indication of the large glass, lino
leum, canning, and chemical factories on the outskirts. A large percentage
of the population is employed in them.
Many Salemites are lineal descendants of orginal or early settlers. A
sizable Negro population lives on the outskirts, near the factories. There
is a negligible number of foreign-born.
In 1675, just seven years before William Penn came to the opposite
shore of the Delaware, John Fenwick and a group of English Quakers set
tled the region and founded the city of New Salem, the first permanent
English-speaking settlement on the Delaware. Previous settlements had
been made by both the Dutch and the Swedes, many of whom subsequently
moved farther inland.
The settlers who came with Fenwick were imbued with ideals of reli
gious freedom and self-government. Others of like mind were soon at-
39 2 CITIES AND TOWNS
tracted. Within two years the land had been bought from the Indians and
divided into lots. By Royal Commission in 1682 the city of New Salem
became a port of entry for vessels. Trade and industry prospered in the
100 years before the Revolution and new towns sprang up about the origi
nal village.
The early Quaker settlement was swathed in litigation. For the sum of
1,000 the undivided half of New Jersey, later known as West Jersey, was
conveyed to Fenwick by Lord Berkeley, who had received it as a grant
from the Duke of York. Later, in a trial umpired by William Penn, Fen-
wick lost title to nine-tenths of the property on the ground that it had
been purchased with funds advanced by Edward Byllynge. On the remain
ing one-tenth, which included the site of Salem, Fenwick had given a
mortgage. The mortgagees and William Penn deprived Fenwick of his
title to this land, too. The fact that Fenwick had been a major in Crom
well s army may have had something to do with his frequent troubles with
Royal favorites.
The settlement was on the whole law-abiding, but the spirit of Quaker
friendliness was not all-pervasive. The court record is illuminating:
. . . Eliza Windsor, with force and arms upon the body of Elizabeth Rumsey, . . .
an assault did make, and her with a paddle over the head did strike, and also
over the neck, and her collar bone did break, to the great damage of the said
Elizabeth Rumsey. . . .
Early records name Thomas Lutherland as the only known Salemite
tested by the medieval Ordeal of the Bier, by which a suspected murderer
was judged guilty if the corpse flowed or spouted blood when the suspect s
hand was extended toward the body. After a jury trial, Lutherland was
hanged in Salem, February 23, 1691. More cruel was the execution of a
Negro woman named Hager. She was burned at the stake in 1717 for the
hatchet murder of her master, James Sherron, high sheriff. It was cus
tomary for the courtroom crowd to vote as to whether the death penalty
should be invoked.
Salem saw fighting, plundering and murder during the Revolutionary
War. In February 1778 Washington at Valley Forge sent a force of about
300 men under Anthony Wayne to obtain supplies from southern New
Jersey. Wayne collected 150 head of cattle and brought them to Valley
Forge. Salem beef saved the starving army. While Wayne was driving his
bawling bulls, Howe, stationed in Philadelphia, sent Colonel Abercrombie
with 2,000 men in a vain effort to stop him.
Another detachment of 1,000 British troops under Colonel Mawhood
and about 500 Tories (the Queen s Rangers) under Maj. John Simcoe
came to Salem the following month to forage. The Colonial troops formed
a line of defense at Alloways Creek, 3 miles south. It was along this front
that the ambushing of the Americans, the repulse of the British at Quin-
ton s Bridge (see Tour 29), and the Hancock House massacre (see Tour
29) occurred.
The Revolution started Salem s decline as a river port. British war ves
sels in the Delaware River throttled shipping, while the British occupation
SALEM 393
of Philadelphia drew attention to that city s superior advantages as a deep-
water port.
At the end of the century the soil turned sour after 150 years of un
scientific planting, and many Salemites moved west. Zadock Street left
Salem in 1803, founded Salem, Ohio, and then Salem, Indiana, a few years
later. His son, Aaron, established Salem, Iowa; the parade ended at the
Pacific Ocean with Salem, Oregon. The exodus stopped with the discovery
of marl, present in the region in unlimited quantities, as fertilizer.
By 1840 the general appearance of Salem was "thriving and pleasant,"
according to the contemporary historians, Barber and Howe. The town had
a bank, a market, 8 churches, 2 fire engines, 2 libraries, a newspaper print
ing office, 3 hotels and about 250 homes.
During this period the office of high sheriff was still an important posi
tion. Salem County s sheriff was especially proud of his work in hanging
Samuel T. Treadway, who had shot his estranged wife and was convicted
in a much publicized trial. Shortly afterward the sheriff went to Phila
delphia, it is said, and applied for a hotel room. The clerk informed him
that all rooms were taken, whereupon the sheriff leaned over the desk and
said: "I am the high sheriff of Salem County, I hung Treadway, and I
want a room in this hotel."
"Sir," the clerk answered coolly, "if you were sheriff of hell and hung
the devil it wouldn t make any difference to me. There are no rooms in
this hotel."
The reputation of the Quakers as Abolitionists spread throughout the
South by grapevine telegraph just before the Civil War, and many escaped
Negro slaves made Salem a stop on the Underground Railroad.
Industry became more firmly established in 1863 when a railroad
reached the city, which had lost its status as a village by incorporation in
1858. With industry came a steady increase in population, most recently
an influx of Negroes.
POINTS OF INTEREST
1. SALEM COUNTY COURTHOUSE, NE. corner Broadway and
Market St., is a square, two-story building, whose bricks have been re
painted a dark red. A cupola rises from the center of the roof. The pres
ent structure, rebuilt in 1817 and in 1908, stands on the site of a brick
courthouse erected 1735. On the lawn is an old BRASS CANNON of Italian
manufacture, taken from the British in the Battle of Plattsburg, N. Y., in
1814. The cannon and its wooden carriage have been painted the same
color as the courthouse.
2. OFFICES OF THE COUNTY CLERK AND SURROGATE, Mar
ket St. N. of the Courthouse, are in a high, one-story stucco building
adorned with Corinthian columns and pilasters, built in 1851. On the curb
is a FOUNTAIN, erected in 1901, which bears the legend: "Let him that is
athirst come. W. C. T, U." The fountain is dry; the town is wet.
3. SALEM COUNTY JAIL (open 2-5 Wed. and Sat.), Market St.,
between E. Broadway and Grant St., occupies a building which also houses
394 CITIES AND TOWNS
the offices of the mayor and sheriff. It is a two-story, red-brick, square
structure with a wing at the left which contains the cells. Scrolled decora
tions above the window sashes match an ornate cornice.
Although the present jail was erected 1775 and rebuilt in 1866, Salem
County prison records date back to 1709. The exact location of the earliest
jail is not known, but there are several anecdotes about prisoners of long
ago. Jailbreaks were frequent, and the sheriffs constantly advertised for
the return of escaped prisoners.
The roof was a favorite medium of escape. In the very early days one
John Mackentyre placed a candle on the end of a stick, thrust it through
the window, and set the roof on fire. He failed, however, to escape. School
boys for years afterward chanted a ditty opening with the lines :
Old John Mackentyre,
He set the jail on fire . . .
In 1884 Jim Sullivan, a Negro sentenced to death for murder, tore a
hole through the roof in order to watch a passing parade. The keepers, also
among the spectators, did not see Sullivan on the roof. After the parade
had passed, he returned to his cell. Three days later he was hanged, the
last execution of this type by the county. The jail roof today is of slate.
Near the jail stood the whipping post, where the backs of women as well
as men were bared to the lash.
4. ALEXANDER GRANT HOUSE (open by arrangement with pres.
Salem Co. Hist. Soc.), 83 Market St., is a two-and-a-half-story brick struc
ture, painted yellow. An extension reaches out about 6 feet toward the
street. The windows, except two dormers in the worn shingle roof, are
shuttered. The house was built in 1721 by Alexander Grant, whose de
scendants, Anna and Helena Hubbell, gave it to the Salem County Histori
cal Society. For a time Robert Gibbon Johnson, one of Salem s earliest
historians, lived here.
Exhibits on the main floor include Indian relics, Colonial kitchenware,
farm implements, early deeds, manuscripts and books and a collection of
pre-Revolutionary china and glass. A replica of a Colonial bedroom, old
wearing apparel and other items are on display on the second floor. Also
on the second floor is the Heinz collection of 300 canes, on display in the
ELLEN MECUM MEMORIAL ROOM, meeting place of the Oak Tree Chap
ter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The Sarah Bradway
Harris collection of early kitchen utensils is on the attic floor.
5. GREEN S HOTEL, 115 Market St., erected 1799, is a four-story
greenish-yellow, mottled stucco building. From the second floor a veranda
that stretches the length of the house overhangs the sidewalk. On the street
level are stores with old-fashioned fronts painted a dingy dark green. The
city s sporting element congregates here to listen to the stories of yester
day s baseball hero, "Whitey" Witt, the inn s host, and Salem County s
Leon (Goose) Goslin, who returns each winter between seasons spent on
the big-league diamonds to his home about 5 miles from the city.
6. MUNICIPAL BUILDING, i New Market St., a red brick structure
SALEM OAK
396 CITIES AND TOWNS
dating from 1889, was used by a bank until 1926. It has an ornately de
signed front with a round tower on one side, and a superimposed, slate-
covered dormer on the other. Across the front is a huge ribbon scroll with
a dark green border, inscribed, "City of Salem Municipal Building."
7. An OLD LAW OFFICE (private), directly behind the Municipal
Building, reputedly one of the earliest law offices in the country, was also
used as a medical office by Dr. Ebenezer Howell, Revolutionary patriot.
Built in 1732 for John Jones, the one-room octagonal structure of red
brick with a conical wood-shingle roof is now in poor condition.
8. FRIENDS BURIAL GROUND, W. Broadway between 4th and 5th
Sts., was set aside in 1676, a year after the town was founded. The plot
contains the remains of some of Salem s oldest settlers. Typical of Quaker
burial grounds the low white headstones, few of them more than i foot
high, have no inscription but the name and dates of birth and death.
The ancient SALEM OAK, the community s pride, stands within the
cemetery, near the main entrance. John Fenwick sat beneath its branches
when he bartered with the Indians for the Salem territory. Its age has been
variously estimated at from 500 to 900 years. Robert Burdette, the hu
morist, judged that "Salem Oak is 4 years older than the Atlantic Ocean."
Cared for by the Society of Friends, the tree is in excellent condition, and
its acorns are collected each year to fill requests from all parts of the
world. When last measured the oak was 80 feet high with a maximum
circumference of more than 30 feet.
9. ORTHODOX FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE (private), 107 W.
Broadway, is a replica of the Friends Meeting House on East Broadway.
It is a two-story, rectangular red brick building with a sloping tin roof,
and separate entrances for men and women. The tall shuttered doors and
window trim are painted yellow. At each end of the roof is a small red
brick chimney, one covered with cement. The structure was erected in
1852, 20 years after the Orthodox branch of Friends separated from the
Hicksite branch over a doctrinal argument. Only one family uses this
meeting house (1938).
10. BRADWAY HOUSE (private), 32 W. Broadway, built in 1691,
is a rectangular, two-story brick building, the white paint now turned
fray. A red tin roof provides the only color. The house has been known
y a succession of names: "Governor s House," the "Light House," and
"Capital House." Royal Governors of New Jersey occupied the mansion,
notably Governor Cornbury, who arrived soon after the death of Edward
Bradway, said to have been the builder. Several times the provincial con
gress of West Jersey met here. The practice of placing a light in the gable
to guide mariners to the nearby wharf originated the name of "Light
House." Present-day Salemites refer to the building as the "Old Yellow
House," because of the paint once used. Surrounded now by cheap dwell
ings, the old house serves as an office for the Gaynor Glass Company,
whose plant extends to the rear.
11. FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE (open meeting days), E. Broadway
opposite Walnut St., was erected in 1772 to replace an earlier brick build
ing that stood within the Friends Burial Ground. Set behind a broad lawn
SALEM 397
and picket-fence, it is a well-kept, two-story, red brick rectangular build
ing, with two shuttered entrances on the street level. The entrances are
protected by small overhanging roofs supported by slender columns. On
one side is a porte cochere. These entrances, originally built for the men s
and women s sections, are now used by both sexes. The early Quakers who
founded the colony frequently met here for discussion of common prob
lems. During the Revolution the building served as an overflow court for
the trial of Tories.
POINTS OF INTEREST IN ENVIRONS
Pledger House, 1 m, (see Tour 28) ; William Hancock House, site of Revolution
ary massacre, 4.1 m.; Fort Mott, 8.4 m. (see Tour 29).
Railroad Stations: Pennsylvania Station, S. Clinton Ave. near E. State St., for Penn
sylvania R.R. ; Reading Station, N. Warren and Tucker Sts., for Reading R.R.
Bus Stations: Central Bus Terminal, 21 W. State St., for Greyhound Line, National
Trailways System, Royal Blue Coaches and Pan American Bus Lines; 38 W. Front
St. for Trenton-Philadelphia Coach Co.; Trenton Transit Co. Terminal, 132 Perry
St., for interurban lines; 21 N. Willow St. for Trenton and Lambertville line.
Taxis: 250 to 850 according to distance by 2ones.
Busses: io0.
Traffic Regulations: Traffic lights throughout city. Signs designate parking time
limit. No turns permitted at Broad and State Sts.; turns in either direction permitted
elsewhere. Watch signs for one-way streets. Out-of-town motorists who break minor
traffic laws get warning tag, which must be turned in at police station or to traffic
officer, penalty imposed with third tag.
Accommodations : Two large hotels, several smaller ones, many boarding houses and
tourist homes; no seasonal rates.
Information Service: Chamber of Commerce, Hotel Stacy-Trent, 51 W. State St.;
Hotel Hildebrecht, 27 W. State St.
Radio Station: WTNJ (1280 kc.).
Motion Picture Houses : Eleven.
Golf: Sunnybrae course, 4 m. SE. on US 130, 18 holes, greens fee 5O0; Sat., Sun.
and holidays $i.
Baseball: Dunn Field, Brunswick Ave., home of the Trenton Senators, New York-
Penn League.
Annual Events: Farm Show, January; State Fair, last week in September; Feast of
Lights, religious festival in Italian colony, second Sat. and Sun. in September.
TRENTON (55 alt., 123,356 pop.), with a rich background as an early
Quaker settlement and as the State capital, is primarily a manufacturing
center. Residents are proud of its history, and there are plaques, monu
ments, and historic houses throughout the city. Nevertheless, Trenton
chooses to identify itself by a sign almost as wide as Delaware River,
fastened to the steel arches of the main highway bridge: "Trenton Makes
The World Takes."
The city lies on a low plateau at the head of navigation on Delaware
River. Thanks to the rocky channel and rapids (known from earliest set
tlement as the Falls) that have made commercial development impractical
along most of the shore, the river front is bordered by the trees and grass
of an extensive park, making a green backyard for the State buildings and
for the western residential section.
Assunpink Creek, site of a Revolutionary battle, bisects the city, closely
paralleled by the depressed main line tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Once this tributary of the Delaware was clear-flowing and tree-lined ; it is
398
TRENTON 399
now hemmed by retaining walls, spanned by many bridges, and burdened
with the refuse of factories.
Trenton s skyline, dominated by the Capitol s golden dome, is marked
by a few tall buildings, numerous church spires and the Battle Monument.
Plane passengers see a slight haze of smoke from factories producing pot
tery, steel products, and rubber goods; a smudge that contrasts with the
unobstructed greenness of the surrounding countryside of New Jersey and
Pennsylvania.
Modern Trenton for the most part turns its back on the river and puts
forward its best foot on State Street. Choked with traffic in the business
center, this busy thoroughfare broadens for a short stretch before the Capi
tol buildings. The State s business is conducted in structures that vary from
Italian Renaissance to modern classic design. Many departments have over
flowed to quarters in nearby office buildings, and business houses have
moved in close to the Capitol.
In the congested shopping district are a few large stores, with a miscel
lany of smaller shops along State Street and its principal intersecting thor
oughfares, Warren and Broad Streets. Rows of two- and three-story struc
tures are broken at intervals by taller buildings, or by a Georgian Colonial
church that makes with its small green graveyard a quiet corner in the
midst of pulsing commercial activity. With the click of the wrought-iron
gate, one can step from today into Trenton s mellow past. Names on the
old brown tombstones recall illustrious dames and burghers who once trod
the flagstones to the church door.
In the western residential area, once a farming section with fences to
protect the settlers uneasy cattle, are comfortable homes, well shaded and
adequately spaced with lawns. Some of these fine old houses date back a
century or more. In sharp contrast is "Philadelphia Row," a block-long
stretch of two-family brick houses, built as a unit, each porch or stoop
identical, with nothing but a house number to distinguish one from an
other. The simple post-Colonial lines of some of the older brick houses,
close by the business section, retain the dignity of the early iSoo s.
The manufacturing districts lie chiefly to the south and east of the busi
ness center. The streets are cluttered with railroad spurs; miles of mesh
fences, topped with barbed wire, some with a covering of ivy, enclose
buildings of brick and stone. A few are modern structures, with a liberal
display of glass against a framework of steel and concrete.
Bordering the factories is the slum section of Trenton, home of part of
the Negro population. It is a typical district of ill-preserved houses, neither
better nor worse than that of the average manufacturing city.
A complete city in itself, Trenton does not blossom and wilt with the
coming and going of the legislators. The hotels are filled, of course, when
the session opens each January ; but in New Jersey the legislature holds ses
sions on Monday nights, rather than through each week. This arrange
ment makes it possible for the legislators to commute from their homes,
and at the same time deprives the city of the opportunity of being the
politico-social center of the State, as are some other State capitals.
In January of every year divisible by three Trenton is decked with flags
400 CITIES AND TOWNS
and crowded with visitors for the inaugural ceremonies. The War Memo
rial Building, where the Governor takes the oath, is packed to the limit of
its 2,000 seats. The ceremony is preceded by a procession of officers and is
followed by a huge parade through the streets. An executive salute of 19
guns precedes the delivery of the Great Seal of the State to the Governor.
An afternoon reception in the executive offices is followed by an elaborate
ball in the evening. Formerly inaugurations took place in the Taylor Opera
House with much less ceremony.
It is possible that Trenton s history dates back to Stone Age man. Dr.
Charles C. Abbott made an exhaustive study of gravel deposits on his
Trenton farm and reported in 1872 that crude implements he had dis
covered were of the glacial period. The weight of archeological opinion
seems, however, to be against this theory (see ARCHEOLOGY). In 1650
about 200 Sanhicans, a clan of the Unami subdivision of the Lenape, oc
cupied part of this area. This agricultural group was noted for its skill in
making lanceheads and arrowheads of quartz and jasper.
The first white settler was Mahlon Stacy, an English Quaker, who took
up a grant of land in 1679 at "ye ffalles of ye De La Warr" and built a
log mill and a clapboard house. The little hamlet that developed around
this nucleus was called The Falls.
Recognizing the commercial possibilities of the site, William Trent, a
Philadelphia merchant, in 1714 bought of Mahlon Stacy Jr. the remainder
of his father s holdings of 800 acres on Assunpink Creek (Ind., stone in
the water). Trent replaced the log mill with one of stone and c. 1719
built himself a fine house later called Bloomsbury Court, now the oldest
in the city. In the same year court sessions of Hunterdon County were
held in the village. Trent s energy and financial backing launched the set
tlement, which he called Trent s Town, into a period of steady growth. Its
position at the head of sloop navigation made the town a shipping point
for grain and other products of the area, and a depot for merchandise be
tween New York and Philadelphia. Overland travelers found the village
a convenient stopping place on King s Highway, while a ferry, chartered
in 1727, afforded communication with Pennsylvania.
In 1745 the town received a royal charter of incorporation as a borough
and town, although the charter was voluntarily surrendered five years later
when it failed to bring any material benefits.
The townspeople hurried to the water front in 1746 and cheered the
first raft of timber from the upper Delaware as it passed through the rapids
on its way to Philadelphia. Many others followed during the next century ;
some carried from 500 to 600 bushels of wheat.
The first chief burgess, Dr. Thomas Cadwalader, ranked high in his pro
fession. One of the first advocates of inoculation as a disease preventive,
he is said to have introduced the practice in Trenton to combat smallpox.
In 1750 Dr. Cadwalader gave 500 to found the Trenton Library Com
pany, the first "public" library in New Jersey. It was almost wholly de
stroyed by British soldiers in December 1776 but revived in 1797 and
lasted until 1855.
John Adams reported in 1774 that Trenton, as it soon became known,
TRENTON 401
was "a pretty village. It appears to be the largest town we have seen in the
Jerseys." Trenton resembled the shire towns of England, its hip or gable
roofed dwellings facing the street, with gardens on both sides. The wharves
were busy, and there were four churches, a courthouse, and a jail. In 1776
Trenton was a village of about 100 houses, mainly clustered along King
and Queen Streets (now Warren and Broad Streets).
On the morning of December 26, 1776, Trenton was the scene of one
of the most decisive battles of the Revolution. Washington, his prestige
seriously reduced after his army had been harried across the State and into
Pennsylvania by closely pursuing British, turned with about 2,500 troops
upon his foe by executing the famous crossing of the ice-choked Delaware
(see Tour 11).
Washington had planned his surprise attack on the Hessians in Trenton
for 5 a.m., expecting to find them asleep after a boisterous Christmas cele
bration. The difficult crossing of the river and the icy roads on the nine-
mile march delayed until 8 o clock the arrival of his two divisions, one
marching by the lower road and one by the upper road, but apparently
few of the Hessians were awake even then. The fighting was described by
Washington in a report to Congress as follows:
The upper division arrived at the enemy s advanced post exactly at 8 o clock; and
in 3 minutes after, I found, from the fire on the lower road, that that division had
also got up. The out-guards made but a small opposition; though, for their num
bers, they behaved very well, keeping up a constant retreating fire from behind
houses.
We presently saw their main body formed; but, from their motions, they seemed
undetermined how to act. Being hard pressed by our troops, who had already got
possession of part of their artillery, they attempted to file off by a road on their
right, leading to Princeton; but, perceiving their intention, I threw a body of troops
in their way, which immediately checked them. Finding, from our disposition, that
they were surrounded, and they must inevitably be cut to pieces if they made any
further resistance, they agreed to lay down their arms . . .
The prisoners numbered 23 officers and 886 men. Colonel Rail, the
Hessians commander, was mortally wounded; Washington estimated the
enemy s dead at "not above twenty or thirty," while the Americans cas
ualties were "only two officers and one or two privates wounded." One of
the wounded officers was Lieut. James Monroe, later President, who helped
to capture a Hessian battery. About one-third of the Hessian force escaped
down the river road toward Bordentown.
After resting a few hours in Trenton, the American troops returned to
the Pennsylvania shore. Two men died from the cold. Revolutionists
throughout the Colonies were heartened by the unexpected success at Tren
ton and the British command was correspondingly alarmed. General Howe
dispatched Cornwallis with 4,000 to 5,000 troops to intercept Washington
should he attempt to recross New Jersey. The American Army, meanwhile,
had recrossed to Trenton on the then frozen river.
Cornwallis arrived shortly before sunset on January 2 and found the
Continental troops drawn up on higher ground on the farther side of
Assunpink Creek. The engagement that followed, often confused with the
402 CITIES AND TOWNS
Battle of Princeton on the next day, is known locally as the second Battle
of Trenton, or Battle of the Assunpink.
Three times the British charged up to the bridge and even onto it, but
each time the assault was broken by a hail of Continental lead. An eyewit
ness wrote that when the first attack crumbled, "... our army raised a shout,
and such a shout I have never since heard; by what signal or word of
command, I know not. The line was more than a mile in length, and from
the nature of the ground the extremes were not in sight of each other,
yet they shouted as one man ..."
A contemporary observer estimated that 150 enemy troops were killed.
Washington knew, however, that a more determined assault would be
made in the morning, which might overwhelm his poorly equipped army.
Since a thaw had broken the ice sheet across the Delaware, an escape to the
Pennsylvania shore was impossible. That night Washington and his offi
cers conferred in the Douglass house to find a way out of the trap. It was
General St. Clair, according to some historians, who suggested the retreat
to Princeton by a little-used back road.
By good fortune the temperature dropped sufficiently to freeze this
ordinarily bad road so that artillery wheels could be supported. The army
marched off to whispered orders. To deaden the rumble of artillery wheels,
rags were wrapped around the rims. "Rags were plentiful, but they were
all on the backs of the soldiers," one historian commented. A skeleton
force was left behind to keep the camp fires burning in sight of the Brit
ish, who were singing around well-filled kettles only a short distance away.
It is said that Washington even ordered dummy cannon mounted to aid
the deception, a device used as recently as 1937 by Chinese defenders of
Shanghai.
In the morning Cornwallis got hurried news of the Revolutionaries suc
cess in overcoming the British garrison at Princeton (see PRINCETON).
Fearing for the safety of a treasure chest of 70,000 and a large supply
of military stores at New Brunswick, the British commander started his
army in quick pursuit. But the American troops had turned off to find
shelter in the Watchung Hills.
Trenton was chosen as the State capital in 1790 and two years later,
still nothing more than a village, was incorporated as a city. The residents
earlier hopes of bringing the national capital to the bank of the Delaware,
defeated by the opposition of southern States, were temporarily fulfilled
when recurring epidemics of yellow fever caused the removal of national
offices from Philadelphia. In 1794 and 1798 Trenton had several Federal
offices, and in 1799 practically all of the departments were represented;
even President Adams and his wife were temporary residents.
A covered bridge 1,100 feet long was built across Delaware River in
1806, described by the historians, Barber and Howe, as "one of the finest
specimens of bridge architecture, of wood, in the world." Perpendicular
iron rods, hung from arches, provided such sturdy support for the floor
that the structure was used later by railroad trains.
Development of water power by the Delaware Falls Company, construc
tion of the Delaware and Raritan Canal, and building of the Camden and
TRENTON 403
Amboy Railroad resulted in industrial activity that made Trenton a city
in fact as well as in name. John A. Roebling moved his wire mill from
Pennsylvania in 1848 and continued the manufacture of steel cable. The
erection of Brooklyn Bridge a generation later publicized Roebling and
Trenton throughout the world.
Pottery making, a Colonial industry, began to thrive after 1850. Crafts
men were imported from England and Ireland to teach local apprentices
the art of producing wares that, by 1880, made Trenton known as the Staf
fordshire of America. The Ott and Brewer Company made in 1882 the
first piece of American Beleek. Walter Lenox, one of the young appren
tices, later laid the foundations for the Lenox Pottery. From Trenton pot
teries came, in 1873, the first porcelain sanitary ware in the United States.
Trenton workers had formed trade unions as early as 1835, and in that
year conducted a largely successful strike for a ic-hour day.
Growth of industry had by 1860 eliminated much of the city s quiet
charm. Factories and houses for workers claimed terrain once dominated
by Colonial dwellings. Down the center of North Broad Street (then
Greene Street) ran the Street Market, two buildings stretching from State
Street out to Academy Street.
In this period Trenton s most prolific writer now largely forgotten
began his career. He was Edward S. Ellis, a school teacher who was one of
the originators of the dime novel. At the age of 20 he wrote Setb Jones,
or The Cap the of the Frontier, which was published in 1860 by Beadle
Brothers, New York, and sold 600,000 copies. Ellis produced about one
hundred novels afterward.
In the early i88o s, the potters of Trenton were victimized by the black
list. By agreement among the manufacturers, no worker could change em
ployers without a written release from his last employer. The Sunday Ad
vertiser, in an article headed "Local Fugitive Slave Law," reported in
May 1883 the suit of Mary E. Slattery against the American Crockery Com
pany for damages because of the girl s inability to get work elsewhere in
Trenton. A judgment for $72 was finally given in 1884.
The city s greatest expansion occurred between 1880 and 1920, when
the population increased by 90,379 as foreign labor poured in to man fac
tories and mills. During this period the adjacent boroughs of Chambers-
burg and Wilbur, Millham Township, and parts of Ewing Township were
annexed. Growth has perceptibly slowed since 1920. A number of indus
tries have gone to other regions and many Trenton workers have moved
to suburbs.
Both in population and in manufactures, the city ranks fourth in the
State. The most important single industry is the making of wire rope and
cables. Next in importance is the pottery industry. Several large cigar
manufacturers have established factories here in recent years.
Deepening of the Delaware River channel to 20 feet made Trenton a
port for seagoing vessels in 1932. The terminal is municipally operated.
As the State capital, Trenton has been the scene of important legal, as
well as political, controversies. Perhaps the most famous trial was that of
Charles Goodyear s suit against Horace Day for infringement of his patent
404 CITIES AND TOWNS
on the rubber-vulcanizing process. Crowds gathered in March 1852 to
hear Daniel Webster, then Secretary of State, successfully argue the case for
Goodyear against Joseph Choate, another famous lawyer. Webster, re
ported the True American, "seems to be in ill health, although his mas
sive brow is as bold and prominent as ever, and his large full eyes glow
with intellectual fire." Webster had written his son that he was heavily
in debt and welcomed the $10,000 fee. The audience was not disap
pointed when he summed up: "I believe that the man who sits at this
table, Charles Goodyear, is to go down to posterity in the history of the
arts of this country, in that great class of inventors at the head of which
stands Robert Fulton ; in which class stand the names of Whitney, and of
Morse, and in which class will stand non post longo intervallo the humble
name of Charles Goodyear."
The strangest spectacle ever seen in the Statehouse was occupation of
the assembly chamber in the spring of 1936 by a delegation of unem
ployed, protesting the termination of State aid to the needy. The sit-down
strike, starting with 25 persons and growing rapidly, lasted nine days and
focused national interest on the capital. Seats and desks for legislators
were converted into dining tables, beds, and card tables ; corridors and the
assembly chamber and gallery were jammed with strikers and curious on
lookers. The legislature finally adjourned without taking any action except
to refer the matter to a moneyless board and the weary groups of jobless
marched quietly out of the Statehouse.
POINTS OF INTEREST
1. The STATE CAPITOL ANNEX (open 9-5 weekdays), W. State
St. opposite Taylor s Place, is a four-story Indiana limestone building of
neoclassic design, built in 1931. Designed by J. Osborne Hunt of Trenton
and Col. Hugh A. Kelly of Jersey City, it is a well-planned H-shaped
structure. Within the annex are a number of State departments and courts,
plus the STATE LIBRARY of about 175,000 volumes, noted for its law, his
tory and genealogy collections; and the STATE MUSEUM (open 9-5 week
days; 2-5 Sun.), which contains exhibits of natural resources, archeology
and fauna of New Jersey, as well as minerals, fossils and Indian relics.
Schools throughout the State are provided with teaching aids from lending
collections.
2. The STATEHOUSE (open 9-5 weekdays; all night Mon. during
legislative sessions), 121 W. State St., is an unsatisfactory composite of ad
ditions and alterations, occupying a landscaped plot between State Street
and Delaware River. What remains of the original structure, built c. 1792,
is now a part of the present building, although exactly what part is uncer
tain. Subsequent growth has been without regard to any foresighted plan.
After a fire in 1885, the present front portion and rotunda with gilded
dome and lantern were erected in 1889 from the plans of L. H. Broome.
The three-and-one-half-story facade is in the French Renaissance style, with
a clumsy two-tier entrance porch supported on small scale polished granite
columns. The ill-lighted main entrance corridor is hung with indistinguish-
TRENTON 405
able portraits of early Jersey statesmen and patriots; portraits of various
Governors hang in the executive chambers. Against the walls of the
cramped rotunda are musty cabinets of Civil War regimental flags. The
second and third floors are labyrinths of gloomy corridors and passage
ways weaving in and out among erratically placed offices. In the basement,
where a bar once provided convenient relief for hard-worked legislators,
there is a lunchroom and lounge.
The assembly chamber, designed by James Moylan and built in 1891, is
finished on the interior with Trenton tile, yellow oak, Italian marble, and
iron. Individual desks, each with a spittoon, are arranged in the plan of an
amphitheater. To the right and left of the speaker s desk are small pens
flatteringly called press boxes. Suspended above on the sides and rear is
the spectators gallery, wholly inadequate for the accommodation of visi
tors who usually can neither see nor hear the speakers on the floor.
Similar to the assembly chamber but smaller is the marble senate cham
ber, planned by Arnold H. Moses and completed in 1904. At the rear of
the capitol and between the two chambers is a massive, four-story stucco
wing, built in 1907 from the drawings of George E. Poole, State architect.
3. The OLD BARRACKS (open 10-5 weekdays, May to Aug.; 10-4,
Sept. to April; adm. 100), S. Willow St. opposite W. Front St., is the only
remaining unit of the five barracks erected in 1758-59 by the Colonial
Assembly to house Colonial troops, previously billeted in private homes,
during the French and Indian War. It is a pleasing example of the adapta
tion of early Georgian Colonial style to a military building. Of U-shaped
design, the courtyard walls carry a two-story roofed porch, supported on
thin wood columns that give a southern air. The masonry is of random
fieldstone with white wood trim. British troops, Hessian jaegers and
American soldiers were quartered here during the Revolution; afterward
the structure was used for private dwellings. In 1813, Front Street was cut
through the building, but the entire structure was restored about a century
later. The original three long rooms have been divided into many small
ones, some furnished with Colonial pieces, others used for exhibitions. One
of the finest collections of Continental currency in the country is here.
Some rooms are headquarters for various Colonial and Revolutionary so
cieties. On the lawn is an elm grown from the root of the Cambridge tree
under which General Washington assumed charge of the Continental
Army. The property, restored by the State, is managed by the Old Barracks
Association.
4. The OLD MASONIC LODGE HOUSE (open 9-4 weekdays; 1-4
Sun.), NE. corner S. Willow and Lafayette Sts., is one of the oldest Ma
sonic houses still standing north of the Mason and Dixon Line. It was built
in 1793 by the local lodge, organized in 1787. The two-story Georgian
Colonial building is of fieldstone, ivy-covered, with white trim and slate
roof. The graceful doorway, deep set and arched, is lighted by an old
lantern.
Much of American Masonic history appears to have had its beginnings
in Trenton. In 1730 Masons in the Province of New York, New Jersey,
and Pennsylvania requested of the Grand Lodge of England a deputation
406
CITIES AND TOWNS
U.5.1toNew\brk
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TRENTON
1938
TRENTON
407
408 CITIES AND TOWNS
for the first provincial grand master in America. The honor was conferred
upon Col. Daniel Coxe, a Trenton citizen, who was the first grand master
in the New World. Many relics of this early period are on exhibition
downstairs in the Old Lodge House. Upstairs the meeting room is fur
nished as it was in Colonial days.
Beside this old landmark is the new MASONIC TEMPLE, erected in 1928,
a three-story limestone building, designed by architects Harry A. Hill and
Ervin G. Gollner in a modified neoclassic style. The entrance is through
three bronze doors in the base below the five-columned porch. Within, the
wall and arches of the spacious foyer are of Italian travertine.
5. The SOLDIERS AND SAILORS WAR MEMORIAL BUILDING
(open 9-4 Mon.-Fri.), S. Willow St. betwen Lafayette St. and Memorial
Dr., was erected in 1931-32 from a fund of $922,000, raised by popular
subscription and by city and county appropriations. It is a memorial to
residents of Mercer County who participated in the World War. The two-
story structure, constructed of buff Indiana limestone, was designed by
William A. Klemann and Louis S. Kaplan in a modified Renaissance style.
Four flights of steps lead to a terrace with a balustrade around its edge.
The entrance is through bronze doors in Florentine style; within is a
Memorial Court, with floor and wall trim of imported Italian marble and
ceiling of blue and gold polychrome terra cotta. There are two auditoriums,
exhibit rooms, and offices for veterans organizations and other civic
groups. Important civic events, lectures, concerts, and the inauguration of
the Governor take place here.
6. The DOUGLASS HOUSE (private), extreme easterly part of Mahlon
Stacy Park, near Memorial Dr., was the meeting place of Washington and
his officers on January 2, 1777, when they planned the retreat to Princeton
after the Battle of the Assunpink. The little frame dwelling then stood
at 193 S. Broad St. It was brought to this site in 1923, its green and white
Georgian Colonial exterior restored and the interior fitted with modern
conveniences. The greensward of Mahlon Stacy Park lies between the
house and the river; a picket fence surrounds the building, and a row of
quivering poplars stands beside it.
7. MAHLON STACY PARK, Memorial Dr. bordering the Delaware,
has 19 acres of lawn, paths, shrubbery and trees, framing the State build
ings grouped at its edge. Seen from the park, the Statehouse has a dignity
lacking in any other view. Bridges block the view upstream and down;
the river flows rapidly here, its shallow waters tumbling over a rock-strewn
bed with several small islands. Until a few years ago Sanhican Creek, the
former water power canal of the Delaware Falls Co., ran the length of the
park. Flocks of ducks were attracted by its still waters and by the open-
handed generosity of legislators pausing from labor in the Capitol. Today
the section of the canal behind the Capitol has been filled in, but its north
ern portion provides an attractive series of spillways.
8. HOTEL STERLING, 18 W. State St., has a section that was known
as the Government House when it served as the official mansion of Gov
ernors in the early iSoo s. The State no longer maintains a house for the
Governor. A four-story yellow stone structure trimmed with white, the
TRENTON 409
hotel has been remodeled several times but retains some of its post-
Colonial lines.
9. The FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 114 E. State St., has stood
in dignified simplicity since 1841. Two township and two city churches,
the first dating from 1712, preceded it. Two great fluted columns, sur
mounted by a pediment, frame the entrance doors, which are painted white
and nail-studded in three oblong panels. A lofty, octagonal steeple crowns
the stucco on brick building. Buried in the churchyard are many Revolu
tionists, among them Abraham Hunt, wealthy Trenton merchant. Hunt
gave indirect assistance to Washington s victory at Trenton by pressing
the Hessian commander to partake of the best in his cellar on the Christ
mas Night before the battle.
10. The OLD FRIENDS MEETING HOUSE, NW. corner E. Hanover
and Montgomery Sts., is characterized by the customary modesty of a
Quaker house of worship. Built in 1739, the simple gray stucco structure
has a flat roof on one side and a peaked one on the other. The yard, like
those of many other Quaker meeting houses, is shaded by a sycamore tree.
George Clymer, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Gov.
Richard Howell, who helped to burn British tea at Greenwich in 1774, are
buried here along with such other prominent citizens as Dr. Thomas Cad-
walader, Col. Lambert Cadwalader, and Gen. Philemon Dickinson.
11. ST. MICHAELS P. E. CHURCH, 140 N. Warren St., was erected
1819 and has been enlarged from time to time. It is an unusual example
of post-Colonial design. Covered with tan stucco, it has mahogany-
trimmed windows and entrance, and a crenellated roof that shows a Nor
man influence. An earlier church was standing on this site in 1748. In the
small graveyard, resting place for many distinguished citizens, is buried
Pauline Joseph Ann Holton, child of Joseph Bonaparte and the beautiful
Annette Savage.
12. ST. MARY S CATHEDRAL, 157 N. Warren St., was dedicated in
1871 and reflects the Victorian Gothic influence in line and detail. The
cathedral stands on land where much of the fighting during the Battle of
Trenton took place. A tablet on the adjoining OFFICE OF THE ROMAN
CATHOLIC BISHOP of the Trenton diocese recalls that the Hessian com
mander, Col. Rail, died at his headquarters in the house that formerly
stood here.
13. The BATTLE MONUMENT (open 9-5 daily, adm. 100, children
50), intersection of N. Warren St., N. Broad St., Brunswick, Pennington,
and Princeton Aves., is a 15 5-foot shaft surmounted by a heroic statue of
Washington. Designed by John Duncan and dedicated in 1893, it marks
the spot where Washington s artillery opened fire in the early morning of
December 26, 1776. Three bas-reliefs in bronze on the base of the shaft
illustrate The Crossing of the Delaware, The Opening of the Fight, and
The Surrender of the Hessians. Two bronze figures stand at the entrance.
An elevator runs to the top, from which there is an excellent view of the
city.
14. BLOOMSBURY COURT or The WILLIAM TRENT HOUSE
(temporarily dosed), 539 S. Warren St., erected c. 1719 by William
410 CITIES AND TOWNS
Trent, is the oldest house in the city. This fine example of early Georgian
Colonial architecture was recently restored by emergency relief agencies.
Of red brick with white trim, it is crowned by a hexagonal, copper-roofed
cupola with a weather vane. The simplicity of straight lines with no orna
mentation is accentuated by bare windows, the shutters being inside. The
interior is little altered and retains the original stairway and floor boards.
Nine fireplaces and a cellar kitchen fireplace, built by Colonel Trent, are
still in good condition. Two upstairs rooms have the original plaster on the
walls, and the hallways retain their first cornices. The main downstairs
room has the original wall paneling. Well-shaped lawns, marked with box
wood, are enclosed by a brick and wrought-iron fence. There were lavish
entertainments at Bloomsbury Court during the ownership of Lt. Col. John
Cox, proprietor of the Batsto iron works that supplied the Continental
Army. Cox had six daughters, all of whom made matches worthy of their
not inconsequential personal charms. One admirer of the Cox girls was
said to have been Count Jean de Fersen, who had come to America with
Rochambeau because of gossip indicating that his attentions to Marie
Antoinette were more than should be expected of a loyal subject of King
Louis XVI.
15. The JOHN FITCH MEMORIAL, NE. corner John Fitch Way and
Ferry St., is a boulder in honor of Fulton s forerunner in steam naviga
tion. The site, as obscure as Fitch s name, overlooks the Delaware and an
unkempt patch of grass and weeds adjoining the Pennsylvania R.R. em
bankment. Born in Connecticut, Fitch came to Trenton in 1769 as a gun-
maker and metal worker. Here he learned the trade of a silversmith. He
served as a lieutenant during the Revolution and later, fired by dreams of
westward expansion of the new Nation, studied an idea for building a boat
that could travel against the current of the great Mississippi and Ohio
Rivers.
Fitch had heard of the stationary steam engine, although he had never
seen one. He proceeded to build a boat propelled by a series of paddles on
both sides that, in 1786, gave a successful demonstration before Benjamin
Franklin and other noted men. Improvements made during the ensuing
four years enabled Fitch s vessel to attain a speed of eight miles an hour
against the Delaware current. Philadelphia newspapers in 1790, a full 17
years before Robert Fulton s Clermont was demonstrated on Hudson River,
carried advertisements of Fitch s packet operating on a regular schedule
between various points on the Delaware.
Although Fitch was granted exclusive rights to construct and operate
steamboats by New Jersey and four other States, he was unable to win
support of financiers and Congress. Discouraged, he retired to the back
woods of Kentucky and there committed suicide in 1798. He was buried
in a pauper s grave at Bardstown, Ky. Later a memorial was erected in
front of the Bardstown courthouse.
16. FARMERS MARKET (open 6 p.m.-ll p.m. weekdays during sea
son), S. Warren St., S. of Ferry St., has two lanes of open sheds with the
river and wharves for background. Every summer night except Sunday
there is a line-up of trucks, pleasure cars and even wagons, all with dis-
BATTLE MONUMENT, TRENTON
412 CITIES AND TOWNS
plays of farm produce that attract a large number of buyers. The market
has been operated by the city since 1918.
17. The NEW JERSEY STATE PRISON (open upon identification
Tues., Thurs.), 3rd St. between Federal and Cass Sts., encloses an entire
block with its great red stone walls, studded with guard towers. Part of
the present structure was erected in 1836. Numerous additions have been
made, but the institution is still seriously overcrowded. Congestion has
been relieved in part by the transfer of prisoners to farms at Leesburg and
Bordentown, and by the removal of women inmates to a farm at Clinton.
Under the liberal management of the State department of institutions
and agencies, a progressive program for handling prisoners has been de
veloped in recent years. Striped suits were replaced with dark gray in
1917. Prior to that time, the State prison was known for a disciplinary
system that was one of the most severe in the Nation. Operating today
under a scientific classification plan and the honor system, the institution
has more than one- fourth of its prisoners working on the farms as trusties.
The escape record is one of the lowest in the country.
Inmates are taught elementary subjects up to the eighth grade and may,
if they wish, continue their studies through correspondence courses. In
struction in trades is given in wood, tin, concrete, printing, and machine
shops. Large numbers of shoes are manufactured and repaired.
A crowd of about one thousand persons gathered outside the prison
walls on the night of April 3, 1936, to await word of the execution, after
two reprieves, of Bruno Richard Hauptmann for the murder of Charles A.
Lindbergh Jr. More than 100 city police, 50 State troopers, and a fire com
pany, with hose connected, were on guard. Within, the stolid carpenter
walked silently to the chair and was given three shocks of electricity while
two ministers read the Bible in German. The convicted man, who had
stoutly maintained his innocence, was pronounced dead at 8:471/2 p.m.
Two minutes later a guard walked to a window and nodded his head. A
policeman outside said, "I guess that s all." The crowd dispersed quietly.
1 8. The JOHN A. ROEBLING SONS PLANT (open by permission),
640 S. Broad St., produces wire rope and wire cable which not only sup
port some of the world s largest bridges but are also used to strengthen and
operate many airplanes. A modern, four-story, red brick building trimmed
with Indiana limestone houses the administrative offices and technical de
partments. At the side and rear are the mills, also of red brick.
19. The SWITLIK PARACHUTE AND EQUIPMENT PLANT
(not open to public), 2nd floor of 649 S. Broad St., manufactures para
chutes and other airplane equipment almost exclusively for the Federal
Government. The company advertises the fastest-opening parachute in the
world, and was the first to make the chair chute, a combination of chair and
parachute.
20. BOW HILL (private), 0.25 m. S. of Lalor St. between Bunting and
Reeger Aves., was known as "Beau Hill" to wits of a century ago; for here
the former King of Spain, Joseph Bonaparte, housed his lovely Quaker
mistress, Annette Savage. The old red brick mansion stands back from
TRENTON 413
Lalor Street, lonely and neglected in the shadow of great trees, against a
background of water towers and smokestacks of nearby factories.
Bonaparte is said to have met Annette when she sold him suspenders
across the counter of her mother s store in Philadelphia. To shield her
from the cold disapproval which his interest evoked in Philadelphia so
ciety, the Count de Survilliers (as he then called himself) took Annette to
what he hoped would be friendly security in rural Trenton. But the good
women of Trenton were no more hospitable to the ex-King s friend. It
was a lonely life for Annette, with Bonaparte living several miles away at
Bordentown; and the death of their young daughter, Pauline Joseph Ann
Holton, added grief to loneliness. In 1824 Bonaparte took his mistress to
New York State, where he built a house and laid out the town of Diana.
The romance ended when the Revolution of 1830 sent Bonaparte back to
his former queen. Annette maried a young Frenchman and eventually re
sumed storekeeping at Watertown, N. Y. Another daughter by Bonaparte,
named Charlotte, grew to womanhood and so pleased Napoleon III that
he legalized her parents union and had Charlotte presented at court as his
cousin.
Bow Hill was built c. 1785 by Barnt De Klyn, a French Huguenot who
made a fortune selling cloth to the Continental Army and bought thou
sands of acres along the Delaware in the belief that Trenton would become
the national capital. Since the death of the last of De Klyn s descendants
to live in the house, it has been in charge of a caretaker.
21. CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, Chambers St. between Hamilton and
Greenwood Aves., is considered one of the best equipped secondary schools
of the country, with an enrollment of about 3,750 students. Built in 1932,
the design adheres closely to the Georgian Colonial style. The central unit
is of three stories, surmounted by a clock tower that unifies the entire com
position ; on each side is a wing in the form of a hollow square con 
