NJ Historic Preservation Plan Historic Context 10

Immigration and Agricultural, Industrial, Commercial and Urban Expansion

1850-1920

Compiled by Michael Swanda

Office of New Jersey Heritage

May 1991

eBook layout by the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office

(formerly ONJH)

Republished 2024

Publication Note

May 1991

The text of the following narrative is a condensed version of an ONJH planning document titled New Jersey Statewide Historic Context: Immigration and Agriculture, Industrial, Commercial, and Urban Expansion, 1850-1920, 1990, prepared by KFS Historic Preservation Group.

NJ Historic Preservation Office

Community Investment & Economic Revitalization, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

dep.nj.gov/hpo

Mail Code 501-04B, NJ Historic Preservation Office, P.O. Box 420, Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0420

The activity that is the subject of this project has been financed in part with funds from the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. However, the contents and opinions do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of the Interior, nor does the mention of trade names or commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation by the Department of the Interior. This program receives Federal financial assistance for identification and protection of historic properties. Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, the U.S. Department of the Interior prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, or disability in its federally assisted programs. If you believe you have been discriminated against in any program, activity, or facility as described above, or if you desire further information, please write to: Office of Equal Opportunity, National Park Service, 1849 C Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 20240.

Table of Contents

Publication Note ii

Overview 1

Immigration 1

British

German

Italian

Eastern Europe

Jewish Immigrants

Black Migrants

Agriculture 2

Technological Advancements

Urban-Industrial Growth and Farming

Rural Immigrants

Start of the Urban Migration

New Jersey the Garden State

Dairy

Berries and Fruit

Poultry

Commerce 4

Expansion of Commercial Downtown

New Jersey’s Ports and Shipping Trade

Resort Trade

Industry and Urbanization 5

Industrialization

The Civil War

The Changing Roles of Cities

Leading Industries

Iron and Steel

Textile and Clothing

Leather

Food Products

Machinery and Early Electrical Manufacturing

Petroleum and Chemicals

Impacts of Urban Growth 8

Water, Power and Pavement

Birth of the Telephone

Other Civic Improvements

Selected Properties 9

Overview

The transformation of New Jersey from its agrarian and mercantile origins into a modern industrial state essentially took place between 1850 and 1920 as the earlier innovations of the Industrial Revolution were applied to transportation, industry, commerce and agriculture. Integral to this industrial development and its resultant urbanization was the influx of immigrant labor that manned the new factory system and the expansion of agricultural activity that sustained a rapidly growing population in New Jersey and elsewhere.

Immigration

During the nineteenth century, immigration profoundly shaped the state’s industrial and urban character. By 1920, New Jersey ranked fifth in the number of immigrants arriving in the United States each year. Predominately unskilled laborers from rural agricultural districts, these people settled primarily in Hudson, Essex, Union and Passaic counties where New Jersey’s major industrial centers were located.

British

British immigrants made many significant contributions to New Jersey’s industrial development, particularly in the machine, textile and pottery industries located in Trenton and Paterson. Irish immigrants, making up more than half of New Jersey’s foreign-born population in 1850, typically found work as railroad and construction laborers, longshoremen and factory workers in areas such as Paterson’s large textile/silk industries and Newark’s iron manufactories.

German

By 1900, Germans made up the largest immigrant group in New Jersey, settling primarily in Hudson and Essex counties and quickly became prominent in the

Woodworking trades;

Newark’s leather and brewery industries;

Iron and steel;

Garment;

Tobacco;

Glass; and

Chemical industries;

as well as in retail and wholesale mercantile trades. Relatively homogeneous German communities were formed in Weehawken, West New York, Hoboken, West Hoboken, Union Town and the “Hill” section of Newark.

Italian

In 1910, New Jersey had the third highest Italian population in the nation. Many of the unskilled Italian immigrants worked in gang labor on the railroads, sewer building and excavation jobs. Among the artisan class of Italian immigrants were many skilled weavers and dyers who found employment in Paterson’s prosperous silk industry. In southern New Jersey, Italians became a small but integral part of the state’s migrant farm labor force.

Eastern Europe

Eastern European immigrants, primarily from Russia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Latvia and Lithuania, found opportunities in

The Jersey City and Bayonne oil industry;

The brickyards and clay pits of Woodbridge, Sayreville and South River;

The iron mines of Wharton and Hibernia; and

In the tanneries and leather factories of Newark.

Czechs, Slovaks and Serbs, arriving in New Jersey in smaller numbers, took their place in the factories and inner-city neighborhoods of the state’s industrialized centers.

Jewish Immigrants

Jewish people immigrating from Germany during the mid-1800s were predominantly merchants and artisans. As a group, they became extremely successful in Newark’s dry-goods trade by the 1850s; and by the 1910s, the city’s real estate business, theaters, food stores, restaurants and professions as well. They were also highly visible in the cigar, woolen, leather, clothing and textile industries. Living in concentrated Jewish neighborhoods, such as Newark’s “German Hill,” German Jews played an important role in later Jewish immigration, establishing hospitals, orphanages, settlement houses and relief organizations for the less fortunate to come.

While Polish Jews began arriving in the 1850s, the massive influx of eastern European Jews —Russians, Hungarians, Romanians, Slavs, etc. — was concentrated between 1880 and 1930. Eastern European Jews established rural agricultural colonies in southern New Jersey, including Alliance, founded in 1882; and Rosenhayn, Bortmanville, Norma, Carmel, Six Points, Estellville, Hebron, Mizpah, Garton Road and Woodbine in Salem, Cumberland, Atlantic, and Cape May counties. Monmouth County, too, was an important center of Jewish agricultural activity.

Despite the agricultural colonies, the majority of New Jersey’s eastern European Jews lived and worked in urban areas, such as Newark, Paterson, Bayonne, Jersey City and Passaic and generally pursued their livelihood in trade. While many Jews entered commerce and the professions, there were those who worked in industry. Eastern European Jews were found in

Paterson’s silk factories,

Passaic’s woolen mills, and

Newark’s and Jersey City’s garment factories,

although not nearly in the numbers as large as other ethnic groups. As a whole, the Russian Jews experienced rapid social and economic mobility, becoming factory owners, merchants, and professionals, many of whom eventually left the cities for the suburbs.

Black Migrants

The opportunities offered to Black people during this historic period were largely in the cities in domestic or industrial employment. The most significant increases in New Jersey’s Black population were not to occur until the World War I era and its aftermath. The increase came from the migration of Black people from the south who primarily sought employment in the state’s industrial centers, rather than rural areas. While the promise of employment was fulfilled, Black people frequently lived in the cramped, substandard dwellings clustered near the factories. The Black migrants from the South became the predominant labor force for Atlantic City’s hotel industry.

Clearly immigration during the period of 1850 to 1920 had a strong influence on New Jersey’s heritage. The social, cultural and working fabric of most ethnic groups is still strongly evident in New Jersey’s built environment.

Agriculture

The years from 1850 to 1920 saw agriculture in New Jersey “come of age.” By the middle of the nineteenth century, several significant trends in New Jersey agriculture were emerging:

Improvements in farming practices;

Invention of labor-saving machinery;

Expansion of agricultural research and education;

Rise of farmers’ organizations; and

Specialized farming.

These developments — in conjunction with the broader forces of new transportation technologies, urbanization and immigration — radically reshaped the face of agriculture in the state. New Jersey, which in the early nineteenth century had been characterized by traditional farmers and depleted soils, was by 1920 one of the nation’s leading agricultural states.

Technological Advancements

A mechanical revolution in farming, with significant contributions by New Jersey inventors, continued throughout the nineteenth century. The “spike tooth” harrow, patented in 1869 by Frederick Nishwitz of Morris County, eased the tilling of heavy, rough soils. Between 1855 and 1880, nine New Jerseyans patented two-horse cultivator improvements. By the late 1800s, a combination of practices — crop rotation, the growing of legumes and use of chemical fertilizers — had enriched the soil considerably so that crop yields and land values were substantially increased.

The greatest developments in agricultural machinery were associated with new sources of power. By the early twentieth century, many farmers were using gasoline engines for such laborious tasks as threshing, pumping water, grinding feed and sawing wood. By the early 1900s, the gasoline tractor and motor truck revolutionized farming.

Urban-Industrial Growth and Farming

Exacerbated by competition from Midwestern markets after the Civil War, New Jersey farmers gradually regained their lost position by producing specialty crops such as fruits — including cranberries and blueberries — vegetables, milk and poultry, which were ideally suited for the region’s growing urban-industrial market.

During the nineteenth century, agriculture was greatly stimulated by an improved railroad system, which hastened the transformation of agriculture in New Jersey from general to specialized farming. With the improved road system, the motor truck made possible the movement of great quantities of perishable produce directly from the farm to Philadelphia, Newark, New York and other city markets.

The rapid urban-industrial growth during this period in New Jersey and its surroundings had a profound effect on the state’s agriculture. Probably the most obvious was the remarkable growth in the demand for food and its concentration in the swelling urban centers where successive waves of immigrants arrived. Large canneries located in Bridgeton, Salem, Camden and Swedesboro drew on the surrounding agricultural communities for large quantities of produce, primarily tomatoes.

New Jersey cities were also centers for the shipping and distribution of food. Hoboken, Jersey City and Camden — with port facilities, rail yards, ice cars and later refrigeration — became major transportation centers linking the New Jersey countryside with cities throughout the country. Urban industries, with their well-paid factory and public works jobs, drew masses of labor from the farm to the city. The growth of industry, its demand for labor, and high wages spurred farmers to replace traditional labor-intensive practices with labor-saving machinery.

Rural Immigrants

Immigration, while having its most profound impact in cities, also changed the profile of the rural workforce. Many of the northern European immigrants arriving between 1860 and 1890 found employment on New Jersey farms.

In the 1880s Vineland, founded in 1861 by Charles K. Landis, became the center of a half-dozen small settlements in Cumberland, Salem, Atlantic and Gloucester counties colonized largely by Italian vine dressers and small farmers. By the turn of the century, southern Italians had also created a flourishing settlement in the vicinity of Hammonton, Atlantic County, where they engaged in specialized agriculture and were remarkably successful on some of the poorest and sandiest soils in New Jersey.

In the early 1880s, a movement to aid Jewish immigrants resulted in the founding of several agricultural colonies at Alliance, Carmel, Rosenhayn and Woodbine.

Start of the Urban Migration

From 1850 to 1900 the population of New Jersey nearly quadrupled, from approximately 490,000 to 1.9 million people, and reached 3.2 million by 1920. Rural communities grew but less rapidly than the urban centers. The state’s rural population had, in fact, peaked during the mid-nineteenth century, after which the proliferation of industrial jobs and the increased use on farms of labor-saving machines encouraged rural dwellers to migrate to urban areas.

New Jersey the Garden State

The “Garden State” reputation rests mainly on the four counties of

Burlington,

Gloucester,

Salem, and

Cumberland.

Burlington in 1900 was second in the state after Hunterdon in the number of farms (2,550) and number of improved agricultural acres (190,900). Burlington became a national leader in the value of sweet corn produced. Gloucester and Cumberland became leaders in asparagus and string beans. All four counties, with Salem at the top, took the lead in tomato production and became prominent in the growing of

White and sweet potatoes;

Onions;

Peaches;

Apples;

Pears;

Cantaloupes; and

Small fruits.

Dairy

Between 1840 and 1860, increased interest in dairy products brought Ayrshire and Jersey cows into prominence. During these years, homemade butter traded at the country store or peddled in town was still an important source of income for the general farm. Commercially oriented dairying was typically found on larger farms, ranging from 100 to 500 acres. The growth of cities and the development of the railroad greatly expanded the market for milk.

Berries and Fruit

New Jersey played a leading role in the domestication of cranberries and blueberries, which were native to the state as wild fruits. By the early twentieth century, New Jersey led the country in the cultivation of blueberries and was second only to Massachusetts in cranberry production.

During the second half of the nineteenth century, small fruits — especially strawberries, raspberries and blackberries — flourished in the mild climate and loamy soil of the southern counties.

Peach growing reached a high point in Central Jersey about 1850. Later, Hunterdon County became a significant peach center, having over two million trees in 1890.

Burlington, Gloucester, Cumberland and Monmouth became the largest apple-growing areas.

Poultry

The poultry industry originated in 1892 in Hunterdon County. By 1900, New Jersey was a leading state in commercial poultry husbandry. The nineteenth century also gave rise to nursery business, horticulture and landscape gardening.

Commerce

The relative isolation between rural and urban areas that characterized earlier periods in New Jersey history was to drastically change with improvements in transportation. Cities and their products became more accessible. Manufacturing advancements that created affordable, machine-made products, gradually made homespun production obsolete. While transportation opened the door to commercial expansion of the cities, the industrialization and urbanization that followed significantly redefined the nature of commerce in New Jersey.

Expansion of Commercial Downtown

The growth of the commercial downtown in late-nineteenth century New Jersey cities resulted from a greater movement of industrialization and urbanization. It was the tremendous boom in the state’s manufacturing activity that drew a labor force from rural areas and abroad to New Jersey’s cities. In the cities, the needs of a growing population demanded an increase in and a diversification of commercial activity. Often, the physical manifestation of this commercial development transformed former village squares and marketplaces into modern commercial downtowns.

Augmenting this transformation was urban transportation, first the horsecar and then the electric trolley, that kept the expanding residential limits as well as the outlying suburbs within reach of the downtown and enabled the successful businessman or merchant to make his exodus from the city at the day’s end.

While this pattern of commercial expansion was present in numerous New Jersey cities, the extent of its impact is most clearly illustrated by Newark, Trenton and Camden, which were the major commercial and industrial centers for northern, central and southern New Jersey, respectively. In part, their distinctive urban cores reflect a concentration of specific commercial activities, such as the insurance and banking industry in Newark and the banking industry in Camden. For Trenton, the unique added draw to the downtown commercial district was the city’s role as the center of state government.

New Jersey’s Ports and Shipping Trade

New Jersey has been favored with major waterways that have enabled the state to prosper from commercial development along its waterfronts:

The Hudson River,

New York Bay,

The Kill von Kull at the Port of New York, and

The Delaware River at the Port of Philadelphia.

Not only are these waterways easily navigable for large vessels, but also, they tie into the state’s network of railroads, such as the Jersey Central Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad, augmenting the transport of goods. Beginning in 1865, the state assumed direct control of its waterfront lands, selling Riparian rights to raise revenues and to encourage commercial development.

Because of these favorable transportation conditions and investment opportunities, cities such as Jersey City, Hoboken and Camden developed into waterfront commercial and manufacturing sites, built up with warehouses, factories, docks, piers, elevators and railroad terminals such as the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad and Ferry Terminal in Hoboken, an important passenger terminal, being a link between the railroads and the ferries to New York, as well as a port of entry for steamship lines.

Resort Trade

Whereas the resort had once been a luxury only accessible to the rich, both financially and logistically, the economic, demographic and transportation changes of the second half of the nineteenth century created a boom in the state’s resort trade. During this era, native-born residents, as well as immigrants climbing the economic ladder in the increasingly urbanized and industrialized cities, developed a disposable income and a growing middle class value system that included leisure time. Moreover, the expanded network of railroad lines offered affordable and convenient transportation for the vacationer, whether they be destined for the lake area of northwestern New Jersey or the beaches along the coast.

This expansion of the resort trade was not only attributable to New Jersey’s increasing population of vacationers, but largely to Philadelphians heading to the South Jersey beach communities and New Yorkers bound for the lakes and high ground of the northwest counties or the beaches from Monmouth County to Atlantic City. Other smaller vacation centers are of note as well. These included areas of Bergen, Essex, Camden and Burlington counties, the lakes, mineral springs, and higher altitude of which attracted city residents for summer or weekend retreats.

The northwestern part of the state contains several natural features that have made it a vacation destination since the nineteenth century, among them,

The Kittatinny Mountains,

The Delaware Water Gap,

Lake Hopatcong, and

Many other smaller lakes.

While these resort communities may have had nineteenth-century origins, their greatest period of growth took place after the First World War when the automobile markedly improved their accessibility. Among those counties that shared in the resort trade were Sussex, Warren, Passaic and Morris.

Compared to the interior of the state, the shore counties were late to be reached by railroads which were the key in opening the resort trade for considerable development. The southern New Jersey seaside resorts were developed prior to the Monmouth County beaches. The resorts of Cape May County include:

Cape May City,

Wildwood,

North Wildwood,

Wildwood Crest,

Sea Isle City,

Avalon,

Stone Harbor,

Strathmere, and

Ocean City.

Similar to Atlantic City, Cape May’s initial development was influenced by the Philadelphia Quakers who made this their resort. Ocean Grove, which had approximately 25,000 visitors in 1873, was one of numerous resorts developed along the 30-mile shoreline extending from Sandy Hook to Manasquan and Brielle. By the 1870s, the best known of these resorts in New Jersey was Long Branch, marketed for the elite.

Industry and Urbanization

Transportation networks and industrialization in the late nineteenth century fostered commercial expansion in New Jersey’s cities; growth of shipping and port trade along its waterfronts; and burgeoning resort activity in the northwestern and coastal areas of the state. An increasing immigrant population provided a labor force for these commercial activities and a greater demand for goods and services.

Financial and banking institutions clustered in Newark and Camden while state government located in Trenton. Meanwhile, in cities such as Jersey City, Hoboken and Camden, port trade led to the development of the waterfront with industrial buildings and shipping facilities. Still other areas benefited from the prosperity in the state, specifically the resort areas which were first accessed by railroads and later by automobiles. The prosperity of the late nineteenth century extended into the twentieth century, further influencing the physical and economic development of the state.

Industrialization

With the improvements in railroad transportation that opened up outlying areas for the acquisition of raw materials and trade of finished goods as well as the technological advances that favored machine production for a rapidly growing population, the homespun industry of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries gave way to the modern age of urban manufacturing. The self-sufficiency once required for an isolated rural populace was no longer needed and competition from the factory system made many cottage industries obsolete.

The Civil War

The Civil War also helped to boost New Jersey into a prosperous industrial state with its demand for munitions, uniforms and other military supplies. During the war years, support of New Jersey industry was also encouraged by tariffs that limited foreign competition and by the federal government’s subsidy of western railroads and granting of unsettled lands that in turn, opened up another market for goods manufactured in the east.

The Changing Roles of Cities

The modern industrial age not only redefined manufacturing, but also, New Jersey’s urban profile. Whereas the colonial cities earned their prominence as mercantile cores with active ports, the late-nineteenth-century cities made their mark as industrial centers with factories linked to the railroads.

Between 1850 and 1900, the number of wage earners employed in manufacturing increased from 37,830 to 241,582 or from 7.7% of the state’s population to 12.8%.

By 1920, the number of wage earners engaged in manufacturing industries reached 508,686 or 16.1% of the state’s population.

Among the results of this industrialization was the radical transformation of the state’s urban areas into modern industrial cities.

Leading Industries

The relative importance of various industries fluctuated throughout the 1850 to 1920 period as technological innovations, competition and consumer demands influenced production. Among the minor industries were

Lumbering;

Paper and allied products;

Tobacco products;

Printing and publishing; and

Furniture.

Some of these minor industries were significant to certain local economies, such as

Pottery manufacturing in Trenton and

Rubber production in New Brunswick.

Iron and Steel

Iron manufacturing became an important industry in New Jersey after the canals and, shortly thereafter, the railroads, reached the iron-rich northwestern part of the state and the anthracite coal beds of Pennsylvania. Northern New Jersey soon established numerous iron forges and foundries in places such as Boonton, Morristown, Pequannock and Pompton. These forges made the southern New Jersey iron bog furnaces obsolete by 1854. Developments in the Bessemer process and the hot blast furthered growth of the iron industry. In 1860, New Jersey’s iron industry was ranked third in the nation, following Pennsylvania and Ohio.

The Civil War as well as the Industrial Revolution fostered expansion of New Jersey’s iron industry. Newark and Trenton were to become leading steel manufacturing centers, producing the materials that would be transformed into machinery that would, in turn, feed the factory system of the late nineteenth century.

Textile and Clothing

The prominence of New Jersey’s late-nineteenth and early twentieth century textile industry can be attributed to the state’s easy access to markets, extensive transportation facilities, and large labor market. In 1906, the textile industry was reported as being the most important in the state. One important component was the silk industry, which centered in Paterson. The boom in this industry began in the 1870s when large amounts of capital were invested and mills were erected. During that decade, the number of silk manufactories increased from 8 to 29, making Paterson the nation’s largest silk producer. The production of woolen goods was significant, too, New Jersey ranking fourth in the nation in 1900.

While textile production was quickly adapted to the factory, the transition in clothing manufacturing from the home to the factory was slower. Between 1860 and 1900, the output of the men’s and women’s apparel industry, which included hats and millinery, employed 11,200 and 19,500 workers, respectively.

Leather

The leather industry existed in New Jersey as early as the 1770s, Newark always being the state’s center for leather manufacturing. While Newark boasted 155 leather curriers and patent-leather makers in 1837, the significant growth in that industry was to occur after the display of Newark’s leather products at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876. In 1890 there were 31 tanneries in New Jersey. By 1919, 449 establishments were engaged in the leather industry.

Food Products

New Jersey’s best known food industry is the canning business, made famous by the Campbell Soup Company in Camden, which began in 1867 as a canning and preserving business. The canning business’ considerable expansion in the early twentieth century stemmed from advancements in the condensing process. Salem, Cumberland, and Burlington counties also had many canneries, packaging the Garden State’s vegetable and fruit crops, in particular, the tomatoes. This industry boomed with the onset of the First World War. Other food-related industries in the state between 1850 and 1920 included:

Milling;

Commercial bakeries;

Meat packing houses; and

Breweries, Newark’s P. Ballantine & Sons perhaps the best known.

Machinery and Early Electrical Manufacturing

The machine industry in New Jersey consisted of both ready-to-use equipment, such as locomotives and airplane engines; and machine pieces that would be used to manufacture other products in the factories. The demand for products from machine shops and foundries increased considerably during the Civil War, and afterward as the manufacturing industries continued to expand. By 1900, the manufacture of machinery ranked second among New Jersey’s industries, the greatest number of factories being located in Newark, Jersey City, Hoboken, Paterson, Plainfield and Elizabeth.

New Jersey’s most prolific figure in the electrical industry was Thomas Alva Edison, whose numerous patented inventions furthered the science of telegraphy. He improved upon Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone (invented in the 1870s), which ushered in the age of telecommunications or long-distance communications. While the Bell Telephone Company operated the state’s telephone system, the actual manufacturing of telephone equipment was undertaken by the Western Electric Manufacturing Company, which operated a plant in Kearney by the early 1920s. At Menlo Park, Edison was also to invent the electric motor, electric light and the electric locomotive, all of which were to impact future urbanization and create thousands of jobs in electrical manufacturing.

The Radio corporation of America, begun in 1919, was another giant in the communications industry.

Petroleum and Chemicals

Following the depression of 1873 which severely impacted New Jersey industry, the 1870s witnessed the rise of the petroleum industry. Bayonne refined the oil needed for industries after the Civil War, oil which came from Pennsylvania wells. With railroad connections reaching Bayonne by 1864 and with its positioning for docks, Bayonne was ideally sited to serve the New York as well as the East Coast markets.

The boom in New Jersey’s chemical industry was felt during WWI, when chemicals formerly acquired from Europe could not be attained while the world was at war. The chemicals produced in the state included:

Plastics;

Acids;

Sodas;

Compressed and liquefied gases;

Bleaching compounds;

Paints;

Dyes;

And others.

Within the paint and varnish industry, Sherwin-Williams, founded in Newark in 1901, is among the better known. New Jersey was also a leading state for pharmaceuticals. Merck & Company in Rahway started in 1891 and Johnson & Johnson of New Brunswick, in 1883.

Impacts of Urban Growth

Perhaps the most obvious and significant impact of New Jersey’s urban growth was the physical change to the landscape, which was once characterized by farmland with small areas of concentrated settlement. The burgeoning industrial economy and its workforce led to the outward expansion of urban limits and the increase in their density. In so doing, urban growth created a new land use phenomenon, the suburb, which provided a residential haven for the more successful industrialists and merchants in New Jersey cities in addition to those in New York and Philadelphia.

Due to the substantial influence of suburban development in New Jersey, a separate context entitled Context #9: New Jersey’s Suburbs. 1850-1945 will be developed.

As the nineteenth century progressed and turned into the twentieth century, civic and public improvements continued.

Water, Power and Pavement

Gas streetlights were installed and subsequently electrified.

Public water and sewer systems were established, with cities such as Newark purchasing reservoirs in Passaic County.

Streets were paved and measures were taken for citywide sanitation, with many cities and smaller municipalities enacting ordinances for street, sewage and building regulations.

Power, light and transportation suppliers were consolidated or formed, including the Mill Road Electric Generating Station in Park Ridge, Bergen County. The Public Service Corporation was established in 1903 as a holding company for Public Service Gas and Electric Company and Public Service Coordinated Transport.

Birth of the Telephone

Telephone service in New Jersey began in Monmouth County as early as 1878. Up until 1927, when the New Jersey Bell Telephone Company was formed,

Northern New Jersey was serviced by the Bell Telephone Company of New York; and

Southern New Jersey by the Delaware and Atlantic Telegraph and Telephone Company.

Other Civic Improvements

Accompanying the expanding utility services were public improvements such as the construction of additional and more modern schools, libraries and hospitals. In addition, city police and fire departments were expanded as the state’s urban areas evolved into overcrowded residential and industrial centers with inevitably increasing crime rates and fire hazards.

Selected Properties

Associated with Context #10 and Categorized by Property Type

1.Residential

Residential examples exhibit a wide range of architectural styles that may include: Victorian Queen Anne and East Lake, Stick, Second Empire, Shingle; and many early 20th century styles including Craftsman, Neo-Classical, Colonial and European Revivals. Residential properties from this period are common in New Jersey and represent approximately 31% of all Context 10 properties listed in the Registers.

A.Edward Compton House — Commercial Township, Cumberland County.

B.Canfield-Morgan House — Cedar Grove Township, Essex County.

C.Krueger Mansion — Newark City, Essex County.

D.Acorn Hall — Morristown, Morris County.

E.Craftsman Farms — Parsippany-Troy Hills, Morris County.

2.Agricultural

Agricultural examples represent primarily single-family farmsteads usually consisting of a residence and one or more ancillary structures associated with the operation of the farm, such as barns, cribs, sheds, etc. This category also includes industrial agricultural operations, such as large cranberry, blueberry and tomato producing operations. Agricultural properties represent less than 2% of all Context 10 properties listed in the Registers.

A.Beaver Brook Farm — Clinton Township, Hunterdon County.

B.Hageman Farm — Franklin Township, Somerset County.

C.Whitesbog Village — Pemberton Township, Burlington County.

3.Commercial

Commercial properties may include hotels, inns, stores, warehouses, commercial districts, etc., and represent approximately 4% of all properties listed in the Registers for Context 10.

A.Charles G. Roebling Inn — Florence Township, Burlington County.

B.White Horse Inn/Shamong Hotel — Woodland Township, Burlington County.

C.Waterloo Village — Byram Township, Sussex County.

4.Institutional/Government

This category contains a wide variety of property types that may include government offices; post offices; utilities such as water works and electric generating facilities; fire stations; institutional housing; jails and prisons; lifesaving stations; courthouses; city halls; etc. This property category is well represented in the Registers, making up approximately 20% of all Context 10 properties listed.

A.Mill Road Electric Generating Station — Park Ridge Borough, Bergen County.

B.South Orange Village Hall — South Orange, Essex County.

5.Military

Military-related properties associated with this category include facilities such as fortifications, armories, encampments, etc., and represent less than 1% of all Context 10 properties listed on the Registers.

A.Fort Mott — Pennsville Township, Salem County.

6.Education

This category includes buildings associated with colleges and universities, libraries, schoolhouses, etc. Educational facilities represent approximately 8% of all Context 10 properties listed in the Registers.

A.William R. Allen School — Burlington City, Burlington County.

B.Spring Garden Street Complex — Palmyra Borough, Burlington County.

C.Seay Hall — Hackettstown, Warren County.

7.Religious

Religious properties are well-represented in the Registers and make up approximately 17% of all Context 10 properties listed. This category contains primarily churches, followed by church-related structures, residences and cemeteries.

A.Tabernacle of Faith — Camden, Camden County.

B.Temple Beth Hillel of Carmel — Deerfield Township, Cumberland County.

C.St. Columbia’s Church — Newark City, Essex County.

8.Transportation

Transportation property types associated with Context 10 include railroad stations, bridges, ships and ferries, lighthouses, etc. A recent thematic registration of 52 New Jersey Railroad Stations has dramatically increased the number of Context 10 transportation-related properties in the Registers to 19%.

A.Tenafly Railroad Station — Tenafly Borough, Bergen County.

B.Cape May Lighthouse — Cape May Point Borough, Cape May County.

C.New Brunswick Railroad Station — New Brunswick City, Middlesex County.