A History of the city of Newark, New Jersey : embracing practically two and a half centuries, 1666-1913, Volume II, Part 22

Author: Urquhart, Frank J. (Frank John), 1865- 4n; Lewis Historical Publishing Company. 4n
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: New York, N.Y. ; Chicago, Ill. : The Lewis Historical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1136


USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > A History of the city of Newark, New Jersey : embracing practically two and a half centuries, 1666-1913, Volume II > Part 22


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1804, Feb .- By Act of the Legislature, all children of slave parents, born after the 4th of July, of that year, were declared free, but those who were born previous to that date, were still in bondage, and accordingly, there were 16 male and 15 female slaves for life. The town plot contained 844 houses, 207 mechanics' shops, 5 public buildings, 3 lumber yards, 4 quarries. There were 8 churches, 9 clergymen, 10 physicians, 81 farmers, 14 lawyers, 16 school teachers, 34 merchants and 5 druggists.


1806-Newark was noted for its cider, its quarries, manufacturing of carriages, coaches, lace and shoes. One-third of the inhabitants, it is said, were constantly employed in the manufacturing of shoes alone.


1806-First Methodist Episcopal Church established.


1807-Famous court house election. Unprecedented fraud at the polls. Women voted. Newark won, as against Elizabethtown, the contest being for the location of a proposed new court house. The next Legislature refused to sanction the election results. The court house was subsequently built, on the north corner of Broad and Walnut streets.


1807-At a mass meeting to protest against British outrages on Ameri- can commerce, a committee was appointed to draw up suitable resolutions of protest. A copy of this document was sent to President Thomas Jeffer- son.


1807-Rev. Dr. Alexander McWhorter, Newark's sturdy old Revolution- ary pastor, dies; July 20.


1808-Second Presbyterian Church established.


1810-Hatting trade established by William Rankin.


1810-Population was 8,008.


1811-County Court House built on present site of Grace Episcopal Church.


1811-Newark Fire Insurance Company incorporated.


1812-Essex Brigade of militia ordered to detail, arm and equip 441 men and officers, as Essex's quota of the 5,000 called for from the State; March 17.


1812-During the War, a draft of every seventh man was made of the people of Newark. A volunteer company of riflemen was also formed, of which Theodore Frelinghuysen took command, and when New York was supposed to be in danger, nearly one thousand men from Newark gave active aid in throwing up entrenchments on Brooklyn Heights.


1815-Under the provisions of an Act to authorize the inhabitants of the Township of Newark to build, or purchase a poor house, the farm of Aaron Johnson was purchased, and in 1818 five acres of land adjoining were added to this farm. This property was known as the "Poor House Farm."


1819 to 1833-Joint meetings were held in the session house of the First Presbyterian Church.


1819-Seth Boyden makes first patent leather ever manufactured in this country.


1820-Population was 6,507.


1821-The total amount realized from taxes for the year, including dog tax, was $3,184.


1823-By Act of the Legislature the following property was vested in the township: Orange Park, Lombardy Park, portions of Lincoln Park and parts of Washington, Market and Mulberry streets.


1824-First Roman Catholic Church (St. John's, in Mulberry street, ) established.


1826-There were still living in Newark 161 inhabitants who were alive during the War of the Independence, 56 of whom were engaged in that war.


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1826-Population of Newark was 8,017; of these 7,237 were within and 780 outside of the township; there were 491 colored people.


1826, July 4-The people of Newark held a jubilee to commemorate tlie fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.


1826, July 4-Setlı Boyden discovered process of making malleable iron.


1830-A much travelled man says of Newark, that after visiting many of the cities and towns of the United States, he does not believe there is any community in the Union where so many inhabitants are to be found in the same number of houses. "The people are remarkably industrious," he de- clares. "we find them hammering away at their trades from 5 o'clock in the morning until 10 or 12 at night."


1831-Morris Canal opened from the Delaware to the Passaic. Ex- tended to Jersey City in 1836.


1832-Whaling Company incorporated.


1832-Newark Daily Advertiser, now Evening Star, established.


1833-First bath house in Newark of which there is any record; in the New Jersey Museum, Market street.


1833-There were 1,542 dwelling houses in Newark, as against 141 In 1777.


1833-A visitor from Schenectady, N. Y., who had been in Newark ten years before, writes that he "found things wonderfully altered; entire new streets laid out, crowded with tenements; elegant ranges of buildings put up several stories in height, and its strong arm of industry visible on which- ever side the visitor turns his eyes."


1833-President Andrew Jackson visits Newark, accompanied by Vice- President Van Buren, afterwards President, on June 14th.


1834-New Jersey Railroad opened.


1834-Newark was made a port of entry.


1834-First Dutch Reformed Church established.


1835-Estimated Population :


Free white Americans. 10,542


Irish population (about)


6,000


English and Scotch.


1,000


German (about) 300


Free people of color 359


Total.


18,201


1835-Morris and Essex Railroad opened.


1835-Exports to southern ports of the U. S., South America and West Indies over $8,000,000.


1835-There were 12 hotels in Newark.


1835-There were 18 churches in Newark.


1835-Whaling vessel from Newark returned after voyage of 27 months with a cargo of 3,000 bbls. of whale oil and 15,000 pounds of whalebone.


1835-Newark Medical Association organized.


1836-Newark incorporated as a city.


1836-Population was 19,732.


1836-Streets of Newark were lighted with oil lamps.


1836-Number of slaves in Newark, 20.


1836-A school system for poor children established.


1836-City was divided into four wards, known as the North, South, East and West Wards, four aldermen representing a ward.


1836, Aug. 24th-Corner stone of the Court House and City Hall laid. 1837-Fire Department:


Fire Engine No. 1-First Presbyterian Church.


Fire Engine No. 2-Trinity Church.


Fire Engine No. 3- -- IIIII street.


Fire Engino No. 4 --- Lombardy Park.


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Fire Engine No. 5-106 Market street (old numbering).


Fire Engine No. 6-Railroad Depot, Market street.


Fire Engine No. 7-Hedenberg's Factory, in Plane street.


Hook & Ladder No. 1-108 (old numbering) Market street (Museum).


Hose Company No. 1-106 (old numbering) (Museum). Market street


1837-First German Presbyterian Church established, 42. Bank street.


1837-Common Council met in Council Chamber, Museum Building.


1838-First High School established in Newark.


1838-Court House and City Hall dedicated.


1840-Still three slaves in Newark.


1841, Oct. 4-Howard Lodge No. 7, oldest lodge of I. O. O. F. in Essex County, instituted in Newark.


1843-First public school house erected.


1844-Mt. Pleasant Cemetery incorporated.


1845-N. J. Historical Society incorporated.


1845-Registered and enrolled tonnage, shipping 9,458 tons


Steamboats and boats under 20 tons. . 7,139 tons


Total. 16,597 tons


1845-Alms House erected and about 20 acres of the farm on the west side of the Elizabeth road were sold. New plant provided in Ivy Hill section in 1913.


1845-Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company organized.


1845-Mayor and Common Council entered into a contract with the Aqueduct Company for furnishing a full and sufficient supply of water for extinguishing fires, for washing, working, cleaning and trying the fire engines, hose and other apparatus used-to be used for the extinguishment of fires only. This was the first water contract the city entered into.


1846-American Insurance Co. incorporated.


1846, Dec. 25th-Newark Gas Light Co. commenced the manufacture of gas, and the city streets were, lighted with it.


1847-Newark Library Association chartered.


1848-Protestant Foster Home established.


1848-Newark Orphan Asylum organized.


1848-A Fifth Ward was created and the aldermen divided into two classes -- two to be elected annually in each ward for a period of two years. 1848 to 1853-Common Council used hall located on third story . of Library Building.


1848 -- First Jewish Synagogue, Congregation B'Nai Jeshurun, estab- lished.


1848-1849-Influx of German Political fugitives following the collapse of the Revolution of the Grand Duchy of Baden.


1849-The Newark Plank Road and Ferry Company incorporated.


1849-Newark Orphan Asylum incorporated.


1849-1850-Cholera in Newark-148 deaths.


1851-Present school system established under a law authorizing the organization of a Board of Education.


1851-Sixth and Seventh Wards created, the aldermen being divided into two classes and thereafter one had to be elected annually.


1852-Two aldermen representing a ward. .


1853-54-Market building over canal erected-Second story of said building was used for Council Chamber, Committee Rooms, fire alarm bell, and east end of department for police station and city prison.


1863 -- Eighth Ward was created.


1853-Newark Clinton Plank Road Co. Incorporated-plank road con- structed, extending from Newark to Irvington.


1853-St. Mary's Orphan Asylum organized.


1853-St. Mary's Orphan Asylum incorporated.


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1854-Newark Catholic Institute incorporated.


1854, June-Young Men's Catholic Association organized by the Right Rev. Bishop McQuaid, then pastor of St. Patrick's Cathedral. Catholic Insti- tute, 76-78 New street, erected, 1856-57. Father McQuaid was the first president, and the first meeting was held on June 21, 1854, in St. Mary's Hall, then on the present site of the north wing of St. Michael's Hospital. Michael R. Kenny was the first secretary and John C. Durning the first treasurer. The following were members of the council, the first board of directors: Charles H. Costello, William Dougherty, William Bail, Roger Keough, John Regan, Michael Staars, John Coyle, Charles O'Reilly, John Hanrahan and Charles Duffy. A little later meetings were held in the Cathedral sacristy and there the nucleus of the institute's library was gath- ered, Timothy J. Ryan being its first librarian. Mr. Ryan has been super- intendent even since the building in New street was opened (1913).


1854-Ninth Ward created.


1855-Fairmount Cemetery incorporated.


1855-First Evening School established.


1855-Woodland Cemetery incorporated.


1855-Firemen's Insurance Company incorporated.


1855-Green Street German American School incorporated.


1856-Tenth and Eleventh Wards created.


1857-Newark granted a new charter.


1857-N. J. Freie Zeitung established.


1857-Exempt Firemen's Association organized.


1858-1859-Notice of fire was given from the tower, by waving a red flag in the day time, and a red light at night.


1859-First horse street railway company incorporated.


1859, Sept. 14-Arion Singing Society organized.


1860, March 20-Newark Aqueduct Board created by an Act of Legis- lature. This Act authorized the mayor and Common Council to purchase the property of the Newark Aqueduct Company; property included all their rights, franchises, lands and property, real and personal, for the sum of $150,000-conveyance of the real estate consisted of 18 tracts, including the Branch Brook, Spring lots and Mill properties along the Mill brook, several smaller tracts and the reservoir lot at Springfield and South Orange Avenues.


1860-1865-During the Civil War, Newark not only sent thousands of men to the front, but was one of the main workshops of the North, turning out arms, clothing, etc., for the use of the soldiers engaged in the war.


1860-Number of buildings supplied with water was 1,636-1,371 were dwellings, and 265 for purposes other than domestic.


1860-Twelfth Ward created.


1861, Feb. 21-Abraham Lincoln in Newark.


1861-Thirteenth Ward created.


1861-Hebrew Ald Society organized.


1861-On May 3rd, First Brigade leaves for Washington.


1861-Steam fire engines Introduced into Newark.


1864-St. Peter's Orphan Asylum founded.


1864, Sept. 24-City Hall, corner Broad and William streets, opened. 1865-Y. M. C. A. organized.


1865, July 5-Passaic Boat Club organized.


1865 to 1870-Part of the city water supplied was furnished by the Morris Canal Co.


1866-There was held a Bi-Centennial celebration of the settlement of Newark.


1866-G. A. R. Post No. 1, Dep't N. J., organized.


1866, July 4-N. J. Home Disabled Soldiers, Seventh avenue, opened. 1867-St. Barnabas' Hospital incorporated.


1867-St. Michael's Hospital chartered.


1867-Society for the Relief of Respectable Aged Women, at 225 Mt. Pleasant avenue, incorporated.


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1868-May 10th, Boys' Lodging House and Children's Aid Society organized.


1868, Jan. 15th-N. J. State Ass'n Base Ball Players organized.


1868-Triton Boat Club organized.


1868, February 24-Newark Board of Trade founded.


1868-German Hospital incorporated.


1869-Water Works at Belleville completed.


1869-St. Vincent's Academy founded.


1869-Mystic Boat Club established in Newark.


1870-Newark City Home established.


1870-City Dispensary moved from basement in City Hall, William street, to Centre Market.


1871-Fourteenth and Fifteenth Wards created.


1871, September-Women's Christian Ass'n organized.


1872-Progress Club organized.


1872-Young Women's Christian Association founded.


1872-Sunday Call established.


1872, April 18-Home for the Friendless organized.


1872-Newark Industrial Exhibition.


1872, Aug .- Essex County Hospital, 63 Camden street, organized.


1873-Newark City Home at Verona started. First directors: Mayor Nehemiah Perry, George Peters, David Ripley, Joseph Periam, N. J. Dem- arest, William Johnson and J. C. Ludlow.


1873-Seth Boyden Statue Ass'n organized.


1873-Prudential Insurance Company organized.


1873-Eureka Boat Club organized.


1874-Newark Homeopathic Medical Union organized.


1874-House of the Good Shepherd established.


1875-Nereid Boat Club of Belleville organized.


1875-Passaic River Amateur Rowing Association formed.


1876-Essex Club founded.


1878, Sept. 3-Institute Boat Club organized.


1879, July-Salvage Corps organized.


1880-Eye and Ear Infirmary incorporated.


1880, April 29-Little Sisters of the Poor incorporated.


1880, Dee. 28 -- Unveiling monument of Phil Kearny.


1881-First Building Inspector appointed, Isaac W. Townsend, at a salary of $900.


1882 -- First public arc lamps introduced.


1882-Free drawing school established.


1882-Newark Bureau of Associated Charities organized.


1882-Newark City Hospital, 116 Fairmount avenue, opened.


1882, Mar. 25-St. Benedict's College chartered.


1883-Newark Evening News established.


1884, February 12-Roseville Athletic Association founded.


1884-Hospital for Women and Children incorporated.


1885-Newark Technical School established.


1885-County Park System established.


1886-Old burying ground given over for public purposes, and bones of settlers removed to Fairmount Cemetery, in this and years immediately following.


1886-Transparent photographic film invented by Rev. Hannibal Good- win, rector of the House of Prayer, Broad and State streets. The discovery was made by Mr. Goodwin in a little laboratory in the rectory, and came after a long series of experiments, while the inventor was working on a now process of etching on copper and silver. After years of litigation Mr. Goodwin's patent was finally and conclusively allowed by the courts in August, 1913. A short time afterward, in the same month, the Essex Camera Club started a movement to erect a tablet to Mr. Goodwin for his achievement. Mr. Goodwin died December 31, 1900.


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HISTORY OF NEWARK


1887-Hebrew Orphan Asylum opened at 232 Mulberry street.


1887, March-Newark District Telegraph Co. organized.


1887, November 20-North End Club incorporated.


1888-Free Public Library incorporated.


1889-Dedication of Newark Aqueduct property at Branch Brook for public park.


1889-Gottfried Krueger Home for Aged Men organized.


1890, May 14-Unveiling of monument to Seth Boyden.


1890-Present water plant purchased by the city.


1890, June-Essex Troop founded.


1891-St. James' Hospital incorporated.


1892-Home for Crippled Children incorporated.


1892-First of Prudential buildings erected.


1892-Eighth Avenue Day Nursery organized; incorporated, 1893.


1893, April-Newark Ledger established.


1893-Number of wards reduced to nine.


1894-Newark Rowing Club formed.


1895-Number of wards increased to fifteen.


1896-Movement for purification of Passaic river started.


1898, May 2nd-First Regiment New Jersey Volunteers for Spanish- American War left Newark for Sea Girt; returned home September 26th. 1899-St. Peter's Orphan Asylum incorporated.


1909-St. James' Hospital incorporated.


1900-Legal Aid Association of New Jersey organized; incorporated 1907.


1901-New City Hospital completed.


1901-Emergency Hospital organized.


1901-Newark Beth Israel Hospital incorporated.


1901-Park House, which had been open since the early 1820's, closed its doors.


1903-First train run over the Lackawanna track elevation in Newark, the work then being completed for some distance west of Broad street.


1903, February 19-Clifton avenue grade crossing accident, in which nine pupils of Barringer High School lost their lives. Mayor Henry M. Doremus had denounced the Clifton avenue crossing as a death trap six weeks before.


1903-First Band Concerts. Committee of Common Council author- ized to spend $5,000 annually. In 1913 it was authorized to spend $10,000 annually. The first Band Concert Committee was: John B. Wood, chairman; Frank J. Bock, Abraham Kaiser, Watson Ryno and Patrick J. Ryan. Martin J. King has been supervisor since the beginning.


1903, October 15-Young Men's Christian Association building in Halsey street dedicated. Cost of building, land, furnishings, $228,870.22. Y. M. C. A. founded 1854. First president, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen. Associa- tion became extinct, and was reorganized 1864. Again collapses. Incor- porated March 5, 1881, and has continued uninterruptedly since. First officers: President, Franklin Murphy; vice-president, William S. Hartshorne; treasurer, James S. Higbie; secretary, Theodore F. Bailey; general secretary, J. R. Milligan. First quarters, Library Hall. Occupied Clinton Street M. E. Church property, autumn of 1881. Continued there until opening of present building. Henry A. Cozzens present (1913) general secretary; appointed 1884.


1903, July-Catholic Children's Aid Association of New Jersey organ- ized.


1903-Homeopathic Hospital of Essex County incorporated.


1904-Shade Tree Commission established.


1905, March 22-Newark Provident Loan Association organized.


1905, June-East Side Day Nursery organized.


1906-Establishment Municipal Bureau of Statistical Information.


1906, June 28-City Camp organized, at Noptune City, N. J.


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HISTORY OF NEWARK


1906, Oct. 22-Morning Star established.


1906, Nov .- First automobile fire engine introduced in Newark.


1906, Dec. 20-Opening of the New City Hall.


1906-Home for Incurables incorporated.


1907 -- New Court House completed.


1907-First City Playgrounds.


1907-Small Board of Education established.


1907-Smoke Abatement Department established.


1908-Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company's new building com- pleted.


1908-Municipal Lighting Plant established in New City Hall.


1908-Number of wards increased to sixteen.


1908-Civil Service adopted-method of adoption declared unconsti- tutional.


1908-City Tuberculosis Sanatorium organized at Verona.


1908-Newark Day Camp for Tuberculosis Cases opened.


1909, February 1-Newark Anti-Tuberculosis Association formed.


1909-Newark Museum Ass'n incorporated.


1909-Newark Presbyterian Hospital incorporated.


1909-Municipal Employment Bureau established.


1909-First. automobile ambulance introduced.


1910-Civil Service adopted by the City of Newark-by a vote of the people.


1910-Tablet to John Catlin, Newark's first schoolmaster, unveiled, at corner of Commerce and Broad streets, on site of first school.


1910-First municipal dental clinics established.


1910, Nov. 26-High street factory fire, causing loss of 27 lives.


1910-Firemen's Insurance Company's new building completed.


1911-Camp Frelinghuysen tablet unveiled in Branch Brook Park by pupils of Barringer High School.


1911, May 30th-Unveiling by ex-President Roosevelt, under auspices of Lincoln Post, No. 11, G. A. R., of Lincoln statue in Court House plaza; bequeathed to the City of Newark by the late Amos H. Van Horn.


1911-First City Plan Commission appointed.


1911-Public Welfare Committee organized.


1911, Nov. 26-Opening of Manhattan and Hudson Terminal electric high speed line, at Saybrook place and Centre street.


1912, Oct. 30-Opening of Sixth Precinct Police Station.


1912-Civil Service adopted by the School District of Newark, by a vote of the people.


1913, Nov. 2-Unveiling of statue of Washington, in Washington Park. Bequeathed to the city of Newark by the late Amos H. Van Horn. Presi- dent Taft prevented from being present because of the death of Vice-Presi- dent Sherman.


1913-Kinney building opened. Tablet in memory of Robert Treat, the leader of Newark's founders, who took that plot for his home lot, set up on the building. Given by the school children of Newark and the Newark Schoolmen's Club.


1913, Tuesday, September 2-Building of the Young Women's Christian Association opened, in Washington street. The sum of $300,000 subscribed by popular subscription, payable in five installments, running over sixteen months, in a fourteen-day campaign. Consecration and dedication of the building first week in November.


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APPENDIX B. THE ESSEX COUNTY PARK SYSTEM.1


The park system of Essex County, although of comparatively recent creation, has already become one of the most important of its public works. It provides almost every character of open air sport and enjoyment. It has preserved many of the county's beauty spots from destruction and it hay increased the taxable valuation of surrounding real estate so that in large measure the parks have paid for themselves.


The park movement took definite shape in 1894. Through the public- spirited efforts of gentlemen connected with the boards of trade of Newark and Orange a commission was appointed, under authority of a legislative act passed in 1894 to consider the advisability of establishing a park system, to prepare the general outlines of such a scheme and to transmit its conclu- sions to the State Legislature. The members of the board selected under the provisions of the law by the late Chief Justice David A. Depue, who then presided over the courts of Essex County, were Cyrus Peck, Frederick W. Kelsey, Stephen J. Meeker, George W. Bramhall and Edward W. Jackson. They were empowered to expend $10,000 in pursuing their investigations and were given two years in which to submit their recommendations.


They finished their labors in less than one year, with an expenditure of less than half their appropriation. Their report was accompanied by a draft of a bill providing for a permanent County Park Commission, which was passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor Werts on March 5, 1895. Under its provisions the Park Commission has since acted. It was drawn by the Hon. John R. Emery, afterward vice-chancellor, and Joseph Coult, Esq. The act created a commission which should have power to establish parks and reservations throughout the county.


This sort of park board was somewhat unusual, the Metropolitan Park Commission of Boston being practically the only one in the East of similar scope. Heretofore park undertakings had been limited in their operations to the confines of single municipalities. The idea, however, has now come to be regarded as the one best adapted to successful park planning, and many commissions, especially in the West, have followed this method. Its advan- tages are obvious. A commission unhampered by arbitrary municipal boundary lines can freely select from a large territory all the property necessary to make up a well considered park system. In the centres of dense population playgrounds and neighborhood parks can be located for the benefit of those who need at no great distance a glimpse of the open and the green and a chance for healthful recreation removed from the dangers of the city streets. Yet it does not limit the scheme to these recreation centres alone. It permits the establishment of larger reservations to preserve and protect for all time such portions of natural scenery as the rapid growth of urban population has spared.


The reservations are as important as the parks and as the surrounding territory is built up increase in value. It often happens also that municipal lines must be overlooked in park location, as the territory desired for a particular improvement lies partly in one and partly in another city or township. Four of the Essex County parks, for example, comprise portions of several municipalities. In making the county the unit in park selection,' not only are the benefits more fairly distributed, but the expense is more equitably apportioned. Park moneys are a county charge, each municipality paying its pro rata share of park tax, so that the cities pay their proportion of the cost of the suburban reservations and the townships contribute toward the development of the city parks, while all the citizens of the county can enjoy every part of the system.




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