USA > New Jersey > Union County > History of Union County, New Jersey > Part 40
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CHAPTER XXIII.
THE TOWNSHIP AND CITY OF PLAINFIELD.
HE township of Plainfield was created, by an act of the legislature, March 4, 1847. The city was incorporated in 1869, and the borough of North Plainfield in 1885. The two contain about twenty square miles, and the population is seventeen thousand. The first settlement in this section was made by Robert Fullerton, in what is now South Plainfield, at or near the place now called New Brooklyn, or sometimes "Tow Town," on the borders of this township. In a letter written by Robert Fullerton to his relatives in Scotland, very soon after his arrival, he remarks, "We have the honor of being the first planters in this inland part of America." The first frame building was erected in 1735, at which period there were a few log huts and Indian wigwams belonging to the Delaware Indians.
The first grist mill was built in the year 1760, on the banks of the upper mill-pond, but about the year 1790 this was removed to its present site on Somerset street, and the place was then, and for a long time subsequently, known as Mill Town. Here all the grain for a long distance around was brought to be converted into flour. The first store was kept by Thomas Nesbit, and after him John Fitz Randolph kept a miscellaneous store, selling dry goods, groceries, boots and shoes, etc., and taking in exchange skins, furs, tallow, wax, and honey. This primitive store was on the corner of Front and Somerset streets. The first hat manufactory was built in 1808, by John Wilson, and in 1812 there were twelve hat factories, supplying some sixty thousand dollars' worth of hats to the New York and other markets. Plainfield was a small country village in 1800, containing two hundred and fifteen inhabitants, and through it a regular line of stages, called the " Swift- Sure," connecting New York with Philadelphia, was operated, the stages passing each way three times a week.
For many years after the first settlement the people had no place of worship. In 1788 the Society of Friends established a place of worship. In 1736 a building was erected near what was then called Tow Town.
. SCHOOLS.
The early settlers, after the erection of rude habitations, built the " log school house." Among the early settlers in this township were
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James Fullerton, Thomas Fullerton, with his wife and ten servants, also Robert Fullerton, with nine servants, all of whom arrived in October, 1684. They settled on Cedar Brook, near the present city of Plainfield. At this late date it cannot be determined whether James Fullerton was a son of Thomas or not, but it is now known that he was a schoolmaster, as he and Master Robert Coles, of Westfield, taught school in the township. As early as the year 1689 the few settlers,-the Gordons, Ormstons, Forbes, Farrers, Jacksons, and many others,-had settled within short distances of each other, and James Fullerton is spoken of as the schoolmaster. Several teachers are spoken of between the years 1701 and 1800,-John Boacker (Baker), and one John Conger, a Mr. Brown, and also a Mr. McNulthy.
The following is a description of one of the early Plainfield schools : "It was situated on the forks of three roads, surrounded by maple and live-oak trees, and in the centre of the school district, convenient for the children. School took in from eight A. M., till four P. M., - a much longer session than is the custom at the present time. Boards were nailed for desks against the side of the wall ; long benches were made of oak slabs from the saw-mill near by, with holes for the rude legs; the few school books that could be obtained were not very satisfactory, and so many times we selected letters and words from the Bible."
About 1809, and also 1812, Joseph Fitz Randolph taught the school, which stood near James Leonard's residence; William Marsh was the teacher for five years, from 1816, in the same building. Miss Sallie Page kept a Quaker school in 1805-7, and perhaps longer ; it was situated on the corner of Peace and Front streets. William Davis and Thomas Wallace and one other, who utilized the basement of the Presbyterian church, taught from 1835 to 1838. Mr. Frazee Coles, about 1805-9, taught the school in the village of Plainfield, and for a number of terms in the Jackson school house, on or near the Terrill road. He is spoken of as a " successful tutor." He died November 12, 1881, at the advanced age of ninety-six. A building called the Academy was erected in the year 1812. In it Rev. Buckley Morse, a Baptist clergyman, taught for some time, as did also a Mr. Randolph.
" We had a number of teachers and many Yankee schoolmarms and masters," says an old resident. The academy was burned down in the year 1834. Mr. Joseph Randall taught in the "village" in 1811 and 1816. Another account of these early schools says that the inhabitants desired their children educated, and, in 1760, established a school, on the corner of what are known as Peace and Front streets, and this and the one that was located near " Tow Town " were the first. A little later a school house was erected on the corner of Somerset and Front streets, where the Pope brothers' store was subsequently built, and James Fitz Randolph, who was a Quaker, taught there, as well as at the Quaker school.
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There was a private school house on the site subsequently occupied by the house of Cornelius Boice, Esq. Here Ezra Fairchild kept a select school from 1837 to 1840. About the same time there was a school house, which afterward became a dwelling, opposite the First Baptist church. The teachers here were Amos Lyon, from near Scotch Plains, 1835 ; Mr. Whitney, 1833-34, and again in 1840; and Jacob Wood, who taught in 1841-43, after which the building was sold to Mr. Abraham Runyon for a dwelling. Mr. E. Dean Dow is mentioned as a teacher in the seminary, and was afterward editor of the Central New Jersey Times, at Plainfield.
HISTORY OF THE POST OFFICE OF PLAINFIELD .*
[BY CHARLES &. BUELL.]
On April 1, 1800, the post office was established at Plainfield, New Jersey, which before that time had been known by the name of Milltown, being a part of Westfield township, and included in Essex county ; before the establishment of the post office here the few inhabitants had received their letters at the post office at the nearby village of Scotch Plains.
In the Plainfield Herald, published October 22, 1835, the following facts regarding the town, as it was in the early days, are given : In the year 1800 there were one hundred and fifty-five persons and only twenty houses in the village; in 1820 there were four hundred and thirty persons and sixty-eight houses; in 1830 there were seven hundred persons and one hundred and two houses; in 1835 there were one thousand and thirty persons and one hundred and thirty-eight houses. There were ten hat manufactories, making eighty thousand dollars' worth of hats annually ; six tailoring establishments, making garments for the southern and other trade, the cost of labor alone amounting to twelve thousand dollars annually ; one tailoring establishment, having a capital of six thousand dollars ; six dry-goods stores, employing twenty-one thousand dollars capital ; one grocery store, with one thousand dollars capital ; six shoe stores, making yearly six thousand dollars' worth of boots and shoes ; four wheelwright shops; six blacksmith shops ; two drug stores ; two public houses; one coppersmith and tinsmith ; one saddle and harnessmaker ; one watchmaker ; one tan yard ; two cabinetmakers ; two grist mills, one saw mill ; one millinery store ; two master masons ; four master carpenters ; three butchers ; one stone cutter ; one printing office ; one bakery and confectionery ; a fire-insurance company, with a capital of eighteen thousand dollars; two fire engines ; five places of public worship,-one Baptist, one Presbyterian, one Methodist, and two Quakers. There were two seminaries, the Plainfield Seminary and the Plainfield Classical Institute. There were three physicians and one
* This history of the post office of Plainfield is virtually also an integral part of the general history of the town, and is a valuable and interesting compilation.
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lawyer. There was a hat factory within a mile of the village, making forty thousand dollars' worth of hat bodies a year.
In 1800 there was one store, kept by Thomas Nesbit, and one school house in the edge of the forest, near where Richmond street enters Front street, and there was only the Quaker meeting house. As late as 1830 there were slaves owned in the town, and these were doubtless counted in the enumeration of the persons dwelling in the village.
The central figure in the town was the old mill, around which clustered the log houses and frame dwellings, the store and one or two shops. The old mill was first built in 1755 and at first stood under the dam ; but was moved to the site of the mill now owned by P. M. French, Esq., in 1782. In 1853 the mill was rebuilt, and in 1870 the race-way was covered by a brick arch. The mill property at one time comprised a flour and grist mill, a saw mill, a cider mill, and a distillery, and in connection there was a large hog yard occupying the space opposite the mill from the drive-way to where the bridge now is, in which several hundred hogs were kept. The original old mill still serves as a barn, its timbers being in very good condition, although one hundred and forty years old.
The road from Quibbletown (now New Market) to Scotch Plains, the Mountain road, now Somerset street, and a road to Rahway, beginning at about where Peace street now is, constituted the traveled roads of the village of Plainfield in 1800.
There was no bridge over the brook, and the course of the road to the mountain turned from the present course of Somerset street at the mill towards the dam, where it crossed the stream at a ford located between the dam and where the bridge now is; the road then turned back and followed the course of what is now Somerset street to the mountains. In 1818 there was a stone arch bridge built over the brook at the place where the present bridge is located, and with a driveway through the brook at the side of the bridge, and with the date of building the bridge cut in the stone work, as recalled by living persons.
The pay of the second postmaster, who held from 1805 to 1817, is said to have been five dollars a year, and it is also said that during his term of office mails were sent and received but twice a week. In the early days there were no envelopes, as we have them now, and 110 postage stamps were used until 1847. The mails were carried by the stages before the railroads were completed. In 1820 there was a stage running daily from the town of Flemington to Elizabethtown, as Elizabeth was then called. The line passed through Somerville, Plainfield and Springfield, and connected with boats at Elizabethtown, the boats leaving at a point on the river near the court house and being towed by horses to what is now Elizabethport, but which was then Elizabethtown Point; thence it sailed to New York, making the trip in a day if winds were favorable. In later years two steamboats,
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the Waterwitch and Cinderella, plyed between Elizabethtown Point and New York, and still later the Red Jacket, a superior boat, was put 011 and continued to run until chartered by the government for use in the war of the Rebellion. The stage lines also connected at Elizabeth- town with stages for Jersey City, via Newark. The stage horses were changed at Plainfield, and in later years the property was largely owned by Plainfield men. The coaches were large and were mounted upon wide leather straps, giving an easy swinging motion to the body of the moving vehicle and making a ride enjoyable.
The mails were carried by the stage lines until 1838, when the railroad was finished to Plainfield; but as the road was not extended beyond Plainfield for several years, it is likely that the mails for places west of here continued to be carried by the stage. Although the stages ran daily until the railroad was completed, the mails did not go and come daily, as the population and business remained small; persons now living can recall the time when all the letters comprising a mail brought by a stage could be readily held in one hand. With the completion of the railway the population has grown until, in 1895, there were thirteen thousand, six hundred and twenty-nine in Plainfield, and four thousand, eight hundred and seventy-nine in North Plainfield, making a total population of eighteen thousand, five hundred and eight depending upon Plainfield's post office.
John F. Randolph, the first postmaster, was appointed to the office April 1, 1800, and held the office until December 16, 1805. He is said to have lived in a house that was located at or near what is at present the corner of Front and Somerset streets ; but which were then known, according to old deeds, as "the road from Quibbletown to Scotch Plains," and the "Mountain Road"; New Market being now the name for what was then called Quibbletown. It is the tradition that the post office was kept in the house in which the postmaster lived, which would make its location about where the saloon now is, on the corner of Front and Somerset streets. Mr. Randolph served under the administrations of both Presidents Adams and Jefferson. Samuel Manning, the second postmaster, entered upon the duties of the office December 6, 1805, and served twelve years, his term continuing under the administration of Jefferson and two terms of Madison, until December 3, 1817. It is said that he died in office and that his son, Jacob Manning, afterward postmaster, and then a mere youth, performed the duties of the office after his death and until a successor was duly appointed. Samuel Manning was the proprietor of the tavern which was located on what is now the site of C. K. Compton's store, and, according to tradition, the post office was in the bar room of this tavern. During Mr. Manning's term of office, in 1816, the rate of postage was changed from eight cents for forty miles, to ten cents for eighty miles.
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Aaron M. Osborn, the third postmaster, entered upon the duties of the office December 3, 1817, serving during the two terms of James Monroe, and nearly two years under the administration of John Quincy Adams,-or until July 6, 1827, a period of ten years. Mr. Osborn owned a stage line and kept a country store, where he lived and kept the post office. Jacob Manning, the fourth postmaster, was a son of Samnel Manning, of whom mention has been made. He entered upon the duties of the office July 6, 1827, and served until December 30, 1840, thirteen years, holding the office under the administrations of John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. The post office was kept for a time in the tavern before mentioned. During Mr. Manning's term of office, in 1835, the first newspaper, the Plainfield Herald, was published in Plainfield, by Isaac Cole, and in 1838 the railroad was completed to this point.
Letters were advertised in the newspapers for the first time in September, 1835. John W. Craig, the fifth postmaster, was a physician, living at North Plainfield, where the block owned by Alexander Thorn now stands. Dr. Craig had a drug store on the corner of Main and Cherry streets, as Front street and Park avenue were then called ; commonly known as Stelle's corner. The post office was in this store, and consisted of a case, with pigeon holes for the letters, placed upon a desk. Dr. Craig held the office under the administration of Harrison and Tyler, during the years from December 30, 1840, to July 3, 1845.
Elias Kirkpatrick, the sixth postmaster, entered upon the duties of his office, July 3, 1845, having the office in the store where now stands the Clarkson building, No. 125 East Front street. From there he removed the office to a small store located where is now the entrance to F. C. Langhorne's photograph gallery, No. 107 East Front street, where Mr. Kirkpatrick established a book store, with Enos W. Runyon as clerk and assistant in the postoffice. He held the office four years under President Polk, from July 3, 1845, to May 3, 1849. During his term of office the rate of postage on letters was reduced from ten cents for a distance of eighty miles, to five cents for any distance under three hundred miles.
Dr. Lewis Craig, the seventh postmaster, was a brother of John W. Craig, and he placed the post office in the drug store where his brother had formerly had it, at what is now the corner of Front street and Park avenue. He was assisted by our respected townsman, Mr. Alexander Shotwell, then a clerk in the drug store. Dr. Lewis Craig held the office four years, under the administration of Taylor and of Millard Fillmore, from May 3, 1840, until February 19, 1853. During his term of office the postage on a single letter that weighed one-half an ounce, was made three cents, if prepaid ; but was five cents if not prepaid ; drop letters were rated at one cent, and weekly newspapers were allowed to be sent anywhere in the county where they were published, free of
ยท
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postage. Stamped envelopes were first introduced during his term of office, and, in 1851, the rate at which letters could be sent three thousand miles was three cents, if the postage was prepaid.
Jacob Manning, by a second appointment, became the eighth post- master, entering upon his term of service February 19, 1853, and serving until May 28, 1861, eight years, being under the administrations of Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan. He removed the post office to the corner of Front street and Park avenue, where John J. Kenney now has a store. His son, Samuel Manning, and George Dewey assisted him in the office, and the mail was carried between the post office and the depot by Frazee Whitehead. During his term of office, it is remembered that rented call boxes had become a feature in the post office. During this term of Mr. Manning's office-holding, in 1855, the rate of postage for a letter of one-half an ounce weight, going any distance under three thousand miles, was made three cents, with all letters prepaid. The mails had now increased to two mails each way every day, and news- papers and periodicals were common among the contents of mail bags.
Elston M. Dunn, the ninth postmaster, who was appointed May 28, 1861, and served eight years, until April 1, 1869, under the administra- tions of Lincoln and Johnson, kept the post office at first in a small frame building owned by Jacob Manning, and located where P. Casey & Son now have a store, at No. 126 West Front street, and to which place Mr. Manning had but recently moved the office. C. K. Compton was employed by Mr. Dunn, doing most of the detail work of the office, as Mr. Dunn was acting as assistant to the collector of internal revenue. There were now two mails each way daily, and the opening of the evening mail was the occasion of a general gathering of the youth of both sexes at the post office during the exciting times of the war period.
The office was open from 7 A. M. until 9:30 P. M., and the packages of letters at this time were accompanied by a written way-bill, and a record of letters kept, requiring considerable time for the opening of mails. The business of the office had so increased that there were some- thing like two hundred rented call boxes in use during the first four years of Mr. Dunn's term of office. In 1864 the postal money-order system was introduced in the United States, and very soon Plainfield became a money-order post office.
During the last four years that Mr. Dunn held the office Williain H. Williams devoted a part of his time to the duties of assistant, and Marvin M. Dunham, Walter Elliott and Edward Nelson were employed successively in the office, which had now been moved to the store now No. 126 Park avenue; this removal is said to have taken place after the office had been kept for a time at what is now No. 109 East Front street. Mr. Dunn is at present pastor of the Seventh Day Baptist church, at Milton, Wisconsin.
Wallace Vail, the tenth postmaster, was appointed April 21, 1869,
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and served until February 13, 1882, thirteen years, being in office under the administrations of Grant, Hayes and a portion of that of Garfield. The post office was located on Park avenue, where the store of B. R. Force, No. 132 Park avenue, now is. Afterward the office was removed to a small building where the store of W. F. Fulper, No. 207 West Front street, now is. Mrs. Vail, wife of the postmaster, has the distinc- tion of being the only lady acting as an assistant in Plainfield's post office, serving during the entire thirteen years, and doing the work of the office in an acceptable manner. The following named persons were employed successively during the time that Mr. Vail held the office, as helpers in the increasing business : Milford Estel, Edward Nelson, Barton Kline, Stephen Vail, E. A. Gregg, Donaldson Randolph and John Wallace. In 1874 the rate of registered letters was reduced from fifteen cents to eight cents, and again, in June, 1875, raised to ten cents. The number of rented call boxes had increased to something like eight hundred, and one hundred lock boxes, and there were now three mails each way, daily. Jerry Blair, the colored porter, carried the mail between the post office and the depot on his shoulder, during Mr. Vail's term of office.
Elias R. Pope, the eleventh postmaster, accepted the appointment upon the urgent solicitation of Senator William J. Sewell, having made no application for the place until after his appointment had been made, when the application was filed as a required formality. When Mr. Pope entered upon the duties of the office he removed it from a small building on West Front street to what is now No. 115 East Front street, in 1883, and at his own expense fitted up the office, putting in twelve hundred rented call boxes, and five hundred lock boxes, besides many other improvements, among which was the addition of a cart for conveying the mails between the post office and the depot.
In 1883 Mr. Pope visited Washington and brought about a new arrangement which placed the post office upon a thoroughly business basis, by the system which he was enabled to inaugurate, through the potent influence of United States Senator Sewell, with the post-office department, at Washington. Previously the postmasters had received a salary, and had been left to pay all incidental expenses ; but Mr. Pope made an arrangement by which the rent, light and fuel were paid for by the government, as was also the hire of the clerks and employed persons. The transfer of the expenses from the individual to the government resulted in the improvement of the service, and brought the post office in Plainfield fully up to the post offices of other cities of like size to Plainfield. Mr. Pope held the office until May 1, 1886, under the administration of President Arthur, being in office four years.
During his term of service the foreign money-order system was instituted in Plainfield, under his direction, and the reduction of postage on letters from three cents to two cents, and on newspapers from two cents
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to one cent a pound, occurred. The persons employed in the post office during this term were: F. A. Pope, assistant postmaster ; Ira D. Shay, money-order clerk; George C. Godown, Albert Runyon, James Blair, Frank Van Winckle, clerks; Edward G. Pope, stamp clerk; Jacob Dunham, mail carrier.
William L. Force, the twelfth postmaster, was appointed May I, 1886, and held the office under the administration of President Cleveland for four years, until February 25, 1890. The office was in the building, No. 115 Front street, known as the Schorb building. During his term of service street letter-boxes, to the number of about thirty, were placed about the streets, and the important addition of the free-delivery system by letter carriers, was instituted, and the post office in Plainfield became a full-fledged office. By the introduction of the carrier system the number of rented call boxes, and lock boxes was considerably diminished.
The following named persons were employed : J. L. Force, assistant postmaster ; E. G. Pope, money-order clerk ; Albert Runyon, general delivery ; A. C. Rodgers, J. H. Whitenack, Charles Pratt, clerks; R. V. Stryker, stamp clerk, succeeded by Joel D. Hedden as stamp clerk. Edward Martin and Nixon Morris carried the mails between the office and the depot. The carriers were : Solomon Flagg, E. T. Van Winkle, Joseph Shepard, Peter Flynn, William Demarest, John Mackey, and Edward Hann.
Elias R. Pope, the thirteenth postmaster, by a second appointment, made February 25, 1890, served under the administration of President Benjamin Harrison for four years, until June 1, 1894. He removed the post office from the Schorb building, to the Clarkson building, No. 127 East Front street.
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