USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > Woodbridge > History of Woodbridge Township > Part 3
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CLAY AND BRICK
Woodbridge is universally known for its fine clay deposits and its by-product, brick.
One of the early settlers, John French, a dealer in bricks who was elected a freeholder, was granted 15 acres of land in 1670 on condition that he furnish Woodbridge men with bricks in preference to all others. That Woodbridge did have brick makers in their midst in the early settlement is verified by a reference to the "Molden Men's Lots" which were located in Green Street somewhere near the home of the late Peter Leahy. It is probable that these lots were given to induce them to remain in Woodbridge to ply their trade. It is reasonable to suppose that they made bricks from clay found to the south of Green Street, now the route of State Highway No. 35.
In 1800 most of the brick to be had in this country were imported from England. In that year common red brick, which was selling for $8 per thousand in New York City, was difficult to get. Many years later rich kaolin beds were discovered in Woodbridge and Perth Amboy.
In 1820, John E. Noe and Benjamin M. Noe offered for sale their farm consisting of 88 acres "situated on the turnpike leading from New York to Philadelphia by way of Staten Island adjoining New Blazing Star Ferry and the Sound" where "there is plenty of clay for making brick." In the same year 105 acres of land in the Port Reading and Sewaren section of the Township were offered for sale.
In 1825, the old Salamander Works was established by Gage Inslee and Rene Pardussus on the site presently occupied by the Wood- bridge Lumber Company on Rahway Avenue. It early made stone ware and fire brick, and was one of the most noted stoneware potteries of that time in the eastern part of the State. It made three types of Rochingham Pitchers, still in existence.
Clay was shipped from Woodbridge to Boston in 1816, but the real value of the clay beds of Woodbridge was not developed until after the Civil War.
In 1859, it was said that material for nearly 80,000,000 fire bricks was at that time being sent annually into the market from Woodbridge, Perth Amboy, and South Amboy. This clay also supplied all the alum works in the county. About 2,000 tons a year were used for that purpose.
In 1845, William H. Berry, a native of Maine, having an eye for business, saw great possibilities in clay. He associated himself with P. H. Lane, of New York, and purchased property near Hawks Nest Land- ing, at the foot of Berry Street. He erected a plant there for the manu- facture of fire brick. After the withdrawal of Lane in 1846, Alexander Brown and James Valentine became associated with this company. The excellency of the Berry brick was established all over the country. In 1876, facilities were available for making 1,000,000 bricks a year. In addition to the manufacture of brick, many thousands of tons of clay were exported by rail and water from Berry's Dock on Woodbridge Creek.
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In the autumn of 1866, the plant of Boynton and Company was in operation at the mouth of the Woodbridge Creek, presently occupied by the Shell Oil Company at Sewaren. Mr. Boynton, a native of Ban- gor, Me., came to Woodbridge in the spring of 1866 to manufacture drain pipe and land tile in association with his father and another busi- nessman. Mr. Boynton was the first maker of hollow tile in this vi- cinity. It was used chiefly in conjunction with iron rafters in the con- struction of fireproof buildings. Mr. Boynton also manufactured a fire- proof shingle with which many of the buildings in downtown New York were roofed. His trade was confined principally to the eastern States, but some of his brick and tile were used in and around the capitol grounds at Washington.
In 1866 M. D. Valentine and James R. Valentine commenced busi- ness on the present site of the M. D. Valentine and Brothers Company plant near Spa Spring in the manufacture of lath brick, for which J. R. Valentine had been granted a patent the previous year. This brick was to be manufactured in scouring pipe, tile, and brick. By 1876 the plant had grown to such proportions that it was capable of making 4,000,000 of these bricks in a year. Since its inception, this plant which has grown to establish an enviable reputation in the manufacture of fire brick, is known all over the world.
From 1887 to 1895, "The Florida Grove Company" in Fords; "The Carteret Brick Works," "The Anness and Lyle Manufacturing Com- pany," Perth Amboy; "The Stewart Ceramics Company," "M. D. Valen- tine and Brothers Company," and the "Standwell Fireproofing Com- pany," all had been organized to mine clay and manufacture brick and tile.
MILLS
Because of limited transportation facilities at the beginning of the 19th Century, it was necessary for the residents of any given area to be provided with their needs by those who produced them. The farmers, who numbered many, provided those in the villages with meat, milk, and vegetables for daily sustenance; but the wheat and rye which the farmer also produced had to go to the mills to be ground for the making of bread. Many farmers also maintained tan yards for the treatment of skins to be used for leather. Saw mills had to be maintained to furnish the material needed in the construction of homes and in the manufacture of furniture. From the earliest days of its settlement, the Township of Woodbridge had been provided with grist mills as well as fulling mills. As Woodbridge expanded, the number of these mills increased.
Woodbridge boasted of having a copper mine within its original borders at Uniontown, now Menlo Park, which was worked before the War of 1812 by Thomas Edison. The ruins of this old mine which is still visible are located on Mutton Hollow Road, which is the dividing line between Woodbridge and Raritan Township, between the road to Oak Tree and the Lincoln Highway.
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FISHERIES
In the early days of settlement, the waters of Raritan Bay, Raritan River, the Sound, Woodbridge Creek, and the Rahway River abounded with fish of all kinds. Oysters, clams and other crustacea were to be had at all seasons. The fame of Perth Amboy oysters was recognized as early as the middle of the 1750's. By the beginning of the 19th Century, New York fishermen came by schooner to the Sound and Raritan Bay to fish in competition with the fishermen of Middlesex County. These encroachments grew to such alarming proportions that at the annual town meeting held at Woodbridge, April, 1820, it was unanimously voted to raise $100 by tax for the defense and support of the ancient rights and privileges to the oyster grounds in New Jersey. In September, 1829, the oyster beds in New Jersey off Perth Amboy were pillaged by two or three hundred oystermen from Staten Island. The planting of oysters near the mouth of the Raritan Bay had been permitted by law, and $12,000 had been spent in developing the beds; but the New Jersey oystermen were not sufficient in number to hold off the descending horde so were forced to surrender. This resulted in the indictment by the Middlesex Grand Jury of 30 of those who were recognized as taking part in the affair. Demand was made by the Governor of New Jersey upon the Governor of New York for their de- livery to New Jersey. The matter was eventually adjusted by the en- actment of laws to protect the industry at Perth Amboy which continued thereafter to raise oysters for domestic and export use. Seven hundred barrels are reported as having been shipped from Perth Amboy in one day in October, 1878, for export to England. In 1894, however, the oyster trade began to decline in Perth Amboy; and in November, 1899, a boat load of Perth Amboy oysters was turned down in the New York market as being of inferior quality. They were considered inferior to the 1898 crop which had been bad enough but just good enough to find a market.
POLITICS
On February 17, 1860, the Legislature passed a supplement to an act to create the County of Union and thereby cut loose from the Town- ship of Woodbridge and the County of Middlesex that part of Rahway known as lower Rahway in which Leesville was located and, in addi- tion, that part of Rahway called Milton.
In the early part of 1906, considerable interest was manifested in the northeast section of the Township in withdrawing in favor of the establishment of a borough. This was first made evident when at its meeting of February 20, 1906, the Township Committee received a communication from the Board of Education on a bill introduced in the Legislature to incorporate a portion of the township as the Borough of Roosevelt. A resolution adopted by the Township Committee will serve to give some idea of the circumstances. It reads as follows:
"Whereas, Carteret has had at the expense of the Township as a whole its just proportion of the improvements and is about to set itself off in a borough that will increase the tax rate of the portion left which
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is unjust to the taxpayers of the outlying districts who have had no im- provements and have borne uncomplainingly their portion of the ex- penses to improve said borough and the other portions of our town . . . therefore, be it resolved that we the Township Committee of the Town- ship of Woodbridge, the body representing the taxpayrs of said Town- ship, take some formal action against the bill now pending in the Senate for the protection of whom we represent." In accordance with this resolution, the chairman of the Township Committee appointed a committee to appear before the Senate Committee to protest against passage of the bill; and if the bill were to be passed, to request that a provision be included whereby the new borough assume its just and proportionate share of the township indebtedness.
The act to incorporate the Borough of Roosevelt, which was ap- proved April 11, 1906, was to take effect if a majority of the inhabitants to be affected by the change approved by their votes. The date of the election was set for May 1st. The results of this election showed that 381 inhabitants of the Carteret area voted, that three ballots were re- jected, and that 377 voted in favor of the borough and one against the change.
INNS AND COACHES
Probably no two institutions were so closely allied in the early days of our settlement as the inn or tavern and the stage coach. One of the first taverns set up in the Province of East Jersey was that of Samuel Moore at Woodbridge in 1683, although the Proprietors in 1668 ordered "in consideration for the inconveniences that do arise for the want of an ordinary in every town" a tavern in Woodbridge for the relief and entertainment of strangers. Moore's Tavern, according to Dally, occupied the site upon which Dr. Samuel E. Freeman's drug store stood in 1873, which would fix the location at the corner of Green Street and Rahway Avenue on a lot now vacant but in the occupancy of George Lucas.
A mail system, the first established in the country, was devised by Colonel John Hamilton of New Jersey, afterwards Governor in 1694. This system was reported to and adopted by the British government. In 1729 the mail passed once a week between New York and Philadelphia in summer and once in every two weeks in winter. This schedule was continud until 1754, a period of twenty-five years. From 1754 the mail system was rapidly improved; and in 1764, under Dr. Franklin's super- intendence, James Parker, Comptroller and a native of Woodbridge, under a heading "For the benefit of Trade and Commerce," gave notice that a postrider with the mail would leave New York at 1 P. M. for Phila- delphia and until further orders would leave each city every alternate day "if weather permits." In this manner the trip between the two cities was accomplished every twenty-four hours. The plan of trans- porting the mails was in canvas bags and on the backs of horses. The express rider, as he was termed, changed horses about every twenty-five miles. There were in 1791, seven post-offices in this State at Newark, Elizabethtown, Bridgetown, New Brunswick, Princeton and
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Trenton. The Woodbridge post office was established in 1791, with John Manning as postmaster and Cross Keys Inn as the location.
When the opening shots at Lexington started the Revolutionary War, a courier was dispatched southward by the Massachusetts authorities. It took him four days to reach New York. A fuller ac- count was relayed on the same route two days later by a rider leaving New Haven, Conn., on April 24, at 9:30 A. M. and arriving in New York on Tuesday at 2 P. M. The dispatch rider started across New Jersey arriving at Elizabethtown at 7 P. M. and at Woodbridge at 10 P. M., reaching New Brunswick at midnight. He was at Princeton at 3:30 A. M. and in Trenton three hours later.
When George Washington left Mount Vernon for New York to take the oath of office as the first President of the United States, he left Philadelphia on the morning of April 21, 1789, arrived at Trenton that afternoon, and that same night journeyed to Princeton, where he spent the night. Accompanied by Governor William Livingston, Washington (on the 22nd) proceeded to Woodbridge where he spent the night at the Cross Keys Tavern, then located on the northwest corner of Amboy Avenue and Main Street on the site presently occupied by the Knights of Columbus. This famous old building still stands, having been moved to a new location to the rear of the original site on the north side of James Street. On the morning of April 23, Washington left for New York by way of Rahway and Elizabethtown.
Prior to 1800, several taverns dotted the main roads in the Town- ship, the oldest of which is believed to be Cross Keys. Built before the Revolution, it was situated on the main post and stage road between Philadelphia and New York. It was first maintained as a hostelry by William Manning and was the scene of all public events in the village, being used as the place of the Town Meeting from 1824 to 1848. In this same house General Lafayette was entertained in 1824.
Almost as famous was the tavern conducted by Thomas, James, and Charles Jackson on the road to Rahway and Blazing Star (Carteret). This tavern, which was known as the Elm Tree Tavern, was located on the west side of the road to Rahway, now known as Rahway Avenue, a part of which is still standing at No. 531, a few feet north of Grove Avenue. This inn was also the spot chosen by the inhabitants for the holding of the town meetings from 1800 to 1803, 1810 to 1820 under the Jacksons, and from 1821 to 1823 under Henry Potter. An ancient elm which stood in front of the old tavern was cut down in February, 1837. The trunk, which was hollow, measured 32 feet in circumference and accommodated 15 men, who stood upright within it.
Probably the best known tavern in the Township, besides the Cross Keys Inn, was the famous Pike House, so called because the turnpike roads to Rahway and Blazing Star (Carteret) passed its front door at the southwest corner of the road (now Green Street) to Uniontown. In 1848 when the Cross Keys Inn ceased to operate as a tavern, the Town Meetings previously held there were transferred to the Pike House
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where this annual meeting was to continue to 1874. In the 1920's the old Pike House, which was known in its later years as the Woodbridge Hotel, was demolished. The site is now occupied by a gas station.
Probably one of the last hotels to be built in the Township during the nineteenth century was the Sewaren Hotel which was erected about 1878 to accommodate the people from the city who for years made Sewaren their annual vacation spot. The hotel continued to be oper- ated as a summer retreat until about 1913 and then was forced "to give up the ghost." It was demolished shortly thereafter.
BRIDGES
At a town meeting held September 22, 1669, a good, serviceable, stout bridge was ordered to be constructed over Papiack Creek below the "Meeting-house Green." This was the first bridge ordered built in the settlement. It was for the convenience of the many early settlers who lived on the upland along the Sound.
It was not until 1850 before a bridge was built over the creek con- necting what is now Sewaren with the village of Woodbridge.
POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS
As we approach the nineteenth century, we find the following vil- lages scattered throughout the Township designated Blazing Star or Rahway Neck, now Carteret; Leesville, Bridgetown, Milton, Lower Rahway, now Rahway in Union County; Pleasant Mills, now in the Inman Avenue section; Uniontown, or Perrytown, now Iselin; Metuchen, Bonhamtown, Sand Hills, Florida Grove, now Keasbey, and Wood- bridge.
The law which brought Lower Rahway into the County of Union went into effect on the second Monday in April, 1860. The last meeting of the Township Committee of Woodbridge at Rahway was held at the Mansion House on April 16, 1860, where (in the past) it had often met to transact business and settle accounts.
On March 16, 1870, the Legislature passed an "Act to establish a new township in the County of Middlesex, to be called the Township of Raritan." Thus Raritan Township was made up from a part of Piscat- away and that part of Woodbridge now called Metuchen.
The last piece taken from Woodbridge was in 1906, when the Borough of Roosevelt was created by the Legislature. Thus, in 241 years of its existence, in the face of the many attempts made consist- ently to cut it up, it gave up outer slices to Perth Amboy, to Union County, to Raritan Township, and finally to the Borough of Roosevelt.
NEWSPAPERS
James Parker, who was born at Woodbridge in 1714-another il- lustrious son of Woodbridge-established the first permanent printing house in New Jersey at Woodbridge in 1751. He was a business asso- ciate of Benjamin Franklin. In 1758 he established and printed at
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Woodbridge "The New American Magazine," the first periodical of its kind edited and published in the colony and the second magazine of its kind on the continent.
When the Stamp Act was passed in 1765, Parker issued and pub- lished from his Woodbridge press, the most spirited denouncement of the Stamp Act in the American Colonies in the form of a newspaper designated the "Constitutional Courant." This paper, which was sold on the streets of New York for one day, was suppressed by the authori- ties. The paper, however, was reprinted and distributed in Boston and Philadelphia. Parker died in Burlington but was buried in the Presby- terian Churchyard in Woodbridge.
BARRON LIBRARY
When Thomas Barron of New York City died in 1875, he remem- bered his native town by bequeathing to Dr. Ellis B. Freeman, the Rev. George C. Lucas, and Dr. John C. Barron of New York, the sum of $50,000 in trust to be applied by them to the purchase of ground on which to erect a building as a "free public reading room and library" and to supply the same with books and other reading matter. He also authorized these men to make application to the State of New Jersey for an "Act of Incorporation," but this was not done until 1889.
The opening and dedication of the library were held September 11, 1877, at which time the deed for the land was delivered to the trustees as a donation from John C. Barron in a presentation speech made by that gentleman.
MISCELLANEOUS
The annual event hailed as "Salt Water Day" was ushered in during 1855. This day was also known as the "Harvest Joy Day" and the "Great Washing Time." Always held in the month of August on the third Saturday, it brought the farmers and their employees together at the water spots on the Raritan River and the Bay to indulge in salt water bathing. The origin of the custom is unknown but was probably instituted to provide a holiday for the farmers after the reaping of the grain harvest. The day was usually celebrated at the Perth Amboy and Florida Grove Beaches.
Florida Grove continued to operate as a resort and picnic grounds until the turn of the nineteenth century when it was abandoned to the clay and brick industry. Florida Grove Beach was located where the plant of the National Fire Proofing Company at Keasbey stands.
About 1875, Acker's Grove on Staten Island Sound was opened. It catered to picnics and fishermen. This establishment continued to operate long after the passing of Boynton Beach. It was a popular bathing spot for the younger set of Rahway and Woodbridge until it had to surrender to the encroachment of industry. Some years ago the site was acquired by the Royal Petroleum Company.
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C. W. Boynton, who owned an extensive water front on the Jersey side of the Sound, made improvements to his grove and erected a num- ber of bath houses. It was then designated as Boynton Beach and was said to have the best and safest bathing beach along the Sound at low water and equal to any other at high water. The popularity of this resort was far-reaching. For some years it provided for the annual visitation of thousands by rail and steamboat from New York and the northern cities of New Jersey. Boynton Beach, which also catered to the fishermen from the city, maintained a boat house on the grounds near the steamboat dock for their convenience until the pollution of the Sound drove the fish and fishermen to other quarters. This famous old resort, which boasted of one of the finest dancing pavilions in the State, was destroyed by fire on May 30, 1917, after forty-one years of honorable existence. In 1927 the site of the old beach was sold to the Shell Oil Company and is now covered with tanks.
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