Dover dates

Preface

In 1914 my "Dover History" was published, containing personal reminiscences of Dover people, with other historical matter relating to the period 1722 to 1869. In the summer of 1921 I began to compile a chronological review of facts contained in the Dover History, collated with other facts from various sources, endeavoring to suggest the relation of Dover to the State of New Jersey, to the United States, as historically developed, and to European history, thinking that such an arrangement would be useful for the interpretation of our local history in view of our approaching bicentennial year.

In October, 1921, although no formal committee had been appointed as yet to consider the advisability of any public recognition of that anniversar}', I conferred with our local editors. Harry R. Gill of The Advance, and William G. Hummel of The Index and they heartily supported me in bringing before the public a series of articles entitled "Dover Dates," published in the latter part of 192 1 and the early part of 1922.

It was our intention to publish this historical information later in pamphlet form, and I am greatly indebted to my two friends, the editors, for their co-operation in preparing to carry out this plan. Among other readers of the newspaper articles, the Firemen of Dover became interested and determined to have a bicentennial celebration. With their customary enthusiasm and energy they organized committees and made arrangements to do honor to their Home Town, inviting me to join them as an honorary mem1:)er of their committee.

In time, it was thought best, with the co-operation of the Firemen, to print "Dover Dates" as a bicentennial book. The Jerseyman of Morristown made an offer acceptable to all concerned, to j)rint this book and promote its sale. This offer was accepted by the Firemen's Committee. Our thanks are due to The Jerseyman for the generous and able way in which they have helped us carry out the plan and publish this book.

I am indebted to Frederic A. Canfield, deeply versed in local lore, for his kindness in making a few corrections and adding some items of interest relating to the early chronology of Dover.

In undertaking this work of local historian I have been led further than I anticipated. Not myself a native of Dover, I have gained much of my knowledge from others who have resided here longer than I. In this connection my thanks are due to the many persons who have, first and last, contributed articles based upon their special knowledge, making this book a symi>osium illustrating many phases of our modern community and its environs.

"Dover Dates" is a supplement of "Dover History" and contains much new and up-to-date material relating to the period i860 to 1922, especially 1922. The municii)al departments of the present day are represented, also the military organizations of recent years, and the larger industrial concerns of Dover and vicinity.

CHARLES D. PLATT, Editor.

DEDICATION How dedicate these Dover Dates?

Who has this labor o' love inspired?

Who but our Dover? Tete-a-tetes

With her have slumbering genius fired.

The kindly old folks who recall

The scenes of youth, the happy days That here they spent ; who tell me all

That charmed them once, the old-time ways.

The business man of many cares,

Whose bosom swells with local pride As he surveys his shops, his wares.

And waits the turn of Fortune's tide.

The younger folks — the girls and boys,

Now in succession apostolic ; Grasping life's sweet but fleeting joys,

They conjugate the verb ''to frolic."

The sober housewife, who presides

O'er hearth and home with patience rare To raise her hopefuls; who provides

For endless wants with constant care.

The teachers, who inform the mind

And guide young hearts through realms of knowledge; Who train crude youth to arts refined.

Prepare for life — perchance for college.

The City Fathers — may this lore

Of Dover Dates and Dover's story Endear the Dover loved of yore

And clear her path to future glory !

Part I. Early Chronology Of New Jersey And Dover

Preliminary Dates.

The Dutch Rule, 1609-1665. 55 years.

The English Proprietary Rule, 1664- 1702. 38 years.

East and West New Jersey.

William Penn and the Quakers.

The English Colonial Governors, 1702-1776. 74 years.

The Capitals of East New Jersey, i66^-,iyy6. ill years.

Part II

LOCATION. ENVIRONMENT

Two Old Roads, Townships. ,^

The Quakers of Randolph.

Poem: Richard Brotherton.

The Friends' Meeting House.

The Old Presbyterian Church at Rockaway.

The Old Methodist Church at Millbrook. Alonzo B. Searing.

Poem: Old Millbrook. Theodore F. Mott.

On Poetry.

The Iron Era: Poetic. Crane Hill A Dover to Mine Hill Ramble.

Poem : The Life at Mine Hill.

From My Porch. Poem. 1919.

Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the P. O. S. & L. C, iQfir. Poem. Scenes from Hurdtown. Lefevre, Artist.

Dover and the Greater New York.

Dover and Pennsylvania.

Part III. Municipal And Civic

The Mayors of Dover, 1869-1922.

The Manual of Dover, 1922.

The Police Force.

The Police Court.

Justice of the Peace, Constables.

The District Court.

The Dover Fire Department.

The Dover Water Department. George F. Steffany.

Poem : Hygeia.

The Dover Board of Health.

The Dover General Hospital. N. Eleanor Hulsart.

The Woman's Auxiliary of the Hospital. Mrs. Fletcher Fritts. American Red Cross : West Morris Chapter. History Committee.

Poem : Woman's Work in the Red Cross. Minerva Freeman. The First Decade of the Woman's Club. Minerva Freeman.

Poem : The Rhyme of the Woman's Club. Minerva Freeman. ^"^^ Pa^k- P. C. Buck.

Dover Post Office Facts. Charlotte S. Hurd.

The Dover Free Public Library. Martha A. Burnett.

Poem : What Dover Wants for Christmas.

EDUCATIONAL.

From Supt. Thurber's Report of Morris County Schools, 1876. Reminiscences of Dover Schools, 1876-1881. Edward M. Young. Thirty Years' Grow^th and Progress of the Dover Schools, 1890- ^922 J. Howard Hulsart, County Superintendent.

The Dover Schools in 1922.

Rosv/ell S. Bowlby, Supt. of Dover Schools, 1920— Presidents of the Board ofEducation, 1910-1922.

Song: Dover High.

Prize Essay : What the Flag Means to Me.

Ruth Meyer, class of 1922.

Part IV. Other Institutions

The National Union Bank, 1872. j. b. Tonkino-.

The Dover Trust Company, 1902. E. W. Rosevea?"

Waste Not, Want Not: poem.

The Newspapers of Dover Dover Real Estate.

THE CHURCHES.

Sunday School, 1816.

The First Presbyterian Church, 1835.

'Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, 1838.

'The First Methodist Episcopal Church, 1838.

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, 1845.

The Free Methodist Church, 1871.

St. John's Episcopal Church, 1849.

The Chrystal Street Chapel, 1879.

The Swedish Trinity Lutheran Church, 1889.

The Swedish Baptist Church, 1889.

The First Baptist Church, 1893.

The Swedish Bethlehem Church, 1894.

The Salvation Army, 1900.

The Church of the Sacred Heart, 1903.

The First Church of Christ Scientist, 1908.

Mt. Zion Baptist Church.

The Gaines A. M. E. Mission.

International Bible Students.

The Christian Alliance.

Mine Hill.

The Mine Hill Presbyterian Church, 1874.

CEMETERIES.

The Old Morris Street Burying Ground.

The Dover Cemetery Association, Orchard Street, 1854. The Locust Hill Cemetery Association, 1867.

The Friends' Meeting House and Cemetery Association, Randolph (1748) 1898.

The Mt. Sinai Cemetery Association, 1899,

PART V. Hymn for Independence Day

The Grand x\rmy of the Republic.

The Spanish-American War.

The Boys' Brigade.

The Dover Home Defense League.

The Dover Home Guards.

The Dover Guard.

Battery D.

The American Legion in Dover.

Part VI

INDUSTRIALS. CLOTHING

The Silk Mills of Dover, 1881—

The Swiss Knitting Mill, 1890.

The Brotherhood Overall Factory, 1890.

Paul Guenther, Inc., 1897.

The .Sussex Overall Factory, 1918.

Cook's Laundry Inc., 1894.

The Progress ofAgriculture

PUBLIC SERVICE New Jersey Gas and Electric Company.

New Jersey Power and Light Company, 1915 More Poetry : Reminiscences

Warren Surnburger.

Miller RofT.

George R. Flartey.

C. H. Benedict, Jr.

Edward W. Larsen.

Stewart Kahler.

George R. Flartey.

Fred W. Batten.

James O. Cooper.

B. S. Woodman F. J. L. Doyle.

New York Telephone Company, 11880.

Highways of Speech: Poem.

Crystal Ice Company, 1922.

Ulster Iron Works Inc., (1745) I903-

Otto A. Marquard.

EXPLOSIVES.

The Hercules Powder Company, 1871. S. B. Moore.

Picatinny Arsenal, 1880. Howard S. Deck.

The Atlas Powder Company, 1883.

Naval Ammunition Depot, Lake Denmark, 1891.

IRON Dover Boiler Works, 1874. W. E. Goldsworthy.

McKiernan-Terry Drill Company, 1895.

Downs-Slater Iron Foundry Company, 191 1.

Lackawanna Frog and Switch Shop, 1912 C. B. French.

Richard Mine.

Replog-le Inc., 1919.

North Jersey Steel Company, 1920. H. M. Roche.

Developing North Jersey Iron Ores. E. C. Kreutzberg.

Part VII. Transportation

The Morris Canal, 183 1.

Early Days of theMorris and Essex Railroad, 1848 — The Lackawanna Railroad in Dover. Charles E. Milk

The Central R. R. of New Jersey, 1880.

The Morris County Traction Company, 1889.

Part VIII. Odds And Ends

An Old Account Book of 1821-30.

A Dover Fourth of July in 1823.

Three Odes of 1823.

The Loan Exhibition of 1879.

The School Pageant of 1920.

Part IX. Local Historical Poems

John Jackson, 1722 — A Song of Iron The Mine Hill Blacksmith Forge and Song

When Greatgrandmother was a Girl, 1840 — Log Cabins Ovens

Uncle By ram 1 792-1888, A Race

Father Byram's Christmas, 1866.

Ford's Pond

William Young, 1802-1875.

Tave. 1 842- 1 902.

Rapid Transit The Town Clerk, IQ22.

The Firemen, 1922.

The Song of Dover.

IXTRODUCTORY

Blest is the man who can relate The story of his native State.

In view of our a])proaching bicentennial year, I have tried to construct a chronological summary of leading events and picturesque incidents in the history of Dover. W'e may as well start with the date when Columbus discovered America and a few other dates which affected our historic destiny. While some of these dates may seem far-fetched they furnish historical perspective and indicate great dramatic forces upon which the future of Dover was depending. Whether we should be a dependency of Spain, Holland, France. Great Britain, or S\veden, whether we should be governed under a feudal patroon system, by an absolute monarchy claiming the divine right to rule, or conducted to an earthly Utopia by Puritan or Quaker or John Locke's Model of Government, or whether the principles of Magna Charta should mold a new form of government for the new world, remained to be seen.

Our public library' contains many books which will enable the inquiring student to follow up these scanty hints more thoroughly and trace the relation of our town history to the development of the state and nation and the world at large — a study which is full of interest.

Preliminary

1492 — Columbus discovers America, October 12.

1497 — John and Sebastian Cabot explore the North Atlantic Coast and claim Xorth America for Henry VH of England.

1564 — French at Florida, destroyed by the Spanish in 1565.

1567 — The French destroy the Spanish settlement in Florida.

1584-90 — Raleigh's ill-fated colonies in North Carolina.

1588— The Spanish Armada attacks England and is destroyed.

FloUand thus becomes independent and becomes a sea power

with trade and colonies in America.

England, freed from Spanish interference, can use the southern

route by the Azores to \'irginia.

The future of the United .States (to be) and Canada depends

upon the supremacy of the seas, whether it shall be held by

Spain, France. Holland, or England.

1607 — Jamestown, \'irginia, is founded by the London Company. Captain John Smith, Pocahontas and John Rolfe.

1609 — Henry Hudson, in the employ of the Dutch East India Company, discovers the Hudson River and views New Jersey, which the Dutch claim and rule until 1664.

1664 — The English assert their claim and rule New Jersey by Proprietary Government until 1702.

1702 — New Jersey a Royal Province until 1776.

1776 — The United States of America assert their independence.

1926 — One hundredth and fiftieth anniversary of Declaration of Independence. One hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of Dover Village.

THE DUTCH RULE

1609 — Henr}^ Hudson, in his ship The Half Moon, explores the Hudson River, Manhattan Island, and the Jersey shore. Hence the Dutch claimed the territory which he explored. As he was an Englishman the English claimed it, basing their claim also upon the earlier discoveries of the Cabots.

1613 — The Dutch founded a trading post at Manhattan, called New Amsterdam. The surrounding country was called New Netherland.

1 614 — They built a redoubt at Jersey City Point.

1620 — The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts. Capt. John Smith had previously explored and chartered the coast and named the country NEW ENGLAND. The Plymouth Cornpan}' ruled here.

1638 — to 1640 — English colonies were founded at New Haven and vicinity. From these colonies many went across Long Island Sound and settled on Long Island, at Huntington and elsewhere. The New England settlements are intimately related to the early English settlements in New Jersey.

1643 — The Dutch have trouble with the Indians of New Jersey and massacre some of them. Fear of the Indians keeps the white men, for some years, from settling in New Jersey far from the coast.

165 1 — The Dutch begin to take up land in New Jersey under a patroon system of large landed proprietors, like the old feudal barons of Europe. A large tract is taken up by Cornelius Van Werkhoven, extending from the Raritan to the Passaic and beyond. Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, has schemes for founding a New Sweden, with settlements on Delaware Bay and in New Jersey.

1655 — The Dutch bring New Sweden under their rule.

1655 — The Indians retaliate for the massacre of their people in 1643. They massacre Dutch colonists at Pavonia, Hoboken, and Staten Island. Fear checks further settlement for a time.

1660 — Bergen was founded, the first permanent settlement in New Jersey. The first school in New Jersey was probably established here in 1662, taught by Engelbert Steenhuysen.

1664 — The Dutch remained in possession of New Netherland (and in control of New Jersey) until 1664. They left their mark upon the population, the land titles, and names and customs of a great part of the low lands of New Jersey and their posterity have been honored and influential in the later history of the State, penetrating farther into the interior.

If their rule had continued, our Dover might have had another name, such as Stuyvesant, in honor of the redoubtable Peter, and Blackwell street might have been Goedenhuyzen avenue, or some such name.

A good story might be written in the manner of Washington Irving, on our present possibilities, in such a case.