There was a time when the people of Bloomingdale, which at that time included the north end of Riverdale (“East Bloomingdale”) and most of Butler (“West Bloomingdale”), desired to form a new county. They envisioned taking parts of five counties to form “Pequannock County” — with Bloomingdale as the county seat, of course. This effort […]
Pequannock residents still fondly recall a German restaurant known as the Triangle Hofbrau. In its last incarnation, it stood on Route 23 in Pequannock at the corner of Madison Street. It was an authentically high-class German restaurant, specializing in sauerbraten, roast Long Island Duckling, leg of lamb, reh schnitzel (venison steak), and a variety of […]
Your typical “greetings from” postcard shows a generic illustration of fields, a country road, a lake, or whatever. This one, at least, does appear to have been taken in Pequannock. It shows a lovely view of the river… with Newark’s four-foot water pipeline crossing it. An idyllic scene, ostensibly from Pompton Plains. It’s probably a […]
One of my early and vivid memories: Toward the end of May, 1968, we got rain in north Jersey. Lots of it. Not just in Pequannock, but that’s where I lived then; that was my world. I’d never experienced the sight of water coming up our street, reaching our driveway, surrounding our house… and, […]
Here’s what Pequannock looked like in 1887. It was much larger than today’s 7-square-mile area — it still included Bloomingdale, Butler, Kinnelon, and Lincoln Park. Jefferson had split off in 1804, Rockaway Township in 1844, and Boonton and Montville took their leave in 1867. Butler kicked off the 20th Century by declaring itself a new borough […]
European settlers — primarily Dutch and English farmers — found much to like in the plains of Pompton when they arrived in the early 1700s. When it was incorporated in 1740, Pequannock Township was the largest township in Morris County. Its 176 square miles stretched from present-day Jefferson Twp to Boonton. Various towns split off […]
The third of three “Then & Now” photos I acquired a while back (here’s the first one and here’s the second). To quote the earlier posts, the origin of these is as interesting as their content: In 1940, someone stole the black-and-yellow “Railroad Crossing” signs at the two Butler crossings on the Paterson-Hamburg Turnpike. An […]
Who doesn’t like “Then & Now” photos? I have some to share which have never been seen before. The origin of these is as interesting as their content: In 1940, someone stole the black-and-yellow “Railroad Crossing” signs at the two Butler crossings on the Paterson-Hamburg Turnpike. An employee of the NYS&W (New York Susquehanna & […]
The creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps was President Roosevelt’s grand plan to put some of America’s hundreds of thousands of unemployed young men to work during the Depression. This was one part of his “New Deal” that was a success. These men — often merely boys — were put to work on a variety […]
There once was a lovely village called Newfoundland, up West Milford/Jefferson way. A landmark of the area was Brown’s Inn, a lovely four-story hotel renowned all over for its hospitality and unrivalled peace and quiet. It stood on what was then the Paterson-Hamburg Turnpike, which we know today as Route 23 South, just across from […]