Historic Photos of New Jersey

By Russell Roberts

One of the thirteen original colonies, the state of New Jersey is a study in contrasts. It is both the Garden State, home to the Rutgers tomato, but also the birthplace of the nation’s first industrial complex, Alexander Hamilton’s Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures.

The onetime industrial behemoths, from Paterson in the north to Camden in the south, give way to legendary resort towns along the coast like Ocean City and Cape May. Baby Parades that began at Asbury Park still delight New Jerseyans, where once the Lindbergh kidnapping at Hopewell engendered grief. In 1877, Menlo Park became the birthplace of Edison’s phonograph, and in 1938 Orson Welles would use a radio broadcast to bring an imaginary invasion of Martians to Grover’s Mill. The Miss America Pageant grew famous in Atlantic City, just as the Hindenburg airship disaster at Lakehurst remains etched in the historical memory of Americans everywhere.

Historic Photos of New Jersey is a kaleidoscopic tour of this colorful state, from the early days of photography in the 1860s to the recent past in the 1970s. Nearly 200 photographs reproduced in vivid black-and-white, with informative captions and introductions, tell the story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
• Release date: Apr 28, 2010
• ISBN: 9781618584120

Russell Roberts

Russell Roberts has been a freelance writer for 25 years. He has published more than a dozen books for adults, several dozen for children, hundreds of articles, and dozens of pieces of fiction. He also frequently speaks on topics relating to New Jersey history. He is a lifetime resident of New Jersey, where he lives with his family, including a wily calico cat.

Book preview

HISTORIC PHOTOS OF

NEW JERSEY

TEXT AND CAPTIONS BY RUSSELL ROBERTS

Inspired by the Great Awakening, the College of New Jersey was originally established in Elizabeth in 1746. It moved to the small town of Princeton in 1756, and officially changed its name to Princeton University in 1896 in honor of the town. When it was built in 1754, the college’s Nassau Hall was the largest public building in the American colonies.

HISTORIC PHOTOS OF

NEW JERSEY

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Historic Photos of New Jersey

Copyright © 2010 Turner Publishing Company

All rights reserved.

This book or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2009933011

ISBN: 978-1-59652-561-0

Printed in China

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17—0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

THE MODERN STATE EMERGES (1865–1899)

A STATE INVINCIBLE (1900–1919)

ON A SEA OF UNCERTAINTY (1920–1939)

THE OLD ORDER CRUMBLES (1940–1970S)

NOTES ON THE PHOTOGRAPHS

Seeking to unload some undesirable beachfront real estate lots (at high tide they were unreachable) in South Atlantic City in 1881, James Lafferty, Jr., hit upon the idea of constructing a six-story wooden elephant as a way of attracting visitors to the area. The elephant certainly did attract people, who came solely to see it and had no interest in seaside real estate. Overextended, Lafferty was forced to sell the elephant in 1887.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This volume, Historic Photos of New Jersey, is the result of the cooperation and efforts of many individuals and organizations. It is with great thanks that we acknowledge the valuable contribution of the following for their generous support:

Library of Congress

New Jersey State Archives; Department of State

The writer would also like to thank Pat King-Roberts for valuable contributions and assistance in making this work possible:

———————

With the exception of touching up imperfections that have accrued with the passage of time and cropping where necessary, no changes have been made. The focus and clarity of many images is limited by the technology and the ability of the photographer at the time they were taken.

The quotation on p. 111 is from Leonard C. Bruno, The Tradition of Technology: Landmarks of Western Technology in the Collections of the Library of Congress (Library of Congress, 1997).

INTRODUCTION

New Jersey has always been a state with two very different and distinct personalities. Considering how it developed, perhaps that is highly understandable. In the state’s early colonial history, a large part of the state was sold in 1674 to the Quakers, after a bout with the usual unpleasantnesses between the English and Dutch that characterized the region. This created the unusual situation of two states within a state—East Jersey and West Jersey. They were both New Jersey … yet they weren’t. New Jersey remained schizophrenic until 1702, when the two Jerseys were finally joined back together as one. However, it would not be the last time loyalties were divided.

The American Revolution produced the next big litmus test. Like the other colonies involved in the fight, New Jersey had some citizens who wanted to stay close to Mother England and others who wanted to cut the apron strings completely and go it alone. But New Jersey added an extra pinch of spice to the mixture when its royal governor, William Franklin, decided to favor the Tories. Perhaps not unusual in and of itself, but Franklin was the son of Benjamin Franklin—one of the most ardent of Patriots.

The next test of New Jersey’s loyalties soon followed. In 1776, the state’s first constitution granted the right to vote to both widows and non-whites, thus creating a serious chasm between its liberality and the severe restrictions of its sister colonies on voting privileges. The state fell into line in 1807, by restricting the vote to white males only. But New Jersey had allowed its divided self to peek out from behind the curtain once again.

Early in the nineteenth century came another test. Farms covered the state, so much so that one day New Jersey would become known as the Garden State. One of the Founding Fathers had other ideas. Alexander Hamilton, enthralled with the power and majesty of Passaic Falls, decided to base his manufacturing initiative for the new nation at the falls, using the water as a source of power. And so this most agricultural of states found itself the industrial nerve center of the United States. Two different and distinct personalities—it was becoming a theme.

Even the state’s Atlantic coastal region developed in two distinct manners. In the north, Long Branch owed its development largely to people from New York, while Cape May in the south leaned heavily toward Philadelphia and points south. The Shore would continue to develop along those lines over the years.

At the time of the bloody Civil War, the first decade captured in the photographs in this book, New Jersey once again showed that it was of two minds. The state firmly supported the Union—except that it cast its ballots against Abraham Lincoln, who strongly favored preserving the Union, in 1860.