Boonton, New Jersey
|
|
Boonton is a town located in Morris County, New Jersey that was chartered in 1867. The town was originally called "Boone-Towne" in 1761 in honor of the Colonial Governor Thomas Boone.
The original location of the town is now largely under the Jersey City Reservoir, completed in 1904. Interestingly, the waters from this reservoir were the first in the United States to be chlorinated in 1908.
Today's Boonton began in about 1829 as a result of the construction of the Morris Canal and the development of the New Jersey Iron Company. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 8,496.
| Contents |
Geography
Boonton is located at 40°54'19" North, 74°24'34" West (40.905148, -74.409466)Template:GR.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 6.4 km² (2.5 mi²). 6.1 km² (2.3 mi²) of it is land and 0.3 km² (0.1 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 4.86% water.
Demographics
As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there are 8,496 people, 3,272 households, and 2,159 families residing in the town. The population density is 1,395.9/km² (3,619.5/mi²). There are 3,352 housing units at an average density of 550.7/km² (1,428.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the town is 83.00% White, 3.97% African American, 0.21% Native American, 7.77% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 2.20% from other races, and 2.84% from two or more races. 6.85% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 3,272 households out of which 28.5% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.6% are married couples living together, 11.0% have a female householder with no husband present, and 34.0% are non-families. 26.3% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.5% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.55 and the average family size is 3.11.
In the town the population is spread out with 21.9% under the age of 18, 6.8% from 18 to 24, 35.4% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 13.5% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 37 years. For every 100 females there are 98.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 94.9 males.
The median income for a household in the town is $65,322, and the median income for a family is $75,147. Males have a median income of $50,518 versus $38,634 for females. The per capita income for the town is $29,919. 6.7% of the population and 5.0% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 7.4% of those under the age of 18 and 6.6% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
History of Boonton
Boonton was incorporated as a Town under a charter granted by the State Legislature in March 1867. Under the charter, the new Town was governed by a seven-man Board of Trustees, but, by an amendment to the charter in 1872, authority was vested in the Mayor and Common Council, now known as the Mayor and Board of Aldermen.
More than a century earlier the village of Boonetown (Booneton, Boonton) was established on the Rockaway River, about a mile and a half downstream from the current site of the town. As early as 1747, Obadiah Baldwin operated an iron refining forge at that place, where water power was in ample supply, and raw materials, such as iron ore and wood for charcoal, were not too far away. The ironworks was enlarged, and a village of workmen and their families emerged. This village was named "Boone-Towne" in honor of the Colonial Governor, Thomas Boone, in the year 1761.
Throughout the Revolutionary War the Booneton ironworks was busily engaged in supplying numerous miscellaneous iron products for the military. After the war, operations at Boonton were continued under John Jacob Faesch and his two sons, and, later, by William Scott, who vainly sought to instill new life in the declining business. In 1824, Scott's interest in rejuvenating the antiquated ironworks faded when he learned that the Morris Canal was soon to be constructed, and that it would be of little service to the Village of Booneton a mile or more away.
The nearness of the canal to Booneton Falls made that site ideal for a large factory. A group of business men in New York City incorporated themselves in 1830 as the New Jersey Iron Company, with a capitalization of $283,000. Machinery and ironworkers were imported from England, and with the erection of the mills, a new town, called Booneton Falls, began to appear on the rugged hillside overlooking the river.
The town's Main Street is unique in that it is pitched against a cliff overlooking the 'Hollow' of the Rockaway River. This was said to follow an old Native American Trail, which followed the original deer path.
The new Iron Company flourished for nearly fifty years. The new village of Booneton Falls - like the older Booneton downstream - was essentially a one-industry town. After the Company closed down its operations in 1876, the town was on the verge of collapse.
Although several attempts - one by the eminent Joseph Wharton - were made to re-establish iron works on a smaller scale, none endured for any great length of time. Only vestiges of foundations and structures remain in the "Hollow", between Plane Street and the river, to remind Boonton of its own Iron Age.
One of the first of the new industries secured for the Town was a silk factory, which, as Pelgram & Meyer, and, later as Van Raalte, Inc., contributed materially to the Town's prosperity. Others that followed were a knife factory, a paper mill (at the old village, by then called Old Boonton), a nail factory, a brass and iron foundry, and a carriage factory. The Morris Canal, although going into a rapid decline, still employed a number of men; the Lackawanna Railroad, which had completed its Boonton-Paterson branch in 1875, gave employment to a number of Boonton people and provided commuter service to a number of Boonton residents who worked in New York City. There were, of course, many individually-owned businesses, such as blacksmith shops, machine shops, bakeries and a miscellany of stores, all of which began to prosper as the nation emerged from the depression of the 1870's.
In 1891 the Loanda Hard Rubber Company was founded by Edwin A. Scribner, and began the manufacture of molded hard rubber products. Seven years later, Mr. Scribner died, and the management of the firm fell to other hands. Among the latter, in 1906, was Richard W. Seabury, who, casting about for new materials, learned of experiments with synthetic resins made by Dr. Leo Hendrick Baekeland, for whom the well-known material, Bakelite, was later to be named. Originally intended by Dr. Baekeland for a synthetic varnish, the new material was used by Seabury in making the world's first molding of organic plastics in 1907. Boontonware, a molded plastic dinnerware, was sold nationwide.
The molded plastics industry was to some extent responsible for bringing the radio and electronics industries to the Boonton area. In the 1920's, the burgeoning radio industry created a large demand for molded parts, and, thereby, attracted the attention of Richard W. Seabury, who organized Radio Frequency Laboratories to exploit that new field. Spawned by that original company, more than a half dozen radio and electronics firms were later formed, and recognized internationally for the excellence of their products. Most of those companies today are operated as divisions of larger coporations, some have undergone changes in name, and have located somewhere else. RFL Industries, Aircraft Radio Corporation, Measurements Corporation, and Ballantine Laboratories are among those contributing materially to the prosperity of the area.
The largest industry in the Town of Boonton during the 20th Century had its beginnings in 1917, when E.A. Stevenson & Company established the "Butter Works" on the site of the old Knox Hat factory, and started processing of coconut and vegetable oils and the manufacture of margarine. Under later operation by E.F. Drew & Company, the plant in Boonton grew to be one of the largest in the country for the processing of edible oils. The plant closed in the early 1990's and the site is now occupied by a WalMart.
The present Town bears only small resemblance to the village of Booneton Falls, and still less to the village of Old Boonton, whose site has been covered by the Jersey City reservoir since 1903.
External links
- Boonton Official Website (http://www.boonton.org/)