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Urquhart, Frank J,
Newark; tlie story of its awakening,
1790-1840.
Newark, 1906,

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Newark
The Story of its Awakening

1790-1840

SETH BOYDEN, I788-J870.
Frem th« Bttrt by. B«itl.

The Free Pttblfc Lifcrarjr of Newark, N. J.

PRICE FIVE CENTS

Newark
The Story of its Awakening

I 790- J 840

By
Frank J. Urqohart

"Vtittea and Published for
The Free Public Library of Newark, New Jersey
1906

bakeh printinq co.
NEWARK, n. j.

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PREFACE.
The library published in May, 1904, a little book
called "Newark, the Story of its Early Days," writ
ten by Frank J. Urquhart. As its perface said, it
was "a brief interesting story of the foundling of
Newark and its early years." The library asked Mr.
Urquhart to write it because there was a constant
demand for such a book. There is much in print
about New Jersey and Newark, their geography, ge
ology, climate, resources, manufacturers, commerce,
and general history. But there was no brief general
outline of Newark's development. The book Mr.
Urquhart wrote would, it was hoped, lead some to
take a greater interest in their city and try more
actively to make it still more prosperous and at
tractive. It was quite successful. Three thousand
copies of it have been disposed of, most of them
having been sold at five cents each. It is widely
read by old and young. In the public schools it is
used as a reading lesson, and as a guide to the study
of our city. It contains lists of leading events in
the history of the city, of interesting historic spots,
and of books on Newark in the public library. The
list of books on Newark has been revised and is in
cluded in this second book of the series. This vol
ume brings the story down to about 1840. We hope
it will prove as useful as the former one. A third
volume is to follow, bringing the history dowh to
JOHN COTTON DANA.

The Free Public Library, December, igog.
Note. — ^There is a large and very interesting collec
tion of books, pamphlets, manuscripts and pictures
relating to Newark, in the Library of the New Jersey
Historical Society, on West Park street.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Before 1776  7
The Marshes  7
Paths and Roads  8
Newark's Long Sleep  10
Newark the Village in 1800  10
The Old Tavern and Southern Trade  12
The Stage Coach  13
The First Railroad  13
Broad Street in 1800  14
High Street and Beyond in 1800  14
A Farm in Mulberry Street in 1815  IS
Quiet Sundays in Old Newark  16
Newark Begins to Make Things  17
Making Leather to Sell  17
Moses Combs, the First Manufacturer  18
An Early Free School  18
Newark a Village of Shoemakers  19
The Stone Quarries  20
Flour Mills and Saw Mills  20
Iron Foundry; Tool Making  20
Seth Boyden, Inventor  21
A Many-sided Genius  21
Coaches, Coach-Lace, Saddlery  22
Hats, Jewelry, Beer  22
Power from Water and from Animals ; Steam . . 23
Ships, Whaling, The Canal  23
Newark Awake  24
Keeping Awake  24
Books on Newark in the Public Library  25

NEWARK: ITS AWAKENING, I790-J840.

When the War of the Revolution closed Newark
was 117 years old; that is about as old as the United
States is to-day. Half the life of our city had then
been lived. We often think that little of importance
happend in this country until after the colonies
separated from England, forgetting the brave fight
with nature our forefathers made in changing a wild
country to a fruitful and homelike one.
Before 1776.
Newark grew very slowly in all that first 117 years;
very slowly indeed. Towns sprang up all over what
is now New Jersey, but Newark jogged soberly along
in very much the same way for more than a century.
Settlers looking for places in this neighborhood in
which to live did not altogether like Newark. The
marshes covered many acres of what is now a dense
ly populated city, and scared the people away, for
they feared malaria and fever. Then, too, the town
fathers were severe upon all who wished to come
and live among them. Their great-grandfathers
were very careful about admitting settlers to their
town and the men who governed Newark in Revolu
tionary times inherited the opinion that it was best
to keep out all who did not think as they did about
everything, and especially about religion.
The Marshes.
The country on which Newark was built looked very
pretty to the first settlers as they came toward it in
their boats, and it seemed very delighful while they
were getting their homes ready. They came in the

NEWARK, THE STORY OF ITS AWAKENING.
late spring, and it pleased them no doubt all sum
mer long. But, after the newness wore off the New
ark pioneers realized that the marshes which hem
med in their little settlement must be filled up if
they were to keep healthy. So they began draining
or filling with earth the wet and boggy places, and
their descendants have gone on doing this ever since.
It has been a long and at times a hard battle, to
drain or fill the marshes. It must have seemed a
tremendous task to the settlers when they began it.
But if thev- had not early begun the work, and very
resolutely, too, the little town would probably have
soon been abandoned, even though most of the coun
try that surrounded it was very beautiful. This bat
tle with the marshes which the settlers began has
never stopped. You may see it going on now if you
go down to the meadows, where carts are dumping
loads of earth and ashes, and huge dredges are bring
ing mud from the botton of river or bay and making
new land.
Many of the people who came soon after the first
settlers, wishing to keep away from the marshes,
went out into the country, and established towns
and villages on the Orange Mountains, as they are
now called, and in Caldwell, South Orange, Maple-
wood, Bloomfield, Irvington, and still further away.
Had all the people who came to Newark in those
early days stayed here, the town would have grown
more rapidly than it did.
Paths and Roads.
As it was, the people who went into the country side
travelled back and forth to the parent town con
stantly. They had to come here, Newark being al
ways the largest town and having the best stores,
for many things they needed. Many of them came
8

NEWARK, THE STORY OF ITS AWAKENING.
also on Sundays to the church, sometimes two or
three on one horse. In this way began some of
those roads we call avenues, along which now whiz
trolley cars and automobiles. The planter whose
home was furthest away from Newark, would nat
urally pass as close to his nearest neighbor's house
as he could in coming here, that the neighbor's
family might join him on his journey, or that he
might see them and learn of any news they might
have to give, or that he might do errands for them
in the town if they needed anything he could bring.
Then he would proceed past the next neighbor's
home and so on down into the town. It did not
take much of this kind of travel, always at first on
foot or horseback, to wear a path, which after a
time grew broad and smooth enough to permit a
wagon to pass along. As the wagon path became
better known and more people came to walk and
ride upon it, new planters came and built their homes
near it. So you see some of the great roads leading
into Newark were opened almost before there were
any houses near them. Later they were straightened
and changed from time to time, but many of the old
roads began in winding foot or bridle-paths.
In the early days of the town the planters found
apples growing wild in the higher lands toward the
Orange Mountains. The apples were small, very
much like what we now call crab-apples; but the
settlers cultivated them and grafted them with slips
which they got in Connecticut, until they had splen
did crops of fine fruit every year. Some of the finest
apples grown in this part of the country then came
from the neighborhood of Newark. They were so
plentiful that the planters soon began to make cider
of them and made it so well that Newark cider be-

NEWARK, THE STORY OF ITS AWAKENING.
came known throughout the country, from New Eng
land to Philadelphia and beyond.
Newark's Long Sleep.
When the nineteenth century opened there were liv
ing in Newark hardly twelve hundred persons, men,
women and children. In a hundred years the popu
lation had scarcely doubled. More people now pass
the corner of Market and Broad streets in a few
minutes during the busy hours of morning or eve
ning than lived in all Newark in 1800. In the last
hundred years Newark has increased in population
about two hundred and fifty times. In fact it has
done nearly all its growing in the last fifty years. It
drowsed and dreamed in peace and quiet, content to
stay as it was, for nearly a century and three quar
ters, from 1666 to 1840. Its people do not seem to
have cared to be rich nor did they wish to see their
town made big. They were born, grew up, married,
lived their span of years in peace and quiet and mod
erate labor, died and were buried in the old burying
ground back of the fire-engine houses on Broad
street near Market street, — or in the churchyard that
you may still see back of the First Presbyterian
Church — like their fathers and grandfathers before
them. Newark the Village in 1800.
In 1800 the town of Newark was not huddled closely
together as the city is today. There was plenty of
land around nearly every building. Even with all
this open space its boundaries were narrow, and
were practically these: On the north. Bridge street,
opposite where the Public Library now stands; on
the south. South or Lincoln Park; on the west
Washington street; and on the east Mulberry street.

NEWARK, THE STORY OF ITS AWAKENING.
There were very few houses beyond these limits.
Newark was then a charming little village.
The town shepherd herded his flocks in Military
Park, which had a post and rail fence around part of
it Where Centre Market now stands was a one-
story frame building, used for many years as a post
office. On the east side of the Park there were but
three houses and along the northern boundary but
two. The Trinity Church of that day was much
smaller than the present building. The main en
trance faced the park, in the middle of the long side.
In Washington Park the boys and girls played at
hide-and-seek among the low crumbling walls of the
old stone Academy building, which stood at the low
er end of the Park nearly opposite the end of Halsey
street. It had been burned by the British one bitter
cold night in the winter of 1778, when a raiding
party was sent out from New York to harass the
patriots. Down Broad street from Military Park
toward Market street there were a few low buildings
on either side.
The largest building in the town, except the church,
was the Academy, which was built after the Revolu
tion and took the place of the one destroyed by the
British. It stood where the Post Office now is. If
one chanced to meet, about 1830, an old resident,
he could tell of how the British soldiers came into
the town in the daytime, and terrorized the patriots,
ransacked their houses, broke and burned their fur
niture, and filled the street with the fragments of
household goods which they destroyed in their search
for valuables, all in the hope that they would thus
break the spirit of the people who were so bravely
fighting for their independence.

NEWARK, THE STORY OF ITS AWAKENING.
At the corner of Market and Broad streets, in 1800,
were only one-story or story-and-a-half frame build
ings, at least two of them with long low roofs, the
eaves of them being so low that a tall man could
easily reach up and place his hands on them. The
centre of the space where the two streets meet, and
where the car tracks now cross, was ten or fifteen
feet lower than the corners, and here was a town
pump, surrounded with mud in summer and with
ice and slush in winter.
The Old Tavern and Southem Trade.
On the northeast corner was Archer Gifford's tavern
with its wonderful sign which every boy in town
no doubt thought a great work of art. The name
of the tavern was "The Hunters and the Hounds."
These words were on the sign, with a painting show
ing a pack of hounds and several hunters on horse
back, one of the hunters holding aloft a fox by the
hind legs while the hounds jumped about him. The
sport of that day for gentlemen, especially in the
South, was fox hunting. Planters coming from the
South stopped at the tavern frequently, and the
pretty town of Newark became well known through
the stories of good fare and pleasant times which
the planters told when they returned home. In this
way trade with the South sprang up when Newark
began to make things to sell. Southerners bought
Newark goods liberally, and trade with the South
grew as Newark grew, and might be growing yet
had it not been for the Civil War. This great strug
gle came as a severe blow to maiiy Newark mer
chants, who saw the business which had been fost
ered for ever half a century suddenly broken off.
Much of the life of the town, in 1800, centered around
the tavern. It was there that one went to get the

NEWARK, THE STORY OF ITS AWAKENING.
news of the day. It was opened shortly after the
Revolution, and soon became a favorite resort for
all persons passing up or down the country. Travel
lers from over the hills, from Morristown and be
yond, stopped there on their way to New York, and
usually stayed over night to refresh themselves be
fore going on. Those who came from the South,
from Philadelphia and beyond also stayed there,
unless they went to Elizabethtown and there took
the boat to New York.
The Stage Coach.
Six years or so before the century opened, a stage
line between Newark and New York was started.
The stage went to New York in the morning and
returned at night, and though it made only one trip
each way every day except Sunday and carried only
six passengers, it was spoken of at the time as "a
great convenience." It started from the Gifford tav
ern in the morning and returned in the afternoon,
always with a grand flourish of horns. For many
years this means of communication with New York,
and that by boats, filled all needs. In 1840, how
ever, there were eight or ten coaches running to
and from New York every day, each carrying four
teen or fifteen passengers, some outside and others
inside. The First Railroad.
But when the stage coach seemed to be flourishing
the most the railroads came. The first one was put
in operation early in December, 1835. It ran from
Jersey City to the corner of Broad and William
streets where the old City Hall now stands. Trains
going to Jersey City stopped at Chandler's Hotel,
on Broad street opposite Mechanic; then at Market
street about where the Pennsylvania Railroad sta-
13

NEWARK, THE STORY OF ITS AWAKENING.
tion is today; and then at the foot of Centre street,
just before crossing the river. In those days it was
not thought safe to run the locomotives over some
parts of the soft and spongy marshes, and at inter
vals along the way the cars were drawn for short
distances by horses. This railroad was conducted
by the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation
Company. It shook one up to ride on it almost as
much as the stage coach, the roadbed was so rough.
Broad Street in 1800.
But to proceed in our walk down Broad street in
the year 1800: One passed the jail standing where
the fire engine houses now stand and where the first
church of the settlers had once stood. Across the
street was the First Church, just as we see it today,
except that it was quite new then and the people
thought it a splendid edifice. It was the most pre
tentious building in all the town, as the people be
lieved it should be. Here and there were stores.
On the south corner of Broad and William streets,
a little back from the road, was the First Church
parsonage. Here was born Aaron Burr who was
made vice-president of the United States in 1801.
Four years later he killed Alexander Hamilton in a
duel. From this point on the houses grew fewer
and further between and the southern limit of the
town was reached at what is now the junction of
Clinton avenue and Broad street. Clinton avenue
was a cart path, and Broad street here ended in
swampy land. High Street and Beyond in 1800.
Along all the length of High street there were but
two or three houses and the street itself was little
more than a lane. Beyond it, to the west, there
14

NEWARK, THE STORY OF ITS AWAKENING.
were a few inviting paths, lovers' walks, in fact,
where the young men and women of Newark strolled
en quiet Sunday afternoons, looking down on the
little village nestling among the trees below, with
the blue bay beyond. On week days sheep and cat
tle pastured in the fields and meadows beyond High
street; and except for an occasional planter travel
ling back and forth from town to his lonely home
on the Orange Mountains or near by, one might
stroll for hours over what is now West Newark and
Roseville and hear no sound save those of Nature.
The town of Newark though nearly 150 years old.
was still drowsing the days, months and years away,
its people apparently thinking it was always to be
thus and that as the village then was so it would for
ever remain.
It is hard to realize that in 1800 everybody living in
the town knew everybody else. This was a fact
however. Even forty years later old gentlemen
sometimes wrote to the newspapers that they no
longer knew even by sight all whom they met on
the street, so great had the town grown!
A Farm in Mulberry Street in 1815.
In the year 1815 a prominent Newark man wished
to go to Europe, and to pay his expenses he decided
to sell some of his land. So he advertised for sale
his house, and his farm of about ten acres, extending
along Mulberry street about eight hundred feet, and
running all the way to the Passaic River where it
had a frontage of about eight hundred feet also.
There was a board fence nine feet high all around
this farm, and in the advertisement the owner stated
that: "Last season, besides cutting fifty-six tons of.
15

NEWARK, THE STORY OF ITS AWAKENING.
hay, there were kept in the pasture twenty-five
Merino sheep, three cows in the best order, and a
flock of eighty or one hundred sheep may be amply
supplied with grass on the premises." The tract just
described is now one of the most densely built-up
sections of the entire city and the ground alone is
worth several million dollars. Yet is was of farms
such as this that Newark was very largely made up
at that time. Just think of a stretch of ten acres
with only one house on it, in the heart of the New
ark of today! Quiet Sundays in Old Newark.
Some of the solemn old citizens of Newark did not
like to see their town awakening from its long sleep,
and it hurt them most of all to see the calm of their
Sunday disturbed. Evidently they felt that a change
was coming; they saw that the young generation was
growing uneasy under the restraints put upon it dur
ing the day of rest, for, a little before 1800, a large
number of them formed an association to preserve
the old Puritan Sabbath. They agreed neither to ride
out nor to travel on Sunday except in cases of
necessity, nor to let their children or apprentices
do so, but to keep them indoors all day long. They
also agreed to try to get everyone else in the town
to live in the same severe way. They would let no
wagons of any sort be driven about or through the
town on Sunday. They even stopped a coach bear
ing the United States mail, and had to be told that
they would be handcuffed and taken to Washington
as prisoners if they did not let the mail carriers alone.
Once they halted a carriage in which a young army
officer was driving on his way to New York. The
officer threatened to shoot them as if they were rob
bers; then they let him go! It is believed that this
16

NEWARK, THE STORY OF ITS AWAKENING.
young officer was afterwards the famous General
Winfield Scott, the hero of the Mexican War, and
the head of the army at the time of the outbreak of
the Rebellion. On still another occasion a gentle
man travelling from the South was not permitted to
continue his journey on the Sabbath. He stayed at
the Gifford tavern and on Monday, when the land
lord asked for his pay, he told his host to collect the
money from the stern and puritancial citizen who
had made him stay pver Sunday against his will.
But little by little this spirit of intolerance, a relic
of the old Puritanism of which we find many traces
in the history of the beginnings of Newark, died out,
and the new Newark began to struggle into stronger,
more vigorous and broader life.
Newark begins to Make Things.
The greatest incentive to the growth of Newark was
the discovery by the people that they could make
things that other people would pay money for. They
found that they were handy with tools. Other towns
had sprung up about them; while in the country north
and west, where few Indians, bear, elk, deer, wolves
and other game were left, farmers were raising good
crops on the new and fertile soil. The farmers
brought their products to market in Newark, and the
Newark people began to make the things they sold
to the farmers in exchange for food, wool, lumber
and other products Making Leather to sell.
Before the Revolution the settlers tanned and cur
ried leather; but they seem to have done it only for
home use until about 1790. Then a man named
Moses Combs opened a little factory and made boots
and shoes to sell. For a long time the people had
17

NEWARK, THE STORY OF ITS AWAKENING.
heen in the habit of tanning leather for themselves,
each from the skins of the animals he killed for meat
for his family, and holding it until a traveling shoe
maker came to town. This shoemaker carried his
tools with him, very much as umbrella repairers and
scissors grinders do today. He would stay a few
days or weeks in the town, going from house to
house, making shoes for each family out of
leather the family had ready for him. He slept and
ate at one house until his work there was done and
then went on to the next.
Moses Combs, the first Manufacturer.
Moses Combs saw here a chance to make money.
He may be called the first manufacturer of Newark;
and as he was a remarkable man it is good to know
a little more about him than simply that he made
shoes. An Early Free School.
He started one of the very first free schools in the
United States. This was about 1800. He opened
this school for his apprentices, and built a large
building on Market street near Plane, part of it for
a school and the rest for a church. Mr. Combs was
not pleased with the preaching in the First Presby
terian Church, although he had long been a promi
nent member of it and had given liberally to help
erect the church building (that we know to-day).
So he started a church of his own; but it did not
last long. This shoemaker was also a strong be
liever in freedom for all men, and, though he lived
over half a century before the War of the Rebellion
which set the slaves free, he talked in favor of their
freedom wherever he went. He did more, he gave
to a black man whom he owed his freedom. But in
iS

NEWARK, THE STORY OF ITS AWAKENING.
this case his kindness was poorly rewarded, for the
negro was an evil-doer and was hanged for murder
in what is now Military Park, in 1805.
Mr. Combs was probably the first Newark manu
facturer to send any of his goods to the South. He
sent two hundred pairs of sealskin shoes to Georgia.
This shipment brought more orders, for Mr. Combs
made his shoes very well and the Southerners liked
them. Later Mr. Combs received as much as $9,000
for one shipment of shoes to the South.
Newark a Village of Shoemakers.
His neighbors saw him making money, and some of
them also began to make shoes to sell. Soon New
ark was sending shoes by the wagon-load far and
wide. So busy were the people making shoes, in
1806, that when a map of the town was made in that
year, the map maker drew on its margin a picture
of a shoemaker busy at his last; and this map is
known as the "Shoemaker map" to this day. A
few years later nineteen-twentieths of the Newark
men, women and children who worked for other
people were employed in manufactures in which
leather was used. At one time a third of all the
people worked at shoemaking.
Newark manufacturers had to hire men and boys
from other towns to work in their shops, for there
were not enough here. Workmen came from far
and near, and the town grew very rapidly. In 1810
there were 6,000 people in the city; in 1826, 8,000^
and in 1830, 11,000. In 1833 the population was es
timated at 15,000, with 1,712 dwelling houses. After
the first 117 years — from 1666 to 1783, the close of the
Revolution — the village was a village still of but

19

NEWARK, THE STORY OF ITS AWAKENING.
1,200 people. But in the next 50 years it grew to a
city of 15,000. The Stone Quarries.
Shoemaking seems to have aroused the people to
make other things to sell. The quarries of brown-
stone in the neighborhood of what are now Bloom-
field and Clinton avenues, from which building-stone
had been taken in small quantities even before the
Revolution, now became very busy places. Many
tons of the stone were taken out and used for build
ings in and near Newark, and much of it was sent
to New York. Clinton avenue, from Bloomfield
avenue north, is built for half a block over one of
the most famous of the old quarries The going and
coming of the stone sleds and wagons made that
section of the town a bustling neighborhood.
Flour Mills and Saw Mills.
Two mills where grain was ground into flour stood
on Mill Brook which ran down the hillside, crossing
Broad street at the point where Belleville avenue
begins. The mills were above Broad street, about
on a line with Clay street. There were also two saw
mills on the brook, a little below Broad street. Near
by a store was started, and thus, early in the last
century the upper section of the town became its
busiest part. Iron Foundry; Tool Making.
As the shops and mills grew in number the call for
tools to use in them increased. Iron was needed,
and' it was not long before the first iron foundry in
the town was started, on the spot where the Second
Presbyterian Church stands at the corner of Wash
ington and James street, opposite Washington Park.
A short distance away, in the middle of the park, is

NEWARK, THE STORY OF ITS AWAKENING.
the statue of Seth Boyden, and if a statue can ever
be said to stand on a spot where it feels at home,
this one certainly may.
Seth Boyden, Inventor.
Moses Combs taught the people of Newark that they
could make things to sell, and Seth Boyden made
them tools with which to work and helped them in
many other ways, discovering new methods of doing
things, methods that took less time and cost less
money. The foundry mentioned above, at the cor
ner of James and Washington streets was not his;
but shortly after' he came to Newark, in 1815, he
started a foundry of his own, a few hundred yards
from where his statue now is, on Orange street, a
little way from Broad and to the east of it. The
glare of the furnaces at these two foundries lighted
up the town at night for many years. From them
came the tools and machines with which the Newark
workers were able to make some of the best articles
that were sold anywhere in the country.
Newark needed very much a man like Seth Boyden,
the inventor, just when he came. The effect of his
inventions upon the town was wonderful. He was
the first to make patent leather in this country. July
4, 1826, when all the townspeople were flocking about
Military Park to witness the celebration, the great
est that had ever been held in Newark, of the fiftieth
anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of In-
dependance, Seth Boyden, toiling in his foundry on
Orange street, first discovered how to make mal
leable iron, a discovery which has since been of
almost priceless value to the world.
A Many-sided Genius.
Boyden was a deep thinker, and he used his brain
to benefit mankind. Benjamin Franklin discovered

NEWARK, THE STORY OF ITS AWAKENING.
by means of his kite that electricity came from the
clouds to the earth; and many years afterward our
Newark inventor found, without any kite and simply-
by means of a copper wire which he stuck in the
ground in Irvington, that electricity went from the
earth to the clouds. Nobody before Boyden knew
that this was so. He found our strawberries small
and, though pleasant to the taste, not half so sweet
as they are now. He studied the strawberry and by
careful cultivation produced the fruit as we now
know it. Many of the things he did would have
made him a rich man had he lived today, but he
never seems to have thought of riches; he worked
so hard and so earnestly that he scarcely knew the
difference between day and night.
Coaches, Coach-lace, Saddlery.
The making of coaches began soon after the shoe
makers got to work. These first Newark coaches
were clumsy affairs; but being well adapted to the
needs of the time, they met with favor and were
sold and sent to different parts of the country. Close
on the heels of the coachmakers came the workers
in coach-lace. Saddlery hardware also was needed
and Newark began to make it.
Hats, Jewelry, Beer.
Then came hat making. In 1830 there were nine hat
shops in Newark. Soon the manufacture of jewelry
was begun. In 1836 there were four jewelry shops
here and thirteen tanneries. Trunk making was also
carried on early in the last century, but on a small
scale. The brewing of beer was begun early, too,
and in 1830 there were two breweries here. From
that time on the number and kinds of shops, fac-

NEWARK, THE STORY OF ITS AWAKENING.
tories and mills increased rapidly. Today they num
ber about 3,500.
Power from Water and from Animals. Steam.
At first water power was used to drive the machinery
in factories; though horses and oxen sometimes fur
nished the power by treadmills. In a treadmill ani
mals were made to try to walk on a place as steep
as the roof of a house; they walked on slats of wood,
which moved downward as fast as they were stepped
on. The slats were all fastened closely together so
that the animals' hoofs would not go between them.
As the slats moved, wheels beneath were turned by
them. These wheels turned other wheels in the
shop. Of course the poor animals never got to the
top of the steep place. In fact, they never got high
er than they were when they started. If they grew
tired the wheels went slower and slower, the shop
did not have enough power, and boys and men made
the animals go faster and, sad to say, often used
whips. About the year 1810 in a foundry on Market
street, a blower was used, and an ox walked a tread
mill to make the blower go. The first printing
presses used in Newark were turned by hand. Steam
for power in shops and factories did not come into
use in Newark until about 1825.
Ships, Whaling, the Canal.
But not all the new business life of Newark was on
land. About 1839 the Passaic river became a very
busy place. A hundred vessels of all sorts were
owned here and plied between Newark and other
ports. A little later as many as 300 vessels passed
in and out of Newark Bay in one day. Two or three
large whaling ships were fitted out here, and one of
them, after a cruise of over two years, sailed proudly
up the Passaic with a full cargo of 3,000 barrels of
23

NEWARK, THE STORY OF ITS AWAKENING.
whale oil and 15,000 pounds of whalebone. In 1832
the Morris Canal was completed, and this brought
a great deal of business to the now thriving com
munity. For years Newark got nearly all of its coal
and much of its wood for fuel by the canal.
Newark Awake.
This is the Story of Newark's Awakening. If read
thoughtfully it seems quite as wonderful as any tale
you will find. A hundred years ago Newark was like
a little hive of drones; now it is a great hive of busy
bees. Once it was like an idle boy, lying dozing in
the sun; now it is like a huge giant, awake and active,
with great muscles knotted on arms and legs and
vast wealth piled up around him. The best stories
are the true ones, and this is the true story of the
awakening of a great city. One might almost say
that Newark was discovered a second time; that is,
that the people living here decided, nearly a century
ago, that Newark should not stay a village forever,
but must awake, grow, expand.
Keeping Awake.
Today the people of our great city know that, if they
would keep the prosperity they now enjoy they must
look constantly for new methods and new inventions
and unite always the spirit of industry with the
spirit of progress. In fact, to be successful in each
new period the city must be on the alert to discover
new possibilities within itself. Newark must never
slumber again as it did for nearly a hundred and '
twenty-five years. It should always grow in activity
and beauty, and all of us must do our part to aid its
growth.

24

BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS ON NEWARK
IN THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
Those preceded hy a star are in the Children's Room
as well in the main library.
?Atkinson, Joseph. "History of Newark, New Jer
sey; being a narrative of its rise and progress, from
the settlement in May, 1666, by, emigrants from Con
necticut, to the present time; including a sketch of
the press of Newark from 1791 to 1878." The most
complete history of the city to 1878. Based on the
Town records and newspapers. This and Shaw's
Essex and Hudson Counties are the best for the
general reader.
Doremus, Henry M. "Growth of Newark." 1903.
An address delivered at the laying of the corner
stone of the New City Hall. It sketches in an inter
esting way the settlement of the city and its growth.
*Gordon, Thomas F. "Gazetteer of the State of
New Jersey; comprehending a general view of its
physical and moral condition, together with a topo
graphical and statistical account of its counties,
towns, villages, canals, railroads, etc." 1834. Con
tains good description of Newark in 1834, with brief
history of the city up to that date.
Handbook and guide for the city of Newark, 1872;
carefully compiled and edited from authentic sour
ces. 1872. A good description and historical ac
count of the city.
HoUister, George Buell & Leighton, Marshall Ora.
"The Passaic flood of 1902." 1903. Part of U. S.
Geological survey. 25

LIST OF BOOKS ON NEWARK.
Lamb, Martha J. "Newark.'' In Harper's Maga
zine, 1876. Vol S3, p. 660. The best magazine arti
cle on Newark in general that has ever appeared.
Historical and descriptive.
"•¦Leary, Peter J. "Newark, N. J., illustrated; a sou
venir of the city and its numerous industries, pre
senting in a complete form a brief historical sketch
of the settlement, growth and future industrial and
commercial importance of the city of Newark, and
containing profuse illustrations of its great factories,
beautiful residences, various points of interest, por
traits of prominent citizens, etc.'' 1893. A brief his
torical sketch of the settlement and growth of the
city; dwells on its commercial importance. Issued
with the approval of the Board of Trade.
Nelson, William. "Indians of New Jersey; their
origin, and development, manners and customs, lan
guage, religion and government, with notices of
some Indian place names." 1894. The best single
volume on this subject. A very careful study with
critical examination of authorities.
Newark — a city of manufactures. 1895. Board of
Trade report for 1895. Pages 121-140 are devoted
to statistics of Newark's manufactures.
Newark and its points of interest. Anonymous.
Good short historical sketch, followed by geographi
cal and miscellaneous descriptive matter. Forms
part of "Leading business men," an advertising book,
but good nevertheless.
Newark the metropolis of New Jersey, at the dawn
of the twentieth century; the progress of one hun
dred years, igoi.

26

LIST OF BOOKS ON NEWARK.
?Proceedings commemorative of the settlement of
Newark, N. J., on its 200th anniversary, May 17,
1866. Also in New Jersey Historical Society Collec
tions, V. 6. In five sections — No. i is "Historical
Memoirs of Newark." by W. A. Whitehead. No. 4 is
"Genealogical Notes of the First Settlers," by S. H.
Congar.
Records of the town of Newark N. J.; from its set
tlement in 1666 to its incorporation as a city in 1836.
1864. Also in New Jersey Historical Society Collec
tions V. 6. Copy of the minute book of the town
clerk. It is the basis of all history of the city before
the time of the newspapers.
Shaw, William H., compiler. "History of Essex and
Hudson Counties, New Jersey." Newark, Vol. i,
PP- 355-677, 1884^ Based largely on Atkinson's His
tory of Newark; has special chapters on the fire de
partment, churches, societies, industries, education,
etc.*Shriner, Charles A., compiler. "Birds of New Jer
sey." 1896. List of all the birds found in New
Jersey, with descriptions and many illustrations.
Steams, Jonathan French. "Historical discourses
relating to the First Presbyterian church in Newark;
originally delivered to the congregation of that
church during the month of January, 1851; with
notes." 1853. Four sermons delivered at anniver
sary of the founding of the First Presbyterian
church, 1851. Gives a history of the church. As the
church governed the town during the early years,
these sermons are a review of Newark's early his
tory.

27

LIST OF BOOKS ON NEWARK
?Thowless, Herbert L. Historical sketch of the city
of Newark, N. J. 1903.
?Urquhart, Frank J. Newark, the story of its early
days. 1904. The little book of which this story of
Newark's Awakening is a continuation. Copies at
the library. Price, five cents.
Winser, Henry Jacob, editor and compiler. "Me
tropolis of New Jersey; Newark; her past growth
and future development." 1896. Historical, geogra
phical, industrial and general description of the city,
illustrated with twenty-eight half-tones.
Wolfe, T. F. "Literary rambles at home and
abroad." pp. 39-63. A New Jersey ramble, literary
landmarks of Newark, etc. 1901. Short descriptions
of homes of writers who have lived in Newark. A
literary history of the city.
?Longfellow, H. W., ed. Poems of places, v. 27. 1876.
Contains poems about Newark.
?Piatt, Charles D. Ballads of New Jersey in the
Revolution. 1896. Contains poems about Newark.

28

I AM a citizen of America, and an
¦ heir to all her greatness and re
nown. The health and happiness Of
my own body depend upon each mus
cle and nerye^and drop of Wood doing
its work in its place. So the health
and happiness of my country depend
upon each citizen doing his work in
his place. I will not fill any post or
pursue any business where I can live
upon my fellow-citizens without doing
them "^j^ll service in return; for I
plainly see that this must bring suf
fering and want to li^^- of them. I
will ^o nothing to desecrate the soil
of America, or pollute her air, or de
grade her children, my brothers or
sisters. I will try to make her cities
beautiful, and her citizens healthy and
happy, so that she may be a desired;
home for mysejf now, and for her
children in days to come. '

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