Madison Township, NJ
Written By: Frank Benedict, 1999
Madison is located on a ridge of land extending from near Summit northwest toward Morristown. This ridge is made up of the remains of the terminal moraine left by the Wisconsin Glacier more than 10,000 years ago. Low-lying wetlands are on either side of this ridge; the Great Swamp to the southwest and the Black Meadows/Troy Meadows area to the northeast. These lowlands are part of the remains of Lake Passaic, which was formed by melting ice as the glacier receded. Until the lake disappeared the higher elevation portions of Madison were on a small island in the lake.
Eventually the lake drained when the ice receded enough to reveal the Little Falls Gap to the north. However, the signs of the glacier can still be seen around town. There are many “potholes” in Madison, which mark the place where huge chunks of ice were left behind to melt, buried in the rubble which had been pushed forward by the glacier. One of the largest of these is visible from Glenwild Road, on the property of Drew University. In recent years Morris County acquired the “Moraine” property as public parkland. This is part of the outwash plain from the glacier in its terminal position.
This ridge provided a natural route from the Short Hills gap in the Watchung Mountains to the higher country north and west of Morristown. The Minnisink Trail, used by the Lenape Indians, passed along what is now Kings Road in Madison. In 1804, the Morris Turnpike was established along the route of present Main Street. In 1837 (only seven years after the first public railroad in the United States!) the Morris and Essex railroad was completed, following this natural ridge through Madison. Being on the “main road”, Madison developed earlier than many neighboring towns and was heavily influenced by its access to good transportation.
- Brief History
The earliest settlers of European descent arrived about 1715 and established “Bottle Hill” at the crossroads of Ridgedale Avenue and Kings Road. The Luke Miller house at 105 Ridgedale Avenue is thought to be the oldest remaining home in the Borough, built around 1730. Morris County, created in 1739, was divided into three townships. The area in Madison north of Kings Road was in Hanover Township and the area to the south in Morris Township. A meeting house for the Presbyterian Church of South Hanover, as Madison was then called, was started in 1747 where the Presbyterian Cemetery still exists between Kings Road and Madison Avenue.
Later, in 1806, Chatham Township was formed, comprising the present Madison, Chatham Borough, Chatham Township, and Florham Park, and thus the political division of the village was ended. In 1834, the name of the village was changed to Madison, and in 1889, with a population of 3,250 persons, it seceded from Chatham Township and became a borough in order to develop a local water supply system.
Madison’s growth accelerated after the Civil War. The railroad provided good transportation for its farm produce. Later it made possible the establishment of a flourishing rose growing industry, still commemorated in Madison’s title as The Rose City. The Morris and Essex Line became one of America’s first commuter railroads, attracting well-to-do families and contributing to the development of “Millionaire’s Row,” which stretched from downtown Madison to Morristown.
The rose industry and the large estates in the area attracted working class people of all kinds. As a result, Madison very early developed a varied population, both in terms of socio-economic status and ethnic background. The original settlers were of British stock; French settlers came after the Revolution; African-Americans have been members of the community from early in the 19th century; Irish came in mid century and then Germans and Italians around the turn of the century. To this day there is a substantial community of Italian descent in Madison. Today Madison remains a diversified community, with many of the more recent immigrants coming from Central and South America and from Asia.
