The History Of Dover

Picture: Sussex Street, THEN and NOW. Standing on Dickerson Street looking north at Sussex Street, notice the photo to the left has business buildings lining both sides of the street. Also notice the rear of the Mansion House Hotel. Todays view looks quite different with most buildings replaced by parking lots and the Mansion House replaced by a modern commercial building.

When John Jackson of Flushing, New York took title to a tract of 527 acres on May 31, 1722, Dover was born. He built a log cabin at the site of today’s Hurd Park and set up a forge, the first in Randolph Twp. and the second in New Jersey. The ore came from the Dickerson Mine, the oldest mine in the United States.

With the rapid growth of manufactured iron products, the British felt their business was in jeopardy. In 1750, by an act of the British Parliament, all raw pig iron and bar iron was to be shipped to England with the manufactured products sold back to the colonies. By 1753, John Jackson was out of business and his business sold at a Sheriff’s sale to Edward Fitz-Randolph, the founder of Randolph Twp.

In 1792, Moses Hurd had arrived from Dover, New Hampshire to work at the forge and gave Dover is current name. Prior to that, Dover was called Old Tye and Beamans. Josiah Beaman aquired the forge and later sold it to Isreal Canfield and Jacob Losey, who enlarged the works to include the site that would become the Ulster Iron Works. Canfield and Losey failed the business following the War of 1812 and Joseph Blackwell and Henry McFarlan took it over to pay a debt in 1816. These two New York merchants enlarged the forge to include a iron rolling mill in 1822, reviving the stalled enterprise.

Dover was incorporated as a village in 1826 and almost immediately Blackwell and McFarlan started selling off property lots after laying out the city street grid. The two main streets were named after them and the perpendicular streets named after the counties of the state.

Dover’s forge contributed greatly to the tools and machines that were needed to construct the Morris Canal in 1830.

For the next decade Dover rapidly grew and by the mid 1840s the railroad conducted a survey of Dover and wrote the following: “Dover at a glance is very picturesque. It is surrounded by rolling hills and with so many machine shops and foundries, iron is not far off. The Morris Canal crosses the river here and adds to the busy appearance of the town. The main part of Dover is compactly built and Blackwell Street has a thriving business appearance which any large city might be proud of.

In 1848, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad made Dover a destination point by laying track into the city. Dover soon became a major commercial center with products and produce being shipped to the New York marketplace.

In 1869, under the leadership of entrepreneur George Richards, Dover became independent of Randolph Twp. by becoming a chartered town by an act of the New Jersey State Legislature.

Today, Dover is a thriving 2.5 square mile community in the heart of Morris County that boasts of a wonderful past, a working present and a bright future. Visit the Dover History Museum at 55 W. Blackwell Street in the heart of the nationally registered Historic Blackwell Street District. Call 973-361-3525 to arrange a tour.

The Historic Timeline

• 1722 – Dover settled by John Jackson of Flushing, N.Y. who established a Forge.
• 1750 – General William Winds purchases 275 acres at today’s Salem Village area.
• 1753 – Moses Hurd came from Dover, N.H. to manage Jackson’s Forge.
• 1758 – Village adopts the name “Old Tye” after Gen. Wind’s Ft. Ticonderoga victory.
• 1798 – First General Store opened along what is today Clinton Street.
• 1799 – Village begins to adopt the name “Dover” in reference to the Hurd Estate.
• 1813 – First physician, Dr. Ira Crittendon, moves in near Gen. Winds estate.
• 1817 – Joseph Blackwell & Henry McFarlan foreclose on the Dover Iron Works.
• 1820 – First Post Office established in Dover.
• 1831 – Morris Canal is completed and boat traffic begins through Dover.
• 1848 – Railroad finally arrives in Dover connecting to points east only.
• 1850 – First Opera House established in Dover on Sussex St. (Moller Opera House.
• 1869 – Dover Incorporated as a town, breaks away from Randolph Twp.
• 1869 – First newspaper, Dover Enterprise established, followed by Iron Era, Dover Index.
• 1874 – Dover Fire Deptartment Established
• 1880 – Second Opera House established by Wm Baker as a vaudeville playhouse.
• 1889 – First electric lights turn on in Dover.
• 1897 – German immigrant Paul Guenther establishes world leading silk stocking factory.
• 1900 – Dover becomes a major business center for western Morris County.
• 1904 – New Jersey’s first trolley car service established in Dover.
• 1906 – First major vaudeville theater established by Wm Baker called the Baker Theatre.
• 1910 – First automobiles begin to arrive in Dover.
• 1911 – John Hurd donates Hurd Park to the citizens of Dover so the Hurd name lives forever.
• 1913 – Playhouse Theater, another major vaudeville theater opens on Morris Street.
• 1916 – Dover General Hospital is established on Ann Street.
• 1922 – Dough Boy Statue erected at Hurd Park.
• 1933 – Auto racing began at the Dover Speedway.
• 1934 – Dover Little Theater is established.
• 1950 – Dover Iron plant is closed, longest continuous business 1745-1950, in Dover history.
• 1956 – Dover Shopping Center, the first “in-town” shopping center in America, opens.
• 1957 – Dover Drive-In Theater opens becoming the first wireless speaker system in America.
• 1970 – Begins the decline in Dover because of nearby Shopping Malls construction: Playhouse Theater
• torn down, old Woolworth’s Dept. store torn down, Dutton Hotel closes, National Union Bank merges
• with bank from Rutherford, Baker Theater closes, Dover Shopping Center loses major retail businesses
• to the Rockaway Townsquare Mall.
• 1989 – The Daily Advance ceased publications.

History Of Dover’s Diversity

Dover has a very long history of diversity from its founding in 1722 to the present day. Early settlers to Dover were predominantly white, Anglo-Saxon and of western European stock. First to settle in Dover were the Dutch, Swedes and the Finns, followed by the English and Scotch. Then came the Irish to seek their fortunes in the iron industry, railroads and were among the first to be hired to dig the Morris Canal.

Later immigration in the 1880s and 1890s consisted of the Italians, Poles, Hungarians, Slavs, Russians and Greeks finding employment in the mines around Dover. There were violent prejudices and bitter feelings against some immigrants, especially the Irish and Germans. By the 1850s, such movements like “The American” developed with their cy, “America for Americans.” This type of nationalistic bias faded with the advent of the Civil War, when the Germans contributed 7300 men and the Irish, 8800 men to the New Jersey Regiments.

The wave of German immigrants swept over the United States in the mid-1800s to early 1900s and brought their much-needed skills during the great industrial expansion. The need for experienced knitters in the blossoming silk industry in Dover attracted many from the mills of Saxony.

Italians were also attracted to Dover which was the terminal for the DL&W Railroad where many worked on the repair gangs. The first Greeks to come to Dover arrived around 1909. They were attracted by employment in the Ulster Iron Works, the Rich-Boynton Stove Works and the Hercules Powder Company in nearby Kenvil.

Because of the labor shortages in the area’s industry and nearby farming in Sussex and Warren Counties during World War II, the U.S. Department of Agriculture began bringing small groups of Spanish-speaking American citizens from Puerto Rico. These laborers were attracted to the iron mines and other industries needing relatively unskilled workers. Ninety percent of Dover’s early Puerto Ricans came from Aguada, at the western end of the island on Aguada Bay. Farmers from the Great Meadows brought them into Dover on week-ends. They liked Dover and began bringing their family and friends.

Pictured above is one of the most historic events to happen in the history of the Morris Canal and it happened right in Dover.

Above, President Grover Cleveland poses in front of the Mansion House Hotel surrounded by the Secret Service, circ 1895.