Timline of New Jersey

200 Million BC- A fossil of the winged Icarosaurus siefkeri reptile, dating to about this time, was found in a black shale New Jersey quarry in 1961. It was sold at auction in 2000 for $167,500 and donated to the American Museum of Natural History in NYC.

(SFC, 7/17/00, p.A1)(SFC, 8/28/00, p.A1)

1664- Mar 12, Englands King Charles II granted land in the New World, known as New Netherland (later New Jersey), to his brother James, the Duke of York.

(HN, 3/12/98)(AP, 3/12/08)

1664- Jun 24, New Jersey, named after the Isle of Jersey, was founded.

(HN, 6/24/98)

1746- Oct 22, Princeton University in New Jersey received its charter as the College of New Jersey. The Univ. later established a reputation for its spring ritual of sophomores running naked at midnight after the first snowfall.

(SFEC, 3/22/98, p.A23)(AP, 10/22/08)

1746- The American Presbyterian College of New Jersey was founded.

(HNQ, 7/6/99)

1756- Feb 6, America’s third vice president, Aaron Burr, was born in Newark, N.J.

(AP, 2/6/97)

1758- Mar 22, Jonathan Edwards (b.1703), US colonial theologian, philosopher (Great Awakening, Original Sin), died in New Jersey following an inoculation for smallpox.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Edwards

1758- Aug 29, New Jersey Legislature formed the 1st Indian reservation.

(MC, 8/29/01)

1772- Sep 26, New Jersey passed a bill requiring a license to practice medicine.

(MC, 9/26/01)

1775- Apr 13, Lord North extended the New England Restraining Act to South Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland. The act forbade trade with any country other than Britain and Ireland.

(HN, 4/13/99)

1775-1782- More Revolutionary War engagements were fought in New Jersey–238–than in any other state. New York was second with 228.

(HNQ, 4/17/99)

1776- Oct 28, The Battle of White Plains was fought during the Revolutionary War, resulting in a limited British victory. Washington retreated to NJ.

(AP, 10/28/06) www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1283.html

1776- Nov 18, Hessians captured Ft Lee, NJ.

(MC, 11/18/01)

1776- Nov 20, The British invaded New Jersey.

(NH, 5/97, p.76)

1776- Dec 2, George Washington’s army began retreating across the Delaware River from New Jersey to Pennsylvania. In 2004 David Hackett Fischer authored “Washington’s Crossing.”

(WSJ, 2/6/04, p.W8)

1776- Dec 8, George Washington’s retreating army in the American Revolution crossed the Delaware River from New Jersey to Pennsylvania.

(AP, 12/8/97)

1776- Dec 25, Gen. George Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River for a surprise attack against 1,400 Hessian forces at Trenton, N.J.

(AP, 12/25/97) (MC, 12/25/01)

1776- Dec 26, The British suffered a major defeat in the Battle of Trenton during the Revolutionary War. After crossing the Delaware River into New Jersey, George Washington led an attack on Hessian mercenaries and took 900 men prisoner. Two Americans froze to death on the march but none died in battle. There were 30 German casualties, 1,000 prisoners and 6 cannon captured. Four Americans were wounded in the overwhelming American victory, while 22 Hessians were killed and 78 wounded. The surprise attack caught most of the 1,200 Hessian soldiers at Trenton sleeping after a day of Christmas celebration. The Americans captured 918 Hessians, who were taken as prisoners to Philadelphia. The victory was a huge morale booster for the American army and the country. The victory at Trenton was a huge success and morale booster for the American army and people. However, the enlistments of more than 4,500 of Washingtons soldiers were set to end four days later and it was critical that the force remain intact. General George Washington offered a bounty of $10 to any of his soldiers who extended their enlistments six weeks beyond their December 31, 1776, expiration dates. The American Revolution Battle of Trenton saw the routing of 1,400 Hessian mercenaries, with 101 killed or wounded and about 900 taken prisoner, with no Americans killed in the combat. Four Americans were wounded and two had died of exhaustion en route to Trenton.

(AP, 12/26/97)(HN, 12/26/98)(SFC, 12/26/98, p.A3)(HNQ, 3/20/99)(HNQ, 4/11/99)(HNQ, 12/26/99)

1776- Dec 26, Johann Gottlieb Rall, Hessian colonel and mercenary, died in battle of Trenton.

(MC, 12/26/01)

1777- Jan 3, Gen. George Washington’s army routed the British in the Battle of  Princeton, N.J.

(AP, 1/3/98)

1778- Jun 28, “Molly Pitcher,” Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley, wife of an American artilleryman, carried water to the soldiers during the Revolutionary War Battle of Monmouth, N.J. and, supposedly, took her husband’s place at his cannon after he was overcome with heat. Temperatures reportedly reached 96 degrees in the shade. According to myth she was presented to General George Washington after the battle. Her actual existence is a matter of historical debate and the outcome of the battle was inconclusive.

(SFEC, 11/23/97, Par p.19)(HNQ, 7/25/99)(AP, 6/28/08)(SSFC, 6/28/09, p.B12)

1779- Aug 19, Americans under Major Henry Lee took the British garrison at Paulus Hook, New Jersey.

(HN, 8/19/98)

1780- Jan 2, A blizzard hit Washington’s army at the Morristown, NJ, winter encampment.

(AH, 2/05, p.16)

1783- Nov 2, Gen. George Washington issued his “Farewell Address to the Army” near Princeton, N.J.

(AP, 11/2/97)

1787- Dec 18, New Jersey became the third state to ratify the U.S. Constitution.

(AP, 12/18/97)

1789- Sep 15, James Fenimore Cooper (d.1851), American novelist, was born in Burlington, NJ. He is best known for “The Pioneers” and “Last of the Mohicans.” “The press, like fire, is an excellent servant, but a terrible master.”

(AP, 6/25/97)(HN, 9/15/99)

1789- Nov 20, New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.

(HFA, ’96, p.18)(AP, 11/20/97)

1793- Jan 9, The first US manned balloon flight occurred as Frenchman Jean Pierre Blanchard, using a hot-air balloon, flew between Philadelphia and Woodbury, N.J. He stayed airborne for 46 minutes, traveled close to 15 miles and set down at the “old Clement farm” in Deptford, New Jersey. [see Jun 23, 1784, Mar 9, 1793]

(WSJ, 3/31/98, p.A1)(AP, 1/9/99)(ON, 6/09, p.2)

1804- Feb 15, New Jersey became the last northern state to abolish slavery.

(HN, 2/15/98)

1804- Jul 11, Vice President Aaron Burr mortally wounded Alexander Hamilton (47), former first Treasury Secretary, in a pistol duel near Weehawken, N.J. A warrant for Burrs arrest was soon issued in New Jersey and New York, where Hamilton died. In 1999 Richard Brookhiser wrote “Alexander Hamilton: American.” In 2001 Joanne B. Freeman edited his writings and published: Alexander Hamilton: Writings.”

(AP, 7/11/97)(HN, 7/11/98)(WSJ, 2/25/99, p.A16)(WSJ, 12/3/01, p.A17)(ON, 12/08, p6)

1804- Jul 12, Alexander Hamilton (47), US Sec. of Treasury, died in New York of wounds from a pistol duel in New Jersey with VP Aaron Burr. In 1920 Frederick Scott Oliver authored a Hamilton biography. In 2002 Stephen Knott authored “Alexander Hamilton and the Persistence of Myth.” In 2004 Ron Chernow authored the biography “Alexander Hamilton.” Lawyer Ambrose Spencer (1765-1848) said Hamilton more than any man, did the thinking of his time.

(WSJ, 2/4/04, p.A1)(SSFC, 4/25/04, p.M3)(WSJ, 10/20/04, p.D12)

1811- Oct 11, The first steam-powered ferryboat, the Juliana, was put into operation between New York City and Hoboken, N.J.

(AP, 10/11/97)

1815- Feb 6, The state of New Jersey issued the first American railroad charter to John Stevens, who proposed a rail link between Trenton and New Brunswick. The line, however, was never built.

(AP, 2/6/97)

1820- In New Jersey a county poorhouse farm was established on 200 acres of land in what later became Hudson County, directly across the river from Manhattan. Be the end of the century it had become the sprawling Snake Hill complex with isolation hospitals and 3 burial grounds. In the 20th century it was renamed Laurel Hill. The institutions steadily emptied after the Depression and in 1950 the new New Jersey Turnpike ran through the site. In 2002 the New Jersey Turnpike Authority purchased the eastern burial ground of Snake Hill. Research soon revealed an estimated 3,500 burials on the purchased property, which became known as the Secaucus Potters field site. In 2003 the last burial was disinterred for a total of 4,571 sets of human remains from 2686 graves.

(Arch, 5/05, p.43)

1830- Sep 9 Charles Durant flew a balloon from New York City across the Hudson River to Perth Amboy, N.J.

(AP, 9/9/05)

1834- Feb 26, New York and New Jersey ratified the 1st US interstate crime compact.

(SC, 2/26/02)

1834- New York and New Jersey made a compact over Ellis Island, then a 3-acre site that held that the surrounding submerged land belonged to New Jersey. By 1998 the island was 27.5 acres due to landfill and its ownership was under contention.

(SFC, 1/13/98, p.A2)

1837- Mar 18, Stephen Grover Cleveland was born in Caldwell, N.J. He was the 22nd (1885-1889) and 24th (1893-1897) president of the United States, the only President elected for two nonconsecutive terms.

(AP, 3/18/97)(HN, 3/18/02)

1838- Jan 6, Samuel Morse (1791-1872) first publicly demonstrated his telegraph, in Morristown, N.J.

(AP, 1/6/98)

1846- Jun 19, The New York Knickerbocker Club played the New York Club in the first baseball game at the Elysian Field, Hoboken, New Jersey.

(HN, 6/19/98)

1852- In New Jersey construction began on the Camden-Atlantic City Railroad. On July 5, 1854, the first train arrived from Camden after a grueling 21/2 hour trip, and the invasion of the tourists had begun. www.cityofatlanticcity.org/con_abo_history.asp

1854- Nov 13, The “New Era” ship sank off New Jersey coast. The New Era, an emigrant ship of 1328 tons, was recently built in Bath, Maine, and this was her first voyage. She sailed on September 28 and was nearly two months on the way. There were 425 on board, nearly all German. 40 were lost on the trip from cholera. There were 385 passengers and crew when the ship struck. 163 were saved. The cargo consisted of 500 tons of chalk, dry goods and hardware. The ship was insured for $60,000 in Philadelphia, $60,000 in Boston, $25,000 in Bath and $6,000 in New York. http://ursula.foster.cc/page20.html

1862- Aug 16, Amos Alonzo Stagg, football pioneer, inventor of the tackling dummy, was born in West Orange, New Jersey.

(MC, 8/16/02)

1864- Jan 1, Alfred Stieglitz (d.1946), American photographer, was born in New Jersey.
www.fact-index.com

1868-1933- In Trenton, New Jersey, the Greenwood China Co. made ironstone and white granite pottery.

(SFC, 12/17/97, Z1 p.16)

1869- Alexander Turney Stewart (d.1860), Irish-born entrepreneur, founded Garden City, NJ.
www.lowermanhattan.info/history

1869- Dr. Thomas Bramwell Welsh, a wine steward at a church in Vineland, pasteurized Concord grape juice to produce an unfermented sacramental wine. He later came to be known as the father of the fruit juice industry.

(SFEC, 8/8/99, Z1 p.8)

1870- Jun 26, The first section of the famous boardwalk in Atlantic City, N.J., was opened to the public.

(AP, 6/26/97)

1871- Deptford split in two and the new town was named Woodbury.

(WSJ, 3/31/98, p.A1)

1874- Sandy Hook, New Jersey, became operational as a proving ground for American military weapons. It was later turned into a National Recreation Area.

(AM, 7/04, p.33)(AM, 11/04, p.9)

1875- Sep 8, An explosion destroyed the Newark, NJ, factory of the Celluloid Manufacturing Co. The Hyatt brothers rebuilt the factory and it turned profitable in 1877.

(ON, 11/03, p.4)

1876- Jun 11, A.L. Kroeber, anthropologist, textbook author, was born in Hoboken, NJ.

(SC, 6/11/02)

1876- Thomas Edison established his laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)

1876- Webster Edgerley graduated from Boston Univ. with a law degree and founded the Ralston Health Club of America.

(Arch, 5/04, p.32)

1878-1881- George B. McClellan (d.1885), former Union army general, served as governor of New Jersey.

(ON, 12/03, p.4)

1878- A major fire hit the seaside town of Cape May, NJ.

(WSJ, 9/30/02, p.R10)

1879- Oct 21, Thomas Edison perfected his carbonized cotton filament light bulb after 14 months of testing at his laboratory in Menlo Park, N.J. It was the first incandescent electric lamp. The bulb burned for about 13 ½ hours.

(AP, 10/21/97)(HN, 10/21/02)(AH, 10/04, p.15)

1879- Dec 20, Thomas A. Edison privately demonstrated his incandescent light at Menlo Park, N.J.

(AP, 12/20/97)

1879- Dec 31, Thomas Edison first publicly demonstrated his electric incandescent light in Menlo Park, N.J.

(AP, 12/31/97)

1880- Thomas Moran painted “Lower Manhattan from Communipaw, New Jersey.”

(SFC,10/15/97, p.D3)

1881- James T. Lafferty, a real estate developer, built his 65-foot, wood and tin, Lucy the Elephant building in Margate, NJ., a suburb of Atlantic City. In 1970 the 6-story structure was relocated to a nearby park.

(SSFC, 8/19/01, p.T2)(NW, 8/26/02, p.51)(NG, 8/04, p.146)

1881- Enrico Rosenzi and Benjamin Lupton, founder of the West Side Glass Co. of Bridgeton, NJ, patented Ferroline, an opaque black glass. Their factory burned down in 1885 and production ceased in 1886 as sales faltered.

(SFC, 12/5/07, p.G2)

1885- Oct 29, George B. McClellan (58), Union army general and governor of New Jersey (1878-1881), died.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_McClellan)(ON, 12/03, p.4)

1888- Webster Edgerley, head of the Ralston health Club of America, authored “Lessons in the Mechanics of Personal Magnetism.

(Arch, 5/04, p.33)

1892- Mar 26, Poet Walt Whitman died in Camden, N.J. In 1997 Gary Schmidgall published the biography: “Walt Whitman: A Gay Life.” It focused on the poet’s homosexuality. In 1999 a critical biography: Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself” by Jerome Loving was published along with “A Whitman Chronology” by Joann P. Krieg.

(AP, 3/26/97)(SFEC, 9/14/97, BR p.7)(SFC, 3/3/99, p.E4)(SFEC, 4/4/99, Par p.15)

1892- Jul 9, A stray 500-pound shell from the Sandy Hook, New Jersey, testing range sank the schooner Henry R. Tilton.

(AM, 7/04, p.35)

1892- Sep 26, John Philip Sousa and his newly formed band performed publicly for the first time, at the Stillman Music Hall in Plainfield, N.J.

(AP, 9/26/07)

1893- Aug 22, Dorothy Parker (d.1967), poet, satirist and screenwriter, was born in West Bend, N.J. “Authors and actors and artists and such / Never know nothing, and never know much.”

(AP, 8/22/97)(HN, 8/22/98)

1893- Buck Duke began buying up farmland in rural New Jersey. His daughter Doris Duke died in 1993 and was said to be the richest woman in the world. In 2003 Duke Farms opened 700 of 2,700 acres to the public.

(WSJ, 10/1/03, p.D9)

1894- Jan 7, One of the earliest motion picture experiments took place at the Thomas Edison studio in West Orange, N.J., as comedian Fred Ott was filmed sneezing.

(AP, 1/7/98)

1894-1895- Webster Edgerly, head of the Ralston movement, bought up large chunks of farmland in central New Jerseys Hopewell Valley. The name of the movement was an acronym for his 7 principles for living: regime, activity, light, strength, temptation, oxygen and nature. His plan was to build the City of Ralston, a utopian community based on his 7 principles.

(Arch, 5/04, p.31)

1897- Victor Durand Jr., French-born glassmaker, started the Vineland Glass Manufacturing Co. in Vineland, NJ.

(SFC, 3/31/99, Z1 p.6)

1898- Jun 18, The 1st amusement pier opened in Atlantic City, NJ.

(MC, 6/18/02)

1899- The American Rice Food and Manufacturing Co. of New Jersey established a copyright for an advertising doll for Cooks Flaked Rice.

(SFC, 3/11/98, Z1 p.5)

1901- The Victor Talking Machine Co. was founded in Camden, NJ. It introduced the Victoria with an internal horn, rather than an external one, in 1906. The company was sold to RCA in 1929.

(SFC, 1/21/09, p.G4)

1902- The New Jersey Ralston Health Club run by Webster Edgerley merged with Purina Mills, a food manufacturer run by Will Danforth, to form the Ralston-Purina Co. Ralston Breakfast Food had been manufactured by Purina and its success led to the merger.

(Arch, 5/04, p.32)

1903- Sep 22, Italo Marchioni applied for a patent for pastry cornets to hold ice cream and was granted the patent on Dec 13, 1903. Ice cream cones were popularized in the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair.

(HN, 5/2/98)(SFEC, 5/23/99, p.B7)(MC, 9/22/01)(SSFC, 10/5/03, p.C3)

1903- Dec 13, Italo Marconi received a patent for the ice cream cone in NJ. [see Sep 22, 1903]

(MC, 12/13/01)(SSFC, 10/5/03, p.C3)

1904- Jun 6, The National Tuberculosis Association was organized in Atlantic City, NJ.

(MC, 6/6/02)

1906- Mar 6, Lou Costello (d.1959), American film comedian, was born in Paterson, NJ. He paired with Bud Abbott in numerous films and the famous “Who’s on First” routine.

(HN, 3/6/99)(MC, 3/6/02)

1906- Apr 25, William Joseph Brennan Jr., future Supreme Court Justice (1956-90), was born in Newark, New Jersey.

(SFC, 7/25/97, p.A8)(AP, 4/25/07)

1907- A brick building was constructed on Cornelia Street in East Rutherford, NJ, to serve as the headquarters for Becton Dickinson Corp. In 1977 the executive offices were moved to Paramus, NJ. The original site was used for offices and manufacturing until 1992. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York purchased the site and erected a 40-story building where the original BD facility stood.

(Echo, 12, 2007)

1909- Peter Rodino (d.2005), US Congressman (1949-1989), was born in New Jersey.

(AP, 5/8/05)(SSFC, 5/8/05, p.A2)

1910- Aug 27, Thomas Edison demonstrated the first “talking” pictures using a phonograph in his New Jersey laboratory.

(HN, 8/27/01)

1910- Woodrow Wilson ran for governor of New Jersey.

(WSJ, 2/27/98, p.A12)

1912- Aug 12, Jane Wyatt, actress (Father Knows Best, Star Trek), was born in Campgaw, NJ.

(SC, 8/12/02)

1912- Florence Lawrence and her director-husband Harry Solter created their own Victor Film Studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

(ON, 4/06, p.6)

1913- Apr 21, Gideon Sundback of Sweden patented the zipper. [see Apr 29]

(MC, 4/21/02)

1913- Apr 29, Gideon Sundback of Hoboken patented an all-purpose zipper. The name was coined by B.F. Goodrich, who used it to fasten rubber galoshes. [see Apr 21]

(HN, 4/29/98)(SFEC, 5/23/99, p.B7)

1915- May 5, Richard H. Rovere, journalist (Goldwater Caper), was born in Jersey City.

(MC, 5/5/02)

1915- Dec 12, Frank Sinatra, actor and singer, was born in Hoboken New Jersey. He died May 14, 1998. In 1986 Kitty Kelly wrote his biography “His Way.”

(WSJ, 12/14/95, p.A-12)(SFC, 11/11/96, p.D1)(SFC, 12/13/96, p.C10)(SFC, 5/16/98, p.E7)

1916- Jul 3, The 1st of 3 fatal shark attacks occurred near the NJ shore.

(MC, 7/3/02)

1916- Jul 30, German saboteurs blew up a munitions pier on Black Tom Island, Jersey City, NJ. 7 people were killed. Damages totaled about $20-25 million. After much legal maneuvering a commission in 1939 ruled that Germany was guilty of sabotaging Black Tom and another plant in Kingsland, NJ, and awarded$50 million to the claimants. In 1953 the new Federal Republic of Germany began making payments. The last payment was made in 1979.

(AH, 10/04, p.36, 77)

1917- Mar 5, The 1st jazz recording for Victor Records was released by RCA Victor in Camden, NJ. Viktor issued “Dixie Jass Band One-Step” and “Livery Stable Blues” by The Dixie Jass Band.

(SFC, 1/19/02, p.D5)(MC, 3/5/02)

1917- Mar 20, Gideon Sundback, Swedish-born engineer, patented an all-purpose zipper while working for the Automatic Hook and Eye Co. of Hoboken, New Jersey. The zipper name was coined by B.F. Goodrich in 1923, who used it to fasten rubber galoshes.

(ON, 7/04, p.5) www.inventors.about.com

1917- Frank Hague (1876-1956) was elected mayor of Jersey City and served until he retired 1947. He built an $8 million fortune out of an annual salary of $7,500. During his tenure city workers gave a kickback, known as rice pudding, to City Hall of 3% of their salaries. www.jerseycityonline.com

Econ, 1/20/07, p.24

1918- Jan 29, John Forsythe (d.2010), actor (Bachelor Father, Charlie’s Angels, Dynasty), was born in NJ.