 |  | |
 |
|  |
 |  | |
| | |
|
| |
| | |
|
|
Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003
Trade revived after the war, and in 1784 the growing town was incorporated as a city. The first American railroad charter was granted in 1815 to John Stevens for a line from "near Trenton, to ... near New Brunswick" but the road was never started. Rail service came with the building of the New Jersey Railroad, whose passengers were shuttled by stagecoach across Raritan River to the New York connection until 1838 when through service was made possible by a new railroad bridge.
The busy port attracted Cornelius Vanderbilt, who had begun to amass his fortune with the steamship Bellona. However, New Brunswick's importance as a shipping terminal began to wane in 1834 when the Delaware and Raritan Canal, 42-mile waterway to Bordentown, was opened. For a time, though, the city benefited from the through traffic. The canal boom was short-lived; railroad competition and domination put the canal boats out of business, although nominal operation continued to 1933.
By the middle of the nineteenth century the city had grown to 8,693. There were 120 stores, 1 bank, 8 churches, and 2 schools for girls. Rutgers College, after weathering financial crises and suspensions, was an established institution. In addition to a carriage factory, a cotton mill and several shipyards, New Brunswick had three units of the newly developed rubber industry, producing rubberized sheets, carriage tops and boots. Other products of the period were machinery, wallpaper, shoes and hosiery.
The manufacture of pharmaceuticals was begun in 1886 by Johnson and
Johnson. In 1916 the pharmaceutical industry was augmented by the arrival of E. R. Squibb and Sons. The National Musical String Company,
founded in 1897, produced the first harmonicas in America, and has since
become the world's largest maker of steel strings.
After 1900 the city's industrial pattern changed. The promising rubber
industry moved westward to get more room for expansion, but the empty
factories were quickly occupied by the needle trades and other newcomers.
The old carriage factories were succeeded by an automobile plant in 1910 when the Simplex Automobile Company began operations. During the World War the Wright-Martin Aircraft Corporation made Hispano-Suiza and Liberty motors in the Simplex factory, which is now used by the International Motor Company for the production of automotive parts.
|
|
|
Return To |
|
|
