Exhibits--Historical Timeline

Historical Timeline

17th-18th Centuries

16__: First recorded explorationi of Greater Bloomfield area by ______

1623: Manhattan settled by Dutch West India Company

16__: Dutch settle _______, the first settlement in northern NJ (abandoned in ____ due to war with natives)

1658: Dutch settle Communipaw (now part of Jersey City)

__ Sep 1664: English seize New Netherland, including East Jersey

1665: First English settlement in East Jersey at Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth, NJ)

1666: Newark settled by English colonists, mostly from Connecticut.

166_: New Barbadoes Purchase (__________) by English settlers.

1679: Acquackanonk Purchase (now Passaic County) settled by ethnic Dutch under English rule.

16__: Van Giesen Purchase

1690s: Settlers from Newark and Acquackanonk settlements spread into Bloomfield area.

1695: ____ Crane settles in what would be come Cranetown (Montclair).

about 1700: Stockade erected at Watsessing to protect English settlers from possible native attacks.

170_: New Jersey founded as [Province]

170_: First mill established

170_: Essex County founded as one of four original counties.

172_: Second River Reformed Dutch Church established (first school in Greater Bloomfield).

174_: Horse Neck property title protesters pass through Greater Bloomfield en route to Newark riots (first known challenge of king's authority by colonists)

1758: Watsessing Hill school opens (first in Greater Bloomfield)

4 Jul 1776: US Declaration of Independence

____ 1776: Battle of Brooklyn (first battle involving Greater Bloomfield residents).

177_: Kidney raid.

177_: George Washington's army retreats through Bloomfield area.

177_: Washington visits Cadmus [and Davis] homestead[s].

1783: Revolutionary War ends. ___ Greater Bloomfielders served; ____ killed; ____ wounded.

178_: [Bloomfield represented in state, federal govt?]

1790: ____ households in Greater Bloomfield [North Newark]

1793: Militia draft for [Pennsylvania Insurrection] _____ Greater Bloomfield men [enrolled]

179_: Stone House Plains (now Brookdale) Reformed Dutch Church founded.

1796: Presbyterian Society of Bloomfield founded; cornerstone of Church on the Green laid.

(Greater Bloomfield)

19th Century

1801: Stone House Plains church building erected

180_: _______ epidemic.

18__: Great Migration Westward

18__: Joseph Bloomfield elected as governor of New Jersey

1806: Newark Township partitioned into three wards: Newark, Orange, and Bloomfield

1806: Newark and Pompton Turnpike (now Bloomfield Ave) [constructed/completed]

Abolition events.

23 Mar 1812: Bloomfield (20.52 square miles) incorporated as a township from portions of Newark Township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature.

1812: Township committee, justice of the peace and constables appointed.

1812: War of 1812 starts.

1815: War of 1812 ends; _____ Bloomfielders served; ____ killed; ____ wounded.

1816: First US post office established.

1822: First Methodist church established

1820: Population of Greater Bloomfield reaches 3,085

[Schools, seminary]

1830: Population of Greater Bloomfield reaches 4,309.

1830: Oakes Mill opened.

1831: Morris Canal opened

18__: Alms house established.

1833: First newspaper, The Bloomfield Citizen, established.

8 Apr 1839: Belleville, including Frankin separated from Bloomfield (included Franklin, now Nutley, made separate in 1874) and Woodside (made part of Newark in 1871)

1846: Bloomfield becomes township under NJ Township Act.

1849: Bloomfield adopts Free School Act (________)

1856: First railroad, Newark and Bloomfield Railroad, opened. [per 150 Years, it was chartered 26 Mar 1852.

1861: Civil War begins.

1865: Civil War ends; _____ Bloomfielders served; ____ killed; ____ wounded.

1867: Horse-drawn street car service opened.

15 Apr 1868: Montclair secedes from Bloomfield.

1870: Bloomfield population reaches 4,580 (Greater Bloomfield would have been _____)

1871: Bloomfield Savings Bank (first in Greater Bloomfield) opens.

1872: First Bloomfield-NY train service opened.

1872: First newspaper (Bloomfield Gazette) established.

1873: Real estate panic

1872-1873: Natural gas pipelines installed; first (gas) streetlights installed

First US Post Office opens.

187_: Center School (Iater Liberty Street School), Bloomfield's first free public school, opens.

18__: Police patrols established.

1883: Bloomfield Fire Department established in wake of Essex House Hotel disaster.

1884: Telephone service established.

1884: Town water service established.

12-14 Mar 1888: "Blizzard of '88" strikes eastern seaboard.

189_: Free postal delivery established.

13 Feb 1895: Glen Ridge secedes from Bloomfield; Bloomfield's remaining land area 5.4 square miles.

1896: Electricity service established [or was it 1906, per 150 Years Around Green?].

18__: Library established.

1898: Spanish-American War; ____ Bloomfielders served; _____ killed.

1898: Sewage service established.

1898: Women's suffrage amendment.

20th Century

23 Feb 1900: Bloomfield incorporated under Town Act of NJ (adopted 26 Feb).

1902: Jarvie Public Library endowed.

1903: Smallpox epidemic

October, 1903: Flood

About 1905: First slate sidewalks installed

1906: [Stock market panic?]

1906: Westinghouse Company relocated lamp factory to Bloomfield.

GE

Charms

Lummus

Trolley.

1912: Bloomfield High School building opens.

1912: Soldiers and Sailors Monument erected.

1917: US enters World War I (about 1,200 Bloomfield men and women served)

1918: Influenza Epidemic.

19__: Prohibition begins.

1924: Morris Canal abandoned

1924: Bloomfield Public Library established (building constructed 1927)

1929: Stock market crash triggers Great Depression.

Unemployment

[1939]: Foley Field completed

Municipal Building opens.

Junior high school (later South Junior HS) opens

Current US Post Office opens.

Golden era of BHS sports

1941: US enters World War II.

1945: World War II ends; _____ Bloomfielders served; _____ killed; ____ wounded.

1951: Korean War starts.

195_: Garden State Parkway construction begins.

1953: Korean War ends; _____ Bloomfielders served; _____ killed; ____ wounded.

19__: North Junior High School (later Bloomfield Middle School) opens.

19__: Garden State Parkway opens.

19__: Vietnam War begins

196_: Environmental legislation triggers industrial exit from Bloomfield.

196_: Race riots in Newark cause flood of Newark families into Bloomfield.

19__: Beginning of Bloomfield's first-ever long-term population decline.

1975: Vietnam War ends; _____ Bloomfielders served; ____ killed; ____ wounded.

197_: Cable television service starts.

1978: The Green placed on National Register of Historic Places.

19__: Lummus, last major employer in Bloomfield, departs.

11 Sep 2001: World Trade Center attacked.

Bloomfield History: Township Story and Archives

Please note: This website is a work in progress. There are blanks, mistakes, and missed opportunities. Feel free to contribute using the "contact us" links.