Eventful
Past Makes For
Bustling Present
From
skirmishes to
inventions,
Edison has seen
it all by David
C. Sheehan
Those who
find Edison's
present eventful
might not be too
surprised to
find its past
equally rich in
newsworthy
events.
Edison, formerly
known as Raritan
Township, was
first settled in
the late 1600's,
when it was part
of Woodbridge
and Piscataway
townships and
its first
families
included the
Dunhams,
Martins, Bonhams,
Hulls and
FitzRandolphs,
to whom land
grants were
given.
Many of these
names live on in
the community in
the form of
street names and
section names.
But people have
lived in the
Edison area
since
prehistoric
times. Skull and
bone fragments
from the Stone
Age have been
discovered in
the
Piscatawaytown
area, and more
recently,
arrowheads and
cooking
implements,
ascribed to
Indians living
in the area,
were found in an
archeological
dig in the
Dismal Swamp.
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Old
Post
Road,
the
earliest
public
road in
eastern
New
Jersey,
passes
through
Edison
and is
said to
have
been
used by
President
George
Washington
as he
traveled
through
the
state on
the way
to his
inauguration
in New
York
City in
April
1789.
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A re-enactment
of that journey
took place in
Edison on April
13, 1989, during
the celebration
of the
bicentennial of
Washington's
first
inauguration.
His route was
retraced, and
special
ceremonies were
held at the
historic St.
James Church,
Woodbridge
Avenue.
The Bonhamtown
area of Edison,
on the Old Post
Road, is named
after Nicholas
Bonham, a
freeholder from
1682 to 1683.
The hamlet is
said to have
been the site of
an old Indian
village and
later a
Continental Army
camp and
battleground
during the
Revolution.
Bonhamtown also
served as the
seat of justice
for Middlesex
and Somerset
counties as
early as 1683.
By 1834, the
village featured
10 to 12
dwellings, two
taverns, a store
and a
schoolhouse.
Revolutionary
War skirmishes
took place in
Bonhamtown,
Piscatawaytown
and along
Woodbridge
Avenue. In fact,
the St. James
Episcopal Church
building served
as a hospital
for wounded
British soldiers
during the war,
and six British
soldiers killed
in one of the
area's
skirmishes are
buried in the
cemetery at the
church.
Edison is also
home to the
second oldest
Baptist Church
in New Jersey
and the 10th
oldest in the
nation. Stelton
Baptist Church
was formed in
the spring of
1689, and among
its original
members was the
Stelle family,
after whom the
Stelton section
of Edison is
named. Through
1875, however,
the church was
known as the
First Baptist
Church of
Piscataway.
Present-day
congregants
celebrated the
tercentennial of
their church in
year-long
celebrations in
1989.
Edison grew in
the second half
of the 19th
century as the
attractiveness
of the rural
landscape became
more accessible
with the opening
of the
Pennsylvania
Railroad and the
Easton and Amboy
line. By the
late 1800's,
many residents
commuted to jobs
in New York and
other parts of
New Jersey.
One of the many
passengers
carried on the
Pennsylvania
line to Edison
was Thomas Alva
Edison, later to
be known as the
"Wizard of Menlo
Park". It is
said that he
chose the Menlo
Park site for
his laboratories
because it was
the highest
point along the
Pennsylvania
Railroad between
New York and
Philadelphia.
The
establishment of
Thomas Edison's
industrial
research
laboratory - he
preferred
calling it his
"invention
factory" - in
1876 brought
world fame to
the township as
it became the
site for some of
the most
innovative
research and
manufacturing
feats of the
19th century.
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While
there,
Edison
invented
more
than 400
patented
items
including
the
phonograph,
the
electric
railway
(which
incidentally,
ran
along
present
day
Middlesex
Avenue)
and the
incandescent
lamp.
Christie
Street,
on which
the
Edison
Memorial
Tower
now
stands,
was the
first
street
to be
illuminated
by
incandescent
lamps,
and Mrs.
Jordan's
Boarding
House,
home to
many of
Thomas
Edison's
workers,
was the
first
residence
so
lighted.
When
Edison
moved
out of
Menlo
Park,
the
buildings
fell
into
delapidation,
and the
Labratory
was even
used as
a
chicken
coop for
a while
before
it fell
down!
Check
our
virtual
tour out
for some
pictures!.
The
Buildings
were
replicated
by Henry
Ford
to his
Greenfield
Village
Museum,
Dearborn,
Michigan.
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In
1937,
the
Edison
Memorial
Tower
was
erected
to
commemorate
the 10
years
Thomas
Edison
spent at
Menlo
Park. In
1986,
the
Edison
Township
Historical
Society
erected
12
period
street
lamps
surrounding
the
tower to
commemorate
the
illumination
of
Christie
Street.
The
Edison
Memorial
Tower is
located
on the
National
Register
of
Historic
Places.
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From a
rural-residential
community in the
1920's, Edison
has grown into a
major
population,
commercial and
industrial
center. It ranks
as the second
most populous
municipality in
Middlesex
County, and the
sixth largest in
New Jersey.
It serves as
home to nearly
90,000 residents
and is a hub of
air, rail and
highway networks
for the
distribution of
numerous goods
and services.
Raritan Center,
located in the
southeast
section of
Edison, is the
largest
industrial park,
east of the
Mississippi
River. The
daytime
population of
Raritan Center
is approximately
45,000, rivaling
the population
of many nearby
communities.
In 1954, a group
of citizens
proposed a
change in the
name of the
township,
partially
because of the
confusion
arising from the
fact that
several
municipalities
in the state
were named
Raritan. The
name the voters
selected was
Edison.
This history of
Edison, however,
is more than a
collection of
facts and
figures,
chronologies of
events and even
a rich inventory
of historic
sites and
buildings. It is
a rich and
varied legacy of
the people
groups,
institutions and
organizations
that have helped
form the
community into
what it is
today.
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