Pre History of NJ Route 8

  

  A little about the roads that existed the became Route 8

 Where was Route 8?
SECTION I. Starting at the Roads southern/eastern starting point in Newark, The first section of the road was the Newark Pompton Turnpike, which traveled through the following towns:

1. Newark        4. Glen Ridge   7. Cedar Grove    10. Pequannock    
2. Belleville       5. Montclair      8. Little Falls        11. Riverdale         
3. Bloomfield    6. Verona         9. Wayne               

This road was a trail back in 1757 and formally named in 1806, as a way to promote commerce from these town into Newark AND as a way to connect to Paterson as this Turnpike ended in Riverdale (Pompton) at the Paterson Hamburg Turnpike. The picture listed above is a picture of the Turnpike in the Pompton Plains section of Pequannock, sometime between 1880 and 1915.

 Pre- History of the Road

Picture Index

Pixs of the Past

Let's Take a Tour

Exits

When this turnpike was built, it crossed numerous streams as well as the Pompton River. Later, when the Morris Canal was built  ~1831, the Turnpike crossed the canal in the Mountain View section of Wayne (at the time, this was Manchester Township in Bergen County).  This road continued through Pequannock, Pompton Plains, and Riverdale. It ended at the Paterson Hamburg Turnpike. For more about the Newark Pompton Turnpike, click here.

SECTION II The Paterson Hamburg Turnpike, also an old pre-revolutionary road connected Paterson to the Village of Hamburg  which traveled through the following towns (with extension to Sussex):

1. Riverdale         4. Kinnelon        7. Hardyston    10. Wantage    
2. Bloomingdale  5. West Milford  8. Franklin       11. Sussex         
3. Butler              6. Jefferson        9. Hamburg  

The Hamburg Turnpike crossed the Pequannock River between Riverdale and Bloomingdale, again into Butler, then into West Milford, then into Kinnelon, back into West Milford, again nearly touching the NYS&W tracks near the Charlottsburg Reservoir, then into Rockaway, back to West Milford, then into Jefferson, back to West Milford, then into Jefferson, back to West Milford, once more into Jefferson before going into Hardyston, Franklin, Hardyston again, and Hamburg. At the current intersection with Route 94, the continuation of the road goes through Hardyston, Wantage, and into Sussex.

SECTION III This strip is currently called NJ 284 or Unionville Road. I do not know anything about this section so it will take some time to find out and research it. I believe this section was also modified from it's current alignment.

Information on this page came from various sources including www.census.gov and web.mit.edu/spui/www/firstnj.html

I hope you learn something about State Route 8 history, Please email me if you have some historical information about old New Jersey State Route 8.

  
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