Chatham, NJ 07928 - Community Info
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Chatham Borough and Chatham Township are quiet, carefully developed, residential communities located in north-central New Jersey near Exit 7 of Route 24. The Chatham Area is located 25 miles west of New York City on the southern edge of Morris County. Chatham's neighboring communities are Summit, New Providence, Berkeley Heights, Long Hill, Harding, Madison, Florham Park, and Livingston. Chatham Borough and Chatham Township share a common heritage and together are often referred to by their shared name, Chatham.
Chatham has many fine single homes, townhouses, garden apartments, and condominiums and offers suburban attractiveness as well as efficient railroad, bus, and highway commuting to New York City and surrounding metropolitan North Jersey. The downtown Chatham Borough area offers many interesting specialty shops, restaurants, banks, and other services.
There are excellent shopping facilities available nearby in Livingston, Short Hills, Summit, Madison, Morristown and, locally, at Hickory Tree in the Township and in the center of Chatham Borough.
Cultural opportunities include historical, art, garden and musical groups, as well as the facilities and programs of neighboring Drew and Fairleigh Dickinson universities. The Chatham Regional school system consistently ranks highly and the Library of the Chathams is a valuable resource to the residents.
Many outdoor recreational facilities are accessible to residents, such as, the National Wildlife Preserve (The Great Swamp) and the Morristown National Historical Park
History of Chathams
As the melting Wisconsin Glacier slowly retreated north 20,000 years ago, it left behind Lake Passaic in the curves of the Watchung Mountains. The land that is now Chatham was at the bottom of that lake, nearly 160 feet below the surface. The only visible sign of what would become Chatham was a long island formed by the top of the hill at Fairmount Avenue.
Lake Passaic drained into the sea when an ice cap melted. The Passaic River slowly made its winding path through the marshlands. Eventually the land became habitable, roamed by mastodons and other prehistoric animals.
Early Settlers
Six or seven thousand years ago, the first people to settle in the area were the Minsi group of the Lenni Lenape ("Original People") Indians. It is believed that the Lenape migrated from Canada and possibly Siberia in search of a warmer climate.
While traveling in the area, the Lenape forded the Passaic River at a shallow point east of Chatham at a place they called "the Crossing of the Fishawack in the Valley of the Great Watchung." "Fishawack" and "Passaic are two versions of the many ways early settlers tried to spell the name they heard the Indians call the river.
In 1680 Sir George Carteret paid the Minsi the equivalent of $55 for land that included the present area of Chatham. The area was named Chatham in 1773 in honor of the English Prime Minister, Sir William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. Chatham citizens were staunch revolutionaries during the revolutionary war and troops were active in the area. After the revolutionary war, in 1801, the Morris Turnpike was built connecting Elizabeth to Morristown through Springfield and Chatham. The Morris and Essex Railroad came to Chatham in 1837. Chatham became a center of the rose growing industry in the 1870's and 80's. The years between the Civil War and World War I were a period of quiet living and simple pleasures. Chatham's reputation as a fine, healthy place to live brought a community of bustling tourist trade. The trains that brought vacationers to Chatham also transported residents to city jobs. At the beginning of the 1900's, there were about 1,800 residents living in Chatham Borough and about 500 in the Township. Population from the year 2000 US Census was 8,460 in the Borough and 10,086 in the Township.
Source: Borough of Chatham Web Site
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