A period of rapid growth in Acquackanonk (1910 population is 11,869)... 1905: Edward Jewett purchases Westervelt’s grist mill located on Weasel Brook near Fourth St. in today’s Weasel Brook Park. 1906: Acquackanonk Township School 8 opens as a wooden school on Oak St. in Delawanna. 1907: Public Service Railway Co. is established as a subsidiary pf Public Service Electric and Gas Co. It operates a fleet of busses and trolleys. 1907: Thomas A. R. Goodlatte opens a new oil cloth factory in Delawanna, having sold his factory in Athenia. 1907: James G. Sanders & Sons Coal Co. opens in Allwood. Public School 11 is built on Merselis Ave. (Lakeview). Jan. 1907: Plans are made by Swedish residents of Athenia to open a rolling mill for flat steel. It becomes Athenia Steel Co. with 350 employees. Jan. 1908: The Acquackanonk Township Police Department adds patrolmen to its force. It also acquires two jail cells. Police Headquarters is in a storefront on Main and Madison Ave’s. March 25, 1908: Berger’s Drug Store at Main & Clifton Ave’s. is sold to Mr. John McHenry who runs it for over 40 years. 1908: Montclair Normal School opens on Valley Rd. in Upper Montclair. Land is deeded by Acquackanonk Township to the school to a Montclair address, so that Montclair’s services can be used. 48 April 2015 • Clifton Merchant
1905: Shareholders purchase land for the establishment of the East and West Ridgelawn Cemeteries (the photo above by Bev Cholweczynski is of the cemetery entrance on Main and Delawanna Aves.) Jan. 4, 1909: Acquackanonk Township Fire Company 3 is established on Mahar Ave. 1909: Doherty Silk Mill is built on Main Ave. at the corner of West 4th St. It is the largest textile weaving mill in the US. Some 1,000 skilled textile workers are employed. Fall 1909: An airplane makes a landing at Lambert’s Castle on the Paterson-Acquackanonk border. 1909: Clifton Building & Loan is established in Clifton Center. June 1909: Clifton High School first class graduates five girls.
1909: Acquackanonk Township School 4 erected near West Third St. 1909: Clarence Finkle establishes Finkle’s Express for moving and storage on what is now Allwood Rd. It later becomes Passaic Terminal & Transportation Co. Nov. 27, 1909: The Italian American Family Association is incorporated in Botany Village and still operates today. It is a combination of two purchasers of commodities, the 52 Italian Pleasure Club and the Holy Name Society of Sacred Heart’s Clifton Corp. timeline continues on page 52