history
Montclair
Celebrates
a Big
Birthday
The township is turning
150
1780
General George Washington, along with the Marquis de
Lafayette, stays in town for two weeks to plan a surprise
attack on Staten Island — which never happens.
but the village is far older
WRITTEN BY CINDY SCHWEICH HANDLER
T
his April 15, Montclair
celebrates the 150th
anniversary of its breaking
away from Bloomfield to
become an independent
township. But as far as the
history of the community goes, 1868 was
more of a midpoint. According to Montclair
in Colonial Times and War Times, the
town’s history can be traced to 1694, when
Jasper Crane granted his sons Azariah and
Jasper “tracts of land at the foot of the
[First Watchung] mountain.” The acreage
owned by these first settlers became a
village known as Cranestown, or Cranetown.
And the rest is history — lots of it.
(Photo credits) 1740: Courtesy of the Montclair History Center; 1780: Washington’s
headquarters reprinted from Montclair by Elizabeth Shepard and Royal F. Shepard
Jr. (Arcadia Publishing, 2003); 1806: Reprinted from Montclair by Elizabeth Shepard
and Royal F. Shepard Jr. (Arcadia Publishing, 2003); 1812: Group at Speer residence:
Courtesy of the Montclair Public Library; 1856: Map of Montclair: Courtesy of the
Montclair History Center; 1860: Reprinted from Montclair by Elizabeth Shepard and
Royal F. Shepard Jr. (Arcadia Publishing, 2003); 1868: Montclair railway bond: Reprinted
from Montclair by Elizabeth Shepard and Royal F. Shepard Jr. (Arcadia Publishing,
2003); 1894: Courtesy of the Montclair Public Library; 1913: Lackawanna Station:
Courtesy of the Montclair Public Library; 1977: Courtesy of Montclair High School
32
SPRING 2018 MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE
1812
Cranetown merges with Dutch-settled Speertown
to the north to become West Bloomfield.
1860
To avoid confusion over both
New York and New Jersey
having towns named West
Bloomfield, residents meet to
suggest new names, including
Montclair and Eagleton. The
gathered vote for the latter,
but property owners prefer
the former, suggested by
resident Julius H. Pratt. They
provide the railway manager
and postmaster to call the
area Montclair.