Every neighborhood, subdivision, shopping center, office park, and apartment complex has a story long before the first shovel ever touched the ground. The Development History Series explores how today’s communities came to be, tracing the land from its earliest farms, estates, and industries through decades of planning board hearings, zoning battles, changing ownership, and eventual construction.
Using original deeds, historic maps, aerial photography, planning documents, newspaper archives, and local interviews, the Mr. Local History Project uncovers the complete history behind New Jersey’s most significant developments. From proposals that transformed entire towns to projects that were never built, each story reveals the people, politics, and decisions that shaped the places where we live today.
So Much History – Development Research
History of Housing Developments in Bernards Township
Views: 13,914 Bernards Township has a long history of being a sleepy rural town. Then, the US built the Lyons VA, and everything changed as the population grew. Then AT&T came to town in the 1970s, and everything AGAIN started…
Bernardsville’s Affordable Housing Dilemma – They’re Not Alone
Views: 141 While we at the Mr. Local History Project prefer to write about history and not try to make it, sometimes history and perspective from other areas serve as indicators of what not to do, or at least give…
Five Landowners That Owned Half of Somerset County, New Jersey
Views: 765 Maps are such a great source of history, and this 1766 map doesn’t disappoint those looking to learn more about Somerset County, New Jersey’s history. Completed in 1766 by surveyors Benjamin Morgan and Joseph Hills, the Morgan–Hills Map…
Northside or Southside – Train Determines Socio Economic Town Dynamics
Views: 1,143 Part of our Mr. Local History Train Series….. For years, the Mr. Local History research team has been digging into New Jersey’s railroad history. As we traced old rail lines town by town, something curious began to appear…
The West Line Railroad: Fate That Created a Community Instead of an Industry
Views: 3,307 The iron rail that brought the steel horse to the Somerset Hills.This story is as much about the railroads that were built as it is about the railroads that weren’t. As our researchers identify new pertinent information, this…
The Hills Development – History of Bedminster and Bernards Township
Views: 8,168 Additional updates will be added as MLHP researchers provide additional photos, metrics, and history. Please come back to check on the development of this piece. The origins of one of New Jersey’s most significant planned communities trace back…
Lutherland – Once the Poconos Wonderland Retreat
Views: 3,761 From the outset, Lutherland was promoted not only as a summer retreat but as a year-round destination for religious conferences, youth programs, and leisure activities, a place that blended the mission of Christian fellowship with the amenities of…
Meet The King of the Poconos- Isaac Stauffer
Views: 2,758 Introduction In the mid-19th century, the Pocono Plateau was still a rugged wilderness, characterized by dense forests, hidden lakes, and scattered clearings carved out by lumbermen’s axes. It was here that Isaac Stauffer, born in 1834 near Wind…
Lake Naomi Icon – Rufus W. Miller, Assembly Visionary, Developer, Religous Icon
Views: 2,761 In the early 1900s, the quiet mountain community of Pocono Pines found its voice through the vision of Rev. Rufus W. Miller, a learned clergyman whose passion for education and spiritual fellowship reshaped the lakeside village. A genuine…
Retrospective: Lake Naomi, Pocono Pines and The Logan Steele Era 1963- 1986
Views: 4,139 While my parents caught wind of Lake Naomi in 1963, Logan Boone Steele of Summit, New Jersey, had a vision and became one of the first developers of the modern era in the Pocono Pines area of the…
The Founding Families of Bernards Township (Basking Ridge)
Views: 35,189 NOTE: Remember that Warren, Far Hills, and Bernardsville were part of Bernards Township, so these family stories also include those areas. History showcases some of the greatest reminders of where we came from. Many people new to the…
Basking Ridge’s Spencer Road is Important to Mr. Local History Too
Views: 3,503 It’s always fun to hear how a story becomes a story for us. In fact, there’s always a story about a new story. History is a bit like sewing…. when you pull a thread, you never know where…