Horseneck Tract facts for kids

The Horseneck Tract was a large area of land in what is now Essex County, New Jersey, United States. It included many towns you might know today, like Caldwell, West Caldwell, North Caldwell, Fairfield, Verona, Cedar Grove, Essex Fells, and Roseland. Parts of Livingston and West Orange were also once part of this tract.

History of the Horseneck Tract

Early Land Purchases

The story of the Horseneck Tract began with land purchases. On May 1, 1701, a group of Dutch settlers bought a large piece of land at Horseneck from the local Native Americans. These settlers included Simon Van Ness, Gerebrand Clawson, Hans Spier, Elias Franson, Christopher Steinmets, Andrese Louwrentz, Garret Vanderhoof, Hessell Pieters, and Jan Spier.

Just one year later, in 1702, English settlers also bought a huge section of the Horseneck Tract. This purchase was about 14,000 acres (57 square kilometers) and was bought from the Lenape Native Americans. They paid for it with goods worth about $325 in today's money. This large area covered much of western Essex County, stretching from the First Mountain to the Passaic River.

People started settling in the area around 1740. The first known settlers were Thomas Gould and Saunders Sanders. No one is quite sure why the region was called "Horse Neck." It's not because of its shape, which might be a common guess!

How Horseneck Became Caldwell

The area was known as the Horseneck Tract for many years. But on February 17, 1787, something important happened. The members of the First Presbyterian Church at Horseneck decided to change the name of their church and parish. They voted to call it Caldwell. This was done to honor Reverend James Caldwell, who had helped them create their church. After this, the church became known as the First Presbyterian Church at Caldwell.

Then, in 1798, the western part of Newark Township was renamed Caldwell Township. This new township included the Parish of Caldwell.

New Towns Emerge from Caldwell Township

Over time, Caldwell Township began to change and split into several new towns.

First, Caldwell Borough was formed. This borough included what are now the towns of West Caldwell and Caldwell.

Soon after, the area of Caldwell Township located east of Caldwell Borough, between Caldwell Borough and Montclair, decided to become its own borough. This area, which is now Verona and Cedar Grove, incorporated itself as Verona.

Some of the neighborhoods in eastern Caldwell Township that were already developed chose to join Montclair. Montclair was growing quickly as a suburb of big cities like Newark and Paterson.

Around the same time, the area north of Caldwell Borough became its own town, called North Caldwell. The wooded area directly southeast of downtown Caldwell Borough became Essex Fells. The farmland to the south of Caldwell Township was briefly called South Caldwell. This South Caldwell region later became Roseland, after other towns like Livingston and West Orange expanded.

By this point, all that was left of the original Caldwell Township was about 6,624 acres of farmlands and undeveloped meadows in the northwestern part of Essex County. Finally, in 1963, Caldwell Township changed its name one last time to Fairfield. This was done to avoid confusion with Caldwell Borough.