Other Events
General Timeline
1890 – Sarah Green purchased the building at 715 Main, known then as Independence Hall and named it “The Boonton Opera House”
1895 - Telephone company established in Boonton
The New York Telephone Company installed the first Boonton switchboard. One of the first to subscribe was John H. Brown, who had the easy number to remember “Boonton 1”. The cost per year was $42.00.
By 1900, 36 telephones were in use and by 1915, 758 phones over crowded the old switchboard.
In 1915, a three-minute long distance call could be made from Boonton to San Francisco at a cost of $20. By 1919, the same call would cost $16; by 1927, $9.
1890's
Between Lincoln Street and the Rockaway River, and crossed by the extensions of Dixon and Dawson Avenues, is an area of several acres that for two centuries has been known as “the Witch Grounds.”
When first discovered, it was surrounded by dense forest, but the area itself was absolutely barren and the earth was hard-packed as a “barn floor.” This strange place was regarded with dread and superstition by the early settlers who explained (at least to their children) that this was the place where witches danced.
In the 1890’s E. B. Dawson built a ¼ mile track and grandstand near this spot, the oval track being contained in the square formed by Dixon and Dawson Avenues and Lincoln and Forbush Streets.
Mr. Dawson’s son, Ray, was Captain of the bicycle teams of Columbia University and the New York Athletic Club, and was at one time a national champion bicycle racer.
1900's - 1910's
1904 - New Boonton Railroad Station built. It was described back then as follows:
The street level held a smoking room, women's room, newsstand and express and baggage room and an elevator. The station on the westbound tract harmonizes in architectural construction with the main building and has a large waiting room. Both buildings are furnished throughout in oak and patent plaster walls.
1917 - E.F. Drew came to Boonton.