Early Industry

Early industry developed along Lopatcong Creek between South Main Street and the Delaware River, where readily available creek water powered grist and sawmills before returning to the creek and then flowing into the Delaware River. After the Morris Canal was built in 1831, it was joined with the creek near Green's Bridge, and the overflow was impounded in a mill pond. Among several mills, the Riley-Shimer flour mill ground rye, corn, and wheat, and its finished products were shipped on the canal. The Hagarty Sawmill, located southwest of Sawmill Street, operated with a turbine driven by a 19 foot fall of water. Lumber rafts traveling on the Delaware River brought logs to the mill to be cut into usable planks and other products that could be shipped on the canal. In 1832, the first boat on the Morris Canal to travel from Phillipsburg to Jersey City and return originated from the Greens Bridge area and may have carried lumber and flour from this area. After the canal was abandoned in 1924, most of the area, including the mill pond, was filled in, covering the remains of a once thriving industrial area.

Phillipsburg, New Jersey · United States