New Jersey: Liberty
and Prosperity
State Flag: New Jersey's state flag was adopted on March 26, 1896. It carries the state's coat of arms and motto on a field of buff--supposedly chosen to duplicate the color of the uniform facings selected by Gen. George Washington in 1779 for the New Jersey Continental Line.
State Flower: Purple Violet
State Bird: Eastern Goldfinch
US
State since:
Dec. 18, 1787 (3rd
to join the Union)
1524 Giovanni da
Verrazzano explores New Jersey shore.
1609 Henry Hudson ascends Hudson River.
1618 Dutch trading post built at Bergen (now Jersey City).
1623 Fort Nassau built near present Gloucester City by Capt.
Cornelius Mey.
1638 Swedish settlers build forts on east bank of Delaware River;
expelled by Dutch in 1655.
1660 The Dutch establish a permanent colony in Bergen.
1664 England grants region to Lord Berkeley and Sir George
Carteret. The Dutch surrender New Jersey to England.
1674 Edward Byllynge and John Fenwick, Quakers, buy Berkeley's
interest in western New Jersey.
1676 Colony divided into East and West Jersey.
1702 East and West Jersey surrender government to English Crown;
reunited as royal colony under New York governors; separated from New
York in 1738.
1746 College of New Jersey (now Princeton) chartered.
1766 Queens College (now Rutgers, The State University) founded at
New Brunswick.
1774 First Provincial Congress meets at New Brunswick; adopts
constitution in 1776.
1776 Gen. George Washington retreats across state into
Pennsylvania, recrosses the Delaware River, takes Trenton. State adopts
its first constitution.
1777 Americans defeat British at Princeton.
1778 British retreat across New Jersey from Philadelphia;
Washington defeats them at Monmouth.
1779-80 Washington and Army winter at Morristown.
1783 Princeton is national capital, June 30-November 4; Trenton,
Nov. 1-Dec. 24, 1784. Washington gives farewell address to Army at Rocky
Hill.
1787 New Jersey represents smaller states at Constitutional
Convention; is 3rd state to ratify United States Constitution, December
18.
1790 Trenton becomes state capital; original Capitol completed in
1792.
1804 Vice-President Aaron Burr kills Alexander Hamilton in duel at
Weehawken.
1831 Morris Canal opened; Delaware and Raritan Canal, in 1834.
1838 Samuel F.B. Morse demonstrates telegraph near Morristown.
1844 New state constitution grants free-male suffrage.
1846 In the first organized game of baseball, the New York Nine
defeat the Hoboken Nickerbocker Giants 23-1 in Hoboken.
1869 In the first intercollegiate football game, Rutgers defeats
Princeton 6-4 in New Brunswick.
1879 Thomas Alva Edison demonstrates first effective electric lamp
at Menlo Park.
1881 John P. Holland launches first practical submarine in Passaic
River.
1885 Grover Cleveland, born 1837 in Caldwell, becomes 22nd
president of United States; the 24th, in 1893.
1889 Liberal laws attract corporations to state.
1913 Woodrow Wilson, governor of New Jersey, becomes 28th United
States president.
1921 Port of New York Authority established.
1927 Holland Tunnel opened; George Washington Memorial Bridge, in
1931; Pulaski Skyway, in 1933; Lincoln Tunnel, in 1937; Delaware
Memorial Bridge, in 1951; Walt Whitman Bridge, in 1957.
1947 New state constitution adopted, effective 1948.
1952-3 New Jersey Turnpike opened.
1954 Garden State Parkway opened.
1959 Savannah, world's first nuclear-powered commercial
ship, launched at Camden.
1961 New Jersey is one of four states in federal-state compact to
develop Delaware Basin resources.
1966 Revised constitution approved; effective 1967.
1967 United States President Lyndon B. Johnson and Soviet Premier
Aleksei N. Kosygin hold summit in Glassboro. Riots break out in Newark
among disgruntled black residents; result in 26 deaths.
1969 Voters approve a state lottery to raise revenue for state
schools and state government.
1976 Voters approve legalized casino gambling for Atlantic City.
Meadowlands sports complex opens in East Rutherford. State adopts
individual income tax.
1979 The publicly owned New Jersey Transit Corporation created by
legislation.
1981 Brendan Byrne Arena opens at the Meadowlands sports complex.
1988 New Jersey joins eight other states in a suit to force the
Environmental Protection Agency to establish acid-rain controls in
Midwest.
1990 Three major oil spills occur in New York Harbor, the
largest of which was 567,000 gallons.
© Compton's '99 Interactive Encyclopedia
Atlantic City Famous resort; boardwalk; convention facilities; Miss America Pageant; casino gambling
Berrien House (also known as Rockingham). In Rocky Hill; here Gen. George Washington wrote and delivered his farewell address to the Army in 1783.
Bordentown Old Clara Barton School, where founder of American Red Cross taught; Thomas Paine House; Bonaparte Park, estate of Joseph Bonaparte.
Burlington Birthplace of James Fenimore Cooper, author of 'Leatherstocking Tales'; home of James Lawrence, hero who said "Don't give up the ship"; Quaker Schoolhouse (1792).
Cape May Southern tip of state: first resort in United States; re-created 19th-century town; lighthouse; museums.
Dey Mansion Near Paterson; Washington's headquarters in 1780.
Gingerbread Castle Near Hamburg; model of witch's house in 'Hansel and Gretel'.
Grover Cleveland Birthplace In Caldwell; furnishings and memoirs of the president.
Hancock House In Hancocks Bridge; built in 1734; New Jersey militia massacred here by British troops in 1778.
Indian King Tavern In Haddonfield; famous American Revolutionary War meeting place built in 1750; first state legislature met here in 1777.
Joyce Kilmer Memorial Shrine In New Brunswick; birthplace of author of poem 'Trees'.
Meadowlands Sports Complex In East Rutherford; horse racing, concerts, professional football, hockey, basketball.
Monmouth Battlefield Near Freehold; where Molly Pitcher took her husband's battle post in 1778. Old Tennent Church, built in 1751, is nearby.
Princeton Princeton University, including Nassau Hall (1756); Princeton Battle Monument.
Red Bank Battlefield In National Park; Hessians and British troops attacked Fort Mercer in 1777.
Somers Mansion In Somers Point; home of Richard Somers, hero of battle of Tripoli.
Somerville In Somerset County; Wallace House, Washington's headquarters in 1778-79; Old Dutch Parsonage (1751); annual Memorial Day Somerville bike race.
Allaire State Park Near Allenwood; early ironworks
Edison State Park In Menlo Park; memorial tower; museum.
Fort Mott State Park On Delaware River near Salem; American Civil War fort.
Island Beach State Park On the Atlantic Ocean just south of Seaside
High Point State Park Near Colesville in Kittatinny Mountain region; highest point in the state.
Washington Crossing State Park In Titusville on Delaware River; Christmas Day reenactment of where Washington crossed river in 1776.
Washington Rock State Park Near Dunellen; rock on First Watchung Mountain where Washington watched British troops.
Brigantine National Wildlife Refuge In Oceanville; migratory birds and other wildlife; 20,000 acres (8,100 hectares) of wetlands.
Edison National Historic Site In West Orange; Edison's laboratory and inventions, including the alkaline storage battery, phonograph, motion-picture equipment.
Morristown National Historical Park Near Morristown; sites of military encampments during American Revolution; Ford Mansion, Washington's headquarters in 1779-80.
Internet
Sites:
New Jersey: North @ http://northernnj.about.com/
New Jersey: South @ http://southjersey.about.com/
New Jersey Shore @ http://jerseyshore.about.com/
Copyright © 2001-
, Terry Muse