The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-10-24
ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEYS FIRST TOWN CELEBRATES
 IT'S 25OTH BIRTHDAY

Elizabeth. N. J., has invited the world and it's wife to join the 80,000
 citizens of that thriving city in cele-
 brating the 250th birthday of that 1 clement in New Jersey. The observ-
 ance of the anniversary is sched duled
 to begin tomorrow and to continue 1 through the week.
 It was early in 1884 that Charles II
 executed a royal charter in favor of l the Duke of York, whereby that mo- b1eman became the owner of the l whole region between the Connecti- cut and Delaware rivers. A few
 months later the present State of
 New Jersey was granted by the Duke of York to Lord John Berkeley and
 Sir George Carteret, by a deed Of
 lease and release, to be called Nova Caesaria, or New Jersey. On Oct 2S, 1864, by license from Col Nichols, governor under the Duke of York a company of "The Elizabethan Asso-
 ciates'' purchased the site of the fu= ture city, originally called Elizabeth town in honor of the wife of Sir
 George Carteret, from the Indians. This historic deal in real estate was
 consummated on Oct. 2S, 1864, be-
 tween the redskin chiefs of Staten Island and the settlers. The terri tory involved included that stretch of
 country between Staten Island and the Rarftan river, thirty-four miles to lASf SOuLn ana seventeen mics on the west to the Passaic river. The con- alteration was twenty fathorns trad Ing cloth, two made coats, two kettles ten bars Of lead, twenty handfuIs of powder and in addition 400 fathoms of white homespun to be paid g. year
 after entry" There has been a con- siderable advance in the price of real estate in that section since that deal was made.
 E1izabethtown was the first seat of organized government in New Jersey. In 1865 Philip Carteret, who had ernor of the future State, arrived at Elizabethtown with thirty settlers. The following year the neighboring
 city of Newark, now the metropolis of New Jersey, was founded by thirty families from Connecticut. Hoboken, Burlington and other settlements were established a little later, and in 1880 Phineas Pemberton settled in the vicinity of Trenton, the present capitol.
 The session of the first legislative
 assembly of New Jersey was held in
 E1izabethtown in 1668. Four years later the settlers under grants from Governor Nichols formed an inde- pendent government whose deputies. meeting in Elizabethtown, elected
 James Carteret governor In 1873 New Netherlands. including New Jer- sey, was surrendered to the Dutch. but within year the English gov ernment was restored.
 After that Elizabethtown ceased to be the capital and the sessions Of the assembly were held in Burlington and Perth Amboy. In 174e Elizabeth town became the seat of the College of New Jersey. but 1t did not long re-
 main the educational center of the Province. The college was remov- ed to Newark in 1748. and a. few years later it found a permanent home in Princeton, and became the forerun- her Of Princeton University
 Elizabeth was the scene of several
 stirring exploits during the revolu- ton. Tn 17Se Gen Washington was
 received by the committee of Con
 gress at Elizabethtown, and from
 there was escorted to New York,
 where he was inaug gurated President of the United States. sg
 The Elizabeth of to-day is d strange compound of the modern and the am cient. Old churches and graveyards are sandwiched in between modern of1ce and business buildings on it's main thoroughfare, while that sec- ton of the city known as Elizabeth port is a modern industrial connun- F ity of smoking factories and beehive | fen Am eT1f<