The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1917-05-29
Historic Mount Holly.

The communication of M" in our
last issue stating that our town was
known az Mount Holly as early as
1884, has called forth the following in
teresting reply:
Editor Of THE NEWS:
In my article on the change of name
from Bridgetown to Mount Holly, /
said did not recall the use of Mount
Holly prior to May, 1870. What l had
in mind was SO far as it concerned the
rivalry for supremacy.
In your next issue attention is called
by M to the fact that Mount Holly
is mentioned in the n. j. Archives 10
1894. / did not use any of the hve al
lusions in said archives for the reason
that I believed land still believe) that
they referred to the Mount as the dis
tinguishing feature of the landscape.
The five illusions are: First, John
Cripps, in 1881, gave it the name OF
mount Holley;" in 1923 mention is
made of 'snear Mount Holley;" IN 1883
mention is.made ''of Mount Holley;
merely the selection of the wrong word
'sof'' instead of NEAR" In 1894 we
have NEAR" and in 1898 we find
NEAR" again. Unless second thought
is given one would naturally infer that
there was q town here at that early
period, which do not think was the
case, as it was about the last place tc
select for a town, unless it was the pur
pose to use the stream for business
purposes, which was not done for about
q quarter of a century. Judging by
the length of time it took Samuel Jen
nings, agent, to sell the holdings O
John Ridges, Of London, buyers were
scarce, he being from 1885 to 17O1, or
16 years, before q sale was made tt
Josiah Southwick and Edward Gas
kill. The population of Northampton
township in 1903, which then embraced
all four of the ''amptons" north, east
south and west, was 231. Southwicl
and Gaskill do not seem to have dom
anything to attract attention. They
dissolved in 1720, after which Gaskil
proceeded to start something by dig
cling the raceway, building dam, ane
erecting saw mill and q grist mill
just when l do not know, but in III;
Gaskill alludes to his saw mill anl
races as ''all that saw mill made ant
erected, built and set on work with thu
two saws on my land lying on thu
north side the mill race being artificial
ly made by hand" In the deed o
Ridges to Gaskill and Southwick Their
il no allusion to any settlement
Query, was there any2 Doubtful.
If the 1894 allusion is taken as evi
dence that it meant the town of Noun
Holly, you must accept 1852 as mean
ing the same, and where would thu
name Bridgetown come in then?
Touaph a. CowOiIl
Mr.. Cowgirl has also written the TO
lowing article for THE News "Histori
Mount Holly series. We are sui
that it will be read with great interes
OUR TOWN AS IT APPEARED IN lie
Have you not ere this wondered whs
kind of q town Mount Holly was i
1752? Well, it would make stron
draughts ON your imagination an
fancy to picture it and then you woul
not have it. will assist you as far q
the streets are concerned. A map {
that time would show High stree
down whose steep descent the earl
settlers came when they branched on
into the wilderness of pines after Sc
Ting at Burlington. Our map woul
show US branching eastward a stree
called New street known to us as Brair
ard street, after the missionary Brair
ard). A strong effort was made in late
years to reinstate the original nam,
but 1t was fruitless. A map made b
Amos Bullock in 1848 calls it Ne
street, as also map made in 1856 b
Ezra A. Osborn. This street fin
from diagram dated 1744, took a tur
to the northeast, to avoid running int
the run OF water known as Buttonwoo
Run. The street as originally marke
would strike about the upper corner
Cherry and Pearl streets, instead
Mill and Cherry, if continued on i
present line. In legal papers, such 6
deeds, find they continued usin
New street as late as 1849, but by dill
gent enquiry l fail to find any pc
son who ever heard it called by an
name other than Brainard. 1t is yer
doubtful ii there were any houses o
High street above Brainard, and yer
few below it.
OF Mill street it was not until abou
this time (1752) that we find any meI
ton of 1.-The road called Mill street i
Bridgetown, it not being deemed an,
thing more than the road leading [
the mills. In June, 1899, it was su
veyed and widened, which probabI
gave it some semblanoe to its preser
shape.
We would find Pine street, whic
did not receive its present name unit
1878 or 1919, being known as late {
1917 as the sstreet running from Iro
Works bridge to the town, and in 18(
as the 'sroad leading from the MillRaC
to the Iron Work Bridge" In 1865
was termed the ''street which lead
from Josiah Whites to the Iro
Works"
White street would appear mo,
Church street, This was probabl
run out soon after Josiah Whites arr
val in 1870, as we find that the adjoir
ing house (recently occupied by Gibb
shoe shop was built by ]. Foster i
1874, which showed in the bricks at { b
apex until Mr.. Gibbs made it fla
roof, when the bricks were taken outan
afterwards lost. / think the street 9
one time extended to the creek, whic
need not necessarily have extended !
very much further than it does nov
taking into consideration the slope
the bank to the creekside.
Race street would also appear, as "
find it mentioned as early as 1746 in
deed from Nathaniel Thomas to Wi
liam Bubble. In 1855 White and Rat
streets were relaid by survey-Whit
street on pretty much il not exactl