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Map of Lake Hopatcong. Morris and Sussex Counties. New Jersey.
New York: E. Robinson, 82 & 84 Nassau St., 1887. Hand-colored lithograph, 18.25” x 28.5”, plus margins, dissected and mounted on linen, folding into black leather 12mo covers (6.75” x 5.25”). Early ownership inscription of ‘F. G.Himpler’ and small manuscript map of portion of street on verso of two panels. Printed text from unidentified source regarding Lake Hopatacong cottagers affixed to front paste-down. A scarce and appealing map of Lake Hopatcong showing the various developments that sprang up around this vacation destination for New York city-dwellers. Depicting the lake lying along the border between Morris and Sussex Counties, this detailed and multi-colored map indicates along a forty-five mile shoreline hotels, steamboat landings, elevations of hills, roads, coves, canals, marshes, municipal buildings, brooks, parks, and numerous landowners. Various proposed sites for construction are shown in addition to extant companies, such as American Forcite Powder Manufacturing, and buildings appear as black squares. The Delaware, Lackawanna, Central Railroad of New Jersey (DL&W), Western R.R. and proposed railroads appear at the lake’s margins. Roads extend from the mainland to a few of the islands. Shown on the east side of the lake is the Ogden Mine R.R., built in 1866 to haul iron ore from the mines on New Jersey’s Sparta Mountain. Ore was carried to Nolan’s Point on Lake Hopatcong, where it was then loaded on barges and taken across the lake via Ogden Mine R.R.’s own steamship to the Morris Canal. While New Jersey iron mines declined by the 1890s, substantial passenger traffic to the lake led to the redesigning of Nolan’s Point to accommodate service via the DL&W. The station at Nolan’s Point was rebuilt by 1888 to handle some 50,000 visitors each summer during the 1890s. While the precise origin of the name Hopatcong is unknown, it is most commonly attributed to the Lenape Indian word for “stone water” (or “stone over water”). In the 1850s, the Morris & Essex R.R. became the first railroad to reach the lake’s southern end. However, it wasn’t until the early 1880s—when passenger rail service came to the Lake via the New Jersey Central R.R.—that the lake blossomed into a popular summer resort. Soon hotels were built near the lake to support the burgeoning tourism, such as the luxurious Breslin Hotel, and various amusements sprang up including the Bertrand Island Amusement Park. The lake flourished into the 1920s and attracted many famous people who purchased property there—including Vaudeville stars Joe Cook and Owen McGiveney, actress Lotta Crabtree, inventor and chemist Hudson Maxim, and others. During the Depression, tourism declined across the nation, and permanent, suburban residences were increasingly constructed around the Lake. No records in WorldCat. REFERENCES: Koppenhaver, Bob. Lake Hopatcong Ye Olde Lake at njskylands.com CONDITION: Spine perished, front cover detached, map good, with some separation along folds.
Item #5513
Price: $750.00