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This document presents a short history of River Edge, NJ, highlighting its significance during the Revolutionary War and its subsequent development. The area, originally inhabited by the Lenape people and later settled by Europeans, played a crucial role in the American Revolution, particularly the New Bridge crossing. The document traces the evolution of River Edge from a rural landscape of farms and mills to a suburban community, noting key historical events, figures, and landmarks.

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--- Document: History Document ---
Cornelius Matthew, a Swedish land-clearer, made the first European settlement 
about 1683 at the narrows of the Hackensack River in the vicinity of the Steu
ben House. This area was known as Tantaqua’s Plain or Aschatking (meaning 
“at the narrows, where the hill comes close to the river.”) Tantaqua was a Hack
ensack sachem and a successor to Oratam. The earliest landowners were John 
Adams, Eptkey Jacobs (Banta), Richard Pope, Daniel River, Andrisse Tibout, 
John Durie, John Demarest, and Albert Zabriskie, who purchased tracts of land 
in 1685 and 1686. 1
David Ackerman bought 420 acres from Mathew Cornelisse in 1695. His son 
Johannes’ widow, Jannetje Lozier, sold property at New Bridge to Jan and An
netje Zabriskie in 1745. 2  The Ackermans had a tidal gristmill by 1713.
The Demarests sailed up the Hackensack River to the vicinity of what is now 
the River Edge Train Station in May 1677. The first house in which David Des 
Marest resided was located “on the East side of the Hackensack and doubtless 
very near to his mills at the Old Bridge,” probably on the south side of River 
Edge Avenue in New Milford, just east of the present bridge. 3
A History by Kevin W. Wright
Edited and Published by Deborah Powell  © 2020
Originally Published  © 1994
A SHORT HISTORY OF RIVER EDGE, NJ
Bergen County Historical Society Anthology
HISTORIC NEW BRIDGE LANDING
Warrior from 1609, A Country 
That Was Never Lost, pg 126 
by Kevin W. Wright
Image from HNBL Brochure  


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A SHORT HISTORY OF RIVER EDGE, NJ  |  Bergen County Historical Society Anthology
Map by Claire Tholl. Larger area version of this map is on our website: BergenCountyHistory.org
River crossings were built at the gristmill hamlets of Old Bridge (by the present River Edge train station) in 
1720 and at New Bridge in 1744. The name New Bridge did not come into use until after the Paulus Hook Ferry 
was established in 1764. Several houses appear on Robert Erskine’s No. 113, 1779 map, noted along Kinderka
mack Road. The surrounding land was woodlots, and farm fields for grain and orchards.
 
The roadside farms, lying along the Kinderkamack Path between Old and New Bridge, formed a neighborhood 
known as Steenrapie, a vanished place-name. Steen is the Dutch word for “stone,” which prompts some to mis
takenly believe — as with the kinder in Kinderkamack — that the word is of Dutch origin. Most likely, Steenra
pie is an approximation of the Lenape “Lenacki,” meaning “high ground, upland.” The countryside atop the hill, 
extending from northern River Edge into Emerson was anciently known as Kinderkamack; the path leading 
up from Hackensack was called the Kinderkamack path or road. The first spelling (1686) was Kindokameck, 
a form of the Lenape word Wenhakamike or Linhakamike, meaning “upland.” The Dutch later corrupted it to 
Kinderkamack. This road climbed the mountain ridge at Cherry Hill (just as it does to day). 4


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A SHORT HISTORY OF RIVER EDGE, NJ  |  Bergen County Historical Society Anthology
Despite centuries of change, three pre-Revo
lutionary War homes still survive (in 2020), 
including two along Kinderkamack Road. The 
homestead of Christian Dederer, built around 
1760, stands at the foot of Wayne Avenue. 
The Heritage House on Kinderkamack Road, 
overlooking the head of River Edge Avenue, 
was constructed, perhaps as early as 1760, on 
“that certain Farm, or Plantation lying and on 
the West side of the Hackensack River oppo
site the Place where the old Mill stood, being 
the farm or plantation whereon David Demar
est lived and died and containing 270 acres.” 5
The Zabriskie-Steuben House (now a state his
toric site) was built 1752, enlarged 1767. The 
Zabriskies had a tidal gristmill, shipping wharf 
and schooner. The Jersey-Dutch sandstone 
gambrel roof house is located at Historic New 
Bridge Landing along the Hackensack River. 
There was much activity throughout the war 
because of it’s stragetic location at the bridge, 
the first bridge above Newark Bay. 6
Heritage House, Kinderkamack Road
Wayne Avenue and Kinderkamack Road 
Zabriskie-Steuben House, 1209 Main Street
Zabriskie-Steuben House date stone 
with tide mill paddle wheel relief


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A SHORT HISTORY OF RIVER EDGE, NJ  |  Bergen County Historical Society Anthology
Considerable military activity occurred in River Edge throughout the Revolution. Surprised by British invasion 
on November 20, 1776, General Washington led the retreating garrison from Fort Lee across the New Bridge to 
safety, inspiring Thomas Paine’s memorable refrain, “These are the times that try men’s souls.” British troops built 
earthworks and troop emplacements upon Brower’s (later Cherry) Hill in September 1778. 14,000 soldiers of the 
Continental Army encamped at Steenrapia in September 1780. Washington’s correspondence lists his headquar
ters at New Bridge, undoubtedly in the Steuben House. At war’s end, the State legislature presented Jan Zabrisk
ie’s stone mansion to Baron von Steuben, the Prussian Inspector-General of the Continental troops. The historic 
Zabriskie-Steuben House at New Bridge probably survived more of the American Revolution than any other spot 
in America, having served as a fort, military headquarters, encampment ground and battleground throughout 
the war. 7
Famous Faces of New Bridge
Image from HNBL Brochure  
Washington leading the troops across New Bridge, painting by B.Spencer Newman, BCHS collections.  


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A SHORT HISTORY OF RIVER EDGE, NJ  |  Bergen County Historical Society Anthology
AMERICAN BATTLEGROUND 
While a constant arena for conflict, the following significant Revolutionary War events are associated with New 
Bridge: 
• British troops under Major General Vaughan attacked the American rear guard on November 21, 1776, and 
seized the New Bridge, which American engineers were dismantling.
• British and Loyalist troops under command of Captain Patrick Fergusen attacked about 40 Bergen militiamen 
at New Bridge on May 18, 1779. 
• Major Henry Lee led American troops from New Bridge, August 18, 1779, to attack the British earthworks at 
Paulus Hook (Jersey City). 
• A force of Bergen Militia and Continental troops attacked 600 British troops and German auxiliaries at New 
Bridge on their retreat from Hackensack & Paramus on March 23, 1780, during the 2 hours it took for the 
British to repair and cross the New Bridge.
• A body of 312 British, Loyalist and German infantry attacked and overwhelmed an American outpost at New 
Bridge commanded by Lieutenant Bryson on April 15, 1780. 
• Eight British soldiers were killed and several wounded by friendly fire when British troops attempted to attack 
a body of Bergen Militia in the Zabriskie-Steuben House at New Bridge on May 30, 1780. 
• Brigadier General Anthony Wayne led American troops from New Bridge on a raid against the Bull’s Ferry 
Blockhouse on July 20, 1780.
• General Washington made his headquarters in the Zabriskie-Steuben House during the Steenrapie Encamp
ment (along Kinderkamack Rd) of the Continental Army, encompassing 14,000 men, on September 4-20, 1780. 8
Map from Andre’s 1780 Journal that shows New Bridge and Old Bridge and British 5,000 troops in red,
encamped from Cherry Hill to Englewood. Note the two forts on Cherry Hill.


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A SHORT HISTORY OF RIVER EDGE, NJ  |  Bergen County Historical Society Anthology
Utilizing the thick bed of 
glacial clay that man
tles the Hackensack 
Valley, Henry Van 
Saun opened a 
brickyard and 
pottery near 
what is now the 
River Edge Swim 
Club around 1811. 
Pot-baker George 
Wolfkiel took over op
erations in 1848, producing 
crockery and slip-decorated pie 
plates that are today highly collectible. Based upon the 
seasonal harvest of cattail rushes for seating, chair
making was another important cottage industry.
Schooner on the Hackensack River
Captain Stephen Lozier had a general store at the Old 
Bridge, which was a thriving lumber port during the 
late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, sending 
great quantities of cordwood to New York and other 
coastal cities. In 1874, the Hackensack Water Com
pany erected its first pumping station at New Bridge, 
feeding river water to its reservoir atop Cherry Hill 
(hence, Reservoir Avenue) to supply potable water to 
Hackensack by gravity feed. Because the brackish river 
water drawn from this location proved undrinkable, 
the company relocated to New Milford at the head 
of tides in 1881. The Hackensack & New York Rail
road extended northward in 1870, initiating the first 
suburban development. Commuter residences rose 
on streets surrounding the depot near New Bridge, 
named Cherry Hill, and another at Old Bridge, re
named River Edge.
The King Iron Company installed an iron bridge at 
Old Bridge in 1887 and at New Bridge in 1889. The 
latter still survives and is listed on the New Jersey 
and National Registers of Historic Places as the oldest 
highway swing bridge in the state. Developer Gustav 
Peetz purchased the 25-acre David W. Christie farm 
in 1892, lying between Kinderkamack Road and the 
Hackensack River, adjacent to the River Edge Station, 
and surveyed the tract into streets and building lots. 
He remodeled the old Christie Homestead on Spring 
Valley Avenue for his own residence. Emil Baumgertel 
opened the River Edge Hotel at this location in May 
1894.
On June 29, 1894, by vote of 37 to 3, citizens of Riv
er Edge and Cherry Hill approved incorporation of 
the new borough of Riverside. The first town officials 
were: Mayor John G. Webb; Councilmen, Albert Z. 
Bogert, Nathaniel Board Zabriskie, James D. Christie, 
Nicholas R. Voorhis, Frederick H. Crum, and D. An
derson Zabriskie; Assessor, John R. Voorhis; Collector, 
James D. Holdrum; and Commissioners of Appeals, 
Henry Spatz, Conrad Freidman, and Henry Lozier.
James D. Holdrum built his store building at the 
corner of Park Avenue and River Edge Road in 1895. 
In July 1895, Albert Z. Bogert built a new store along
side the river at the west end of the Old Bridge. At 
about 3:30 p. m. on Saturday, July 13, 1895, the black 
funnel of a tornado appeared atop Cherry Hill. This 
1848 Pie Plate made near the 
River Edge swim club


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A SHORT HISTORY OF RIVER EDGE, NJ  |  Bergen County Historical Society Anthology
“hellish wind,” soon known as the Cherry Hill Tor
nado, caused considerable damage along Main Street 
in its eight-minutes of fury, killing three persons and 
injuring eleven.
Albert Z. Bogert, Mayor Joseph Brohel, and Wm. Mar
tin purchased about 14 acres of the Webb and Demar
est farms in 1905, formed the River Edge Land Com
pany and began selling building lots on the hill above 
the train depot. Many fine homes were subsequently 
built along Summit Avenue and its vicinity. The first 
Cherry Hill School House was built on Grand Avenue 
in 1901. The River Edge Volunteer Fire Department 
was incorporated in June 1903. The post office and 
depot at Cherry Hill were renamed North Hackensack 
in 1907. The North Hackensack Hose Company was 
incorporated in 1907, with 35 members and 500 feet 
of hose. A new River Edge railroad depot was erected 
in 1907. In 1911, contractor Carl Ufheil, of Peetzburg, 
built a small post office building of concrete blocks for 
River Edge, opposite the train station on the west bank 
of the river. It served as a post office until 1931 and the 
building still survives. Also in 1911, the Freeholders 
ordered the installation of a new bridge near the River 
Edge depot, using the Bascule patent, which employed 
a counterbalance apparatus on the principle of the 
seesaw, in which one end rises as the other falls.
The borough name changed to River Edge in 1930. 
The literature department of the Women’s Club estab
lished the River Edge Library in 1931. As late as 1938, 
25% of River Edge remained farm acreage. The popu
lation, however, doubled in the decade between 1930 
and 1940. Over the next several years, the Borough 
accepted 4.6 miles of new streets and Kinderkamack 
Road was widened. The present Borough Hall opened 
in 1941. Charles H. Reis developed the Clarendon 
Hills section of River Edge. In 1941, the Sunnyslope 
subdivision had sites available for 51 dwellings to sup
plement the 350 already constructed. A new Borough 
Hall opened in 1941 in the former residence of Mayor 
Elmer Howell, situated on the dividing line between 
the old north section of town and new subdivision 
housing developments.
The State of New Jersey acquired the historic Zabrisk
ie-Steuben House through eminent domain in 1928, 
largely at the urging of the Bergen County Historical 
Society. The Historical Society opened their museum 
headquarters in there in 1939 and purchased the adja
cent eight-acres in 1944 to provide a buffer and refuge 
for threatened historic sites. The Historic New Bridge 
Landing Park Commission was created by legisla
tion in 1995 to coordinate governmental and private 
development within the historic park, preserving this 
rare fragment of our past. After a flood in April 2007, 
further legislation turned over administration of the 
state-owned lands and buildings to the commission, 
not only to better protect this Revolutionary War 
battleground from modern intrusions, but to promote 
it as a major heritage destination. From New Milford 
the Demarest House Museum and Westervelt-Thomas 
Barn were moved in 1954-54 and the Campbell-Chris
tie House in 1977 to BCHS property at the site.
The pace of suburban subdivision and development 
accelerated rapidly after World War II. In the past de
cade, new and larger residences have already replaced 
houses built in the postwar boom. In 2009, the name 
of the NJ Transit stop in the south end of the borough 
was changed from North Hackensack to New Bridge 
Landing, restoring the historical identity of the neigh
borhood, where exciting new hopes and plans for 
redevelopment are now under consideration. 9
Footnotes:
1.  Kevin W. Wright with Deborah Powell, The Bridge That Saved a 
Nation, Bergen County, New Bridge and the Hackensack Valley, (England: 
America Through Time by arrangement with Fonthill Media, 2019) 
p. 50.
2.  Wright, op. cit., p. 44
3. Demarest, D. D., The Huguenots On the Hackensack, (New Bruns
wick: The Daily Fredonian Steam Printing House, 1886), p. 10
4. Wright, op. cit., p. 42
5. Kevin W. Wright, unpublished manuscript.
6. Kevin W. Wright, Historic New Bridge Landing Brochure.
7. Kevin W. Wright, Historic New Bridge Landing Brochure.
8. Kevin W. Wright, BCHS website: https://www.bergencountyhistory.
org/newbridge-revwar
9. Kevin W. Wright, website prior to January 1, 2020.