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DELRAN

 

 

Delran 

By Joseph M. Laufer

Delran’s pre-colonial heritage is heralded on the town seal, which shows an Indian with a shield bearing the image of a turtle, the symbol of the Unami tribe. Indians of the villages along the Rancocas and Pennsauken creeks hunted and fished in this area. Numerous Indian relics were found here.

While Quaker settlers predominated in the region, there were also Swedes and French Huguenots. John and Grace Hollinshead, Thomas Hackney, Thomas Hooton, Mathew Allen (who owned land between Swede Run and the Rancocas), and Henry Jacobs (of Denmark – who could handle the Indian language) were among the early colonists.

Much like the other Colonial Chester towns, Delran experienced a metamorphosis as it developed from Chester (1692-1860) to Cinnaminson (1860-1880) and finally, in 1880 becoming Delran, which also included Riverside, until it, too, was separated out in 1890, leaving Delran in its present “L” shape, comprised of 7.2 square miles, with frontage on both the Delaware River and Rancocas Creek – the combination creating its name.

Because the Rancocas Creek dissected Burlington County, provision had to be made to connect the north-western communities with the up-river north-eastern communities, particularly Burlington City, the primary port of entry for the early colonists. In the early days, travelers on the Burlington Pike between Cooper’s Ferry ( Camden) and Burlington crossed the Rancocas Creek by a ferry operated by John Buzby. An early 1793 bridge was replaced by a covered bridge in 1838. Actually, there were two covered bridges, one at each end with an open area in the middle, to permit taller river traffic to pass when opened. One of the wooden bridge coverings was destroyed by fire, and in 1927 a four-lane concrete and steel structure was built, eventually giving way in 1985 to the present six-lane bridge. As would be expected, a community grew up on the Delran side of the ferry and bridge crossing, – appropriately named Bridgeboro. First came taverns (run by families named Allen, Leconey, Gill, Wallace and Louden). Businesses and churches followed. There was also a wharf at Bridgeboro to receive the steamers which sailed the Delaware and Rancocas.

The oldest house in Delran is the Historic Conrow House, located behind the First United Methodist Church at 32 Conrow Avenue. It was built in 1751 by Darling Conrow, whose grandfather settled in Delran in 1683. An ancestor, Jacob Conrow, sold land to Abraham Huelings at the Delaware waterfront, called Plum Point, which is now Dredge Harbor, so named because of the sand and gravel operations at that location during the 1930s which excavated and dredged the area. What remained provided a very convenient place to establish marinas, which flourish there today. Several buildings along St. Mihiel Drive in front of Dredge Harbor were built from stone which was in the path of the dredge.

The areas extending beyond Bridgeboro contained a patchwork of farmsteads. Swedes Run flows through Delran and provided a ready power source for the Haines flour mill, located just east of Route 130 where the highway crosses the stream. The same watercourse also supplied power to Borton's Mill, a gristmill that operated between 1750 and 1800. When the construction of the Camden & Amboy Railroad extended through present-day Delran Township during 1834, the township's industrial potential expanded.

With the availability of lumber and the presence of the Rancocas Creek along the township's northern boundary, ship's carpenters established yards along the Bridgeboro shoreline during the 1840s and 1850s, constructing two-masted vessels for the coastal sailing trade. Cherubini Yachts on Norman Avenue, continuing a long family tradition of boatbuilding in Burlington County, moved its operations to Delran in1983, reestablishing the industry in the community.

Today, Delran is a vibrant community with a population of 15,536. The River Line and the revitalization of the Route 130 corridor have contributed to the vitality of the economy here, as evidenced by the expansion of the Heritage Square, Millside and Hartford Corners Shopping Centers.

Despite this commercial growth, sensitivity to the preservation of open space and recreation has led to the opening of Burlington County’s Amico Island Park at the confluence of the Rancocas Creek and the Delaware River. The park is a 5.5-acre peninsula which includes a collection of upland forests, freshwater ponds and wetlands, river shoreline and meadows which attract a variety of animal species. Visitors can enjoy hiking, biking, fishing and picnicking in a rustic natural setting. Overlook locations have been created to provide panoramic views of the waterways and marinas surrounding the park.

Today, subdivisions with names like Del Crest, Hillside Manor, Tenbytowne, Millside Heights, Summerhill, and Tenby Chase have supplanted Delran's early communities of Bridgeboro, Fairview, and Cambridge. Yet street names such as Haines Mill Road, Conrow Avenue,  Hartford Road, Creek Road, and Fairview Street provide a lasting testimony of the township's historic past.

10/24/06

800 words

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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