Editing Egg Harbor City, New Jersey (section)

==History==
The area home to Egg Harbor City was settled by Europeans in 1614, when the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] vessel ''Fortuyn'' landed at the [[Mullica River]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.atlantic-county.org/history/egg-harbor-city.asp |title=Egg Harbor City |work=Atlantic County, New Jersey |access-date=May 13, 2022}}</ref> The first settlers named the area "Eyren Haven" after the large number of gull eggs in the area.<ref>Hutchinson, Viola L. [http://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/356/nj_place_names_origin.pdf#page=12 ''The Origin of New Jersey Place Names''], New Jersey Public Library Commission, May 1945. Accessed August 30, 2015.</ref><ref>[[Henry Gannett|Gannett, Henry]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=9V1IAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA115 ''The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States''], p. 115. [[United States Government Printing Office]], 1905. Accessed August 30, 2015.</ref>

[[File:Aero view of Egg Harbor City, New Jersey. LOC 75694723.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Panoramic map]] of Egg Harbor City from 1924 with list of landmarks, inset images of several, and a depiction of the area in 1855]]
[[File:1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - New Jersey - Atlantic County - Egg Harbor City - ED 1-86, ED 1-88 - NARA - 5835033 (page 2).jpg |thumb|300px|1940 Census map of Egg Harbor City land plots, showing unbuilt streets and parks]]
In 1854, the [[Camden and Atlantic Railroad]] opened. On December 14, 1854, a group of prominent [[German American]]s from [[Philadelphia]], including William and Henry Schmoele and Philip Mathias Wolsieffer, incorporated the "Gloucester Farm and Town Association", which purchased approximately 38,000 acres of woodland north of the railroad to serve as a refuge for those being persecuted in the anti-immigrant violence known as the [[Know-Nothing movement]].<ref name="WestJersey">{{cite web |url=http://westjersey.org/ehc_cunz56/ngnj16.htm |title=Egg Harbor City: New Germany in New Jersey |author=Cunz, Dieter |work=Society for the History of the Germans in Maryland |date=1956 |access-date=May 13, 2022}}</ref> The corporation planned two cities: a four-square-mile city called "Pomona" closest to the railroad, and another city called "Gloucester" to the north. However, the twin city scheme was dropped in favor of one seven-mile-long metropolis called "Egg Harbor City". The development's layout contained an urban "city core" containing 100x150-foot lots bounded by New York Avenue to the west and Baltimore Avenue to the east, while the remainder of the land was divided into separate 20-acre farm parcels. The corporation issued stocks at $300 per share; with each share, stockholders would acquire one residential building lot and one farm parcel.<ref name="WestJersey"/> The city was marketed heavily in cities containing large German American populations, including [[Baltimore]], [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]], [[Cleveland]], [[Milwaukee]], and [[St. Louis]].<ref name="WestJersey"/>

The land was divided and plotted from the railroad north to the Mullica River, west ending at Hanover Avenue, and the easternmost land being the home of the present-day [[Stockton University]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/Atlantic/EggHarborCity_GFTA_1889.jpg |title=Gloucester Town and Farm Association Land 1889 |work=Rutgers University |access-date=May 13, 2022}}</ref> The north-south streets were named for cities with large German populations, while the east-west streets were named for notable Germans, starting with [[Louis Agassiz|Agassiz]] Avenue (current-day [[White Horse Pike]]) to the south, and [[Heinrich Zschokke|Zschokke]] Avenue to the north. The city was planned to include ample public green space; both New York Avenue and Baltimore Avenue were platted with wide medians to accommodate garden plats, Landing Creek would have been dammed to create an [[reservoir|artificial lake]] called "Gloucester Lake", and Egg Harbor City Lake would have been made into a reservoir at the center of a large urban park containing landscaped gardens, an [[arboretum]], and a [[Demonstration farm|model farm]].<ref name="WestJersey"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/Atlantic/Egg_Harbor_City_1857.jpg |title=Egg Harbor City 1857 |work=Rutgers University |access-date=May 13, 2022}}</ref> The Mullica River was proposed to be made navigable for commercial vessels, and the northern edge of the street grid along the river was to contain canals and [[wharf]]s for ships to dock.<ref name="WestJersey"/>

Egg Harbor City was officially incorporated as a city by an Act of the [[New Jersey Legislature]] on June 14, 1858, from portions of [[Galloway Township, New Jersey|Galloway Township]] and [[Mullica Township, New Jersey|Mullica Township]]. The city was reincorporated on February 13, 1868.<ref name=Story>Snyder, John P. [https://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/enviroed/oldpubs/bulletin67.pdf ''The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968''], Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 68. Accessed October 25, 2012.</ref> The city's growth was slowed due to an economic crisis in 1857, and then further during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. Though the city did not grow to the size as originally proposed, it grew in population steadily in the 1870s, and remained a virtual island of [[German language]] and culture in [[South Jersey]] for more than 50 years.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://westjersey.org/ehc_cunz56/ngnj16.htm | title= Egg Harbor City: New Germany In New Jersey | via= westjersey.org | last= Cunz | first= Dieter | publisher= The Society for the History of the Germans in Maryland | number= 29 | year= 1956 | pages= 9–30 | access-date= April 23, 2019 | url-status= live | archive-url= https://archive.today/20130416034651/http://westjersey.org/ehc_cunz56/ngnj16.htm | archive-date= April 16, 2013 }}</ref>