Editing Pompton Lakes, New Jersey (section)

== History ==
[[Dutch people|Dutch settlers]] began to settle in the area that is now Pompton Lakes in the 1680s, purchasing farmland from the local [[Lenape]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]].<ref name=HistoricGuide>[http://pomptonlakes-nj.gov/DocumentCenter/View/505 ''Pompton Lakes Historic Guide''], Borough of Pompton Lakes. Accessed October 10, 2017.</ref>

The presence of [[iron ore]] and the availability of [[hydropower]] were initial catalysts for the early development of the [[Pompton Township, New Jersey|Pompton]] area. An ironworks was constructed in the early 1700s on the [[Ramapo River]] at the site of the current Pompton Lake dam, which produced munitions for the [[French and Indian War]], the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], and the [[War of 1812]].

[[Pompton Township, New Jersey|Pompton]] was situated along the [[Washington–Rochambeau Revolutionary Route|main north–south route]] during the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], and as such the [[Continental Army]] passed through often. Casparus Schuyler, a member of the prominent [[Schuyler family]], owned a [[tavern]] in the town that became known as the Yellow Tavern or the Yellow Cottage, and the various army encampments in the area supplied much of the business.<ref name=RevolutionaryWarSites>[http://www.revolutionarywarnewjersey.com/new_jersey_revolutionary_war_sites/towns/pompton_lakes_nj_revolutionary_war_sites.htm Revolutionary War Sites in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey], Revolutionary War New Jersey. Accessed October 10, 2017.</ref>

General [[George Washington]] and his army stayed in the [[Pompton Township, New Jersey|Pompton]] area twice during the course of the war, and he visited the Yellow Tavern both times.<ref>Mayers, Robert A. [http://gardenstatelegacy.com/files/Hub_of_the_Revolution_Mayers_GSL15.pdf ''Hub of the Revolution: Pompton and the Preakness Valley''], Garden State Legacy. Accessed October 10, 2017.</ref> He first visited on July 11, 1777, when he met with local [[ironmaster]] [[Robert Erskine (inventor)|Robert Erskine]] at the tavern. [[François-Jean de Chastellux]], a major general in the [[Expédition Particulière|French Expeditionary Force]] led by General [[Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau|Rochambeau]], visited the Yellow Tavern on his way from [[Philadelphia]] to [[New England]] in December 1780, and remarked on his experience there in an account published later.<ref name=RevolutionaryWarSites/> Washington returned to the tavern on March 30, 1782, as he traveled north with his wife [[Martha Washington|Martha]].<ref name=RevolutionaryWarSites/> During this time, it was serving as the winter headquarters of Colonel [[Philip Van Cortlandt|Phillip Van Cortlandt]]. The tavern was torn down around 1900 to widen the adjacent road, and the site is noted by a historical marker.

[[Pompton Township, New Jersey|Pompton Township]] was formed shortly after the Revolution, in 1797. During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], knives, saws, nails, and springs for [[railroad car]]s were manufactured at the Pompton Ironworks. The [[Morris Canal]], completed in 1832, was linked to the town via the Pompton Feeder, which barges used to supply coal to [[blast furnace]]s.<ref>[https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=9a6ed6762a034f48a252321e7b837583 Passaic County Morris Canal Greenway Status Map], Morris Canal Greenway. Accessed October 10, 2017. "The Morris Canal passed through today's Passaic County towns of Wayne, Little Falls, Woodland Park, Paterson, and Clifton. It collected water from the Pompton Feeder Canal which began in Pompton Lakes and joined the Morris Canal at Mountain View in Wayne."</ref> Despite this, Pompton remained predominantly rural through the 19th century, and various summer resorts around [[Pompton Lake]] served vacationing [[New York City|New Yorkers]]. The [[New York, Susquehanna and Western Railway|New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad]] opened a local train station in the late 1870s, driving further development in the town. In 1895, Pompton Lakes voted to split from Pompton Township, and the [[Borough (New Jersey)|borough]] was officially incorporated on February 26 of that year.<ref name=Story/>

The population of Pompton Lakes increased during the early 1900s, due to the rapid growth of local employers like the German Artistic Weaving Company and the Smith Powder Works. The latter company was purchased in 1905 by [[DuPont (1802–2017)|E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company]] and formed the basis of the DuPont Pompton Lakes Works, which operated in the borough until 1994.<ref>[http://pomptonlakesworks.com/history/ Site History], Pompton Lakes Works. Accessed October 10, 2017.</ref>

In 1923, Joseph "Doc" Bier opened a "[[Weight loss camp|health farm]]" in Pompton Lakes, where boxers such as [[Francisco Guilledo|Pancho Villa]] and [[Jimmy McLarnin]] trained. In 1935, [[Joe Louis]] began training at the camp, and continued to use the camp until his retirement in 1949. He prepared for his famed bout with [[Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling|Max Schmeling]] there, and often invited local children to watch him practice. During his time in the borough he held boxing exhibitions at the camp to raise $2,600 for the purchase of an ambulance and an additional $2,000 to help build a police communications tower.<ref>[http://pomptonlakes-nj.gov/230/Joe-Louis-Memorial-Park Joe Louis Memorial Park], Borough of Pompton Lakes. Accessed October 10, 2017.</ref> The camp closed in the 1950s.

In 1938, [[Reaction Motors]] successfully designed and perfected the world's first [[regenerative cooling]] rocket at a basement laboratory in a building in downtown Pompton Lakes. The technology they invented made liquid-fueled rockets capable of burning for long enough periods to be practical, and all future liquid-fueled rockets would build off this technology. The company tested this rocket at Lake Inez in the borough, not far from the laboratory it was built in.<ref name=HistoricGuide/>

Decades-old industrial pollution and its connection to cancer and other illness among residents in a section of the borough was the subject of a week-long front-page investigative series in ''[[The Record (North Jersey)|The Record]]'' newspaper in February 2018. The four-part series documented ground and water pollution that has impacted hundreds of homes surrounding a [[DuPont]] munitions plant that had operated for decades in the area, and the impact on the health of nearby residents exposed to the pollutants.<ref>O'Neill, James M.; and Fallon, Scott. [https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/2018/02/12/toxic-secrets-investigation-into-dupont-pollution-pompton-lakes/324937002/ "Coming this week: 'Toxic Secrets: Pollution, evasion and fear in North Jersey'"], ''[[The Record (North Jersey)|The Record]]'', February 12, 2018. Accessed May 28, 2018. "The Record and NorthJersey.com will launch "Toxic Secrets" this week, a four-part investigative series that reveals the secret history behind DuPont’s toxic pollution in Pompton Lakes. A review of 40 years worth of government documents shows DuPont engaged in a pattern of delay and pushback when regulators prodded the company to investigate the extent of its pollution migrating under a Pompton Lakes neighborhood of 400 homes from the company's now-shuttered munitions plant."</ref>