Over 10,000 years ago, the area now known as Pine Brook was settled by Lenape tribes as part of the Lenapehoking. The Lenape tribes maintained peace and no significant battles were recorded in the area today known as Montville Township.
Dutch and English settlement
In the 1710s, Dutch farmers from New Amsterdam settled in Pine Brook.[6] A farming community, Pine Brook produced dairy products in addition to fruits and vegetables, and for many years there existed a large business in cider making and distilling of cider brandy in nearby Cider Mills.
In 1760, Pine Brook was the site of the first schoolhouse in Montville Township. It was built out of logs and was located on the road leading to Boonton, according to A History of Morris County, which could refer to multiple northwest-facing roads including Changebridge Road.[7]
Additional Pine Brook schools were constructed in 1785, 1816, and 1852.[7]
In 1809, the Parsippany and Roadway Turnpike Company constructed the road that begins at Pine Brook that "ran up through the Boudinot Meadows, Troy, Parsippany, Denville, Rockaway, across the mountain to Mount Pleasant, there joining the Union Turnpike." This possibly refers to the western terminus of today's "Bloomfield Avenue" where it becomes U.S. Route 46, connecting the port city of Newark with the farms, foundries, and mines of West New Jersey.
On April 11, 1867, the New Jersey Legislature formally united and chartered the three sections of White Hall, Montville, and Pine Brook into present day Montville Township from territory set off from Pequannock Township.[8][9]
Pine Brook, being nearly surrounded by the Rockaway and Passaic rivers, consists of what is called the Pine Brook flats, and is a level tract with soil of sandy loam free from stone, which, when properly cultivated, is productive. This part of the township of Montville is about 13 miles (21 km) from Newark, with which it is connected by a good road, which for three-quarters of the distance consists of a Telford pavement. The soil consists mainly of loam on clay bottom, and is generally productive in grass, grain, vegetables and fruit. The farmers engaged largely in the production of milk to supply the Newark market, and considerable quantities of butter, eggs, poultry, pork, beef, hay and straw were produced for market. For some years, considerable attention was given to planting choice fruit trees, and some reaped the benefits in apples and pears, which generally yielded a good return. The land in this township is chiefly rolling.
— John Kanouse (part of the Kanouse family, originally Knauss; a prominent family of Rockaway township), Hon., 1881
Way Station - "From the description of property in old deeds, it appears that between 1800 and 1810 an attempt was made to name the cluster of three or four houses at Pine Brook, where George D. Mead keeps a store, "Union Village", but as a village failed to grow up, the name was dropped and has been forgotten. At this point, a tavern was kept over eighty years and for many years it did a legitimate and profitable business in the accommodations of "Sussex Teams", as they were called, which in large numbers used to pass this way toward Newark with loads of flour, feed, grain, butter, pork, and other produce from Sussex, Warren, and the upper parts of Morris county." (Hon. John Kanouse - 1881)[10]
The Pine Brook Speedway, which operated from July 1962 until October 1989, was designed for midget car racing and became one of the earliest sites for microstock racing. Mario Andretti raced at the track and had some of his earliest success as a race car driver at the speedway.[11]
Geography
Pine Brook is located at the southern end of the Hook Mountain Range and surrounded by the Pine Brook Flats; a fertile flood plain created by the surrounding Rockaway River and Passaic River. It is bounded to its north by Montville and Towaco, also known as White Hall, to its east by the Passaic River across from Fairfield (Old Horse Neck) and West Caldwell, to its south by the Rockaway River across from East Hanover Township, and to its west by the Rockaway River across from Parsippany and Lake Hiawatha.
^Oberto, Dino. "Vintage racing at its best", Standard-Speaker, July 5, 2012. Accessed May 1, 2017. "Saturday's race is also taking place one day after the 50th anniversary of the opening of Pine Brook Speedway in Pine Brook, N.J., so that milestone will be noted as well. The Pine Brook track, the first purpose-built track for TQ Midgets, debuted on Friday evening, July 6, 1962, with Bob Dini claiming the historic first victory. Pine Brook is also the track in which Mario Andretti recorded his early career success and was also the birth place of Micro Stock racing."
^"The College Club welcomes Alan Sepinwall on Oct. 23",Community Bulletin, September 17, 2017. Accessed December 25, 2022. "The College Club of Fanwood-Scotch Plains welcomes Scotch Plains resident Alan Sepinwall for the program at its Oct. 23 meeting. The title of his presentation is What's Alan Watching? Sepinwall is a native of Pine Brook, NJ."
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