Moments that happened here: firsts, storms, landmarks and the days everyone still talks about. Each one links to where the facts come from.
October 22, 1777 · Gloucester County
About 600 Continental soldiers at Fort Mercer, on the Delaware River in what is now National Park, turned back a much larger force of Hessian troops. The Hessian commander, Col. Carl von Donop, was mortally wounded and is buried at the battlefield.
Source: Wikipedia: Battle of Red Bank
January 15, 1857 · Atlantic City
Absecon Lighthouse in Atlantic City was first lit on January 15, 1857. At 171 feet it is New Jersey's tallest lighthouse, and visitors can climb 228 steps to the watch room. The light was put out of service on July 11, 1933.
Source: Absecon Lighthouse: About
1858 · Haddonfield
William Parker Foulke dug up the bones of a Hadrosaurus in a Haddonfield marl pit, the first reasonably complete dinosaur skeleton ever found. Bones had first turned up there in 1838. The site became a National Historic Landmark in 1994, and Hadrosaurus foulkii is New Jersey's state dinosaur.
1859 · Cape May County
The Cape May Lighthouse, 157 feet tall, was built and first lit in 1859. It is the third lighthouse to stand on Cape May Point, at the mouth of Delaware Bay, and it still guides ships today.
1869 · Camden
Joseph Campbell and Abraham Anderson started the business that became the Campbell Soup Company in Camden. Company chemist John T. Dorrance invented condensed soup in 1897, and Campbell's is still headquartered in Camden.
1870 · Atlantic City
Atlantic City opened its first boardwalk in 1870, built to keep beach sand out of the hotels and railroad cars.
1878 · Cape May City
A fire destroyed about half of Cape May. Builders quickly replaced what was lost with gables, turrets and gingerbread trim, which is why the town looks the way it does today. The whole city became a National Historic Landmark district in 1976.
1881 · Margate
James V. Lafferty built a 65-foot wooden and tin elephant in what is now Margate to draw buyers to his land. Lucy was saved from demolition and moved to a city lot in 1970, and became a National Historic Landmark in 1976.
Source: Wikipedia: Lucy the Elephant
1901 · Camden
Eldridge R. Johnson founded the Victor Talking Machine Company in Camden. Its dog Nipper, listening to a phonograph, became one of the best-known trademarks in the world, and Victor merged with RCA in 1929.
1921 · Atlantic City
Margaret Gorman was crowned the first Miss America in Atlantic City in 1921.
July 1, 1926 · Camden
The bridge between Camden and Philadelphia, now called the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, opened with the longest single span of any suspension bridge in the world, a record it held until 1929.
June 6, 1933 · Pennsauken
Richard Hollingshead opened the first drive-in theater on Admiral Wilson Boulevard in Pennsauken. Admission was 25 cents a car plus 25 cents a person, and no more than a dollar per group.
June 11, 1950 · Maple Shade
A sit-in at Mary's Cafe in Maple Shade became one of the earliest uses of the nonviolent protest tactics of the civil rights movement.
June 24, 1951 · Pennsville
Fort Mott in Pennsville was finished by 1902, one of three forts with Fort Delaware and Fort DuPont built to guard the Delaware River. New Jersey took over the site in 1947 and opened it to the public as Fort Mott State Park on June 24, 1951.
Source: Wikipedia: Fort Mott State Park
May 16, 1957 · Gloucester City
The Walt Whitman Bridge opened to traffic on May 16, 1957, linking Gloucester City and Philadelphia across the Delaware River. The steel suspension bridge is 11,981 feet long.
Source: Wikipedia: Walt Whitman Bridge
June 1958 · Willingboro
Levitt & Sons sold the first homes in its third and largest Levittown. Voters renamed the township Levittown in 1959, then changed it back to Willingboro in 1963.
October 11, 1961 · Cherry Hill
Designed by Victor Gruen, the Cherry Hill Mall was one of only eight enclosed malls in the country when it opened, and was believed to be the largest in the eastern United States. The township, then called Delaware Township, later took the Cherry Hill name.
Source: Wikipedia: Cherry Hill Mall
March 7, 1962 · Atlantic City, Avalon
A three-day nor'easter battered the shore. In Atlantic City a barge smashed into the Steel Pier and took out a section including the diving horse tank, Avalon lost six blocks, and 14 people died in New Jersey.
1964 · Atlantic City
The Atlantic City Expressway opened to traffic in 1964 and connected directly into Atlantic City in 1965. The South Jersey Transportation Authority runs it today.
August 30, 1964 · Atlantic City
About 18,000 fans saw the Beatles at Convention Hall, now Boardwalk Hall, just days after the Democratic National Convention met in the same building. The band slipped away afterward in a laundry truck.
January 4, 1969 · Lindenwold
Trains began running between Lindenwold and Camden, and service into Center City Philadelphia over the Ben Franklin Bridge followed on February 15, 1969.
Source: Wikipedia: PATCO Speedline
May 26, 1978 · Atlantic City
Resorts International opened as the first legal casino in the United States outside Nevada, after New Jersey voters approved casino gambling for Atlantic City in November 1976.
Source: Wikipedia: Resorts Casino Hotel
October 29, 2012 · Brigantine, Atlantic City
Hurricane Sandy made landfall near Brigantine, just northeast of Atlantic City, on the evening of October 29, 2012, with sustained winds of 80 mph.
Source: Wikipedia: Hurricane Sandy