Bowerstown is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Washington Township, Warren County, New Jersey Washington Township is a township in Warren County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 6,651, reflecting an increase of 403 (+6.5%) from the 6,248 counted in the 2000 Census, which ha ...

near the

Morris Canal The Morris Canal (1829–1924) was a common carrier anthracite coal canal across northern New Jersey that connected the two industrial canals at Easton, Pennsylvania across the Delaware River from its western terminus at Phillipsburg, New Jers ...

and the

Pohatcong Creek Pohatcong Creek (also called the Pohatcong River) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in northwestern New Jersey in the United ...

. It was founded in 1829 by Jesse Vanetta and Michael B. Bowers with the building of an iron foundry. The Bowerstown Historic District, encompassing the village, was listed on the state and national registers of historic places in 1996.

History

The iron foundry, built in 1829 by Jesse Vanetta and Michael B. Bowers, denotes the start of the community. It then developed around the Morris Canal, in particular, Inclined Plane 7 West and the boat basin by the Pohatcong Creek. In 1838, Peter Van Doren constructed a gristmill by the creek and the canal. Michael Bowers purchased the foundry in 1843 and concentrated on producing iron plows. The canal company built a house for the plane tender in the . In 1933,

Consumers' Research Consumers' Research is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established in 1929 by Stuart Chase and F. J. Schlink after the success of their book ''Your Money's Worth, Your Money's Worth: a study in the waste of the Consumer's Dollar'' galvanized int ...

, at the recommendation of co-founder Frederick J. Schlink, moved from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to the Florey Piano Factory in nearby

Washington, New Jersey Washington is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Warren County, New Jersey, Warren County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 6,461, The company then built an office building, 1934–1935, and later a research laboratory, 1939–1940, on the Bowers Foundry property. The contributions of consumer advocate Mary Catherine Phillips, author of ''Skin Deep: The Truth About Beauty Aids – Safe and Harmful'' and member of the Board of Directors of Consumers' Research, is recognized here on the

New Jersey Women's Heritage Trail The New Jersey Women's Heritage Trail is a collaborative effort between the New Jersey's Historic Preservation Office, part of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and 94 historic sites statewide to raise awareness about the roles ...

. In 1986, the office building was bought by the

Warren Hills Regional School District The Warren Hills Regional School District is comprehensive public school district located in Warren County, New Jersey, United States, that serves seventh grade through twelfth grades. The district includes students from the municipalities of ...

for use as district offices by the Board of Education.

Historic district

The Bowerstown Historic District is a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

encompassing the village and bounded by Bowerstown, Plane Hill, Lannings Trail, and Mine Hill roads. The district was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on May 10, 1996, for its significance in science, social history, communications, industry, architecture, and transportation from 1829 to 1945. It includes 42

contributing resources In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...

. With The Bowers Foundry,

rubble stone Rubble stone is rough, uneven building stone not laid in regular courses. It may fill the core of a wall which is faced with unit masonry such as brick or ashlar. Analogously, some medieval cathedral walls are outer shells of ashlar with an inn ...

, and the Consumers' Research office and laboratory buildings, both of

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archi ...

style, are at the center of the district. The two-story brick house on Old Bowerstown Road shows

Federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

influences with Victorian embellishment. The two-story brick house on Mine Hill Road has

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

style, with

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

influences. After the Morris Canal was decommissioned in 1924, Washington Township purchased Inclined Plane 7 West and the aqueduct over the Pohatcong Creek to build Plane Hill Road. The plane tender's house also remains, but with modern additions on both sides. The retaining wall by the house on Old Bowerstown Road uses sleeper stones from the inclined plane as the base layer.

Gallery

File:Morris Canal Plane 7 West from HAER (cropped).tiff, Historic view of Inclined Plane 7 West of the Morris Canal File:Morris Canal, Inclined Plane 7 West, Bowerstown, NJ - area view.jpg, View of Morris Canal now, Plane Hill Road File:Morris Canal Aqueduct, Plane Hill Road, Bowerstown, NJ.jpg, Morris Canal Aqueduct over the Pohatcong Creek, Plane Hill Road File:39 Plane Hill Road, Bowerstown, NJ.jpg, Plane tender's house, Plane Hill Road File:89 Bowerstown Road, Bowerstown, NJ.jpg, Consumers' Research offices, built 1934–35, Bowerstown Road File:Bowerstown Road, Bowerstown, NJ - former research laboratory.jpg, Consumers' Research laboratory, built 1939–40, Bowerstown Road File:57 Mine Hill Road, Bowerstown, NJ.jpg, Greek Revival house, Mine Hill Road

References

External links

* * * {{NRHP in Warren County, New Jersey Washington Township, Warren County, New Jersey Unincorporated communities in Warren County, New Jersey Unincorporated communities in New Jersey 1829 establishments in New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Warren County, New Jersey Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey New Jersey Register of Historic Places

History

Historic district

Gallery

See also

References

External links