1898 Map of Somerville

About this map

Somerville and Raritan serve as the industrial and civic hubs of late nineteenth-century Somerset County, centered near the confluence of the Raritan River and the Millstone River. The presence of the Water Power Cos Raceway at Raritan highlights the era's reliance on hydraulic engineering for manufacturing. A dense network of transportation routes radiates from these centers, including the Central Railroad of New Jersey and the Philadelphia and Reading RR, which facilitate movement between rural outposts like Pluckemin and burgeoning residential areas such as Bernardsville. To the north, the terrain rises toward Mine Mtn., while the interior is defined by family-named hamlets and crossroads like Basking Ridge, Peapack, and Burnt Mill. This landscape captures New Jersey's transition from an agrarian interior to an interconnected suburban and industrial corridor during the Gilded Age.