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HISTORIC DISTRICT SURVEY |
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DISTRICT NAME: |
Stirling Worker's District |
DISTRICT TYPE: |
Residential /Factory Housing |
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MUNICIPALITY: |
Long Hill Township |
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COUNTY: |
Morris |
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UTM REFERENCES: |
Zone/Northing/Easting |
USGS QUAD: |
Bernardsville |
DESCRIPTION
DESCRIPTION
Stirling was created in the 1870's on former farmland as an industrial village. When the railroad was proposed for the area, several New Yorkers purchased a 500 acre tract in the vicinity, laid out a grid plan of streets lined by small lots and named it Stirling, for the Revolutionary War-era owner of much of the land, Lord Stirling. Residences for workers in the factories were built both by the factory owners and the workers-themselves.
The district is centered along Main Avenue south of-the railroad tracks, and includes the cross streets Mercer, Morris, Essex, Union and Somerset. In this area, small gable end workers' cottages, usually 1 1/2 to two-stories tall, frame, with varying amounts of Victorian wooden detail predominate.
The Carpenter Gothics at #293 and #255 Main Avenue, and the gable end cottages at 343 Morris Street and #334 and 338 Main Avenue are interspersed with Bungalows, and some other nondescript frame houses of the first half of the 20th century.
 293 Main Avenue (2002) |
 255 Main Avenue (2002) |
 343 Morris Street (2002) |
 334 Main Avenue (2002) |
338 Main Avenue (2002)
Two early farm houses, predating the establishment of the village, survive within the district. They are #353 Morris Street, an East Jersey cottage owned by the Acken family early in the 19th century, and #240 Morris Street, a five bay center entry vernacular Georgian farmhouse owned by the Runyon family in the 19th century. Both of these farmhouses have surviving barns and outbuildings on the property.
 240 Morris Street (1999) |
 353 Morris Street (2002) |
North of the railroad, west of Central Avenue along Chestnut Street and Elm Street is another concentration of 19th century residences, although these are larger, and on slightly larger lots. Presumably homes for supervisors and managers in the factories. they are nonetheless quite architecturally unpretentious. Most common is the three bay, planbook house with gable end facade. Synthetic siding and a loss of details is also quite common. The best preserved buildings in this area are 312 Elm Street, a a vernacular Queen Anne structure, and #384 Chestnut Street, a planbook house.
 314 Elm Street (2002) |
 384 Chestnut Street (2002) |
Within this northern part of the district also stand the Elm Street School (1910), a Colonial Revival style building, and the First Presbyterian church (1874), a much altered structure originally constructed in a style reminiscent of medieval stone churches.
 Elm Street School -331 Elm Street (2002) |
 Stirling Presbyterian Church (2002) |
SIGNIFICANCE:
SIGNIFICANCE:
Industrial housing and a working class heritage are hardly appreciated in a largely rural township rapidly developing as an ex-urban haven for wealthy commuters. The district has a great deal of local and county-wide interest, but the absence of the factories themselves, and the infill development in the district seem not to make this National Register eligible. However, sensitivity to the true nature of the resources in the district should be a part of local planning and development decisions. Further research and appreciation of the factories and their workers may bring to light historical information which may make the district National Register eligible.
Although not strictly a company town The creation and livelihood of Stirling was closely allied to Charles Chaffanjon and the silk mill (no longer extant) -he established along the railroad in the 1880's.
The West Line Railroad was laid from Summit to Bernardsville, New Jersey in 1870-71. Lured by cheap, available land and the possibility of cheap labor, a group of New York investors headed by Charles Chaffanjon and Fred Winston, decided to create a manufacturing town. The first industry to be built here was a button factory, started in 1878. It closed in 1887, and the building was taken over by the silk mill. In 1896, the mill burned and a new building erected for silk manufacture at the western end of Railroad Avenue (demolished). Skilled workers from Italy and Syria were encouraged to settle here to work in the factory, joining the French residents, countrymen of founder Charles Chaffanjon. In the early 20th century, other small textile mills were established in Stirling, and the town remained a small industrial center until World War II. After that date, mills closed due to a lack of business, or from competition from larger plants in this country and abroad.
PHYSICAL
CONDITION OF STRUCTURES: . EXCELLENT 60% GOOD 35% FAIR 05% POOR REGISTER
ELIGIBILITY: . YES POSSIBLE . NO . PART OF
DISTRICT THREATS TO
DISTRICT: . ROADS . DEVELOPMENT . ZONING . DETERIORATION X . NO
THREAT . OTHER . . . ..
COMMENTS: see: Significance REFERENCES:
The village of Stirling, as laid out by Charles Chaffanjon in the 1870's. This map view, from the Morris County Atlas of 1887 indicates that development remained sparse here for some years. Shortly after this map was made, however, the community experiences a population boom, tied to its industrial development.
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RECORDED BY: |
Janet W. Foster |
DATE: |
March-July 1986 |
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ORGANIZATION: |
Acroterion |
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UPDATED ENTRY BY: |
L. Fast |
DATE: |
June 1999-May 2002 |
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ORGANIZATION: |
Long Hill Township Historic Preservation Advisory Committee |
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