Essex County Guide
Explore Newark’s colonial roots, Montclair’s commercial architecture, West Orange’s Edison landmarks, Branch Brook Park, historic churches, cemeteries, stations, theaters, and homes across one of New Jersey’s most historically layered counties.
County History
The recorded history of Essex County begins in 1666, when Connecticut families led by Robert Treat established a settlement along the Passaic River in what is now Newark. Essex County became one of New Jersey’s original counties, and today its historic landscape includes colonial houses of worship, Victorian cemeteries, Art Deco transit landmarks, urban parks, industrial innovation sites, and early suburban commercial districts.
This guide preserves the original NJTGO historic-place directory while organizing it into easier-to-browse sections by town and area.
Featured Essex County History
Churches, cemeteries, Penn Station, Branch Brook Park, and early civic landmarks tell the story of Newark’s growth from colonial settlement to major city.
Church Street, Bloomfield Avenue, Station Square, and the Crane Building highlight commercial and civic architecture in one of Essex County’s best-known downtowns.
Glenmont and the West Orange laboratory preserve the home and research setting of Thomas Edison’s later career.
Branch Brook Park, cemeteries, and public memorial landscapes show how Essex County history is embedded in outdoor civic spaces.
Full Directory
Historic Places by Area
Lake Street and Ballantine Parkway, Newark, NJ 07104
A landmark county park and historic landscape, known as the oldest park in the first county park system established in the United States and famous for its cherry blossom trees.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.org
820 Broad Street, Newark, NJ 07104
A congregation organized in 1666. The present church was begun in 1787 after two earlier buildings.
Photo by Bill Coughlin, courtesy of HMdb.org
60 Park Place, Newark, NJ 07102
A Newark landmark tree believed to have stood on the spot before the Revolutionary War.
Photo by R.C., courtesy of HMdb.org
Broadway and Nursery Street, Newark, NJ
Newark’s oldest remaining cemetery, opened in 1844. Its 36 acres, monuments, and brownstone Gothic gateway reflect Victorian-era cemetery design.
Photo by James True, courtesy of HMdb.org
1 Raymond Plaza West, Newark, NJ 07102
Opened in 1935 and designed by McKim, Mead & White, Newark Penn Station is a major Art Deco transportation landmark.
Photo by Bill Coughlin, courtesy of HMdb.org
University Avenue and Broad Street, Newark, NJ 07102
Built about 1710 by the Plume family. It later became House of Prayer Rectory; Rev. Hannibal Goodwin invented celluloid film here in 1887.
Photo by Bill Coughlin, courtesy of HMdb.org
118 7th Avenue, Newark, NJ 07104
Founded in 1891 and dedicated in 1926, St. Lucy’s is associated with Newark’s old First Ward, Italian immigrant heritage, and the National Shrine of St. Gerard Maiella.
Photo by James True, courtesy of HMdb.org
29 Old Road to Bloomfield, Newark, NJ
One of the oldest structures in Newark, built in the 18th century.
Photo courtesy of HMdb.org
Broad Street and Rector Street, Newark, NJ 07104
Newark’s second oldest house of worship, organized in the 1730s and chartered in 1746. The present church includes an 1810 building and became the Diocese of Newark’s cathedral in 1944.
Photo by Bill Coughlin, courtesy of HMdb.org
Historic Places by Area
Montclair, NJ 07042
A 1925 Collegiate Gothic style commercial building designed by Holmes & Von Schmid, noted for its red brick exterior, arched entrances, leaded glass windows, balustrade, and octagonal turret.
Photo by James True, courtesy of HMdb.org
Montclair, NJ 07042
A 1925 Renaissance Revival corner apartment and commercial building with buff-colored brick and terra-cotta architectural detailing.
Photo by James True, courtesy of HMdb.org
Montclair, NJ 07042
The site where the Montclair Hook & Ladder Company was founded in 1882. The building opened in 1904 as the old Fire Department headquarters and was later enlarged to house police and town government functions.
Photo by James True, courtesy of HMdb.org
22 Valley Road, Montclair, NJ 07042
Built in 1878-1879 in a vernacular / Early Classical Revival style, it is one of the oldest surviving school buildings in Montclair.
Photo by James True, courtesy of HMdb.org
467 Bloomfield Avenue, Montclair, NJ 07042
A late 19th-century commercial building with an Art Moderne façade, connected to the Doremus family’s early general merchandise business and later Hampton House Furniture.
Photo by James True, courtesy of HMdb.org
42 Bloomfield Avenue, Montclair, NJ 07042
A 1912 Beaux Arts Revival building by Van Vleck & Goldsmith, named for the Edward Madison Company and notable for Montclair’s first elevator.
Photo by James True, courtesy of HMdb.org
295 Bloomfield Avenue, Montclair, NJ 07042
Also known as The Crawford Block, this 1892 commercial building blends Queen Anne and Romanesque elements and was praised by urban planner John Nolen.
Photo by James True, courtesy of HMdb.org
460 Bloomfield Avenue, Montclair, NJ 07042
A circa-1889 Italianate commercial building once associated with I. Seymour Crane’s hardware and plumbing business.
Photo by James True, courtesy of HMdb.org
Historic Places by Area
Honeysuckle Road in Llewellyn Park, West Orange, NJ 07052
Thomas Edison bought Glenmont in 1886 as a wedding gift for Mina Miller Edison. The Victorian mansion and grounds became Edison’s family home for decades.
Photo by Bill Coughlin, courtesy of HMdb.org
Main Street, West Orange, NJ 07052
Edison moved into this laboratory complex in 1887 and directed research teams in the “Invention Factory” for more than four decades.
Photo by Bill Coughlin, courtesy of HMdb.org
Historic Places by Area
Belleville, NJ
Associated with Second River and organized in 1697; early Belleville school activity and town founders are connected with the site.
Photo by Bill Coughlin, courtesy of HMdb.org
155 Williams Street, Belleville, NJ 07109
One of the older churches in the Diocese of Newark, with first mass noted in 1838.
Photo by Bill Coughlin, courtesy of HMdb.org
Historic Places by Area
409 Franklin Street, Bloomfield, NJ 07003
A Revolutionary War-era homestead associated with local escape stories, care for a wounded British soldier, and a visit by Generals Washington and Knox on the way to Morristown.
Photo by Bill Coughlin, courtesy of HMdb.org
Historic Places by Area
Bloomfield Avenue, Caldwell, NJ 07006
A burial ground established on land given in 1779 for church and cemetery use. It contains graves of early Caldwell-area families and veterans of several wars.
Photo by Bill Coughlin, courtesy of HMdb.org
Historic Places by Area
Brookside Drive, Millburn, NJ 07041
A historic mill site where paper was manufactured by 1795. The building was remodeled in 1934 as Paper Mill Playhouse, giving the site a continuing cultural role.
Photo by Bill Coughlin, courtesy of HMdb.org
Historic Places by Area
216 Chestnut Street, Nutley, NJ 07110
Constructed about 1702 and later used by the Woman’s Club. It was occupied during the Revolution by British sympathizers and later acquired by Captain Speer.
Photo by Bill Coughlin, courtesy of HMdb.org
Explore Nearby Towns
Use these town links to continue from historic places into local guides for dining, business, real estate, jobs, lodging, and community information.