Content Note

Chapter 229 of New Jersey Laws of 1924 authorized and directed the Morris Canal and Banking Company to sell all of the property it held in trust for the state, excepting rights and properties to be retained for public use.  The land was to be offered first to the municipalities through which the canal passed, and then to the public.  This subgroup consists of five boxes of deeds and other records documenting the disposition of the property.

Box 1 contains several subject files.  Of special note is the Historical Data File, which contains articles and correspondence, including an 1845 letter from J. Bryant to Daniel Tyler regarding (among other things) the fear of a riot by Paterson millers due to the canal's usage of local water.  The refused bids file pertains to canal company properties advertised in the late 1920s and early 1930s in the following nine municipalities in Morris, Passaic and Sussex counties:  Boonton Twp., Denville Twp., Dover Twp., Lincoln Park Bor., Montville Twp., Rockaway Twp., Roxbury Twp., Stanhope Bor., and Wayne Twp.

Boxes 2 through 5 contain file copies of deeds from 1926 to 1943, arranged alphabetically by the grantee.  The deeds have been abstracted in one volume, which also includes additional leases, releases, and agreements, for lands referred to in the deeds.  The abstract book is arranged geographically from Phillipsburg to Jersey City, with an index by name of the grantee.

For additional material on the disposition of canal property after its acquisition by the State, refer to the series:  Title Paper Files, ca. 1820s-1950s; Abstracts of Titles, 1923; Agreements and Leases Notebooks, 1923-1930s; General Correspondence Files, ca. 1840-1974; and Correspondence Relating to Property Retained by the State, 1850-1970.

225 West State Street
P.O. Box 307
Trenton, NJ 08625-0307
609.292.6260 (general information)
609.633.8334 (administrative office)
609.292.9105 (fax)