Legislative History

The 1910-1911 revaluation of New Jersey railroads and canals was first authorized by Joint Resolution No. 3 of the state legislature, approved 5 April 1909. A complete valuation of railroad properties had not been made since 1886, following the creation of the State Board of Assessors. The 1909 legislation directed the Governor to appoint three appraisers to make a complete inventory and appraisal of all railroad and canal property within the state, real and personal, including franchises (separately). The three men Gov. John Franklin Fort chose for the task were Samuel Whinery of Essex County, Charles Hansel of Union County, and Frank Stevens of Hudson County.

The 1909 resolution also stipulated that the statewide revaluation be completed by September 1st of the same year. This time frame, however, proved to be insufficient for such a mammoth project; on 12 April 1910, additional legislation was passed allowing for the continuation of the revaluation by the State Board of Assessors (Laws of 1910, chap. 307). Under the 1910 act, the state appraisers were authorized to enter upon railroad and canal property for the purpose of inspection and appraisal at all reasonable hours, and were given the power to subpoena witnesses and records to aid their investigation. A year later, Charles Hansel, "expert in charge," presented his final report to Gov. Woodrow Wilson and the State Board of Assessors.

Content Note

Charles Hansel's 1911 final report on the revaluation includes a photograph showing 114 volumes of material produced by the two-year-long project. In addition, Hansel reported that the state had amassed several hundred field books, and a "vast amount of detailed information, with photographs of buildings and structures." To date, the Archives has received 495 field books (complete except for four missing volumes), and fourteen of the original 114 bound volumes and "covers" (clasp binders) mentioned in Hansel's report.

NOTE: Considerable material was added to this record series subsequent to the intitial processing of the collection. This unprocessed accession is included in the box list below, but is not accounted for in the listing of reports or index to field books.

Index to Field Books (Boxes 1 - 22)

Explanatory notes: The field books referred to below are divided into eight numbered series, as follows: the Pennsylvania Railroad System (1-150); the Central Railroad of New Jersey System (200-282); the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad System (300-351); the Erie Railroad System (400-439); the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad System (500-532); the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad System (600-617); the Lehigh Valley Railroad System (700-750); and unclassified railroads (800-871). Four volumes listed below were missing at the time of accession by the State Archives, as follows: #19, #44, #45, and #502.

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)