Essay
As the earliest English Quaker settlement along the Delaware River, the city of Salem was a key port at the mouth of the Salem River in the seventeenth century. Established in 1675 prior to both Philadelphia and Burlington, it was quickly overshadowed by Philadelphia. However, its proximity to the Philadelphia market by ship, steamboat, and railroad spurred additional industry during the nineteenth century, particularly glassworks, flooring manufacturing, and canneries. The closure of former manufactories in the late twentieth century created a pressing need for jobs and industry, as the city declined through population loss, unemployment, and poverty. Government programs and private organizations endeavored to renovate vacant buildings, decrease crime, and revitalize the Salem waterfront, with hopes of bringing new industries to the Port of Salem.
The city of Salem is located three miles from the mouth of the Salem River, which was called “Asamhocking” by the original Lenape people. As various groups of European settlers arrived in the seventeenth century, the Dutch renamed the river “Varkens Kill” (Hog Creek). After English settlers from New Haven briefly attempted to establish a colony there in 1641, the Swedes built Fort Elfsborg at the mouth of the river to assert their authority. Swedes continued to vie with the Dutch for control of the region until it came under English rule in 1664. Colonist John Fenwick (1618-83) arrived with Quakers and other Englishmen in 1675; he christened the river the “Salem River,” with its southeastern tributary named “Fenwick’s Creek.” According to English law, Fenwick owned a one-tenth proprietorship of West Jersey, comprising the later Salem and Cumberland Counties, and he affirmed his claim by purchasing the land from the resident Lenape.
In 1676 Fenwick founded the town of Salem, the name signifying peace, and established the first two streets—Wharf Street (later named Broadway) and Bridge Street (later Market Street). By 1682, Salem served as a port of entry, and the town hosted weekly markets and annual fairs. Early settlers exported grains (wheat, corn, rye, and oats), animal products (beef, pork, tallow, and pelts), and timber (cedar posts, shingles, staves, and cordwood) to New York, Boston, and the West Indies. As their wealth increased, some Salem residents purchased enslaved persons from the West Indies and Africa to conduct housework and farm labor, alongside indentured servants and a handful of enslaved Native Americans.
When Salem County officially organized in 1694, Salem became the county seat, and it incorporated as a town in 1695. To connect Salem with Burlington, at the time the other principal town of West Jersey, the West Jersey Assembly commissioned the Kings Highway in 1681. Other major roads connected Salem with Greenwich to the south. Travelers followed these stage routes to reach the ferry from Salem to New Castle, Delaware, and the ferries from Gloucester and Cooper’s Ferry to Philadelphia.
An Era of Civil Unrest
As New Jersey transitioned from royal colony to American independence, Salem became the setting for civil unrest. The colonial customs collector at Salem Port was universally disliked, tainting public opinion of the British government. Sympathetic to the patriot cause, many citizens of Salem contributed monetary aid for the besieged citizens of Boston in 1774, yet pacifist Quakers strongly opposed the American Revolution. With the outbreak of war, British troops briefly occupied Salem in March 1778 while foraging supplies and terrorizing the rural population. The following November and December, the Revolutionary government tried for treason their Loyalist neighbors who had aided the British, as the conflict led to lingering resentments…