[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 35 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 35

Recognizing Belleville, New Jersey, as the birthplace of the industrial 
                    revolution in the United States.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 4, 1993

  Mr. Klein submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
       referred to the Committee on Post Office and Civil Service

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
Recognizing Belleville, New Jersey, as the birthplace of the industrial 
                    revolution in the United States.

Whereas, in 1753, Josiah Hornblower, an English engineer who was an associate 
        and rival of James Watt, assembled the 1st functioning steam engine in 
        the Western Hemisphere in Belleville, New Jersey, to pump water from the 
        Schuyler copper mines;
Whereas, approximately 40 years after such assembly, the 1st steam engine made 
        in the United States was manufactured in a foundry in Belleville from 
        designs by Josiah Hornblower;
Whereas the designs were commissioned by Nicholas Roosevelt, who was the great-
        uncle of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Theodore Roosevelt, to power the 
        Polacca, which was the 1st experimental steamboat in the United States;
Whereas the Polacca negotiated the Passaic River on October 21, 1798, which was 
        several years before Robert Fulton's boat, Clermont, sailed the Hudson 
        River;
Whereas historians herald the invention of the steam engine as the beginning of 
        the industrial revolution;
Whereas the presence of Josiah Hornblower in Belleville brought many of the 
        initiators of the industrial revolution in the United States to 
        Belleville;
Whereas such individuals included members of the Rutgers family, many of whom 
        are buried in the cemetery of the old Dutch Reformed Church in 
        Belleville; and
Whereas Belleville has a rightful claim to the title ``Birthplace of the 
        American Industrial Revolution'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That--
            (1) the Congress recognizes Belleville, New Jersey, as the 
        birthplace of the industrial revolution in the United States; 
        and
            (2) the President is authorized and requested to issue a 
        proclamation honoring Belleville as such birthplace.

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