[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 122 (Thursday, July 31, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1287]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BOROUGH OF MADISON, NEW 
                                 JERSEY

                                  _____
                                 

                      HON. RODNEY P. FRELINGHUYSEN

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 31, 2014

  Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the one 
hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of the Borough of Madison, County 
of Morris, New Jersey.
  The first residents of the borough of Madison were Lenape Indians 
with small villages located near rivers and streams. In 1715, when the 
first European settler, Barnabas Carter, reached what would become 
Madison, the Lenape had already left the area. The Presbyterian Church 
of South Hanover acquired a piece of land from Carter and built a 
meetinghouse on it. This place, known as ``Bottle Hill,'' became a 
center for Presbyterianism.
  When the Revolutionary War began, the 20 families who resided in 
Bottle Hill joined the Morris County militia. The group was led by 
Reverend Azariah Horton, a Presbyterian minister. Bottle Hill provided 
a direct route to and from Morristown. The town served as a camp for 
the largest Continental Army in the Revolutionary War during the winter 
of 1777. Officers took up quarters in Bottle Hill, and General George 
Washington was offered hospitality in homes that are still located on 
Ridgedale Avenue today.
  Once a part of South Hanover, Bottle Hill was divided between Morris 
and Hanover Townships until 1806 when the village joined with Florham 
Park, Chatham Township, and Chatham Borough to create one Chatham 
Township. Bottle Hill was the name originally given to Madison, and 
there are two beliefs surrounding this moniker. One idea is that the 
name is derived from the bottle-like shape of the town's original land, 
which was formed by two hills. The other, more likely idea, comes from 
a tavern that was once located on top of a hill at the meeting of Park 
and Ridgedale avenues that advertised by hanging a bottle-shaped sign 
outside. The nickname is also used for Madison's annual ``Bottle Hill 
Day'' street fair. In 1834, to pay tribute to James Madison, the fourth 
President of the United States and father of the U.S. Constitution, 
Bottle Hill's name was changed to Madison. In 1889, Madison seceded 
from Chatham Township to create the Borough of Madison.
  In the mid-1800s, Madison was nicknamed ``The Rose City'' during a 
time when Madison was a popular destination for wealthy families from 
New York City seeking fresh-air and an area on which to build their 
country homes. So as to ornament their estates, these families wanted 
fresh flowers every day. Thus, they used individual greenhouses to grow 
roses for themselves and, later in 1856, for the commercial market. The 
growth of Madison's rose production was made possible by the Morris and 
Essex Railroad service that began in 1937. Roses and rose shows in 
Madison became internationally known, and working-class immigrants from 
Germany, Italy, and Ireland were attracted to Madison because of jobs 
in the rose industry and on the estates there. The descendants of these 
ancestors that still reside in Madison make it the diverse municipality 
that it is today.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask you and my colleagues to join me in celebrating 
with the residents and the officials that represent the wonderful 
Borough of Madison on the occasion of their one hundred and twenty-
fifth anniversary.

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