Why Not Own Your Own Home?
That was the question posed by a promotional pamphlet published in 1891 by the Central Railroad of New Jersey. A similar pamphlet advertised Homes on the Central Railroad for New York Business Men. In so doing they tapped into the American dream of home ownership by the burgeoning middle class. One travel writer noted in 1874 that “No such overflow of population has ever been witnessed before, and the past is but the index finger, showing what is to come.” Promotional pamphlets invariably included advertisements by land improvement companies that were affiliated with railroads, and sometimes even included actual designs for suburban cottages. Rapid transit made the commute feasible between urban workplaces and suburban dwellings. In 1904, the Central Railroad transported 3,150,000 passengers in the Jersey City and Newark district alone. The importance of railroads as “lifelines” in the suburbanization of rural communities such as Bergenfield “can hardly be overstated.” A significant part of people’s workday was spent at suburban depots or urban terminals waiting for trains, as well as on the commute itself. Timetables regulated not only trains, but people’s lives. In 1873, a promotional publication commented upon the change wrought in the countryside: “In every direction, within an hour of New York, we find the same signs of growth …; the old farm look has all disappeared, houses have risen like magic, mere settlements have grown to be villages, villages to be towns, and towns to be cities.”
Cover of The vest pocket guide.
The Vest Pocket Guide. Published by Grover Brothers, printers (Newark, N.J., 1889). One of many similar guides that included railroad and steamboat timetables as well as business advertisements.
Cover of A hand-book to the Oranges, (New Jersey), and their surroundings : with maps and illustrations of this much favored suburb of New York.
J. H. Schenck, A Hand-Book to the Oranges, (New Jersey), and Their Surroundings, with Maps and Illustrations of This Much Favored Suburb of New York (Orange, N.J., 1880). A guide to the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad’s line that describes “Why, Where & How to Find Homes Half Hour Ride by Rail for New York Business Men.”
Cover of Homes on the Central Railroad of New Jersey for New York business men : a description of the region traversed by the Central Railroad of New Jersey, and its branches and connections from New York to Mauch Chunk, embracing a statement of the inducements and conveniences held out conjointly by the Railroad Company and property owners and others along the line to those desirous of securing either permanent or transient homes outside of New York / by George L. Catlin.
George L. Catlin, Homes on the Central Railroad of New Jersey for New York Business Men (New York, 1873).
Back cover of Homes on the Central Railroad of New Jersey for New York business men : a description of the region traversed by the Central Railroad of New Jersey, and its branches and connections from New York to Mauch Chunk, embracing a statement of the inducements and conveniences held out conjointly by the Railroad Company and property owners and others along the line to those desirous of securing either permanent or transient homes outside of New York / by George L. Catlin.
Advertisement by the Central New Jersey Land Improvement Company for “Dwellings, Lots and Villa Sites” for sale, as well as “land by the acre suitable for manufacturing purposes,” 1873. From: George L. Catlin, Homes on the Central Railroad of New Jersey for New York Business Men (New York, 1873).
A perfectly safe home investment : mortgage on a finished road, first mortgage ... of the Tuckerton Rail Road ...
Tuckerton Railroad Company. A Perfectly Safe Home Investment. Mortgage on a Finished Road [1872] A promotional pamphlet that states that the Tuckerton Railroad “opens up a new section of the State, heretofore unprovided with Railroad facilities,” and assures that its bonds are “a good and safe investment.”
Passengers’ waiting room of the Pennsylvania Railroad Depot, Jersey City.
“Passengers’ Waiting Room of the Pennsylvania Railroad Depot, Jersey City,” circa 1876. From: Frank Leslie’s Historical Register of the United States Centennial Exposition, 1876 (New York, 1877), p. 92.