Port Morris, New Jersey

Port Morris is a historic community in Roxbury Township, in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. Despite the promise of its name, Port Morris is in the hills of the Skylands Region, many miles away from any lake, river or other navigable body of water.

In the 1820s, George P. Macculloch envisioned a canal that would transport Pennsylvania coal to New York City. The plan was to construct a canal from Phillipsburg, New Jersey at the confluence of the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers, near the coal fields, to Newark, Jersey City or New York City. The section of the Morris Canal was completed to Newark in 1831, and Port Morris become one of the major stops established along the route of the Canal.

With the rise of the railroad came the demise of canals. Despite the changeover in transportation methods, Port Morris found a new role. With the construction of the Lackawanna Cutoff, constructed by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad between 1908 and 1911, Port Morris became a major railroad junction and the starting point of the Cutoff.

External links

* [http://www.landingnewjersey.com/portmorris.htm AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF PORT MORRIS, NEW JERSEY]
* [http://www.gsmrrclub.org/HISTORY/history5a.html The Lackawanna Cutoff - Then & Now: Port Morris and Landing]