A view at Pahaquarric, Sussex County, New Jersey, engraved by John Scoles c. 1794Adit No. 1 at Pahaquarry Copper Mine, established c. 1750
Pahaquarry Township was formed on December 27, 1824, from portions of Walpack Township in Sussex County and set off to Warren County.[3]
The township got its name from the word Pahaquarra, which was a derivation of the Native American word Pahaqualong, which meant "the place between the mountains beside the waters".[4]
Opened in the 1750s, the Pahaquarry Copper Mine was active from the 18th to early-20th centuries, until its closure in 1928.[5] Despite developments in mining technology and improving mineral extraction methods, the mine remained unsuccessful and unprofitable, as the ore extracted proved to be of too low a concentration of copper.[6]
Millbrook Village, located along the historic Old Mine Road in Pahaquarry, was home to the Van Campen family farmsteads built during the late-18th and 19th-centuries. In 1832, Abram Garis built a grist mill along Van Campen brook. The mill soon attracted other businesses and by the 1870s, Millbrook was a thriving farm village. However, by 1910, the mill, store and hotel closed their doors. The area is now part of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, and located within the Old Mine Road Historic District. Other buildings have been moved from other sites or are newly built to help depict village life in the valley during the late-19th and early-20th century. Several buildings are open to the public on summer weekends.[7]
Millbrook School, as seen August 1970
The Calno School was established in 1870, rebuilt in 1910, and active until the 1940, for schoolchildren of Pahaquarry. By 1881, the Calno school district counted 48 school-age pupils. Only 30 were on the school's register, though, and daily attendance averaged only 15. Teachers, who were paid poorly, boarded with local families and seldom stayed more than a year or two. Most students traveled to school on foot, and schools were placed so that students would not have to walk more than four to five miles. The Millbrook School, located 5 miles north in Millbrook Village, was used to teach Pahaquarry children, as well.[7][8]
Pahaquarry sits on the Delaware River. Most of its land was purchased by the federal government during the late 1960s in order to build the proposed Tocks Island Dam along the river, and its population was reduced to only a handful of people. Grassroot environmental organizations and mass local opposition put a halt to these plans and the dam was never completed.[9] Most of the land became part of Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. The project was officially deauthorized by Congress during 1992.[4]
Millbrook Methodist Episcopal Church, as seen August 1970
Mayor Jean Zipser and Harold Van Campen, the only 2 township residents eligible to be members of the Township Committee, met inside the Calno School and voted 2-0 to permit the dissolution to proceed in March 1997; an April 1997 New York Times article covering the vote brought national attention to Pahaquarry and its population of six residents.[2] On July 2, 1997, Pahaquarry Township was dissolved and incorporated into Hardwick Township.[9]
As of the 1990 United States census (the last census for which the Township existed), there were 20 people, 9 households, and 5 families residing in the township. The racial makeup of the borough was 100.00% White (20 Whites). 5.00% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race (1 Hispanic or Latino).
In the township, the population was spread out, with 15.0% under the age of 18, 10.0% from 18 to 24, 20.0% from 25 to 44, 30.0% from 45 to 64, and 25.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years.
Popular culture
Pittsburghindie rock band Vehicle Flips released a song titled "Song for Pahaquarry, NJ (1824–1997)" on their 2000 album For You I Pine, reflecting on the fate of the town.[18]
^"300 Year Old Copper Mine Too Expensive To Operate", The Morning Call, May 8, 1928. Accessed March 17, 2024, via Newspapers.com. "The final chapter In the history of a copper mine operated at Belvidere, N. J.. by the Dutch, as early, it is said, as 1630, is being written. The last of recently installed expensive mining machinery has been bought by a secondhand machinery and junk man, of Newark, and preparations are being made for its removal. The mine has lately been known as the Pahaquarry Copper Mine and in an effort to increase production and make the mine pay the latest type of mining machinery was installed."
^"The Dutch Mines: Fact or Myth?", Spanning the Gap newsletter of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Summer 1988. Accessed March 17, 2024. "The copper ore at Pahaquarry is of very poor grade and is very diffuse in the rock. While it has teased along hope in three different centuries at least, in the end it has caused each successive mining operation to fail."
