Theodore F. King
1843-1928 A Most Prominent Citizen of Roxbury, New Jersey. Real Estate Tycoon, Merchant, Developer |
|
© 2004
Today's real estate
investors like Tej Kohli
have portfolios which can be worth over a billion dollars. It is
difficult to compare real estate investors of one hundred years ago like
Theodore King to billionaires like |
The history of Landing, in
the township of Roxbury, New Jersey could not be written without Theodore F. King was born on November 14, 1843 on a farm in Roxbury Township, Morris County, New Jersey. His parents were Thomas L. (b. 1809) and Jane (Hilts) (b. 1817) King, his paternal grandparents were John P. and Christina (Wolfe) King. The farm was located in the area then called Drakesville, later the name was changed to Ledgewood. The approximate location of the farmstead was about 3 miles west of Ledgewood center, off Rt 46, in the area informally known as Kingtown, as seen by signs on two local businesses. Thomas King served as Constable of Roxbury Township from the age of 21 and in 1843 ascended to the office of Morris County Sheriff. In addition to his official duties, he ran his farm as well as selling lumber. While he was born on the farm, Theodore King spent the first five years of his life in Morristown where his father carried out his duties at the County seat. His later youth was spent back at the family farm and he received his education at the Chester Institute. During these years he assisted his father in a small retail store they had set up alongside the road that ran by the family farm. |
On May 21, 1873 Theodore King married Miss Emma L. Riggs, (born September 6, 1844) the daughter of a prominent area family, her parents being Albert R. and Nancy (Stanburrough) Riggs. In 1874 he took over the retail store of his father-in-law, located in the center of Ledgewood on the Morris Canal. It is at this point of the story that modern readers will begin to identify with it, for many local residents have seen the preserved "King Store", located in the Ledgewood Historic District and curated by the good work of the Roxbury Historic Trust, assisted by the Rotary Club. The first child born to the Kings, Edna Josephine (born July 8, 1876) died in early childhood (September 1, 1878). On September 25, 1881 Emma Riggs King gave birth to a daughter, also named Emma Louise. Around 1883 the Kings had a beautiful Victorian style home built next to the store, a home that is still standing and under renovation by the Roxbury Historic Trust. |
In the 1880's the Morris Canal saw a sharp decline in its' traffic
of commercial goods such as coal, lumber, ice and iron ore, as the faster
Railroads took some of that business. Even as Theodore King
watched the traffic of Morris Canal boatmen and traders dwindle at his
store next to the canal, he still managed to do well in his investments.
He had already purchased many hundreds of acres of land around Lake
Hopatcong while it was still relatively unknown and made much profit by
selling part of it to the new 'American Forcite' explosives complex that
sprang up in 1883 among the hills at the southeastern corner of the
Lake, the area now known as 'Shore Hills'. It is evident that at this
time Theodore King shifted more attention, time, business and even
leisure interests toward the area that was known as "The
Landing". A detailed 1887 map of the area shows large and extensive
land holdings by Theodore King all around the southwest and southeast
side of Lake Hopatcong, including most of the area now called Landing.
He also had several houses and cottages built in Landing for his family
during this time including 285 Mt. Arlington Ave., later known as the
"Carey" house, and 2 houses built on Kingsland Road next to
the Lake for his daughter Emma Louise, houses that are still standing
and in use today. Next to one of the houses is Lake Louise, named for
his daughter, which was formed when King constructed an earthen dike to
enclose a small bay of Lake Hopatcong. The water area north of Kingsland
Road on the west shore is called "King's Cove" on old
postcards, however, better known as "King's Cove" is the area
on the eastern side of the lake just north of Silver Spring. All these
areas along with cottages were rented out to vacationers during Theodore
Kings' life, and later this same arrangement was managed by his daughter
Emma. Eventually the properties were sold and Private Associations were
formed to manage the communities; the Kingsland Association on the west
shore and the Silver Springs and Kings Cove Associations on the east
shore. During the 1880's King started and owned several businesses at the Lake and partnered in the ownership of others. The King Grocery Store at the southwest corner of Landing Road and Lakeside Boulevard was started (in a pre-existing building) in 1891 (it's site is now occupied by 1 Landing Road) by Theodore King and his brother William E. King . Across the street was King's Ice Cream & Confectionery, located on the southeast corner where a Real Estate office now stands. King also had Real Estate and Mining investments around the Lake, and was a financial partner in the construction of the Westmoreland Hotel at the southern end of the Lake (located near the site of today's "Station Hardware") and also partnered in the Silver Springs Park Hotel in the area that still bears that name. Perhaps the two most prominent King enterprises at Landing were the Lake Hopatcong Steamship Company and the Mountain Ice House. The 1890's saw the blossoming of Lake Hopatcong as the Summer Resort of choice by both the wealthy and the newly middle-class. The wealthy would rent large furnished houses, (called cottages!!) on the waters edge. The middle-class would often set up large canvas tents on wooden platforms and dwell in these for a week or more. All would enjoy the cool "mountain air" afforded by the so-called "1,200 foot elevation of the Lake" (an exaggeration of its' actual 926 foot elevation), a welcome summertime relief from the sweltering cities. Many would come up for the weekend and stay in one of the Hotels or rooming houses that sprang up around the Lake. Most everyone traveled to the Lake via Train, disembarking either at the Central Railway of New Jersey Station at Nolans Point or at the Landing Station of the Lackawanna Railroad. From there they most often traveled to their Lakeside destination via small Steamboats. The roads were poor to non-existent, and besides, the Steamboats were part of the attraction of the Lake! |
In 1890 the "Hopatcong Steamboat Company", known as the 'White Line' was founded by Theodore F. King to compete with the established "Black Line". This was a bold move, as the "Black Line" was owned by the same financial syndicate that owned the Lackawanna Railway and the Morris Canal. They had the ability to tax all boats using the Morris Canal and it's "feeder extension", which ran from the deep water of the main part of the Lake right up to the Landing RR Station. It seems that Theodore tried either to undercut his competitor, the Black Line, by avoiding the Morris Canal tolls or could not come to an agreement with them, so he used small boats to ferry people from the shallow dock at Landing to his Steamboats waiting a half mile away in deeper water. |
The Black Line charged passengers a fifty cent fare each way from the railroad station, a sizeable amount in 1890 ! Experienced travelers knew that after they got off the train they could walk across the bridge at Landing and board one of King's boats which only charged a twenty-five cent fare to go out to the hotels and forty cents to return. In addition, the trip out to the Lake took longer via the Black Line as their boats had to travel up the Canal feeder to the Lock (in the present State Park), wait for the Lock to raise their boat, and then through the gate. In July 1891, the Morris Canal and Banking Co. retaliated by lowering the water level on the lake. This resulted in the White Line not being able to operate their small boats from the Landing. Undeterred, Theodore King responded by dredging the swampy area at the southernmost part of the Lake, thereby creating Landing Channel which made it possible for White Line steamboats to come within a block of the Landing Rail Station. (The photo above shows the "Hopatcong", the flagship of Kings's 'White Line', at the dock in Landing). |
One of the industries which helped King make his fortune was the winter harvesting of ice from the frozen surface of Lake Hopatcong and then shipping that ice to the cities of northeast New Jersey to be used in 'iceboxes' before the days of electric refrigeration. King owned the Mountain Ice Company in the Silver Spring section of Landing (near today's Nixon School) which had a huge wooden storage hanger that kept the ice frozen for months after it was harvested. A railway spur was built off the Lackawanna line (it went thru today's Valiante Construction yard) to reach the icehouse and ship the ice out. In 1912 that wooden hanger burnt to the ground in a fire so large the flames lit up the sky all around the Lake. |
In 1913 an even bigger storage building was built in a
fireproof construction of a steel frame and two layers of sheathing of
hollow ceramic tile with insulating properties. At the time of it's
construction, it's 56 foot height made it the largest Ice House in
America. It was said to be able to hold 100,00 tons of ice. It was the
largest single-span construction in the USA until Radio City Music Hall
was built. It stood immediately behind the site of our current day Nixon
School. With the advent of electric refrigeration, it closed in 1935 and
was torn down in 1939. (photo above shows the aftermath of the 1912
fire, the blocks of ice can be clearly seen in the background, along
with the rail spur) In the Lewis Publishing book of biographies of prominent New Jersey
Businessmen published during King's life (1899), his political
affiliations are described this way: "Mr. KING, like his father, is
a staunch Democrat, and he, too, has been shown official preference. He
was elected clerk of Roxbury township when be was twenty-one, was
re-elected and served several years, and almost continuously since he
attained his majority has he served as a committeeman". In various
sources King is alternately described as either a Presbyterian or a
Baptist in religious persuasion. The uncertainty seems to stem from the
fact that his wife and daughter were members of the
Succasunna Presbyterian Church, as were his wife's parents, while
King himself in the latter part of his life is described in
reliable sources as a member of the Ledgewood Baptist Church and
'Superintendent' of the Sunday School there for several years. Such a
position at that church would indicate what would be described
today as an evangelical stance. |
Click here to Return to main page
The "King
Store" on Main Street in Ledgewood, owned and operated by Theodore F. King
from 1874 through 1928, is now open for short tours on the second Sunday of each
month (except January) from 1-4 PM. Operated by volunteers from the Roxbury
Historic Trust, this is well worth a visit. They sell Roxbury historic postcards
and excellent books detailing local history. We recommend it !! |
If
you know Landing history and can add to or correct this page,
Click here to Return
to main page
-
This page is a voluntary service of LandingNewJersey.com, a privately owned
website. Landing New Jersey is part
of the Municipality of Roxbury Township. A link to the "official"
Township website can be found on our "Links" page.