This growing area is ideally poised for the growth it will surely see. The International Trade Zone located within it's borders is host to some of the larger companies like BMW, Fed-Ex, UPS, Lucent and more. Although the township has already seen extensive growth there is still plenty of room and lots of new construction.
It was formed on March 22, 1871 and is comprised of two main areas, Budd Lake and Flanders. It is the home of Budd Lake, the largest natural lake in New Jersey. Mount Olive Township prospered as a Summer resort community during the World War II era. Though its dance hall days are long gone, the community still retains its rural charm, remaining largely undeveloped. The municipality, which has an average household size of 2.66 people covers approx. 30.44 square miles. Mount Olive Township is comprised of two main areas, Budd Lake and Flanders, and its neighbors include Hackettstown, Allamuchy, Byram, Stanhope, Roxbury Township and Chester Township
Some Mt. Olive History
Mt. Olive Township is comprised of 32 square miles. It consists of two sections named for people or events, such as: Budd Lake, named for John Budd, and Flanders, named for a group of early settlers who vacationed in Flanders, Long Island. Roads in the Township are named after early settlers as well, such as: Smithtown because of the many Smiths that lived there; Drakestown named for the Drakes; Bartley Road for the Bartley family; Waterloo, which had served as a French Army Officer's hospital in 1740 and later when Napoleon met his defeat, the Americans there, who were sympathetic to the British, named the Township, Mt. Olive, for Benjamin Olive. The beginning of the first hundred years was on March 22, 1871, when Mt. Olive was created through the splitting of the area then known as Roxbury Township. Records indicate that those present were Jared Hathaway, John Smith, David Wolfe, Richard Stephens, Harry Sovereign, Josiah Meeker, Mr. McNeeley and a Mr. Riggs. The amount of taxes to be assessed by Mt. Olive was 786.65. Names of boundaries were changed and the taxpayers listed. Before that, indications are that land was purchased from the Indians in 1708.
There is no known record of the price paid. Speculation is whether the land included Mt. Olive, an area roughly the size of Manhattan Island, and whether the price was $24 and some trading goods. In 1713, the upper part of the western division of the province of New Jersey, Lying Northward of the Brook called Assanpink, was created into a county called Hunterdon. Roxbury Township, including what is now Mt. Olive, became the fourth township in Morris County in 1740. Chester broke away from Roxbury in 1799. Mt. Olive was separated from Roxbury on March 11, 1871. Before the white settlers "invaded" this part of New Jersey, the Lenni-Lenape Indians lived here in tepees and caves. From the cleared fields, many arrowheads, tomahawks, corn grinders and other relics along the lake road, it is believed that their councils were held in Budd Lake in the Vicinity of High Street.
In selecting their homelands, nearby water was a necessity, whether lakes, brooks, streams or swamp. There had to be abundant hunting grounds - places where animals and water fowl congregated. Sandy or loamy land was preferred to stony or rocky spots. Weapons were primitive and the Indians used them with great strategy. They did not stay too long in one spot, because when game became scarce, they moved on. Every clan hunted in a well-defined area, large enough to support all its members. They did not trespass on their neighbor's hunting grounds, and it is estimated that there was one Indian to each square mile. Periodically they united with other tribes to go the seashore for their much loved oysters and clams, or to take trips across the country to the Delaware River, where they held their great councils. The Lenni-Lenape (meaning "original people") were friendly. The whites around here respected this attitude and always bought, rather than take the land.
Excerpts taken from The History of Mount Olive by Rita Hilbert
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