“The time and circumstances under which the name South Orange originated will probably never be known,” wrote historian William H Shaw in 1884, “and we are obliged to fall back on a tradition, that Mr Nathan Squier first used the name in an advertisement offering wood for sale” in 1795.[5]
Of 566 municipalities statewide, South Orange is one of only four villages in New Jersey; the others are Loch Arbour, Ridgefield Park and Ridgewood.
South Orange Village dates back to May 4, 1869, when it was formed within South Orange Township (Now Maplewood). On March 4, 1904, the Village of South Orange was created by an act of the New Jersey Legislature and separated from South Orange Township.[6] In November, 1977, South Orange voters passed a new Charter for South Orange and changed its name to The Township of South Orange Village. The change was intended to allow South Orange to qualify for a pool of federal aid allocated to Townships that allowed townships to receive as much as double the revenue-sharing aid per capita received by the four other types of New Jersey municipalities – borough, city, town or village.[7]
The Old Stone House Team is united to Save Our History. By Saving the Old Stone House we retain a living document of the history of South Orange and the region.
South Orange Middle School Poem From
Amber Alston
This House Called Stone
More than just a house called stone
Your history is etched in your bone
For hundreds of years you’ve housed families from beginning to end
But your fame still has yet to begin
Hidden, covered and turned away
Time has shuttered your glory days
Notable name have surrounded you and grounded you
Making sure your heart is beating forever more
What will happen to you in your old age?
Knocking down out of rage
Or
May it be a family’s knocking at your door?
Vision-
We support the preservation and restoration of the Old Stone House in its entirety by working with the Village to attain this goal to ultimately benefit all the residents of South Orange Village and future generations by promoting the adaptive reuse of this significant historic structure and finding the best and highest use for this property rather than abandonment or demolition. We are committed to see this project through to the end. The preservation of this historic landmark is imperative. The property formerly known as 219 South Orange Avenue has been recognized on the State and National Registers of Historic Places because of its rich history. The Old Stone House merits saving-it is a living document to the history of South Orange and the region.
All About The Old Stone House in South Orange New Jersey
Although the house is believed to have predated 1680 maps, the Stone House by the Stone House Brook is significant for the period 1866 to 1916 for its fifty-year association with the productive career of William Augustus Brewer, Jr., who is significant in the past of South Orange, New Jersey, for this period, for community planning and development, politics/government, and education, and because it possesses integrity of design, materials, setting, workmanship.
As Trustee and two-time President of the Village of South Orange, Commissioner of Assessments, head of the Safety and Order Commission, Commissioner of Drainage, Chairman of the Board of Education, and Secretary and President of the South Orange Library, Brewer spearheaded, often against significant opposition, remarkable improvements in South Orange which ranked him “was one of the pioneers” in the movement which led to the development of South Orange as a place of suburban residence.
This building is the last remaining building associated with the life of William Brewer.
Stone House by Stone House Brook is also significant for historic archaeology for the period 1747 to 1850, as having yielded, or may be likely to yield, information for the period between circa 1747 and 1850 in South Orange, New Jersey.
A Phase I/II archaeological survey has identified an eighteenth/nineteenth-century trash scatter covering 400 square feet adjacent to the kitchen door and a late eighteenth/early nineteenth-century trash midden of about 600 square feet located 20 feet east of the house.
These have yielded a rich array of cultural material relating to the occupation of the site by the Pierson, Condit, and Lindsley families (ca. 1747-1850, who were prominent in the development and establishment of South Orange in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
South Orange | salinarockson February 17, 2008 | 
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