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Welcome to Gibbstown. Here you will find a playground for the kids. Foul language is prohibited. The sign stating that is on the corner of the park (Mullen & Solomon Ave). BYOP. The terrain here can be a swamp during heavy rains. It can be dry in the summer or it can be an ice rink in the winter. Please be considerate of the locals and park on the side of the street the fire hydrant is.
**Congrats to Cargirl2 & Moliveri for the FTF** Greenwich Township, from which Gibbstown developed, had the largest population of the six townships in Gloucester County in 1695. The townships were formed using rivers and creeks as dividing lines and the inhabitants of the area between the Barclay River and Great Mantoes Creek requested that the land be divided and formed into the Township of Greenwich. The actual division was accomplished in 1695.
Ethan Gibbs, the town's namesake, was a blacksmith in the early 1800's who owned a large portion of land upon which the township is located. In 1835, William Beck purchased a farm and opened a country store for the accommodation of his neighbors, attracting other settlers to the town. However, it took the coming of the railroad in 1874 to entice more than several dwellings and a stone schoolhouse.
On January 31, 1880, Lammot du Pont started constructing a dynamite plant on a site known as Thompson's Point after purchasing small riverfront farms from the Salisbury and Mullen families. This was the beginning of the Repauno Chemical Works. As the company prospered, the Allen farm to the west was added, followed by the Rambo, Casperson, Harker , Hawthorne, and the Green farms.
In 1890, the two communities in the Township, Paulsboro and Gibbstown, decided to divide, using Billingsport Road and Berkley Road as the dividing line. Paulsboro, not wanting the taxes on the huge sand pile that would become the Mobil Oil Company property, gave the property to Greenwich Township.
The building of the Du Pont Company plant from the original Repauno Chemical Works marked the beginning of growth of the small settlement of Gibbstown. As each operation in the plant was added, more housing was needed for the men who worked there. In 1882, four single homes and two duplex houses were built near the railroad station on both sides of Repauno Avenue. In 1914, Du Pont built 25 bungalows on the old Casperson farm, what is known as the "Old Village". Four years later, 40 houses were built on the east side of Repauno Avenue, and this became known as the "New Village". A private boardinghouse for the men who worked at the Repauno Works was built in 1903 at the comer of Repauno Avenue and Broad Street at the site of the current gas station. In 1918, a grand hotel opened next to the Du Pont Club, accommodating 111 guests. There were eventually four "camps" providing lodging for the workers. Today, evidence of the Du Pont influence is shown by the street names in the community -- Du Pont, Morse, Patterson, Jackson, and Bacchus.
In the 1880's, virtually every aspect of an employee's life was influenced by his employer, from livelihood to social activities to housing. The Du Pont Clubhouse was constructed in 1883 to provide social and recreational activities to unwind after a long day's labor. The Club provided a library, auditorium, bowling alley, billiard tables, luncheon counter, exercise room, gymnasium, and tennis courts.
The old stone, two-room schoolhouse became inadequate with the increase in population and in 1906 was sold to Thomas Munyan of Pitman who constructed a new frame, four-room schoolhouse for $7,000. An eight-room stone building was erected in 1923 and the frame building was replaced by stone additions in later years.
The original stone schoolhouse was used for church services until a frame Clonmell Methodist Church was built in 1879. This building was sold to Mr. Vitalino Verdinelli and the present stone church was built on the same site.
Prior to 1930, a priest traveled to Gibbstown every Sunday to celebrate Mass in a private home. A church was then constructed at the corner of Repauno and Broad Street. Attendance grew as the town enlarged, and a new church was built on Memorial Avenue in 1972. The Christ Presbyterian Church was erected in 1965 on Swedesboro Road.
The town roads in the early years were loose sand and oyster shells and were scraped once a year -just before Election Day! It wasn't until 1922 that the concrete road that is now Broad Street was built. This road, then designated as Route 130, was one of the main corridors between New York and Baltimore and was in constant use by trucks moving between the two cities until Interstate 295 opened in the middle 1950's.
Hiram Hall, inventor of the Hall Machine at Du Pont, drove the first car through town on May 5, 1899, completing a trip from Gloucester City to Gibbstown in 55 minutes.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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