Ocean County , NJ History

Crowleytown Washington Township, Burlington County, NJ This town is supposed to have stood where the state run "Crowley's Landing" picnic area is today in Wharton State Forest, Washington Township. Samuel Crowley ran two different glassworks there although there is some uncertainty as to whether it was Samuel or Samuel, jr.. Crowley had big plans for the town, and tried to sell big city investors on the idea to no avail. On his four hundred acres he erected his first glassworks in 1851; there were also stores, a hotel, and of course homes for the employees. One plant employed twelve blowers, and he even had plans for a canal to the Delaware. However, his glasshouses proved unprofitable when he failed to attract the necessary investment and sold out to a New York group who renamed his glassworks the 'Atlantic Glass Works.' There were several fires, the last of which occurred in 1866. Although it was abandoned, the plant stood until it finall...

Information about this family was taken from their headstones in the Green Bank Cemetery and the Pleasant Mills Cemetery, and the 1885 Census. Augustus Ernst Koster was born in Hanover, Germany on 17 June 1840. All that is known of his family in Germany is that he had a brother named Charles, according to the Batsto Citizen's Gazzette vol XXIII #1. He came to America at the age of 14, supposedly after his mother had arranged to have him released from military training in Germany. He originally went to New York City, and in 1869 moved to Hermann, a town which no longer exists in Washington Township, supposedly to make glass. His father in law, John H. Rapp, is the investor who purchased the land and opened that glass works, so it is probable that he had some role in Augustus' choice to move to Washington Township. The town is supposed to have had between 40 and 70 homes at that time, plus one hotel. An 1876 Burlington County directory lists August Koster of Green Bank as a hot...