Industrial History of Ringwood, NJ

“ You know, we’re talking about a big corporation, right in our backyard, that gave hope and promise that one day we’d be a Garden of Eden. But it turned around and just became a cemetery.”

- Wayne Mann, Ramapough

The German industrialist Peter Hasenclever purchased the Ringwood Ironworks Estate located in the Ramapo Mountains in 1764 and built the Long Pond Ironworks. He opened 53 mines in the surrounding area during his years in business, bringing hundreds of workers over from Germany and supervising the construction of roads, dams, houses and other mine structures. Operation of this commercial enterprise was transferred to Robert Erksine in the 1770s, and then to Martin Ryerson in 1807. Peters Mine, opened around 1740, was the longest running mine in Ringwood, and had seventeen levels, with a shaft running 2,400 feet on an incline, reaching a depth of 1,800 feet below ground. During the Revolutionary War the ironworks manufactured heavy chains that were strategically placed between Manhattan and West Point to block British ships from ascending the Hudson towards Albany. The Great Chain at West Point is the most famous of these.

After the mines were purchased by Abram Hewitt for Peter Cooper in 1853, they were again called into use for war manufacturing, this time to produce mortar carriages, gun-barrel iron, and plating for armored ships during the Civil War. Hewitt even received a telegram from Abraham Lincoln requesting mortars for General Grant’s men. Hewitt built the current Ringwood Manor on the site of the first manor that was built for Hasenclever. In 1938 the house, including its contents, and the property were donated by the Hewitt family to the State of New Jersey to serve as a museum and a state park (Ransom, 2011 p.227). Peters Mine and Cannon Mine were in operation off and on after the 1870s. They were bought by the Defense Plant Corporation of the federal government in 1942, with the thought that iron ore might play a valuable role in World War II. Despite extensive rehabilitation, the mines were of little use for the war effort. They finally closed in 1954, changing ownership multiple times until the land was acquired by Ringwood Realty Corp., a subsidiary of Ford Motors, in 1965.

In this clip Ramapough leaders speak about the damage caused by Ford Motor Company's polluting of their lands.

The Ford Motor Company had opened a production plant in nearby Mahwah in 1955, reaching the milestone of one million cars assembled by 1960. It was the largest of its kind in the nation during its years of production, with approximately 2 million square feet of plant space. The plant closed on June 20, 1980, eliminating 4,500 jobs, and was eventually demolished in 1984 (O’Brien, 2010). Many tons of paint sludge and related manufacturing waste from the Ford plant were dumped in the Ringwood Mines area in the 1960s and 1970s. 

“ In 1969 alone...the Mahwah factory generated 84,000 cubic yards of waste, including 1.3 million gallons of paint sludge. That’s enough waste to fill 25 Olympic swimming pools.”

- Jan Barry, Reporter for The Record