The development of trade began with the first settlers in Salem County. The first official port of entry in South Jersey was Salem located on the east bank of Salem Creek, 1682. The founder of the town, John Fenwick, recognized the need for trade and built a 90 foot wide street lined with houses and shops that ran from the docks through the town. The residents were engaged in shipbuilding and trade. The Salem port was an ideal location away from the tidal marshes on solid ground and on the bank of a major stream. Salem was an important trade center until the close of the 18th century.
Philadelphia and the colonies received large quantities of the items exported which included agriculture products, beef, animal pelt and wood products. The Salem merchants imported refined products, rum, wine, furniture, sugar and salt. During the Revolutionary War few items were traded with England and Philadelphia became the source for imports. The ships that sailed from Salem were sloops or schooners.
Development of Industry
Industry in Salem County grew out of the natural resources of this area: the fine sand provided the resource needed for glassmaking, cedar found in swamps and marshes was used to manufacture building materials, shingles and boards and rich soil of the inner coastal region produced abundant vegetable and fruit crops. The early industries of Salem County include: glassmaking, shipbuilding, cedar mining and agriculture.
The first successful glass factory in America was in Salem County. In 1738 Casper Wistar bought 100 acres of land near Alloway and built a glass factory and town which contained two furnaces with ovens for cooling the glass and drying wood, a general store and storehouse, mills, ten dwelling houses for the work men and a large mansion. Wistar imported German glassblowers by offering free passage, land, dwellings and one-third of the company profits in exchange for their skill and formulas. The town was known as Wistarburgh, and the glass was known as Wistarburgh glass. The success of this enterprise encouraged the start of four more glass factories that remained in operation for more than 100 years. During the nineteenth century Salem had 4 glassworks in operation.
During the eighteenth and nineteenth century the local economy was based on commercial fishing, shipping of agricultural products, near by ship building businesses, glass manufacturing and farming. In 1891 the DuPont Company established a plant in Carney’s Point NJ for the production of smokeless powder. During the first year of operation in 1892 the plant produced 100,000 pounds of smokeless (gun powder) and munitions. By 1917 the plant employed 25,000 workers. The DuPont facilities continued operation in Carney’s Point until it closed in the late 1970’s.
The construction of Hope Creek Nuclear Power Plant and the two-unit Salem Nuclear Power Plant in Lower Alloways Creek Township employed thousands of workers during construction (masons,welders, pipe fitters, plumbers, carpenters, inspectors, engineers, etc) in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Today these plants produce half the electricity used in New Jersey.