Boonton Township’s Big Reveal

Interview with Doug Cabana

There’s plenty of history in Boonton Township, including the new but old municipal building and police headquarters, which was the subject of a well-attended New Year’s Eve day ribbon cutting ceremony. The ceremony celebrated the unveiling of Boonton Township’s new town hall.

Four years in the making, the project involved renovating the existing municipal building, which served as the historic Powerville School for nearly a century. The makeover addressed aging infrastructure, safety improvements, accessibility for seniors and residents with disabilities, and a new police headquarters.

Morris County Commissioner and Boonton Township Municipal Clerk Doug Cabana escorted us for a tour of the new digs. During our tour, he stood in one of the new conference rooms, where a snapshot of a red barn livens up the wall. “This room was two classrooms,” he said of the previous use of the space.

In total and in keeping pace with a growing population, Powerville School peaked at nine classrooms before closing doors altogether in 1968. The township assumed total occupancy in the early 1970s.

Cabana was instrumental in pitching the revival of the historical aesthetic, but it took a team of contractors and Laker architect Mike Coan to make the revival happen.

In addition to the new conference room, the renovation includes a glow-up of the main meeting room complete with the Boonton Township seal. The insignia features the Powerville Dam and the date that the municipality was established: 1867.

“The township was originally a part of Pequannock Township,” says Cabana.

The main meeting room, in addition to township business, will also serve as communal space for non-political groups such as The Rockaway Valley Garden Club, book clubs, scouting groups and more. The new police station is also located on the main level.

One flight down leads to a smaller conference room, and the basement houses a community room, which will serve as a lending library, computer access hub, and space to host programs during the summer, such as story hours.

In addition to no traffic light, Boonton Township is also void of a library and municipal trash pickup. Cabana considers these as perks that help manage property taxes and puts the residents in charge of selecting their own private trash collectors. The Morris County Library in Whippany is at their full disposal, or they can become fee-based members of the Mountain Lakes Public Library.

The K-8 school district is represented by Rockaway Valley School. Students attend Mountain Lakes High School, as opposed to Boonton High School.

The name Boonton originated from David Ogden, an ironworks proprietor circa 1761, who referred to the region as Boone-Towne, in honor of Thomas Boone, the British Colonial Governor of New Jersey.

The township also claims fame for having served as a stop on the Underground Railroad, which operated through The Powerville Hotel. The building still stands, only in apartment form.

For the most part, the township has stayed true to its rural character and still relishes in its agricultural roots as evidenced by a number of preserved farms and historical markers: Among them Wayside, Lone Oak and Valley.

To date, the township boasts 4200 residents but the jury’s out on the remaining number of cows.

Cabana tells us more about the renovation and township history.

Where was township business conducted during the renovation?

The Township offices and police department were housed in two 60’x24’ trailers on the front lawn during construction. Our court was held in Montville.

So, we have to ask the obvious–how was the project funded?

The project was mostly funded from the cannabis tax revenue. It cost about $11 million.

What about cannabis?

The township is home to a cannabis agricultural site, which is a year-round working farm.

Fun-fact: The operators opened shop as a purveyor of medical marijuana in 2020. This was before the public approved recreational and retail use on the ballot. The business does not operate an on-site dispensary.

Who would you say were the most historical influences in developing the township?

During the Revolutionary era, the township was known for its iron mining, and dairy farming, then the Morris Canal, which paralleled the Rockaway River with locks at Powerville.

In the 1920s, the township played a part in the development of modern-day aviation with the development of instrument only flying at Radio Frequency Lab and Aircraft Radio Corp. in Rockaway Valley.

Fun fact: Boonton Township boasts a ‘first in flight status,” as in the first successful instrument-driven “blind flight” take-off and landing that used RFL technology. The flight was made by war hero Gen. James Doolittle at the Rockaway Valley Aerodrome, which is now home to Rockaway Valley Fields (RVA) which includes a namesake playground: Doolittle’s Landing.

You mentioned the Lone Oak from the Kincaid Farm. Tell us about Kincaid.

Oscar Kincaid contributed to the township’s agricultural boon, cultivating his property into a successful dairy, vegetable, and poultry farm, plus an ice cream stand.

Kincaid would go on to serve two-terms as the township’s mayor and championed for farmland preservation across all of Morris County. His homestead serves as the headquarters for the Boonton Township Historical Society.

Photographs courtesy of Boonton Township and Ellen S. Wilkowe