Indians used this area, known as Smoking Point, as hunting and fishing grounds.
The area around present-day Roosevelt and Washington avenues was known as Blazing Star.
A reference is found in a newspaper to the Blazing Star Tavern as a waterfront business. The Blazing Star Ferry to Staten Island is in operation at this time. The Blazing Star lasts until the mid-19th century.
Tory troops, supporting the British, are camped at Blazing Star and Amboy.
The area is now labeled Woodbridge Neck on an Atlas of Middlesex County.
Map shows there are two ferry locations. The original Star Landing one in the Chrome section and one at Union Landing in the Hill section, then known as Island View.
There are two schoolhouses. One called Rahway Neck No. 21 is located on what is now Roosevelt Ave. in West Carteret. That building had 32 students and is still there. The other, Blazing Star No. 22 had 47 students and was at a site near the present day Columbus school.
Industry begins to establish itself in the village of Carteret. Canda Manufacturing, Williams & Clark Fertilizers and Wheeler Condensers buy property on the Staten Island Sound, now known as the Arthur Kill. A railroad line runs from Linden to Perth Amboy.
St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church and the First Presbyterian Church of Carteret are formed.
There is still a relatively small population of 400 with 25 farms in existence.
With Chrome Steel, Liebig Mfg., and U.S. Metals and Refining, the population began to explode. The area around these factories picks up the name of Chrome because of the many jobs it brought into the borough.
The villages of Carteret and Chrome secede from Woodbridge Township and become known as the Borough of Roosevelt. The secession referendum was passed on April 11, by a vote of 377 to 1. Joseph A. Hermann was elected as our first mayor. The population is now at 6,000. Two new schoolhouses were built. School #1 was located in the Hill section at the site of the Washington school building. School #2 was the original Columbus School.
The name of the town is changed from Roosevelt to the Borough of Carteret….