Whippany’s post office opened in 1863, and 6 of its places are on the National Register
Most of Whippany was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1888 on, and old-book passages.
The Whippany River is an important part of the Munsee, colonial, and industrial history of the town.
Circa 1000 CE, the area, along with most of northern New Jersey, was inhabited by the Munsee Lenape people. Circa 1500, all of New Jersey was part of the Lenapehoking, the homelands of the Lenape.
The Munsee harvested mussels from the Whippany River. Arrowheads found in Munsee encampments throughout the nearby Washington Valley suggest that they hunted wolf, elk, and wild turkey for game.
The earliest European settlers to live along the Whippany River can be traced back to 1685. The river was an integral part of life in the area; it provided water power for the various mills which developed in the town.
Passages that mention Whippany, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A history of Morris County, New Jersey1914 · page 301Read the page →
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attended religious services at Whippany where a Presbyterian church was built in 1718. [History of Presbyterian Church at Madison, p. 10.] In 1748 a church was built in South Hanover, Hanover Neck, which the members of the Whippany church in this part of the township of Hanover attended. The Presbyterian church at Bottle Hill, Madison, was built in 1765, and was largely composed of patrons from the town of Chatham.
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Brief history of Chatham Morris County, New Jersey1914 · page 27Read the page →
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attended religious services at Whippany where a Presbyterian church was built in 1718. [History of Presbyterian Church at Madison, p. 10.] In 1748 a church was built in South Hanover, Hanover Neck, which the members of the Whippany church in this part of the township of Hanover attended. The Presbyterian church at Bottle Hill, Madison, was built in 1765, and was largely composed of patrons from the town of Chatham.
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cannot be ascertained, yet, from scattered documents, as well as from reliable tradition, we are safe in setting it down as a little antecedent to the year 1700; and the first settlement was undoubtedly at Whippany, which place was also the first settled in the county of Morris. The first settlers were from Newark, Elizabeth, New England and England, drawn hither by the proximity of ores of iron, in the manufacture of which they at once
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A history of Morris County, New Jersey1914 · page 142Read the page →
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The Whippany river afforded numerous mill sites which have been occupied since the earliest settlement. The Parsippany river, a beautiful stream, flowing into the Whippany, fed mostly by springs, also affords several mill sites, as does Stony Brook, which rising in Wheeler Swamp pursues a short but rapid course to its junction with the Whippany, near the Caledonia paper mill. The Morristown & Erie railroad crosses the township from Morristown to a junction with the Greenwood Lake division of the Erie railroad. On this branch is located Whippany, the principal village
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Whippany, 1888 to 1994
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (3), the Library of Congress (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
![attended religious services at Whippany where a Presbyterian church was built in 1718. [History of Presbyterian Church at Madison, p. 10.] In 1748 a church was built in South Hanover, Hanover Neck, which the members of the Whippany church in this part of the township of Hanover attended. The Presby…](https://images.townratings.com/story/42223/bk-292bb4b150db898c-l.jpg)
![attended religious services at Whippany where a Presbyterian church was built in 1718. [History of Presbyterian Church at Madison, p. 10.] In 1748 a church was built in South Hanover, Hanover Neck, which the members of the Whippany church in this part of the township of Hanover attended. The Presby…](https://images.townratings.com/story/42223/bk-ed4b234c44da84fa-l.jpg)
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