History of the DSCA

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Small bands of "paleo-Indians", or prehistoric people, lived in New Jersey during the Ice Age. They lived by fishing and hunting mammoths, mastodons, saber-tooth tigers, caribou, musk oxen, wild pigs, deer, and bears. Spear points and ax heads have been found throughout central New Jersey that experts have dated to 8,000 - 10,000 years old. Five important archeological sites were identified in the Dismal Swamp near the crossing of Talmadge Road and Bound Brook, where similar artifacts were discovered. The later generations were known as the Leni Lenape people. The Lenape were an agricultural society and farmed maize, beans, and gourds, and supplemented their livelihood with hunting and fishing. A tribe of Lenape Native Americans living in central New Jersey was called Raritaing, from which the name "Raritan" was derived. The name "Metuchen" first appeared in 1688/1689, and its name was derived from a Lenape chief known as Matouchin.  

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The Province of New Jersey was part of the Dutch New Netherlands colony until the English conquest in 1664. The Metuchen-Edison-South Plainfield region was always a transportation hub, which shaped its popularity and growth. The early settlers farmed, fished, hunted, and trapped beaver and muskrats, logged, or were merchants. A sawmill and gristmill were established on nearby Cedar Brook in Edison in 1732. Colonial development near Metuchen began around the 1750s when well-established Native American trails served as carriage routes to New Brunswick, Trenton, New York City, and Philadelphia. These routes led to roadways and commercial rail and highway corridors. Historical maps and records indicate that in the early 1800s the region was sparsely populated with only a few buildings in the Boroughs of Metuchen and South Plainfield. However, by the 1840s, the Metuchen railroad station spurred commercial and residential development.

Source: uvm.edu

Source: njskylands.com