History

The Orchard Street Cemetery in Dover, Morris County,  NJ was originally founded in 1851 when a group of men determined that a cemetery was needed in the Village of Dover, then part of Randolph Township.  One member of the group, William Young, the first baker in Dover who had his store on Dickerson Street is said to have traded his “garden plot” at the end of Orchard Street to this new endeavor in return for several building lots on Orchard Street.  The plot supposedly transferred from William Young to the Association was approximately one acre in size.  As of now, we have not found any proof of this transfer however.

 

On September 11, 1854 following the passage of the “Rural Cemetery Act of 1854" by the New Jersey Legislature, the Dover Cemetery Association was founded during a meeting in the Village of Dover held at School House District No. 1.  The location of this school was to the east of Morris Street and to the south of the railroad tracks.  This puts it on the opposite side of the railroad tracks from the old Stone Academy.  The papers of incorporation were dated September 14, 1854 and duly registered with the County of Morris.

 

A deed dated February 22, 1855 was signed by Jabez Mills and his wife Hannah selling approximately 4.5 acres of their property to the Trustees of the Dover Cemetery Association.  This deed was received and recorded on February 27, 1855 by the County of Morris.  The acquisition of this property brought the cemetery to its final boundaries and size of 5.4 acres.  It is believed based on gravestones in the cemetery that the entire property was being used as a cemetery prior to the date of the recording of the deed.  Further, some sections of the cemetery property may have been used prior to 1851 due to gravestones that predate the founding of the cemetery.  It is also known that there was an earlier Dover cemetery, the Morris Street Burying Yard located south of the train tracks along Morris Street.  It is believed that a number of the remains that were interred there were disinterred and moved to the Orchard Street Cemetery.  Many stones in Orchard Street predate the cemetery founding and it can be inferred that either there were burials in the cemetery confines before it was founded or these are reinterments from the Morris Street Burial Yard, or both.  In addition, there was later a small cemetery on Grant Street next to what was the Swedish Methodist Church.  Around the turn of the 1900's, this cemetery was closed and again, the remains within were disinterred and many were removed to Orchard Street.

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In an August 14, 1875 edition of the Iron Era newspaper, it was noted that a "new cemetery receiving house" was being built at the Orchard Street Cemetery.  This "receiving house" is what we call the Gatehouse today and still stands.  To date, we have been awarded a number of grants to restore the Gatehouse as well as to develop plans for this restoration.  We are currently waiting for a date with the State Board of Historic Preservation for the Gatehouse to be added to the Historic Register of the State of NJ and possible, the Historic Register of the United States.