Express Oil Change and Lube
Near Boonton, NJ

Boonton’s story is written along the Rockaway River. Grace Lord Park, in the heart of town, is home to the 36-foot Boonton Falls and to the remains of the Boonton Ironworks. The fall line of the river once generated the water power that drew industry to the site.

The ironworks relied on the nearby Morris Canal both for power and for moving materials in and out, and it helped Boonton grow through much of the 19th century. The 1870s brought setbacks, including the economic panic of 1873, a fire and the discovery of more accessible iron deposits in the West, and the works finally closed in 1911. In 2023 the site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Boonton Ironworks Historic District, a 53-acre district in Grace Lord Park that includes an arch bridge and sections of the Morris Canal.

The park itself has a history, too. In 1929 the estate of James Couper Lord deeded park land on the south side of the river to the town in honor of his daughter, Grace Lord Nicoll. Over the 20th century the park had a bandstand and a swimming beach.

Upstream is a different kind of history. The original village of Old Boonton, where a forge once made cannonballs for the Continental Army, now lies under the waters of the Jersey City Reservoir.

Modern Boonton is a town of hills, historic streets and commuters, with I-287 and US 202 running through the center of town. A hillside town with steady commuting is hard on engines, so regular maintenance matters here. See neighboring Mountain Lakes and Montville, or all of Morris County.

The ironworks shaped more than industry. The company that ran it built Boonton’s first school, a one-room building on company property, in 1831, and the town opened the School Street School in 1852. The railroad left its mark, too: a steel trestle over the Rockaway River, built in 1906 to replace an 1867 wooden trestle destroyed by a 1905 flood, carried an industrial spur of the Morris and Essex Railroad, and it still stands in Grace Lord Park.

One more local detail trips up newcomers. The Town of Boonton, with about 8,800 residents, is a separate municipality from Boonton Township, a more rural community of about 4,400 residents to its west. Our page covers the town, though drivers from both are welcome in our bay on Route 46.

Grace Lord Park has drawn visitors for a long time. A large boulder in the park, also known as Washington Rock, has been one of its attractions since the 1870s, and just above the old stone arch bridge the Rockaway River begins its descent at Boonton Falls. The town has sought National Register status for that bridge to qualify for restoration funding, and a repaired bridge would open hiking access along an extended Morris Canal Greenway. For residents, the park is a reminder that the river that once powered Boonton’s mills still runs right through the center of town.