House Washing in Wharton, NJ

In 1831, the Morris Canal was completed from Newark to Phillipsburg, New Jersey across the Delaware River from the terminus of the Lehigh Canal. On the way, it passed through Boonton, Dover and Port Oram. On this route it tapped the Morris County ore fields and became a carrier for both ore and pig iron. Its main purpose, however, was as an extension of the Lehigh Canal to furnish a route for anthracite coal from the Pennsylvania mines to seaboard. Any local traffic was a gain to supplement the through anthracite freight and iron ore and its products soon became important sources of revenue. Sites on the canal were selected for docks and industry, including iron works.

On June 28, 1895, voters from the settlements Port Oram, Irondale, Luxemburg, Maryville and Mount Pleasant voted 143 to 51 to incorporate as the borough Port Oram, the largest of the communities in the area covering 2.25 square miles (5.8 km²) west of Dover, New Jersey. A mayor, six councilmen, an assessor and a collector were elected to govern the new borough which had started life as an ore shipping port on the Morris Canal. These elected officials (mine superintendents, store owners, a railroad superintendent and a school teacher) represented the leaders of these settlements where iron ore was mined, smelted and shipped.

The borough was renamed in 1902 in honor of Joseph Wharton, who was born in 1826 in Philadelphia to an old family of Quakers. Wharton first studied at a local Quaker school after which he worked on a farm rather than attend college because his parents wanted him to mature, and during the winter studied chemistry at the laboratory of Martin Hans Boyè in Philadelphia. He started producing zinc and nickel, and gradually bought a controlling interest in Bethlehem Iron Works. As his business interests expanded he purchased substantial shares of several railroads involved in the coal and iron trade, also purchasing iron mines and furnaces near Port Oram. After selling his interest in Bethlehem Iron Works in 1901 and his nickel works to CVRD Inco in 1902, he continued to actively acquire and manage a large and diverse business empire that included iron smelting in Wharton until just before his death in January, 1909. Wharton also endowed the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. The town was named after him at after a referendum in 1902.