Photo Courtesy Orange Branch Historical Society David Ropes was a mayor and councilman in Orange who was behind the creation of the Orange Branch of the Erie Railroad.
David Ropes was mayor and a councilman around the time of the Civil War who had a big impact on the city of Orange that might yet continue.
Ropes was recently the subject of a Zoom presentation by the founder of the Orange Branch Historical Society, Darren Tobia.
The Orange Branch Historical Society is a project of the Four Oranges, a nonprofit with a stated mission of preserving the history of the former railroad line and advocating for landmarking the Orange Branch corridor, with the hopes of someday transforming the abandoned remains into a rail trail or a light rail.
Much of the Orange Branch corridor is intact but it is currently being used for junk yards, surface parking, and abandoned lots. It stretches for about two miles from the light rail station in Bloomfield to the former terminus in West Orange. The Orange Branch Historical Society proposes to transform the right of way into something meaningful while boosting tourism to Orange.
Ropes was born in 1814 in Salem, Mass. He left his hometown in 1832 to take over the nation’s first manufacture of cutlery in Maine. He married Lydia Bisbee in 1836. She would later become the first president of the Women’s Club of Orange.
Tobia explained that according to some sources, while in Maine, Ropes housed slaves who were fleeing to Canada via the underground railroad.
In 1855 Ropes’ company opened a branch office for his cutlery in New Jersey. He was elected mayor of Orange in 1864 and served until 1865. He sat on council from 1866 through 1872.
As a real estate developer, he was responsible for much of Orange and West Orange’s street grid. He was also one of the founding members of the Orange Society of New Jerusalem.
In 1876, at the age of 62, he founded the Watchung Railroad, which later became the Orange Branch. The economic panic of 1873 and his career switch to real estate helped bring about the railroad line.
The Orange Branch passed through Newark, Bloomfield, East Orange, Orange, and ended at the Erie Loop on Main Street in West Orange. The last train left the station on Sept. 20, 1966.
Ropes died in 1889. Ropes Playground, which is more than 100-years-old, was named after him.
To learn more about the Orange Branch Historical Society, visit: https://theorangebranch.com/.
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