Driving through Rockaway, New Jersey today, you can feel a strong sense of history, but there are now only hints of the place that Rockaway once was. Early in the 1900's, there were two major railroads, a trolley line, an iron foundry, an inclined plane and two basins of the Morris Canal, a bicycle factory, a three story department store selling everything from bonnets to bedsteads, and three hotels, including one that was a favorite of Annie Oakley.

On the occasion of the Borough's centennial in 1994, a book was published that illustrates how the town grew with the use of before and after photographs and three old maps. The following introduction by Mary Electa Robinson is excerpted from Remembering Rockaway, edited by Dorothy E. Mott. The current MapQuest map of Rockaway may help in following the story.