In my memory Mr. Israel Crane was the first in the mercantile business in the town. His store was located on Glen Ridge Avenue, opposite Spring Street, near his residence still standing. This business preceded the opening of the Turnpike. To keep in touch with the new highway and to hold his trade, he opened Spring Street making an easy connection with the Turnpike. Mr. Crane did a large and successful business for many years, and was succeeded by his youngest son, James.

The other store was started in 1811 by Peter Doremus on the site now occupied by the Doremus building. He carried a heavy stock of general merchandise to meet the increased demand for family supplies occasioned by the improved facilities for travel over the new Turnpike, bringing a large trade from Morris and Sussex Counties. Trade was most active in the Fall and Spring, when families would come to town and purchase supplies for the season.

Methods of business in the early days were quite different from the present. Instead of the regular morning ordered for the day, visits were less frequent on account of the distance from the store, and family supplies were purchased accordingly. Consequently business was much less strenuous, giving more or less leisure to the merchant for general town talk with the regular "settlers." Families from Morris County would occupy a full day purchasing stores to carry them over several months, and the business was generally transacted in the Dutch language, which my father spoke fluently. This at the time was the spoken language of a large part of Morris and Bergen Counties.

The present custom of daily calling for orders and delivering the goods had not then been thought of by merchant or customer as a business method, much less a telephone call a half mile from the store for a two-cent yeast cake "sent up quick."

The present day stock of package and canned goods is an entire change. Nearly all ordinary groceries were in the bulk. Coffee was sold in the bean, unroasted; flour came from up country in sacks and was emptied into large bins; New Orleans molasses and sugar in hogsheads. The moist, unrefined sugar was taken from the cask and mixed with a dry Havanna sugar, giving it a better consistency for weighing out from barrels in which it was placed after mixing. The loaf sugar neatly wrapped (the outside paper a uniform bright purple) hung from the ceiling beams in rows. This was particularly "company" sugar and was broken off in quantities as desired. The purple paper wrappers were much sought after by the ladies to use for dyeing material. Flour was always weighed in bags provided by the customer, as the customary division as to quantity being based on a system of one hundred and twelve pounds for one hundred-pound weight. The weights were of cast iron representing respectively fifty-six pounds, twenty-eight pounds, fourteen pounds and seven pounds. The sale of sugar in quantities of seven pounds is still in general use. The scales in use for these weights and for bulky goods consisted of a heavy iron beam hung from the ceiling with square board platforms suspended by chains from the beam ends.

Instead of the present molasses faucet to fill the measure, a tin dipper was used, the hogshead being first conveniently placed and the head removed. The open cask (but meant to be kept covered) was a temptation to the small boys to get a lick of the sweet. One little fellow climbed to the top edge of the hogshead, lost his balance and fell in. He told me, some years afterwards lifted him out, and when he got home he was badly covered with molasses and flies. That was long ago, and we need have no fear of such defilement of our molasses under the modern methods.

It is a pleasant and interesting memory to recall the gatherings of the men of the town of three generations ago in this old store during the winter evenings, entertaining themselves with the general news of the day and a large fund of stories which would usually be prefaced by "that puts me in mind of." During the political campaigns the discussions would sometimes become rather warm. Conspicuous and rather a leader was Capt. John Baldwin, an old line Whig in politics and a man of large brain. One or two of the stories told peculiar to the times may be mentioned. A considerable business was done in the way of barter, farm products, eggs, butter, potatoes, etc., being exchanged at the store for merchandise, and it was the common custom in the days when wine was a part of the stock to treat the customer after the deal. A good lady sent her husband to purchase for her a darning needle, giving in exchange a new-laid egg. After the trade he asked the usual treat. The glass of wine was served, when he asked, "couldn't you afford an egg to break in this?" "Rather close business," the merchant replied, but handed him the same egg that was in the deal, which the customer found on opening contained two yolks, on account of which he thought he was entitled to another needle.

One of the story-tellers with a good deal of dry wit related the following: Indigo was quite an article in trade and every good housewife kept her indigo bag, which must be of the best quality to give the proper shade to the rinsing water of the weekly family wash. A good lady with some experience in the use of indigo undertook to give her neighbor an infallible test by which she could determine the genuine, viz.: Take a cup of clean cold water and gently drop into it a lump of indigo - but, I declare, I forget whether it must sink or swim to be good.