The first settlement in Passaic County at about 1680 or 1690 was at Acquackanonk Landing which is now Passaic. As road ways were difficult to travel, the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers were used for transportation.

Acquackanonk was an important place since it conveyed material and merchandise from this area to New York, Albany and Newark.

At this time Acquackanonk Landing was the port of entry for a great section of country north and west, and its commerce was considerable. Supplies came from vessels from distant places. Farmers from 50 or 60 miles back in the country bought their produce to the Landing for barter for building materials and other merchandise.

A transaction for a parcel of land belong to the Indians for consideration of luxuries which the natives prized might consist of 200 fathoms of white wampum, guns, powder, blankets, cloth, coats, bottles, hatchets, hoes, stockings and knives.

As the white man purchases the land he followed paths that Indians had made. Then roads or lanes and then boulevards and turnpikes.

William Nelson in his book "Passaic County Roads" published in 1877 notes that the Paterson and Hamburg Turnpike Company was incorporated by the New Jersey Legislature to "Construct a turnpike 4 rods wide (60 feet) from Acquackanonk Landing to Dicker-town in Sussex.

Completed in 1809, the Hamburg Turnpike was one of 76 turnpikes (as the one from Pompton to Paterson) and "plank" constructed roads operated in New Jersey. An old toll booth sign listed tolls as one cent per mile per horse up to four horses. A single horse and rider were charged only one-half cent per rider.

On February 16, 1816 the legislature authorized that the Hamburg Turnpike be extended from Acquackanonk Bridge to the Hackensack and Hoboken Road to the Hudson River. Hamburg Turnpike in Pompton was completed in 1906.

The golden age of the Hamburg Turnpike had begun. It soon ended with the railroad offering faster service than what travel on a turnpike could provide.

Today Hamburg Turnpike is regaining its importance as a main artery to shopping malls, hospitals, restaurants, country clubs, golf courses, colleges, homes and professional buildings.