New Jersey Route 7 - History

History

The Belleville Turnpike was created in 1759 as a turnpike made out of cedar logs and was chartered in 1808. It served as a part of the Underground Railroad route for escaped slaves to get to Jersey City. The northern segment of Route 7 was originally a part of Pre-1927 Route 11, which was legislated in 1917 to run from Newark to Paterson. In the 1927 New Jersey state highway renumbering, Route 7 was designated to run from Jersey City to Paterson, replacing Pre-1927 Route 11 between Belleville and Paterson.

In 1929, the routing was amended to run from Route 25 (now U.S. Route 1/9 Truck) in Jersey City to Route 3 in Wallington. Route 7 was extended north in 1949 to continue to Route 6 (now U.S. Route 46) in East Paterson (now Elmwood Park). In the 1953 New Jersey state highway renumbering, Route 7 was legislated onto its current alignment, with the northern terminus moved to the Nutley/Clifton border. The route was also realigned to head south on Washington Avenue between the Newark border and Rutgers Street in Belleville on what was Route 11N, a remnant of Pre-1927 Route 11, making Route 7 discontinuous. County Route 506 used to follow the southern portion of Route 7 but has been truncated to the intersection with Routes 7 and 21 in Belleville.