Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning Services in Lakewood, NJ
Lakewood, NJ, was once a dense forest, sparsely traveled through by the Lenni Lenape people of the area until the time of the Revolutionary War. In the place Lakewood sits today there was a family-run mill called “Three Partners Mill” running near what has become Highway 88. Three brothers dammed the stream and built the sawmill that became the family business which sustained the settlers for some time. Hutchinson’s Plumbing is also a family business, started by two brothers, also in New Jersey.
New settlers found ore in the lumpy soil, and in 1814 they built smelters, made ironstone and an iron ore business. Later demand increased and became known as Washington’s furnace. Joseph Brick bought the land and built the furnace works into the “Bergen Ironworks”.
The blast furnace was so successful, they used their own currency and built their own stores and called the township Bricksburg. By 1866 coal in Pennsylvania ended the bog iron era, and Mr. Brick concentrated on growing the little hamlets he controlled. His advertisements claimed the air to end pulmonary problems and that this place held healing properties.
He and investors built lovely Inns that attracted some famous visitors, but the collective agreement was that the name of the place must be made more attractive. Erastus Dickinson suggested Lake Wood, and another said Bright Wood. The local paper brought a vote to the neighbors and Lakewood won. In 1880 the post office made it official.
By 1891, Lakewood became the largest town in Brick Township and began a campaign to become its own township. In 1893 the township was incorporated, at the time of the Great Hotels Hay Day. The place became known as “the resort in the heart of the pines” and the “Lakewood Hotel” along with “Laurel in the Pines” had society take notice and visit.
Lakewood had its ups and downs with the Great Depression and wars. The town went through many changes that ended the grand hotel era, and for a while, it was a poultry center, with sixty poultry farms springing up. By the 1940s and with the looming World War, European Jewish workers began moving to Lakewood. In 1942 Beth Medrash Govoha yeshiva was started, and that attracted more Jewish citizens to make this their home. By the 1960s the population had risen so much, agriculture and the beautiful woods that the advertisements had bragged about were replaced by housing and apartment developments.
Hutchinson has helped many of the new residents with their HVAC installations and is here for the residents trying to keep up with the town’s growth. Heating and air conditioning is a big part of a family’s comfort and as a community grows, the housing infrastructure has to keep up. Our expertly better contractors provide services that can re-imagine a building as more additions, changes and new ventilation patterns occur. There are different requirements for multi-floor, multifamily dwellings than in an original cottage floor plan, Hutchinson’s contractors can make sure your heating and air conditioning is adequate to be efficient in the new environments, no matter what the usage.
Your plumbing services are also in better hands with Hutch. We install additional bathrooms, increase water heater capacity and make sure drainage flows properly. We have been local plumbing & HVAC experts since 1948, and we have watched this town grow. We know which services will work best for you.
The population has been exploding here for the last forty years. Over thirty thousand residents moved in between the year 2000 and 2010, and by 2015 there were 99, 249 people living here. It was suddenly the fifth most populous city in the state.
The Yeshiva is the most popular school here with over six thousand five hundred attendees, as many as the New Jersey College. Other yeshiva’s in the area typically enroll forty students. Lakewood is home to the biggest Orthodox Jewish enclave in the United States outside of New York City.