Our Rich History It was Feb. 23, 1865, just a few months before the end of the Civil War, when the eastern section of Newton Township was split off and the Township of Haddon was created. At the time, the area was mostly farmland with a small village located where Haddonfield is now. The newly created township was 5,286 acres and included land to the south and east of what is now Collings Road. The new township included land that would later become part of nine other municipalities: Oaklyn, Audubon, Audubon Park, Collingswood, Gloucester City, Woodlynn, Camden, Haddon Heights and Haddonfield. Newton Township's first European settlers were Irishmen who settled in the area of Newton Creek in 1681. The community survived the Revolutionary War and the decision of Camden to incorporate as a city, but by the mid-1860s, Newton Township began to unravel. Historians say the township may have split into two because of changes enacted by the New Jersey Legislature in the mid-1840s. The new statute changed the old practice of holding general elections on two days in different locations in a township and forced many townships to break into smaller units. The purpose of the statute was to reduce costs and the likelihood of fraud by providing for a single voting place in each township. Another reason may have been that residents who lived in the eastern portion of Newton Township wanted more control over governing their affairs. The act creating Haddon Township provided that any money on hand, property and indebtedness of Newton Township was to be divided between the new and old townships based upon the 1864 taxable valuations of property in each township. Although the area that remained Newton Township had about a thousand more people than Haddon Township, its property values were only 44 percent of the combined townships' assessed value. Officials of the new township worked closely with the town fathers in Newton Township on such matters as the collection of delinquent taxes and repayment of "old" Newton Township bonds. They also met for several years to resolve such issues as maintenance of Collings Road, which divided the two towns, and to establish a border between Haddon Avenue at Collings Road and Coopers Creek. The township's name comes from John Haddon, whose daughter, Elizabeth Haddon Estaugh, came over from England in the 1700s and settled on his large landholdings. Haddon's property included what is now Haddon Township.       Long before European settlers came to the region, the area of Newton Creek was inhabited by the Arowman and Erinwoneck Indian tribes. An Indian trail followed what is now Haddon Avenue. At the end of the trail was a fishing area used by the Indians. When some of the early Europeans arrived, they were told by the local Indians that there had been several sailors murdered at Newton Creek. The murdered sailors had been part of an exploring party sent by the governor of Virginia to explore the Delaware River.   In 1836, the first horse racetrack in South Jersey was built in what was then Newton Township. The racing circuit included the Long Island track and several others in nearby states. The area is now the Bettlewood section of Haddon Township. Col. William R. Johnson and a group of Southern gentlemen bought a farm owned by Samuel C. Champion to create a racetrack. The one-mile track was surrounded by a large hotel, grandstands and stables. The new track opened in 1844, and was known as the Camden and Philadelphia Race Course. It brought hundreds of spectators, many riding in carriages, to watch the races. But public drunkenness and fights over the horses caused the popularity of the track to quickly decline. It closed in 1847, shortly after the grandstand collapsed and injured many people. Although recent research into historical documents has helped to pinpoint when Joshua and Hannah Saddler lived in New Jersey (along with at least 10 children), many key details of their lives together remain undiscovered.  Oral history says that they escaped slavery in Maryland and were protected from recapture by Haddonfield Quakers, but what do we really know about them? Based on marriage, birth, death, employment and census records we can ascertain that Joshua Saddler (b. abt. 1785; d. 1880)  and Hannah (b. abt. 1785; d. 1877) came from Caroline County Maryland sometime before 1834.  Joshua was employed by Haddonfield landowner Isaac Wood and Delaware Township (today's Cherry Hill Twp.) farmer Josiah B. Evans as early as 1834.  State marriage records document Joshua and Hannah's son John's marriage to Rachel James in December 1835.  Joshua and Hannah's daughter Ann married Jefferson Fisher Sr. on September 13, 1834.  Jefferson Fisher also worked for Isaac Wood and Josiah Evans.  County property deed records indicate that on May 3, 1842 Joshua Saddler purchased 5 acres in Haddon Township (then called Newton Twp.) for $200 from the estate of John Rowand (Book Y3, Page 436).  Joshua sold a portion of his land to his son John on May 31, 1854 (Book X, Page 395). Jefferson Fisher purchased a portion of Joshua's Haddon Township property in 1858.  After Joshua Saddler's death on January 15, 1880 the remainder of his Haddon Township property was divided among his children as shown in a carefully detailed map contained within his Last Will & Testament.  Joshua's love for his Haddon Township property is obvious by the precise wording in his will - "in no instance...commit waste by cutting the timber growing thereon..."  Over 100 years after Joshua Saddler's death, this statement became the basic principle in preserving the old growth woodland in Haddon Township known today as "Saddler's Woods."  Thirteen years after Joshua Saddler's death, Haddonfield Quakers Charles and Beulah Rhoads founded a combination church/school for the African American residents of the Saddlertown community.  The historic Rhoads Temple United Methodist Church, established February 26, 1893, remains an important landmark in Haddon Township. The land on which the church was erected  was purchased by Rhoads from Jefferson Fisher Jr. for $309. (Book 178, Pg. 606), and was originally a parcel of Joshua Saddler's land inherited by his daughter Henrietta Saddler Bryant.  According to Joshua Saddler's Last Will & Testament, Henrietta's land also contained Joshua's dwelling. The educational needs of the Saddlertown community soon outgrew the church facility and a delegation of residents advanced a proposal for a new schoolhouse at a Haddon Township Board of Education meeting on April 28, 1911.  A brick, one room schoolhouse was erected in Saddlertown by September 27, 1912.  This building stood approximately where the water tower in Saddlertown stands today. Elementary school age children of Saddlertown began attending Stoy Elementary School sometime after it was constructed in 1928. The Saddlertown community was expanded beyond Joshua Saddler's original 5 acres when land owned by Dr. Lawrence L. Glover in 1899 (Glover having originally purchased the land from Sarah Elizabeth Hunt) was surveyed and divided into 18 building lots.  The "Glover Tract" sits behind today's Thriftway supermarket, with MacArthur Blvd. marking its northern border and Rhoads Avenue its western border. For more information on the history of Saddlertown, please visit the Haddon Township Historical Society's web site:  www.haddontwphistoricalsociety.org.  - Submitted by Sandy White-Grear, Co-Chairperson, Haddon Twp. Historical Society, 2009.