Lakewood

Lakewood Township, New Jersey is situated in Ocean City. The first European settlers arrived in about 1750. They opened several sawmills, including the mill known as Three Partners Mill, which operated from 1789 or so until at least 1814. The settlement was called Three Partners. At that time, two men, Jesse Richards and his partner William Irwin, built a company to develop ironstone. The settlement name was changed to Washington's Furnace, and a mail service was started, in the form of one man who drove back and forth to Freehold with letters which were picked up by stagecoach which went to New York and Philadelphia. In 1815, an iron-smelting operation was opened and renamed Washington Furnace. It stayed open until 1818, but was opened again in 1833 by Joseph Brick, who renamed the business Bergen Iron Works, and the business flourished. In 1863, the New Jersey Southern Railroad was built, and the community began to grow. Churches, banks, and stores began to pop up. Brick's business was booming until the day he died in 1865. Just after his death, Bergen Iron Works was renamed Bricksburg after him. At that time, the largest lake in town was renamed Carasaljo, after Bricks daughters Carolina, Sarah (known as Sally), and Josephine. The smaller lake was named Manetta after Margaret Brick, Joseph's widow. In 1880, it was renamed yet again to Lakewood, a name that appears to have stuck.

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