Case Notes

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Town file

Chatham Township, New Jersey

Chatham Township, New Jersey (Morris County, New Jersey) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 162, "A Very Unstable Genius" (12 March 2020).

Town
Chatham Township
County
Morris County
State
New Jersey
Country
USA
Episodes
162
Approximate location
40.741, -74.384
N ↑Public placePublic placePublic placePublic placePublic placePublic placePublic placePublic placeTown centre (approximate places)
Static locations; no street basemap. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

Episode 162 / 12 March 2020 / 156 min / full

A Very Unstable Genius

"Chatham township, New Jersey ... This is in Morris County" about 0:06:10

The case: Murders of Adella and James Hagan (August 2000). Read the case file.

The figures, as told in 2020

Population
10,452
Median household income
$173,000
Median home value
$820,700
Two-bedroom rent
$2,110
Cost of living
194.2
Religious
60%
Safest small towns in America
▼ one of the 30 safest
Violent crime
zero
Total crimes reported
▼ 49
Petty theft
39 of the 49 crimes
Crime overall
▼ 81% lower
Chance of becoming a victim of a crime
0.5

History, in brief

  • The first white settlers arrived about 1710 because of fertile soil and iron ore deposits in the region. about 0:06:26
  • Armies passed through the area during the Revolutionary War. about 0:06:46
  • The village was part of Morris Township during the Revolutionary War; in 1892 Chatham seceded and got its own township. about 0:06:57
  • The township form is the oldest form of municipal government in New Jersey. about 0:07:25
  • In the late 1870s and 1880s Chatham Township became a centre of the rose growing industry. about 0:08:07
  • Louis M. Noe's greenhouses specialised in the American Beauty rose with a stem five feet long. about 0:08:21
  • At Christmas he sent roses to European royalty; Queen Victoria received 50 for her golden anniversary. about 0:08:49
  • During the Second World War there was a five-year construction ban because materials were needed elsewhere. about 0:09:38
  • After the war better highways let people commute from New York City, and farms were broken into housing subdivisions. about 0:10:52
  • Several rose farms became two big shopping centres. about 0:11:35
  • In 1959 the Port Authority proposed an airport in the Great Swamp; neighbouring towns and residents got it voted down. about 0:12:05
  • The Great Swamp is now a nature preserve used by joggers, hikers and nature lovers. about 0:12:45
  • Rezoning in the 1960s and 1970s removed more farms for housing. about 0:13:00
  • Schwartz Farm, a dairy whose products were sold locally, was replaced by residential development. about 0:13:16
  • Hile Roses in Green Village, the last and oldest commercial rose and cut flower grower in New Jersey, closed in 1999. about 0:13:43

The reviews read out

1 star

"It used to be a lovely, friendly town but is now pretentious and full of newcomers trying to reshape the culture; loud, ill-mannered, noisy and entitled, with every house a teardown replaced by a two-million-and-up behemoth."
about 0:14:12

1 star

"There is not a lot to do aside from going to a friend's house, and the closest place for attractions is probably New York City."
about 0:16:13

Open the episode file

Nearest Small Town Murder towns

Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.