Morses Creek (New Jersey)

This article is about the stream in New Jersey. For the one in Australia, see Morses Creek.

Morses Creek is a stream in Union County, New Jersey. It is a tributary of the Arthur Kill along with other rivers and streams, including the Elizabeth River, Rahway River, Piles Creek[1] and Fresh Kills, and via Newark Bay, the Passaic River and the Hackensack River. Earlier names include Thompson's or Nine Mile Creek as well as Morse's Creek or Morse Creek. It is named for the family of Peter Morse, also spelled "Morss," who settled here in the 1600s and remained for 200 years; Morse family headstones may still be seen to this day.[2]

View west up Morses Creek in Linden, New Jersey from a plane heading for Newark Airport (2014)

On its route to the Arthur Kill, it traverses Kenilworth, Cranford, Roselle Park, Roselle, Union and Linden. In Cranford it runs behind Adams Park. It crosses near Roselle Park High School. In Linden and Roselle, it crosses the land of Wheeler Park and Roselle Catholic High School. It bisects the Bayway Refinery on the Chemical Coast. Historically, the land of the lower creek included prosperous tidewater farmland.

  1. ^ Richard Kane; Paul Kerlinger; Richard Radis (Summer 1991). Birds of the Arthur Kill Tributaries (PDF). Vol. XVll, No. 2.
  2. ^ "The Morse family plot". Lostinjersey.wordpress.com. 23 December 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2017.