William Bissett

My name is William Bissett. (I was born in December of 1863) and died in 1924.  Although I died in Brooklyn, I had only lived there for 2 years. Most of my life I lived in Spotswood. I was an active member of St. Peter’s having served as a Vestryman for over 3 terms. I started my career as a clerk working in East Brunswick Township before there even was a Borough of Spotswood! I lived on North Main Street which made it easy for me to get to my other job as the Bookkeeper for the Helme Snuff Factory in Helmetta.  I was also a member of the Odd Fellows lodge in Spotswood. The Odd  Fellows is not, even though it may sound like it, a group of strange men! Rather it is an international fraternal order that was started in England in the 1700’s. A fraternal order is a group that works to help the community and essentially, do good things for others.

Being an active member of the community, it was no surprise that I was asked to be one of the original councilmen when Spotswood declared it’s independence from Monroe in 1908. Under the leadership of our first Mayor, Arthur Appleby, we began to address the problems of our borough.

  Our first ordinance was to establish a Board of Health. These may not seem now that it would be of our greatest concern, but in those days, sanitation of any kind was inferior and many diseases, some fatal, were spread through poor sanitation. We wanted to do what we could to improve this situation. So we appointed a 5 man board. We also charged the marshals of the borough, who were really the police, to be special sanitary inspectors. As they made their rounds they were to also report any unsanitary or suspicious conditions to the Board for correction.

Our second ordinance regulated the use of bicycles and other like vehicles and prohibited the use of any bicycles, tricycles or other like vehicles upon that part of any street, road or parkway, commonly known as the footpath or sidewalk. There were no automobiles at this time and so these were very popular forms of transportation. Their use was interfering with those trying to walk on the footpaths. We also ruled that these vehicles should not go over 8 miles per hour and should have lights and bells. The penalty for violating these rules was a $10 or imprisonment in the county jail for 10 days.

Ordinance 3 created an official Police Department consisting of the Police Committee of the Council and the Marshals who were to receive no pay for their services except when actually employed. When on the job they would receive $2 for each12 hour day shift and $2.50 for each 12 hour evening shift. It may not seem like much to you today, but it was a helpful addition to a family’s income at that time!

Our next ordinance fixed the compensation of the borough clerk at $50 annually and the clerk could not charge any fees. The annual salary of the assessor was set also at $50 annually but the tax collector made $150 annually. It was easier to say what the taxes would be by the assessor, than collecting them!!!

The 5^th ordinance was our longest and most complicated. It prevented horses, cattle, sheep, swine, goats and other animals from running at large in the borough and fixed fees for the people who rounded up animals running at large and also fees for redeeming those animals. Essentially this is when the Animal Control office came to be! This was vitally important in our effort to improve the sanitation aspect of our borough!!

Our 6^th ordinance was created in direct response to several occurrences in our borough. This ordinance regulated Bathing and indecent exposure of people. Nearby there was an organization called the Physical Culture City. This was located in Outcalt (located right on the border of Monroe and Spotswood.) This city was run by Bernarr* Mc Fadden, who promoted good health through exercise and healthy eating. McFadden was well known and published a magazine at the city. The residents of the physical Culture City were often seen walking around with the men in only trunks and the women only in bloomers and all had bare feet. This was considered at the time quite scandalous, hence the ordinance. McFadden was arrested when his magazine was found to be obscene and he was sentenced to 2 years in prison. He was issued a pardon, but was asked to leave the area in 1908.

These ordinances helped to bring order and better conditions to Spotswood. Mayor Appleby spent his term promoting bringing electricity, running water and paved roads to the borough.  We on the council did everything we could to support these endeavors.

I enjoyed my tenure on the council and felt that we made many good efforts towards improvements. I felt like I had contributed to Spotswood and feel honored to call it my eternal home.

* Please note, this is the correct spelling. When Bernard was growing up he was extremely sickly. As he developed his regimen for getting healthy, he changed his name to Bernarr. He though it sounded like a lion roaring.

return to map