Andover, NJ

Andover Borough was cut from Andover Township in 1904, yet the older iron story reaches back to a forge operating soon after 1725. Ore was smelted into pig iron and bars, and during the Revolution the works made cannonballs for the Continental Army. The old furnace became a gristmill in 1816, and the Sussex Mine Railroad later carried ore toward the Morris Canal. U.S. 206 now bisects the 1.36-square-mile borough, with commercial buildings and antique and vintage shops along its main street.

The borough sits in the Pequest River watershed, where wetlands, steep slopes, and preserved farmland shape the remaining land. A volunteer fire company works from Main Street, and Andover children attend a regional school system that includes Florence M. Burd Elementary, Long Pond Middle School, and Newton High School. Andover's Route 206 corridor carries both local services and the older industrial story. It is a Sussex County borough where a forge, a gristmill, a mine railroad, and a main street still line up.