Board Of Public Utilities history

In 1776 New Jersey adopted its first constitution, which granted suffrage to women (although the legislature revoked this right in 1807). In 1787 it became the third state to ratify the United States Constitution.

By 1850, New Jersey's population of nearly half a million, and the industries in which most of those people worked, was concentrated in the north.

In 1858, in Haddonfield, New Jersey, William Parker Foulke unearthed the first complete dinosaur skeleton found in North America.

In 1868, Hadrosaurus foulkii (which had already proven that dinosaurs were real and could be bipedal) was also the first to be mounted for public display.

In 1909, the citizens of Kansas City, Kansas, authorized the purchase of a privately-owned water system to provide the community with better water service.

The popularity of these reforms brought Woodrow Wilson to power as governor in 1910.

By an act signed into law in 1911 by then-Governor Thomas Woodrow Wilson, the Board’s jurisdiction, duties, and obligations were further expanded to give it the widest range of regulatory power over public utilities and their property rights, equipment, facilities, and franchises.

He left office in 1913 to become President of the United States and is the only New Jersey governor to become president.

On May 3, 1919, the first passenger flight in American history was flown from New York to Atlantic City.

The Holland Tunnel, which connects New York with New Jersey and plunges to depths of up to 93 feet below the Hudson River, was opened in 1927 and became the world’s first mechanically ventilated underwater tunnel!

In 1947, New Jersey adopted a new constitution that has been regarded as a model for other states for its design of the legislative, judicial and executive branches.

Newark Airport expanded its passenger and cargo services in 1963.

In 1977, New Jersey voters approved legislation allowing legalized casino gambling in Atlantic City.

A master plan for the state’s development, first adopted in 1992 and subsequently updated, aimed to direct growth toward existing infrastructure.

In 1993 Republican Christine Todd Whitman became the first female governor of New Jersey.