Pine Brook, Morris County, New Jersey

Populated place in Morris County, New Jersey, US

Pine Brook, sometimes spelled Pinebrook, is a census designated place (CDP) and unincorporated community located within Montville in Morris County, in the U. S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the CDP had a population of 5,675. A farming community, Pine Brook produced dairy products in addition to fruits and vegetables, and for many years there existed a large business in cider making and distilling of cider brandy in nearby Cider Mills. In 1760, Pine Brook was the site of the first schoolhouse in Montville Township. It was built out of logs and was located on the road leading to Boonton, according to A History of Morris County, which could refer to multiple northwest facing roads including Changebridge Road. With its close proximity to Morristown during the American Revolutionary War, both British and American forces traveled through the area.

Additional Pine Brook schools were constructed in 1785, 1816, and 1852. Way Station "From the description of property in old deeds, it appears that between 1800 and 1810 an attempt was made to name the cluster of three or four houses at Pine Brook, where George D. Mead keeps a store, "Union Village", but as a village failed to grow up, the name was dropped and has been forgotten. At this point, a tavern was kept over eighty years and for many years it did a legitimate and profitable business in the accommodations of "Sussex Teams", as they were called, which in large numbers used to pass this way toward Newark with loads of flour, feed, grain, butter, pork, and other produce from Sussex, Warren, and the upper parts of Morris county." (Hon. John Kanouse 1881)

The Pine Brook Speedway, which operated from July 1962 until October 1989, was designed for midget car racing and became one of the earliest sites for microstock racing. Mario Andretti raced at the track and had some of his earliest success as a race car driver at the speedway.

Pine Brook is located at the southern end of the Hook Mountain Range and surrounded by the Pine Brook Flats; a fertile flood plain created by the surrounding Rockaway River and Passaic River. It is bounded to its north by Montville and Towaco, also known as White Hall, to its east by the Passaic River across from Fairfield (Old Horse Neck) and West Caldwell, to its south by the Rockaway River across from East Hanover Township, and to its west by the Rockaway River across from Parsippany and Lake Hiawatha.