Chatham Township, New Jersey incorporated as an independent borough and its former village boundaries were expanded between 1891 - 1899 with annexed portions of rural lands that had formerly been within the township. The settlement of Chatham had been established in 1710 as "John Day's Bridge" and, in 1773 when New Jersey was an English province, adopted the name of "Chatham" to honor William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, a British supporter of the colonial cause. This village also had been within Morris Township and it was an active community in the Revolutionary War. On August 19, 1892, Chatham seceded from the new township
Chatham Township, New Jersey that had taken its name and adopted the village form of government established in the United States for the new state of New Jersey. Shortly thereafter, Chatham adopted the borough form of government on March 1, 1897. Florham Park was formed from portions of the township on March 20, 1899. Most of Green Village has always been within the township's jurisdiction. In 1773, the village "John Day's Bridge", a community governed by the English township of Morris since its settlement in 1710, was renamed as, "Chatham", in honor of Sir William Pitt, a British prime minister and the first Earl