Jan and Annetje (Ackerman) Zabriskie purchased the Johannes Ackerman mill and farm in September 1745, shortly after construction of the first draw-bridge at the narrows of the Hackensack River. This wooden span was called New Bridge to distinguish it from an older crossing several miles upstream. In 1752, Jan Zabriskie built the oldest part of the Steuben House. Its walls were built with blocks of sandstone cut from the Kinderkamack Ridge - dressed stone on the two sides of the building facing the roadway and coursed rubble on the other sides. The front door opened into a center-hall. The Zabriskie family grew wealthy from increased trade brought on by the French and Indian War (1756–1763) and doubled the size of their dwelling about 1765, increasing it from five to twelve rooms, warmed by seven fireplaces, and covering it with a fashionable gambrel roof. The gambrel roof has four slopes instead of two, providing more headroom and storage space in the garret (for this reason, many barns used a gambrel roof to increase the size of the hay mow). The Jersey Dutch also adopted the gambrel roof to span the depth of a house that was one-and-a-half to two rooms deep. New Bridge Landing was the business center of the upper Hackensack Valley. Iron made in stone furnaces along the Ramapo Mountains was carried in ox-carts to New Bridge Landing where it was loaded onto sloops, some as large as 50 ton, for shipment to market. Flour and animal feed was shipped from the mill. All kinds of wares came in from boats returning from the city. This location had an added advantage: because of the wide Hackensack Meadowlands downstream, New Bridge remained the nearest river crossing to Newark Bay until 1790. Overland traffic including farm wagons and stage coaches, going to and from New York City, crossed the river at this spot on their way into the interior parts of the country.