by Erin Feith, Research Assistant
August 27, 2024
By the late 19th century, three telephone magnates dialed into the Washington Valley area of Morris Township as the site of their countryside retreat. Affiliated with leading telephone and telegraph companies of the day, Charles F. Cutler, Edward J. Hall and Angus S. Hibbard together built a compound that came to be known by locals as “Telephone Hill.” Similar to the industry of which they were a part, their adjoining estates transformed the landscape for generations to come.
Connected through their work, Cutler was the president of the New York and New Jersey Telephone Company, while Hall and Hibbard were employed at the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) as the vice president and general superintendent respectively. Identifying an opportunity to share the benefits of the Morris County countryside, the three purchased a 70-acre tract of farmland belonging to Frederick and Elizabeth Betts. Forming a corporation for the land, they named themselves the Kahdena Company, a name that legend has it, came from the trio arranging seven letters during a game of anagrams.
In 1887, they razed the Betts farmhouse and constructed three palatial mansions, paying a substantial amount to have water piped in to each home from nearby springs. Charles F. Cutler was the first to build his home on the property. With the help of New York architect, Frank Colburn, he constructed a Queen Anne-style residence boasting a unique bull’s eye window, intricate woodwork, and a porte-cochere, all surrounded by manicured lawns dotted with rare trees. Hibbard and Hall’s homes soon followed and were no less impressive, with the latter’s being noted for its grand chimneys and sleeping porches.
As was the case for many of the area’s millionaires, the end of the Gilded Age put the lifestyle of those on Telephone Hill out of service. By the mid-20th century, the homes had been sold several times, with Hall and Hibbard’s mansions ultimately being razed in 1932. Despite these changes, the Cutler estate remains a private residence on the trio’s anagram-inspired Kahdena Road, allowing Morris County’s past to be called up in the present.
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