Where did the name Atco come from?

[Trailhead00]

Some people I work with asked me this question and I have heard a couple of different answers. One is the town was named after the Atlantic Transportation Company because the trains would roll through and people would see the name and shorten it to Atco. The other was it was an Indian word meaning place of many deer. Not sure if either one is correct. So I'm asking for help, anyone know the correct answer? Thanks.

 

[pinelandpaddler]

Trailhead,

Take a look at this thread:

http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/showthread.php?t=1111&highlight=alquatka

It has been suggested by some writers that ATCO is an acronym based upon Atlantic Transport Co. If such a company ever existed, it is clear it had nothing to do with the use of "Atco" as the name of this stream and as the name of the town near its head, since the name had been in existence a century before the town of Atco was created by the Richards family (Family Empire in Jersey Iron, p 55); Boyer's Place Names (p 3) suggests the "railroad" may have had some connection with Atsion (which it eventually did) and the author conjures up a mythical Atsion Transport Company.
The earliest spellings suggest they were based on an Indian naming of this important stream. Prowell (p 262) states that Atco was "an Indian term for a place of many deer". It is curious that the 1953 Medford Lakes Quad shows a small tributary of the main stream, wholly within Burlington County and names it Alquatka. It originates in the West Jersey Cranberry Meadow. (See Sign Posts, p 2, where Bisbee spells it Alquatqua.)

 

[Ben Ruset]

From Place Names of Camden County:

Waterford Twp, South of Atco-Atco Branch of Mullica River. Native American name for "clear waters." On the other hand, it has been posed as an abbreviation of Atlantic Transport Co. by NJ Public Library Commission "Origin of New Jersey Place Names," 1945.

So that tells us where the railroad myth comes from.

It's really late now so I can't do it but perhaps someone might want to look at some of the historic maps from the 1800's here and see what the stream is called.

 

[pinelandpaddler]

Ben,

The name of the stream is Atquatqua. I don't know where the idea of clear waters comes from. I was under the impression that atqua was the Lenape word for deer.

 

[Teegate]

Ben,

The name of the stream is Atquatqua. I don't know where the idea of clear waters comes from. I was under the impression that atqua was the Lenape word for deer.

The actual spelling according to the topo map is Atquatka. There is a k and not a u. And that may actually be an "L" and not a "t" in the below map making my spelling of it wrong.

http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=39.79278&lon=-74.81801&datum=nad27&u=4&layer=DRG&size=m&s=25


Here are some photo's along that stream in Atco when Rob and I hiked it.

http://teegate.njpinebarrens.com/atquatka/IMG_5295.JPG


http://teegate.njpinebarrens.com/atquatka/savanah.JPG


Guy

 

[pinelandpaddler]

Nice pictures, Guy. I've yet to prod around that stream.

You know how it is with these streams. Dozens of spelling variations. I'd be willing to bet that the "L" crept in there at some point by way of a misreading. In any case, it is interesting that doubling a word is common in the Lenape Language (atqua-atqua; wa-wa). Perhaps a pluralization device?