Smoke Rise was planned with philosophy that no two homes would look alike with a minimum size of 2,500 square feet (230 m2) located on wooded lots of 1 to 10 acres (0.40 to 4.05 ha).

[4] During the early part of the 20th century, like much of Morris County at the time, the area became a haven for the wealthy who were attracted by the isolation and natural beauty.

[7] One of the largest private holdings in Morris County at any time, Kinney purchased upwards of 5,000 acres (20 km2) of land and built a large "summer cottage" known as Smoke Rise, which is a translation of the Pequannock Native American name for the mountainous area, where a heavy mist often rises at sunset.

[8] On February 20, 1922, with only 400 full-time residents, Kinnelon was formed as a borough by an act of the New Jersey Legislature from portions of Pequannock Township, based on the results of a referendum passed on March 21, 1922.

[9] Upon Morris Kinney's death in 1945, he left the estate to longtime friend John Talbot Sr., former mayor of the borough, and a founder of the Chilton Memorial Hospital, Pompton Plains (John Talbot Sr. was a real estate developer in New York City and a patron of the arts and was credited with the revival of ballet as a major art form in the United States in the 1930s), as a tribute to their lifetime friendship and mutually shared love of Smoke Rise.

[10] When friends asked to purchase land on the estate to build homes, Talbot decided to develop a planned community designed primarily to serve New York corporation executives.

Sometime later, Kinney commissioned Louis Comfort Tiffany to expand and enhance the chapel including a Celtic cross stained glass window and a Tiffany-signed mosaic floor among other things.

Kitty Ann mountain offers views of northern New Jersey and the distant New York City skyline at an elevation of 1,140 feet (350 m) from the Smoke Rise Tower.