RARE 1939 MONTCLAIR GLEN RIDGE VERONA NEW JERSEY PHOTO-ILLUS TOWN HISTORY BOOK !

Description

Here’s a
VERY RARE
1
93
9 1
st
Edition New Jersey Town Photo-Illustrated History Book titled:
“MONTCLAIR
GLEN RIDGE
VERONA
A
Story in Pictures
”
Publisher:
MONTCLAIR TIMES
Publication Date:
1939
Binding:
Stiff Soft Cover Textured Wraps, bound with decorative cord.
This beautiful book is profusely illustrated with B&W photos of these beautiful communities in Essex County, New Jersey, And provides a history of each Township.
The book measures 11” x 16½” x ¼” (thickness) and is in VF+, tight, unmarked condition.
THE BOOK
COMES WITH ITS ORIGINAL MAILING ENVELOPE
, which has tattered edges.
The envelope worked to protect the piece from any damage over the past 80+ years
!
Try to find another copy of this rare publication, let alone one in this condition!
An Uncommon addition to your New Jersey Town History Library & Manuscript Collection!
HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF THE NJ TOWNSHIPS OF MONTCLAIR, GLEN RIDGE & VERONA
Many years before the beginning of European settlement, the area we know today as
Montclair
was part of the homeland of the Lenape Native Americans, who hunted and trapped here and passed over the mountains on their way to gather shellfish at the shore. Such place names as Watchung ("high hills") and Yantacaw ("place of the wood boundary") bear witness to their heritage.
The story of Montclair as a settled community, however, begins with the founding of Newark by English people from Connecticut in 1666. The lands of the Newark settlement extended westward to First Mountain.
In 1679 Dutch settlers acquired land from the Lenape Indians west of the Passaic River and north of Newark, an arrangement later confirmed by the British government. Early in the 1700's John Speer, a member of the Dutch community, built a home that stands today on Upper Mountain Avenue just north of the Montclair border. Other Dutch settlers established farms in what is now the northern half of Montclair. This community became known as Speertown. Later Valley Road was laid out, thus providing a link between the two settlements.
During the Revolutionary War, First Mountain provided observation points for following the movements of the British to the east. A strong tradition holds that both George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette were in Cranetown briefly in October of 1780. The boulder at the corner of Claremont Avenue and Valley Road marking the site of "Washington's Headquarters" is one of Montclair's better-known landmarks.
Speertown would remain a rural hamlet well into the 19th century; however, beginning about 1800, several developments led to the transformation of Cranetown into a small commercial center. One development was the opening of a general store by Israel Crane, who received trade from a wide area. In 1806, Crane led a group of businessmen in obtaining a charter from the State for building the NewarkPompton Turnpike. Constructed over the next several years, the turnpike came through Montclair as Bloomfield Avenue and vastly increased the flow of commerce. Israel Crane broke new ground as well in opening a wool mill on Toney's Brook. Other small industries followed. Also important for the economic development of the area was the completion of the Morris Canal in 1831. Meanwhile, in 1812, the Bloomfield ward of Newark became a separate township, which included the future Montclair. The village of- Cranetown now became known as West Bloomfield and a post office was established under that name.
The most decisive event for the emergence of Montclair was the coming of the railroads. In 1856, the Newark and Bloomfield Railroad Company inaugurated regular service to West Bloomfield. By changing trains at Newark and taking a ferry from Hoboken, people could travel from the future Lackawanna Plaza to New York in an hour and twenty minutes. Attracted to the country setting with its panoramic views, people in the cities began riding the train to West Bloomfield, some for Sunday excursions, others for vacations, and still others seeking to make their home here. By 1860 West Bloomfield was becoming a commuter town with its own marked identity and influential residents persuaded the post office to adopt the name Montclair.
Dissatisfaction with existing service led to a move to bring a second railroad to town. When Bloomfield authorities declined to authorize a bond issue to underwrite another railroad, Montclair residents were successful in securing from the State legislature a charter for a separate township. Thus in 1868, the Township of Montclair was created. The plan for another railroad went forward and by 1873 the Greenwood Lake line was completed with five stations in Montclair. In time, as many as six-thousand people would commute daily from Montclair via the two railroad lines. Trains also ran on Sunday.
The population of the community grew rapidly as New York businessmen and their families began building homes along the mountainside. The new residents sought to create in Montclair a model "country town" with convenient access to the city. Their vision was shared by a notable artist colony that began forming in the 1870's. A central figure was the landscape painter, George Inness. Able and dedicated community leaders endowed the town with superior schools, an excellent public library, a distinguished art museum and many large and influential churches.
By the opening of the 20th century, a richly diverse population characterized the community. A new influx of New Englanders was joined by African-Americans from the South and by Irish, Germans, Italians, Scandinavians and others newly arrived from Europe. Great mansions went up, but so did many modest homes. Between 1880 and 1930, Montclair's population leaped from 5,147 to 42,017. Talented people continued to be attracted to the community and by the 1930's more than 130 Montclair residents were listed in each issue of WHO'S WHO IN AMERICA.
The period following World War II was marked by tremendous expansion of the metropolitan area. New suburbs popped up in the hinterland along with shopping malls and corporate offices. No longer a country town, Montclair faced the challenge of preserving its character as a gracious residential community while at the same time sustaining its aging commercial centers. Social changes of the 1960's and 70's brought further challenges. In 1977 the Board of Education established a system of magnet schools with the aim both of achieving racial balance and of enriching the curriculum. After many years under the commission form of government, the community adopted the manager-council plan. Revenue considerations led to the Town of Montclair returning to the status of Township.
Today Montclair is a community of about 39,000 inhabitants. Never content to be merely a "bedroom community," Montclair is nevertheless a family-centered town. Its heritage in education has been enhanced by its innovative public and private school educational programs and the expanded offerings at Montclair State University. Once again our hillside has become a haven for artists and writers. This is a seasoned community whose many old houses enhance its charm, yet at the dawn of a new century, Montclair remains alive to the spirit of the times.
Montclair celebrated its sesquicentennial in 2018.
Glen Ridge
traces its beginning to 1666 when 64
Connecticut
families led by
Robert Treat
bought land from the
Lenni Lenape
Native Americans
and named it New Ark to reflect a covenant to worship freely without persecution. The territory included the future towns of
Bloomfield
,
Montclair
,
Belleville
and
Nutley
. When Bloomfield was established in 1812, Glen Ridge was a section "on the hill" composed mostly of farms and woodlands with the exception of a thriving industrial area along
Toney's Brook
in the glen. For most of the nineteenth century, three water-powered mills produced lumber, calico, pasteboard boxes and brass fittings. A
copper mine
and a
sandstone
quarry
were located on the north side of the brook.
With the arrival of the
Newark and Bloomfield Railroad
in 1856 and the construction of the
Glen Ridge station
and the
New York and Greenwood Lake Railway
station at today's
Benson Street
in 1872, Glen Ridge began its transition to a suburban residential community. Stately homes slowly replaced orchards and wooded fields.
Mountainside Hospital
, a local hospital with more than 300 beds now known as HackensackUMC Mountainside, was founded in 1891. The Glen Ridge Country Club was founded in 1894, making it one of the state's oldest clubs.
Residents "on the hill" became unhappy with their representation on the Bloomfield Council. In spite of repeated requests to Bloomfield officials, roads remained unpaved, water and sewer systems were nonexistent, and schools were miles away. Area residents marked out the boundaries of a 1.45-square-mile (3.8 km
2
) area to secede from the adjoining town. At the election held on February 12, 1895, the decision to secede passed by only 23 votes. Robert Rudd was elected the first mayor of Glen Ridge.
In 1989, athletes from the high school were involved in
the sexual assault of a mentally handicapped student
. Three teenagers were found guilty of first-degree aggravated sexual assault; a fourth was convicted of third-degree conspiracy. Author
Bernard Lefkowitz
wrote about the incident in the 1997 book
Our Guys: The Glen Ridge Rape and the Secret Life of the Perfect Suburb
. Lefkowitz's book was adapted into the 1999 TV movie
Our Guys: Outrage at Glen Ridge
.
Glen Ridge is a frequent location for film, television, and commercial shoots. Notable works include
Winter Solstice
and
Mona Lisa Smile
Verona
and several neighboring towns were all originally one town known as
the “
Horseneck Tract
”
I
n 1702, a group of settlers left
Newark
and purchased a large tract of land northwest of their home city for the equivalent of a few hundred dollars from the
Lenni Lenape
Native Americans
. This piece of land extended west and north to the
Passaic River
, south to the town center of what would become
Livingston
, and east to the
First Watchung Mountain
, and was called Horseneck by the natives because it resembled the neck and head of a horse. What was then known as Horseneck contained most of the present day northern Essex County towns: Verona, along with
Caldwell
,
West Caldwell
,
Cedar Grove
,
Essex Fells
,
Fairfield
,
North Caldwell
, and
Roseland
are all located entirely in Horseneck, and parts of what are today
Livingston
,
Montclair
, and
West Orange
also were contained in the Horseneck Tract.
After the
Revolutionary War
, the area of Horseneck was incorporated as "Caldwell Township" in honor of local war hero
James Caldwell
, a pastor who used pages from his church's bibles as wadding to ignite the ammo in soldiers' cannons and helped to drive the
British
out of Horseneck.
The area of present-day Verona was part of what was known in the 1800s as Vernon Valley. The name was rejected when residents applied to the United States Postal Service, as the name had already been in use for an area in
Sussex County
. Verona was chosen as the alternative name for the community. The township's name is derived from
Verona
, Italy.
At various times between 1798 and 1892, issues arose which caused dissatisfaction between the Caldwell and Verona areas. These included a desire of the citizens of Verona to more closely control their own governmental affairs. With the population growing, Verona needed to centrally locate essential services such as schools and places of worship; problems with the water supply; and the disposition of road repair funds. On February 17, 1892, the citizens of Verona voted to secede from Caldwell Township to form Verona Township. Further growth and the need for a water system and other public utilities found Verona moving ahead of the other half of the township and in 1902 the two areas decided to separate into two separate municipalities: Verona Township and Verona Borough. It took two sessions of the state legislature to approve the new borough, but on April 18, 1907, the borough of Verona was approved by an act of the
New Jersey Legislature
, pending the results of a referendum held on April 30, 1907, in which the new borough passed by a 224-77 margin. Residents of the newly formed borough had sought to disassociate themselves from the Overbrook County Insane Asylum and the Newark City Home (a reform school), as well as from the settlement of Cedar Grove, which was considered a settlement of farmers. On April 9, 1908, Verona Township changed its name to Cedar Grove Township.
In 1981, the borough was one of seven Essex County municipalities to pass a referendum to become a township, joining four municipalities that had already made the change, of what would ultimately be more than a dozen Essex County municipalities to reclassify themselves as townships in order take advantage of federal
revenue sharing
policies that allocated townships a greater share of government aid to municipalities on a per capita basis. As an example of the potential benefits of switching to a township, Verona Borough received 3,000 in federal aid in 1976, while similarly sized Cedar Grove Township received .24 million. Today, Verona uses just "Township of Verona" in most official documents.
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