History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 53

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 830

USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II > Part 53
USA > New Jersey > Essex County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II > Part 53

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The second school-house on the present church lot was immediately built. The lot was purchased from Ira Campbell. The building. constructed of stone and one story high, remained a school building until 1860, when it also was sold to the church for six hun- dred dollars, and was transformed into a lecture-room. The lecture-room itself gave place, in 1544. to the present chapel of the church.

The three teachers in this house who most im- presed themselves as instructors were Isaac B. Wheeler, so long an elder in the church, Samuel Jon 's and Edwin C. Fuller, all of whom are now liv- ing in Bloomfield, Orange and Montclair.

It was during Mr. Fuller's administration that the trustees, Joseph Doremus, Charles Smith, Anthony Ball and Fra Campbell, took high authority in abol- ishing the Saturday forenoon school hours, the half holiday having been the immemorable usage. The whole holiday remained the permanent usage, despite the criticism which ran with the gossips. The pay- ment for tuition was two dollar- a quarter.

During the time of Mr. Fuller application was madle by the town for a special school law. Resistance was made, but the free school law was enacted in 1849, amended in 1850, and the tuition of all chil-

dren was henceforth paid by taxation. At the time of the enaetment of the law there were seven school districts in the township. Three of the four, in the eastern part of the town, were united, and the Bloom- field plan of a central grammar and lligh School and primaries at a distance from the centre began its growth. The three districts in the western portion of the town remained separate.

The Washington School-house had been erected in 1825. originally for the education of the mill children on Sunday. A day-school and a new district fol- lowed. Isaac B. Wheeler was a teacher at a later period in this district also. The Speertown district is recalled as a separate school down to the present day. The original school-house was a low frame building, and was an old building in 1814. The red school- house was built in 1825. The West Bloomfield lis- trict began its free school development under Mr. Fuller.

In 1860 began the construction of the present High school building. The land was purchased from Grant J. Wheeler, and the north wing of the build- ing was erected. It was two stories in height, fifty feet in length, thirty-five feet in breadth, and cost, with land, heating apparatus and furniture, six thou- sand dollars. The south wing was erected in 1869, at a cost of eleven thousand dollars; the east wing in 1873, fifty-five feet long, thirty-six feet broad, at an expenditure of thirteen thousand dollars-making a total cost of thirty-one thousand dollars for the whole building during the thirteen years.

Mr. John Il. Morrow was the first teacher in the original wing of this new edifice, and directed the first development of the free system under the new facilities. The number of school children in 1866 was three hundred and fifteen. The amount of money paid to teachers in salaries was seventeen hundred and fifty dollars. Mr. Morrow continued to be the teacher from 1-60 to 1866.

Special plans were originated in 1866 for the estab- lishment of a High School adequate to the demands of the best etlucation preparatory to the college or the university. The purpose was to secure the services of a principal who should be a graduate from one of the best colleges, and whose character should com- mand the best development in education. The High School was to afford facilities " to educate here at home the youth who had previously been sent away to school," and so to enable " parents to retain under home influence their children during the period of the for- mation of character." John W. Taylor, a graduate of Harvard University became the principal in Septem- ber of that year, and inspired a rapid development dur- ing the four years of his supervision. His tact, ability and enthusiasm in school-work, his geniality and his fondness for young lite, his instinct for individualizing and his natural leadership, gave inspiration alike to teachers, >tudent-, parents and trustees. The purchase of a scientific and philosophic apparatus was made,

MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP

and the nbrary was begun. The number of pupils in 1×69 demanded the new wing.

Mr. Taylor resigned his position in 1870, and Mr. John P. Gross, a graduate of Bow loin College, became the principal. Mr. Gross continued to develop a wide public interest in the school. The increase of pupils rendered necessary the enlargement of 1873, and the building completed in its present form has the capacity for seating six hundred children.

The first graduating class, composed of thirteen members, was guided through the advanced course by Mr. Gross, and the first liplomas of the trustees in 1874 were made significant of a thorough education. Mr. Gross resigned at the end of the year.

The present principal is Mr- Randall Spanking, a graduate of Yale College, who has been at the head of the High School for the past ten years. His efficient supervision is supported by a large number of efficient assistants.

The number of enrolled scholars has increased from 193 in 1869-70 to 670 in 1880-81 There were during that year 349 scholars enrolled in the primary school, 246 in the grammar school and 75 in the High School. The annual amount expended for salaries is $10,000. The principal of the High School has a salary of $3000. The total annual expense in 1880-81 was $13,285.

A large primary building has been erected within the school inclosure in 1884. The citizens of Mont- clair have now the satisfaction of knowing that by common concession their school system has no supe- rior in the State, and few, if any, superior- in any State in the country.

I'RIVATE Sonoons. During the later period of the Bloomfield Academy there was a powerful stunulus given to private enterprise in education. The town became celebrated for its educational facilities. The ambition of teachers was attracted by the reputation of the place. The widely-known character of Mrs. Harriet B Cooke's school for young ladies at Bloom- field added the co-ordinate branch of education. Pri- vate schools from that time onward became numerous. some of them attained a high degree of success. One of the arguments of the remonstrant minority against the free school law in 1850 was that there were " five flourishing boarding-schools in the town."

The two schools which were of most note in West Bloomfield were those of Warren S. Helt and of Rev. David A. Frame.

Mr. Holt established his boarding-school for boys at the Mountain House in or about 1838, but was with James 11. Rundall, principal of the Bloomfield Academy in 1841 to 1845. He returned to the Moon- tain House and conducted his school with considerable succes- for a number of years.

Rev. David A. Frame, a man of high order of mind and of unusual eksquence in the pulpit, was compelled to leave the pastorate from impaired health. After two years us principal of the Bloomfield Academy,

from 1542 to 1844, be established Ashling Hall, where for a number of years his house was filled with young men. Some of these young men, like the Hon. William 11. Arnoux, of New York, Drmed a strong life-long attachment to their preceptor and cherished a high admiration for hi- genius.

HIMSIDE SIMMINARY. At a later time the Hillside S minary was established for young ladies. Rev. Ebenezer Cheeber was the first principal, ars was succeeded by Mr. Nitsche and by the Rev Aaron R. Wolte. The school became well-known and was suc- cessful. The number of students boarding in the seminary was limited by the plan of the sch ml.

Public Communication and Development. Soon after the opening of the present century Newark began to indicate that it would prove the most powerful centre in the State. Within twenty years E -ex County ceased to be the fourth and became the first county in population. The counties of Hunterdon, Sussex and Burlington surpassed Essex in numbers in 1790. Essex surpassed them all in 1820. The rapid development which has since gone on was due first of all to the construction of excellent roads.

THE NEWARK AND POMPION TURNPIKE., more commonly known as the Bloomfield turnpike, was one of these solid, broad avenues which attracted to it numerous tributaries of travel. The harter was procured in 1806. The new road was to cross the Passaic River near the Little Falls, and to pass through "the more convenient gap in the mountain near Cranetown." A part of the capital stock-four thou- sand dollars & mike-was made payable in work. There was resistance to the commissioners, indigna- tion and contempt and complaint by the opponents ; but no toll-gate was placed on any portion of the old road occupied by the pike, and so the objection from the compulsory payment of toll was avoided. The work of seenring a diagonal right of way was success- ful, and the benefit soon allayed the personal feeling. Israel C'rane and Gien. John Dodd were the incor- porators from Bloomfield, and Israel C'rane the lend- ing director. Local business was quickeged. Mr. ('rane cut " the little turnpike "-the street past the depot-from the turnpike to his store, and his busi- ness became very large and very widely extended. The tannery of smith & Doremus, south of the Presbyterian Church, soon after 1807 brought its hides from New York, its bark from over the moun- tain, and sold its leather to the boot and shoe manufac- tories of Bloomfield and trange. A large peach pro- duction at one time was manufactured into brandy at the distillery. The manufacture of superior cider became extensive, and six thousand barrels a year of Newark cider, it is said, were at one time nixde. Peter Doremus established his store, now occupied by his son Philip, on the crossing of the turnpike and the old road in 1811. A woolen- mill was established by Mr. Crane for the manufacture of hlue broadcloths and was sold afterwards to the Wildes when they came

890-v

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

from England, in 1827. One of the sons of .James Wilde bad been the New York agent of the Wilde mills in England, and the Crane mill no doubt brought sons and father here.

A> the most active interest in the turnpike was taken by Israel C'rane, and as he at a later period had a large interest in the development of the Newark freestone quarries, he furnished funds for the main- tainance of the road, and it finally passed into his possession. It was sold by his heirs to the Essex Public Road Board, who have widened, graded and relaid the top of the old structure. It is now a broad avenue from the mountain to the city.

TIT NEWARK AND BLOOMFIELD RAILROAD WAS organized as a company, composed entirely of Bloom- field and West Bloomfield incorporators, in 1852. The West Bloomfield incorporators were Zenas S. Crane, Grant J. Wheeler and William S. Morris; those from Bloomfield were Joseph S. Davis (who became the president), Ira Dodd ( who became afterwards the su- perintendent, David Oakes, Robert L. Cook, David Congar and Warren S. Baldwin. It was not, how- ever, till June, 1856, that the trains run to Montelair. One car more than supplied the demand of public travel, and there was a deficit of three hundred and thirty dollars at the end of the first seven months. When first opened the same person sold tickets at the West Bloomfield Station and acted as brakeman on the road.

The first board of directors was composed of Grant J. Wheeler, William H. Harris, Jared E. Har- rison, of West Bloomfield ; and Joseph A. Davis fra Dodd, Wright F. Conger and Jason Crane, of Bloomfield. Their negotiations with the New Jersey Railroad Company did not prove satisfactory to them, and the final arrangement was with the Morris and Essex Company. Continuous trains from New York were run from about the year 1866. When the Dela- ware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad leased the Morris and Essex, the auxiliary branch was in- clu ded in the property transferred. The road has now seventeen trains a day between Montclair and New York. The fastest time is forty-two minutes. The road has one station in Montelair and three in Bloomfield.

THE NEW YORK, MONTCLAIR AND GREENWOOD LAKE RAILWAY has had a very important influence in the development of the northern portion of Mont- clair. There had been dissatisfaction with the time and the accommodations of the BloomGeld road. The charter, which was obtained in 1867, projected a road trom Jersey City to the State line, at Greenwood Lake. Robert M. Henning, Julius II. Pratt and Henry C. Spalding were especially active in procur- ing the road. Albert Pearce, Samuel Wille and Joseph B. Beadle were also incorporators. The two centres of population at Montclair and at Bloomfield had both grown strong, and the township was now ripe for a division into two parts. The enterprise of build-

ing a railway was the occasion, not the cause, of the division of the town. The proposition to bond the town was naturally resisted by those whose interests and associations were with the Bloomfield road. The new township, taking the popular name Mont- clair,-a more pleasing rendering of the Indian gut- tural " Watchung,"-was erected the next year, 1868. The bonds were issued ; the new township accepted them to the extent of two hundred thousand dollars, and Bloomfield was exempted in the art which au- thorized them.

The road was completed in 1872, at first to Mont- clair and the extension afterwards to Greenwood Lake.

The road has now four stations in Montelair, viz.,- Montelair, Watchung, Upper Montclair and Mont- clair Heights,-and two in Bloomfield, viz.,-Bloom- field and Chestnut Hill. There are eight trains each way between Montclair and New York.

The building of this road had an immediate effect on the older railroad. The cars, the road-bed, the stations, the management and the time have much improved.

The influence of both these roads on the recent growth of Montclair has been very marked. A new and a strong population has come. The mountain- slopes from south to north are the sites of tasteful residences, and the valleys and swells of land are everywhere occupied with the attractive houses of men whose daily life is in the cities. The Montclair road has recently come into the possession of the Lake Erie and Great Western Railway.

Patriotism .- A large number of the citizens of the old town rallied to the militia service in the war with England in 1812. Zenas S. Crane, John Munn and Richard Romer were among them, and also Capt. John Muun, who had been under Gen. Bloomfiekl in 1794, in the suppression of the whiskey insurrection in Pennsylvania.

Edward Moran was the first volunteer from the town at the outbreak of the Rebellion, in ISol. He was mustered in as a member of the Seventh Regi- ment of New York City, and was afterwards con- nected with the naval service.

Among the enlistments from the town during the recent war were the following privates: John 11. Jacobns, Stephen P. Williams, Albert Woodruff, who died of disease ; John Dickinson and Henry B. Ball, both of whom were killed in the Newark regiment of the New Jersey Volunteers ; John B. Ball, Charles Madison, Nicholas Beadle and John Coyne, in the Eighth Regiment ; and Robert Madison, William J. Madison, John B. Munn, James Taylor, John Web- ster, James Kane, David McNamara, in the Thir- teenth Regiment, all of whom in all the regiments enlisted for three years.

The following persons went for nine months' ser- vice in the Twenty-sixth Regiment :

First Ideutenant William It Taylor, Corpor In William Egberton, Juines JI Williams, John M. Corby and Edwin F' Dodl, and the pri-

MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP

-: 111-w

Enten, l'eter Arnold, Alfred T Il Church, John Collins, Heury A. Corty Willow H Corby, Jatues B. Crane, Falwin Bold, Horace Dodi, Heury Glan, Fororlius Delhagen, Munroe Harrison, Jodin H Honni ip, Richard Jacobus, tha les Johnsin, Charles Leist, Ft W | 11, Lhn D Prnt, Peter King, Jongh W Penn, Gour . W. I'mt, William A. Riker, Watimer Whitehead, Thomas & uers'th John Speller Ging I DKY. man, Jelin E. Van Glen, John M. Wher, Albert E. Munn, John J Reese, Jemph W. Namon.

Joseph W Nason, after his nine months' service, berame tiret lieutenant in the Thirty-ninth Regi- ment of the New York Volunteers, and was killed on the skirmish-line in front of Petersburg. Nicholas Beadle was killed at the battle of Williamsburg, James Taylor at the battle of Autictam, John M. Wheeler at the battle of Fredericksburg, and John B. Munn at the battle of Chancellorsville. Charles Littell died from disease in front of Freder icksburg.

Frederick It. Harris entered the service as captain, in 1862, became major in 1864, lieutenant-colonel in 1865, and returned home at the close of the wai, in 1865. He had command of a brigade during his service, and was twice breveted by the President of the United States, once for "gallant and merit- orious service in Georgia and the Carolinas" and once for gallant service in the battle of Bentonville, N. C.

Dr. John J. H Love wasappointed volunteer surgeon by Governor Olden, of New Jersey, in April, 1862. H. was engaged in a thirty days' service after the battle of Williamsburg, on May 5th, ih the transportation and care of the wounded, was commissioned surgeon in the Nineteenth Regimen on July 19th, and in August was mustered into the United States service. lle was made surgeon-in-chief of a brigade in March, 1863, and in August was made surgeon-in-chief of a division in the Army of the Potomgar. He served with distinction in this position, and returned home with the rank of lieutenant-colonel.

The Montclair Gas and Water Company began its existence in 1871. In that year a charter was pro- cured from the State by William S. Torrey, Robert M. Hening, Lewis S. Benedict, George S. Dwight, Fred- erick Il. Harris, A. C. Benedict, Jr .. and John Torrey, Jr., who were the incorporators. Twenty-five thou- sand dollars was to be the capital stock, in shares of twenty-five dollars.

The privileges of the charter were, however, trans- ferred to another association, and the plan for the introduction of water was at length relinquished. Among the active men who guided the introduction of gas into both of the towns were Joseph A. Davis. M.D., who became the president of the company, John J. H. Love, M.D., P. H. Van River, Augustus T. Morris, Thomas W. Langstroth, Beach Vander- pool, Eugene Vanderpool and Andrew A. Smally. The gasometer was located in Bloomfield. The pipes were introduced into the streets of the two towns in 1872 and 1873, and the introduction to private houses gradually followed.

The Montclair Library Association was organized

in 1869. George S. Dwight, Israel ( rane and J. W. Taylor put into form the constitution. A board of directors were chosen and over three hundred volumes were collected. A charter was obtained during the winter of 1570-71, with the privilege of stock to an amieunt not exceeding fifty thousand dollars. Dur- ing the summer of 1871, N. O. Pillsbury gave the use of a lot on Fullerton Avenue, on which a build- ing with two commodious rooms was erected. The building was accordingly taken possession of in Ihre- ember, 1871.

The growth of the library was slow but steady. In seven years it advanced from sixty to two thousand books, and the demand for their use continues to In- rtcase.

The number of stone kholders and subscribers in 1475 was one hundred and forty-four and the total nom- ber of books taken out was four thousand I eight hun- dred and ninety. During the financial depression which existed in the following years it proved more difficult to maintain the interest, and during the past few years it has been little used.

Population. Montclair became a separate town- Ship in Isis.

The relative population and the growth of the population in Montelair and Bloomfield has been,-

1450.

1×70.

Montelair .

. .

old Bloomfield .

3,585

- 100, 01%.

Post-Offices .- The post-offices are two. The post- office at West Bloomfield was established in 1831, when Nathaniel II. Baldwin was appointed postmaster. It took the name of Montelair in 1 565.

Upper Mountelair has been recently established.

Montclair Fire Department.2-Montelair inaugu- rated it- first fire organization in the autumn of 1882, and prior to that time the town, like other country places, depended entirely upon the willing efforts of its citizens and the primitive household pail as a means to save burning property from destruction, or, as is more frequently the case where no apparatus is kept, to prevent the spread of the Hames to adjacent buildings. Subsequent to a disastrous fire on Moun- tain Avenue, in 18\2, a number of citizens talked over the necessity for some steps being taken to form a company to do fire service, and in response to a call sent out, a meeting was held in the town committee rooms on November 25th, at which it was reported that half the necessary amount of money to purchase a truck had already been raised, and that twenty-five members had enrolled their names for active ser- vice.

The company was duly organized on December 21, 1882, with the following officers: Foreman, Charles M. Schott, Jr., a former member of the Fire Depart-

Further statistice niny be found at the end of the sketch of Blumenfeld ? By Henry Farmer.

5,14"

Bloomfield .

890-x

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY. NEW JERSEY.

ment of Somerville, N. J .; Assistant Foreman, George Westerbrook ; Secretary, Dr. Albert J. Wright, for several years connected with the Oswego, N. Y., Fire Department ; Treasurer, Dr. James A. Casey. A con- tract was given out for a hook-and-ladder truck, which was received April 6, 1883, and was housed in the engine-house of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad by the courtesy of the officers of that company. On April 24th the company was in- corporated under the State law of 1876 relating to fire companies. In December, 18&2, the same officers were re-elected, and are now acting, with the excep- tion of Dr. Casey, the treasurer, who resigned, and is succeeded by Robert M. Hlening.

In January, 1884, a committee was appointed with authority to purchase additional apparatus, and they then procured a Babcock extinguisher, with two sixty-gallon tanks, and two small extinguishers at- tached. The town committee erected a frame house on the corner of Bloomfield Avenue and Valley road for the use of the Fire Department, and on the 24th of April last the company took possession of their quar- ters. A bell-tower has since been erected, and a bell weighing three thousand four hundred and ten pounds hung therein, the expense being borne by the town- ship. The bell was first rung for a fire-alarm on the 1xth of August, 1884. The town is divided into twelve fire districts, by the respective members of which the signal is given. A relief association was formed Sept. 17, 1883, and is now in a flourish- ing condition. There is also a fire police, consisting of six members of the company, appointed by the foreman, who is virtually the chief engineer of the de- partment. The truck is fully equipped with ladders, pick-axes and other necessary implements, hooks, a large pump and twenty-four buckets. There is also a fifty-foot New York extension ladder in the truck- house ready for an emergency. The foree numbers forty-seven members, nineteen for the chemical engine and twenty-eight for the truck. About two thousand dollars has been raised by private subscription to put the department on its present footing, and an appro- priation of five hundred dollars was made by the town- ship committee for the current expenses of the pres- ent year. Montelair now feels safer and is more content, for the town was a heavy sufferer from fire before its citizens were aroused to the necessity of establishing a system for the protection of their property.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

SAMUEL WILDE.

The progenitor of the Wilde family in America was John Wilde, who came from England in 1688 and settled in South Braintree, Mass. He married, in 1690, Sarah Hayden, granddaughter of Richard Thayer, who became a resident of Braintree in 1641. Their children were John, Samuel, William and Sarah. The children of Samuel were Samuel, Micab and Joseph, the latter of whom was an officer in the Revolution. His children were John, Elijah and Joseph. The children of the last-named were Hannah, Samuel, John and Mehitabel. Samuel was born in Dorchester, Mass., in 1800, and on removing to New York, about 1820, engaged in the hardware and looking-glass trade. llis wife was Sarah, daugh- ter of Robert Jones, to whom were born four sons and seven daughters, of whom five survive. The birth of Samuel, of this number, occurred in Dorchester, Mass., Oct. 3, 1831, from whence in childhood he removed with his parents to Brooklyn, N. Y., where his educa- tion was received. He, in 1848, entered his father's counting-room in New York City, the latter being then extensively engaged in the coffee and spice busi- ness, under the firm-name of Withington & Wilde. Mr. Withington was the pioneer in this country in the process of roasting coffee by machinery for the grocers' trade. The firm later became Samuel Wilde & Sons, and on the death of Samuel Wilde, Sr., was changed to Samnel Wilde's Sons, consisting of Joseph and Samuel Wilde. Joseph died in 1878, and a co- partnership including Samuel and John, a younger brother, was formed, under the same firm-name, the premises first occupied in 1814 being still their place of business. Samuel, the present head of the house, the subject of this sketch, was married, in 1853, to Mary E., daughter of Joshua Lunt, of Falmouth, Me. Mr. Wilde made Montclair, N. J., his resi- dence in 1861, and has since been actively identified with the interests of the township. He supports in politics the principles of the Republican party. which in 1871 and 1872 he represented in the State Legisla- ture. He is one of the directors of the Meriden Cutlery Company, of Meriden, Conn. Mr. Wilde is one of the founders of the First Congregational Church of Montelair, of which he is a member and , one of the board of trustees.

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 53

Author: Shaw, William H Publication date: 1884 Publisher: [United States :] Number of Pages: 830

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 830