USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Montclair > History of Montclair township state of New Jersey; including the history of the families who have been identified with its growth and prosperity > Part 22
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The company has on its roll (1-93-4). twenty members. Its present officers are : President. William II. Gallagher: Vice-President, William II. Williams : Secretary. Thos. B. Kaveny ; Treasurer. William T. Meyers ; Foreman. W. W. Meyer> : Assistant Foreman. John Van Handlyn. In 1893 a new hose wagon was ordered by the Township Committee for the service of the company.
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HISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP.
WASHINGTON HOSE COMPANY No. 3 was organized August 9, 1887, now located at the corner of Bloomfield Avenne and Grove Street. Officers : Foreman. John Perrin ; Assistant Foreman, Michael Clarence ; President, Edward M. Concannon : Vice President, lohn M. Jennings; Treasurer, Joseph Jennings. Twenty-three members, including officers.
In October the company received its Silsby two-wheeled jumper. This company was incorporated January 6, 1888. The house was erected and oeenpied May, 1888.
In 1893 a new house was begun, a hose wagon ordered by the Township Committee, and Mr. Geo. Inness, Jr., presented them with a horse. Present officers (1893-4): President, John Glennon : Vice- President, John M. Smith ; Secretary, James A. Durning ; Treasurer, John N. Haley; Foreman, Jos. Cavanaugh ; Assistant Foreman, Henry Muller. Membership, 25.
CLIFFSIDE HOSE COMPANY No. 4 was organized Feb. 7. 1888, and incorporated Feb. 5, 1889. This is located at Upper Montelair on Bellevue Avenue and railroad crossing, with 15 members. The first officers were: C. HI. Inestis. Foreman : Wm. B. JJacobus, Assistant Foreman ; President, Irving Cairnes : Vice-President, Frank Lord ; Secretary. Frank P. Anderson ; Treasurer, August J. Varno.
The company's first apparatus was the old Rumsey pump and hose reel formerly used by the Truck Co. A combination apparatus, consisting of hose wagon with ladders and chemicals, built by Gleason & Bailey, were furnished by the town, and in 1889 the present house was built. Officers : President. Andrew J. Armstrong: Viee-President. Frank Lord : Secretary, John Mancini : Treasurer, L. L. llowe; Foreman, Louis A. Maneini: Assistant Foreman, Walter II. A. Maynard. Present membership. 25.
ASSOCIATION OF EXEMPT FIREMEN OF THE TOWNSHIP OF MONTCLAIR. N. J .- Organized Nov. 24. 1891. Incorporated Dee. 12, 1891. President. John R. Livermore: Vice-President, Win. L. Doremis; Treasurer, Jesse II. Loekwood ; Secretary, F. A. Brantigam ; Trustees, P. A. Tronson, C. M. Schott, Jr. ; G. F. Westbrook, Wm. Y. Bogle, Geo. Inness, Jr.
The membership is confined exclusively to the exempt members of the Montelair Fire Department. FIRE ALARM .- An electric fire alarm system was completed in the autumn of 1892, and fifteen boxes placed in convenient localities throughout the township. A map of the township, with the location of hydrants and fire alarm boxes indicated, was compiled by Dr. A. J. Wright, the well known dentist. These, together with full instructions, were printed on heavy white cardboard by the publishers of the Montclair Herald at their own expense for free distribution.
In 1893 the system was extended by the addition of 17 boxes, making a total of 32.
ADDENDUM.
This historieal sketch covered the time to the fall of 1893, but as many changes in the way of improvement have occurred since that time, it necessitates a brief addition.
The previons account shows that the houses occupied by the companies, the bell and hose tower, the electric fire alarm system, all fire apparatus now in use, and the team used by the truck, are the property of the Montelair Fire Department, while the house furnishings, the horses used by Hose Companies 1, 2 and 3, and the equipments of the members, are company or individual property.
Under the present government, each company is detailed to answer calls from certain boxes, on first, second or third alarms (the Exempts respond to the third); and, in addition, a code of special calls, covering each company, police and ambulance, are in use.
In the spring of 1894, at a special election held for that purpose, it was decided by the voters of Montelair to change the form of government from a township to a town, and in June. 1894, all of the new officials, both elective and appointive, will be in charge.
This will be a most important change to the Montelair Fire Department, in that the Fire Committee will be succeeded by a Board of Fire Commissioners, composed of five members. who are appointed by the Town Council, who will have full charge of all matters affeeting the department.
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HISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP.
So, gradually, the familiar features of the old style volunteer fireman's organization are disap- pearing, and it becomes more modern every day : so that this town will soon practically enjoy the services of a model. modern fire department, second to none in the State and the equal of the paid eity depart- ments for effieaey, at a very slight cost.
THE MONTCLAIR WATER COMPANY.
THE MONTCLAIR WATER COMPANY was incorporated on the 13th day of January, 1887, under the laws of the State of New Jersey, for the purpose of supplying water to the Township of Montelair. and to other cities, town- and villages of that State.
The consent of the corporate anthorities of the Township of Montelair to the organization of the said Company, as required by law, was given on the 13th day of January, 18>7.
The incorporators were Whiting G. Snow, Edwin A. Bradley. Jasper R. Rand. and Joseph Van VIeck, of Montelair. N. J. : John R. Bartlett and Henry C. Andrews, of New York, and Albert P. Fisher, of Brooklyn. N. Y.
The capital of this Company is 81,000,000, divided into 10,000 shares, of the par value of $100 each. all of which has been paid into the treasury of the Company in cash.
The director, and officers of the Company are Whiting G. Snow. President : John R. Bartlett, Treasurer: Albert P. Fisher, Secretary : Edwin AA. Bradley and Jasper R Rand.
These gentlemen were the first directors and officers of the Company, and are still serving the Company in those capacities.
A contract with the Township of Montelair, to supply it with water. within nine months from the date of it> execution, was made on the 5th day of March. Isst. To comply with this contract, after the necessary surveys and estimate- had been made, a contract. to build the works, was made by the Company with Messis. Tar & McNamee, contractors, on the 29th day of March, IST.
After an examination and selection of the location of the well at Watehung, a test well was put down, on the site selected. and an analysis and biological examination of the water was made by Prof. Leeds, of the Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, N. J .. and was pronounced to be perfectly pure. wholesome and palatable, and of most unusual excellence and purity. This report was submitted to the Township Committee of Montelair and was approved by them on the ith day of June, 18s7.
The plant was so far completed that water was introduced into the town about December 1, 1857. The works have been prononneed, by experts familiar with work of that kind, to be first class in every particular, both as to quality of material used in the construction and quality of workmanship.
Mr. Geo. W. Howell. of Morristown. N. J., represented the Company as Engineer during the construction of the works, and Mr. James Owen, of Montelair. N. J .. represented the township in the same capacity.
After the completion of the works Mr. Owen was engaged by the Company, as its Engineer and Superintendent. and has been retained in that position ever since.
The supply of water was first obtained from two wells located north of Watchung Avenue and east of Valley Road : one well being 30 feet in diameter and 50 feet deep, with brick walls from the surface to the top of the rock. At the bottom of the 30 feet well are + holes. 4 inches in diameter, extending 40 to 50 feet deeper.
There is also one S inch well. 30 feet distant from the larger one, 175 feet deep, the water of which flows into the larger one.
The pumps, two in number, were located in the well about 20 feet below the level of the ground, and deep enongh to empty the 30 feet well. These pumps are of the Compound Worthington type, each with a capacity of 500,000 gallons per day. They worked against a head of 167 lbs., which is the pressure when the tank on the mountain is full.
The two boilers. of 75 horse power each, on the return flue plan, are located in a brick boiler-
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HISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP.
honse abont 25 feet from the well; the steam is carried in a 3-inch pipe to the pumps, with a duplicate pipe of 2 inch, in case of emergency.
The tank on the mountain is built of boiler iron, 40 feet in diameter, and 30 feet high, having a capacity of 300,000 gallons. Its elevation is 680 feet above tide water. and 400 feet above the pumps.
During the year 1890, owing to the increased consumption of water, five 5-inch wells were bored to an average depth of 105 feet. These wells were connected with the large well by means of a syphon arrange- ment, so that the water flowed automatically into the large well without any extra pumping. The com- bined delivery of these wells, at their full capacity, amounted to 320,000 gallons of water per day.
In the early part of the year 1893, it was deemed necessary to still further increase the supply of water, and, therefore. a connection was made at Brookdale with the main of the East Jersey Water Com- pany, the company who had built the plant for the supply of the City of Newark with water taken from the Pequannock River, at Pompton, N. J.
A contract was made November 5. 1892, with the West Orange Water Co., to furnish them with water for the purpose of supplying the Township of West Orange, and about May, 1893, connection was made with their mains, and sinee that time that Company has been supplied continuously from the Montclair plant.
This extra draft, coupled with the increasing demand of the town of Montelair itself, rendered the pumping plant of the Company almost inadequate for the summer consumption of 1893. There- fore, in the fall of 1893, two new pumps were purchased from the Snow Steam Pump Works. of Buffalo, N. Y .. with a capacity of 2,500,000 gallons per day.
Two new boilers were also purchased of 180 horse power, and, with a new stack, have been placed in position.
The old pumps have been taken out of the well and placed in a pit specially prepared for them. which gives the plant a total capacity of 3,500,000 gallons per day.
The boiler and pump have also been enlarged.
The following statements will show the increase of the Company's business during the last six years :
MILES OF WATER PIPE LAID.
During and to the year ending Dec. 31, 1888. . 2413% miles
During the year ending December 31, 1889. . 1100 31, 1890. . 1106 4 4
4 4 31, 1891. . 45
31, 1892. . 2.56
.6
. 4 31, 1893. . 3100 68
Total to January 1, 1894. . 38.39
NUMBER OF FIRE HYDRANTS.
During and to the year ending Dec. 31, ISSS. 223
During the year ending December 31, 1889 15
31, 1890. 12
31, 1891.
31, 1892. IS
44
44
= 31, 1893. 16
Total to January 1, 1894. . 303
NUMBER OF CONSUMERS ADDED.
During and to the year ending Dec. 31, 1888. 361
During the year ending December 31, 1889. 4 4
193
31, 1890 169
..
..
31, 1891. 250
31, 1892. 1SI
.. 31, 1893. 187
Total to January 1, 1894 1341
NUMBER OF TAPS MADE.
During and to the year ending Dec. 31, 1888. 377
During the year ending December 31, 1889. . 4 ١١ 31, 1890 160
ISO
31, 1891. 151
..
31, 1892. 200
.. 31, 1893. 102
Total to January 1. 1894. 1170
AVERAGE DAILY CONSUMPTION OF WATER.
During and to the year ending Dec. 31, ISSS. . 133,763 galls. During the year ending December 31, 1889 . 155,494 31, 1890. . 189,480
4 4 31, 1891. . 223,250
1 4
31, 1892. . 318,537
..
31, 1893 . . 527,564
METERS PUT IN.
During and to the year ending Dec. 31, 1888
5
During the year ending December 31, 1889.
28
31, 1890. 24
44
31, 1891. IS
..
31, 1892. 31
.. 31. 1893. 40
Total to January 1, 1894. 1.46
137
HISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP.
JAMES OWEN, TOWNSHIP ENGINEER .- AS a civil engineer, and as the originator and promoter of the most important improvements in public highways in Essex County during the past twenty-five years, Mr. Owen is without a rival. His connection with the public affairs of Montelair began soon after its erection as a separate township.
Mr. Owen is a native of England, born in London in 1>45. The family from which he is descended is of very remote ancestry, the first of these names being the founder of the noble tribe of North Wales and Powys. Mr. Owen was educated at private school and at King's College, London, and served his time at civil engineering with G. K. Radford, now a partner of the eminent engineer and landscape gardener, Vanx. who was formerly associated with Ohinstead in laying ont Central Park. New York. and Prospect Park, Brooklyn.
Mr. Owen came to this country in 1566, and was first connected with the Indiana Sonthern Railroad as civil engineer. In 1867 he was associated with Olmstead and Vaux in the laying out of Prospect Park, Brooklyn. In 1868 he was appointed Engineer of the Essex County. N. l., Public Road Board. and has held the position continuously for more than a quarter of a century, and during this period has expended over $2,000,000 on the public highways and other improvements connected therewith. Hle established the system of radiating avennes from Newark, which is considered the best of any in the United States, and which has since been adopted in many of our large cities and towns throughout the country. He introduced the Telford system of roads, the most durable of any ever adopted, and there has since been constructed over 250 miles of this class of roads in the county. In 1972 he was appointed County Engineer of Essex County, and had charge of the construction of all the bridges. He abolished the old system of wooden bridges, and substituted those of masonry and iron, of which there are now about 1,500 in the country.
Mr. Owen became a resident of Montelair in 1-22. and the same year was appointed Township Engineer, and has held it at different periods down to the present time. He served three years on the Township Committee. from 1555 to tsss. It was during this period that the construction of the public water works began, and he has since had charge of that work. He has taken a special interest in the cause of education : was elected a member of the School Board in IST, and has been re-elected at each succeeding term since. He was chairman of the committee that introduced technical education, this being the first public school in the United States to adopt that system. He was Chairman of the Build- ing Committee on the construction of the new school-house. He served as Health Commissioner of the township for four years. He has read several papers on engineering, and has been a frequent contributor to engineering journals. He has lectured on the construction of roads in different parts of the country before large and appreciative audiences. He attended the World's Fair Congress of Engineers.
Ile is a member of the following societies and organizations: American Society of Civil En- gineers : New Jersey State Sanitary Association : New Jersey State Road Association : and of different local organizations in Montelair.
THE PRESS.
The very first attempt at journalism in Montelair was made in 1566, by two youths named F. A. Wheeler and F. A. Brantigam. in the publication of a small amateur monthly, which they appropriately named The Pioneer. The publication was well received, and served its announced purpose of " a devotion to the general observation on passing events" very well for a few months, when its publishers engaged in other and more profitable occupations, and The Pioneer passed out of existence.
For several years after that the townspeople depended upon the Sentinel of Freedom, the weekly edition of the Daily Advertiser. of Newark, for their local and general news, and no one ventured the publication of an exclusively local newspaper. It was not until June, 1973. that the proverbial long-felt want was filled by the appearance of The Montelair Herald, the publishers of which were Messrs. J. Ogden Clark and Frank D. Sturgis, both of them members of the legal profession. Like the original journal, it appeared
·
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HISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP.
monthly, and was filled with interesting accounts of the rapid developments which the town was under going at that time. Honses were going up in all sections; the Montelair and Greenwood Lake Railway had just been opened : work upon the tunnel through the mountain was being carried on day and night, for the extension of the road to Verona and Caldwell : steam rollers were at work upon the macadamizing of Bloomfield Avenue by the County Board. gas lights had just been introduced-in short, Montclair was booming. The Herald prospered correspondingly. It was well printed upon tinted paper, and attained a good eirenlation. But its publishers found the editorial labors devolving upon them so great as to hinder them in their legal pursuits, and the paper literally ontgrew itself and died.
For two years following, the local wants were most acceptably recorded in the Saturday Gazette, a weekly paper, published by Sylvanus Lyon, of Bloomfield. Equal space was devoted in its columns to the two sister towns of Montclair and Bloomfield. and the tone of the paper was dignified and clean. For more than two years the Gazette served its constituency admirably, exerting a wide influence, and foster- ing a neighborly spirit between the two towns, which but a few years before were one municipality.
In the fall of 1875 W. C. Coutant, publisher of the Arlington Journal, sustaining serious loss by fire, removed what was left of his plant to Montelair, and began the publication of the Montelair Journal. Although the panie had set in, the town was still growing under the impetus it had received in the heighth of its prosperity in " boom times." A weekly newspaper. properly and economically conducted, conld exist, though not holl ont immediate prospects of great wealth to its editors. The paper established by Mr. Contant, however, started ont on the mistaken mission of antagonizing the local government by being "agin it." and attacking public-spirited men, attributing to them selfish motives. It likewise rejoiced in factional fights, and as a natural result the Journal soon reached its last number under Mr. Contant's management.
Mr. John Malcolin Campbell was the next to enter the journalistie field of Montelair. Ile took up the Journal where his predecessor left off, and adopted a somewhat similar policy. The number in which the paper gave up the ghost, it was boldly announced that " the Journal has now been placed upon a paying basis." But there was evidently a flaw in the basis, for on a cloudy morning in November the publisher and proprietor disappeared, and the plant was seized by the landlord.
Subscribers to Montelair papers had little faith in the staying qualities of the succeeding publication, The Montclair Times, which was begun in February, 1877. The present publisher, A. C. Studer, from the neighboring city of Newark. and Charles A. Burr, of Syracuse, N. Y., entered in the work simultaneously, but the latter withdrew in a few weeks and sold out his interests in the Times to Mr. Studer. The paper had an uphill struggle for some time, without prospect of political support, for it was nentral in polities for five years, when having passed the "make or break " period the editor followed his personal proclivities and made the Times a Republican paper. A department by Rev. Dr. Bradford, under the title of " Chips From My Workshop," was an interesting feature that did much to popularize the paper. In later years also some of the best writers of the town have contributed to its colnnins, and the paper has taken an advanced position in all matters affecting the welfare and interests of the community. The Times has grown in circulation commensurate to the growth of Montelair, and is in the full enjoyment of public confidence. It is still being published by its original publisher, whose record for seventeen successive years of uninterrupted newspaper work has few equals in the State.
The Montelair Register was the next journalistic candidate for public favor in Montelair. It was started in 1888 by A. E. C. Minderman, as an independent paper, but subsequently it became the organ of the Democratic party, especially during the Presidential campaign of that year. Its publisher worked faithfully and heroically against great odds for two and a half years before the Register met the fate that had been met by so many of its predecessors.
Just as the Register was about to expire, William F. Jones started the Montelair Herald, also as a weekly paper. but it had scarcely lived six months before its publisher sold out to C. Alexander Cook. Hle bought the plant of the defunet Register, and for a few weeks managed the Herald for a stock company of Democrats and Independents. Mr. Cook was succeeded as editor and manager by Dr.
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HISTORY OF MONTCLAIR TOWNSHIP.
Richard C. Newton, and he in turn by Mr. Martin Synnott. In 1992 the paper was bought by Dr. C. W. Butler. a prolific contributor to its columns, who conducted it for more than a year, with varied success. The Herald was then published by G. C. Earle, and edited by I. B. Walker, they having leased the plant from Dr. Butler, who still owns it.
Among the other papers that have come and gone in recent years is the altruist, published monthly by the Altruist Society in the interests of the benevolent work carried on in town under its auspices.
A very bright little amateur weekly was the Montelair Press, published from 1859 to '91, by two boys, James and Arthur Owen, sons of Engineer Owen. It gained quite a circulation, and contained many interesting items. The boys set the type themselves and printed the paper upon a small press in their father's barn, doing all the work afterschool hours. A feature that interested the older people was the department known as " Topie- by His Nib-," the contributions for which were from the prolitie pen of Engineer Owen. The Press grew almost into the sphere of regular journalism, and had gained much popularity when it was discontinued because of the death of the older of the brothers, much to the regret of its many patrons.
The Montclair Journal was published by William F. Jones and Otis MeMillan, as a weekly, from 1890 to 1>91, and then daily for about a year. It had no connection with the paper of that name that preceded it. There seemed to be no especial requirement for such a paper then and the paper died. Its publication was resumed, however, in March. 194, and i- being published every Thursday by Messrs, Oti- McMillan and Arthur Darlington.
AUGUSTUS CHARLES STUDER.
The success of a newspaper i- wholly dependent on the man who supplies the brains, and whether. consciously or unconscionsly, his individuality is stamped on every page. If his utterances are truthful and honest. whatever his personal views, he will have the confidence of the public.
From the date of the first issue of the Montelair Times, by its present editor and proprietor. it's course has been straightforward and truthful, and not a word has sullied its pages that any pure-minded man or woman could take exception to.
Augustus C. Studer, editor and proprietor of the Montelair Times for the past seventeen years, comes of a race of patriots, and honest, fearless men, loyal to those principles which have governed their country for five hundred years. All save himself were natives of Switzerland, and though he was a native of this country, the first words he ever uttered were in his father's native tongue. llis grand- father was a clergyman of the Calvini-tie Church, and for forty years officiated in that capacity at Thun, Switzerland. One of his ancestors was engaged in the civil war known as the Sonderbund-severing the bonds the same state of affairs existing as in our recent civil war-viz., the severing in twain of the republie-his ancestor remaining true and loyal to the government.
Mr. Studer's mother was Elizabeth Oertel, a native of the Grand Duchy of Baden. Her mother took an active part in the movement to establish the independence of Baden, in 1949, by encouraging resistance to the government and on several occasions conveyed important secret dispatches to Frederich Ilecker, the patriotie leader.
Mr. Studer's parents eame to this country in 1550 and settled in Newark, N. J., where he was born. May 10, 1854, the year of the great cholera epidemic: it was this that led them to return to their native country when he was but four months old: his early environment was therefore amid the scenes of his father's childhood. He attended school at Thun and Geneva, and. while pursuing the usual conrse of study, acquired a thorough knowledge of German and French. His parents returned to this country in 1564. during the War of the Rebellion, his father being actnated by a desire to assist his adopted country in her efforts to preserve the Union. This he did by enlisting as a private in Company 1. Fifteenth Regiment, N. J. Vols .. in which he served until the close of the war. An unele of young Studer-his father's brother-served throughout the war in an lowa regiment, and rose from the ranks to
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