USA > New Jersey > Union County > History of Union County, New Jersey > Part 29
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ST. MARY'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
work of enlarging and improving the church and rectory. This was finished in 1864, during the pastorate of Rev. Isaac P. Howell. Dr. John M. Reimer, editor of the New Jersey Herald, graphically describes the interior of the church as follows:
On the walls in bass-relief are representations of the stations of the cross, being sculptures which were produced from Munich. They are fine specimens of art, and could hardly be excelled, the expressions of the figures appearing decidedly realistic and the whole effect very impressive. The ceiling is exquisitely decorated. In the centre appears an illustration of the Assumption, which is well executed. At the corners, figures of angels and cherubs are exhibited, all of which are decidedly pleasing to the eye. The chancel has been furnished with artistic taste and at a great expense, the
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furniture and carpets forming a combination of coloring which is productive of delight- ful results. On the wall back of the main altar is a fine life-size painting of the Crucifixion, while the altar on the left bears an oil painting by Torjetti, which is particularly valuable and a masterpiece of art. It is a representation of the Madonna and Child. Leaning against the altar on the right is a smaller canvas, picturing the flight into Egypt of Joseph and Mary with the child Jesus.
......
N!
REV. FRANCIS O'NEILL
The art gems of St. Mary's church, however, are the two stained-glass windows on either side of the chancel. These windows were brought from Munich, and are the work of a master artist. The one on the left contains beautiful pictures of St. Michael and St. Gabriel on the upper portion, and of the presentation in the Temple of the Blessed Virgin when a little child, on the lower. That on the right portrays St. Raphael and St. Uriel on the upper portion, and on the lower, St. Dominick receiving the rosary previous to its introduction into every part of the world. Each line on this window is in perfect harmony with all the rest, the figures and all accessories being executed with careful attention to every detail.
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An important adjunct to St. Mary's is the society known as the Young Men's Catholic Literary Association, organized in 1879. St. Mary's parochial school was founded by Father Howell in 1851. There are at present about three hundred scholars in attendance.
The present rector, Father O'Neill, is a native of St. Andrews, province of New Brunswick, Canada. He was educated in part at St. Andrews Academy, later he was a student in St. Dunstan's College, and afterward was sent to the Seminary of Montreal to prepare for ordination. He was ordained at St. John's, New Brunswick. Father Carroll, the late assistant pastor, was born in Morristown, New Jersey, April 19, 1859. His education was begun in St. Benedict's College, in Newark, but he was afterwards sent to a preparatory school, St. Charles, in Maryland. From this school he went to Seton Hall Col- lege, where he was graduated in 1881. He at once entered the semin- ary, and was ordained four years later, in 1885. He was immediately assigned to St. Mary's, as assistant to Father Thebaud. He remained in the same capacity with Father Corrigan and last with Father O'Neill. Father Carroll's zeal and sincere personality won for him a warm place in the hearts of his parishioners. Rev. Father James H. Brady, successor to Father Carroll in St. Mary's, was born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1856. In 1861 his parents removed to Providence, Rhode Island, where he was educated in the public schools, and was graduated at the high school in 1871. He then spent a year in the Christian Brothers' high school, after which he entered the Jesuits' College in Montreal, where he was graduated in 1877. After spending one year in post-graduate work, he went to Seton Hall, and was ordained in 1882. His first work was as assistant pastor in Jersey City, New Jersey, and afterward in the same capacity in Newark, New Jer- sey. He then took charge of the mission of Stanhope and Lake Hopatcong, where he remained eight years, coming from that charge to that of St. Mary's. St. Mary's Guild was organized in 1896. The Holy Name Society is also a new organization, at present in charge of Father Brady.
ST. PATRICK'S PARISH,
of Elizabeth, was the third formed, and ground was broken for the church edifice in 1858, and in that year, when the corner-stone of this church was laid, that portion of the city was almost a wilderness.
Bishop Bayley, having been previously prevailed upon to allow the experiment of a new parish to be attempted, Rev. M. A. M. Wirtzfield came over from St. Michael's to take charge. Mr. Patrick Riel started the good work by donating his three lots for the site, and the corner- stone of the church was laid, in Wall street, September, 1858. Father Wirtzfield acted as pastor for seven years, when the learned Rev. Patrick Hennessy took his place. He was succeeded by Rev. Patrick Cody, and he, on January 27, 1873, by Rev. Martin Gessner, the present
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pastor. Since Father Gessner took charge, almost the entire block in Court street, between First and Second streets, has been acquired and upon this the church, the school and various other buildings are in process of completion, which will cost from four hundred . thousand dollars to five hundred thousand dollars.
The Church of the Holy Rosary was established in July, 1886, by Bishop Wigger. John Callaghan took charge and built up the parish. Rev. J. J. Smith is priest. The Church of the Sacred Heart, at the corner of Spring and Bond streets, is a more recent organization. Rev. Augustine Wirth, O. S. B. is priest.
ST. MICHAEL'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
was erected for the German Catholics, in the year 1852. The Redemp- tionist Fathers, of New York, attended the Catholics of Elizabeth from 1849 to 1851, when a congregation was organized. On August 8, 1852, they received their first resident priest, Rev. Augustus Daubner, O. S. F.
Services were held during two years in Peters building, at Union Square, when in 1853, a new church was built on Smith street. In 1855 the church was enlarged and a parochial school was built. In 1870 the present pastor Rev. Albert von Schilgeni was appointed, and in 1873 he built the new church, on the corner of East Jersey and Smith streets. The congregation has about two thousand members. The new parochial school was built in 1889.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE CITY OF ELIZABETH, CONTINUED-NEWSPAPERS, HOSPITALS, ASYLUMS, ETC.
T is an unmistakable fact that in any community a most potent influence upon development and consecutive progress is that wielded by the local press; and as at least repre- senting an enterprise of semi-public nature, it is eminently fitting that due recognition be accorded the leading factors in this line. In the succeeding paragraphs will be found reference to various beneficent and eleemosynary institutions which contribute to the prestige of Elizabeth as a center of advanced civilization and true humanitarianism.
THE ELIZABETH DAILY JOURNAL.
This is the leading newspaper in the city of Elizabeth and Union county, and no history of Union county would be reasonably complete that did not include a liberal sketch of the Journal, its origin, its history, its work and its success. The growth and prosperity of the city and county in which it circulates and exerts its influence, have been so intimately associated with the progress and development of the Journal for the past quarter of a century, that each may be said, with great propriety, to have had a reciprocally beneficial effect upon the other.
On the 16th of February, 1779, the first number of the New Jersey Journal was issued, at Chathamn, by Sheppard Kollock. It was a four- page sheet, three columns to a page; size of printed form, 9 x 13 inches; subscription two dollars a year. A well preserved copy of the original issue is on file in the New Jersey Historical Society's rooms, Newark, and many reprint copies were made from it early in the year 1880. There are yet extant many odd copies of the issues during the years 1783, 1797, 1799, 1800, etc., but there is no perfect file until a much later date.
Shortly after the paper was started, the editorial and business offices were removed to Elizabeth Town, but its early history was full of strange and exciting experiences. The war of the Revolution was not yet ended, and this section of the country saw many engagements, and was traversed many times by the British and American troops in turn. The Journal was then, as ever since, heartily loyal to the interests of the country and of the locality in which it was printed, and it suffered
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ELIZABETH DAILY JOURNAL
PRINTING.
NATIONAL STATE BANK BUILDING, WATER COMPANY'S OFFICE AND JOURNAL OFFICE
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for its loyalty. It is related that time and again its presses were carted from place to place to prevent the enemy from capturing them, and that its office was in a wagon more than once.
When the war ended it became permanently established in Eliza- beth as a readable, reliable family newspaper, and it has never since changed its locality nor descended from the high character and purpose upon which it was established.
On July 17, 1871, the Elizabeth Daily Journal came into existence, in answer to a public demand for a clean, bright, able, reliable paper, Republican in principle, that would address itself to the intelligent readers of the city and county and fearlessly advocate their best interests. At that time the people of Elizabethi had been wrought up to financial insanity by the wooden-pavement bond-issuing craze. There appeared
CHARLES C. McBRIDE
to be no end to the continuous invention of vast debt-creating schemes for carrying on alleged improvements. The Journal foresaw what the result must be, and at once opposed these schemes with all its strengthi. Tremendous excitement and bitter antagonismns were created, but the Journal kept the inevitable day of reckoning steadily in public view, and the city's collapse when it came, ultimately carried down with it all the other papers and left the Journal with an established reputation for lionesty and with an undisputed field. Since then new papers liave started and old ones liave been revived, but none has rivaled the Journal in the esteem and confidence of the people.
While the city was passing through the fiery financial trials which followed its bankruptcy, the Journal stood alone in resisting the confis- catory demands of belligerent creditors, and insisted upon such an adjustment of the crushing debt as would perinit the city to recover its municipal existence, regain its prestige and secure an opportunity to
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restore its normal prosperity. No paper ever worked with more vigor or more effectively than did the Journal to this end. It earned the approval of all the citizens and property-owners, and has retained their support and good will ever since.
The magnificent system of stone roads in Union county is another monument to the Journal's effective work. For three years this paper stood alone in its advocacy of this system, nearly all the other papers aggressively opposing it. But the Journal's articles were vigorous and bristling with conclusive arguments and pertinent facts, and it virtually forced the people into an improvement which has since proved the best investment the county ever made, while the Journal's articles, copied in every county in the state, liave formed the basis of the literature
AUGUSTUS S. CRANE
which has greatly advanced the cause of good roads throughout the country. The crusade against the race-track gamblers was begun by the Journal at a time when, as leading politicians declared, it was folly to think of successfully fighting these gigantic institutions. But the Journal entered the fight with all its energy, and the race-track gamblers were driven out of the state.
In politics the Journal is Republican, but it has such a hold upon the people that members of all political parties read it and find in its columns the latest news at home and abroad. It has made a household word of its piquant motto, "If you don't read the Journal you don't get the news."
From the small beginning already described, the Journal has grown into an eight-page daily paper, seven columns to a page, size 1572 X 22; with twelve-page issues when occasion requires. It recently abandoned the old system of hand typesetting and now uses the latest improved linotype machines.
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It enjoys a splendid advertising patronage and has a thoroughly equipped job-printing department. While its largest circulation is in the city of Elizabeth, it has many readers and regular representatives in Rahway, Westfield, Cranford, Roselle, Linden, Lyons Farms and the adjacent country sections.
Mr. Charles C. McBride, the present editor of the Journal, is a New Jersey man by birth, and has found no place more attractive than his native state. He began as reporter and generally useful man about the office, on the date of the first issue of the daily, and has advanced, by hard and conscientious work, upward through the various places of responsibility, reaching the editorial chair nearly ten years ago. One of the sincerest indications of an editor's success is the frequency with which his editorials are copied in other papers, and no paper in the state enjoys this distinction more frequently than the Journal.
Mr. Augustus S. Crane, the Journal's business manager, is a descendant of one of the oldest families of New Jersey. He too began his work in a humble position in the Daily Journal office, a few years after it had been started. Through his untiring zeal, progressive ideas and a thorough study of the mechanical and business departments of the office he has eminently qualified himself for the successful work he is now carrying on, in one of the most arduous and responsible positions in the office of a daily newspaper.
THE ELIZABETH DAILY LEADER
was sprung into existence, July 29, 1889, by General J. Madison Drake, who for a number of years had successfully conducted the Sunday Leader, the publication of which, however, ceased in February, 1890. The Daily Leader flourished from the first day of its publication, at once attaining a large circulation and a profitable advertising patron- age. At this writing (1897) the Leader is an eight-page sheet, its types being set by linotype machines. General Drake is assisted in the management of the Leader by his sons, William M. Drake and J. Madison Drake, Jr., both of whom have been connected with the news- paper business since early boyhood.
General Drake has been a newspaper publisher since 1854, when he started the Mercer Standard, in Trenton, New Jersey. Subsequently he ยท published the Evening Express and Wide Awake in that city. Upon his return home, after a loyal service in the late war, General Drake started the Daily Monitor in Elizabeth, and thereby realized a fortune. For dis- tinguished gallantry during the four years of war he was presented with a medal of honor by congress.
THE ELIZABETH GENERAL HOSPITAL AND DISPENSARY.
The first successful movement toward establishing a hospital in Elizabeth was made in the early part of 1877 by Dr. James S. Green.
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Convinced of the necessity of such an institution, he desired to bring the general public to a recognition of the fact, and this he believed could best be done by the establishment of a free dispensary as a preliminary movement. To this end he sought and obtained the co-operation of Drs. Alonzo Pettit, J. Otis Pinneo and Thomas N. McLean, and these four physicians, at their own expense, secured rooms, and on April 17, 1877, opened a "Free Dispensary for the Treatment of Surgical Diseases of the Poor."
In the early part of 1879 the time for further organization seemed to have arrived, and the gentlemen immediately interested in the enter- prise, executed, on the 9th of May, 1879, under the general laws of the state of New Jersey, a certificate of the incorporation of the Elizabeth General Hospital and Dispensary, and filed it in the office of the secretary of state. The following names were attached to this certificate : James S. Green, J. O. Pinneo, N. C. J. English, R. W. Woodward, William T. Day, C. B. Place, I. E. Gates, W. W. Sterns, Thomas N. McLean, Lebbens B. Miller, C. W. Van Horne, Albert B. Hazard, Charles H. Rollinson, J. Augustus Dix, Alonzo Pettit. These gentlemen, by the terms of the certificate, became the first board of managers of the corporation.
In October of the same year the organization of the board was com- pleted by the election of its officers as follows : President, Lebbeus B. Miller ; vice-president, Albert B. Hazard ; treasurer, Charles B. Place ; secretary, W. T. Day. At the same meeting a medical and surgical staff was appointed as follows : Surgeons-Jas. S. Green, M. D., Lewis W. Oakley, M. D., Victor Mravlag, M. D., Alonzo Pettit, M. D .; physicians -J. Otis Pinneo, M. D., J. S. Crane, M. D., Robert Wescott, M. D., Thomas N. McLean, M. D. In February, 1880, the managers elected a dentist, Lonis S. Marsh, D. D. S. In January, 1880, Drs. Green and Pettit and Mr. C. B. Place were appointed a committee to select a location for the hospital, the result being the purchase of the Jaques property, on Jaques street, for three thousand two hundred dollars. This purchase was made on the 16th of April following, and subsequently the building was altered and additional lands purchased.
In January 1880 the physicians in charge of the Free Dispensary for the Treatment of Surgical Diseases of the Poor, transferred the same to the managers of the hospital.
O11 the 6th of February the Emergency Hospital, an enterprise that had been started a short time before, under the care of a number of ladies, was tendered, with all its appliances, to the board of managers of the hospital, and was accepted. On the 26th of May, 1880, the first annual meeting of the association was held, and fifteen managers were elected. The Jaques-street building was opened for patients October 1I, 1880.
Through the efforts of Mrs. Eliza G. Halsey, the " Daisy Bed " fund was inaugurated, which has been of much assistance in the work, as
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many as ninety-one children having been cared for in one year in the Daisy Bed ward. In January, 1881, the Ladies' Aid Society of the Elizabeth General Hospital and Dispensary was organized, at once began co-operation with the board of managers, and has rendered most sub- stantial aid in many directions. Through its efforts the Training School for Nurses was organized, in 1892.
Soon after the opening of the Jaques-street hospital it was found necessary to have more roomn for patients, and a surgical pavilion was added, which gave temporary relief. Later on, a further increase of room became an urgent necessity, and early in 1888 the board of managers, after careful investigation, decided to put up a new building, which should embody the most improved plans and arrangements for hospital purposes.
In carrying out this decision a new site, on the northeast corner of East Jersey and Reid streets, was purchased and the present hospital buildings were erected thereon, the expenditure for grounds and buildings being about ninety thousand dollars, the larger part of which was secured through the active personal efforts of Mayor John C. Rankin. Three of these subscriptions aggregated eight thousand dollars and there were twenty-eight of one thousand dollars each. On May 2, 1894, the building on Jaques street was abandoned as a hospital, and the work inaugurated in the new quarters.
* The Blake Memorial, for women, was a gift by Mrs. Frederick M. Blake, as a memorial of her father and mother, the late William and Augusta Zschwetzke. The building was completed and formally opened on the evening of April 28, 1894. The Cribside Association, inaugurated by Mrs. Blake for the purpose of furnishing supplies of garments, linen and bedding to the Blake Memorial, has not only succeeded in doing this, but has also contributed two thousand dollars toward its endowment.
The total number of patients treated in the hospital in 1896 was : Surgical ward, 384 ; medical ward, 328 ; maternity ward, 55 ; emergency cases-surgical, 200 ; medical, 25. This renders a total of nine hundred and twenty-two cases treated in the hospital, while the same year records dispensary visits to the number of two thousand three hundred and twenty-eight. The present officers are : President, Lebbeus B. Miller ; vice-president, Charles H. K. Halsey; secretary, William T. Day ; treasurer, Patrick J. Ryan. The present board of managers comprises : William W. Ackerman, James H. Alexander, Francis J. Blatz, Frank H. Davis, William T. Day, Charles H. K. Halsey, Lebbeus B. Miller,
* The capacity of the present hospital is one hundred and five beds. In addition to the general wards, it has the Daisy Bed ward for children, an isolated pavilion for diphtheria cases, and the Blake Memorial pavilion for women. There are ten rooms for private patients in the main hospital and four in the Blake, the latter for gynecological and maternity patients. The charge for private rooms is fifteen dollars per week, which includes board, medicines, ordinary surgical appliances and the services of the house staff and the regular nurse. There are three surgical operating rooms, and the equipment for surgical work will compare favorably with the best hospitals. There is also a training school for nurses connected with the hospital, from which nurses for private families are supplied.
19
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HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY
Charles H. Moore, Jacob H. Olhausen, Calvin B. Orcutt, William H. Rankin, Patrick J. Ryan, Elias D. Smith, Charles Townsend, R. W. Woodward.
The present staff are: Surgeons-Alonzo Pettit, M. D., Victor Mravlag, M. D., James S. Green, M. D., Edgar B. Grier, M. D .; physicians-Thomas N. McLean, M. D., William A. M. Mack, M. D., Norton L. Wilson, M. D .; superintendent of the hospital, Louis R. Curtis.
Mr. Lebbeus B. Miller has been president of the hospital from its organization, with the exception of the years 1891 to 1894, inclusive, during which time J. Augustus Dix, one of the founders and liberal patrons of the hospital, occupied the position. The secretaryship has been in the hands of William T. Day from the year 1879, with the exception of two or three years, when he served in the capacity of finan- cial secretary, during which time Mr. R. W. Woodward held the office of secretary.
ALEXIAN BROTHERS' HOSPITAL.
The order of the Celite or Alexian Brothers was founded in the fourteenth century, when the great plague brought desolation over all Europe, it being known in history as the "black death." The first order was founded at Mechlin, in Belgium, and there are now establish- ments of Alexians all over the world. The first house in America was erected in Chicago, in March, 1866.
The corner-stone of the Elizabeth hospital was laid by Rt. Rev. W. M. Wigger, in May, 1893. The hospital was opened July 1, 1894. Hospital cases during the past year numbered seven hundred. There are fourteen brothers in attendance.
ORPHAN ASYLUM.
The Elizabeth Orphan Asylum occupies one of the finest buildings in the city. It is located on the corner of Murray and Cherry streets, and is a four-story brick structure, with ample accommodations for one hundred children. On the first floor are the dining room, school room, parlor and two sitting rooms. On the second floor are two large dormi- tories and four other rooms. On the third is a well appointed hospital, cut off completely from the rest of the house. On the fourth are large play rooms, as there are also in the basement. The institution is supported by the donations of the citizens.
The Elizabeth Orphan Asylum Association was incorporated February 12, 1858, with the following as incorporators: Benjamin Williamson, Richard T. Haines, John J. Chetwood, Reuben Van Pelt, Garret Green, David Magie, Samuel A. Clark, Nicholas Murray and Alfred DeWitt. The first directress was Mrs. R. T. Haines ; the first treasurer, Mrs. J. G. Nuttman, and the first secretary, Mrs. Alfred DeWitt. On July 29, 1858, the institution began its work of charity in a rented house on Broad street, with eleven children from the alms
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house. Of these first eleven the Scarlett brothers afterward improved the advantages of the asylum. One is a prosperous lawyer, and the other two are ministers, in charge of prosperous congregations. Many other of the former inmates now occupy honorable positions. In 1860 the Thomas house, in Broad street, near the bridge, was purchased, and was occupied as the asylum until 1872. In 1871 Anson G. P. Dodge, then a resident of the city, offered twenty thousand dollars to buy land and build an asylum, on the condition that the citizens contributed fifteen thousand dollars more. On the 3d of May of that same year, at the anniversary exercises, it was announced that the inoney had been raised. The work of erecting the building began immediately, and in 1872 it was completed and occupied. Mrs. Samuel A. Clark became first directress in 1882 and has held the office ever since, Mrs. Franklin Brown is second directress ; Mrs. Jonas E. Marsh, treasurer ; Mrs. A. W. Dimock, secretary ; Miss G. G. Clancy, matron ; Dr. Norton L. Wilson, physician.
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