USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > Hudson County to-day; its history, people, trades, commerce, institutions and industries > Part 14
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Upon his return to the United States Mr. Kamlah entered the wholesale drug business of Lehn & Fink, where he spent two years. Ile then served as a clerk in the retail drug business in various cities and finally in 1884 purchased the drug busi- ness at his present location, which had been established since 1845. He married in 1886.
He is affiliated with the New Jersey Pharmaceutical Association, the Deutscher Apotheker Verein of New York City, the German Club of Hoboken, Hoboken Council of the Royal Arcanum, Elysian Council of the Loval Association. Court Hudson County of the In- dependent Order of Foresters and the Full Moon Bowling Club. He is a life member of the Iloboken Lodge of Elks.
He has a handsome home at 1254 Garden Street. Iloboken. He is a great lover of music and the opera and has a passionate fondness for his home and family. His entry into Hoboken was of so much importance that he is accord- ed prominent space in a history published some years ago by the Evening News. Kamlah is an interesting conversationalist and is highly regarded by a large circle of friends and associates.
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Real Estate in Hudson County
AND values in the Metropolitan Zone have increased enormously in recent years, and this is especially true in Hudson County. The real estate investor. the manufacturer, the home builder and the rent payer have all been turning their attention toward the part of New Jersey so con- venient to Manhattan. Every section of Hudson County has received the benefits which accrue through a conservative and wholesome real estate de- velopment. There have been no land booms and, in consequence, no infla- tion of real estate values; the increase in valuation is consistent with the growth of the cities and towns throughout the County.
During the last decade Greenville, Bayonne and a large part of Jersey City have experienced a remarkable development. Large tracts of land which were formerly farms, woods, or marsh land, are now dotted with numerous industrial establishments, or are laid out in attractive residential sections in which may be found the latest types of single and two-family houses, apart- ments and flats.
North Hudson, too. has undergone an amazing transformation within the last ten years-in fact, every municipality has felt the stimulus and is expanding rapidly. There is not a community but can boast of many new streets, new factories and the most modern types of dwellings.
Thousands of workers from the big city across the river are discovering the advantages which lay at their very doors, and are taking up their abodes in Hudson County.
Nor is Hudson County neglectful of the health and comfort of its citizens. County parks expansive in area and well laid out, afford ample recreation facilities for the people. These parks efficiently conducted are located in the various sections. In addition to attractive lawns, flower beds and well-shaded walks, they contain swimming and wading pools, playgrounds for children of all ages, music pavilions, tennis and basket ball courts, running tracks and space for other athletic activities. In the winter, portions of these park areas are flooded for the enjoyment of skating and curling.
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James Thomsmt
F ALL the builders and real estate men, James Thomson, who is re- garded by friends generally as "the man who put Woodcliff on the map," is probably the most progressive in the county. At any rate he has done more building and sold more houses than any other man in the county in the face of the so called real estate slump of 1913 and 1914.
That Thomson found no slump is due. no doubt, to his progressive methods, the excellence of Thomson homes and the splendid terms upon which one of the homes can be bought. He developed an area of two entire streets in Woodcliff, erected thereon handsome stucco and cement one family houses, replete with the latest of improvements and decorations, built them in a substantial manner on good large lots and almost as fast as he could build he had them sold.
No one can describe Thomson homes as they should be described. They cannot be left to the imagination. They must be seen to be thoroughly ap- preciated. They are really the most handsome homes offered in Hudson county today. While there is a uniformity of interior construction in several designs, the outside ornamentation gives them an individuality seldom found in any big rows of speculation property built today. They are furnished with the little things which make homes comfortable and cozy. They are high and dry. They offer splendid facilities for the home hunter, and they can be bought almost for a song. so far as the ready cash goes. The carrying charges are so light as to make the expense even cheaper than paying rent and all the while the purchaser is putting money into a home for himself, instead of into the pockets of a landlord.
A little bit of the personal history of Thomson, showing how he has battled with the world. perhaps will give the reader an insight into the char- acter of the man, which is reflected in the erection of his homes. Thomson is a Scotchman. He has been a great traveler. He spent a great deal of his earlier life in Australia, Africa and South America. When he came to this country, he had to borrow money enough from a shipmate to permit him to land. Ile succeeded in getting in all right, and since that time has been making history and homes in Hudson county.
He had a life-time experience, that of his father before him in home development, so it becomes natural to him to build a home as the public wants it. He spent his first few months here going around the various suburbs to see where he could best locate. After visiting about twenty different sections, he picked out what he considered was the best three and from these he chose Woodcliff. since when he has advised many friends to get hold of Woodcliff property, as he believes it is the best location in the real estate market today.
Thomson accumulated a little money, kept his eye on the Woodcliff property he intended to develop, finally got hold of it and began to build. There are now something like seventy-five houses to the credit of Thomson's enterprise in Woodcliff, and there are more building.
Thomson is a man of indomitable energy. He is his own superintendent and architect. He personally overlooks every bit of work put into the homes he has built and is building. He insists upon it that everything is done in a workmanlike manner. He buys the best materials, but is a close buyer. He pays cash every time he can save a dollar by doing so. He takes the full credit limit whenever there is nothing to be made by prompt payment. Those with whom he deals are glad to give him the credit limit, for they know their bills are good when the limit has expired. He contracts for nothing he does not see his way clear to pay for. In this manner he gets the best value for the least possible money. He is content with a reasonable builder's profit upon the homes he sells.
Thomson is not an insurance man. He is a developer. He is a specialist in the field of development, and that portion of Woodcliff which he has built will remain as a monument to him for many years to come,
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William T. White
ITTLE need be said to introduce William 11. White, who for the past twenty years has been in the real estate and insurance business in Hoboken and who during that time has made for himself a record as a quiet, unassuming. but at all times a thorough business man.
Mr. White was born in Ireland, June 6. 1848. He received a common school education, came to this country when a young man, saw an opening for real estate and insurance operations and at once set about to make good. That he has done so is the testimony of his friends, who are legion.
Probably no man in the real estate and insurance business in Iloboken is better in- formed in these lines than Mr. White. His knowledge is the result of years of business experience. He has a thorough knowledge of valnes, is a splendid appraiser and a careful and conscientious underwriter. He has people on his books who have been with him from the first of his business career and he has others whose fathers were with him before them. He is one of those rare insurance men who looks first for the interests of his client and afterwards for the welfare of himself and the companies he represents. Yet so just is he that none of the companies has ever had a word of fault to find with him and his method of operations.
Mr. White bids fair to continue his business operations in his adopted city for many years to come and it is the wish of his friends that he may be long spared to do so.
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131
Charles 10. Randall
HARLES W. RAAND- .Al.l., architect and builder, with home and business offices at the corner of Lake Street and Hudson Avenue, West Hoboken, is one of those men the town and all North Hudson honors because he has, by his own efforts, overcome obstacles encountered in youth and proven that opportunities for success 'are by no means things of the past for the young man who applies him- self to the line of work for which he is best fitted and follows it for his life work.
Mr. Randall is practically a native of North Hudson. Hle was born in old Hudson City. near the site of the old court house on March 7. 1856. This was then only a small settlement. His parents were George W. Randall and Sarah Hillier, who came to this country from England in the early forties and settled in the old Hudson City section. They were married in this country.
He commenced his schooling, which was very limited, in an okl hall known as Leitze's Ilall, on what is now Beacon Avenue, while School No. 1 of Hud- son City, now School No. 6 of Jersey City, was being built. He was one of the first pupils entered in the new school upon its completion and attended there until he was fourteen years of age, when he began his working days in New York. Since that time, with the exception of three or four years, he has been engaged in architecture.
Beside the schooling mentioned the only time Mr. Randall had to im- prove in learning was at night schools, one of which was Cooper Union, where he studied architecture and applied himself so diligently that he quickly be- came a finished architect. When through with his course there he opened an office as a practical architect. This was in 1886. Since that time he has been steadily engaged in this profession and has designed and built more than twenty-five hundred buildings, the great majority of them homes, all through Hudson County. He makes a specialty of designing, building and furnishing money for those who build and is altogether a very busy man.
These improvements are far too numerous to mention. Among them is the viaduct leading from West Hoboken to Hoboken. The original promoters of the viaduct had in mind one leading from Jersey City Heights to a point further down in Hoboken, but the Town Improvers and Mr. Randall succeeded in having the plans changed to that of the present structure. He was one of the promoters of the Rex Theatre proposition, which in time is bound to suc- ceed and of the public market idea on the site of the proposed theatre while the theatre project was waiting development. He believes implicitly in these propositions and is ready to back his belief with cash whenever necessary.
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Hansen & Hansru.
FREDERICK C. HANSEN, who es- tablished the real estate and insur ance business now conducted by him in conjunction with Paul A. and Earnest R. Hansen, at 274 Bergenline Avenue, Union Hill, was born in Rends. burg. Germany, September 29. 1849. His parents were H. Peter Hansen and Sophia Hansen (nee Paschen. ) They came to Union llill in 1851. Frederick went to a private school until the first public school was built in Union Ilill on Lewis Street in 1858. lle graduated in 1863 and learned the trade of locksmith in Chicago. In 1867 he returned to Union Ilill. engaged in the Belgian block business until 1876, when he was elected town clerk and established a real estate and insurance business. In Igot he and John A. Ros. formed a partnership under the firm name of Hansen & Ross. Ross retired in 1911 and Mr. Hansen took his two sons into the firm.
The elder Hansen was town clerk until 1884. councilman. 1885 to 1889: chairman of the Board of Council 1885 to 1888. He served as private. corporal. sergeant. orderly sergeant and first lieutenant in the National Guard : a fireman for fifteen years and president of exempt firemen for five years. He is a past master of Palisade Lodge of Masons, belongs to the Masonic Veterans and the Alt Meisters' Circle of Masons, the State and local Exempt Firemen and the Eintracht Singing Society. He is a director of the Hoboken Trust Co .. the Masonic llall Building AAssn., the Town of Union B. and L. Assn. He de- veloped two big tracts of land at West New York and had a country home at Ridgefield Park for several years. The sons were educated in the public schools. Paul A. in Union Hill and Ernest R. in Ridgefield Park.
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George AB. Granuwell & Son
A MONG the oldest contracting firms in North Hudson is that of George W. Cranwell & Son, contractors of West Hoboken. The business was started in 1860 by the elder Cranwell, soon after he came from Ireland to make his fortune in America. The offices of the firm are at 401 Clinton ave- nue, 340 Hudson avenue. and 355 Palisade avenue. West Hoboken. Among the first jobs done was the plastering of the original monastery building in 1864. in commendation of which the firm has a carefully preserved letter from the priest at the head of monastery affairs at the time. The great bulk of the work of the firm is now left in charge of James Cranwell, the son, but George. still active and takes a great interest in what is going on.
Some of the public buildings erected by the firm are the Free Public Library and Public schools 6 and 7 in West Hoboken and the new High School in Union Hill, which has just been completed, as well as the Union 1lill Town llall. The firm owns about $250,000 worth of real estate and much of this has been improved with splendid flats, apartments and private houses. Two loft buildings, one at Mountain Road and Hudson avenue, West Hoboken, and another one upon which the firm is working, have been the means of bringing different business interests to West Hoboken.
George Cranwell has a handsome home at 401 Clinton avenue, and the son. James, has his residence at 355 Palisade avenue, West Hoboken. The son was born in Union Hill, was educated in the Christian Brothers' Academy at Utica, N. Y .. and has lived in Jersey for the past twenty-five years. George W. Cranwell's first vote in this country was for James Buchanan for President. He is now 79 years of age, is in possession of all his faculties and dearly loves a joke. In his reminiscences he tells of erecting the first building of what is now the Peter brewery, and the present William Peter residence. The work was done for George Fausel and was completed in 1863.
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August Kleinke
A UGUST KLEINKE. of 383 Clinton avenue, West Hoboken, is among the most widely known and most successful builders of North Hudson. lle has been the contractor in many of the large building operations of the county. and so generally satisfactory has been his work that in many cases he has not had to do competitive bidding to secure work of considerable magnitude.
Kleinke makes good everywhere you put him. His business is among the oldest in West Hoboken, and he has con- clueted it so efficiently as to have made for himself an enviable name among builders generally. He has all the work he wants to do at any time, and continu- ally keeps a considerable force of work- ingmen on the various jobs he is doing here, there and everywhere about the county and elsewhere.
Besides being a successful builder. Mr. Kleinke has been successful in politics. having been West Hoboken councilman. In his official career Mr. Kleinke has been careful and economical. He found when he went into office that the town buildings were over insured. He had the insurance reduced to cover all possible loss and at the same time make a big saving for the town in the matter of premiums paid. He has been a close friend of the police and fire departments, and every manl on either force swears by him.
Joseph Lugosch
J OSEPH LUGOSCH of 408 Kossuth street. Union Hill, is one of the fore- most architects in North Hudson. lle has designed and superintended the erection of many buildings in this section, including the $400,000 high school at Union Hill. and it is said of Lugosch that no building for which he superintended the erection has ever been a disappointment to his client.
Mr. Lugosch is careful and conscientious in his work, and he expects and insists upon builders who are working under his direction. living up to specifications entirely and without reservation. Another splendid feature of Lugosch's work is that he understands prices for material so thoroughly that, given the price for which a certain structure is to be erected. he is able to draw the plans and specifications so carefully that he invariably keeps within the appropriation if it is at all reasonable for the building under contempla- tion.
There may be better architects in North Hudson than Mr. Lugosch. He himself doesn't claim to be the best. But this much is certain: there is no none more careful and more correct in his work whatever he is called upon to do.
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Julius Hroman
A MONG the more important builders of the North Hudson section is Julius Vroman, head of the Vroman Construction Company, of 5395 Hudson Boulevard, North Bergen. Through Mr. Vroman and his company many of the newer buildings in North Hudson, especially North Bergen and West New York have been built. A large force of men is almost constantly employed, and Mr. Vroman has surely not suffered by any lack of building construction.
It is characteristic of Mr. Vroman that he personally undertakes to over- see any work of which his company has charge. It is also characteristic of him that, while he permits of no waste, while he gets the best there is out of his men, while he conducts his business with a degree of efficiency seldom obtained by a builder, that he does not stand for substitution of inferior ma- terial, and that every stick and stone laid under his direction must be thor- oughly up to specifications. It is of no use trying to palm off inferior material upon Mr. Vroman. He will not accept it. He demands the best for himself and this means the best for those who entrust him with their work in his line.
There is no class of building work which he will not undertake. There is no job too big for him and his men to accomplish. Ile takes entire con- tracts, as well as for those of a strictly building nature. Many buildings in his vicinity were erected under his supervision, iron work, plumbing, etc., being sublet to the lowest bidders in whom he has confidence. He has been known to more than once accept a higher bid for work and material than the lowest, simply because he knew he could depend upon the man making the bid to give him the best at the price named.
It is such men as Mr. Vroman who are bringing the work of building back to the standard of older days when "houses were built on honor." It is such men as he who discourage the work of those who build for speculation without regard to the rights of the purchaser.
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Daniel Bermes
ANIEL BERMES, in business as a real estate and insurance man in the Neilson building, 138 Fourth street, Union Hill, is one of the foremost men in that line of business in North Hudson. He makes a specialty of mortgage loans and has on his books many clients who have been able to build and make improvements because of the liberal, withal sound, financial arrangements they have been able to make through this young man.
While being a good business man, Mr. Bermes is a genial soul. He has a large circle of acquaintances and friends. His insurance business is among the largest in the county, because of his friendships, and it is his boast that every client is either a personal friend or becomes such after dealing with him.
Fraternally Mr. Bermes is popular. He is a Royal Arch Mason in good standing and belongs to number of clubs and societies, the members of which are always pleased to welcome "Dan", as they call him, whenever he makes an appearance.
Charles G. Neilson
HARLES H. NEILSON, builder, whose home is on Broadway, West New York, has done much for the town of Union, as well as his home town, is one of the best known builders of North Hudson. His ability as a builder has been proven by erecting hundreds of all kinds of buildings. like factories, apartment houses, mansions, banks and churches, one of his latest works being the handsome office, store and theatre building on Fourth street. Town of Union, which carries his name, being known as the Neilson building. It is the only absolutely fire-proof building of its kind in North Hudson. In this building are housed many of the leading offices of the town. as well as the Richmond Business College, an institution of which the town can well feel proud.
Mr. Neilson has been in the business of building in North Hudson for the past fifteen years, and many of the finest buildings in West New York have been done under his direction. Of other structures erected in North Hudson, which will be monuments to Mr. Neilson may be mentioned the Weehawken Trust Company building on Fourth street, the Necker building on Main street, Trinity Church on Sixteenth street and his Helen and Eliza- beth apartment houses on Fifth street. These apartments may be taken as models for such structures anywhere.
For the erection of the Neilson building alone the northern part of the county owes Mr. Neilson a vote of thanks. The building is right in the heart of what it is supposed will be the new civic centre of North Hudson in a very few years. The proposed tunnel station of the Pennsylvania railroad will be in this vicinity, and there is no doubt that Fourth street will be one of the richest and most attractive thoroughfares in all North Hudson.
Since the erection of the Neilson building there has been a general pick- ing up in that vicinity. The handsome new building erected hy John Glueck & Son is right next door. Other buildings have had new fronts put in and the entire section has taken on a rather Metropolitan air. For much of this improvement there is no one to thank but Mr. Neilson, whose improvements are destined to play a prominent part in the development of North Hudson which is now going on and which will come in the future.
Mr. Neilson's kindly, courteous and unassuming ways have made him a host of friends. His name is synonomous with business integrity and upright dealing.
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Carl Alfred Burhorn
ARL ALFRED BURHORN has risen to prominence in the real estate and insurance field solely through his efforts and ability. He was born in New York City. January 17. 1863. His parents were August and Henrietta Burhorn. The family moved to Hoboken when Carl was but five years of age. His education is strictly of the public schools, he being a graduate of the Hoboken High School in IST7.
At 15 Mr. Burhorn went to work. Ile was seven years with an importing hosiery and glove house, three years bookkeeper and superintendent of a silk mill in Union Fill and ten years bookkeeper and corres- pondent with the firm of Decker Brothers. piano manufacturers. When the latter firm retired from business he engaged in life in- surance, from which developed the splen- did real estate and insurance business he now enjoys.
He is treasurer of the Edwin Burhorn Company, contracting engineers of New York, junior warden and treasurer of Trinity Church, Hoboken. treasurer of the United Aid Society, superintendent of Trinity Church Sun- day School, member of the council of Christ Hospital, president of the Ho- boken Board of Trade, financial secretary of the Hoboken Academy, member of the German Club, Euclid Lodge of Masons, Columbia Lodge of Odd Fel- lows. Martha Washington Rebekah Lodge of Odd Fellows and Hoboken Lodge of Elks.
Mr. Burhorn's residence is at 156 Thirteenth Street, Hoboken. He is fond of good music and the best in literature.
C. A. Oisant
A. TISSOT, real estate man and auctioneer, of 59 Newark street, Ho- boken, was born in West Hoboken, June 24. 1859. He attended the West Hoboken schools, grew up and married, has been the father of ten children and is the grandfather of four. Outside of his real estate busi- ness he has no greater hobby than his home.
In 1871 he went into Wm. Hessee's old real estate office at 5 Newark street, Hoboken, as a clerk. In August, 1881, he started in business for him- self. As a realty autioneer he has been eminently successful. For twenty- eight years he was auctioneer for the D. L. and W. Railroad, but was forced to retire from this because of illness, which caused his partial retirement.
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