USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > Paper read before the historical society of Hudson County. 1908 > Part 22
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The name of the Bergen Neck Church was afterwards changed to that of the First Reformed Church of Bayonne, of which the Rev. W. H. Boocock is now pastor.
A very few of the old Dutch families are still represented in the membership or connected with this church, such as the Cad- muses, Vreelands, VanBuskirks, Cubberlys.
Methodist Church.
The first Methodist congregation in Bayonne was incorpo- rated on June 22nd, 1844, as the Bergen Neck Church. This name was changed by the Legislative Act on February 26th, 1868, to Madison M. E. Church, Bayonne. The first church building was erected near the corner and on the westerly side of the Old Plank Road (now Broadway) and formerly 29th street, now 24th street. This was a very small frame building and by reason of a trivial incident was called the "Bee Hive." It seems that the building was so rarely used and was so badly cared for (no janitor being employed in those days) that the boys of the neighborhood had damaged some of the windows and it took so long a time for the church officers to have these damages repaired, that a swarm of honey bees got into the church and formed a nest in the upper part, near the roof, and began to deposit their honey there. These bees on a Sunday, after a time, became too attentive to the dis- courses and to the members of the congregation who attended there, so that it became a question of who should vacate, the con- gregation or the bees, and it was only after the expenditure of
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considerable energy and a marked exhibition of courage on the part of the human occupants, that the bees were finally dislodged. The name, however, remained, and it was called the "Bee Hive Church" as long as the church building remained in that locality. The old building was abandoned and a more modern and larger structure was erected nearly opposite this on the easterly side of what was Avenue D (now Broadway ) corner of 24th street, which remained the meeting place of the congregation until about 1868, when the old building was moved to the corner of Avenue D and what is now 32nd street, and stood for many years where Garrett's or the City Hotel now stands. This building was afterwards sold and torn down and the congregation moved to its present and com- modious building, corner of Avenue C and Thirty-first street. This has always been a very flourishing congregation, and since its or- ganization there have been outshoots from it to the north, where at the corner of 46th street and Avenue C, the present 46th Street M. E. Church is located and another congregation formed at the Bergen Point section, and they have a very neat structure with a very active congregation, at Avenue C and Sixth street.
The Roman Catholic Church.
The first organization of a Roman Catholic Church in Bayonne was started in the year 1852 by the celebration of mass at the house of one John Walsh by the Rev. John Kelly, of St. Peter's Church, Jersey City. A congregation was organized and a church built in 1860 on Evergreen street and was called "St. Mary's Church." It was then a mission and continued until August, 1863, when it was formed into a parish and the Rev. Peter P. Neiderhauser was its first rector. He was succeeded by the Rev. Patrick McGovern. In August, 1876, Father Killeen was as- signed to the pastorate, who retired in 1896.
The present church at the corner of Avenue C and Four- teenth street was erected in 1880, through Father Killeen's efforts, but the church building has been since enlarged to double its original size and sisters' building and school buildings have been added, besides the erection of the priest's house.
Father Killeen was succeeded by the Rev. Isaac P. Whelan, in 1896.
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The present pastor is Rev. Andrew M. Egan. The congre- gation is said to comprise over five thousand souls.
Since the organization of St. Mary's Church, Bayonne has acquired a very cosmopolitan population and nearly every nation- ality is represented there. It is stated that nearly one-half of the population of the city is affiliated with one or the other of the Catholic churches.
To accommodate their worshippers, the Catholic Church has built in the city of Bayonne a large number of buildings since St. Mary's.
St. Henry's Church, located on Avenue D (now Broadway) near 26th street, has a large following and they have recently purchased an entire block of land lying between Avenue C and the Boulevard, 27th and 28th streets, on which they propose to erect a new church building with rectory, school and other build- ings. This will mean a large expenditure of money, and facili- ties for taking care of an extensive parish will be afforded.
St. Vincent's Church is located at Avenue C and Forty- seventh street, -a young organization, but a very flourishing one.
Besides these, there is an Italian church, a Greek Catholic, a Hungarian, and a Slavish or Polish church.
The Episcopal Church.
The first organization of an Episcopal Church in Bayonne was effected through the instrumentality of Messrs. Solon Humph- reys, David Latourette, John VanBuskirk, Charles Davis and S. G. Brown, and others. The strict Calvinistic doctrine, as preached in those days in the Reformed Dutch Church, then located on Lord avenue, near Third street, was not in accord with the more liberal views of some of the very many excellent men who had come to the beautiful shores of Bayonne to make it a place of residence and they resented some of these doctrines and determined to have an organization of their own under the juris- diction of the Episcopal Church. For that purpose, a meeting was called at the Latourette House, on Kill von Kull, on the 13th day of July, 1859. The first vestry consisted of Messrs. Solon Humphreys and David Latourette as Wardens and the Vestrymen were Messrs. A. L. Rowe, S. G. Brown, Charles Davis, J. H. Watson, Joseph Hewlett, John VanBuskirk and Cornelius Simon- son. Plans for a church building were accepted on August 11th,
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1859, and building was started at once. Prior to this they held services in the old school house, situated on Dodge street and Avenue D.
The church building was destroyed by fire on December 17, 1879. Plans for the present church edifice were immediately made and the building started. The church was opened on Sun- day, July 10th, 1881.
The rectors have been the
Rev. F. S. Rising, 1860-62
Rev. Thomas Jaggar, -
1862-64
Rev. G. Z. Gray,
1865-1876
Rev. G. H. Walsh, -
1876-1883
Rev. Harold Arrowsmith, -
1883-1896
Rev. F. M. Kirkus, -
1896-1905
Rev. A. L. Longley, 1905
There is also Calvary Episcopal Church, now located on Avenue C near 45th street, which serves the population in the north end of the city; and also St. John's Episcopal Church, lo- cated 011 Avenue C and 34th street, Bayonne. The two first named churches have always been rather of the low church affiliation. St. John's Church has been considered that of a high church tendency.
The Baptist Church.
The First Baptist Church in Bayonne was organized in 1882. This church drew very largely from the membership of the First Reformed and the Methodist congregations. Mrs. Mary E. Srerell had always been a very earnest worker in the Baptist Church be- fore her removal to Bayonne, and even after she lived here at- tended worship occasionally at Dr. Parmley's Church in Jersey City. She was instrumental in the organization of the First Bap- tist Church in Bayonne. This was in October, 1882. The church building was erected in 1884 and 1885; was dedicated April 5th, 1885. This building is located at the corner of 33rd street and Avenue C. The congregation is comparatively small, but is very active.
A Baptist Church has also been formed in the Centreville section and is really the outgrowth of the removal of the First Baptist Church from that section where it was originally started to 33rd street.
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There is also a Baptist Church located at Bergen Point which is in very excellent condition. They have a very pleasant com- modious church located at Fifth street and Humphreys avenue.
Presbyterian Church.
The residents of Bayonne who have had Presbyterian affilia- tions were for many years cared for in the Reformed churches, but about fifteen years ago a company of communicants of the First Reformed Church, feeling that they could support an inde- pendent congregation, formed a Presbyterian congregation, and they afterward erected a building corner of Forty-second street and Avenue C, and have built up a very fine organization known as Christ Presbyterian Church.
For a time there was located in the Bergen Point section a Presbyterian Church which was an offshoot of the Lord Avenue Reformed Church. This congregation afterward merged with the Reformed Church of Bergen Point and became what is now the Fifth Street Reformed Church, reuniting the two sections which had been estranged for a time. The Presbyterian congregation, while they were separated, had erected a very appropriate brick building, corner of Fifth street and Newman avenue and had worshipped there for a number of years under the ministration of the Rev. H. W. F. Jones as pastor. On the reuniting of these two congregations, Mr. Jones retired and Mr. Wilson was called. Additional property was purchased and new buildings added, and is now one of the most progressive and thriving congregations in this city.
There is also the Third Dutch Reformed Church, which is under the Classis of South Bergen, and the congregation is made up almost exclusively of persons of German descent, who have a church corner of Twenty-first street and Avenue C.
There are several organizations of the various sects of the Lutheran Church and the German Church located in Bayonne, each having their churches or meeting places, and other organiza- tions of religious character that have no church buildings.
SCHOOLS.
The first school building erected in Bayonne was a small one-story structure, built probably by private subscription, on a
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plot of ground now occupied for a fire engine house, adjoining the present club house of the Democratic Club, on Avenue D (now Broadway) near Twenty-seventh street. It was known as the "Little Red School House," the schoolmaster being sup- ported by the payment of a small sum per month for each child. John Carragan was one of the first schoolmasters, and school was held only in the winter months, the children having been too useful as help to care for the farms or in the other occupations of their parents, to be spared during the other seasons.
About 1850, this little school building became too small to accommodate the rising generation of this growing community, and a larger building with a second story school room was erected. The school assembled in this building, which was lo- cated on the same plot of ground, was taught by various school masters, among others John Carnrick and John E. Andrus, both of whom were afterwards quite successful in the business world, and the latter is still living and is or was Congressman from the Yonkers district, New York State.
For very many years, the children who wished to attend school in this section from Greenville to Bergen Point had to travel to the little red school house. Later, a building was erected on Dodge street, at the Bergen Point end, to accommo- date the children of that section. And later still a similar build- ing was erected in the Saltersville or Pamrepo section. These three schools were the only ones in existence in the Township of Bayonne when the city was incorporated.
Now, by reason of the rapid growth of population, we have ten commodious school buildings and are engaged in the erection of a high school building at a cost of nearly $300,000, which in its appointments will compare favorably with any school structure in the State.
We have a very efficient Board of Education, appointed by the Mayor, and politics has been eliminated from this depart- ment of city government. We have on the rolls of our public schools over eight thousand pupils.
Besides these, there are several very largely attended paro- chial schools maintained by the Roman Catholic churches. St. Mary's parish has a school building which cost $60,000, and they have over fifteen hundred pupils in attendance.
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BANKS.
The banking for this section was all done in the early days through the banks of Jersey City. The old Hudson County Bank and the Bee Hive or Provident Institution for Savings in Jersey City were the favored depositories for the farmers and the modest capitalists of this community.
In 1872, three years after the incorporation of the city, some of the energetic business men of the place obtained a charter from the Legislature for the establishment of a banking institu- tion in Bayonne and selected the name of the Mechanics' Trust Company. They were, however, ahead of the times. The panic of 1873 came along and real estate and other values fell flat.
Nothing was done under this charter until 1886, when the business men of the city again took up the matter, obtained the necessary subscriptions to the capital stock and with $25,000 paid in of an authorized capital of $100,000 commenced business at No. 203 Avenue D, on the first day of March, 1886. This capital was afterwards increased to $50,000. This company now has deposits aggregating over $3,500,000.
There are now three other banking institutions in the city, namely, The First National Bank of Bayonne, Bayonne Trust Company and the City Bank of Bayonne.
The aggregate deposits of all the banking institutions is over five and one-half millions.
The city's growth has been more rapid than any other city of the State. Large and important manufacturing industries have located here. Great diversity of activity is represented in these enterprises.
We manufacture or refine and ship from Bayonne more oil than any other city in the world. It is said to be a fact that the foreign shipment of this one product from this city exceeds in value all the foreign shipments from the Port of Boston. We send away enormous quantities of copper, nickel and their amalgums; also borax, boric acid, soap, sulphur, silks, bedsteads, electric and submarine cables, motors and motor boats, automobiles, whiting and its by-products, boilers and engines, perfumes and various extracts, chemicals, various by-products of oil, and coal in large quantities is shipped from this point for the eastern as well as for the local markets.
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The water frontage of Bayonne is unexcelled. The city is growing rapidly, as a magnificent manufacturing and shipping locality.
Much of the most valuable of this frontage is still undevel- oped. The improvements now being made by the U. S. Gov- ernment in and around the waters surrounding Bayonne in deep- ening the channels, &c., and those in contemplation, both in New York and Newark Bays, will add largely to the water front- age of Bayonne, available for docks, warehouses, railroad or steamship terminals or for large manufactories.
The construction of a channel along the east side of Newark Bay, to ascertain the cost of which by a survey, a government appropriation was recently secured, would at once convert about four miles of shallow shore land of comparatively little value into manufacturing and dock sites.
It is not within the scope of this paper for me to assume the role of prophecy. I cannot refrain, however, from predicting for the city of Bayonne, particularly from a commercial stand- point, a most flourishing future.
It is becoming and is to be essentially a commercial and manufacturing town. Its beauty of location, practically sur- rounded as it is by the waters of New York Harbor, has been its undoing as a place of residence. The encroachments of com- merce in the adjacent territory and the ever-increasing value of water frontage upon New York Harbor has attracted to our shores some of the largest industries in the country. The beau- tiful residences which lined our bays and the Kill von Kull only a few years ago are rapidly disappearing. The families have nearly all moved away. The older members have died and the encroachments of the factory are gradually converting the handsome residences into office buildings or causing their removal and the grounds are being covered with factory buildings.
L
The Port of New York is the gateway of the railroads from the West and the point of transhipment of the products of the Western grain fields as well as the landing place of the foreign manufactured goods. This will make the water frontage of New York Harbor an asset, ever increasing in value. The wharves of Manhattan Island can no longer afford economical space for the transaction of this great and ever increasing business. The over- flow must come to the Jersey shores and bring with them the
V
omit
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manufacturers whose plants must be located on tidewater where the ocean vessel can land the raw products and take from the factory the manufactured output for distribution either along the coast or to foreign shores.
New Jersey has long been held back by the jealousy and narrowness of the dominant interests in the city of New York, but the commercial instinct is prevailing and a broader view of the situation is being taken. The advantage of location of the New Jersey frontage being on the continental side of the harbor is causing investors to appreciate our superior situation.
It is my prediction that within twenty-five years the popula- tion of Bayonne will increase fourfold and its commercial impor- tance will be enhanced in far greater proportion. With Newark Bay, Passaic and Hackensack Rivers, Arthur Kill and Kill von Kull forming a part of the great Harbor of New York, and all the commerce of this section originating in or passing through or by Bayonne, this important little city must grow tremendously, commercially and every way. The growth of the country is as- sured and cannot be interrupted for any great period of time; therefore Hudson County will have no cause to be ashamed of the responce which our city will make to the demands of com- merce and to the growth and well being of the County and State.
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JUL 12 1910
-
The Historical Society of Hudson County.
No. 8.
Organized January 17, 1908.
OFFICERS
President : DANIEL VAN WINKLE.
Vice Presidents :
1st-REV. C. BRETT.
2d-JOHN W. HECK.
Treasurer :
NELSON J. H. EDGE.
Librarian :
W. H. RICHARDSON.
Corresponding Secretary :
Recording Secretary :
DR. J. C. PARSONS.
LOUIS SHERWOOD.
Assistant Librarian : EDMUND T. MILLER.
Board of Governors:
ALEXANDER MCLEAN
M. J. CURRIE
1910
W. J. DAVIS
JOHN J. VOORHEES
DEWITT VAN BUSKIRK
DAVID R. DALY
1911
W. R. BARRICKLO
DAVID RAMSEY
1912
DR. G. K. DICKINSON
BENJ. L. STOWE
VREELAND TOMPKINS
F142 , H&H6
Gift The Soci. ty JUL 13 1818
THE PUBLIC WATER SUPPLIES OF HUDSON CO., N. J. Particularly with reference to the Jersey City supply.
Paper read before "The Historical Society of Hudson County" by Edlow Wingate Harrison, Thursday evening, November 18th, 1909.
ATER being a prime necessity of life, the works required
for its collection, conservation and distribution are among the most enduring of the monuments which mark the progress of the human race all over the earth, and in all periods ; in fact back into the darkness before recorded history.
As in the past, so it will be in the future, and when the earth in time becomes a cold, dead globe like the moon, the last monuments to show that it once was the abiding place of man, will be the ruins of massive masonry which formed parts of the water supplies of its former population.
Indeed, if we can judge from what scientists have discov. ered of the life history of the universe, the last ages of man on the earth will probably be marked by life and death struggles among the peoples for the control of the fast diminishing sup- plies of water.
There are wells and cisterns, dug before Abraham's time, still in use, and as well known on the great trade routes of Asia and Africa, as Chicago and St. Louis on our railroad lines.
The first artificial water supply in Hudson County, and the State of New Jersey, was probably from three wells.
In 1633 the Dutch East India Company erected two houses, one at Communipaw, occupied in 1634 by Jan Evertsen Bout, and one at Ahasimus, occupied in 1636 by Cornelius Van Vorst, and in the same year, 1633, Michael Paulusen erected a hut on Paulus Hook, where he purchased peltries from the Indians.
As all these locations are on the sand dunes, then sur- rounded by salt water, it is likely the necessity of potable water for man and beast was satisfied by digging shallow wells into the water bearing substratum, just as the settlers and their fore- fathers had done in the sand dunes inside the dykes of Holland.
As, before the introduction of a public supply, a good well was seldom abandoned, there must be tradition still in exist-
F. k aug. 2/10
al.
2
ence which can locate the positions of these three first marks of civilization in this County and State, and it would be inter- esting if this Society could obtain the information and preserve the record.
In February, 1643, occurred the atrocious massacre of the peaceful Tappan Indians on the shore of Communipaw Bay, at Jan de Lacher's Hook near the mouth of Mill Creek, by the orders of Governor Keift.
The uprising of the natives, which followed this brutality brought on an Indian war covering all the country from the Raritan to the Connecticut, and resulted in driving the few settlers then in New Jersey to the protection of the Palisades of New Amsterdam.
On the restoration of quiet, a few settlements were made in the County, it would seem, generally along the shores of the Hudson and Bay, at Pamrepaw, Caven Point, Communipaw and Weehawken, and it is to be presumed that each household had its well.
But it was not until 1660 that Governor Peter Stuyvesant, old soldier that he was, carried into effect his plan of having a central fortified place, in which the settlers could build their houses secure from the attack of enemies, and pass to and from their tillable lands in the outlying country.
This was the foundation of the Town of Bergen, first made up of a square bounded by palisades set along the lines of four narrow streets, at present called Newkirk, Vroom, Van Reypen and Tuers.
In the centre of the open space, now Bergen Square, was dug a public well, which still exists under some feet of filling and paving and the rails of the trolley line.
This well may be considered the first public water supply in the County, and the State.
No better monument could be set up to commemorate the settlement of Bergen, than to dig out this old well, and erect a handsome canopy over it, with the proper inscriptions, and a roster of the first settlers. For about two centuries, this old well was used by the neighborhood.
For nearly two centuries, wells and cisterns furnished the potable water supply of the County, while the change took place from Colony to State, and population slowly grew.
On November Ist, 1847, Messrs. Clerk and Bacot reported
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a plan for a public supply to be taken from a small reservoir in the cutting of the New Jersey Railroad, now Pennsylvania Railroad, just west of the present Boulevard crossing. The largest quantity available was about 250,000 gallons per day, which it was proposed to elevate to a distributing reservoir to be made on top of the Hill, not less than seventy-five feet above tide. This lower reservoir had been excavated by the Railroad Company for use in supplying its engines.
By an Act of the Legislature, dated March 18th, 1851, Edwin A. Stevens, Edward Coles, Dudley S. Gregory, Abra- ham L. Van Buskirk and John D. Ward were constituted a Board to be known as the Water Commissioners for the Town- ship of Hoboken and Van Vorst, and the City of Jersey City.
The members of this Board were empowered to employ engineers, surveyors, and such other persons as they might deem necessary in order to enable them to report on a plan for supplying these places with a sufficient supply of good and wholesome water, with an estimate of the expense of carrying out such plan.
No compensation was allowed the Commissioners.
At this time it was estimated that the population requiring water and likely to use it in the three communities, was about 17,000 in number.
The Commission estimated that the whole space lying east of the Hill in Jersey City and Hoboken, and, on the Hill, lying south of a point sufficiently elevated to form a site for a dis- tributing reservoir, would in time be occupied by 250,000 people.
Their estimate based on experience, probably obtained from English sources, was that an average of thirty (30) imperial gallons a day would be required for each person, and they therefore looked for a supply equal to furnishing seven and one half million gallons. In order that sufficient head should be available for fire purposes, the elevation of the reser- voir, it was decided, must not be less than 125 feet above high water.
The supply needed at first was estimated at about 500,000 gallons per day.
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