USA > New Jersey > Bergen County > Ridgewood > Ridgewood, Bergen County, New Jersey, past and present > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18
The Public Service Gas Company and the Public Service Electric Company also have a commercial office on Prospect Street where busi- ness matters between the companies and their consumers are conducted. Here demonstrations of the practical uses of their products are main- tained and arrangements may be made at any time to visit and inspect the equipment used by the companies in rendering their service to the public.
THE POST OFFICE
When a post office was first established in this vicinity it was nat- urally near the business center, then the manufacturing establishments in the Midland Park section of Godwinville. For a long time the mail was thrown off at Ho-Ho-Kus and carried on horseback to the post office. In 1859, however, a depot was erected near where the present depot stands and the mail for Godwinville was thrown off here. With the coming of numerous New York families to Ridgewood in 1860 and succeeding years, it was found that the location of the post office was inconvenient and an effort was made to secure one more satisfactory. After a number of months of strenuous labor, the postal authorities consented to the establishment of the Ridgewood post office. This was in 1865 and the mail was marked "Ridgewood" although the railroad company did not consent to the change in name from Godwinville until 1866.
The most persistent workers for the post office were E. A. Walton and Benjamin F. Robinson, and when the post office was established, Mr. Robinson was asked to act as postmaster. He accepted the position but proved to be ineligible as he held a position in the Internal Revenue Service and the federal law would not permit him to hold both offices. He resigned the postmastership and Garret G. Van Dien, who kept a general store on the site where the S. S. Walstrum-Gordon & Forman real estate office is located in the Wilsey Building, was appointed to succeed him. Mr. Van Dien continued in the office until his death on November 1, 1884. His widow then became postmistress and held office until succeeded by John F. Cruse, in the following year.
The office was removed by Mr. Cruse to the store now occupied by Mr. Adam. After Mr. Cruse had held office for four years, Mr. Adolph Huttemyer was appointed. At that time Mr. Huttemyer was running a coal yard which was removed to make way for the Plaza. Mr. Huttemyer removed the office to his coal office. He served for four years when Mr. Cruse was again appointed and moved the office to its former location.
107
RIDGEWOOD, BERGEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY
Mr. Cruse was succeeded in November, 1897, by Roger M. Bridgman, who removed the office to the corner of Ridgewood Avenue and Chestnut Street. After the First National Bank was built, the post office was again removed across the street. These quarters soon became too small and in 1912 the office was removed to its present location on Prospect Street adjoining the First National Bank Building.
The post office at first was a small affair, the work being done by the postmaster, with the occasional help of an assistant. The nearest money-order office was at Paterson. The hard times of the years 1873 to 1878 interfered materially with the growth of the town and the de- velopment of its postal facilities. The first domestic money-order was issued from the Ridgewood office on August 1, 1889, and the money- order business grew slowly. The office frequently does more business in one day now than it did in months after its introduction. The office was designated as an international money-order office in 1900. In 1901 two rural carriers were appointed and in 1903 three carriers were ap- pointed to serve the Village. This force was increased from time to time until now there are eight regular carriers, two of whom were added since Dr. Geo. M. Ockford, the present postmaster, succeeded Mr. Bridgman on April 1, 1914. In 1911 the office was designated to receive postal savings. The parcel post system was installed in 1913 and made necessary the employment of additional help. This work is now done by auxiliary carriers. They carry parcel post and cover the routes of absent carriers. The business of the post office has kept pace with the growth of Ridgewood and the force to-day comprises 22 per- sons. The quantity of parcel post continually increases and the office is in a flourishing condition.
THE ERIE RAILROAD
The story of the Erie Railroad, now operating through Ridgewood, starts indirectly with the war of the Revolution.
In 1779 American troops, under Generals Clinton and Sullivan, in- vaded the country of the confederated Indian tribes of New York State. This invasion, provoked by the Wyoming Massacre of the previous year, led the troops through the valleys of the Susquehanna and Chemung. This region was then unbroken wilderness, but General Clinton realized the importance of the valleys to the development of New York State and the influence they were to exert on the westward spread of civil- ization. He conceived the idea of connecting the seaboard with the Great Lakes by a thoroughfare which should pass through the southerly tier of New York counties, and among the earliest petitions to the newly organized Federal Congress was that of Generals Clinton and Sullivan for authority and an appropriation to construct a road to be known as the "Appian Way", from the Hudson River through the valleys of the Delaware, the Susquehanna, and the Alleghany, to Lake Eric. No such appropriation was made by Congress but Clinton throughout his life continued to advocate the project and after his death his son, De Witt Clinton, kept up the agitation for this thorough- fare, although along different lines. When he came into power the
108
PAST AND PRESENT
northern and central tiers of New York counties had gained predomi- nance, commercially and politically, and in 1817 De Witt Clinton, as Governor, brought before the Legislature a plan to construct a canal from Lake Erie to the Hudson River. This canal was completed and opened in 1825 and is known as the Erie Canal.
De Witt Clinton had not, however, abandoned faith in his father's project, nor the interests of the southern tier, and during the year prior to the opening of the canal, he brought before the Legislature the subject of a state road through the Delaware, Susquehanna and Alleghany valleys. A survey was authorized and made, but the route was so influenced by political considerations that the project came to nothing.
Five years before De Witt Clinton's advocacy of the Erie Canal, Colonel John M. Stevens of New Jersey offered to undertake the build- ing of a steam railway in place of the proposed Erie Canal, but his offer was rejected with ridienle. A project for a canal through the southern tier was taken under consideration after the abandonment of the highway plan, but this, in turn, was abandoned upon an adverse report of Benjamin Wright, the engineer of the Erie Canal, who hinted in the same report at the practicability of a railroad.
In 1829 William G. Redfield, of New York City, issued a pamphlet entitled " A Sketch of the Geographical Route of a Great Railway, by which it is proposed to connect the canals and navigable waters of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois. Michigan, Missouri, and the adjacent States and Territories", commencing at the Hudson River near New York City and ending at Lake Eric. His pamphlet found wide circulation and in 1831 the National Government anthor- ized Colonel De Witt Clinton, a son of the now deceased Governor and a member of the United States Army Engineer Corps, to make a recon- naissance of the route. This reconnaissance showed the project to be practicable. It is remarkable that, upon the report of a grandson of General Clinton, a railway was projected and ultimately built along the " Appian Way"; for, pursuant to a resolution of a convention of the southern tier counties, held in Owego in 1831, a charter was granted by the Legislature in 1832 for the construction of a railroad between Lake Erie and the Hudson River. After various vicissitudes, political and financial, this railway was constructed between Dunkirk and Lake Erie and Piermont on the Hudson River. A portion between Piermont and Goshen was completed in 1841. The whole road was completed and opened for traffic in 1851, and the opening was a National core- monial. It was attended by President Fillmore, Daniel Webster. See- retary of State; John JJ. Crittenden. Attorney General; W. C. Graham, Secretary of the Navy; W. K. Hall, Postmaster General; the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of New York State, and many other promi- nent men. all of whom traversed the entire length of the railroad on the initial trip, traveling from New York City to Piermont by boat for the start.
The nearest station on this railroad to Godwinville, now Ridgewood, was Suffern. but, as the natural terminus for a railroad was opposite New York City, and the natural route lay through the Paramus Valley
109
Aljian Studio
-
-
9% SC083
Station and Plaza-Before Improvements.
-
Aljian Studio
Station and Plaza-After Improvements.
RIDGEWOOD, BERGEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY
to Paterson and thence to Jersey City. there was no question but that Ridgewood would ultimately be on the Erie map. There were men in New Jersey who held this belief and who were far-seeing enough to obtain charters for two railroads; one, the Ramapo and Paterson Rail- road from Paterson to the State line at Suffern ; the other, the Paterson and Hudson River Railroad from Jersey City to Paterson. The latter was built and opened in 1836. The former was not built until it be- came evident that the New York and Erie Railroad (now Erie) was to be completed. The Ramapo and Paterson Railroad was built and put in operation in 1848 as a single track road. Its terminus was only a short distance from the New York and Erie Railroad at Suffern. The charter of the New York and Erie Railroad did not permit it to connect with a railroad running into any other State, and for more than a year it ignored the existence of the New Jersey lines. It could not prevent its passengers, however, from detraining at Suffern and taking the shorter route to New York City, but it could and did dis- eriminate against the New Jersey route by making the fare to and from Suffern the same as the fare to and from New York. Even after the passage of a bill by the New York Legislature requiring all railroads to provide proper facilities for connecting railroads, this discrimina- tion continued. Under the new law the Union Railroad Company was formed and a railroad was built from the Erie Station at Suffern to the terminus of the Ramapo and Paterson. The New York and Erie increased the speed of its trains and boats in the hope of competing with this new connection, but ultimately gave in and in 1851 leased each of the Jersey companies during the continuance of their charters. Rockland County interests in New York State fought against this diver- sion of traffic from Piermont but were not successful.
The terminus of the Paterson and Hudson River Railroad in Jersey City was just north of the present Pennsylvania Station, the route to the terminus being along the westerly side of the Palisades and through the Pennsylvania Railroad ent into the city. Not until 1862 did it run through the tunnel to the present Erie Terminis in Jersey City.
Between the opening of the Paterson and Hudson Railroad in 1836 and the Ramapo and Paterson Railroad in 1848. the residents of Ridge- wood and vicinity, when traveling to New York City, generally drove to Paterson and took a train from the terminus of the Paterson and Hudson River Railroad, then located at the corner of Grand and Main Streets. The locomotives during the early days were not allowed within the city limits and the trains were taken out to the city line by horses.
The second track through Ridgewood was laid in 1865 and the third and fourth tracks in 1902 and 1903.
With the opening of the Paterson and Ramapo Railroad, two stop- ping places were established in the vicinity of Ridgewood, one at Ho- Ho-Kus and the other at Rock Road (Glen Rock). These were not convenient, however, to the people of the vicinity, including their Para- mus and Godwinville neighbors, and soon after the trains began stopping at the Godwinville road crossing. The station was called Godwinville after the nearest hamlet. Cornelius Shuart was appointed station agent
112
PAST AND PRESENT
and served for a number of years. The present agent is Charles F. Bechtlofft, who has served since March 11, 1896.
The first accommodation for the passengers at the new station was an old car from the Paterson and Hudson River Railroad, with seats cross-wise like a Concord coach and with doors on the side.
Later the property south of Ridgewood Avenue came into the pos- session of Cornelius Mabey, who built a house in the rear of where the Hutton Building now stands. For a number of years one room of this house was used as a waiting-room by the patrons of the railroad, a few household chairs being used as seats. In 1859, however, these primitive accommodations were abandoned for a station built by the residents.
In 1866 there were three stopping places in this vicinity, Ho-Ho-Kus, Godwinville (Ridgewood) and Rock Road. The station at Rock Road was a two-story building, the upper story being occupied as a residence by the station agent, and was located on the north side of Rock Road adjoining the tracks. The road at this time and for many years after- wards was a broad gauge railroad. The cars were lighted by candles and the conductors carried lanterns at night to enable them to see the tickets. Occasionally commuters who rode with a conductor with whom they were especially pleased, would contribute to a fund to purchase a silver-plated lantern which would be presented to the popular official with impressive ceremony. Commuters were few in number and the train service was very limited.
About 1868 the first train for New York was at 6:39 A.M., the second at 7:39, the third at about 8:12 and the fourth at 9 o'clock. If a person did not take the 9 o'clock train it was necessary to wait until three o'clock, except in summer when there was a train at 11 A.M. Commutation tickets were sold only in New York. There were no block signals and no air brakes. When approaching a station, the engineer blew two whistles and the brakeman went to the platform and applied the brakes by hand. Richard W. Hawes commuted on the Erie Railroad since he entered its service on May 1, 1870, until he retired from busi- ness on January 1, 1911, with only three intervals of three winter months each while in the West and in New York City. C. M. Keyser has also been a continuous commuter since 1880, while P. W. Van Dien, who died in 1916, commuted since 1878, with the exception of two years.
There has existed between the officials of the Erie Railroad and the Village of Ridgewood during the last twenty years an almost continnal agitation over crossing eliminations. Various schemes were presented and discussed at different times for the elimination of the crossings at Godwin and Ridgewood Avenues, but the question of contingent dam- ages and the unsightliness of the proposed eliminations have always defeated the plans.
In 1903 an undererossing at East Franklin Avenue along the lines of, but less elaborate than, the existing undercrossing was proposed but met with no favor. In 1909 an elimination at Ridgewood and Godwin Avenues was formally agreed to by the railroad company but no time was set. As the elimination was merely part of a general scheme for a low grade freight line from the JJersey Meadows to Suffern, which involved an immense expenditure and would elevate the tracks through
113
RIDGEWOOD, BERGEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY
Ridgewood, it was never carried out. In 1915, however, as the result of negotiations between Village Commissioners D. A. Garber, G. U. White, Frederick Pfeiffer and F. D. Underwood, President of the Erie Railroad, and G. N. Orcutt, his assistant, and in accordance with a verbal understanding between the Village officials and Mr. Underwood, during a luncheon given by Mr. Oreutt at the Ridgewood Country Club, that the Village would bear one-half of the cost, a contract was entered into covering the elimination of the Franklin, Godwin and Ridgewood Avenues grade crossings and the construction of the present undereross- ings, a new station and the plaza. The improvements were designed by W. W. Drinker, Principal Assistant Engineer of the Erie Railroad Company, and Frank A. Howard, its Engineer of Bridges and Build- ings, both residents of Ridgewood. The work under their plans, as approved by the Village Commissioners, has been done without any material variations although the total estimated cost of $160.000 will probably be exceeded by $20,000 on account of the increased cost of labor and material not embraced in main contracts.
In addition to its proportion of the cost, the Erie Railroad has dedi- cated to the Village of Ridgewood, for street and park purposes, 101,500 square feet of land west of the tracks and north of West Franklin Avenue, and 8,640 square feet west of the tracks and south of West Franklin Avenue. The total cost of this land was $43,529. The Rail- road Company reserved the right, however, to lay two additional tracks on the westerly side of the present tracks in case traffic should ever demand it.
The following is of interest in connection with the improvements :
Work started August, 1915. Undercrossing opened September 1, 1916.
Station opened September 23. 1916. Pedestrian subway opened November 28, 1916. Earth Excavation, 56.333 eubie yards.
Conerete curb. 6.244 lineal feet.
Concrete sub-base for pavement. 17,550 square yards.
Catch basins, 22.
Man-holes, S. Vitrified tile drain. 3.073 lineal feet.
Conerete sidewalk. 15,243 square feet. Paving brick. 17,550 square vards.
Ridgewood is the western terminus of the Bergen County Railroad, acquired by the Erie in 1881, which leaves the main line at Rutherford. and avoiding the cities of Passaic and Paterson, materially shortens the distance.
The chief advantage to Ridgewood is that it gives four tracks to Jersey City and betters the train service materially, express trains making the trip in thirty-four minutes. The schedule time of trains over the Main Line of the Erie between Ridgewood and Jersey City is from forty to fifty minutes.
In addition to the Ridgewood Station, the Ho-Ho-Kus Station on the Main Line of the Erie, two stations in Glen Rock, one on the Bergen County Branch and the other on the Main Line of the Erie; together with the Midland Park Station of the New York, Susquehanna & West-
114
PAST AND PRESENT
ern Railroad furnishes every section of the Village with frequent and convenient train service.
RAPID TRANSIT
Public Service Railway Company
About 1899, an effort was made to secure a trolley franchise between Ridgewood and Paterson. A citizen of this community, Preston Steven- son, organized the Paterson & State Line Traction Company, securing a number of right-of-way concessions which eventually became the prop- erty of the Public Service Railway. Work was finally commenced on the line under a franchise granted by the Village Commissioners on January 24, 1914, and during the same year cars entered Ridgewood, the terminus being in the rear of the Osman Building, corner of Frank- lin Avenue and Wilsey Square.
North Jersey Rapid Transit Company
First surveys were made in 1908 and 1909, and in 1910 the first car ran from its terminus opposite the grounds of the North Jersey Country Club to Ho-Ho-Kus. The line was completed through to Suf- fern in 1911 and is now operated as an interurban road under a steam charter, by George Jackson, Jr., General Manager. The principal station in Ridgewood is at the East Ridgewood Avenue crossing.
HACK AND BUS SERVICE
Besides the two trolley systems which serve the people more in reaching neighboring communities than in their local needs, there are a number of automobile hacks which render day and night service, under permits granted by the Village Commissioners. In addition to this service and also under permits issued by the Village Commission- ers, three automobile bus lines furnish day service to the residents, one on the east side, the Ridgewood Motor Bus, established in 1914, and two on the west side, Terhune's Yellow Bus and Jackson's Bus, established during 1916.
TELEPIIONE AND TELEGRAPH FACILITIES
Telephone
The history of the telephone in Ridgewood is very similar to the history of the telephone anywhere, or, for that matter, the history of any new invention. It has received many hard knocks, some of which have very nearly terminated its career, but these have been counter- balanced by the appreciation of men who were able to look ahead and foretell the ultimate usefulness of the telephone and the natural realiza- tion by the public of the value of the instrument.
Nearly 2,400 telephones are now connected with the Ridgewood Cen- tral Office of the New York Telephone Company. Of these 1,800 arc in Ridgewood proper, while the remaining 600 are in the various munic- ipalities immediately adjacent. The outside local wire plant consists of 7,196.33 miles of wire in cable and 453.27 miles of bare wire. There
115
RIDGEWOOD, BERGEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY
are also 209.55 miles of bare wire used for trunk lines. This large plant satisfies all demands of the people of Ridgewood in the quick, efficient, polite manner for which the Telephone Company is noted. The sixteen operators answer and connect about 9,500 local calls daily and over 1,800 calls are made between Ridgewood and other places each day.
The first telephone exchange in this vicinity was opened for business at Paterson on the afternoon of December 24, 1879, with eleven sub- scribers. In the spring of 1882 the Erie Railroad opened the Bergen County short cut and simultaneously a line was extended from the Paterson switchboard to Wortendyke, branching at Midland Park to connect Ridgewood. There were two stations on this line, C. A. Wort- endyke's silk mill at Wortendyke, and the home of Garrett Van Dien, then Postmaster of Ridgewood. In the fall of 1883 Mr. Van Dien dis- continued his telephone for the reason that a Paterson undertaker called him each time a death occurred anywhere in the neighborhood.
John F. Cruse came from Bath, Me., to Ridgewood in 1878 and later opened a grocery store at 252 West Ridgewood Avenue, where F. H. Adam is now located. Mr. Cruse came to the rescue and took over the lonely little telephone which had been dropped by Mr. Van Dien because of his dislike of having sad news forced upon him.
It was during the summer of 1884 that the Acme Band of Worten- dyke gave a demonstration by playing near the telephone at Wortendyke to a number of people who gathered at Cruse's store in Ridgewood and took turns listening over the telephone to the music nearly two miles away. There is grave doubt in the minds of many whether the patient listeners heard the music over the telephone or whether the wind was especially favorable on that particular day.
In 1894 the second telephone was installed for H. A. Tice in his drug store, at the northwest corner of Ridgewood Avenue and Chestnut Street, where C. A. G. Welti's market now is. From that time on, much of the telephone history of Ridgewood has revolved about Mr. Tiee and his drug store.
In the summer of 1895 the single telephone in Tice's drug store was replaced by a 10-line switchboard connecting with fifteen telephones. and with one trunk line to Paterson. This switchboard then served Allendale, Waldwick and Ramsey, as well as the present Ridgewood Central Office District which comprises the Village of Ridgewood, the Boroughs of Midland Park, Glen Rock and Ho-Ho-Kus, and part of the townships of Franklin and Midland. Service was rendered on this board from 7:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M.
By 1896 this equipment was taxed to its limit and had to be again replaced by a 100-line switchboard. The first operator was Miss L. Van Emburgh. The first telephone directory covering telephones served by the Ridgewood Central Office was issued in September, 1897. The fol- lowing is a list of telephone numbers and subscribers at that time:
Allendale 4 f
Ackerman, R. V. (pay sta)
Ridgewood 9
C'arrigan. J. F.
Ridgewood 11 Chaplin. Duncan D.
Ridgewood a . Cooper & Corsa
Ridgewood 5 Cox, D. C.
Ridgewood 3 a Cruse, John F. (pay sta )
116
PAST AND PRESENT
Ridgewood
7 f
Daley, James E.
Ridgewood
6
Gardiner, Edmund Le B.
Ridgewood
12h
Hłaskins, R. T.
Ridgewood
14 b
Hengeveld, Jacobus
Ridgewood
3 i
Holt Bros. & Co.
Ridgewood
2 f
Hopper, John B., Dr.
Hohokus
4 a
Keiser, G. J. B. (pay sta )
Wortendyke
14 a
Mayhew, F. H. (pay sta )
Ramsey's
4 i
Moffatt, P. B. ( pay sta )
Ridgewood
25
N. Y. & N. J. Tel. Co., (pay sta )
Ridgewood
3 f
.Ockford, George M., M.D.
Waldwiek
4 b
Oughton, Geo. (pay sta)
Ridgewood
3 b
Post. John H.
Ridgewood
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.