USA > New Jersey > Bergen County > Ridgewood > Ridgewood, Bergen County, New Jersey, past and present > Part 7
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The fire alarm system is under the supervision of Frank A. Harrison, Superintendent of Fire Alarm Telegraph, and consists of twenty-eight fire alarm street boxes, five special boxes located in schools, twenty-two miles of hard-drawn copper wire, one two-thousand pound bell in the Municipal Building, and one one-thousand pound bell in the Circle Avenue house, with automatic strike attachments, indicators, and tappers where required.
There are one hundred and thirty-six public hydrants and five private hydrants in use for fire purposes.
THE BOARD OF HEALTH
The Board of Health is charged with the responsibility of protecting the health of the citizens, and is empowered to make rules and regula- tions, such as do not conflict with those of the State Board of Health. to prevent the spread of contagious diseases, and to take such other steps as may be deemed necessary to protect and conserve the health of the community.
The records show that a Board of Health was established by the Village Trustees on July 15, 1895, though its members were not at onee appointed. As a matter of fact, safeguarding the health of our Village was considered within the province of duties of the Board of Trustees, who thus constituted themselves a Board of Health. The history of the Board of Health, therefore, is the history of the Village Trustees until February 1, 1906, when the first recorded meeting of a separate body was held for the purpose of organization.
During this time, however, The Village Improvement Association, through its Sanitary Committee, investigated complaints regarding the sanitary conditions of the Village and became active in related duties. This committee was notably successful in ending the practice of dump- ing garbage, ashes, and other refuse indiscriminately, and, in 1897, it established a regular service for the collection of garbage and ashes, the supervision of which was assumed by the Village officials in 1903.
Through the efforts of The Village Improvement Association, in 1897. an unsanitary open ditch, which ran between Ridgewood and Franklin Avenues from a point near Broad Street to the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook, was filled in.
In 1900 it established the practice of placing signs upon all homes which held cases of infectious disease.
The first Board of Health consisted of the following members: President, Frederick W. Gardner: Secretary, Dr. John T. Hanks: Dr. HI. A. Willard, Dr. John B. Hopper, and Win. HT. Moore. Dr. C. A. DeMund was appointed Health Officer, Wm. IT. Moore. Plumbing In-
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PAST AND PRESENT
spector, and J. Blauvelt Hopper, Registrar of Vital Statistics. These officials met once a month in the old Fire House until the following June, when the Board began holding two, and sometimes more, meet- ings a month. By-laws were adopted February 6, 1906, when J. Blau- velt Hopper was appointed Clerk. On March 6th of the same year, Judge David D. Zabriskie was made Counsel to the Board; in August, George 11. Soult took the office of Plumbing Inspector, in place of Mr. Moore; and in October, Dr. H. H. Pettit became Health Officer, superseding Dr. DeMund. John B. Zabriskie was appointed Counsel in January, 1907, succeeding Judge David D. Zabriskie. On May 7, 1907, owing to the death of Mr. Gardner, Edward T. White was appointed a member of the Board, and Dr. Hopper was elected Presi- dent. On January 5, 1910, Mr. White became President.
The first garbage and ash collector was J. 1. Van Blarcom, who was appointed in February, 1906. Dr. Hopper superseded him in June, 1907, and upon his retirement in November of the same year, the Faber brothers, who operated the Ridgewood Disposal Works, were granted a license to carry on the garbage and ash collection work.
The Board moved into the old Wilsey Building in November, 1908. In February, 1909, Mr. Soult became Registrar of Vital Statistics, succeeding Mr. Hopper. On March 16, 1910, Doctors W. L. Vroom and C. A. DeMund were appointed members of the Board, taking the places of Doctors Hopper and Willard, while Clarence A. Demarest was appointed Clerk.
The first ordinance passed by this Board June 27, 1906, was that relating to nuisances, privy vaults, and cesspools; scavengers, conta- gious diseases, burials, etc. This ordinance is still in force, with an added amendment regarding scavengers, made effective in 1908. Before this, however, in March, 1904, the Village Trustees enacted Ordinance No. 54. This dealt with rules and regulations relating to plumbing, water supply, and ventilation of buildings. It was superseded in June of last year, however, by the present Plumbing Code. In 1907, the Board passed an ordinance dealing with proper sewer connections of houses and other buildings; and in 1908, an ordinance was passed regulating the handling and sale of milk. This was supplemented in 1910 by a provision for the licensing of persons, corporations, or asso- ciations of persons to deal in milk. In 1909, the Board enacted an ordinance directing the elimination of breeding-places of mosquitoes ; and in 1911 one regulating proper care and cleaning of stables and the disposition of manure.
In 1909, with the financial help of a few public-spirited citizens, the services of a visiting nurse were secured for a short period, in a laudable effort to foster, by instruction in improved methods of house care, better living conditions in certain of our homes. The formation of the Ridgewood Relief Society was a direct result of this effort.
In the Spring of 1910, a plan for the regular inspection of dairy premises was adopted with the set purpose of ineuleating and enfore- ing among the dairymen modern and efficient dairy methods in the production of high-grade milk. From time to time, samples of milk from the local dealers have been procured by the Board for analyses.
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RIDGEWOOD, BERGEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY
This requirement has had a salutary effect, and consequently high standards have been ensured and maintained. It is satisfactory to report that in a recent statement issued by the Division of Creameries and Dairies of the State Board, the condition of the Ridgewood dairies was declared as the best in the State. In addition to the supervisions of the local Board, a plan was arranged in 1913 with the State Board to have its inspectors make occasional visits to Ridgewood.
The Board has always kept in close touch with the Village water conditions. One of its accomplishments has been the installation of a regular system of tests.
The work of exterminating the mosquito has been carried on in a vigorous manner for several years. Oil has been spread on all stagnant water and in the lowlands, while many breeding places have been drained and filled. During the past year the work has been supplemented by the Bergen County Mosquito Extermination Com- mission, the representatives of which, in addition to much valuable work, have inspected and charted every foot of ground in the Village.
In May, 1910, the Board moved into the Trust Company Building, but later, in June, 1911, was installed in its present office in the Municipal Building. On August 9, 1911, George B. Richardson was appointed Sanitary Inspector in the place of Mr. Soult. Mr. Moore, however, temporarily acted in this capacity for a short season.
With the change in Village Government, in December, 1911, the entire Board automatically went out of office, and the Commissioners appointed a new Board naming Edward T. White as President, Dr. W. L. Vroom as Secretary-Treasurer, the other members being Edward S. Brower. John Harmon, and Robert W .. Muns. These, with Health Officer Pettit, Inspector Murphy. Clerk Demarest, and Registrar Morris, constitute the present Village Health organization. Until the appoint- ment of John J. Murphy, Frank Stevens acted as Registrar of Vital Statistics. When Wilbur Morris was appointed Village Clerk in Feb- ruary, 1912, he also assumed the title and duties of Registrar. Mr. Richardson, owing to the provisions of the Walsh Aet. could not legally serve as Inspector and was made Deputy Health Officer, his duties combining that of Inspector. Subsequently. Inspector Robert B. Murphy. the present incumbent, was appointed and took office Jan- uary 2, 1912.
In 1912. Joseph Houlihan was appointed Deputy Inspector for several weeks to examine conditions in the Village pertaining to out- houses, stables, sewer connections, breeding-places for mosquitoes, etc. He reported 72 outside privies and 73 violations of the manure ordinance.
Consideration of the control of contagious diseases in the schools and churches was jointly taken up by the School Board and the Ridge- wood Medical Society in 1912, and, after numerous conferences, rules and regulations were formulated which greatly improved the quarantine system.
During 1913, the Board instituted inspections of all local ice-cream factories and noted the sanitary conditions of the Village stores. Licensed vendors were also placed under inspection.
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PAST AND PRESENT
In 1914, the new State Law restrictions required an examination for glanders of all horses removing into New York State. To comply with this regulation, over 200 horses were examined, but no trace of the disease was found.
In April, 1915, what might have proved a severe epidemic of scarlet fever was checked by the prompt action of the Board in closing certain of the public schools, Sunday-schools, and other places where children congregated.
In May of the same year the Board, with the aid of the Women's Club and the Boy Scouts, inaugurated a vigorous anti-fly campaign. Mr. J. E. Coyle, of the Boy Scouts, was appointed a temporary Special Inspector, with the boys as his active assistants.
Early in the present year an epidemic of measles broke out which became a cause of considerable concern on the part of the Board. A rigid enforcement of the quarantine, however, proved effective in holding it within bounds. Owing to the inconveniences and possible distress imposed on families of patients by long periods of quarantine, and to accord with the custom adopted in other representative muni- cipalities, the exclusion period from school was reduced to fourteen days.
On July 8, 1916, a special meeting was held to devise methods to prevent the spread to Ridgewood of the infantile-paralysis epidemic then raging in New York. As a means to this end the Sunday-schools, the Y. M. C. A., and Play House were closed to children under sixteen, and numerous other measures were taken, which proved effective. Since then a joint meeting has been held in Ridgewood of the Boards of Health of Ridgewood, Glen Rock, Ho-ho-kus, and Midland Park, to discuss ways and means of preventing a spread of the disease. As a result all visiting children were detained, while those from infected districts were quarantined for observation for a period of two weeks. A discussion of the County Isolation Hospital followed, and a joint resolution was submitted to the Freeholders urging its early comple- tion. It is hoped that the hospital, as well as the proposed co-oper- ative laboratory, will become acquisitions of the very near future.
THE SHADE TREE COMMISSION
The first shade trees that were planted along the highways in Ridgewood are located on Maple Avenue and extend north about one- half mile from Ridgewood Avenue. They were set out during the carly sixties along their properties on both sides of the street by Captain Samuel Dayton, Samuel Graydon, B. F. Robinson, A. J. Cameron. A. J. Zabriskie and Richard Van Dien.
A large number of trees were given to the Village in 1880 by I. W. England and were set out under the direction of J. W. Ed- wards and B. F. Robinson.
The first organized effort for the improvement of the public grounds was made in 1897, when The Village Improvement Association caused the grounds surrounding the Opera House to be plowed, grass-seed sowed, and a number of bushes planted. The association continued to care for the grounds for a number of years. Through their efforts
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RIDGEWOOD, BERGEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY
the Erie Railroad officials in 1901 gave flowers for beds and placed benches near the station. It was due to their efforts also that in 1897 all signs and advertisements were removed from trees and roeks in conspicuous places throughout the Village.
As the result of further efforts of The Village Improvement Association, individual property owners in 1901 furnished approxi- mately two hundred trees and set out the present silver maple trees on Godwin Avenue as far as Melrose Place, on Franklin Avenue from Monroe Street to the railroad tracks, and along Ridgewood Avenue from the railroad tracks to North Pleasant Avenue.
Until the establishment of the first Shade Tree Commission no further organized effort was made by the citizens, although numerous trees were set out from time to time by individual property owners.
THE COMMISSION
New Jersey, as well as Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and other States has, by statute, made broad provisions for the eare and plant- ing of shade trees on the highways. Under these laws, in January, 1909, Ridgewood's first Shade Tree Commission was appointed. Its members were I. E. Hutton, Chairman, Maurice Fornachon and T. J. Foster. F. R. Meier was made Secretary. Soon after its organization, Mr. Fornachon removed from the Village and was succeeded by George H. Stevens.
The present Commission consists of W. H. Maier, Chairman, Louis Chable, Secretary, and A. C. Brooks. Samuel D. Graydon is Super- intendent. Mr. Graydon has also served as a member of the Com- mission, having been appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of the former Commissioner J. H. Birch.
The Commission has followed a systematic plan of planting trees along all our streets; of caring properly for the thousands of street and park trees that beautify the Village; and of removing dead and undesirable trees.
STATUTE
To the jurisdiction of the Shade Tree Commission is committed by statute the planting, setting out, maintenance, protection, and care of the shade trees in the publie highways of the Village; and also the management, maintenance, improvement, repair, and control of the public parks belonging to the Village.
STREET WORK
In the discharge of their duties the Shade Tree Commissioners may tentatively decide to plant trees along certain streets or parts of streets. The statute requires that notice of such intention to plant be advertised once in a village newspaper at least twenty days before a public hearing at which the final decision is made; or at least ten days before the hearing such notice may be served personally upon any owner of real estate in front of whose property it is proposed to plant or remove a tree. This advertisement or notice announces the intention to plant, and gives the date and hour of the meeting
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PAST AND PRESENT
at which final decision is to be made. At this meeting a careful hear- ing is given to all suggestions and objections, and such changes as then seem advisable are made in the proposed plan.
PLANTING
During the past four years there were set out by and under the authority of the Commission the following trees, along about eight miles of streets :-
Norway maples
892
Red oaks
153
Oriental planes
140
Pin oaks .
92
Scarlet oaks
41
Crimean linden
35
Tulip
35
European linden
18
Liquidambar
12
Ailanthus
7
Lombardy poplars
3
Sugar maples
2
1.430
Of these about 30 trees were replacements. The number of new trees planted by the Shade Tree Commission within these four years is therefore about 1400.
The thoughtful citizen will realize and appreciate what an increas- ingly valuable asset these trees will become to the Village and how great a part they will play in making our "Ridgewood Beautiful".
The cost of statutory planting (that is, planting done under the authority of the statute creating Shade Tree Commissions) is assessed against the properties benefited and is entered upon the tax bill. Once paid, such an assessment does not recur, as the cost of any replace- ments of these plantings is borne by the Commission. Tree planting done by request is charged for at the time of the planting.
CARE
The proper care of the trees is a matter of labor and of expense that is proportionately increased with each year's planting of addi- tional trees.
The soil about the trees must be kept by cultivation or mulching in such condition as to conserve the moisture, to protect the roots and hase from winter's harmful effects, and to add plant food to the soil. In times of drought the trees must be watered. At regular intervals the trees must be sprayed.
Defective or irregular branches must be pruned, cavities must be cleansed, and branches that grow so low as to interfere with pedes- trians on sidewalks or with vehicles on the streets must be removed. In zealously performing its duties, the Commission finds its reward in adding to the comfort of the public and in increasing the beauty of the Village.
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RIDGEWOOD, BERGEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY
PARKS
The Commission has recently set out a number of trees in Linwood Park, established in 1910. It has also the care of the trees on the land acquired by the Village for a Parkway along the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook. This Parkway was begun as the result of an investigation in 1908 by the civie improvement expert, Mr. Charles Mulford Rob- inson. When completed, it will be one of the most beautiful and attractive features of the Village.
STATION PLAZA
The Commission has recently been responsible, under an arrange- ment with the contractors, for the laying out and planting of the trees and shrubbery in the new station improvements.
THE BUILDING COMMITTEE
In order to safeguard the citizens against imperfeet and unsafe building structures and to reduce to a minimum the fire hazards of the Village, the Board of Commissioners adopted, on the 25th of Feb- ruary, 1913, a building code which regulates and controls the con- struction, alteration, and repair of all buildings in the Village, and which provides for a Building Committee of not less than three, a Superintendent of Buildings, and an Inspector of Buildings, who are charged with the duty of seeing that the ordinances are strictly en- forced.
The Building Committee consists of the three Village Commis- sioners. Mr. F. W. Simonds, the Village Engineer, is Superinten- dent and Inspector of Buildings.
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE AND FINANCE
As its name implies, this department has to do with the entire handling of the receipts and expenditures of the municipality that has adopted the commission form of government. The laws of the State, however, particularly except the finances of the Board of Edu- eation from this control. Money for education is raised by taxation, like all the rest of the Village moneys, but it is paid over to the Board of Education for expenditure under their own control and accounting.
In January of each year the Board of Commissioners prepare a budget of the money which in their judgment is required to run the Village. This budget is adopted finally in July. The Assessor is then given the amount required and it is then his business to raise by tax- ation the money asked for. The appropriations for the Board of Education in Ridgewood are voted by the taxpayers at a special elec- tion called for this purpose. The budget prepared by the Board of Commissioners is not submitted to the voters for their approval.
The money required to run a municipality is spent before it is received; in other words, the revenue from taxes paid in December of each year is used to pay the expenses of that year: thus the Village is forced to borrow money in anticipation of taxes.
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PAST AND PRESENT
When Ridgewood adopted Commission Government, the department of revenue and finance established a proper system of bookkeeping. Each year it is required to have a complete audit made of all books and vouchers.
Mr. George U. White is the present Commissioner acting as the head of the department, a position which he has held since its estab- lishment in 1911.
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DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS, PARKS AND PUBLIC PROPERTY
Physical Improvements
The first sidewalk "laid" in Ridgewood was a substantial one of wood and was built by the firm of Zabriskie & Hawes in the early 70's. This sidewalk ran from the corner of Ridgewood and Broad Streets, south on Broad Street and turning the corner of Dayton Street it continued to and across Prospect Street to the residence of Mr. Hawes, which was located in an open meadow and now stands on Dayton Street opposite the Reformed Church. The "tide of travel" quickly turned from Prospect Street to the station through the mud and the sidewalk was worn out by the general public or burned for kindling wood. Mr. Joseph W. Edwards and other residents at this time also laid wooden sidewalks along their properties which were all later superseded by stone walks.
Up to about 1880 no organized attempt had been made to improve the sanitary conditions of the Village. About that time one of our citizens felt that conditions threatened a serious epidemic of typhoid fever. The section between Broad and Prospect Streets, composed of bog and thickets of brush, was like a swamp on a hill. The cesspools and the wells kept at about the same level. The danger of inter- communication was apparent. Then occurred the first concentrated effort to better the conditions. Two owners of considerable property in that section planned to improve its value. A drain about five feet deep had previously been run through Broad and Hudson Streets across Prospect Street and through the Opera House site to Ridge- wood Avenne and Oak Street, draining into a bog on the north side of Ridgewood Avene to the region of the present Franklin Avenue and beyond, into an area afterwards occupied by the lumber yards of G. G. Van Dien. It was proposed to dig this drain to a depth of twelve or fifteen feet. This was done, and a cutting was made through the hard-pan that formed the bed and the rim of the basin of the swamp. Immediately the water in the wells dropped ten feet in level : its quality was changed and the danger that threatened the settlement was averted. Hundreds of cart-loads of dirt were afterwards dumped into the Ridgewood-Franklin Avenne bog until it disappeared.
Attention began now to be given to a better organization of the work of maintenance and improvement of the roads. All road work had been handled without any system. The "Path Master" might spend quite a sum of money on certain portions of the road, only to have his work undone by his successor, who had other ideas of im-
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RIDGEWOOD, BERGEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY
provement. Under such a system, consistent progress was impossible. Following the efforts of John A. Marinus, however, a plan was adopted of employing an engineer who should dircet all work to the aecom- plishment of a fixed and unchanging purpose.
Later, through the persistent efforts of Isaac E. Hutton, Ridge- wood Avenne was graded, with a eut of about ten feet at Irving Street, and with the consequent result that the surface water was drained naturally to the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook.
The people of the Village have made constant progress in improv- ing the roads and streets. In 1866 the first Village streets were laid out. In 1888 the principal streets were macadamized. As a pioneer of macadamized roads the Village made expenditure in 1892 of $30,000, and made its streets second to none in the State. The permanent improvement of Maple Avenue during 1915, and the laying of brick pavement in the streets about the railroad station in 1914 and 1916, are described elsewhere in this book.
Establishment of Department
Previous to the establishment of an organized department of the Village to care for such matters, The Village Improvement Associa- tion, through its Street Committee, in 1898, inaugurated the use of receptacles for the disposition of rubbish on the Village streets. Six receptacles were placed on the street corners of the main thoroughfare.
During the same year the association was instrumental in securing the passage of an ordinance preventing store sweepings from being emptied upon the sidewalks and into the streets. In 1901 the asso- ciation engaged a man to sweep the main street of the Village two days a week, and later started the street sprinkling system.
With the adoption in 1911 of Commission Government, the Depart- ment of Publie Improvements, Parks and Publie Property was estab- lished, first under the direction of Commissioner Frederick Pfeiffer, and upon the expiration of his term of office in 1915, under the direc- tion of the new Commissioner, Dr. J. B. Hopper. Mr. F. W. Simonds is Village Engineer and Mr. J. D. Carlock is Superintendent of Streets and Sewers.
This department is responsible for the maintenance of all Village streets, of storm and sanitary sewers and of the sewage pumping plants and disposal system. It plans and construets all new streets, sewers, curbs, gutters and sidewalks, when laid out and built by the Village. It attends to the purchase of all supplies and materials used in its work. It controls the Village yard and railroad spur on Chestnut Street. It has a steam-roller and seven horses for use in its work, four of the horses being used also for hauling the fire appa- ratus when called to fires. An automobile is furnished the Superin- tendent of Streets for use in connection with his duties.
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