USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Nutley > The history of Nutley, Essex County, New Jersey > Part 3
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Hard Roads .- In 1891, the demand for hard roads became so imperative that a bond issue of $50,000 was authorized for road improvements. The excitement over the question of narrow or wide Macadam roads ran high, and causes this to be remembered as one of the historic contests of the town's existence.
1 State census of 1875 gives population of Franklin as 1,556.
2 In possession of Mr. Richard W. Booth, who has a complete file of Franklin Town Reports.
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Board of Health .- The Board, as organized at the formation of the township in 1874, was reorganized in 1892. A Sanitary Code was then formulated which has been used until the present year. The rapid increase of population has made the old regulations inadequate. A new Sanitary Code has just been issued, which is printed and distributed to every householder.
Attempted Separation of a Borough .- An episode of 1894 was a movement to form a borough from the northeastern portion of the town. The proposition was defeated.
New Charter and Name .- In 1901 the town had grown to 4,000 inhabitants and it was felt that the Town form of government offered definite advantages over the Township form. A bill was introduced into the legislature petitioning for the change of form and also for the change of name to Nutley. This bill was passed March 5th, 1902, and the Town of Nutley suc- ceeded to the Township of Franklin.
History of the Schools .- In early days in Franklin there were two school districts separated by the Yan- tacaw River, and known as the Upper and the Lower. Later five districts were recognized. In 1894 the School Law did away with district divisions in town- ships.
In the Lower District, a one-story stone schoolhouse was built about 1794 on land given "for school pur- poses" by John K. Speer, at Passaic Avenue and Avon- dale Road. The school which moved into this building had already been organized a number of years and had occupied a site on the Avondale Road opposite Phil-
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MORAIS
---.
First
Ward
SOUTH LINE OF THE TOWN
BELLEVILLE TOWNSHIP
.... ŁA COUNTY NU
7
ALNOT
WASHINGTON
Passaic
UNION B
lips's quarry. The present Avondale Schoolhouse re- places the old stone building.
The "Old Red Schoolhouse" in the Povershon or Upper District stood at the corner of Center Street and Bloomfield Avenue. After years of service in this spot, about 1844, it was moved bodily to Elm street, near the present School Park. The next step was a frame schoolhouse for the "upper district" built on Church street, in 1856, whose second story was used for some years by the Reformed Church. This building was burned in 1874 and in 1875 was rebuilt in brick.
In early days the expenses of the schools were de- frayed by district taxation on the basis of each family's attendance, a system then in use in most of the middle States.
In 1890, the present School Park of twelve acres was purchased for $15,000. Several mills stood here, one of which was retained and remodelled. A graded school system was adopted in this year. What is now the Town Hall was used for the first High School. Ac- commodations for the increasing numbers of the children were soon inadequate and The Park School was built and opened in 1894. The School Park affords a fine athletic field or ball ground which is used by the public as well as by the school children.
The Yantacaw School was build and opened in 1902.
The growth of the town has been rapid and soon these four school houses were overcrowded. By the beginning of 1906, rooms were used in various places for extra classes, and the subject of increased school accommodation overshadowed all other public ques- tions. In February the town met the demand by
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TOWN. OF BLOOMFIELD
LINE'S
NEWARK Y. EAST JERSEY
First
Ward
nd
Ward
---
ACQUACKANONCK TOWNSHIP
BELLEVILLE
IND_HAMON
Third
Ward
WAS
INGTON
AVE
Official Map
of the- TOWN of NUTLEY
Passaic
River
INCORPORATED March 5-1902 [FORMERLY FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP] -ESSEX CO. N.J .- Showing the THREE WARDS, Churches & Schools, Public Roads, etc. BOAL 5, 5.400"
UNION TOWN SHIP BERGEN COUNTY MM
TOWNSHIP
SOUTH LINE OF THE TOWN
voting $52,500 to enlarge The Park School and to re- model the Avondale School, thus adding seventeen new rooms. The excitement over this "school election" will not soon be forgotten in Nutley. It was the first occasion in the town when women in any numbers made use of their privilege to vote on school questions.
The school course covers thirteen years, complying with state and county requirements, and comprises one year kindergarten, four years primary, four years grammar, and four years high school, fitting for all colleges and scientific schools.
The School Library, established under a small state and town appropriation, is an excellent selection of Over 1,700 standard works, free to the public.
Churches .- It was long the custom for the dwellers in this area to journey to Newark or to Belleville for their church privileges. At Belleville the Dutch Re- formed Church dated from 1725; Christ Church, Pro- testant Episcopal, from 1746; Methodist services from 1792, the church from 1803; St. Peter's Roman Catho- lic Church from 1838. Before any church society was organized or church edifice built, there existed in this region a unique Sunday School whose scope is shown by an old paper, a fac-simile of which appears in a "History of the Franklin M. E. Sunday School":
"Subscriptions and Donations
For the support of the sabbath school established in Spring Gardens, May 16, 1829, For the Instruction of Children belonging to all Denominations."
This "sabbath school" was soon followed by the open-
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ing of schools for the different denominations and marked the beginnings of the several churches.
The Methodist Episcopal Church is the oldest society and church edifice in Nutley. The first church was built in 1830, the present structure in 1853. The society became a separate charge from Belleville in 1849. A new church is soon to be erected. A cemetery adjoins the present church.
The Dutch Reformed Church was organized in 1855, the church built in 1860. For a number of years before this services had been held in one of the school houses by a pastor from a neighboring town. A cemetery is adjacent to the church.
Grace Church (Protestant Episcopal) was organized and built its church edifice in 1873. Before this time, for several years, services had been held in a school- house or in the Methodist Church. The present church is inadequate and will soon be replaced by a stone structure on another site.
St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church at Avondale (East Nutley) was built in 1876.
St. Paul's Congregational Church was organized in 1894. The church edifice was built in 1898.
Post Office Facilities .- Before 1840, the inhabitants of this area went to Belleville for their mail. The first advance towards post office privileges was a mail bag brought once a day to "old Franklin." The mail was distributed from a store in a central location for the next nine years. The first regularly appointed post office was established at Franklin (Nutley), July 17th, 1849; the second at Avondale (East Nutley) August
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19th, 1873.1 The present Nutley post office is of the Third Grade and is located in the Town Hall. The East Nutley office, of the Fourth Grade, is in the rail- road station.
The Mills of Nutley, Old and New .- The water power and the sandstone were the foundations of the early as well as the later industries of Nutley.
The Bradbury who built the first portion of the Van Riper house, is said to have had a grist mill on Third River, but where it stood has been long forgotten.2 This is supposed to have been many years before the Revolution.
Captain John Speer's saw mill, grist mill and tannery combined, was located on Third River at Vreeland Avenue. This and the Kingsland saw mill were built just after the Revolution. Captain Speer's saw mill had neither cogwheel nor pulley in it, yet sawed pine boards and veneers which were "carted" to New York, on the corduroy road across the marshes. An old account book, in the possession of Mr. Warren Vreeland, tells of sales from this mill. Mr. Vreeland also has a plan of the rude machinery from which he can describe its working. The millstones of the old grist mill lie to the present day at the bottom of the river, just where they fell when their work was done.3 This mill, after a long rest, was remodelled to manufacture cotton goods and the pond became known as the Cotton Mill Pond.
Farther upstream, on Third River, was the Abraham Speer grist mill, and many years after, in 1853, were built the woolen mills near the south boundary. The
1 Information from U. S. Post Office Department.
2 Possibly the grist mill that Joseph Kingsland found on Third River was that of Bradbury. See p. 36.
3 Mr. Warren Vreeland.
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woolen mills still go on, but the others have long passed away. On what is now The Park School prop- erty, was situated a large shawl and blanket factory, started in 1852. The shawls were embroidered by the women of the surrounding country, some of whom came from as far as Pompton on foot.
A grist mill on a pond of Basking (Bearskin) Creek has gone since the last flood carried away the dam, and the saw mill and grist mill of long ago, on Kingsland's Pond, are replaced by modern factories just across the county line. The tannery and shoe factory in the
southeastern part of the town, where shoes were made for Washington's army, are also but a memory; while the mills for the manufacture of fine paper, which were established in the northern part of the town in 1812, are still in prosperous activity. Some of the other ar- ticles that are or have been manufactured in Nutley (Franklin) besides those of the old mills are hats, sand paper, matches, leather goods, cutlery, steel, lubricating oils, chemicals, stove polish and buttons.
The Quarries .- It is not known how early the first quarries were opened in the Nutley area. In many parts of Essex County the red or gray sandstone was taken out for building purposes before 1700. With the Van Zandt House and the Vreeland Homestead, probably 200 years old, we can be certain that sandstone was quarried somewhere in this area or near it by 1700. The several active quarries of Nutley are all near the Passaic River. Two abandoned quarries are found in the town limits. In the northeastern part of the town an excavation was carried to a great depth when a spring was encountered which led to the stopping of
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.
further work. The vast hole contains an unknown depth of water, black as ink. The old King quarry, near the Belleville line, has been untouched for over sixty years and appears as a ravine thickly overgrown with trees and bushes.
Slavery .- A few slaves are well remembered in this region. Joseph Kingsland cut the wood upon his estate with slave labor, and it is related, by one of his descendants,1 that he had four slaves who were freed in 1820. The Gradual Emancipation Act of 1804 and the Abolition Act of 1846 enabled slavery to exist in isolated cases in New Jersey until the Thirteenth Amendment. The last two slaves owned in this town were Black Nancy and her husband. The wife belonged to Captain Speer and was given her freedom at his death (1834). Her husband was owned by Daniel Van Winkle and died in captivity. Black Nancy was old and decrepit when she received her freedom. Under the law she could not be sent to the poor house as a pauper but must be supported by her former own- ers. She was accordingly provided for from the estate of Captain Speer until her death.
A bill of sale for a negro, dated 1808, is in the posses- sion of Mrs. Jared Speer of this town.
The Passaic River.2-The "Avon of New Jersey" the earlier lovers of the river called it, a name perpetuated in "Avondale" (East Nutley). Poets of sixty years ago extolled the charms of the river; and Washington Irving wrote delightfully of the beauties of the Pas- saic, while he execrated the mosquitoes of Newark.3
1 Mrs. James R. Hay.
2 "The Story of the Passaic River" was read at Old Nutley Manor ..
3 In Salamagundi Papers.
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The Passaic is by far the most important river of the state and has a course of ninety miles from its source in the Great Swamp in Morris County to its mouth at Newark Bay. It receives two tributaries from the Nut- ley area besides the Yantacaw. One of these, on the southern boundary, is nameless, the other is called Darby Brook.
Though slow and sluggish for much of its course, the Passaic has enormous hydraulic force from its two great waterfalls, Little Falls and the Passaic Falls. Since records have been kept, the Passaic River has been known to overflow its banks in great floods about once in twenty years, though showing each spring a considerable rise. Narrow gorges above with low meadow lands below, combined with the rapid gradient of tributaries afford the necessary conditions. The most disastrous recent flood was that of 1902 when the Nutley shores of the Passaic as well as the banks of the tributary streams shared in the calamities of the cities of Paterson and Passaic.
The Passaic River was famous for its fish till the water became foul about twenty years ago. The In- dians resorted to the river for their winter supplies, a custom kept up by the white settlers. Shad, perch, roach-herring, bass, catfish, sunfish, smelts and even sturgeon, called "Albany Beef," were caught in enor- mous quantities.1
This beautiful stream has the reputation of being the worst polluted river in the world. But it has been pointed out that as the contamination is largely chem- ical, it is not unsanitary in proportion to its color.
1 See Holmes' Reminiscences of 75 years in Belleville, Franklin and Newark.
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However, the sentiment that the river must be re- stored to its pristine purity has prevailed. The act of the Legislature passed in March, 1906, will put a stop to its contamination, and in a few years, it is to be hoped, the words of Peter Sluyter, in 1679, will again come true. He wrote to his friends in Holland, "The river is the pleasantest we have yet seen, it being a pleasure to look upon its everchanging views, its ever- greens of pine and cedar and its clean bottom and fresh clear water."
Growth and Development of Nutley .- The increase of population, building operations and valuation since the incorporation has been remarkable. In thirty years the population has increased from 1,500 to nearly 5,000. The valuation in the same time has grown from $762,000 to $3,875,939. Woodland and farm, but four- teen miles from New York, were not long to lie undis- covered after the railroad was opened in 1872. River scenery and vistas to green hills, wooded slopes and hurrying brooks, valley and plain and height, all are found in the narrow limits of Nutley. As the town has grown, to the gifts of Nature have been added the orderly beauty of cultivation. Lawns and shrubbery and flowers surround well-appointed homes on the hill- sides and in the valleys.
The Improvement Society .- The ladies of Nutley or- ganized a society in 1901 to preserve the natural beau- ties of the town and to add to them. The trees which are the glory of Nutley, of charming variety and of un- usual height and symmetry, are their especial care. Vines and flowering shrubs have been planted around the railroad stations, the Town Hall, the schoolhouses,
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and at the approaches to bridges. Rubbish is cleared up in streets and vacant lots. Seats have been placed at important corners along the trolley line. Prizes are offered annually for best-kept grounds. Funds are raised from annual dues and benefit entertainments.
Newspapers of Nutley .- The "Franklinite," a small single sheet, started in 1890, was the first evidence of newspaper enterprise in Franklin (or Nutley). This little paper was edited by Mr. E. F. Bassford and printed on a small press by Mr. W. C. Ryan. The "Franklinite" was published at varying intervals till 1893, when it was consolidated with the "Nutley Re- view."
The "Nutley Review" was started in October, 1892, by Mr. C. D. Bailey and Mr. J. Smith, Mr. Smith soon retired, disapproving of the "radical" policy of Mr. Bailey. The latter's extreme views soon brought his paper into disfavor, and he desired to merge it with the "Franklinite." This was accomplished in 1893, and the "Nutley Review" was the name retained. Mr. Bailey continued as manager and Mr. Bassford as editor. On account of the serious illness of Mr. Bailey, however, the "Nutley Review" soon came to an end.
In a few months, another little paper appeared, called the "Rising Sun," established by Mr. G. R. Miller. The editor used most of his space for a long serial poem composed by himself. When the poem was finished, Mr. Miller, finding himself out of favor with his fellow- townsmen, sold his paper to Mr. William Taylor, brother of Bayard Taylor. The "Rising Sun" now be- came the "Nutley Sun" and was enlarged and im- proved. In 1900, Mr. Taylor assigned his interests to
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Mr. J. D. Foy, who made the "Sun" the "Legal Paper of the Town of Nutley." Under this last ownership the paper has been developed into a substantial success.
"The Nutleyan" is the latest newspaper of Nutley, started in September, 1906.
Authors and Artists who have lived in Nutley.1- The two names that head the list of Nutley authors are Frank R. Stockton and Henry C. Bunner. Stockton was born in Philadelphia in 1834. He was one of nine- teen children. His mother, who was his father's second wife, brought to the old New Jersey stock a mixture of French and Irish blood, which may partly account for the capricious charm of Stockton's fancies. His father was a fierce controversialist, writing stinging pamph- lets against the Jesuits, slavery, intemperance, and having a special abhorrence of novels. When Frank emerged from a mischievous boyhood, he began to study engraving on wood. Even then he wrote fairy stories, and contributed to some of the New York papers. In 1860, he married Miss Marion Tuttle of Virginia and soon after came to Nutley to live. About this time he took a position on Hearth and Home, and in 1873 became associate editor of St. Nicholas. "Rudder Grange" was at first a story which he wrote for Scribner's. Its cordial reception led him to en- large it to the present delightful volume. This was the first book he wrote for "grown-ups," although the elders had long been reading his children's tales with delight. Then followed years of giving out his unique stories, quaint, impossible fancies told in a straight-
1 This account was made up largely from personal reminiscences of residents of the town, and from letters in answer to inquiries from the authors and artists themselves or their families.
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forward, matter-of-fact manner which made any questioning of their probability seem quite preposter- ous. Eggleston said there was one chamber of Stock- ton's mind denied to other brains. "The Lady and the Tiger," written, so it has been said, for an evening party at Mr. Boardman's in Nutley, has been transla- ted into many languages, and one day in India a group of Hindoos were heard gravely discussing the probable fate of the hero. Stockton came to Nutley because of his friendship for Mr. William H. Boardman, who is the boarder in "Rudder Grange." The Stocktons lived in the house on Walnut Street near Nutley Avenue, lately occupied by Mr. Fenton. The following is its description by Mrs. Stockton, the delightful Euphemia of his tales. "The first place in which we set up our household goods was at Nutley, N. J. Our dwelling there was a pretty little cottage where we had a gar- den, some chickens, and a cow. This was our home during his editorial days, and here 'Rudder Grange' was written." Here also he wrote a number of his other stories. One called "Our Archery Club" was written from experiences in the Nutley Archery Club which was the forerunner of the present Field Club. Stock- ton's archery equipment cost something like $103.10. When he took this story to the publishers he asked to a penny what his outfit had cost him, no more, no less. In the same way, he dug a well at his next house at Convent, New Jersey, which cost him, perhaps, $320.23. He wrote a story about it, asking and receiving exactly that amount in payment. Mr. Boardman recalled how on a certain Sunday morning he was awakened by hearing his name called. Looking out he saw Mr.
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Stockton crossing the street from his home carrying under his arm a black hen. He proceeded to tell Mr. Boardman how they had broken the spareroom wash- bowl and not caring to spend money for a new one, he offered this guaranteed setting-hen for a washbowl. A long dickering and discussion of terms followed result- ing eventually in the transfer of the articles. Euphem- ia's elaborate chicken-raising may be remembered. To the account in "Rudder Grange," it should be added that the Stocktons named their chickens after writers, and still called them by their names when they reached the table. Later, Stockton lived at Convent and at Madison, N. J., where he could have a more complete country life. A few years before his death he became the possessor of a beautiful estate in West Virginia, Claymont. The land had been owned and the house designed by Washington, and for that reason it was twice spared from destruction in the Civil War. Stock- ton died in 1902 in the full maturity of his powers, with the popularity of his works and per- sonality at its height. "There was no bitterness in his humor; he was neither a satirist nor a preacher nor a teacher." His writings had absolutely no motive but to beguile wearied hearts and brains away for a little into summer lands of unreality. There everything speaks of simplicity, sweetness and humor, and every perplexity has a happy ending. Mrs. Stockton, the bright Euphemia, died in November, 1906, at her home in Washington.
The principal works of Stockton are Rudder Grange, The Rudder Grangers Abroad, The Lady or the Tiger, The Late Mrs. Null, The Casting Away of Mrs. Lecks
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and Mrs. Aleshine, The Dusantes, The Hundredth Man, Personally Conducted, The Merry Chanter, The Squirrel Inn, The Watchman's Wife, Pomona's Travels.
Mr. Henry C. Bunner was not born in Nutley, but he lived here many years before his death in 1896. Much of his poetry and story-telling breathes the atmosphere of his adopted neighborhood. He was born in Os- wego, New York, in 1855. He was educated in New York and started upon a business career. Finding this most uncongenial he entered journalism in 1873, and began his editorship of Puck in 1877. The first edi- torial outfit consisted of himself and a desk. "Here he was responsible for everything, letter press, mechan- ical make-up, and many times he wrote half the num- ber himself. For ten years he poured into it an endless stream of matter, and was ready for anything at a moment's notice." With his wit and humor he had nevertheless the gentle delicacy of the poet, and it is perhaps by his verses that he will be longest remem- bered. Bunner dearly loved his Nutley home. It was the house now owned by Mr. Barron on Whitford Avenue. Every nook and corner of the house, every inch of garden was dear to him. He built the little log cabin for his daughter Nancy. He is accused of having had thirteen different kinds of fence, each with some pet purpose of its own. He writes to Lawrence Hutton, "When you push your way up the Passaic Valley where Irving, Hoffman, and Frank Forrester lived, come up and see a fellow named Bunner, who lives up that way in the House of Spare Bedrooms. We've vaccinated a baby to-day, we keep a pig, two
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dogs, two cats and are contemplating a donkey." Mr. Bunner's warmth of heart was shown in his instruc- tions to the doctor of the town that he might call on him for any expense in connection with the illness of his needy patients. To make this help more lasting he originated the plan of an entertainment, the proceeds of which were to go to a Red Cross Fund for Nutley. This famous Amateur Circus brought into its pro- gram all the available talent of the town. It was a memorable occasion for Nutley. The railroad even ran special trains to bring people from New York and the adjoining towns.
Bunner's principal works are The Midge, Airs from Arcady, Natural Selection, Story of a New York House, Short Sixes, Zadoc Pine, Jersey Street and Jersey Lane, and The Suburban Sage.
Passing from Stockton and Bunner we find a long list of Nutley names, famous beyond our borders. Most of these belong to quiet authors and artists ; but a few suggest careers of adventure and daring.
A native of Nutley is Dr. H. H. Rusby, Professor of Materia Medica, University and Bellevue Medical College ; Professor of Botany, Physiology and Materia Medica in the New York College of Pharm- acy, Columbia University; Curator of the Museum of the New York Botanical Garden, and member of many learned societies at home and abroad. Dr. Rus- by when but a boy showed a great interest in botany. He began the formation of an Essex County herb- arium, which, finished in after years, received a Centennial medal as the most complete offered from a single locality. In 1879 the New Jersey Botanical
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