1929 – marked the fiftieth anniversary of the first telephone service in New Jersey . 1929 also marked the official opening of 540 Broad Street (April 4th) as the headquarters of New Jersey Bell organized in October 1927. To commemorate this important milestone, The New Jersey Bell Magazine dedicated the April 1929 issue as the “Building Issue”. May 4th 1927 began the demolition on the site. Things progressed rapidly from there. R.T. Walker one of the partners of the architectural firm of Vorhees, Gmelin and Walker described the style of the building as “American Perpendicular”. Today the styl ..read more

On a flight from Newark to Philadelphia , a passenger who’s name has been lost to time, jotted a brief note on the back of the postcard pictured below . They wrote the note in pencil. That puzzled me as most people would have used a fountain pen. Turns out that the writer was experiencing difficulty with their pen, which they attributed to the cabin pressure. The observations this writer committed to paper almost 80 years ago have not lost their ability to entertain and inform. Those comments follow under the image of the Administration Building . Enjoy your glimpse into the early days of comm ..read more

The Schoolmen’s Club was organized on December 10, 1902. Active membership was limited to male teachers. The object of this Club was the promotion of the best interests of its members socially and professionally. Membership was divided into three Categories: Active membership : Limited to men employed by the Newark Board of Education, as teachers. Associate membership: Includes men who were teachers but were promoted to non teaching positions, men who are employed by the Board of Education in a supervisory or other non teaching position, men who are teachers but have not become members of the ..read more

Occupying an entire city block on the east side of Elizabeth Avenue between Concord and East Peddie Streets is the former L. Bamberger Delivery Service Building. Turner Constructor magazine featured the building in its November 1925 edition. “Designed by Abbott Merkt & Co., architects. The new service station is two stories, mezzanine and partial basement in height, size approximately 200′ x 500′, having approximately 185,000 sq. ft. of area.” The one page article is illustrated by a photo – “the interior shipping section showing how packages are distributed from the conveyor belt system t ..read more

On May 17, 1955, a bronze tablet commemorating the Newark School Safety Patrol as the first such organization in the nation was unveiled and dedicated in the annual Newark Day ceremony of the Newark Schoolman’s Club* in Arts High School. The Newark News reported the event the following day, May 18th. The tablet read as follows: “On May 24, 1916, the Newark Board of Education, on recommendation of Charles A. McCall, supervisor of attendance, and Felix Dunn of the Newark Police Department, established the first school safety patrol in our nation. Patrol members through their continuous service p ..read more

1929 was the fiftieth anniversary of the invention of the incandescent lamp by Thomas Edison at Menlo Park, NJ (now Edison). To commemorate this event Whitehead and Hoag minted a limited-edition five-inch bronze medallion. On the obverse, Edison’s image, which was taken from life, appeared in profile. The reverse, paid tribute to Edison and depicted an image of the first lightbulb. Below the words of tribute, as was the Whitehead and Hoag custom, the name of the company appeared. But more than merely saying Whitehead and Hoag Newark NJ, the medal said the following: “Fine Arts Department White ..read more

Control Tower , Newark airport January 1938 This photo is an Associated Press Photo taken in early 1938. Press photos were generally well circulated and oftentimes repeatedly published. I had never seen this photo before and the early aviation scene appealed to me. The newspaper that utilized the photo attached the article that they published on the back of the picture. The article mentions three photos. I only have one. The photo was taken in what is now Building One at Newark Liberty International Airport. The Newark Preservation and Landmarks Committee had their annual meeting there not lon ..read more

Whitehead and Hoag was a premier advertising novelty company . This is not to say that they did not have competitors -they did. This is to say that the size, scope and quality of their product line was and still is the pinnacle of achievement in that field. I have blogged about W&H in the past but due to the limited amount of their products in my collection I was unable to effectively illustrate even a minute portion of their output. I was fortunate to have met Robert “Bob” Miller who graciously agreed to let me showcase some of his extensive collection. The question was, where to start? W ..read more

The 40 room mansion was built in 1888 by Gottfried Krueger (1837–1926), founder of Newark’s Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company. The construction cost at the time was $250,000. The mansion was sold to the Valley of Newark Scottish Right Freemasons in 1926 for $100,000. The mansion was purchased in 1958 by Louise Scott for $85,000. Scott operated a beauty school out of the first floor of the mansion while keeping the upper levels as her private residence. Scott died in 1982 and the city of Newark seized the house for back taxes. Under the ownership of the City of Newark the house ..read more

This view looks west on Market Street towards the Four Corners. A drawing based on this photograph appeared in “NEWARK and its Leading Businessmen” in 1891. The eastbound and westbound streetcars, which are being drawn by horses, are passing H.C. Miners Newark theater where Little Lord Fauntleroy is playing. Of all the structures visible here only the theater still exists. Miner’s opened in October of 1886 featuring live shows and vaudeville . By the 1930’s the popularity of vaudeville was waning and the theater was renovated to accommodate motion pictures under the Paramount banner. The thea ..read more