NEWARK PRESERVATION

President Appoints Clement A. Price Vice Chairman of Advisory Council for Historic Preservation

2011-08-13T03:53:00.000-07:00

NPLC is pleased to announce that one of it's own loyal supporters and 2008 recipient of the Cummings Award, Dr. Clement Price has received national attention and a special pending appointment by the President:

Article copied from: Advisory Council of Historic Preservation (ACHP) website:

...President Barack Obama has announced his intention to appoint Dr. Clement A. Price, an eminent Rutgers University professor and historian, as Vice Chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP).

“President Obama has already called upon Dr. Price to lead the National Endowment for the Humanities transition team, and we are delighted to have him to help guide the ACHP into the future,” said Milford Wayne Donaldson, FAIA, ACHP chairman and California State Historic Preservation Officer. “The ACHP’s mission of promoting the preservation and appreciation of the nation’s diverse cultural heritage will be greatly aided by Dr. Price’s expertise.”

Price is on the Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor of History and the founder and Director of the Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience at Rutgers University, Newark Campus. He has played leadership roles with many organizations in New Jersey, including the New Jersey Historical Commission, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the Fund for New Jersey, the Newark public schools, the Newark Black Film Festival, and the Governor’s Commission on Ellis Island. Price currently serves as the Chair of the Save Ellis Island Foundation and the Newark Education Trust. He received his B.A. and M.A. in History from the University of Bridgeport and his Ph.D. in History from Rutgers.

Price was named CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) Professor of the Year for New Jersey in 1999. In 2008 Price received the second annual Charles Cummings award from the Trustees of the Newark Preservation and Landmarks Committee. The award was presented to Price for outstanding contributions to the knowledge and appreciation of Newark history. Price will receive the oath of office and join the ACHP at its summer business meeting in Seattle on August 11, 2011.

About the ACHP: An independent federal agency, the ACHP promotes the preservation, enhancement, and productive use of our nation’s historic resources, and advises the President and Congress on national historic preservation policy. It also provides a forum for influencing federal activities, programs, and policies that affect historic properties. For more information, please visit www.achp.gov.

GOOD NEWS!! Help for NPLC's Plan to nominate 6 Newark Schools...

2011-06-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

The Star Ledger reported back in May, and it was confirmed by an official release from Trenton, that NPLC's application for $18,000 to help nominate six local schools to the National Register of Historic Places is among 58 projects that were approved last week by the Historic Trust board. The applications now go before the Garden State Historic Trust this week, and then go to the State Legislature for final approval. The list – which totals $10 million and includes three other preservation projects in Newark – already has the backing of the Christie administration.

The Landmarks Committee will use the funds toward the total cost of $25,000 to nominate six significant public schools for official recognition. Ulana Zakalak, NPLC's architectural historian, has already begun work on the overall introduction to the document, which will be financed partly by money from NPLC's treasury. No timetable has been announced for the State funding, but this nomination is one of our top priorities for this year.

The specific schools to be nominated are still being debated. NPLC's board approved a list of six some time ago, but some of them are affected by rapidly changing plans within the school system. Late last month President Liz Del Tufo and the board agreed that, if the State grant doesn’t materialize, we should go ahead on our own with an initial three schools: Weequahic High, Warren Street, and Franklin. Weequahic High’s very active alumni association has offered to help sponsor a nomination. The future of Warren Street is uncertain, and it was vacated recently by American History High School because of serious deterioration. Franklin has been a favorite of NPLC's board, but hasn’t been found eligible yet by the State Historic Preservation Office.

A number of other schools have considered through extensive inspections and discussions, but the fates of some of them seem to be changing almost every month. NPLC's hope is to have at least six schools representing different ages, designs, neighborhoods, and educational history.

Also on the new list of pending grants announced the last week April:

Capital improvements to the old South Park Presbyterian Church at Broad Street and Lincoln Park, $300,000. Most of the neoclassical 1855 structure was destroyed in a fire years ago, but the Lincoln Park-Coast development group hopes the remaining towers can be restored, and a new African-American music museum can be built at the site.

Planning for saving and adapting the ruins of the old Essex County Jail at Newark and New Streets, $50,000, NPLC would work on this with University Heights Science Park, which has tried to have the old structures razed for new development but has been pressed by the State Historic Preservation Office to explore other possibilities. A design competition may be part of the effort.

Upgrading of the northern end of Branch Brook Park, which is mostly in Belleville, $34,612. Jim Lecky, director of the Branch Brook Park Alliance (and one of NPLC’s newest trustees), says his group and Essex County are trying to clear out inappropriate and harmful trees and shrubbery, and rest ore the nation’s oldest county park to the original vision of the Olmsted brothers and other designers.

The South Park work would be a capital restoration grant. The other three Newark projects would receive “Site Management“ grants, which can cover architectural and engineering, feasibility studies, tourism plans, and nominations.

Through the years the N.J. Historic Trust has assisted many projects in Newark, including the Essex County Courthouse, Eberhardt Hall at NJIT, the Krueger Mansion, and a number of noteworthy churches.

The nomination of a group of schools has been a priority of our committee for several years. At present only four school buildings are on the historic registers, mainly because of special histories or locations within historic districts. NPLC has consulted with past and present officials of the public schools on which buildings should get special recognition.

The Historic Trust, which has funds from past bond issues, has awarded more than $600 million in more than 600 projects in the last 20 years. The primary benefit of being on Sate and National Registers, is that it qualifies the structures for matching grants to assist in restoration costs.

PLUME HOUSE UPDATE....

2011-06-03T05:09:00.000-07:00

NPLC and House of Prayer Church (the property where Plum House sits) have begun campaigns to persuade the State to relocate the house to a safer site north of the church, but so far the response from Trenton has been minimal. It does appear that the State will conduct architectural and engineering studies of the house to ascertain its condition, the causes of structural damage in recent decades, and the cost and feasibility of remedial actions – including possibly moving the house. Members of the church and the Landmarks Committee are skeptical that any studies arranged by the State can be impartial, and fearful that the State simply will shade the findings to expedite its project....

At its April 20 meeting, the Landmarks Committee decided to arrange for an independent examination of the house, to see how and whether it could be moved, or otherwise protected from the construction. Two members of the Landmarks Board – David Robinson, an experienced architect and planner, and Samer Hanini, a builder and architect – are taking the lead on this. They want to bring one or more engineers to make a thorough inspections of the house as soon as possible. This can include a review of the various physical problems you listed in a memo a few months ago.

Last week House of Prayer's Wardens and Vestry agreed that the parish wants to cooperate fully, and have this inspection performed soon. Both organizations plan to arrange for this inspection as soon as possible. A small private tour is currently being arranged to assess the structure.

(Article extracted from a personal note by NPLC Executive Director, Doug Eldridge to current resident of the Plume House). ...Additional updates will be posted as they become available.

37th Annual Awards Ceremony

2011-04-22T07:20:00.000-07:00

37th Annual Awards Event

Thursday, May 19, 2011 5:30 -7:30 pm

Honoring

Greater Newark Conservancy

and Historic Preservation Advocate Anthony Schuman...

Oheb-Shalom Congregation was organized in 1860 by a dissident group of Bohemian Jews from B'nai Jeshurun. The founder and first rabbi was Rev. Isaac Schwarz. Its Prince Street Synagogue was dedicated on September 14, 1884, and is the oldest extant synagogue building in Essex County. Oheb Shalom Congregation occupied the synagogue from 1884 until 1911, at which time it was sold to Congregation Adas Israel /Mi shnayes. In 1939 Metropolitan Baptist Church bought the building and occupied it from 1940 until 1993. Purchased by the City of Newark, the historic synagogue narrowly escaped demolition and was bought by Greater Newark Conservancy in 1995 to serve as the interior education programming space for its new Urban Environmental Center.

Today Oheb-Shalom Congregation is located at 170 Scotland Road in South Orange. Its former Prince Street Synagogue is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is in the process of being restored. Greater Newark Conservancy plans to turn the 15,800 square-foot building into a large lecture hall/community space, environmental classrooms, a demonstration kitchen/laboratory, environmental exhibit galleries and a computer library. To learn more about the Conservancy, please visit their website.

It is NPLC's great pleasure to be awarding the Conservancy the Donald Dust Award for 2011. That evening we will also be honoring NPLC trustee and long time advocate Anthony Schuman with the Charles Cummings Award....

About Anthony (Tony) Schuman professor at the College of Architecture and Design at New Jersey Institute of Technology and a registered architect.

Tony Schuman has taught architecture at NJIT in Newark for over thirty years. During that time he has become increasingly involved in the long, slow but essential and fulfilling project of helping Newark recover its status as a first class city. Beginning with research for Tri-City Citizens Union for Progress in 1979 and continuing to his service today on the boards of the Newark Preservation and Landmarks Committee and Lincoln Park/Coast Cultural District Inc. Tony has maintained an ongoing involvement with Newark’s civic and neighborhood organizations. He has engaged his students at the New Jersey School of Architecture (part of the College of Architecture and Design at NJIT) in community-based projects on a regular basis, working with Gerry Harvey and Crest Community Development Corp.; Carla Lerman and Episcopal Community Development; and Bayé Wilson and Lincoln/Park Coast.

He teaches a course entitled “‘Envisioning Newark”, the only course at NJIT where the topic is Newark. He takes students each week to meet with leaders in Newark’s neighborhoods, cultural institutions, and civic organizations, among them our preservation honoree Robin Dougherty and Greater Newark Conservancy. As an architect Tony participated in the planning department’s “Breaking the Box” housing design exercise that led to zoning changes to regulate the siting and appearance of the three-family “boxes” that proliferated in the first years of this century.

For NPLC Tony organized the awards ceremony last spring that honored historian Stanley Winters with the Charles Cummings award and the Grad Partnership, whose hundred year architecture practice that ended in January 2011 produced many of Newark’s finest structures. Through his efforts the Star Ledger covered both the Grad closing and the death this past January of Prof. Winters.

His most significant contribution to NPLC was the three day celebration of the Newark Eagles, Newark’s championship Negro Leagues baseball team, that he organized in 2007. Tony’s committee brought to Newark four of the six surviving members of the Eagles for a series of events that included a welcome dinner at the Newark Museum, a forum at the New Jersey Historical Society, and a celebration at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium that featured proclamations from the city, the county, and the US Congress. Tony also oversaw the design and placement of three plaques placed at historic sites associated with the Eagles.

His current effort, the Newark Jazz Heritage Project, continues his commitment to Newark’s social and cultural history by making visible Newark’s role as a mecca for jazz performance. This project will include banners at the sites of over 150 former clubs, theaters and other jazz venues; a blog site; an interactive map that locates the clubs and gives information about who performed there; and public art projects marking significant sites in the city’s jazz history. This project hit a milestone at the end of April with a reception to introduce the project to Newark’s jazz veterans, including Tiny Prince, Billy Phipps, and Leo Johnson. So in presenting the Charles Cummings Award for 2011 to Tony Schuman, we honor not only what he has already done for Newark, but what he is about to do.

Click here for more event details...

URGENT: NPLC CALLS FOR HELP TO SAVE THE 1725 PLUME HOUSE

2011-03-16T06:48:00.000-07:00

Last spring Preservation New Jersey added the Plume House to the 10 Most Endangered Historic Sites in New Jersey. NPLC is actively working to mobilize support to have New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJ DOT) relocate the Plume house to the other side House of Prayer Church which sets next door. Just beyond both structures is a vacant lot that is a perfect location for the building, and would allow for visitor parking as well...

(Plume House next to I-280)

SO WHY FIGHT TO MOVE AND PROTECT THE PLUME HOUSE?

(Exerts from article at Preservation New Jersey):

"Built prior to 1725, The Plume House is Newark’s second oldest extant building. Originally constructed by the Plume family, prominent early Newark settlers, the Dutch Colonial House exhibits local sandstone and hand-hewn timber framing and flooring. An 1874 rear addition brought the house to its current configuration..."

The Plume House served as a private residence until 1849, when it was sold to the House of Prayer church. The house was converted into a rectory for the church, which was constructed in 1850 immediately north of the Plume House on Broad Street. The Plume House attained further significance in 1887, when Reverend Hannibal Goodwin invented celluloid photographic film there (his application for a patent just two years before that of George Eastman would eventually result in a 1914 U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that confirmed Reverend Goodwin the inventor of celluloid photographic film).

The Plume House has survived the mass development of Newark, New Jersey’s largest city, over the last 280+ years. Most significantly, the house narrowly escaped obliteration during the mid 20th century, when an overpass for I-280 was constructed just four feet away. Unfortunately, it is the presence of this same overpass that threatens the Plume House today, almost 60 years later... ). (Read completed article at Preservation New Jersey: http://www.preservationnj.org/site/ExpEng/index.php?/ten_most/index_detail/The_Plume_House)...

LET'S TALK NUMBERS:

NJDOT'S Transit Capital Program for the fiscal years of 2009 - 2010 was 3.5 billion dollars. According to that same report 20 million of those dollars were allocated for some nebulous term called 'Metropolitan Planning.' An unverified report says that the I-280 expansion project will cost in the neighborhood of $48 million....

Segway to the Plume house, the second oldest structure in Newark from its Colonial past. Newark, the third oldest city in the United States of America behind Boston and New York... Conservative estimates say that it will cost perhaps a 1 million dollars to move the Plume House to safety. NPLC board members have attended several meetings, including hearings in Trenton, and submitted a written proposal toward this solution. Still it appears that NJDOT is looking to avoid the move for the cheaper solution of a sound wall. Which will dull the sound from I-280 to the surrounding community, but have no impact on the vibration that slowly destroying the Plume house.

Several years ago historic preservation circles were all abuzz with Pennsylvania's success story of how the state turned around a fledgling fiscal budget by creating an Historic Tourism industry that now bring millions of dollars into the state... When will New Jersey state and local authorities catch the vision? When will they realize that our city's history is one of its most valuable resources? According the important historic structures that have been lost each decade since NPLC came into existence, the answer appears to be -- NEVER!

To look at Boston and New York is see their architectural history. To gaze at our beloved Newark with its vacant lots where history once stood; decayed structures caught in political chest games; contemporary facades of glass and steal hiding historic buildings... and all one sees is greed and perhaps ignorance. If we don't work to preserve the Plume house NOW, it is certain that we will be condoning its demise in the near future.

Please help:

GET THE WORD OUT TO ALL YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS -- JOIN IN THE FIGHT! WAYS YOU CAN HELP:
Consider the impact on the Plume house past, present, future:
Become a member of NPLC to keep up to date with historic preservation in the city.
Contact your city and state official to register your concern about the Plume House
Submit personal letters of concern a to the NJ Department of Transportation (NJDOT)

MOST RECENT UPDATE > March 2011:

TO PEOPLE FROM HOUSE OF PRAYER OR LANDMARKS COMMITTEE:

In recent months we’ve circulated some letters from the N.J. Dept. of Transportation and the N.J. Historic Preservation Office about the proposed Route 280-21 interchange reconstruction. Some of these deal with a proposed “Memorandum of Agreement” covering plans for rebuilding this interchange – a project that the State acknowledges will have an “adverse effect” on the house, the second oldest building in Newark.

These letters contain a lot of bureaucratic language, and aren’t easy to understand. But I wanted to direct your attention to some passages in a Feb. 17 letter from Elkins Green of the DOT to Robert Hartman, a commissioner of the City’s Landmarks and Historic Preservation Commission. Hartman had written to the State to express the Commission’s continuing concern about the highway plans.

This letter (which was sent to most of you recently)is the first I have seen that makes any mention of suggestions that the Plume House be relocated to protect it against vibrations from the elevated 280. Such a move has been proposed separately by the City commission, by our Landmarks Committee. and by Preservation New Jersey. The DOT’s Green makes no judgment about the desirability or feasibility of relocating the house, but says the idea cannot even be considered until a proposed historic study of the house is proposed. Green says the study should be done soon, and will provide basic information about the condition of the house, and possible causes of its deterioration.

I just want to highlight a couple of passages from this letter, but will omit a lot of incidental language and focus just on the Plume issues

”The Historic Structures Report for the Plume House…will be prepared as soon as possible in order to inform the Final Design Process…This study…will provide the framework for the preservation and conservation of the Plume House. A Historic Structures Report will supply a Planning Document that can be used by the property owner {the House of Prayer} to apply for funding that is offered for the preservation, restoration, and/or conservation of National Register-listed properties. This may include the NJ Historic Trust, the NJ Cultural Trust, or the National Park Service’s Save America’s Treasures Grant Programs.

“The NJSHPO [New Jersey State Historic Preservation Office} has agreed that, without a Historic Structures Report, the advisability of moving the structure to another site cannot be assessed. In addition, the structural evaluation that will be included in this document will identify the causes of cracking in the Plume House and will also offer structural stabilization that would prevent further deterioration of this building.”

NOTE: Under the draft Memorandum of Agreement, the DOT would have to sponsor a Historic Structures Report by professional engineers, architects, historians, et al., but the DOT would not be required to undertake any specific remedial actions.

I hope this DOT letter can be considered in its entirety by the House of Prayer, the Landmarks Commission, the Landmarks Committee, and other organizations, and they can work together on a strategy to protect the Plume House for many years to come – preferably by relocating it at some distance from the elevated highway. I think we need an intensive, coordinated effort on this. All comments are welcome.

Special thanks to Bob Hartman for his leadership on this.

Highlights from NPLC's tour October 17th to Historic Mount Pleasant Cemetery...

2010-11-14T06:06:00.000-08:00

Special Joint Tour: Newarkhistory.com and Newark Landmarks and Preservation Committee was held this past October 17th...

Historic Mount Pleasant Cemetery, the oldest, largest and most scenic in Newark. Considered a masterpiece of landscape design and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Mount Pleasant is the final resting place of many notables of government, industry, finance and culture during nearly half of the city’s existence. Its 40 acres feature a variety of elaborate monuments, winding pathways, and lush vegetation.

The tour was led by two experienced guides who are experts in local history -- Elizabeth Del Tufo, president of the Newark Preservation & Landmarks Committee, and Jeffrey Bennett, founder and webmaster of “Newarkhistory.com.”

Here are a few highlights photos from the tour...

Monuments range from the massive marble mausoleum of John Dryden, founder of the Prudential Insurance Co., to the poignant statue of a girl in a dancer’s costume – Maud Munn, who died at the age of 10 in 1902. Among the celebrities entombed in Mount Pleasant are Mary Stillwell Edison, first wife of inventor Thomas Edison; Samuel Augustus Ward, composer of the melody of “American the Beautiful”; and Henry William Herbert, considered the first American writer about sports.

The vaults and tombstones bear many names that loom large in any history of Newark – Govs. Franklin Murphy and Marcus Ward, brewer Peter Ballantine, inventors Seth Boyden and Edward Weston, and numerous members of the Baldwin, Clark, Frelinghuysen, McCarter, and Scudder families.

Learn more at:
NEWARK PRESERVATION AND LANDMARKS COMMITTEE: http://www.newarklandmarks.org/index.htm

NEWARKHISTORY.COM:
http://www.newarkhistory.com/

WIKIPEDIA:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pleasant_Cemetery,_Newark

DON'T MISS THE NEXT TOUR:

Sunday, Nov 14th 12:00 Noon to 5:oo PM...

"The American Craftsman Home

and Gustave Stickley in Newark" at the Newark Museum

Reservations are recommended, and can be made at the Landmarks Committee office, 973-622-4910.
Tickets are $30 for committee members, and $35 for all others.

TOUR INCLUDES ADMISSION TO:
Gustav Stickley and the American Arts & Crafts Movement

Newark’s Justice: William J. Brennan, Jr.

2010-11-13T23:57:00.000-08:00

Photo borrowed from: Brennan Center for Justice site

Brennan was the second of eight children. His parents, William and Agnes (McDermott) Brennan, were Irish immigrants. They met in the United States, although both were originally from County Ros-common in Ireland. His father had little education; he worked as a metal polisher. However, he rose to a position of leadership, serving as the Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Newark from 1917 to 1930. He went on to become American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from 1956 to 1990.

_______________________

----The Newark History Society’s Panel Discussion on October 20, 2010

By NPLC Trustee Zemin Zhang

Since early June, Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. (his new statue) has stood high in front of the historic Essex County Hall of Records, watching his native city and far beyond with an anxious expression. During his 34-year tenure in the U.S. Supreme Court, with his over 1,300 legal opinions, Justice Brennan literally touched all aspects of every American’s life. However, 13 years after his death, American democracy and its fundamental values, such as church-and-state separation, and even the First Amendment itself, seem to face a serious challenge. With questions of the Constitution framers’ intentions during the “Tea Party” insurgence, Justice Brennan’s legal genius and his passion for human dignity are needed more than ever before...

Brendan O’Flaherty, an economics professor at Columbia University, a Newark connoisseur, and “the only person alive who has read through the 1929 Newark city budget,” organized the discussion with a question to all panelists: “What would Justice Brennan have been without Newark?”

Facing a crowded Newark audience, Seth Stern, an author of the long-awaited biography, Justice Brennan: Liberal Champion, started his presentation apologetically for devoting “only” 40 pages about Brennan’s Newark experience in this huge volume of almost 700 pages. He said, “We had to get Brennan quickly to the U.S. Supreme Court,” the institution that became his life. A talented storyteller with an admirable ability for even distant details, Stern traced Brennan Sr.’s ascendance from a penniless Irish immigrant in1893 to an almost legendary figure at his sudden death in 1930. Tens of thousands of Newarkers rushed to join his funeral precession from City Hall to St. Patrick’s Cathedral while three New Jersey National Guard airplanes dropping white flowers along the cortege. However, the humble family experience had a deep imprint on young Brennan and his firm commitment towards justice and human dignity, particularly for the deprived, humiliated, and voiceless underdogs.

Seton Hall Law Professor Edward Hartnett observed Brennan’s deep distrust of elected political power, which he developed during his youth seeing his father relentlessly attacked. In his book, Stern also described young Brennan’s most fearful moments when his father drank alone, frustrated and disturbed by local politics. Hartnett pointed out that, in contrast, since becoming a state judge after the 1947 State Constitution Convention overhauled the backward judicial system, Brennan Jr. had never wavered in his faith in the judicial power to create a more humane society. Hartnett cited case after case among Brennan’s numerous legal decisions where he extended justice through a living Constitution.

A walking encyclopedia of Essex County politics, Assemblyman Tomas Giblin is a long-time president of Local 68 Operating Engineers, the successor to Brennan Sr.’s union in the 1910’s. An Irish immigrant who had labored at the Ballantine Brewery, Brennan Sr. as the Commissioner for Public Safety faced an impossible predicament in the 1920’s Prohibition Era. Despite his previous effort of calling 1,000 Newark liquor dealers to fight prohibition, the City’s law-enforcement chief later claimed to lead “the cleanest city in the country” against bootlegging and corruption. Nonetheless, “Brennan was attacked by both the ‘Wet’ and the ‘Dry’ relentlessly,” said Giblin. During the hard days in the Great Depression, Giblin’s father got a one-day-a-week job from Commissioner Brennan. Thirty years later, Justice Brennan’s Baker v. Carr decision paved Giblin Senior’s path to another job, this time in the State Legislature. To Giblin, the Brennan family’s support to young Irish immigrants is legendary.

The Brennan family’s Irish connection, however, often led to the ethnic stereotype that Georgianna Brennan deeply resents. Justice Brennan, Geogianna’s father-in-law, was always dear “Pop,” not a mischievously smiling Leprechaun with short arms around his colleagues, as caricatured by authors like Bob Woodward. She recalled the hardworking old man baby-sitting grandchildren on a Christmas morning while writing legal opinions on a yellow pad next to the kitchen table. She testified to what Seth Stern described all through his 700-page book – the heroic but quiet sacrifices that Brennan made, together with his wife Marjorie and their children, for the justice of all. Having reached the pinnacle of his legal career, Justice Brennan was far from a wealthy man, but often resorted to borrowing money from friends for his children’s education. Shortly before her death, Marjorie overcame her cancer pain and showed up for the last time in Justice Brennan’s Supreme Court chamber to observe his questioning. Georgianna Brennan is particularly proud of her Newark roots, “I am a Newarker because I was born, married, and worked in Newark.” What she did not mention is that her own father Pearce Franklin, an able attorney, served as a Newark City Commissioner between the 1930’s and the 1950’s, even longer than Brennan Sr.

The evening’s audience seemed to enthusiastically embrace the Brennan’s, particularly William J. Brennan Sr., as their own. I remember reading a 1928 New York Times report about 100,000 children attending a Brennan “family picnic” in Dreamland Park, which blocked the Lincoln Highway traffic for hours. Today, with the Newark Public Library facing extensive service cuts and Brennan’s Barringer High School falling into chaos, it is hard to imagine that political leaders like Commissioner Brennan could command such affection from ordinary citizens. Justice Brennan said in 1986, “Everything I am, I am because of my father.” For today’s Newarkers and Americans whose lives have been deeply touched by Brennan’s monumental legal works, we may be tempted to say, “Everything we are, we are because of Justice Brennan.”

Newark History Society’s NEXT PROGRAM:

“Tragedy and Reform: Newark’s Worst Fatal Fire — The 1910 High Street Factory Fire,” will take place next Tuesday, November 16 at 6:00 pm at the New Jersey Historical Society, 52 Park Place in Newark.

NEWARK EAGLES MONUMENT DEDICATED

2010-10-03T22:02:00.000-07:00

It’s been 64 years since the Ne4wark Eagles won a championship, but they scored a latter-day grand slam in the Central Ward last Thursday.

A large plaque, depicting and dedicated to the winners of the 1946 Negro Leagues World Series, was unveiled by Mayor Cory A. Booker and other community leaders.

The bronze and aluminum monument climaxes a tribute to the Eagles that was begun three years ago by the Newark Preservation & Landmarks Committee, and is the largest and most elaborate historical marker ever unveiled by the group. Calvin Jackson, a local contractor, split the cost of the market with NPLC.

The monument sits in an oval park in the middle of Eagles Parkway at Lincoln Street, a block from West Kinney Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd, in a new townhouse development known as Cottage Place. Seven streets in the area are named for players on the fabled team, but only two are still alive and they weren’t able to attend the dedication.

A crowd of about 60 gathered under a tent as dark clouds gathered overhead. But all the speeches were concluded and the plastic cover removed from the plaque before a raindrop fell. The festivities were sponsored by the Newark Housing Authority, which oversaw the new development. The NHA provided printed programs, colorful displays, an array of food, and even a jazz quartet.

Booker, who has attended only a few landmarks events, recalled that he had lived for a while in the neighborhood and had seen the beginning of its rebirth. He said it is important for Newark’s past to be enshrined in new areas. He asserted that the old High Street is “beginning to resound with the glory of our history…We must remember and elevate and exalt our past.”

The plaque includes a large photo of the 1946 championship team, a map of the area, and brief biographies of the players for whom the streets are named. Several speakers said it will help residents of the area, as well as visitors, learn about the origins of the street names.

While no Eagles players attended, the ceremony did bring out Ron Murphy, who was batboy, and Robert Scott, who had been a pitcher for the New York Black Yankees.

Pamela Irvin Fields brought greetings from her father, Monte Irvin, who is 91 and living in Florida. Irvin is one of the players with a street near Eagles Parkway named for him, and his name also appears on an Essex County park in Orange.

The significance of the Eagles was explained by Anthony Schuman, an NJIT professor and NPLC trustee, who chaired the committee’s baseball subcommittee since 2006. Schuman paid special tribute to Joseph Fox, surveyor for the City of Newark, who conceived of honoring the Eagles in the housing complex.

Schuman’s subcommittee is still considering some other commemorative projects, such as an exhibit about the Negro Leagues and a documentary about the 2007 celebration, which was attended by four old Eagles players.

Highlights of the 2007 observance were a dinner at the Newark Museum, a book-signing at the N.J. Historical Society, and a tribute at Bears and Eagles Stadium. Plaques were placed then at the site of the vanished Ruppert Stadium, at Wilson Avenue and Avenue K., and the house at 71 Crawford St. which was the home and office of Effa Manley, a co-owner of the Eagles. She was the first woman named to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Other sidelights were provided by Lawrence Hogan, a Union County College professor who has produced books and a film about the Negro Leagues titled “Before you can say Jackie Robinson.”

The final speaker at the dedication was Councilwoman Mildred Crump, who served in the past as a trustee of the Landmarks Committee. She voiced praise for the organization’s leadership in spreading public awareness about Newark history.

The plaque was unveiled by Schuman and Calvin Jackson, a Newark contractor who has built much housing in the area. Jackson is contributing half of the $4,337 cost of the plaque, which was fabricated by CenTec Cast Metal Products of Fremont, Ohio, which has produced more than a score of tablets for NPLC.

The Housing Authority picked up the tabs for the dedication, including the tent, refreshments, and music. Keith Kinard, executive director of the NHA, served as master of ceremonies. Morris Warner, an administrator of the agency, and Brooke Tippens, community relations director, handled the arrangements. Other speakers included Modia Butler, chairman of the authority, and newly elected Councilman Darren Sharif of the Central Ward.

MAY 2nd. BUS TOUR To Feature Restored NEWARK LANDMARKS

2010-04-27T04:16:00.000-07:00

Liz Del Tufo courtesy of Star Ledger (NJ.com)

Newark’s celebration of Historic Preservation Month will begin Sunday, May 2, with a guided tour of landmark sites that have been restored with funds from the New Jersey Historic Trust.

The five-hour bus tour will visit or pass many of the 20 buildings and sites that have received a total of $8.6 million from the state agency during the past 20 years. The aided locations include houses of worship, public buildings, mansions, theaters, social agencies and cemeteries.

“In the Trust We Trust” is the theme of the excursion, to be led by Elizabeth Del Tufo and sponsored by the Newark Preservation & Landmarks Committee. Del Tufo, recently elected president of the group, said she wants people to learn about Newark’s most significant places, and to realize how much has been done for them with funds and guidance from the Trenton-based agency...

Founded in 1967 and now part of the N.J. Department of Community Affairs, the Trust has given sums ranging from $25,000 to $2 million for plans, repairs, and restoration work at the Newark sites. All of the sites are on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places.

The tour will begin at noon at The Newark Museum, 49 Washington St., where the trust has aided the ongoing restoration of the Ballantine House, built in the 1880s for a brewery tycoon. Also receiving a recent state grant was the 1859 Polhemus House, now closed but about to become a key part of the museum’s multimillion-dollar expansion.

The group will then go to the century-old Essex County Courthouse, designed by Cass Gilbert and totally rehabilitated a few years ago. The visitors can explore new gardens and walkways surrounding the building. (Below is a view from the inside of the building, which will not be open for this tour).

Next will be the Greater Newark Conservancy on Prince Street, which is transforming the oldest synagogue in Newark into an environmental education center. The tour group will get a rare peek inside the unfinished 1884 building, and stroll through the adjoining formal gardens and exhibits.

The next two stops will be churches – Queen of Angels Roman Catholic, home of one of the oldest and largest African-American congregations in the city, and the Newark Gospel Tabernacle in Vailsburg. Queen of Angels was built by German Catholics in 1861. The tabernacle was erected in the 1920s as the Stanley Theater, and its ornate auditorium resembles a Mediterranean courtyard.

Mount Pleasant Cemetery, which opened in 1844, features acres of elaborate monuments for many former Newark leaders, and landscaped grounds filled with ancient trees and flowering plants. Its Victorian Gothic gateway on Broadway was restored with a grant from the Trust.

The tour will conclude at Broadway House, a center for AIDS treatment. It is in a massive structure that opened in the 1920s as headquarters for Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Co., and later housed Essex Catholic High School. Refreshments will be served before the tour bus returns to the museum.

Reservations are recommended, and can be made at the Landmarks Committee office:

973-622-4910. Tickets are $30 for committee members, and $35 for all others.

2010 ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING HIGHLIGHTS...

2010-03-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

NPLC welcomed over forty members and friends to our 36th Annual Membership Meeting, held at St. Lucy's RC Church. The meeting took place in The Old First Ward Museum, which is located in the Multipurpose Center of St. Lucy's adjacent to their spectacular Sanctuary. (Photos l to r are: Executive Director Doug Eldridge, who helped members solute outgoing President Bill Miksell with the presentation of a gift of framed photos from previous events...

Just before incoming President Liz Del Tufo took the podium to outline some of NPLC plans for this upcoming year. Finally, Bob Cascella, St. Lucy's member and curator of the Old First Ward Museum, treated guest to an exquisite buffet, informal talk on the Old First Ward (the museum is filled with photos and mementos, reminding us of the rich architectural and cultural history of Old Newark) and a tour of St. Lucy's cathedral...

Elections were approved for the following positions on the Board of Trustees for 2010 (and beyond): Liz Del Tufo was elected President, Rosalind Nzinga Nichol Vice President (Marketing), Peggy Dougherty Vice President (Membership), James Lewis remains as Secretary, Richard Grossklaus remains as Treasurer, and a new position for Parliamentarian was given to Mark Gordon. New incoming trustee Matt Gosser was added to a first year term (read more about Matt below). Cathy Lenix-Hooker, Peggy Dougherty and Rosalind Nzinga Nichol were all confirmed for 3-year terms. (NPLC election process is progressive. New board members are first confirmed for one year, then two, and finally three years pre each renewal upon approval of the board).

Other news:

Incoming President Liz Del Tufo, outlined a few of the goals slated for this year's agenda including plans to nominate and campaign for specific threatened sites, the development of a concise marketing plan to improve overall communications with members and to link with other preservationists locally and nationally, and an incoming membership director who will spear head the improvement of the membership process.

Headed by Rosalind Nichol, our new VP of Marketing, NPLC will continue to build an on-line presence through our website, blog, social networking venues, and the creation of data bases to store information on landmarks and past NPLC publications. (Assisted by Trustees Mark Gordon, Anthony Schuman, and NJIT students you will hear more about this work in upcoming NP issues). Rosalind comes to NPLC with over thirty years of history in visual communication design and marketing.

NPLC has also added Peggy Dougherty as our new VP of Membership. Peggy is the Deputy Director of Development & Membership at the Newark Museum for over twenty years, and is currently working in subcommittee to revamp membership and incentives. Currently, NPLC have 148 paid members through 2010, with a total of 238 in good standing. A NEW Student membership for $10 was added this year (available with a photo copy of a valid student ID). Stay tuned for more benefits and exciting changes, that we hope will encourage you to invite your friend to join in the help to preserve and defend the historic and cultural history of Newark.

One final note. The City of Newark has a long history of those who wish to level it in favor of a modern clean skyline towards for the future, and those of us who understand that Newark's future is very much anchored in how she harmonizes the future with her past. NPLC is working to improve our efforts to organize so that we can be a part of the movement to preserve that past. Will you help us? You can start today by making a personal commitment this the year to take an active role in the Committee. The board of Trustees are counting on members just like YOU to volunteer, make donations, and attend events and meetings so you can make informed decisions about taking action on important issues in city planning. IT'S YOUR HISTORY -- and the time to PRESERVE IT is NOW!

NEXT EVENT: 36TH ANNUAL AWARDS CEREMONY, details to follow soon...

If you wish to be added to our e-mail data base for future mailings, please send your contact information to us at: nplc@live.com.

MEET MATT GOSSER

2010-03-30T05:58:00.000-07:00

NPLC welcomes its newest Trustee Matthew Gosser. Matt is a Newark-based artist with professional degrees in both architecture and infrastructure planning. For the past five years he has been an adjunct instructor at New Jersey’s School of Architecture which has allowed him time to pursue artistic endeavors such as black and white photography and outdoor sculpture. Over the past several years his artwork has been presented in numerous solo and group exhibits in New Jersey and Florida, as well as in private collections here and abroad...

His black and white photographs have primarily been an exercise in finding beauty in subject matter not conventionally thought of as beautiful. Abandoned buildings and uprooted forests have consequently yielded abstract compositions of rich texture, dramatic lighting and geometric complexity. The best example of this can be found in a series of photographs taken at ground zero two nights after September 11, 2001.

Matt refers to his current stream of work as “Ar+chaeology.” Which refers to an art movement concerned with the exploration of abandoned, historically significant buildings and the transformation of found artifacts into artwork that speaks somehow of the places they were found. Previous Ar+chaeology exhibitions have promoted a greater appreciation of sites such as the Pabst Brewery, the old Essex County Jail, the Mulberry Street Firehouse, the Westinghouse Factory, and most recently the Krueger-Scott Mansion.

With a wealth of experience, publications, and exhibits to his credit NPLC is pleased to welcome Matt to the board. His position was affirmed at our 36th Annual Meeting at St. Lucy's RC Church this past February. Matt will also be assisting Rosalind Nichol with marketing on the Communications Committee. Which is one of our major focuses this year. To keep the membership informed about the activities and events we are pursuing on an ongoing bases to help preserve what remains of the rich and diverse history of Newark.

You can learn more about Matt's Work at:

http://www.gosser.info/concept.htm

36th Annual Meeting: ST. LUCY'S

2010-01-06T01:36:00.000-08:00

St. Lucy's Church is both highly historic and one of the most beautiful and ornately built churches in the City of Newark. "A little bit of baroque stuck in the midst of the gritty streets" one writer observes. We prefer to say it is one of the crown jewels that makes Newark the marvelously diverse City that it is...

.... Italians first began to gather in Newark, in the 1880s. Working mostly in factories, they dominated the construction trades in Newark and elsewhere. From digging sewers to carving marble, Italians excelled at the art of building. (1)

The old First Ward around 7th Avenue became the most famous of all Newark Italian neighborhood, though Italian families also lived at Silver Lake near Belleville, along South Orange Avenue, and in the Ironbound by the railroad tracks. Notably the first Italian parish was Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in the Ironbound. St. Lucy's soon followed in 1891 at the peak of Italian immigration to Newark. It is reported that from 1910 to 1920, priests at St. Lucy's performed 10,694 baptisms and 1,495 marriages.(2)

The cornerstone for the original, wood-framed church was laid on December 13th of that year, on the feast day of St. Lucy of Syracuse. The brick and stone church structure that we today admire was built between 1925-1926. Like the original wood-frame church before it, the new church opened its doors in 1928 and was dedicated and named for St. Lucy of Syracuse, the patron saint of blindness.

The architect for the project was Neil Convey, who also designed the Sacred Heart Church on South Orange Avenue at Sanford Avenue, the largest parish church in Newark. The real treat in visiting St. Lucy is the opportunity to be transported to another time and place due to the impressive murals that fill the walls and ceilings. Like the work on the Cathedral-Basilica of the Sacred Heart just down the street, St. Lucy's murals were created by Gonippo G. Raggi (1875 - 1959), a leading ecclesiastical muralist of the 20th century. Like renowned artists such as Edwin Blashfield, who most likely influenced his work, and Kenyon Cox, Raggi enjoyed a long prolific career, and became a master in the tradition of Renaissance style murals. According to one source, he painted murals for at least nine churches in New Jersey, including those in St. Catharine's Church of Spring Lake (image and link below). (3)

Make plans to join us as we tour St. Lucy's Church and the Old First Ward Museum housed there, and screen the documentary "The Vanished First Ward," Created and narrated by Emmy Award-winning anchor and syndicated columnist Steve Adubato, Jr.

NEW DATE: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2010, 5 - 7 pm; St. Lucy's RC Church 118 7th Avenue Newark NJ 07104 (973) 482-6663 (directions)

ADMISSION: $20 / NEW Student Admission $5 /or Student Membership $10 (with student ID)

Non-Members $25

ADDITIONAL LINKS:

About Steve Adubato, Jr. and the documentary"The Vanished First Ward": http://www.caucusnj.org/caucusnj/special_series/little_italy.asp

Wikipedia article on Newark's Seventh Avenue: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh_Avenue,_Newark,_New_Jersey

REFERENCES:

(1) Most of the above information and more available at: http://www.newarkhistory.com/stlucyschurch.html
(2) NJ.com: http://blog.nj.com/njv_bob_braun/2009/04/longtime_newark_priest_fights.html

(3) From EverGreen Website on St. Catharine's Church Spring Lake, NJ: (click here)

SIDE BAR FROM WINTER ISSUE:

Edwin Howland Blashfield (1848 –1936)

An American artist, born in New York City. He was a pupil of Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat in Paris beginning in 1867, and became (1888) a member of the National Academy of Design in New York. For some years a genre painter, he later turned to decorative work, where his academic background in painting and extensive travels to study fresco painting in Italy melded in work marked by rare delicacy and beauty of coloring.

Considered a leading muralist of the late 19th century, he painted mural decorations or created mosaics in a number of places associated with the American Renaissance period. With his wife he wrote Italian Cities (1900) and edited Vasari's Lives of the Painters (1896), and was well known as a lecturer and writer on art. He became president of the Society of Mural Painters, and of the Society of American Artists. (From Wikipedia article).

SPOTLIGHT: EverGreene The Sacred Space Studio

2010-01-05T09:44:00.000-08:00

NLPC blog endeavors to share activities of the committee, and to connect people, ideas, and resources that prove helpful in the preservation of this great city of ours, Newark, New Jersey. The third oldest city in these United States of America. We are pleased to add any link or feature any business which fundamentally, has at the heart of its mission the wherewithal to do the same. No matter how great or small the effort. In conjunction with our upcoming annual meeting, we therefore are pleased to spotlight the work of EverGreene Architectural Arts, who have been in the business of award-winning decoration and restoration since 1978...

With a nod toward ecclesiastical muralist Gonippo G. Raggi, who created the lovely murals at St. Lucy Church, we would like to spotlight the work Patricia Zimmerman and Evgeny Nikitin who operate "The Sacred Space Studio" at EverGreene Architectural Arts.

EverGreene's Sacred Space Studio serves houses of worship throughout the country, creating or renewing liturgical artistry and decoration. Patricia Zimmerman serves as the primary contact for the coordination of this area of EverGreene's preservation work. She works with religious clients, architects, and trades people, all in an effort to help develop and restore inspiring ecclesiastical murals and sacred arts. Educated at the University of Notre Dame, Ms. Zimmerman focused her studies on art, architecture, Christianity, and Catholicism. Her articles have appeared in national publications such as Church Executive, The Stained Glass Quarterly, and Traditional Building Magazine. She is an experienced presenter on liturgical design and decorative artistry and enjoys speaking at the Keely Society Congress (an organization celebrating the nineteenth-century ecclesiastical architecture of Patrick C. Keely), as well as other events within the field.

She works in tandem with Evgeny "Eugene" Nikitin, EverGreene's head designer of architectural ornament, art, decoration, and appointments for houses of worship. Mr. Nikitin, who was educated and trained in the classical tradition in Europe and Russia, is widely recognized as a leading expert in religious symbolism, styles and expressions, history and theory of art, and architectural ornament. As the leaders of EverGreene's Sacred Space Studio, Ms. Zimmerman and Mr. Nikitin bring a wealth of experience, along with an understanding of the practical, technical, and spiritual needs of sacred spaces...

Please visit the EverGreene website to view a slide show of some of the wonderful restoration work they have done worldwide: http://www.evergreene.com/

Also, please click this link to view EverGreene's restoration work of Raggi's murals St Catherine's Church at Spring Lake, NJ:

Additional related Links:

Partners in Sacred Places: http://www.sacredplaces.org/

American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works: http://www.blogger.com/goog_1262711962228 /

Information on the Genre of Historical Murals and Decorative Painting in public spaces:

A History of Murals: http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=217100

Edwin Howland Blashfield: Master American Muralist,
Edited by: Mina Rieur Weiner, (available on Amazon - click here):

Guide to the Papers of Edwin Howland Blashfield

1870-1956 (New York Historical Society): http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/nyhs/blashfield.html

Giorgio Vasari: The Lives of the Artists

MEMORIAL TO CULTURAL ARTS AND CIVIL RIGHTS PIONEER

2009-07-17T05:38:00.000-07:00

Bronze Plaque Highlights Contributions of the Late Mrs. Lena Donaldson Griffith, Founder of the Griffith Music Foundation and Former Freeholder

Newark, NJ – Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. dedicated a memorial to the late Mrs. Lena Donaldson Griffith in the park plaza next to the Historic Essex County Courthouse on Thursday, July 2nd. The bronze plaque recognizes the contributions of the late Mrs. Griffith, a cultural arts and civil rights pioneer in Newark and Essex County who founded the Griffith Music Foundation, which promoted music and the arts in the 1930s to the 1950s.

The memorial was arranged by County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, after a major article about her by Guy Sterling appeared in The Star-Ledger. The plaque, telling some highlights of Ms. Griffith’s life, is on a stone base beside a walk that replaced a section of 13th Avenue just south of the courthouse. It is on the edge of Gummere Park, where the bust of Charles Cummings was dedicated a year ago. In his brief remarks, DiVincenzo paid tribute to Cummings and to Liz Del Tufo, who spearheaded the drive for the bust.

Lena Donaldson Griffith was born in Iowa in 1880 and moved to New Jersey in 1907. She was married to Parker O. Griffith, co-founder of the Griffith Piano Company, which operated at 605 Broad Street in Newark. Using the piano company as her springboard, she founded the Griffith Music Foundation, which sponsored music competitions for children, held lecture series and music appreciation classes, and hosted big-name concerts at the Mosque Theater on Broad Street, now Symphony Hall.

Mrs. Griffith’s achievements were not confined to music, however. She had a history of civic and community service, serving as an Essex County Freeholder in 1947, Trustee of the Newark Museum and Trustee of Newark University, which later merged into Rutgers University. At a time of segregation, the Griffith family not only hired African-Americans to work at their family business, but Mrs. Griffith publicly promoted Civil Rights and used her position as a board member of a Newark radio station to invite famed African-American contralto Marian Anderson to perform at the Mosque Theater. She died at the age of 82 in 1960.

Click link to access the original article: Newark's Forgotten Music Center by Guy Sterling/The Star-Ledger Saturday November 22, 2008, 10:46 PM

Click this link to access Essex County press release about the dedication service

35TH ANNUAL AWARDS CEREMONY

2009-05-12T02:21:00.000-07:00

NPLC HONOR'S PHILIP ROTH AND BROADWAY HOUSE:

The Newark Preservation & Landmarks Committee cordially invites all members and friends to our 35th Annual Awards Ceremony. This year, we will present the third Charles Cummings Award to Newark born author Philip Roth. Mr. Roth has won international fame and every major American prize, and written 30 books over the past 50 years.

First gaining recognition with the 1959 collection Goodbye, Columbus (winner of 1960's National Book Award) a novella of five short stories set in New Jersey. (1) We honor him for using historical facts and settings as background for his work, making Newark history come alive for many.

The ceremony will be held in one of Newark’s grand, seldom-seen spaces, Broadway House. Originally built in 1926 for Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company, known as the "Tiffany" of insurance companies, a reference to its reputation as the life insurance company to the upper classes. (2) The building later housed the Essex Catholic High School before opening as Broadway House in 1994. Broadway House is New Jersey’s only specialized care facility for people with HIV/AIDS and is an affiliate of UMDNJ. The facility will be receiving the Donald Dust Recognition Award for beautifully restoring the interior splendor of this Renaissance Revival building for a third major life, a great example of an historic property refitted for contemporary use.

The evening will feature tours, a musical video filmed in the building, a player grand piano and refreshments. Admission is: $25 for NPLC members, and $40 for all others. Children 12 and under are welcome for $10 each. Reservations are required, so please RSVP by Monday, May 18, 2009 by calling: 973-622-4910.

LOCATION: 298 Broadway, North Newark (facing Summer Avenue, 2nd Avenue, and Broadway); FREE PARKING – a large lot on the west side of the building. Please look for “Broadway House” and “New Vista” signs. TRANSPORTATION: NJ Transit buses including #13 serve the area.

For additional information about Broadway House you may visit their website at: http://www.broadwayhouse.org/

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Roth
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_Benefit_Life_Insurance_Company

HIGHLIGHTS FROM ANNUAL MEETING at AHAVAS SHOLOM

2009-03-07T18:46:00.000-08:00

For those that missed the 35th Annual Membership meeting of NPLC held at Ahavas Sholom, in Newark, you really missed a treat... The highlight of the evening were the speakers and presentations against the back drop of the magnificent ark that was brought to Ahavas Sholom in 1929. The above slideshow contains images of members and guest who gathered at the meeting as NPLC discussed annual business and welcome our newest member Samer Hanini. Additonal images of Ahavas Sholom can be seen as you scroll to the bottom of this page.

'From Bergen Street... to Broadway' was the theme. Robert Steinbaum, VP of Ahavas Sholom spoke on "What's in Our Past - and The Future. Max Herman, President of the Jewish Museum of New Jersey (JMNJ) (second floor of Ahavas Sholom) talked about the history of the Museum. And, Linda Forgosh, Executive Director of the Jewish Historical Society of MetroWest, explained the the significance of the "Weequahic Memoirs" now on it's second leg of its tour at the NMNJ. (Photos from that exhibit are at the end of this article).

The other highlight of the evening was Ulana Zakalak’s speech on the Significance of Ahavas Sholom. So informative was her presentation that we decided to copy it here, with her permission along with some photos of the inside of Ahava Sholom. As we look ahead to the upcoming year, think about how you can take an active role in preserving Newark History by volunteering time with Newark Preservation and Landmarks Committee.

The Significance of Ahavas Sholom

by Ulana Zakalak

In 1869, on the occasion of the dedication of the votive chapel at the cathedral of Linz, the humble Austrian composer Anton Bruckner set a simple, anonymous prayer to music. This simple Latin prayer, so appropriate for today’s setting, has now become the standard choral piece for the dedication of religious buildings. The words are few but profound:

Locus iste a Deo factus est, inaestimabile sacramentum, irreprehensibilis est. The translation is “This place was made by God a priceless mystery; it is beyond reproach.”

To me, this is a wonderful way to describe this synagogue, a priceless mystery, the last remaining original active synagogue in Newark, a city, which once boasted over 30 synagogues and 70,000 Jewish residents. The priceless mystery of this synagogue applies to both its founding and its continued sustainment. It is the last vestige of over 150 years of Jewish history in Newark, the last remaining neighborhood synagogue. It is significant in its history and in its art: its carved mahogany ark is unique in the City of Newark. Dating from around 1872, it is the oldest existing ark in the State of New Jersey and one of the oldest in the metropolitan area.

The creation of Ahavas Sholom is unlike the founding of any other larger synagogues that preceded it. It is not of the size of B’Nai Jeshurun, the first Jewish congregation in Newark, nor does it have the opulence of B’Nai Abraham or the solemnity of Oheb Shalom. It is simply a neighborhood synagogue located in the same community as its congregants. It never attracted a large audience, or a famous rabbi. It was a neighborhood gathering place founded by Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, who settled along then Belleville Avenue. Because they were Orthodox, they required that their shul be within walking distance of their homes. These immigrants started stores along Belleville Avenue and lived above their stores. They sold furniture, household goods, clothing, produce and meats. They serviced the large Italian community to the north and west, the Old First Ward, as well as their own neighborhood. They also supplied Forest Hill, the wealthy residential section of the north Ward.

Temple Window from inside view

Temple Window from outside

Although the immigrants came from diverse places in Eastern Europe, and spoke a variety of languages, they were united by their need for a local synagogue where they could feel comfortable and their needs could be met. The larger city synagogues were well established by this time and had wealthier, more Americanized, or second, and third generation American congregants. They were located in the city’s Central Ward, where the bulk of the Jewish community resided. Many of these Central Ward congregations were drifting towards, or already, practicing Reform Judaism. The merchants of Belleville Avenue wished to retain their Old World traditions and their Orthodox faith, as well as learning American ways in their own setting. They considered themselves middle class and felt uncomfortable worshiping with the more established city merchants. Additionally, the geographic distance from the Central Ward synagogues further enhanced their isolation from the established Jewish community, fostering a pioneering spirit in a frontier outpost of the city’s Jewish Diaspora.

Some of the first pioneers of the area were Leopold and Ada Jacobson. They settled in the area in the late 1890s, after emigration from Latvia via Baltimore. Leopold was a cabinetmaker and antique furniture dealer. The Jacobsons chose the area due to its proximity to New York City and Forest Hill, where many of their customers could be found. Abraham Bienstock and his family came from Germany. He established a home furnishings business on Seventh Avenue, and was an especially popular merchant due to his ability to speak German, English, Yiddish and Italian, particularly useful due to the proximity of Newark’s Little Italy. By 1910, both sides of Belleville Avenue were lined with shops owned by eastern European Jewish immigrants.

In 1903, the Jacobsons were blessed with a son Saul, but with no synagogue available for his bris. The Jacobsons invited some of their fellow merchants to their home to form a minyan, a gathering of ten Jewish adults required to conduct a prayer service. They quickly organized as a congregation and immediately went to work raising money to build a synagogue. A mutual aid society was formed to provide medical and burial services for members. They started a Ladies Auxiliary and a Newark Chapter of Hadassah, Forest Hill group. In 1918, the congregation incorporated, and five years later this building was built, at a cost of $75,000.

In 1929, Leopold Jacobson heard that a magnificent ark was available from a demolished synagogue in New York City. In 1873, Anshe Chesed, originally on Norfolk Street, on the lower east side, had built a brand new synagogue on Lexington Avenue at 63rd Street with a magnificent ark. Due to the blending of various congregations and the sale of Lexington Avenue synagogue in 1926, the ark was put in storage. The ark had been in storage for a number of years and the congregation was anxious to get rid of it. Although it was given away without cost, Jacobson had to raise $200 to pay for cartage fees. He moved the ark to Newark and succeeded in trimming the ark to fit the much smaller space of Ahavas Sholom, using leftover pieces to create the bima. With the installation of this magnificent ark, Jacobson transformed the starkly simple, interior of this Neo‐Classical temple and provided a glorious focus for worship services. And here we are admiring this priceless mystery, the fruit of the labors of these early immigrants.

Yet during the time the congregation was most active, the Jewish out migration from Newark had already begun. In the 1920s, Jewish residents began moving to the new neighborhoods, first to Clinton Hill, in the City’s South Ward, and then to the Weequahic section. As the Jewish merchants of Belleville Avenue became more Americanized, they too moved south to the newer, less urban neighborhoods at the perimeter of the city. By 1950, most of the original merchants were in their seventies and retiring and their children did not want to continue their parents’ businesses. A major blow came to the area with urban renewal in 1953, when the First Ward’s Little Italy was demolished. Forty-six acres of Little Italy was demolished to provide public housing. On June 15, 1952, the New York Times, labeled the forty‐million‐dollar urban renewal plan as the “the largest slum clearance and development project in New Jersey.” About 1,300 families were displaces, many of whom shopped on Belleville Avenue. High rise, low‐income towers labeled Christopher Columbus Homes, replaced the community and hastened the deterioration of the remaining neighborhood. The final blow came with civil disturbances in 1967.

During this time, except for Ahavas Sholom, this priceless mystery, all of the Jewish congregations left Newark for the outlying suburbs, or merged with other congregations. Ahavas Sholom went through a very stressful period during the late 1960s and early 1970s and almost closed. Today the congregation is surviving, “almost thriving.” It has become a regular stop on various tours and the congregation has been able to begin an ambition restoration program….

35th ANNUAL MEETING

2009-02-05T20:03:00.000-08:00

ANNUAL RECEPTION / MEMBERSHIP MEETING:

Tuesday, February 10, 2009 - 5:30 - 7:30 pm

Congregation Ahavas Sholom

145 Broadway, Newark New Jersey

Admission: $20 Members $25 Non-Members

_________

Tuesday, February 10th, NPLC will gather at one of Newark's most distinctive houses of worship Congregation Ahavas Sholom, as we celebrate another year in the landmarks movement, and explore tow major attractions: Yesterday on Bergen Street, ...and Today on Broadway...

See 'WEEQUAHIC MEMOIRS," a traveling exhibit of photos, videos, documents and souvenirs of the historic area that once served a thriving Jewish community. Also, you can tour the last original synagogue still functioning in Newark, and admire its classical design, massive carved 1872 ark, and signs of revitalization.

Ulana Zakalak, architectural historian who help NPLC put this synagogue on the National Register of Historic Places, will discuss its significance. Leaders of Ahavs Sholom will tell about its history, and plans for the building and the neighborhood.

Refreshments will be provided by a local kosher caterer. Admission is $20 for members, and $25 for non-members. You may pay at the door or by contacting NPLC at P.O. Box 1066, Newark, New Jersey.

Location: Congregation Ahavas Sholom, 145 Broadway, North Newark, two block north of Bloomfield Avenue. Free secure parking is available in the lot adjoing the synagogue, and also in the lot next-door at Clinton Memorial AME Zion Church, 151 Broadway.

OFFICIAL NOTICE: The annual meeting of NPLC members will be held at this event. We will elect nine trustees, and review activities, plans, and finances. All members paid through 2008 are eligible to vote in this elections. William Mikesell, President