 |  | |
 |
|  |
 |  | |
| | |
|
| |
| | |
|
|
Originally published in 1939
Some of this information may no longer be current and in that case is presented for historical interest only.
Edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003
MONTCLAIR, 5.3 miles (250 alt., 42,017 pop.), formerly a part of
Bloomfield, broke off when the parent community refused to cooperate
in building a railroad to run from Jersey City to the New York State Line.
That was in 1868; today Montclair is larger than Bloomfield. Montclair
has a sizable business center with impressive office and bank buildings; the
community has been developed – and dwarfed – by its proximity to Newark. The township's history can be traced to 1666, year of a town meeting
convened in Milford, Conn., to consider inducements proffered by Gov.
Philip Carteret of New Jersey to establish a settlement on the banks of
the Passaic River (see NEWARK). It was at first divided into two parts,
Cranetown and Speertown, for two early settlers; Stephen Crane (1871-1900), the writer (see LITERATURE), was a descendant of the first
Crane. None of Montclair's early buildings remains. The EGBERT HOUSE
(private), 128 N. Mountain Ave., a story-and-a-half brown sandstone
dwelling with mansard roof and white-shuttered, small-paned windows,
was built in 1786 by a Hessian ex-mercenary. A red-brick porch matches
the chimneys at the ends of the house.
Another old building, at 369 Claremont Ave., is known as the GEORGE
WASHINGTON WAYSIDE HOUSE (private) for no more apparent reason
than that George Washington passed by it on his way from Totowa to
support Lafayette's expedition against the British on Staten Island. Built
more than 150 years ago, the little frame house was willed in 1831 to
James Howe, an emancipated Negro slave. Washington did stay over in
Montclair, at a house that stood at what is now Valley Rd. and Claremont
Ave. The site is marked by a boulder on 6 square feet of green – a
community-owned landmark that has attracted Robert L. Ripley's attention
as the SMALLEST PARK IN THE WORLD.
Montclair is proud of its cultural life. The MONTCLAIR ART MUSEUM,
L. at Bloomfield and South Mountain Aves., a large, two-and-a-half-story
structure of cream brick fronted by four marble Ionic columns, is considered by Montclair residents an oasis in the art desert. The building was
presented to the Montclair Art Association in 1918 by Florence Rand
Lang. Its exhibits, most of them loaned, range from examples of modern
art to ornaments excavated at Ur in Mesopotamia. Best-known artist resident of Montclair was George Inness (1825-1894), for whom the junior
high school was named. The GARDEN THEATER, situated in a deep glen
next to the MONTCLAIR HIGH SCHOOL (R), serves local theater-goers on
summer nights. It is a natural amphitheater with rows of stone seats on the
hillside and a brook at the bottom of the glen between audience and players. MONTCLAIR ACADEMY (L), a well-known school for boys founded
1887, is on the slope of the town's main street as it mounts the Watchung
ridge.
|
|
|
Return To |
|
|
