The Meadowlands History Project

Share Your Stories and Old Photos with Us!

We at the Meadowlands Commission are always eager to see old photos from the region -- and to hear stories of this region from yesteryear.

Please e-mail using the "e-mail me" button on left.

Old Secaucus Newspaper Item on 2-headed Pig

Pamela Jackson, whose family lived in Secaucus for decades, passed along the above newspaper clipping, found in an old family Bible.

Pamela writes:

"The Bible that was given to Annie Brengel (my great grandmother), for her confirmation when she was 11 years old The date reads 1878.

"The article was pasted in there from a newspaper article describing the birth of a deformed pig on the farm.  This was after John Himsel's death from tuberculosis sometime in the 20's. The farm was being run by the sons, especially Edward and Harry Himsel."

Thanks, Pamela!

Looking at the clipping almost feels like being transported back to a far more rural, much simpler time in the Meadowlands.

An earlier post about the pigs of Secaucus is here.

Archival Photos from Secaucus

Pamela Jackson of Mahwah saw one of our blog posts about the old days of Secaucus and wanted to share some family photos of the days when her ancestors lived in town. She writes:

"My Great Grandfather, John Himsel, had a pig farm off of Penhorn Road in Secaucus.  I have amazing photos of what that area looked like before the Turnpike and the population expanded in that area (circa, 1920s).

"My Great Aunt told me that the Penhorn Creek was so clear that you could see the fish swimming close to the bottom at some distance from the shoreline."

(Thanks, Pamela!)

More pix follow.

Tomorrow: An old newspaper clipping about a two-headed pig in Secaucus.

Meadowlands Museum Needs Your Help

Our friends at the Meadowlands Museum write:

You all know that we are working really hard to earn the final money to put on our new roof, get rotten siding replaced, and put in all new historically correct gutters and leaders and roof moldings. 

We really need your help!

Join us this Sunday, June 24, 2012 at the Rutherford Pancake House, 40 Park Ave., Rutherford at any time between 5 and 7 p.m.  The generous owners of the Pancake House are cooking Breakfast food from a special fundraising menu as their contribution to our roof fund. 

Tickets are $25 per person.  You can buy your tickets ahead of time at either the Museum or at the Rutherford Pancake House.  Tickets will be available at the door.  You can call the Museum 201-935-1175 (up until Saturday night) and ask us to hold tickets at the door with your name on them.

Teterboro Vintage Aircraft Show Next Month!

Informative Article on Little Ferry Brick-making

Kevin Wright, local historian extraordinaire, has an informative article in the Wayne Patch on Little Ferry's old brickyards.

Mehrhof Pond, a well-known local birding site, was created from a pit that provided the clay for bricks, and the pond itself was named for the brickmaking Mehrhof brothers.

Writes Wright: "Representing a combined capital investment of $265,000, ten brickyards operating along the Hackensack River employed traditional methods of production. With the exception of the Mehrhof Brick Company, all used wood fuel to bake raw bricks in scove-kilns. 'Soft-mud' brick machines produced over 60 million units of common building brick, a 90% increase over the previous year."

The link is here.

An earlier post on the Mehrhof brick operation is here.

A link to an illustration of a scove-kiln is here; site has other historical brick-making info.

Rutherford 'Red tail'

Thought we'd repost this item from 2009, to coincide with the opening of the new George Lucas flick "Red Tail," about the Tuskegee Airmen.

Calvin J. Spann, who grew up in Rutherford,  served with the famed Tuskegee Airmen during World War II.
From 1943 to 1946, 1st Lt. Spann served in the U.S. Army Air Force, 332nd Fighter Group, 100th Squadron, as part of the famed Tuskegee Airmen -- the first-ever group of black Army pilots. 

Spann was among an elite group of Tuskegee Airmen who escorted B-17 bombers and reconnaissance  planes over Nazi Germany during World War. Spann flew 26 combat missions.

In a phone interview from his home in Texas, Spann said: "My growing up in Rutherford inspired me to be a Tuskegee Airman. Planes from Teterboro Airport took off right over my house.

 "I was able to do everything any young man in high school did, and when I got into the Air Corps and they said they didn't think I could learn to fly, I thought that was preposterous. I'd been doing everything everyone else was doing all my life, and it really stuck with me. That was my experience growing up in Rutherford."

A recent story on Spann from The Record is here.

Spann, who heard Martin Luther King Jr. deliver his "I have a Dream" speech in Washington, D.C, in August 1963, also attended the inauguration of President Obama.

 "If I were to compare the two events, I'd say the Inauguration was greater," said Spann. "The atmosphere was something --everyone was friendly. And this time I had an invitation -- and a seat close to the podium with the big shots."

 Spann is a member of the New Jersey Aviation Hall of Fame in Teterboro and a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal.

 More on the Tuskegee Airmen here.

Spann's "My Space" page is here. The photo above is from that page.

Great Story on Unearthing the Meadowlands' Ancient History

Environmental Reporter Jim O'Neill of The Record has a fascinating article in today's editions about scientists' efforts to research the Meadowlands' ancient history -- thousands of years' worth of history -- by drilling deep in the marsh.

Link is here.

What in the Meadowlands: Answered

We saw these in a display case in the Little Ferry Public Library. They are called "Clay Babies," from old days when Little Ferry was a brickmaking capital of the East Coast.

As the exhibit explains, " Clay Babies are unique formations made whenever water seeps through the banks of clay that line the clay pits.

"When water meets an obstruction (such as a grain of sand), lime precipitates out and forms weird shapes.

"Geologists call these 'concretions.' They are light gray in color and feel chalky when they are rubbed."

What in the Meadowlands?

We came across the above objects in a display case in the Little Ferry Public Library.

Do you know what they are?

Answer tomorrow.

Come Together for a Good Time and Good Cause

   Beatles Faux Sale, a Beatles tribute band, and The Glimmer Twins, a Rolling Stones tribute band, will perform a benefit/awareness concert for the Meadowlands Museum on Saturday, May 21, at 8 p.m.

   The concert will take place at the Williams Center for the Arts, 1 Williams Plaza, Rutherford. Proceeds will benefit the Museum’s public programming and capital improvement projects, including plans to install a desparately-needed new roof.

   The Meadowlands Museum – celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year – was created to document the cultural, social and economic history of the Meadowlands area.

   The museum is housed in a historic Dutch style farmhouse in Rutherford and chronicles life in the Meadowlands over the past 200 years. Its permanent collection of more than 17,000 items includes a photo archive, textiles, clothing, children’s toys and games, diaries, and household items.

   Concert tickets are $40, $35 and $25. Tickets are available at Rutherford Music Exchange, 39 Park Ave.; Sweetest Sound Music, 350 Ridge Road, Lyndhurst; B&C  Auto Service, 27 Union Ave., Rutherford; and at the Meadowlands Museum, 91 Crane Ave., Rutherford. The concert is sponsored by the South Bergenite newspaper.

   Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday. It is recommended that visitors call the museum before visiting. Group and school tours are available by request. Admission is free; donations are appreciated.

   For more information on the benefit concert or the Meadowlands Museum, call 201-935-1175, email meadowlandsmuseum@verizon.net or visit www.meadowlandsmuseum.com.