Bergen County Panorama BERGEN COUNTY Panorama AMERICAN GUIDE SERIES W rJtten by ·workers of the Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of New Jersey Sponsored by THE BERGEN COUNTY BOARD OF CHOSEN FREEHOLDERS, HACKENSACK, N. J., 1941 NEW JERSEY STATE LIBRARY State-wide sponsor of the New Jersey Writers' Project FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY John M, Carmody Administrator WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION Howard O. Hunter CommlssJoner Florence Kerr Assistant Commissioner Robert W. Allan State Administrator Copyright 1941 by the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders. Prlnlttl In U.S.A. l,y Colby t1nd McGow,m Foreword This comprehensive and colorful history of Bergen County has been sponsored by the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders in order to provide present and future generations with the story of Bergen from the days of its first settlers to its present position of prominence. There have been several histories of Bergen County, some. of them outmoded today, but no other has touched so deeply at its roots and revivified so successfully its rich traditions and cherished memories. In the pages that follow are recorded in detail not merely the birth and growth of our county, but a true reflection of its people; their trials and tribulations in the quest to make Bergen County a better place in which to re­ side; their faith in the future and their sound foresight which has made possible the heritage which belongs to all of us today. These deeds and these memories must be preserved in order that Bergen County may be inspired to continue its progress. From the past has sprung our pattern for the future. It is the hope of the Board of Freeholders to help keep these vivid traditions alive through this book. We have placed copies in all municipal and school libraries and in other places frequented by the public, so that a bond of kinship with the past may keep us united and point the way to the future. V VI FOREWORD The Board is grateful to the Writers' Project of New Jer­ sey for an outstanding panorama and educational effort which so well preserves those things held dear by all residents of Bergen County. BOARD OF CHOSEN FREEHOLDERS A. THEODORE HoLMES, DJr,ctor SAMUEL ALEXANDER JOHN J. DICKERSON ALEXANDER ALLAN FREDERICK E. KOESTER CHARLES B. BLEASBY NICHOLAS A. KUIKHN DoNALD G. DuTcHER, Clerk WALTER G. WINNE, Counsel RoBER'r C. GAMBLE, Public Relations Director Preface This volume, one of a series designed by the WPA W ric­ ers' Program to bring to Americans a deeper consciousness of the forces that have shaped their Nation, is the first cr>unty history written by the New Jersey Writers' Project, The Project is grateful to the Bergen County Board of Chosen Free­ holders for its co-operation in making such a w9rk possible. It is not possible to list the many citizens whose assistance and advice contributed to the preparation of the history of their community. We are particularly indebted to J. W. Binder, executive secretary of the Bergen County Chamber of Com­ merce, Donald G. Dutcher, clerk of the Board of Freeholders, and Robert C. Gamble, its public relations director, who served as general consultants, Hiram B. Demarest Blauvelt, trustee of the Demarest Family Association, took an active interest in the enterprise and gave advice on the History, Churches and Schools chapters, Consultants on specific chapters were: History: Dr. Clif­ ford L. Lord, of the Department of History, Columbia Uni­ versity, Francis H. Koehler, president of the Bergen County Historical Society, and William H.J. Ely, former State Senator; Public Affairs: Mrs. Edna B. Conklin of the Child Welfare Department; Agriculture: W. Raymond Stone, County Agri- Vll VIII PREFACE cultural Agent; l11d11stry a11d Commerce: Mrs. May Marsh, ~ocial scientist; Tra11sporfalio11: Glenn S. Reeves, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Transportation Division, John L. O'Toole of the Public Service Corporation and Mrs. Marsh; Architeclttrc: Aymar Embury II and Ira H. Davey, architects; NafJ011al Groups: W. L. Duncan, director of the Bergen Coun­ ty Y.M.C.A.; Churches: Dr. William H. S. Demarest, president emeritus of New Brunswick Theological Seminary; Schools: Roy R. Zimmerman, County Superintendent of Schools, and Helen Ives Schermerhorn, of the Adult Education Program; The Press: Ross Wynkoop, editor of the Bergen Eve11i11g Rec­ ord; C11/t11ral Activities: Rutherford Boyd, artist, Dr. \Villiam Carlos Williams, author, Manuel Komroff, author, and Roger S. Vreeland, music editor of the Brrge11 E-ve11i11g Record. The librarians of the Johnson Free Public Library, Hack­ ensack, and the Danforth Memorial Library, Paterson, made space and valuable source material available. The book was edited by Benjamin Goldenberg and Irving D. Suss, supervising editors, from drafts written under the· direction of Louis Sapperstein, district supervisor, by Edward J. Fox, Abe Kirshbaum, Horace C. Graves and Ralph Lawton with the assistance of Harold A. Fonda, Dorothea Kardcl, Alexander Harvey, Jacob E. Miller, Irving Mates and Frank V. McNerney. The head pieces were executed by Frederick E. \Vatson, of the New Jersey Arts and Crafts Project. Unless otherwise credited, photographs were taken by Nathaniel Rubel, project photographer, and by Samuel Epstein, Assistant State Super­ visor, who also designed the book. VIOLA L. HUTCHINSON Stale Supervisor, Writers' Project Contents FOREWORD V PREFACE VII 1 COUNTY PORTRAIT 1 2 HISTORY 4 3 PUBLIC AFFAIRS so Welfare ss 4 AGRICULTURE 68 5 INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE 89 Labor llS 6 TRANSPORTATION 120 7 ARCHITECTURE lH 8 NATIONAL AND RACIAL GROUPS 169 9 CHURCHES 181 10 SCHOOLS 196 11 >rHE PREss 216 IX X CONTENTS 12 CULTURAL AcTIVITIEs 226 Painting, Sculpture and Crafts 231 The Theatre 24) Music 249 Literature 2J4 13 COMMUNITY SCENE 26J The Northern Valley 266 The Hackensack Valley 280 The Passaic Valley 288 The Pascack Valley 295 The Saddle River Valley 298 The Ramapo Valley 304 APPENDICES Municipal Information 308 Old Houses and Churches 324 Recreational Facilities 332 Chronology 337 Selected Bibliography 342 INDEX 346 ILLUSTRATION SECTIONS HISTORY following page 20 PUBLIC AFFAIRS 52 AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRY 100 OLD HOUSES AND CHURCHES 164 SCHOOLS 212 TOWN AND CouNTRYSIDB 276 Bergen County Panorama I. County Portrait AT A POINT on U.S. Route 1; one mile west of the George Washington Bridge, the dramatic gateway to northern New Jersey, the whole of Bergen County can be viewed across a 20- mile stretch of rolling hills and valleys. From the tableland along the summit of the Palisades, 500 feet above the Hudson River, the land slope.s sharply to the broad valley of the Hackensack, rises and descends again across the Saddle River and Ramapo River valleys and then rolls up the steep sides of the wooded Ramapo Mountains above the northwest border. South of these the Passaic River forms the boundary between Bergen and Passaic counties. The villages scattered through the woodland along the top of the Palisades are engulfed by the grandeur of this 1,000,000- year-old rampart of stone, so hard that it resisted the erosive forces that created the marshes of central Bergen. 1 2 BERGEN COUNTY PANORAMA The lowlands, less than 200 feet above sea level, were leveled by the great glacier which ground down the once higher ridges and .filled the once deeper valleys with rubble. If the rubble that the glacier deposited in the Hackensack Valley were re­ moved, some geologists say, an arm of water would reach to the New York State line. Shielded from the worst of the winter gales by the high land in the north, with excellent soil and water courses, the county has the physical basis for a propitious development. Following the early Dutch and English farmers, who first saw the advantages of the region, a continuing stream of home­ seekers has flowed into the county. Dependent economically, as was the farmer, on New York, the new resident-now a hurried commuter-fixes the pattern of Bergen's conservative life, The commuter has beeri unwilling to sit quietly indifferent to the affairs of his newly adopted home. The new community facilities he demanded were immediately installed; the men and women he nominated for office, elected. Though tied to the greatest metropolis in America, the commuter spends hours in the mazes of local politics like any provincial farmer. He runs for positions on borough councils and nonsalaried school boards; temporarily gives up bridge and golf to support his friends in hotly debated campaigns. Just before election the buses and trains buzz with the qualmcations of rival candidates while the tragedies of the slow market and the intricacies of the foreign situation are momentarily forgotten. The new residents have laid out prosperous towns with broad, well-shaded streets on land -purchased from descendants of the early Dutch farmers. Landscaped gardens, luxurious country clubs, poetry readings and lectures at the local women's clubs, exceptional concert programs, little theatres, art shows, are all indicative of the commuters' way of life. Bergen's lodestone has been and still is excellent transportation facilities. The railroads, the highways, the George Washington Bridge and rapid bus service via the Lincoln Tunnel to mid~ town Manhattan have been responsible for periodic bursts 0£ development: streets and power lines stretched across empty COUNTY PORTRAIT 3 acres where the green corn grew, and new buildings invaded the pastures. Concomitantly there arose along the river banks great in­ dustrial plants manufacturing a variety of products. To man the assembly lines, the looms and the refining vats came the Germans, tli.e Italians and the Slavs. These residents of recent foreign extraction still cling to the culture of their homeland through the church and social and benefit organizations.