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House Gibbons passes of the the torch at week TRACEN Page B1 Page A3 165th YEAR NO. 30 CAPE MAY, N.J. Serving America’s National Historic Landmark City WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 2019 $1.00 Neighbors question historic integrity of home Renovations raise concerns about Cape May’s National Historic Landmark status By JACK FICHTER after it was raised to a higher was a historic home,” he said. Cape May Star and Wave fl ood level. ‘These houses may or may not have historic elements of the former “I just wanted to know if there Hobden said it was unlikely was any part of it that had been CAPE MAY — “Can somebody the house was falling down since structure. They may only have a plaque telling people that something preserved.” tell me what’s been preserved at it was inhabited for many years. historic used to stand on that spot.’ Linda Wardell, a resident of 901 Benton?” Jefferson Street “I still say that house was Wilmington, Del., and Benton resident James Hobden asked demolished,” he said. “I know –Linda Wardell, Benton Avenue resident Avenue in Cape May, said she the city’s Historic Preservation you have to strip it to raise it sent a letter to City Council, the Commission (HPC). “I see noth- but they take whole houses on mayor and city manager about ing that’s been preserved.” the back of a truck and it’s still “In a lot of ways we are helping lenge to keep the earlier appear- the house. She said she believes During an HPC meeting July the same structure when it goes it conform more to what it would ance of historic homes. the city is at a crossroads, with 15, residents living near the back down.” have been originally,” he said. He said 901 Benton Ave. did one direction leading to a contin- intersection of Benton Avenue HPC Commissioner Tom Car- Carroll said owners of historic not require any variances, so the ued preservation of Cape May’s and Jefferson Street expressed roll said metal siding and mod- homes “want to spend more than HPC could not block additions to historic structures and history concerns that there was nothing ern windows were being re- we want them to spend” and the house. and the other direction leading to original left in the home at 901 placed with wood windows and along with a need to raise houses Hobden said he saw all new a “completely new city fi lled with Benton Ave., a Federal-style siding that originally would have to fl ood elevation, it is giving the timber in the house. house built as early as 1909, been on the house. HPC an almost impossible chal- “You have a home there that See Historic integrity, Page A2 Underground Baseball star containment wall hampers continues to park’s design ‘Szcz Day’ in By JACK FICHTER Cape May Star and Wave athletics, life CAPE MAY — Whatever the city By R.E. HEINLY builds in Lafayette Street Park will Special to the Star and Wave have to be situated to avoid two underground containment walls in- Cape May-area sports icon Matt Szczur is stalled by Jersey Central Power and currently playing for the AAA Reno Aces, Light (JCP&L) that are just 6 inches the Arizona Diamondbacks’ top minor league below the surface. team in the Pacifi c Coast League. His batting At a July 18 meeting of the La- average is .364 (second on his team) and he fayette Street Park Advisory Com- Jack Fichter/CAPE MAY STAR AND WAVE has 25 RBIs and 7 homeruns. His main posi- mittee, Tom Thornton, Cape May’s tion is centerfi eld. contracted engineer, said the city was Work is under way to turn the Howell House into the Harriet Tubman Museum to honor Many local fans of Szczur and the Philadel- originally told the top of the contain- her role with the Underground Railroad in Cape May, through which she helped escaped phia Phillies have noted the ongoing outfi eld ment walls was 2 feet below ground. slaves gain their freedom in the North from 1851-52. woes of the team due to injuries and legal “We got updated information, actu- problems, especially in centerfi eld, and advo- ally they are only 6 inches,” he said. cate Szczur as an answer. What a story: home- “So that creates a design challenge town hero returns to help hometown team. Of for a number of things.” Harriet Tubman Museum course, upon hearing of this idea, Szczur was Nothing in the park’s design strad- quick to emphasize that his current focus is dles a containment wall other than totally on the Aces and Diamondbacks. He’s the park entrance and driveway. He determined to do all he can to return to the said electrical conduit would need to progressing in Cape May major leagues. be extended through the park for fu- After starring at Lower Cape May Regional ture lighting of tennis and basketball High in baseball and football (he’s in the courts and possibly a water line. Offi cials decide to rebuild Allen A.M.E. Church school’s Athletic Hall of Fame), Szczur went “The bottom line is we’ll have to on to do the same at Villanova University build up the site to get over that,” By JACK FICHTER from 2006-10. In 2009, he was All-American Thornton said. “You’re going to have Cape May Star and Wave in football, leading Villanova to the Division I a fairly steep entrance from Lafayette championship and named MVP of the champi- Street because you need to get up CAPE MAY — Two his- onship game. He was drafted by the Chicago over the containment walls.” toric structures have a new Cubs in 2010 and was part of its World Series The property was once the site of a lease on life. Work is under championship team in 2016. He was then manufactured gas plant (MGP) that way to restore the Howell traded to the San Diego Padres in 2017 and heated and “cracked” coal to produce House on Lafayette Street then to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2018. gas for cooking and heating for Cape as the Harriet Tubman Mu- This just begins to tell his story, both on and May residents from 1853 to 1937. The seum and the members of more so off the fi eld. He is a true role model plant left behind widespread pollu- the Allen A.M.E. Church of an exemplary community citizen, starring tion underground in the form of tars. have agreed to rehabilitate not just in sports but the more important Beginning in 2016, JCP&L’s con- their building following a fi re game of life. tractors built a primary containment last year. Through his college football coach, Andy wall two and half feet wide, extending The Howell House on La- Talley, Szczur became interested in becoming 55 feet below the ground around the fayette Street, next to Mace- a bone-marrow donor. He’s been dedicated main portion of the former gas plant, donia Baptist Church, is to raising awareness of this need, which is a according to project manager Anna being restored to house the prime focus of his and wife Natalie’s Matthew Sullivan. Harriet Tubman Museum. Szczur Foundation. Its motto is “Szcz the “What it does is enclose the sub- Passerbys may have noticed Day” and they certainly have, raising more surface impacts that exceed criteria much work taking place on than $150,000 for the cause. He sold his World in that cell,” she told City Council the house. Series paintings (more on his artistic side to earlier this month. On Dec. 16, 2018, the Jack Fichter/CAPE MAY STAR AND WAVE follow) to raise money for this and other Cubs Portions of the property were exca- church signed a lease agree- The historic Allen A.M.E. Church was damaged by fi re in charities. In 2018, he donated $5,000 to both vated to a depth of 2 feet with a de- ment with the Mullock fam- the Lower Cape May Regional Educational marcation layer installed and the site ily who intend to restore the June 2018 when a moving van snagged a utility pole guy wire, Foundation and the Lower Township Elemen- backfi lled with clean soil, she said. building. Plans call for the resulting in a high-voltage line falling on the steeple. tary Schools Educational Foundation to help Sullivan said that in 2017, a second- home, of which portions may fi ght food insecurity. ary containment wall was installed date back to 1799, to become The goal is to have the museum. “Life is about more than baseball,” Szczur that funnels groundwater that fl ows a museum honoring Harriet home restored by 2020, about A ribbon-cutting ceremo- said in a recent interview. “The foundation’s around the primary containment wall Tubman and the Rev. Robert 200 years from Tubman’s ny was held July 14. Con- charity work is very rewarding. We feel the to a set of extraction wells. O. Davis, who was pastor of birth. Davis had a collection struction on the home started Cape May/Lower Township area has given so Thornton said JCP&L promised to Macedonia Baptist Church of items from the slave era the following day, according much to us and we’re lucky to be in a position for 47 years before his death he took to area schools that See Containment wall, Page A4 at the age of 90.

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