March 2009 Vol. 18 No. 1 CHAPTER EVENTS WALK THROUGH INDUSTRIAL PASSAIC, NEW JERSEY Sunday, April 5, 2009, 1:00 PM to 4:30 PM. (Rain Date: Saturday, April 11). oin us for a walk through “Eastside” Passaic, NJ and n n u adjacent parts of Clifton. Following completion of N J g i a the Dundee Dam and Canal around 1861, this section r C : of the Passaic River, later incorporated as part of the r e h City of Passaic, developed into a major industrial center p a r g focusing on the manufacture of worsted wool and rub- o t o h ber products. Little to none of the historic industrial P activities in Eastside Passaic continue to the present day Botany Worsted Mills, Passaic, New Jersey and most of the Dundee Canal has been usurped for highway construction. The district however, as per the drivers to their cars in Clifton or non-drivers to NYC. Craig will also lead an optional 3.5 mile extension Historic American Engineering Record documentation, which will visit historically important Acquackanonck remains “significant as a surviving, intact, interconnect- Landing and additional industrial sites across the Passaic ed component of the textile-industry-related landscape River in East Rutherford. The extension will also end at that defined Passaic, Clifton, and surrounding commu- a bus stop where participants can catch buses back to nities from the late 19th through the mid-20th cen- cars in Clifton or to NYC. turies.” Much remains to be seen by the interested Bring water and snacks. Bad weather may postpone. observer; including the Dundee Dam, many old factory Phone (551-206-6823) or e-email [email protected] buildings (Botany Worsted Mills, U.S. Rubber, Okonite, leader for additional information. Participants who wish and others), neighborhoods built by the mainly Eastern to only visit the Dundee Dam and sites at the north end European immigrants who worked in the factories, and of the tour without extensive walking should contact the here and there a fragment of the Dundee Canal itself. leader (e-mail preferred). Chapter member Craig Nunn will lead this walk, which will be around 6.5 miles length, at a relaxed to moderate pace. Meet 1:00 PM in front of the Walgreens CHAPTER EVENTS at the southeast corner of Main Ave. and Clifton Ave. in Clifton, NJ. 2009 ANNUAL MEETING For drivers, there is a free municipal parking lot one e held our 2009 Annual Meeting on January 24 block to the west of Main Ave., entered off of 1st Street at the Paterson Museum in Paterson, NJ. The a half block south of Clifton Ave. Or park on the street W business meeting was preceded by a shop tour of United (check signs for restrictions). Coordinates of parking lot for GPS units or mapping software are: Vacuum located in a historic mill building just a few 40.874645°N, 74.140502°W. Participants from NYC blocks from the museum. Mark Lazarus, the plant can take NJ Transit 190 bus from Port Authority Bus owner, and his staff led us through the process of mak- Terminal. The latest bus you can get leaves PABT at ing a vacuum and the process of making the equipment 12:10. When that bus arrives the tour will begin. that makes those vacuums. We send many thanks to Mr. People may want to meet at the gate at noon and go as Lazarus for a most interesting tour. a group. Ask the driver for Clifton Ave. stop, or watch We send many thanks to chapter member Gianfranco for Walgreens from right side of bus. Walk will end in Archimede and to Giacomo DeStefano, the museum’s downtown Passaic where frequent buses will return Director for once again providing a most appropriate 1 ROEBLING CHAPTER – SOCIETY FOR INDUSTRIAL ARCHEOLOGY spot for us to hold our meeting. The business meeting periodically). They are primarily National and other began at 12:45PM. Chapter SIA officers, as well as organizations that can help us and benefit RCSIA endeavors. 2008 YEAR IN REVIEW REASURY EPORT by Lynn Rakos (w/ input from the Board) T R Balance as of Dec. 31, 2007 $14,459.46 2008 OFFICERS Balance as of Jan. 24, 2009 $17,667.25 President – Lynn Rakos his year $2500.00 was returned to the chapter from Vice President – Tolga Morawski Tthe Museum of the City of New York. The chapter Treasurer – Kevin Pegram had donated these funds in 2006 for an exhibition to Secretary – Aron Eisenpress celebrate the 200th anniversary of John A. Roebling’s birth. Our donation was retuned as the exhibit did not MEMBERSHIP occur. We also received a $1000.00 from a donor who ur membership stands at 452, of whom 158 are asked to remain anonymous. The funds were specifi- Opaid for 2009, 14 are paid for future years, 160 are cally donated to pay for a lawyer to see us through the paid for 2008, and 81 are only paid through 2007. 35 process of becoming a 501 (c) 3 organization. members have not renewed since 2006 and were dropped; an additional 8 members renewed after get- TOURS AND EVENTS ting their final reminders. By comparison, our mem- e held our 2008 Annual Meeting on January 26 bership in January 2008 was 458 members, also after at the Paterson Museum in Paterson, NJ. Prior to the drop for non-renewals, and the year before it was W the meeting, forty-eight of us were treated to a tour of 457, so our numbers are pretty stable. There are 39 the Paterson Historic District led by chapter member "comp" members on the list (we review these name Gianfranco Archimede. Many of us also enjoyed a tour of the museum led by Giacomo DeStefano, the muse- SAVE THE DATE & um’s Director. Following our annual meeting we held 9 more tours CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS and events. Five events took place in NY State (4 in NY TH City), three were in NJ (including our Drew Symposium) 29 Annual and one was in Pennsylvania. Drew Symposium on In April we enjoyed a vigorous walk of Rockland Iudustrial Archeology in the Lake and Hook Mountain in Rockland County, NY. Where we saw the vestiges of the ice harvesting and New York-New Jersey Area quarrying industries. The tour was lead by Timothy he Roebling Chapter of the Society for Englert with the Palisades Interstate Park Commission. TIndustrial Archeology is soliciting illustrated A week later the chapter co-sponsored a tour with presentations on the industrial heritage of the the Morris County Park Commission. The tour, “The Roebling Chapter region for the 29th Annual Drew Industrial Archeology of Split Rock Iron Furnace” in Symposium to be held on Saturday, November 7, Rockaway Township, NJ was led by chapter members Joe Macasek and Bierce Riley. This walk was a rare 2009 at the Hall of Sciences, Drew University, opportunity to see Morris County’s only standing iron Madison, NJ from 9:30 AM to 5 PM. furnace and the village that supported its operation. We are seeking presentations that focus on his- On May 3rd a crowd of us took a bus tour to toric industrial resources in the metropolitan New explore the “Industrial History and Cultural Change on York/New Jersey area, but we are also happy to the East River in Queens and Brooklyn”. The B-61 bus consider proposals that cover topics beyond the was our chariot through the ever changing neighbor- New York City region. Presentations are typically hoods on the East River. We began in Long Island City 25 minutes in length and heavily illustrated. If you with a tour led by geographer Jack Eichenbaum. A hop would like to make a presentation, please contact on the local bus took us over Newtown Creek and on Tom Flagg or Allison Rachleff, symposium coordi- to DUMBO where Tom Flagg provided insight into the nators. Tom's e-mail is [email protected] and industrial development of that neighborhood. The next Allison's is [email protected]. Or stop was Red Hook where Dan Wiley, Community write to: Thomas Flagg, SUNY College of Optometry, Coordinator for Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, took 33 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036. us through one of the rehabilitated warehouses and spoke of the area’s significant changes. We ended our 2 March 2009 – Vol. 18 No. 1 ROEBLING CHAPTER – SOCIETY FOR INDUSTRIAL ARCHEOLOGY tour at the Waterfront Museum which is housed in the busy folks in the auto repair business when a small old Lehigh Valley Barge 79. crowd of us wandered through their neighborhood on a On Memorial Day weekend we joined with the Sunday morning. Geographer Jack Eichenbaum walked American Society of Civil Engineers, Metropolitan us through a NYC neighborhood that had but one resi- Section to celebrate the 125th Anniversary of the open- dent at the last census. ing of the Brooklyn Bridge. The events were organized Our events have been drawing on average about 20 by the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office and New people which is a fairly decent turn out. The chapter York City Mayor’s Office. Chapter member Clifford Zink now has a portable voice amplifier to help when the represented RCSIA in a lecture series that was part of group is large and the neighborhood noisy. the weekend’s events. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday RCSIA and ASCE volunteers staffed tables set up at DREW SYMPOSIUM each tower. The goal was to speak to people about the his year our symposium was again very ably co- history and construction of the bridge.