Asbury Park

Rutherford is about 1 hour from Asbury Park. It is not the closest NJ shore point, but we chose it for our first fall beach outing. I LOVE the beach in autumn - it's almost deserted, its beautiful, the waves are high, the sand pristine and I can walk along the shore in a sweater and barely worry about a sunburn. As a bonus, most of the NJ shore beaches allow dogs after Oct 1. How could we not?

(Brutus' first foray into the waves)

The Casino is a gorgeous fixture on the boardwalk between Asbury Park and Ocean Grove. It was designed by noted architect Warren Whitney. Even in ruins it is both imposing and beautiful. It is being renovated now, and I can't wait to see the results.

You can also see some really nice photos on Bridge and Tunnel Club, for example:

The Castle

Felician College has begun a 2-year, multi-milion dollar interior renovation of Iviswold Castle on the Rutherford campus. They began with an exterior renovation several years ago and have also been removing the additions, mostly made by Fairleigh Dickinson College over the years. In the process they've found some amazing historic details, including a whole chandelier and renaissance-style frieze!!

Iviswold was built as a private residence in 1869, when it was called Hill House. David Brinkerhoff Ivison bought it in 1887 and hired William H. Miller to expanded it. It was then renamed Iviswold. Felician College bought it from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1997.

A little but about Miller and Ivison: Miller was the first graduate of the architecture school at Cornell University. He is best known for his buildings in Ithaca and at Cornell. Ivison was the president of the American Book Company, an educational book company founded in 1890 when several other publishers, including Iveson, Blakeman and Co consolidated. Ivison was born in 1835 in Auburn, NY where his father was in the book business (binding and selling).


The Castle c1942

From the FDU website:
"The Castle," as it was known to Rutherford, underwent complete remodeling before its official opening as a college in September, 1942. It was built in 1886 of brownstone hauled to Rutherford by horsepower from the stone quarries in Belleville, New Jersey.. Modeled after the French chateaux, Chaummont and Amboise, it cost $350,000 to complete and had 25 rooms, two portecocheres, and five tennis courts. The estate had several owners after the Ivison family, and in 1911 a swimming pool was added. In the late 1920s the building housed the Union Club.

Huntrest House

This is my favorite house in Rutherford. It is a very unique Craftsman Bungalow built in 1910 by Emma and Frank Beasley. Frank Beasley was the assistant postmaster for Rutherford and even mentioned in a 1903 article in the NY Times, but something must have gone wrong because the couple sold the house in 1917 to Uster Theodora and Cyprian Cyrail Hunt (you can't make those names up) who named it Huntrest.

It is on Gouverneur Ave one block from my house so I can see it whenever I like. When we first moved in the house looked something like the picture below, although in worse repair. My sweetie thought I was nuts for loving it. Since, a new owner has bought the house, restored it beautifully (at least from what I can see outside) and had it put on the Historic Register. THANK YOU!

Location of Rutherford time capsule still unknown

FROM THE LEADER NEWSPAPER - Click to view the article on The Leader website



By Susan C. Moeller / Senior Reporter

RUTHERFORD — On Nov. 25, 1920, World War I had been over for approximately two years, Warren Harding had just won a landslide election to the presidency and a decade known for its opulence and decadence was under way.

In Rutherford, the borough council was ready to commemorate those who served in “the war to end all wars” — an unfortunate slogan that proved resoundingly false. A monument designed by local architect Edgar I. Williams had been dedicated six months earlier.

At a special meeting the morning of the 25th, the mayor and council assembled a box of records that had been gathered ahead of time. The clerk sealed the box and the council proceeded to the newly constructed WWI monument at the intersection of Park and Passaic avenues, according to borough historian Rodney Leith. The box, which Leith assumes was made of metal, was placed somewhere near the base of the monument.

Unfortunately, there’s no remaining record of the box’s location — no infamous “x” to mark the spot. And, 89 years later, the time capsule is still concealed, still hiding.

An attempt was made Friday, Aug. 14 to find the box. Preservationists working to restore the monument checked one logical hiding place — behind a bronze plaque at the base of the monument, but instead of an open vault, they found only a blank stretch of the concrete-like mix from which the monument was constructed.

Local historian William Neumann, who helped to secure funds for restoration of the monument, had suspected that the box might be behind the plaque ever since he noticed that the plaque did not seem to be tightly secured.

A shadow of doubt still remains in his mind. There are no visible edges to the concrete behind the plaque. But, it does sound a little hollow, Neumann said.

The time capsule is not a treasure chest by any stretch of the imagination. But, the records inside have historic and possibly sentimental value.

According to a resolution adopted by the borough council on the day the box was hidden, it holds records including information from the citizen committee, which raised money for the monument, a list of Rutherfordians who served in the war, a record of activity of the local chapter of the American Red Cross and a report from the “Friday Knitting Group.”

Finding the box would allow for any of the documents inside to be copied or repaired. But, Neumann and Leith aren’t sure yet if more extensive efforts to find the capsule will be made.

Neumann is in favor of leaving the box where it is, hidden. No specific direction was given as to when the box should be opened, he pointed out. And, if the concrete behind the plaque is concealing something, it may be an intentional part of the design. “If there is something behind it,” Neumann said, “Maybe that’s what they wanted to do, was for it to stay there.”

Time capsules, which are sometimes stowed in the cornerstones of public buildings, could be considered the final statements of a structure, intended to be found when all else has crumbled, Neumann suggested.

But, the WWI monument isn’t at its end yet. “We are in the middle of the life of this monument.”

The lost box of records in the WWI monument is probably not the only time capsule that will have to wait for someone to stumble upon it.

“There are probably dozens of them stuck around town,” Neumann said. “Many times the information on where they are gets lost.” It’s the number one problem with time capsules, he added.

As for the box in the WWI monument, “I’ll leave it to eternity to figure that one out,” Neumann said.

“We have no idea where it is at this stage,” Leith said.

The borough will celebrate the 125th anniversary of Edgar I. Williams in October. A rededication of the WWI monument is scheduled for Oct. 2. The event will be an opportunity to honor the designer of the monument and the service people it was built to memorialize, Leith said. There are plans in the works to place a second time capsule in the monument.

Maybe this time, directions on how and when to find it will survive.

Station Square ca 1909

Rutherford Station ca 1906

The original train station for the Erie Railroad/Bergen Line, at the junction of Park Avenue, Union Avenue, Erie Avenue and Orient Way, was built in 1862. The current station was built in 1898. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and looks very much the same today, especially after undergoing a recent renovation.