Monday, November 24, 2008

Fort Lee History Archive

The Fort Lee Historical Society’s Archive has been housed at the Judge Moore House Museum since 1999. Before the Museum became available the Historical Society’s collection was housed in Fort Lee’s Municipal building and then put in storage when that building was being renovated.
The Archive was collected by our President, Robert T. Boylan over several decades. The collection has been enhanced by donations. It is impossible to provide unlimited access to the Historical Society’s archives. It is our hope that this blog will enable many more of you interested in local history to view parts of the collection and we hope it will enhance understanding of Fort Lee’s rich heritage. We will be providing a look at Fort Lee from the sublime to the trivial. The blog will also provide a look at material that is in private hands. There are many collectors out there and we are hoping they will be willing to scan and photograph items for this blog or allow us to do the work. If you would like to contribute material to the Historical Society or lend for the blog you can reach the archivist at flhsarchivist@gmail.com.
Our first topic will be Main Street, part of which has been around since the Revolutionary War.
Main Street
Only part of what is now Main Street in Fort Lee coincides with Washington's retreat route through Fort Lee. Originally the road through Fort Lee “came up the hill at an angle and must have been very steep in certain parts. It passed over the hill very close to the northern bastion of the fort. Many traces of it remain; many people can remember the closing up of the last section. Old buildings are standing which were evidently built beside it…It intersected the present Main avenue just east of Palisade Avenue coinciding with it as far as Schlosser’s hotel where it bent southward and ran over the hill down to Leonia road to English Neighborhood. Ex-president Christie writes me ‘the road from Fort Lee to the English Neighborhood (Leonia) has been changed since the Revolution by a bend to the North. This change I think was made at the time of the construction of the Hackensack and Fort Lee turnpike. Mr. J.F. Burdett of Fort Lee tells me that it intersected the present road at Schlosser’s Hotel.’”
(From The Retreat of ’76 across Bergen County: an abstract of a paper read before the Society on Nov. 20, 1905, by T.N. Glover. Papers and proceedings of the Bergen County Historical Society, 1905-1906, Number two.)










The Hackensack-Fort Lee Turnpike was authorized by the New Jersey Legislature during the 1820s. The earliest map the Historical Society has is an 1849 reproduction showing New York City and vicinity. By that time the configuration of Main Street appears to have been established. Beginning in the early 1900s trolleys began to run along Main Street from Palisade Avenue to Leonia. Another trolley came from Abbott Boulevard and went to Coytesville crossing Main Street near the current post office. The trolleys ran for 30 or more years until more versatile buses took over.
Main Street has seen many changes in the past 50 years. Taverns and small mom and pop businesses once lined the street where banks now seem to predominate. Main Street has also lost some interesting sites (architecturally and historically). The Academy of the Holy Angels has been replaced by Mediterranean Towers: the Fisher home by Madonna Church and school; Schlosser’s Hotel by the Gilvan building (Main and Schlosser). One of the oldest buildings on Main Street and still in use though much renovated is the Methodist Church. The most architecturally significant structure on Main Street now is Fort Lee’s Municipal building. Though much renovated and expanded the façade still reflects the Art Deco Style of the 1920s.

Dr. Henry J. Anderson's house which stood on the Academy of the Holy Angels property during the school's early years is seen below.















Above on the right is an old post card view of Bethany Methodist Church one of the oldest structures on Main Street. The building has been extensively renovated.


Some other buildings of interest along Main Street some of which no longer exist:
















The School building of the Academy of the Holy Angels built in 1908 and torn down in the 1960s.















The First National Bank, located at Main Street and Palisade Avenue has been extensively changed but it still stands.








483 Main Street, the building that housed Jim's tavern was torn down. This photo from 1967 is part of a collection of Street photos taken by the President of the Historical Society, Robert T. Boylan, over 30 years ago.






And speaking of taverns here are a few more that were on Main Street in the 1960s. Willie's Tavern was located at 212 Main Street; Fireside Tavern at 217 Main Street; and Bill Cella's Inn, 456 Main.























Our next blog will feature some ragamuffins, some more views of Main Street and maybe even some contributions from our audience. Please send comments and questions to: flhsarchivist@gmail.com.