History of the Indian Sign – 1930s
Hanging from a bracket in the public square is a sign: “Oakland, Bergen County, N. J. Established 1869“. The legend is topped by a portrait of one Chief Laopooh and the words, “Once There Was Indians All Over This Place.” The sign was the donation of Robert T. Sheldon, a resident of Valley Road; Oakland people assert that the ungrammatical construction was insisted upon by Mr. Sheldon, who, they recall, said it was a quotation from some author.
