Charles Kohler Just south of Darlington the 235-acre estate and farm of the bankrupt Countess Seckendorff was bought by Charles Kohler in April 1909. He was a native of New Jersey, having been born in Newark in 1868. Kohler attended Princeton, and after marriage to Veronica Byrnes of New Rochelle, learned about the piano business from his wife’s brother. In 1896, he formed, with a partner, the Kohler and Campbell Piano Company in New York City. An original $6,000 investment was worth $4000,000 by 1904. He then formed a network of piano, auto piano, and musical instrument sales companies. Despite his active business life, Charles Kohler was able to become…
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Ramapo Mountain Lakes, Inc.
A New Town in Town There’s a new town in town, and it goes by the name of the Ramapo Mountain Lakes, Inc. Technically, it’s not a town but a lake association of Oakland homes; but, the breadth and magnitude of its disputed membership makes it bigger than dozens of towns in New Jersey. The borders of the town within a town would make proud any gerrymandering politician, though the majority of the disputed members live somewhere in the vicinity of Oakland’s Crystal Lake or Mirror Lake. On the other hand, some homes within walking distance are not members, and those who would need to drive to one of the lakes…
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Historic bridge is returned to its birthplace
Historic bridge is returned to its birthplace The Doty Road Bridge has carried vehicles over New Jersey’s Ramapo River for over a century. The bridge was located where New York District’s Ramapo River at Oakland Flood Control Project is underway. Several years ago it was determined by project managers that the bridge would be an obstruction during floods and that it should be removed. The New Jersey State Historic Preservation Office stated that something needed to be done with the bridge in terms of mitigation because it is a cultural resource and deemed eligible for being listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. Lynn Rakos, a District…
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Vernam Spring
Vernam Spring Just read your postings on the Vernam Spring. A great piece of Town History! Quite a few things even I didn’t know about the place!. As a child growing up in Oakland I remember the Spring house very well. It was my favorite place to hang out, especially in the hot summertime- it was always a bit cooler up there next to that cold Spring water. Mrs. Vernam was long gone by the time I was a youngster, but my father remembered her very well. When I was growing up, the Spring and nearby ponds were used as a Goldfish Hatchery. But the water proved too cold for…
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Boroughitis The NJ Disease That Created Oakland
Boroughitis – The NJ Disease That Created Oakland 17 Jun, 2014 in Features / Oakland Time Travels Boroughitis The NJ Disease That Created Oakland By Kevin Heffernan On April 8, 1902 Oakland seceded from Franklin Township by an act of the New Jersey Legislature. Hurrah! And in the words of Martin King, Jr., we finally were “Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we are free at last!” While I will soon write far more about the details of this wondrous event, it’s important to do some stage setting with regard to the state and county geo-political environments in 1902. In other words, what was going on around us to enable the…
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Cal Bickford -Growing up in Oakland
Growing up in Oakland: 1948 – circa. 1960 THE MOVE TO OAKLAND My family moved into town during the fall of 1948. Up to that time we had lived in a new home that our parents built in a new development during 1940 in suburban Fair Lawn. My parents needed room. Both of them were avid gardeners as you will see below. Also, the houses were so close together that you could talk to your next-door neighbor through the bedroom windows. We had looked for homes in the western part of Bergen County, primarily Mahwah, Oakland and Franklin Lakes, settling on an old 1800’s farmhouse that was to become a…
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Bob Spear Home
Borough referred to as Nielsen Avenue Our old home on what the Boro referred to as Nielsen Avenue which in fact was a dirt road we called Spear Lane. The “proposed” Avenue was to connect Long Hill road to Grove Street for a main entry to develop the entire area. It was particularly a “sore spot” one day to us when a Survey crew hired by the Boro came through without asking permission and staked out a broad “right of way” right across our property, across our pond, up our driveway and down across our field, pounding rib boned survey stakes in the ground! We quickly went behind them and…
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Bob Spear on his Ancestral Bush Residence
Bob Spear on his Ancestral Home-The Bush Residence 7/10/2013 “My great grandfather’s home circa 1870 on Valley Road- later the home of David C. Bush & Anna F. Spear and much later the Oakland Jewish Center. Henry I. Speer’s farm was next door opposite Ponds Church burying ground. The kitchen area on the right, huge barn in rear where my brother played as a child,” Bob, Thanks for adding additional info on this building. Please post your your comment as I think that it would be good for everyone to know and appreciate both your and Oakland’s heritage. At the bottom of the pic is a hand written notation, “The…
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Church of the Ponds 300th Anniversary
The Church of the Ponds Date: January 17, 2009 Subject: The Church of the Ponds Prepares to Celebrate Its 300th Anniversary Contact: Phil Marchbank 201-405-0352 File Photos Included Before there was the United States, almost 75 years before the American Revolution and even before George Washington was born, there was The Church of the Ponds in now what is Oakland, NJ. This sacred church and storied history is now planning the celebration of its 300th Anniversary in 2010. For three centuries it has been pivotal to the growth and character of this community and indeed the surrounding area. The Church of the Ponds was the nexus of life in this…
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An Ode to Our Doty Road Bridge
An Ode to Our Doty Road Bridge The current Doty Road Bridge has no soul and offers nothing to augment our wonderful memories. Made of the latest technology of steel girders wrapped in concrete, it is unable to recall Oakland’s glory days or even to inspire new ones. So sad. Thunder Bridge Is there a person among us that doesn’t have a fuzzy warm memory of the Doty Road Bridge? Is it just crossing it a thousand times? Or walking astride its beams to Pleasureland? Or perhaps it’s having a beer or two or three at the Pleasureland Pub, Auggie’s or Angie’s to some, at the foot of the bridge.…
