Author Topic: Old Oaks cut down on West Anderson St.  (Read 6281 times)

Offline Skipx219

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Old Oaks cut down on West Anderson St.
« on: April 15, 2013, 10:24:02 AM »
438 West Anderson St. The property was sold & the small cottage at the rear of the  lot, it appears, will be torn down...and I assume will, will have a new house built on it.
The new owner cut down 3 large old growth Oak which were originally part of Borg's Woods. The one in the front of the lot must be at least 150 years old by the look of the growth rings..the one at the rear left appears to be even old.

 I thought that they could have fit a house between the trees...the lot looks so barren.
My Grand Parents owned the cottage & the house at 440...and 438 was where my new Wife & I moved into when we married in 1969. That's why I have an interest in the property...not to create a problem for the new owner

Perhaps the Poster who follows the Trees in town may document the age of the trees



Offline Editor

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Re: Old Oaks cut down on West Anderson St.
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2013, 11:30:48 AM »
justwatching references 438 West Anderson in this topic:

Miscellaneous Photos

There’s also a very small and mysterious house at 438 West Anderson Street, west of Summit Ave near the bottom of the hillside. It’s on a 20 or 25 foot wide lot, and painted green.  It’s only the size of a one-car garage and obviously far older than everything else in the entire neighborhood.  What’s that all about ?  What’s the history of that house, and were there once others like it ?


Offline Skipx219

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Re: Old Oaks cut down on West Anderson St.
« Reply #2 on: April 15, 2013, 02:55:58 PM »
In 1958, when the City took all the properties on Moore St from East Camden south to the Railroad tracks for the improvement of the area..my Grand Parents bought the property at 440 West Anderson. A year or so later they bought the Cottage at 438 West Anderson St. I don't know who the previous owners were. He improved the building & an Uncle moved in and then moved out sometime later. I believe there is a Cesspool on the property because in around 1965 he had a Plumber install a 4" cast iron sewer to the street. There is also an non working well pump in front of the Cottage That I never saw working from 1961 on. Before I married in 1969 He & I further improved the inside.It was a great small place for a couple.
When they extended West Lookout into Borg's Woods, the developer built a Railroad Tie wall one foot from the back of the Cottage & the back of the house started to rot out...it was time to sell & rip it down & replace it.
Those Oaks were huge and shaded the property nicely. When the Acorn dropped it would leave dents in the cars and a knot on the head...I enjoyed living there.

Offline Skipx219

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Re: Old Oaks cut down on West Anderson St.
« Reply #3 on: April 15, 2013, 03:05:15 PM »
I notice in that old Aerial Map that was posted on this site, that the only house on West Anderson St was the house at 440...but those huge Oaks could have been hiding the Cottage. I'm sure 440 may have been the first house built there...it set back to the street is close and doesn't conform with the others that came later. There is also 2 family house across the street.

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Re: Old Oaks cut down on West Anderson St.
« Reply #4 on: April 15, 2013, 05:58:20 PM »
Skip sent the picture below for posting.  Thanks Skip.

Offline just watching

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Re: Old Oaks cut down on West Anderson St.
« Reply #5 on: April 15, 2013, 06:13:54 PM »
I suspect that the house dates to about 1880.  I have two theories.

(a) It was a summer house for someone, literally in the middle of nowhere, on a dirt road.

(b) It may have been part of a settlement of Free Blacks on the hill, generally associated with the Thoma Jewelry Factory (formerly on the south side of Berry Street between Prospect & Summit). It was in business from sometime in the 1860's or 1870's till at least the 1890's). It's on both old atlas's. There were several worker's houses on Prospect Ave. The houses were one single family, and four or five 2-family that were later moved to the west side of Third Street at Clay St. None of those are still standing, all torn down for Quail Heights.  There was also one small very small house on Hamilton Place just east of Clarendon (the only house on the entire street), several houses on the west side of DeWolfe Place (mostly still standing) and one African-American church that served this community, also still standing at Hamilton & Prospect. There was no Summit Ave south of Passaic St, and nobody lived on Summit Ave north of Passaic St.  In 1880, it was all rural terrain, woods, fields, farm lots.   Including DeWolf Place, there was probably a community of about 100 people, all African-American and all living on the hill. In addition to Thoma, some also employed by the Old Ladies Home on Passaic St, and some were farm laborers tilling the soil in what is now the Carver Park area. There was nobody else up there at the time, on Prospect Ave, or on the hill.  The Carver Park neighborhood was mostly farmland in 1880, and the few houses were all occupied by white people.  The demographics were very very different, and almost exactly reversed.  Blacks on the hill (DeWolf Place and Prospect), and Whites on First St, James St, Berry St, Stanley Place, and Passaic St.

This hilltop settlement was the original black community in the central part of Hackensack, which by the 1890's began to expand east and SE and became the Carver Park community. There was a quick jump to the east block of High Street, and then everything in the whole area quickly consolidated.  Meanwhile, Berry Place was bisected between Prospect and DeWolfe Place, and the Thoma Factory and workers' houses were eliminated for construction of mansions on Prospect and Summit Avenues. It's not recorded in history, but George Scudder verbally told me it was a coordinate effort on the part of realtors to make the hilltop desirable for upscale home builders.  Essentially, Hackensack's black community was pushed off the hill where it originated, and pushed down to the east. The only block in common for the entire time is DeWolfe Place.

I lean towards (b).  I don't believe someone would have built a summer home where there were no other summer homes nearby, no water nearby, and on the edge of a black community.

 

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