Author Topic: 16 East Broadway  (Read 4686 times)

Offline Editor

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16 East Broadway
« on: November 29, 2014, 10:44:54 AM »
Edith, a Hackensack resident, sent this to me several weeks ago when the Fire Department was celebrating its centennial:

     According to my family lore, and first person accounts of other family members, the property at 16 East Broadway in Hackensack originally was a firehouse.   (East Broadway is just around the corner from the Hudson Street firehouse.)   My grandparents, Josephine and Carmelo Puglisi emigrated from Italy to the US about 1905.  Birth records indicate that 6 of their eight children were born in Hackensack, with three of them born on 16 East Broadway:  My Uncle Tom (born 1917), my father, Sam (born in 1919), and my Uncle Vincent (born 1922).  All the children grew up on 16 East Broadway.  Two of them started their own families there.
     My father told his children that 16 E. Broadway was once a firehouse and that when it was converted for residential use, the builders had to build over the big brass medallion in the living room floor (base of the fire pole?) because it was too difficult to remove it.  My paternal grandmother told stories about how about a brass pole once existed in their living room at 16 E. Broadway, and that firemen used to slide down the pole from the upstairs sleeping quarters, through the ceiling to the ground floor where their equipment was kept.   One cousin who grew up there also recalls family stories that 16 East Broadway was a firehouse  and that it was remodeled c. 1926.  The building has undergone several changes since the horse and carriage days of the early 1900s. However, a search of property records for 16 East Broadway may confirm the history. 
     Although it might have been privately owned (much like 199 Hudson Street), it is probable that 16 E. Broadway originally housed a volunteer fire department and then a paid fire department until the ‘new’ firehouse at 199 Hudson Street, home of Engine Co 1 was built.   Perhaps you might be interested in including this bit of information into the illustrious history of the Hackensack Fire Department. 


Edith's sister Elizabeth followed up with the news article below. 

Here's a link to the property today: https://goo.gl/maps/zpCyt

What an amazing piece of city history. Thanks for sharing!

« Last Edit: November 29, 2014, 11:20:57 AM by Editor »