Manville advertising / signage

The Manville Lanes • Click to Enlarge

I took a walk over to the Manville Lanes today after learning is was all closed up and gutted. My main goal was to try and find a worker so I could attempt to procure the giant sign on the side of the building, but no one was around. It bummed me out so much that that classic old sign, a beacon of my childhood might escape my grasp and end up in a landfill somewhere off the side of 287. As I stood in defeat remembering the way only half those neon letters used to flicker and light up the Manville night sky, it occurred to me that I might take a little walk around downtown Manville and get some photos of some of the great local advertising before it dissapears as well..

Like always the adventure was a rewarding one. I wish I has time to cover the whole town but for now here are a few Gems.

I recently struck up a friendship with the John Krasansky. John has a genius personality that kind of reminds me of Nick Charles in the movie the thin man.  The guy can tell great stories, so I honestly didn’t believe him when he told me there was an old Kay Appliance showroom that closed in the 1950s and was undisturbed ever since. But when I got there I’ll be damned if there wasn’t a 1950s appliance store time capsule. I don’t want to post the address because I think I already shook up the neighbors by taking all kinds of photos over there, but I got this great shot through the window…

You can enlarge the photo by clicking on it. It’s amazing that a place like this exists. And speaking of store that closed down decades ago, leaving room fulls of brand new antiques… The Chabra Professional building used to have a hardware store under it. Apparently they just put some white paper over the windows, hung a few wreaths and called it a day. In all fairness this is a pretty iconic building in town. I love the old sign with the terrible spacing.

The next one is an old ghost sign on Main Street that is now obscured by buildings. I managed a decent photo of it. It’s an ad for M.H. Burke & Co. Which was apparently a Dept. Store in Somerville. I’m glad this thing survived…

The next two photos I got are fairly new, but they are great hand painted signs so I included them. The first one is from the Hair Palace… and it’s just super well done.

The next one is out in front of the jewelry store on Main St. This is just a great diamond painting. I’m not sure if they used cheap paint or if they intentionally left the old rickety paint… either way this is great…

This is another classic Manville sign, I wish they didn’t ruin it with the plexiglass. I guess kids were breaking the neon…

Camplain Liquors doesn’t only have this classic neon, but on the side window they have another great hand painted sign. This one is such a classic too…

Ice Cold Beer, I don’t know anyone who can argue with that. This next one is one of my favorite neons around. The Chester House sign. Tommy recently got someone to give this sign a facelift and fix the neon arrow… it looks great.

And finally the old Kay Electric building has a great old sign painted right on to the building. This one is kind of tucked away…

I managed to get a pretty good shot of one of the old service trucks too… it’s pretty cool the way the old paint preserved the logo a little.

Petey’s Films • Manville Businesses part 2

Hey all just wanted to continue with the Businesses portion of the Petey’s Films. This one focuses more on the storefront aspect of local stores and such. This one is a great street level view of the young towns thriving shops. Most of you will have heard of some of these places. Enjoy.

Manville News, November 14, 1941

Hey everyone. Squeezed out another issue of the old Manville News today! I know, right about now you’re saying “stop making us download and read stuff and just make with the movies already” but like I said before… I want to make sure these are archived for everyone’s use forever. I’ve been noticing a few downloads every time, so there are a few people that care. Anyway suffer through this one for now and I’ll get back to the eye cookies for a minute. For right now though here is a download LINK!

Manville buildings 1969-1970

The Elmcrest Inn, Feb. 1969 • Click to Enlarge

Hey everyone. So it’s been a busy few weeks for me, but I finally got around to scanning this envelope full of Manville photo slides that were recently unearthed from an old dusty cabinet in the Somerset County Historical Society. It was pretty frustrating trying to get nice scans of these, but after much rigging I got clean prints and the fruits were pretty amazing. First of all you can see above I got a nice transfer of that Elmcrest Inn photo… which I’m probably most excited about out of the bunch. Here are the other good ones… these will all enlarge a bit if you click on them. The second scan is another Manville favorite place which still exists. The Chester House.

This one is sort of a bad photo, and a little blurry, but people ask me about it alot. And it’s really the first good color photo on this site of The Polish Home. The polish home is also a defunct Manville building, which was located right across from Roosevelt School.

Just got an update on the following building from Antoinette (Rogalski) Vinciguerra! She says…  “The house was over 200 years old when it was demolished, a very sad day for my family. My grandparents Joseph and Loretta Rogalski, moved to the US from Poland and purchased that house which was also a place of business known as the Roadhouse. It was also larger than in the picture. One third of it burnt down in a fire. The Roadhouse was a happening place from what I hear back in its day. It had ballrooms, a saloon and was an inn. The front side of it, not pictured, had a large wooden porch with several large columns. It also had a stepping stone in front of the porch which was used by stage coaches.”

This next one caught me really off guard, and I feel so dumb for never paying attention to this, despite seeing it so many times in my life. I always heard that Camplain Rd. was so named “Camp Lane” because it literally was the campsite of the Continental Army. It’s a little hard to read in the photo, but this sign that sits right outside of Classical Glass on Camplain Rd. reads.. “Encampment area for Pennsylvania troops of the Continental Army from about December 15, 1778 until June 1, 1779.” If anyone in Manville tries telling you nothing ever happened in Manville you bring em here.

Ok. this next one is another mystery house, although it is entitled “The Fiero House” taken Feb. 1969. I’m not sure if this still exists or what the signifigance is but here is a photo.

And last, but most definitely not least is this great photo of the Main Street School (formerly located at the site of the Main St. parking lot). A lot of folks on here attended this school, and I know it’s been a fan favorite on here. The is pretty much the best color photo I’ve seen of this place yet.

I’m not sure who took these photos, so I cannot give a proper credit. If you took them let me know and I’ll be sure to get your name on them. Also, a huge thanks to the Somerset County Historical Society for trusting me with these slides, thinking of me when they were unearthed, and inducting me a trustee. If anyone out there is interested in getting involved with the society, we are looking for fresh faces & ideas. Please get in touch!

Oh, one last thing before I leave you alone. I’ve been talking to some great older folk who keep telling me about some friends around town that have these incredible photo archives, who would be dying to show them off. If you are one of these people, please get in touch with me I would LOVE to come hang out, have about 10 cups of coffee and chat about Manville… AND see some great photos. If you would like to share photos on here as well please get in touch with me. I will credit everyone, I have all kinds of digital archive technologies, and I would be happy to print extra copies or provide you with the digital versions of your photos on a disk. Please help preserve the history of this town. Also, I have specifically heard the name Smolinka as a person who has a great archive of photos. If anyone knows them or anyone else with photos please communicate to them about this site. I know a lot of older folk don’t like to, or are unable to use computers, which pretty much cuts my lines of communication to them. Thank you.

The Old Smith Homestead

The Old Smith Farm • Click all Photos to Enlarge

According to genealogical records from the Somerset County Historical Archive, Peter P. Smith was born on 01-19-1741 and owned a large farm right in the current area of Walmart and extending into Lost Valley. I had heard rumors of such a farm for many years, so it was a blessing to find  my new buddy Hank over at the SCHS had already mapped out the genealogy… and had these sweet photos to go with it. I can’t really date any of the photos, but let’s try and frame the time period with some context clues. First of all, lets take a look at a pertinent page out of the genealogy book…

Upon his death, Peter Sr. passed his land down to his 4 sons (listed in the document above). One of which was Adam, a son who had a badly burned arm from falling into a fireplace as a child, he was put in charge of caring for his mother after his father passed. He was also in charge of the portion of land with the homestead on it. Here are a couple of photos of their home.

In 1823 Adam moved out to Middlesex County. At some point the land & house must’ve been sold to the Colonial Creosote Company, who used The “Old Smith Homestead” as a rooming house for their employees. According to The Unionist Gazette, the house was destroyed by a fire on December 19th, 1913, which also claimed the lives of two young boys. As of the 1860 Hillsborough Farm Map, the Smith family still owned a good deal of land in that area of town. But, according to the genealogy records all the lands passed from Peter P. Smith Sr. ended up in the hands of the Johns Manville Company. Anyway, here is one last look at the great Peter P. Smith Sr. Farm. I got to say, I’d take looking at this over Walmart any old day.

The Elmcrest Inn & The Nebozinskys

THE “BIG HOUSE” ON KYLE AND MAIN ST • CLICK TO ENLARGE

Some of you might remember a post I did awhile back about The Elmcrest Inn. As I remembered it, the Elmcrest was a grand old building that sat on the corner of Main St. and Kyle St. at the current site if the CVS. Thanks to Cathy Deschu, whose grandparents once owned the house, we now have a nearly complete history of this great historic building. The Elmcrest Inn (as most townsfolk remember it) was around barely into the 90′s and was tragically and hurriedly destroyed while a concerned town resident, and a family member were trying to get it listed on the national historic register, and for good reason. First let’s look at the abridged history…

The house was built sometime in the 1800′s and was the residence of Captain Fredrick Davey. At some point in time there was a Ballroom attached to the house, and a barn somewhere between the house and the railroad tracks. Both of which had allegedly burned to the ground. It had been once told through the word of an old elementary school teacher that her grandmother had attended a Ball there which was also attended by then General George Washington. During the Depression, it also operated as “The Weston Hotel” And at some point in it’s history the property included the “Liberty Hall” building, which was a community center & concert venue that supported such great artists as Jimmy Dorsey and Guy Lombardo. If that’s not a matter of significant Manville History than I don’t know what is. Here is a copy of a business card from “The Old Reliable Weston Hotel” Signed Louis Nebozinsky “Proprietor”… Cathy’s Grandfather.

When Cathy’s grandparents Louis and Katherine Nebozinsky left their jewelry business in New York City to run a General Store on 11th and Washington Ave in Manville in 1919 Main Street was still a dirt road. Her mother recalls that cows and chickens would roam carelessly into the road at will.

Louis Nebozinsky

Katherine Ginda-Nebozinsky

At At the time the Nebozinsky’s bought the Property on Main & Kyle, the house was in great disrepair. The man who previously owned the home before them allegedly had mental problems, which contributed to the poor condition of the home and property. The Nebozinsky’s put their 10 children to the task of helping whip the place back into shape. Cleaning the cupola at the peak of the house fell to the task of Cathy’s very young mother and uncle Dan (aged 9 and 7 at the time respectively), who recalled it’s steep rickety stairs, trap door access, and browsing through found Revolutionary War newspaper issues, and sending them as instructed to the trash.

That cupola would become a haven and art studio for one of their daughters Molly, who was a talented artist (she would later refuse an art scholarship in Paris). She loved the cupola for it’s surrounding windows and ample natural light.

When their 10 children grew older, the Nebosinskys sold the house to the Esterhoy family and moved into the smaller house on Washington and 11th that they had previously bought and used as their General Store. Due to water damage and leakage, the Esterhoys unfortunately opted to tear the amazing cupola off the top of the house. Eventually the house turned into the string of restaurants and inns until it was eventually torn down. Losing a building of this calibur seems like such an incredible loss for a town with such a proud past. In honor of this great lost building, here is a historic Illustration from a prouder time. Click the photo to enlarge it.

Later on in 1983 Dan Nebozinsky sat down for a 3 part interview with Joe Patero of The Manville News to recall his families rich history… here is part 1 I will be on the lookout for parts 2 and 3 and hopefully get them up here ASAP. Thank you Cathy Deschu for this priceless wealth of lost Manville history, the photos, the illustration, and for sharing your family’s story. This is incredible.

Manville News, August 8th, 1941

Alright, another issue of the digitalized Old Manville News. I believe this is our 8th consecutive issue of this vintage weekly town newspaper. In other words… we’re on a roll. I used a big preview for this, since this is one of the more visual issues we seen so far. Featuring the preparation for the arrival of Governor Charles Edison. This seems like a big moment for Manville, and the town was urged to roll out the patriotism as “Flags, Buntings and Cutting the grass were rushed to make him feel welcome” Here it is. Manville News 08-08-1941

W.M. Mazur… and a READERS POLL!

CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTO

You know I’ve been putting some heavy posts on here lately. I keep telling myself that the heart and soul of this blog really lies in the photos. People don’t want to always have to listen to me drone on with my long winded diatribes about which streets used to be called what. So in the name of lightheartedness here is a photo. I love this photo, but I could never really identify it. The name Mazur makes me think of Mazur’s Market, but I don’t know that they had a delivery service. Anyone have any info on what or who this exactly is? Manville please chime in on this!

Also, it’s a new year and in the name of keeping everyone exited about the site, I set up this little poll. This confidential and will only tell the percentage of what people voted for. It’s free and easy and just takes a second. Please participate in this… it’s for everyones benefit. And it’s lots of fun! You can check the progress by clicking the “view results” at the bottom of the poll.

 

Manville News, August 1st, 1941

Woah! Another issue of the digital old Manville News. August 1st, 1941. This issue includes the announcement of Democrat, Charles Golchewski’s bid for re-election for Councilman, and a fantastic little article about a local artist named Jean Ryhs, who painted a watercolor painting called “Alley in Manville” that some local folks thought offensive and had it removed from a local exhibition. The painting, described as “a green shack, a red shack, a clothesline, and a wall” later got national attention over the controversy. I did a little prowling around on the internet, but could not find an example of the painting… I would really love to see this. This is another consecutive issue… enjoy. Manville News 08-01-1941

Manville Gardens (Weston) & The Veghte Farm

MANVILLE GARDENS LAND PLOT ORIGINAL PLAN  (1917) • CLICK TO ENLARGE

I have such a soft spot for maps. When historical Manville ones show up I really get siked. A good friend of mine named Jessica Bodo recently bought a house in town. Being a fellow Manville history buff, she started to obsessively explore the history of her property. Her searches have turned up many VERY interesting pieces of info. She discovered that when she got back far enough in time, most of the property in Manville’s “Weston” section was actually owned by one family… The Veghte family. She also found the above map, drafted in 1917 and filed in 1919, it maps out the newly established plots of land to be developed.  These two pieces of information coupled with the Hillsborough 1860 farm map was a real slam dunk  in terms of concrete information. After viewing the 1860 farm map, combined with this Manville Gardens map we could see that the property line of the Veghtes exactly matched the shape of this newly envisioned Manville Gardens section

CLICK TO ENLARGE

I did slightly rotate the Manville Gradens map, but you can see right down to Abraham Veghte’s house (the red arrow)… it’s a perfect match geographically., with Royce Brook backing the property. This was quite an entertaining realization, and proof that Manville Gardens (or Weston) IS Abraham Veghtes farm (and another smaller piece of property in the bottom left , to which I could not read the name of the original owner). As far as my friend Jess has discovered Abraham Veghte died in 1886, and his Wife Anne (formerly a Vannnest) in 1897. The land was handed down to the Veghte’s children… it’s a bit of a mystery on why they decided to sell it.

If you look at the Manville Gardens map (at the top) between the streets then known as Jackson and Schwartz Terrace, between First Street and Raritan, you will see what appears to be the farm plot, which was eventually chopped in half when they extended Harrison Street all the way through to Raritan Ave. Just for kicks I decided to superimpose a modern street map over the old map.

MODERN STREET MAP SUPERIMPOSED OVER THE OLD MAP • CLICK TO ENLARGE

Even though not TOO much has changed in terms of the layout of the streets, I did notice a lot of the street names have since been changed to commemorate some of the great folks that helped perpetuate Manville’s existence as a town. For instance Jasinski Ave, named for our great first police chief was formerly called Beekman Ave. Persinko Ave, named after the family of another man on the police force Lt. Andrew Persinko was formerly named Fourth Ave. Sidorski Ave was formerly known as Schwartz Terrace. Ruth place however, was just always called Ruth place. Weird. Another interesting thing about this map, is that it has a road crossing over the railroad tracks that’s called “Road from Roycefield to Millstone Road.” I’ve mentioned before on this blog that I believe that an old road called Weston Road ran further east of JFK Blvd., which clearly did not exist during that time of this map. You can see a little kink in Kennedy on the modern map where they eventually rerouted the old road. There are 3 streets on the old map called Fifth Ave,  Sixth Ave. and Forest that apparently never came to fruition. Nowadays the area where Forest Ave should be is literally just… forrest. It looks like the Reading Railroad owned the area which now houses the end of Dominic St. and Richard Ave. This property was formerly owned by another farmer named Joseph Christopher.

Along her historical searches my friend Jess also noted that at some point on The Veghte farm a young man accidentally shot his sister to death with a shotgun… anyone out there have any insight on this?

This was a pretty heavy post so thanks for hanging on… as always if anyone has additional information please let me know or leave some comments!.