Shayna Panzer had the "creme de la creme" of South Orange over for dinner, one evening in 1979. To contrast with what Panzer describes in The New York Times coverage of the event -- which she wrote -- as "chic and trendy" city meals, Panzer went another direction. "I always try...to place my guests within a setting that is carefully relaxed and aestherically appealing. For example," writes Panzer, "my dining room table is a "found sculptural object" (found on a Short Hills curb on clean-up day.)" The hit of the meal was chopped liver, served straight from a plastic tub labeled "Famous …

Locals can visit St. Lucy's in Newark on Sunday and recall New Jersey's Italian roots. The Old First Ward Museum, located in St. Lucy's, will be open to the public in the afternoon. Events begin at the close of 12:30 p.m. mass. The church, which is listed as a historic building, opened on the Feast of St. Lucy, December 13, 1926.  The parish boasted then a bilingual Italian-English school, one of many that served Newark's growing Italian-American community. The largest surge of immigration from Italy begin around 1880. Many immigrants were from southern Italy and established homes in Newark …

Think this is bad? For the sake of comparison -- or to remind ourselves what a difference a century makes -- we're retelling the story of the Blizzard of '88. 1888, that is.  Fifty years later, the Blizzard Men and Ladies gathered to retell the story of the Blizzard of '88. They were the survivors of a storm that hit the New York metropolitan area in March of 1888.  The weekend of March 10 and 11 was mild. According to The New York Herald, John J. Meisinger, buyer at Ridley's department store in Manhattan, was a local laughingstock. He had purchased a carload of unsold snow shovels for $1,200…

To mark the anniversary of Moby Dick's publication, we're running this story. It first ran in 2011, and has been added to since then.   Lost: one sculpture of the young Greek, Antinous. Found: one manuscript, possibly written by Herman Melville. Both items were last seen in South Orange. Jo Ann Middleton, Drew University professor, spoke at the South Orange Public Library on Thursday about Herman Melville’s ties to South Orange. While the author, best known for Moby Dick, is associated with the high seas and lower Manhattan, where he spent his adult life, Melville spent considerable time in …

At a vacant lot on South Orange Avenue, sandwiched between The Reservoir and an empty building, layers of black and white subway tile are visible through the grass at this time of year. Like frescoes from ancient Rome, the tiles look back at an Italian past, right here in South Orange. Just after the Civil War, there were fewer than 4000 Italians in this country, and only about 100 in New Jersey. By 1900, immigrants from southern Italy were, by some reckoning, the dominant immigrant group to the United States.  Many immigrants came from rural southern Italy, but landed in the cities, where …

The Orange Public Library will open its doors and show off its stuff on Friday, Sept. 14, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Headed by Karen Wells, library volunteers and staff will display library-owned photos, maps, documents and more. Members of the public are invited to come, look and perhaps even identify items or people in the pictures. The historic  building is worth a visit for history buffs even without the incentive of browsing the library riches. The Orange Library, known formally as the Stickler Memorial Library, was designed by Stanford White of the firm of McKim, Mead and White to design…

TomKat claims headlines almost daily, as the marital situation of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes becomes tabloid fodder. While the media coverage seems modern, it's not exclusive to our time. Even a century ago, a local socialite made the headlines with a public divorce. Samuel Lord was well-known in the Oranges and beyond. In 1826, he and cousin George W. Taylor established a small dry goods store on Catherine Street in Manhattan. Lord & Taylor became the first store to fill their display windows with Christmas scenes, rather than merchandise, a tradition that continues to thrive. Samuel Lord …

Now we know it as 425 Scotland Road, or the mansion next to Marylawn of the Oranges, but a century ago, this was the Graves family home. Built by 1900, the large house is known for its dumbwaiter and the ballroom that still exists. Locals tell of glimpses inside, but their stories pale next to Mrs. Graves's 1908 adventure. Edward H. Graves, owner of the house, was a Manhattan broker with offices at 30 Broad Street, born in 1867 (or 1869; this is census data and it was written by hand). By 1900, he was married to Jean (sometimes spelled Jeanne), born 1874, and they lived in the Scotland Road …

South Orange claims an Irish-descended population of nearly 12 percent, but that figure seems to multiply as St. Patrick’s Day approaches. The town is associated with Irish music and pubs; indeed, when the Star-Ledger’s Munchmobile went looking for Irish food two Saint Patrick's Days ago, they found it at Cryan’s. South Orange can boast of a long Irish history that begins with King William III. Offered the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1689, William III was descended from the House of Orange. Though his rule was turbulent, the Orange stripe, his heraldic color, of the Irish flag …

Carrie Fuld knew how to give a gift. The story told is this: Caroline Bamberger Frank Fuld went to Washington to see their famed cherry blossoms. When she returned, Fuld decided that such trees were just what Newark needed. In 1926, she purchased trees, nurtured them on the grounds of her South Orange estate on Centre Street, and then dedicated them to the city. The 2,000 trees were the first planted in Branch Brook Park—like our own South Mountain Reservation, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted—where cherry blossom trees now number some 4,100. Fuld, who was married to philanthropist Felix …

What comes after the presidency? We have several models of post-presidential lifestyles, including well-earned retirement, time spent with family and a shift into the legislative branch of government. Confused? No, I didn't mean that presidency. I'm writing about President of the South Orange Library, an office from which at least one person moved to Congress.  Walter Irving McCoy was born in Troy, N.Y., on Dec. 8, 1859. He attended Princeton for two years, then transferred to Harvard. He graduated in 1882 and from Harvard Law School in 1886. He was admitted to the bar in the same year.  …

It's not a moment too soon to declare an Irvington Avenue renaissance. With new businesses, such as Munchies, The Blue Plate Special, Music and More with Kelly, and Buy and Save Beauty Suppply joining venerable enterprises such as Other Mothers, the area is becoming ever busier. With volunteers "lighting the night" and rejuvenating the park, Irvington Avenue is a destination as well as a welcoming place to live.  In this, Irvington Avenue, especially the area bounded roughly by Fairview Avenue to the town line, looks to a long history, both commercial and residential. Local street directories…

The buildings between The Little Candle Shop and Church Street on West South Orange Avenue are empty now, and a vacant lot replaced the building at 110-112.  There are signs that the buildings were once cared for, as 114 is decorated with initials A. C. and flourishes near the roofline. Street directories from the New Jersey Room at the South Orange Public Library tell the story of businesses and residents who once called the buildings home and work. By 1930, the earliest date for which information is available, Carmine Cuozzo ran a butcher shop at 112. Joseph Vignola ran a shoe repair shop …

Congratulations to John Overall, who correctly answered all 18 photos in our photo contest, proving that he knows South Orange and Maplewood best.  Below are the correct answers (with commentary provided by Overall). 1.  Swimming pool, Columbia High School, Parker Ave. Maplewood. 2.  Shelter House, Memorial Park, Maplewood 3.  Seth Boyden School, 274 Boyden Ave. Maplewood 4.  Fielding School, now know as the Board of Education building, on Academy St. in Maplewood, near Parker. 5.  South Orange Train station, on Sloan St. SO, before the arches were filled in with stores.  Built around 1915 to…

As South Orange celebrates the new year, it's fitting to look back at the traditions of an early group of settlers, Scottish immigrants.  In South Orange, where thoroughfares Scotland Road, Montrose Avenue and Valley Street show a Scots influence, and our side streets answer to Meeker, Clark and Highland, it's high time to celebrate Scot-style, or at least to better understand our early settlers' traditions. The Scots arrived in "East Jersey," one of three major Scottish settlements in North America, in 1683, when Charles II granted a charter for the colony of New Jersey to 24 proprietors, …

You love this community, but do you know it? Sure you do, and here's a challenge to prove it. The numbered photos date from the mid-1940s. All but the "Super 7" are still in existence, and still function, but some have changed their form and function significantly. Your challenge: Identify the town (South Orange or Maplewood), the building, and what it is now.  Super challenge: What or where are (were) the "Super 7" photos? Send us your answers; we'll select a winner (randomly) from the entrants for a gift card prize!  Send your replies to MarciaW@Patch.com by 12/31.

Building a house of cards is one thing, but the Montrose Parks Historic District Association (MPHDA) has gone one better: the group has crafted cards from houses. The second edition of the popular playing cards are now available, each card featuring a Montrose home. Not only does each card face show a familiar house, explains Naoma Welk, President, but “the card notes the date the home was built and its style.” The back of each card features the Kip-Riker mansion, now part of Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel. This is the second edition of the cards, following on the success of the 2007 edition, …

In the 1930s, a South Orange or Maplewood shopper may have bought food in town and notions in Newark. For browsing or for special occasion shopping, however, the "Fifth Avenue of the Suburbs" was an attractive, local option.  While the Depression hit most of the country, our communities didn't feel the impact as much or as quickly. The New York Times notes that the Oranges, Maplewood and Montclair were still economically attractive, so much so that Best & Company, a Fifth Avenue retailer of women's and children's clothing, moved locally when they looked to the suburbs. Best & Co. made its …

Patch asked; you answered. A recent local history column looked at the cinema once known as the State Theatre. Now the Valley Transportation and Bus Company at 582 Valley Road on the Orange- West Orange border, the old building boasts a rotunda and trim that hark back to its past. According to Roland, an employee of the company and amateur historian, a chandelier once hung from the center of the vaulted rotunda. The outline of the state is still visible, and the theatre's wings lead to nothing. I asked readers for more information about the theatre, and I am grateful to for your replies. From…

The stories we cease to tell are those we forget. South Orange marks its World War I dead at the flagpole in the center of town, where six names are listed. The names are Chespeto DeCarlo, Ronald Wood Hoskier, James Kyle, Bernard Joseph Mahon, Joseph Elmslie Viles and Francis Burrett Shepard. The flagpole was erected and dedicated by the citizens of South Orange in 1926. Two of the men listed are further honored, each with a green dedicated to him. Chespeto DeCarlo is remembered by DeCarlo Green on Kingman Road. Mahon Green, honoring Bernard Joseph Mahon, is located on Mead Street, next to …