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 …

Kim Kardashian has claimed front pages and column inches with her days-long marriage. 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 was also onetime owner of South …

As South Orange residents decorate for Halloween, a popular motif is faux gravestones, leaning this way and that, spaced around the yard. These are especially appropriate in front of Victorian homes, for it was the Victorians who popularized the “rural” cemetery that inspires such décor. One local answer to London’s Highgate Cemetery, the epitome of Victorian death culture, is Fairmount Cemetery, just over the border in Newark, and visible from South Orange Avenue. Newark has a number of cemeteries, whose rich history reflects Newark’s own past. NewarkHistory.com explains that, until the …

Across the street from Luna Stage, and next to one of the state's first settlement houses, stands a bus depot with a storied but incomplete past.  The Valley Transportation and Bus Company at 582 Valley Road was once a theatre, then a cinema. 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. The theatre was once called the State Theatre or State Cinema, according to two residents. Roland showed this writer detailed molding, one…

An area as rich in history as Essex County also boasts a good deal of ghostly lore, perfect for Halloween. As darkness comes earlier, the wind blows harder, and the bats circle my neighborhood, it’s easy to imagine a spirit lingering from our long local past. Indeed, the New Jersey Ghost Hunters Society, the state’s largest paranormal investigating and training organization, is an active group. One legend they pursued was the Ghost Train of Old Penn Station. Newark’s Pennsylvania Station as travelers and commuters know it now is a grand building. Designed by McKim, Mead and White, the station…

At a vacant lot on South Orange Avenue, 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 they worked as shoe shiners, sewer workers, and any work …

The new Ken Burns series looks at Prohibition, the rise and fall of the Eighteenth Amendment and the movement that led to it. It seems like ancient history now, but the "dry" movement took hold locally less than a century ago. The battle for a "wet" or "dry" South Orange was fought in taverns, churches and at the ballot box. The temperance movement was at its height in the Progressive Era, and a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment to accomplish nationwide Prohibition was introduced in Congress and passed by both houses in December 1917. On January 16, 1919, the amendment was …

Red, white and blue bows and floral decorations filled the room. A variety of ferns and tropical trees decorated the stage, and more than 100 guests filled the room at the Montclair Women’s Club, patiently waiting for the wedding of President Grover Cleveland to Frances Clara Folsom. The reenactment, hosted by the Victorian Society of Northern New Jersey with the Grover Cleveland Birthplace Memorial Society, celebrated the 125th anniversary of the 22nd and 24th president to his young bride Frances, a woman 27 years his junior and the daughter of his former law partner. Following a brief …