Local History: South Orange at Play

Surprising local sports and wagers of the past centuries.

In 2012, the Baird Center and town playing fields host nearly every sport that demands a field or court. Besides soccer, Ultimate, and bocce, locals can see rugby practice, tai chi, and a makeshift cricket pitch set up on Floods Hill. This might be hard to imagine for previous centuries' residents of South Orange, of course, when news of different activities filled the local newspaper's sports pages and social notes. Even before the Lone Oak Golf Course was built around the Baird Center, then the course clubhouse, residents had plans to play golf in town. According to a May 7, 1915 article in The New York Times, County Park Commissioner and South Orange resident Robert S. Sinclair and his wife returned from vacation in the "Bahama Islands…

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Meet South Orange's Governor

John Franklin Fort lived in South Orange, was mourned by Woodrow Wilson

John Franklin Fort, Governor of New Jersey from 1908 until 1911, and advocate of "New Idea" in politics, lived in South Orange. Fort, his wife, Charlotte E. Stainsby Fort, and their two sons and one daughter, lived on Charlton Avenue, in the Montrose neighborhood, at least until 1919, when Fort died. Fort was a New Jersey-born lawyer (1854) who served as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the State.  As an active and ardent Republican, Fort regularly attending national conventions. In 1896, he proposed nominating Garret Hobart for Vice President. Elected to the governorship of the state in 1907, Fort surprised party loyals by annoucing, about a year later, his independence of boss rule.  He adopted "new idea" politics, which advocated …

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The Edges of the Oranges

Local Library Holds "Be a History Detective" Event

The Orange Public Library has relics and photos of South Orange, West Orange, Maplewood and beyond

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 the building; his designs also mark the Washington Square arch, the original Penn Station and the Pierpont-Morgan Library. The Stickler Memorial …

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Tracing Your Roots With DNA

Learn how DNA testing can be used to shed light on the paternal and maternal branches of your family tree.

Over the past decade, genetic genealogy graduated from pioneering research to one more tool in our family history arsenal, but just as the number of us taking DNA tests has grown, so have our genetic options. Renowned genealogist, author and TV and radio guest, Megan Smolenyak, will discuss Trace Your Roots With DNA at the Millburn-Short Hills Historical Society's upcoming annual meeting. Smolenyak has appeared on Good Morning America, the Today Show, the Early Show, CNN, NPR and BBC. In additon to consulting on shows ranging from Who Do You Think You Are? to Top Chef, Smolenyak is the author of six books, a Huffington Post contributor, a cold case researcher for the Army, NCIS and the FBI, and former Chief Family Historian and …

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The Edges of the Oranges

Montrose Mansion's Graves Family: A Bullet, A Corset, and a Ballroom

Who lived in the mansion on Scotland Road? Part 1 of 2

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 home. They weren't alone: They had three Irish-born servants, Kate Conklin, Mary Anino, and Ellen McQueen. Ellen's ten-year-old brother lived there, as…

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Local Families and Their Estates, Remembered in Streetscapes and Signs

Street names and building inscriptions recall past residents

A nondescript building on Main Street in Orange is flanked by two parking lots. Its façade is covered in signs advertising businesses that no longer exist.  Only a date, 1925, and a name, Manton Bradley Metcalf, carved into the lintel hint at the building’s legacy. By their own description, the Metcalfs were one of the oldest family in the United States.  Based first in Rhode Island, and owners of mills, early generations of the family were associated with Providence. The Rhode Island School of Design was a legacy of Jesse Metcalf, (birth date uncertain) who established the school in memory of his wife. A believer in “practical philanthropy,” Metcalf remarried.  His fifth child from that union was Manton Bradley, born June 26, 1864, who …

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Editor's Notebook: Real Estate Speculation

What have you found in your house?

Years ago, I accompanied a friend around South Orange and Maplewood as she browsed open houses for the perfect home. Once, in West Montrose, as she measured the kitchen, I wandered to the basement of the aging Victorian. It was an "as is" sale; the previous owner's belongings remained, and no work had been done to update the house. As I walked back into the kitchen, I saw the broker.  "Where's the laundry hookup?" I asked. "How did they do laundry?" He paused. "It's down there," he said. "I think." We looked together, but the basement had no utility sink or obvious place to put a washing machine. I shrugged, but he beckoned. "No laundry," he said, "but there is this." The broker unlocked a door I had hardly noticed and pushed it open. …

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New Jersey Catholic Historical Commission Recognizes South Orange Residents

Thomas McCabe and Marcia Worth were recognized at the January meeting

The New Jersey Catholic Historical Commission recognizes two South Orange residenents as its award winners for 2011-2012. The Doctor Joseph Mahoney Studies Award recipient is Marcia Worth, South Orange Patch editor, who is studying religious and ethnic history patterns in the Oranges and the Monsignor William Noe' Field Book Prize went to Dr. Thomas McCabe for his volume entitled: Miracle on High Street. The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, N.J. (New York: Fordham University Press, 2011). The Monsignor William Noe’ Field Award for Catholic New Jersey History is named in honor of the late Monsignor William Noe’ Field (1915-2000), a noted rare book librarian and bibliophile is bestowed on the best publication in…

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The Edges of the Oranges

South Orange History: From Hartford Road to House of Representatives

Congressman Walter I. McCoy began his political career as a Village Trustee.

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.  Walter McCoy married Kate Philbrick Baldwin in October 1888. His Harvard Class Notes of 1895 reports that he worked in Manhattan, and "I am living at …

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