Butler NJ

The Great Railroad Sign Caper of 1940 – 3

| Paul Havemann

The third of three “Then & Now” photos I acquired a while back (here’s the first one and here’s the second).

To quote the earlier posts, the origin of these is as interesting as their content: In 1940, someone stole the black-and-yellow “Railroad Crossing” signs at the two Butler crossings on the Paterson-Hamburg Turnpike. An employee of the NYS&W (New York Susquehanna & Western) railroad was sent to document the scene. Were the vandals caught? Doubtful. The signs were, however, replaced.

In this one, we’ve made a U-turn and are driving south. Between the two railroad crossings stands the venerable old business known then, as now, as Excelsior Lumber.

Click the photo to see it full size. There are interesting details to see.

The full size photo is a real glimpse into the past. Look closely, and you’ll see that there was a railroad siding that ran behind the yard. The car is a late 1930s something (suggestions welcome).

At right is a Sunoco gas station. There are two gasoline pumps sporting glowing globes on top. The car appears to be 1920s. you can see the fellow who pumped the gas chatting with someone in the dump truck. The building was expanded into a full-service garage at some point, but the gas pumps are long gone.

Visible above the tree line is the original, really tall smokestack of the Pequannock Valley Paper Company (about half was removed when the mill closed). And straight ahead, just over the RR tracks, is a RR siding building that we saw in the first photo.

Here’s how this scene looks today.

What became of the classic black-and-orange signs? They probably graced the wall of the thieves’ garage or rec room. Were they ever caught? Was the theft responsible for an accident? I did not find any mention in the old newspapers; perhaps a railroad buff might know more.

And that’s our tour! If you enjoyed the drive, I hope you’ll let me know in the comments.

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The Great Railroad Sign Caper of 1940 – 2

| Paul Havemann

The second of three “Then & Now” photos I acquired a while back (here’s the first one).

The origin of these is as interesting as their content: In 1940, someone stole the black-and-yellow “Railroad Crossing” signs at the two Butler crossings on the Paterson-Hamburg Turnpike. An employee of the NYS&W (New York Susquehanna & Western) railroad was sent to document the scene. Were the vandals caught? Doubtful. The signs were, however, replaced.

This 1940 view shows the Paterson-Hamburg Turnpike approaching the second RR crossing as you head north, just past Maple Lake Road. The house in the distance was the Smith general store back when the area was known as Smith Mills.

Click on the photo to see it full size.

The old iron bridge ahead was replaced in 2010. Just beyond it is the building once known as the old Smith general store, still standing, as can be seen in the 2019 Google street view.

Here’s a street view of the same scene today. Feel free to drive along. Many more trees now, so the Smith store is just about visible.

And now, we’ll make a U-turn and take a better look at that lumber yard – and the gas station across the street.

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The Great Railroad Sign Caper of 1940 – 1

| Paul Havemann

Who doesn’t like “Then & Now” photos? I have some to share which have never been seen before. The origin of these is as interesting as their content: In 1940, someone stole the black-and-yellow “Railroad Crossing” signs at the two Butler crossings on the Paterson-Hamburg Turnpike. An employee of the NYS&W (New York Susquehanna & Western) railroad was sent to document the scene. Were the vandals caught? Doubtful. The signs were, however, replaced.

This 1940 view shows the Paterson-Hamburg Turnpike approaching the first RR crossing as you head north; just around the bend lies Excelsior Lumber – the same company that is still there today. (The history of the company is interesting!) The building at right, at 160 Hamburg Turnpike, has been replaced by a much larger one.

Click the photo to view it full sized.

If you look closely, above the roadside railing, are houses on Apshawa Cross Road. (There are a lot more trees now than there were then.)

Here’s a street view of the same scene today. Feel free to drive along. Note the railroad siding at far right. It was used for the lumber yard as well as for the Pequannock Valley Paper Company, which was – and still is – behind us.

Let’s head down the road to the next view from 1940. We’ll see more of the Excelsior Lumber company in the third photo.

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Butler Business Center – 1950

| Paul Havemann

Here are two views of the stores and merchants populating Main Street in Butler NJ, on a fine Spring day in March 1950. At that time it was a quiet factory town – the devastating fire that would destroy the borough’s largest employer, the Pequanoc Rubber Company, was still seven years into the future.

There’s a lot to examine in these two photos. In the first, taken from Park Place, shows the hulking three-story American Stores Company (Acme) next to Kadish Drugs. The much-beloved Nees Bakery (and other stores) are remembered to this day.

By clicking on the photo, you’ll open a new tab with the full-sized image.

If you chose to stroll up the street, you’d pass Romano’s Market, the Acme, and Kadish Drug Store. You might be tempted by the mouth-watering odors wafting from the open door of Nees Bakery. Further up, you’d pass Louis Levine’s fine furniture store, the Butler News Company, and a variety of others. At F.B. Whittle’s Hardware, you could pick up just about anything you’d need for around the home or garden. Across the street, you might see a train pulling into the Butler depot. Beyond Tintle and DePuyt Taxi Service, a ways up, you’d see the Pequanoc Soft Rubber Mill with its 225-foot smokestack. Just past Harry and Joe’s Cut Rate Meat Market, you could, if you wished, get a room at F.R. Casterlin’s Park Hotel and Stables – at one time it was known from one end of the East to the other – or just have a meal at their well-stocked bar & grill. Truly, uptown had just about anything you might need.

But wait – you haven’t seen what’s down Main Street the other way yet.

By clicking on the photo, you’ll open a new tab with the full-sized image.

At extreme left there appears to be a variety store (“$1.00 and up”). This side of the liquor store and Butler House (rooms to let) you could get your shoes repaired. After the Safeway is Claude Post’s radio and television sales and repair shop. (Those things were heavy, so he would send a repairman to take it back to the shop.) You’d stroll past Tice Hardware, Pink’s drug store, the Brass Rail (where you might wet your whistle with a beer), and more.

Down around the bend you’d spot Butler Coal & Lumber, across the street by the tracks, before arriving at Martin Cook’s Riverside Hotel. If you chose to go further, you’d find yourself at the Butler Argus building, where the next edition was being readied for printing. After that, you’d find yourself crossing the bridge into Union Square… but that’s another post.

If you’ve enjoyed this trip down memory lane, why not let me know? And credit is due to the Butler Museum, which is housed in the historic, brick-red New York, Susquehanna and Western railroad station. Many of the stores listed came from their do-it-yourself tour of Butler, using their Museum Historic Address Highlights page. The museum is well worth a visit.

Finally, as you might note, parking along Main Street was something of an issue then. The newly-formed Butler Business Men’s Association would meet (the same week as these photos, coincidentally) to discuss possible solutions.

Today, there’s parking on both sides from Park Place on up – but that wasn’t possible until the second set of tracks was removed at some point.

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Butler’s CCC Camp

| Paul Havemann

The creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps was President Roosevelt’s grand plan to put some of America’s hundreds of thousands of unemployed young men to work during the Depression. This was one part of his “New Deal” that was a success. These men — often merely boys — were put to work on a variety of environmental programs such as planting trees and battling mosquitos. Between 1933 and 1942, more than three billion trees were planted, and many miles of trails were built in more than 800 parks nationwide.

In Morris County there were two camps: One at Oak Ridge (roughly in the Cozy Lake Road area) and one in Butler. Almost nothing, other than its general location, is known about the Oak Ridge camp.

The Butler camp was designated Camp S-54, situated on the Pequannock River where Generant today manufactures industrial parts.

Looking north from the camp. I believe that’s Kanouse Mountain in the background.

From surviving photos in the collection of the Butler Museum, it was a pretty large camp. Several barracks buildings held several hundred men. It had all the comforts of home, so to speak, and like other CCC camps, was generous with the chow, as young boys needed to keep their strength up for what was arduous work — planting trees in the surrounding region and clearing trails for hikers.

Hey Cookie, what’s for dinner?

According to History magazine,

Under the guidance of the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service and the Departments of the Interior and Agriculture, CCC employees fought forest fires, planted trees, cleared and maintained access roads, re-seeded grazing lands and implemented soil-erosion controls.

Additionally, they built wildlife refuges, fish-rearing facilities, water storage basins and animal shelters. To encourage citizens to get out and enjoy America’s natural resources, FDR authorized the CCC to build bridges and campground facilities.

An existing railroad line on the opposite side of the river was utilized to drop off supplies. The boys made regular R-and-R trips to nearby Butler as well as Paterson.

These photos and others are from the Butler (NJ) Museum. There is also a collection of the newsletters published there filled with news and gossip, attesting to the high spirits of the CCC members. Today, nothing remains of the camp.

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F.B. Whittle Hardware, Butler & Pompton Lakes NJ

| Paul Havemann

Once upon an era, every town and village had a hardware store. In many instances, it was also the general store, post office, and community center where men would discuss the matters of the day.

F.B. Whittle Hardware building
Whittle Hardware, shortly after closing in 2001

Frank B. Whittle was born in England in 1860, and (presumably with his family) came to America in 1870. He lived in Sussex, where he had a position with the Lawrence Hardware Company. He met and married Harriet Beemer and had a daughter, Edith, in 1886.

Apparently an upstanding citizen, Whittle was at various times Butler’s Borough Clerk, Registrar, and chief of the fire department.

In 1905, the company incorporated, with S.F. Quince and Frank Whittle, “former employees of the firm”, as the incorporators.

According to a trade magazine’s report, “The company is intending to open a branch Hardware and plumbing establishment at Butler, N.J.”

Frank and his family moved to Butler, where he opened the branch store downstairs from the Butler Opera House. A fire in December 1906 destroyed the Opera House and several nearby structures. He was fortunate that a sturdy three-story brick building had been recently finished at 208 Main Street. This became the new home of The Lawrence Hardware Company, which sold plumbing, hardware and heating supplies. He ran this store until 1915, when he moved to Pompton Lakes to open a branch store.

Still interested in local affairs, he was at some point elected mayor.

A “Mayor” badge awarded to Whittle in Pompton Lakes.

In 1921, he bought the store and ran it under his own name.

Whittle remained in Pompton Lakes until 1923 when he sold his business to Adam Jeckel and resigned as mayor. The following year, he moved to Butler and organized (and was president of) the F.B. Whittle Hardware Company. He purchased the Butler store, which operated under his name until the store closed in 2001.

Correspondence with Lamson & Goodnow, a Massachusetts cutlery company.

Whittle Hardware as most of us remember it.
1932 Ad in the Butler Argus

Businesses on Main Street, Butler NJ, early 1900s

| Paul Havemann

If you could somehow pluck a citizen of Butler, NJ, off Main Street a century (or more) ago, and plop him down in the same place today, he’d immediately recognize his surroundings. Butler is one of those towns which hasn’t changed substantially over that time. (Compare with any photo of, say, downtown Manhattan, where very little remains from the past.)

Not only is this really cool to a history buff, it also makes it easier to pair the businesses of then to the businesses of now. Here’s what I know:

Judging by the car, this is early 1900s.

The large gold sign on the store reads “Goldstein Bros” … currently there is no third & fourth story, due to a fire. This is the large building formerly occupied by Levine Bros clothiers.

Main Street, Butler NJ, early 20th Century
Main Street, Business Section, Butler NJ in the early 1900s. Click for full-sized version.

The store next door, closer to the photographer, has no large sign, but you can read “Soda” at the bottom of the window. This is the building currently occupied by Butler News & Candy Shop (150 Main St) — largely unmodified since this postcard!

The building closest to us is at 144 Main Street, currently occupied by Alvino’s Barber Shop.

The building to the left of Goldstein’s would then be the WCTU building (156-158 Main St), currently occupied by Mizuki restaurant. It appears the roof was rebuilt and is, today, higher than in this photo. Indeed, it appears that the WCTU sign is there, hung above the second-story porch.

The next building beyond, a house, at 160 Main Street is currently Vanderhoof & Sons Custom Heating.

And note you can see the RR station at left, down the block.

The Cleary building

| Paul Havemann

This building, on the corner of Boonton Ave. and Kiel Ave., started out as Cleary’s Department Store early in the 20th Century.  It also served as the town’s post office after the Clearys moved to a different location. Note the unpaved roads, which became quite messy in wet weather.

Just past it is Cleary’s Grocery Market.  Across the street is A. Scott, Tailor. Someone on the Butler page on Facebook commented that the tailor shop became Henry Ricker’s Pharmacy, while one of the next stores was King Hiller’s music store. Hiller also played the organ in the Butler Theatre, back in the day.

Click on this hand-colored postcard to see the full-sized version.

 

Cleary building
Boonton Ave & Cleary building, Butler, about 1907

Here’s how it looked in 2001. (I strive to duplicate the old photos as closely as possible.)  It also looked pretty much the same in the early 1980s when I worked for Suburban Trends, which occupied all three floors. The printing press was in the garage next to it.

The buildings across from it are still there, still in use as storefronts. This 2000 photo shows the corner store was Cafe Buono; before that, when I worked in Butler, and for many years before and after that, it was Pro’s Sweet Shop. The locals still speak of it wistfully. It was a great luncheonette.

Cleary building (2000)
Boonton Ave & Cleary building (2000)

Lyon’s Butler Theatre

| Paul Havemann

Lyon’s Theatre sits on lower Arch Street, near the Bloomingdale border. Most folk just called it Butler Theatre.  Can’t say I know much about this place, but I’m sure it was the place to be on a Friday night. I wonder what movies they showed?

According to the Facebook Butler page, King Hiller — who owned a music store on Kiel Ave, across from Cleary’s Department Store — played the organ during those silent films.  Evidently it closed sometime in the 1950s.

 

Butler Theatre then & now
Butler Theatre then & now