Sidney Kingsley, a Broadway Luminary March 20, 2014 marks the 19th anniversary of the passing of Sidney Kingsley, a Broadway luminary who lived in Oakland from 1935 until his passing 60 years later in 1995. Mr. Kingsley was a writer, producer and director of nine Broadway plays including The Patriot and Men in White for which he received the Pulitzer Prize in 1934. He married Madge Evans, a star of stage and screen, in 1939. Together they eschewed the lights and glamour both Hollywood and New York preferring instead the quite, pastoral life they found in the fields and mountains of Oakland with their 250 acre estate. That estate ultimately…
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IF YOU’RE THINKING OF LIVING IN; OAKLAND
Real Estate New York Times – 1985 IF YOU’RE THINKING OF LIVING IN IF YOU’RE THINKING OF LIVING IN; OAKLAND By RACHELLE DePALMA Published: December 8, 1985 NESTLED along the banks of the Ramapo River with the profile of the Ramapo Mountains etched sharply against the sky, the Borough of Oakland stands as a rustic outpost in the northwestern corner of New Jersey. This Bergen County community This Bergen County community owes to the sparsely populated mountains a mix of light, contour and color that visitors have called breathtaking for more than 300 years. Its nine square miles are dotted with lakes, ponds and streams that flow near restored farmhouses,…
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Kanouse Mountain Water Co
BEVERAGE COMPANIES IN NEW YORK CITY CIRCA WWI Kanouse Mountain Water Co.. (1916, February 29). [Bill of Sale]. Pompeii Papers Collection. Center for Migration Studies. New York, NY. The second image, is a receipt from the Kanouse Mountain Water Company located on 50 Church Street. Water is a necessity in everyone’s life, so it was not unusual for Reverend Anthony Demo to purchase cases of water weekly from the company. The receipt shows that the Kanouse Mountain Water Company provided The Shrine Church of Our Lady of Pompeii with weekly cases of water to help with basic needs of the church. It was a common practice for churches to dilute…
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How the Brits Helped Us Depart
How the Brits Helped Us Depart 19 May, 2014 in Features / Oakland Time Travels Installment #7: The Rise of Townships in Bergen County and the Creation of Oakland or How the Brits Helped Us DepartBy Kevin Heffernan The rise of townships in Bergen County…..Hmmmmm….Some might suggest that this is an article to assist borderline insomniacs while others might postulate that it is for the anal retentive interested only in the arcane minutia of little known events and connections of many, many years ago. Well, this mighty pen (keyboard) will quickly dispatch those dragons……Hopefully, if you remain awake to the end. Hang in and don’t despair as there are some pictures. I’ll try to…
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History of the Van Allen House
History of the Van Allen House DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY HISTORICAL OVERVIEW 2.1 Historical Overview Introduction This history of Oakland is not meant to be all-inclusive, but to look at the historical trends of the region and how Oakland developed based on the surrounding influences. This information will how that the Van Allen House property, located at 1-3 Franklin Avenue, was a product of its time and place. 2.1.1 History of Oakland, New Jersey Early Oakland was a secluded wilderness settled by the Minsi Indians, a tribe of the Lenni Lenapes. The land came into the hands of colonial settlers by the end of the seventeenth century. By this period, what was…
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24th Anniversary of the Pleasureland Massacre
Aug 4, 2009 24th Anniversary of the Pleasureland Massacre Remembering the “Oakland Massacre” August 4, 1985: The Day the Pleasure Died in Oakland, NJ They sit nestled in the woods of the small northwestern Bergen County town of Oakland, slowly being reclaimed by nature like some ancient Mayan ruins being swallowed up by the jungles of the Yucatan. They are reminders of summer days long gone by. Their turquoise blue paint chips and falls away like Puff’s dragon scales, fading into the past a little further with each passing year. Ladders descend, no longer into cool shimmering water, but into a fetid, stagnant soup of algae and discarded picnic tables.…
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BRIEF HISTORY OF THE OAKLAND VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE OAKLAND VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT 1909 – 2014 The Origins of the Oakland Volunteer Fire Department History records that in November, 1903 a major fire was discovered at the large barn of the Calder estate then located where the Coppertree Mall is currently situated and the need for a fire department in Oakland became apparent. Six years later on June 10,1909 a informal meeting was held at Ivy Hall to create a volunteer fire department in Oakland. Ludo Wilkins, the owner of the Wilkins Brush Factory in Oakland, was appointed as the first fire chief. And he served six terms as chief until 1916. In December,…
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History of the Railroad in Oakland
History of the Railroad in Oakland Source: The History of Bergen County, James Van Valen, 1900, p. 185-6 Bergen County
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History of the Van Slyke Castle
The Oakland Castle Oakland, NJ – Hike into History Take a hike. Depending on your tone of voice it can be good advice or a condescending suggestion. In this case it is very good advice because Oakland offers its residents a great opportunity to enjoy outdoor exercise, take in some beautiful scenery, and wander down wooded paths that lead you through local, regional and world history. The hike detailed here starts just off Skyline Drive and is approximately five miles, start to finish. It will take you up through the Ramapo Hills to great vistas where you can visit the ruins of what has been called “The Oakland Castle”, “The Van…
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Email Conversation About the Hansen House and Oakland in the 1930s and 1940s by Those Who Lived It
My name is Sonya Hansen I Just found your wonderful article about Oakland. I was especially excited to see the picture of the Neilsen house. Alf Neilsen was my uncle. My parents Dagny and Hans Hansen brought life into an old building that was about to be torn down. They were able to purchase it for 3,000 dollars for back taxes. We had wonderful neighbors, Pulis, Boone, and Bredimus. Frank Ahlers ran the gas station across the street from us, but I never cared for him. Grumpy, mean old man as far as I was concerned, but I digress. There are five of us, that used to live right there,…
