Stay in your lane!

Last time I had an ankle/tendon/ligament injury, I was very wary of running up and down hills (which was unfortunate because I basically live in the middle of a large hill).

But for the next time that injury flares up… the track at the New Providence High School is— as far as I can tell— open to public joggers.

I don’t know if this is standard or not (I don’t go lurking around high school tracks very often), but there’s a little ungated labyrinthine entrance that you can squeeze through, and BOOM! there you are on the track.

Plus, there’s a sign asking joggers to stay on the outside three lanes. Why would they post such a sign if joggers weren’t welcome?

Milton Avenue School

According to this PDF, Chatham’s Milton Avenue School was built in 1948, with an addition completed in 2001.

That’s all I can tell you about the history, but here’s a link to their website, if you have questions about calendars or enrolling your kid or something.

It’s also right in front of the Chatham Borough Mulch Area, in case you were wondering.

Diamond Hill School

It’s the Diamond Hill School! Except it’s not a school anymore. People live here! I actually started trespassing on their tiny front lawn just as the residents emerged from the house to start loading their car. (I pretended to be taking photos of the church next door until they drove away.)

Here’s a context shot from across the street:

 

Diamond Hill School (also sometimes known as “the Woodchuck School”) was built in 1888.

Here’s a photo of Diamond Hill School, c. 1910…

c.1910

 

…and here’s a photo of it c. 1932. (Look, it even still has that little porthole on the side, near the roof!) Just two years later, in 1934, it was the last one-room schoolhouse in Union County to close.

c.1932

 

It’s been maintained on its original foundations as a private residence. Hooray for preserving history!

 

References:

Troeger, V.B. (1996). Images of America: Berkeley Heights. Arcadia Publishing: Dover, NH. ISBN 0752404903.

Gonczlik, J. and Coddington, J. (1998). Images of America: New Providence. Arcadia Publishing: Charleston, SC. ISBN 0738565210.

Lincoln-Hubbard School

Back in 1909, a school was built, and they called it THE LINCOLN SCHOOL.

Back in 1955, the Lincoln School was razed, and that was that.

…But the “new” Lincoln School lived on!

The current Lincoln School was built in 1953. In 1998, the school was renamed “The Lincoln-Hubbard School” to thank G. Morrison Hubbard, Jr. for all his philanthropy over the years. It’s currently one of the five gr. 1-5 public elementary schools in Summit. (There are also two elementary schools that only carry Pre-K and Kindergarten.)

For current information on the goings-on of the Lincoln-Hubbard School, click here to visit their own website.

 

References:

Hageman, R.A. (October 2006). “G. Morrison Hubbard, Jr. (‘Morry’): A noteworthy contributor to Summit.” The Historian: The Newsletter of the Summit Historical Society. http://summitnjhistory.org/Historian/Hubbard.pdf (PDF).

Meola, P.E. (1998). Images of America: Summit. Arcadia Publishing: Charleston, SC. ISBN 0738563307.

Columbia! Columbia!

I’m not sure exactly when the Romanesque Revival section of Berkeley Heights’ Columbia Middle School was built, but here’s a photo of it in 1915 with ivy crawling all over it:

At the moment, this part only houses administrative offices and the board of education. The rest of the Columbia School can be found in the nearby addition.

 

Reference:

Troeger, V.B. (1996). Images of America: Berkeley Heights. Arcadia Publishing: Dover, NH. ISBN 0752404903.

Park Middle School

Built around 1926, this used to be the Scotch Plains High School.

A new high school was built around 1953 to relieve some overcrowding (I’m assuming, since Scotch Plains’ population was exploding like all suburbs around here from 1950-1960), and this building was relegated to being the middle school.

 

Reference:

Bousquet, R. and Bousquet, S. (1995). Images of America: Scotch Plains and Fanwood. Arcadia Publishing: Dover, NH. ISBN 0738563188.

Historical Society of Scotch Plains and Fanwood. (n.d.). “History.” Township of Scotch Plains. http://www.scotchplainsnj.com/history_main.html.

Schoolin’

Maplewood Middle School [website] was built in 1902.

Most suburbs around here doubled or tripled their populations between 1950 and 1960, which meant that pretty much all buildings were suddenly too small. Therefore, like pretty much all old-and-still-used buildings, Maplewood Middle School has had several additions.

…And there it is around 1940, before the additions and back when there weren’t quite so many trees in the way.

 

Reference:

Durand-Hedden House and Garden Association. (1998). Images of America: Maplewood. Arcadia Publishing: Charleston, SC. ISBN 0752412795.

Schoolhouse Plaza

Schoolhouse Plaza in Millburn is, as one might guess, named for the building’s original purpose.

The Washington School was constructed in 1895. Its opening forced (permitted?) several small wooden schools around town to close down, so most local elementary school students attended classes here.

At the moment (2011), the building is home to Squires Associates (LLP), Michael Cohn Associates (Insurance-Investments), Freundlich and Reisen (LLP), Biebelberg & Martin (Attorneys at Law), and possibly more.

 

Reference:

Lampe, O.W. (1999, 2000). Images of America: Millburn. Arcadia Publishing: Charleston, SC. ISBN 0738504130.

Salt Brook Character

The Salt Brook Elementary School, named for the Salt Brook that winds through New Providence, was recently named one of forty-eight “National Schools of Character” for 2011. Apparently there are some criteria for developing excellent character at elementary schools, and Salt Brook met them.

Interestingly, of those forty-eight schools all over the entire country, 15 of them are in Missouri, eight of them are in New Jersey, and the other 25 are spread out around the other 48 states. Don’t get me wrong, I love my state, but I do suspect not everyone submitted an application.

Aaaaaanyway, congratulations to Salt Brook School! Rock on, Educational System. Rock on.

Meeeead

We did a little bit of Drew University the other day, so here’s a little more. This is Mead Hall!

It was initially a mansion in the forest, first occupied by William Gibbons in 1836. Shockingly, it was called the Gibbons Mansion at that time.

In 1867, Drew University was first established here as a seminary school. Gibbons Mansion was renamed to Mead Hall in honor of Mr. Drew’s wife, Roxanna Mead Drew.

Also, here is a photo of some students in front of it, sometime around the 1880s.

According to Drew’s own website, Mead Hall was devastated by a fire in 1989, reopened in 1993, and is still “considered the finest example of Greek Revival architecture north of the Mason-Dixon line.”

 
References:
Cunningham, John T. (1998). Images of America: Madison. Arcadia Publishing: Dover, NH.

Drew University. (2011). Campus map. Available http://www.drew.edu/map/#building=mead