Images of America- Oakland Book

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- Old Oakland -

The following photos and captions are excerpts from the book"Images of America: Oakland" written by

Kevin Heffernan and John Madden.

This is the earliest known picture of the 1829 PondsChurch dating from the 1870s. It's dating emanates fromthe presence of 2 front doors (one for men and the otherfor women) and the presence of rectangular windows onthe side. A singular front door and gothic style windowswere installed by Mr. Demarest in 1878 and remaineduntil the church was razed in the 1930s. As aperspective, the front of the Ponds Church would befacing the current Burger King.

Here is a blacksmith shop from Oakland's horse andbuggy days before the turn of the 20th Century.Blacksmiths not only fit horses with shoes but they alsomade household utensils, iron gates, hinges, etc. Theboys on the left are Harry Gale McNomee and ErnestLloyd McNomee. Harry would grow up to be one ofOakland's leading citizens.

There is perhaps no better picture than this to depictMain Street in Oakland around 1915. Here we see Albert

This grand Victorian building is / was the ramblingCalderwood Hotel. The core building was built by Mr.

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McNomee standing in front of his general store gazingdown an unpaved Main Street (now Ramapo Valley Road)toward the old Oakland train station that was to be torndown in 1959.

Bush in the early 1800s as part of his 150 acrefarm. Purchased by the Calder family in the 1870s, it wasgreatly modified and expanded to become theCalderwood Hotel after the death of Mr. Calder in 1883.In 1935 it was purchased by Captain John Scarca for useas the Oakland Military Academy until August 21, 1962when it was razed to make room for a parking lot in whatis now the Copper Tree Mall.

Seen here in about 1910 is Mr. Forshay, on the right,with an associate making his way up Yawpo Avenue thatwas then a dirt road. In the background on the right isthe old railroad station. It wasn't until the 1940s thatYawpo Avenue was extended into Franklin Lakes.

This is the Lloyd-McNomee store as it looked in the1890s. John Lloyd originally purchased it from HenryBush in 1874 and formed a partnership with Lloyd Porter.In 1880 Albert McNomee became a partner forming theLloyd-McNomee store until 1925 when it was sold to theGreat Eastern Company with Thurman Rogers asmanager. Standing on the porch to the left is John andLavina Sanders. The Lloyd-McNomee Store today is anupholstery shop. The mostly obscured building on theextreme right is Greenwood's Meat Store.




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Before there was a Garden State Dairy Store and it'sreplacement, Krauszers, there was the Oakland Innpictured here prior to 1920. Located at the corner ofRamapo Valley Road and Yawpo Avenue, the Oakland Inncatered to thousands of summer visitors, with rooms torent and complete dinners for the princely sum of 75cents.

In 1935 Oakland was still a tiny community requiring onlytwo policemen and six firefighters as pictured above.Here standing on the corner of Yawpo and Vine Street(now Raritan Avenue) are (l to r) policeman HarryMelville, firemen Al Potash, Harold Munn, John Melville,Fire Chief Jim Munn, Elmer Carlough, Ben Otto andpoliceman Harry Farrel.

Life in simpler times. Here seen is the old Oaklandrailroad station in the late 1920s. Notice the manstanding next to the small building. He was theCrossing Guard who manually lowered and raised thebarrier to protect cars from crossing trains. However, hishours were limited from 7:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

This is the old Oakland railroad station in its final glory.Since it was built in 1869, it had been expanded at therear as seen here to create a freight and mail storagearea. The elevated platform was built to be at the samelevel as the freight train doors to facilitate themovement of the cargo. Notice the coal oil lamp on theleft which dates this photo to be prior to the advent ofelectricity in Oakland on August 1, 1916.

Images of America: Oakland

History gives us a perspective.it imposes a sense of guardianship, of trust, a reason for proper care of theresources which served our forefathers and must also serve our heirs.

Arthur Vervaet, 1952Mayor, Oakland, NJ

Thus from the authors comments is the context of the recently released pictorial history of Oakland by JohnMadden and Kevin Heffernan through Arcadia Press. It celebrates the history of our community from roughly 1860to 1964. The work is 128 pages containing over 200 photos and text weaving a multi-faceted portrait of a people




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who lived here and who founded a community. Its story is a fabric of ordinary people who sought theirindependence to form their own destiny and whose residential descendents celebrate their accomplishments. In asense it is a miniature of the American experience: Men and women wanting betterment and to be free of remotegovernment willing to risk their destiny and that of those who follow.In a recent interview on WGHT 1500 Radio, the authors were asked why they wrote this book. Their answer wasstark. Because no one was doing it and because it needed to be done.to honor those who came before us, tohelp the residents of Oakland better appreciate our small community and to assist future generations know and

appreciate Oaklands roots.Madden and Heffernan have developed 9 chapters in pictures and text serving as a canvas to create their portraitof this historical walk into Oaklands past.

Each chapter recalls important people, places and buildings of Oaklands heritage and recounts sadly that many nolonger exist. While serving as a lament to what has been destroyed by 'development' the authors equally hopethat it inspires a renewal of the appreciation of Oaklands heritage and a public demand to preserve the remaininghistoric buildings.Madden and Heffernan pointed out that the book is an excellent fundraiser for every school and civic organization.Organizations and school groups can generate $8.00 per book profit when ordered directly from Arcadia Press at1-888-313-6225.

The book is available at the Oakland Public Library as well as many retailers in Oakland including:

These retailers, catching the community spirit, will be donating their profits to the Oakland Library Building Fund.

Chapter 1 Vistas, Views and Maps

Chapter 2 A Valley of Homes

Chapter 3 The Page Estate and the Van Allen House

Chapter 4 Business and Industry

Chapter 5 A Stroll Down Main Street

Chapter 6 The Ponds ChurchChapter 7 Oakland On The Move

Chapter 8 Oakland As A Tourist Town

Chapter 9 Serving Oakland with Pride and Distinction

Caf LAmore Oakland Pharmacy

Deli Sensations Pete and Johns Paint Store

Elm Street Grill Oakland Shop Rite

Hansels Valley Pub

Krausers


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Images of America- Oakland Book

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