The Genius of The Lawns

According to Bob Wiese, RHS class of 1966, this picture is one of the few Cap Cod style houses left in The Lawns. Originally, there were 310 houses of this type and by the late 1960s they were all within a short walk of the Hawes Elementary School. Children didn't have to worry about crossing busy streets without supervision, unlike most of the other elementary schools in Ridgewood.

Bob goes on the say in a FaceBook post on the Ridgewood Ex Pats group wall:

There were no garages or fences, The home owners build their own garages and fences ( they would go into the woods and cut down white birch trees and make a fence out of them.). They drilled their own well to water their grass. Sounds like the wilderess to me, but then on Monday the men would board the train and go to work in the big city NY and return around 6pm by train to their nice little homestead. All was right with the world.

Sounds like something most people would appreciate now, too.

I call this all "genius" because the houses were affordable, they were located near plenty of woods for the children to explore, and there was nearby public transportation for the commuters. According to one source, the Cap Cods sold for between $9,000 and $12,000. While I admit this must be adjusted for inflation, the fact is you could come up with the 20% down payment more easily than a 20% down payment today on a house costing $600,000. It's the tyranny of large numbers which makes those old time homes seem more affordable.

Pease Library

First a bit of history courtesy of the Ridgewood Library:

Gertrude Pease Anderson, one of the founders of the first volunteer library in Ridgewood, left money in her will to build a library in memory of her father George L. Pease. The library was opened in 1923 and was in use by the library through 1998. The police occupied the building in 1999 when Hurricane Floyd flooded their quarters. They moved to the new Village Hall in 2005.

Today the landmark library building is for rent:

Landmark Building in the Heart of the Village, totally renovated, elegant office space offering wood-burning fireplace, Original Chestnut Woodwork, Built in book cases, High Ceilings and Pallandian Windows overlooking Ridgewood. 2 reserved parking spaces, new high efficiency HVAC individually metered.

The only taker to date has been the company which is renovating the train station.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

It only takes a picture of life in Ridgewood during the 1960s and 70s to send my mind back to the moment which the photo depicts. If you are reading this blog then you probably feel the same.



Posted by Eugene Ferraro on FaceBook.

RIP J.D. Salinger

We were assigned The Catcher in the Rye to read in the 10th grade. Our English teacher, Mr Bennett, told us it was a controversial book but I never saw it that way, unless being controversial also means that by reading it you will be made to think. No question the book succeeded in this regard. This is the sort of novel it is for many people I have spoken with.

It did have some swearing in it but I heard worse in the schoolyard so didn't see the big deal. It also had a scene suggesting that one of Holden Caulfield's teachers was a drunk, and maybe even a pedophile. Though we didn't delve too deeply into these topics in the 10th grade.

I have since read all of Salinger's novels and short stories. I have re-read only The Catcher in the Rye, and that I have done too many times to count. I've found it isn't important to read it from beginning to end because I usually just want to read it in order to feel again some of the sentiments I had the first time I read it. I especially like the beginning where Holden is introducing himself and later the prep school scenes. His train ride home late at night after leaving school is hilarious in his attempts to act smooth in front of the mother of one of his former classmates.

According to the Canadian Broadcasting obituary of Salinger:

"The Catcher in the Rye was reprinted eight times within the first two months of its publication and spent 30 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. It still sells about 250,000 copies a year."

Alma Mater in Winter

It usually wasn't easy or fun to walk the almost two miles to RHS during the winter months. Yes, I didn't have to do it everyday, and I didn't have to carry a ten pound pack. Though it was a challenge on those days I did have to do it. It did keep us lean and I do marvel at how skinny we looked in pictures. The good part, if want to be like me and try to find the bright side, was that it was down hill from our house in Upper Ridgewood. This gave us an extra push in our efforts to arrive at school on time. When it came time to go home I was often involved in sports which meant I could catch a ride with a parent or someone old enough to drive. Then as now parents didn't like their children walking home in the dark or even the late afternoon. Some would say that parents today are too much involved with looking after their kids. I would say it probably is about the same in Ridgewood. In fact, with all the two income families today we might have had more supervision and not even known it. I suppose the difference to me is that there were fewer activities like video games and cell phones which would have kept us inert and at home. Yes, we watched a fair amount of TV but how much can you watch when there were only about 6 channels (2,4,5,7,9,11,13) and the UHF (ultra high frequency) channels? More likely than not, and no matter the weather, we were ordered outside to play in the neighborhood. This helped keep us lean and likely made us more socially engaged than the kids today who spend time playing video games, texting friends, and listening to music. (Often all at the same time!) I'm not ready to say one is truly better than another but I'm leaning towards making the kids get outside and just play with no structured leagues and/or lessons. Just play, just look around and watch the world go by. Remember just lying on your back in the grass and staring at the clouds and commenting on what they looked like?

History of RHS

From the Ridgewood High School web site:


"Ridgewood High School is a unique institution. It has a long reputation of fine service to youth. It provides a huge number of opportunities for students to further their academic, social, or athletic interests. At no time in the past have the students of Ridgewood High enjoyed as many rights and privileges as they do today. Students are becoming increasingly involved in determining the course of their own education. These privileges are to be encouraged and expanded, but they will bring with them ever‑increasing responsibilities for the students of Ridgewood High School. More than ever, each student must realize that there are over 1,650 other students who are a part of this high school and that whatever one student does has an effect on all others. If we can keep this in mind and act accordingly, Ridgewood High School will be that much better.

Ridgewood High School was founded in 1892 when the principal, B.C. Wooster, reorganized the ninth grade into a freshman class and made it the first‑year class of high school. The following year, a sophomore class was added. These two classes met in a four-room structure on Union Street. In 1895, the building on Beech Street (now named Cottage Place) was completed. Due to its spacious rooms, the high school was able to offer a three‑year course. That year, Ridgewood High School was added to the approved list of high schools by the High School Commission of New Jersey. The first class to graduate from this three‑year course consisted of two persons. At the end of Mr. Wooster's principalship, the number of students reached 87 and the number of alumni, 57. By 1912, the high school had 223 students and had outgrown the Beech Street Building. Planning began for a larger facility. The Board of Education purchased the Edwards property on East Ridgewood Avenue and the field between the Edwards property and the Ho‑Ho-Kus Brook, formerly called the White Star Baseball Field. In 1915, the voters defeated a proposal to erect a high school to accommodate 450 students at a cost of $150,000. A year later, $225,000 was appropriated for a new high school to accommodate 600 students. In 1918, the sum was raised to $285,000. Ground was broken in November 1916, and on July 19, 1917, the cornerstone was laid. The formal opening of the new school, delayed by World War 1, was May 7, 1919. In 1915 when Irwin B. Somerville was appointed principal, there were 26 faculty members. The decade was a period of rapid growth. By 1929, the size of the faculty had more than doubled and the number of students had increased greatly. In September 1929, the high school was reorganized into a senior high containing the three upper classes. Freshmen were placed in two junior high schools. One of these was the Benjamin Franklin School which was housed in the high school building. The other, George Washington School, was located on Washington Place. Once again, more space was needed, so a plan was proposed to join the main building with the gymnasium. After several unsuccessful votes, the proposition passed and in the fall of 1930 work was started on the new structure. It was completed in 1931. At that time, Mr. Somerville became supervising principal and George A. Hay was appointed principal. The Village was growing rapidly and within five years, still more space was needed. In 1937, school was dismissed in May so that work could begin building a second floor on the existing building—rooms 202‑216. In September 1945, Ellis D. Brown was appointed acting principal and a year later, he became principal. He served in that capacity until his retirement in June 1960. After World War II, the enrollment again climbed and in 1955 the Benjamin Franklin School was removed from the high school and housed in its new home on North VanDien Avenue, leaving the East Ridgewood Avenue building devoted entirely to grades 10-12. In July 1960, William C. Leach was appointed principal and plans were completed for remodeling and building new additions to provide space for 1,800 students . Work was completed in 1963. In 1970‑71, enrollment was 2,040. A bond issue proposing $7,320,000 for a four-year high school was offered to village voters but turned down in October, 1971. Also defeated at that time was a request for $150,000 for property to enlarge the grounds at East Ridgewood and South VanDien Avenues. In June of 1971, the Ridgewood voters turned back a bond issue for $95,000 to purchase the property at the corner of East Ridgewood and South VanDien Avenues. In order to make instruction and the quality of student life in so large a school more personal and less centralized, the Board of Education in June, 1971, directed that units (Houses) of approximately 700 students each be established. Each house was administered by a dean and a team of three guidance counselors. In 1974, John G. McCutcheon was named principal of the school with an enrollment of 1,935. Under his administration, the House plan gave way to a more centralized administration in which each dean was responsible for a particular area of school life.

Over the years, Ridgewood High School has served students of neighboring communities including Glen Rock, Paramus, Radburn (in Fair Lawn), and Ho‑Ho‑Kus. The last sending/receiving relationship was terminated in 1975 when Ho‑Ho‑Kus residents voted to send their secondary students to Midland Park. In April, 1976, an extensive renovation program (the result of a $4,000,000 bond issue in June 1975) was undertaken. During the 1976‑77 school year, students were housed in five different buildings including Bethlehem Lutheran Church and Emmanuel Baptist Church. To accommodate the building program, a 5-period modular scheduling program was developed with students attending 80-minute classes on alternate days. On July 1, 1977, Dr. Robert Honsinger was appointed as the ninth principal of Ridgewood High School. In September of 1980, the Grade Administrator structure originated with each class having one administrator in charge of attendance, discipline, and class activities during their three years at Ridgewood High School. In September of 1986, the high school became a four-year school with the addition of the Class of 1990 as freshmen. In 1987, after an intensive review and on‑site evaluation by independent observers, Ridgewood High School was one of the few public and private schools of the nation to be granted the prestigious Secondary School Recognition Award by the United States Department of Education. Dr. John R. Crews became the tenth principal of Ridgewood High School on July 1, 1989.

In an evaluation conducted by the Middle States Association in February, 1990, members of the evaluating committee commended many aspects of the curricular and co‑curricular programs and pronounced Ridgewood High School an excellent institution with a superior academic program. In 1991, Ridgewood High School was honored to receive the College Board's Advanced Placement Recognition Award. During the 1992-93 school year, the schedule was modified in an effort to balance class size and better address student learning styles. The new schedule also introduced Unit Lunch, during which the entire high school stopped classes and all students and staff had a common lunch break. In 1989 and again in 1993 New Jersey Monthly recognized Ridgewood High School as one of the eight best high schools in the state. In April of 1994 Redbook Magazine's program titled AMERICA'S BEST SCHOOLS recognized RHS for Overall Excellence. During the 1993-94 school year the high school eliminated tobacco use from the campus and within the line of sight of the campus. While this caused some controversy, initially, the national concern about harmful effects of tobacco and secondary smoke confirmed the correctness of the school's policy change. Dr. John M. Mucciolo was named the eleventh Principal of Ridgewood High School in July of 1997. In December of 1998, voters approved a 19.8 million dollar referendum of which 18.9 million dollars was earmarked for Ridgewood High School. The end result is a new wing that currently houses Science, Mathematics, and Technology. An Art Gallery and renovated classrooms for fine and practical arts, as well as new physical education facilities, including a new gym, locker rooms, and a Fitness Center were all part of this construction project. In addition, a new Campus Center (multi-purpose room) was constructed utilizing part of the courtyard area. Ridgewood was once again evaluated by the Middle States Association, commended, and granted accreditation for the period of May 1, 2000, through May 1, 2010. Mr. John A. Lorenz was appointed the 12th Principal of Ridgewood High School in July of 2006. Mr. Lorenz will lead this comprehensive high school that has earned and maintained a reputation as one of the finest high schools in the nation. Ridgewood High School remains in the forefront of America’s finest twenty-first century high schools by consistently upholding its Tradition of Excellence."

RHS DESIGNATED SILVER MEDAL SCHOOL

In its latest analysis of data on thousands of schools across the country, US News & World Report has placed Ridgewood High School in the top 2.5%. The designation as a Silver Medal School is shared by only 18 others in the state of New Jersey.

To read the US News and World Report story about Best High Schools click here.

The Hermitage

Hard to forget how scary The Hermitage looked to a young child growing up in the 1960s and early 1970s. Then in "January 1972 the Friends of the Hermitage, Inc., a private, non-profit organization, was incorporated. In agreement with the state, the Friends is responsible for historic site management including the furnishing and programs at The Hermitage, while the state is responsible for restoring the structure of the house. This public/private partnership has continued to the present time."

Here it is today.




You need to look no further than this site to see, in my eyes, a clear difference between the northern and southern US. In the north we tend to showcase Revolutionary War artifacts, while in the southern US the tendency is to showcase the Civil War. Of course, this has much to do with the fact that the Civil War was largely fought in the south and that the north has more Revolution War sites to preserve. Both are worthy of our interest, especially if you are like me and have a keen interest in American history.

For those of you who share my interest in Social Networking there is a Facebook page for Fans of The Hermitage.

Chris Richard

Just wanted to give a shout out to Chris Richard and say I added a link to his web site. The picture of him and Bill Hardy appears to be circa 1977.

Chris has been building boats on the Chesapeake for over twenty years and is an accomplished artist whose works are exhibited in the collections of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Butler Institute of American Art, and in many private and corporate collections.

New Year's Eve 1977

The best New Year's Eve parties are the ones you can walk home from, or those which are held inside your own home.

The party I attended on New Years 1977 was at Mac Smith's house on Fairmount road and was only a couple of blocks from my house on Glenwood road. It was held during the break between semesters my freshman year at college. This was a time when you could be fairly certain of running into any number of friends from high school, and that was the case on this evening.

Freshmen home on break from college are still a hugely enthusiastic bunch. The grind of studying during the winter months, the toll of pledging fraternities or sororities, and lastly the realization they have left the nest generally have not sunk too deeply into their thoughts by this time. Freshmen still have strong attachments to their home towns and feelings about their high school days so any chance to relive them, even tangentially, brings them great joy. This night in 1977 was no exception.

I must have arrived fairly early in the evening as not too many people had shown up. I was wearing underneath my clothes a pair of red Long Johns from LL Bean so I was set for a frosty night. It might have been the fact these Long Johns were making me feel quite warm that sent me out into the night for a breath of fresh air. Once outside I noticed cars of people my age doing what we always did on the weekend, that is, drive around looking for parties. These cars began stopping by me, as I stood under the street light at the corner of Fairmount and Heights, and asking me if I knew "where the party was tonight." My initial response was quick and accompanied by a broad smile as I pointed to the house behind me. Though after two or three of these occurrences I began to see the fun and mischief that might ensue if I stood there for a while. And that is what I did for the following 45 minutes, until the house was literally bursting with people.

It was a good party that night and we all made plenty of noise and probably broke some things in Mac's house. I vaguely remember a door being cracked, or maybe that was some other night in my past. You could usually rely upon somebody to do something idiotic. You could also rely on everyone who wasn't the host having a good laugh thinking about how Mac would explain the breakage the next day. Though on the whole it was a peaceful party and the police never came. Maybe our newly acquired college sophistication was beginning to show, or we were just more interested in talking with old friends we might not see again for a while, if ever.

I do remember walking home that night feeling like this was our last hurrah together and we had made the best of it. Of course, we would meet up again at reunions but in my mind those nights were too far in the future to contemplate and understand. It indeed was becoming apparent to me that nobody knew the dramatic affect life after high school would have on our perceptions. Nor did we know how it might dampen our desire to drive around Ridgewood hoping to find a grinning young man, standing under a streetlight, pointing people to the party which was going on behind him.