When I was five years old, we moved from Jersey City to Union Beach, a place where my parents could afford to purchase a small ranch house with carport. For many years after, I spent two to three weeks each summer back in Jersey City, visiting my maternal grandparents at their apartment on Rose Avenue in Greenville. I loved staying with them and being the center of my grandmotherâ€s attention. My grandparents never owned a car so my grandmother and I would take the bus to Journal Square to shop or see a movie. One summer I unexpectedly came down sick, very sick. My grandmother tucked me in up to my chin in her own bed and called for the familyâ€s faithful physician, Dr. Front. He was what used to be called a (very) “tall drink of water,” and had to duck his head when coming through the doorways of the apartment. When he appeared at my bedside, I am told that my eyes opened wide like saucers. No doubt. Looking up from my sickbed to take in the whole of him was quite an experience. His diagnosis: the grippe.

Today, the word grippe, coming from a French word meaning “seize suddenly,” has been replaced by the modern term “influenza,” the two words being essentially synonymous. For decades before that summer I took sick in Jersey City, Hudson County residents had been stricken by periodic grippe outbreaks including in 1889 and 1892. The most serious of those was the 1918 “Spanish” influenza pandemic that first broke out in Europe and killed thousands of soldiers on the battlefields of World War I before making its way to the United States.   

The first reports of suspected Spanish flu cases in Hudson County occurred in September, 1918. Over the next month, newspapers carried daily counts of new cases, those numbers sometimes reaching 200 or more in a single day in Jersey City alone. In early October, a local newspaper reported the tragic story of the Kelly family who lived on Grove Street in downtown Jersey City. Mr. Kelly, an inspector with an express company and the brother of two soldiers serving in France, died after contracting the flu. As Kellyâ€s mortal remains awaited religious services at St. Maryâ€s R.C. Church and burial at Holy Name Cemetery, his pregnant wife, also infected and near death, gave birth to a baby that died shortly thereafter. There was an outpouring of grief in Jersey City and Mayor Frank Hague and other community officials attended Tom Kellyâ€s funeral.

The same week that Tom Kelly died, an urgent call was made for “patriotic” women to volunteer to make gauze masks under the auspices of the Greenville Red Cross on Linden Avenue. As the new cases mounted, flu deaths were listed in local newspapers and in Bayonne and Jersey City, hard-hit by the outbreak, the Boards of Health mandated that schools, saloons, ice cream parlors, churches, pool rooms and other public gathering places close until further notice. Hospitals and doctors were overwhelmed by the sick and dying. Local undertakers were unable to obtain sufficient numbers of coffins for the dead and there were fears about possible contamination as the result of delayed burials. The New York Bay Cemetery stopped interring the dead due to not having enough gravediggers to open the graves and bodies were temporarily stored in vaults where possible. In the middle of this crisis, local liquor dealers organized an angry demonstration in Jersey City and, in response, Mayor Hague agreed to reopen saloons, a decision that was roundly criticized by health officials.

The Spanish flu struck millions of people around the world and at every level of society, from European royalty to the very poor, young and old alike. In Hudson County, one of those who lost his life during the outbreak in October 1918 was a popular local lightweight wrestler known as Young Bon Ton. “Bon Ton,” then 29 years old, had been wrestling locally and around the U.S. for several years and had claimed the title “lightweight champion of the world” for himself after he defeated a Canadian wrestler in 1914. When he succumbed to the flu, one of his friends was quoted as saying that Bon Ton had “tried hard to put the full Nelson on the influenza, but failed.”

Maureen Wlodarczyk is a fourth-generation-born Jersey City girl and the author of three books about life in Jersey City in the 1800s and early 1900s:  Past-Forward: A Three-Decade and Three-Thousand-Mile Journey Home, Young & Wicked: The Death of a Wayward Girl and Canary in a Cage: The Smith-Bennett Murder Case.  For info: www.past-forward.com. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The post Hudson Then . . . Again- INFLUENZA first appeared on River View Observer.

 

Three months after Hurricane Sandy, at a time of year when the Jersey Shore is normally taking a long winterâ€s nap and the rest of us are hunkered down counting the days until spring, the daily efforts and daunting struggles of recovery and rebuilding go on. The holiday season was anything but “merry” for so many people but acts of random (and not so random) kindness and the continuing charitable generosity of the people of New Jersey said a lot about who we are and the likelihood that we will not lose interest in our neighbors or the challenges they continue to face. In fact, there is a history of Jersey people rallying to the aid of others stricken by natural disasters.

As we ponder global warming, rising ocean levels, and weather phenomena with names we vaguely (if at all) knew a few years ago including “tsunami” and “derecho,” it turns out that multiple tantrums by Mother Nature occurring in a short period of time are not unprecedented. In April 1906, Italian volcano Mount Vesuvius erupted, killing scores of people in Naples just 11 days before the massive San Francisco earthquake killed thousands.

The citizens of Hudson County were quick to respond to both of those tragedies. Local Italian-Americans organized relief collections to provide financial aid to those affected by Vesuvius. A wide array of disaster relief fundraising was mobilized to raise funds for the devastated people and institutions of San Francisco.

The ladies of St. Markâ€s Church, Van Vorst Square, sent the rector of St. Maryâ€s Church in San Francisco, destroyed in the quake, a complete set of vestments embroidered in white and gold thread in a design of roses and vines. These ladies, members of St. Markâ€s Senior Embroidery Class, had done the stunning handiwork themselves, making their generous gift all the more significant. 

At the Park Theatre, Bergen Point, Bayonne, the owner organized entertainment for a performance benefiting earthquake victims. Freeholders and other politicians served as ushers and over $200 was realized for the relief effort. At the Columbian Club in Jersey City, the Knights of Columbus presented an “all-star” vaudeville program including Sheehanâ€s Minstrel Girls and other professional acts to raise funds as well.   

In Hoboken at the Stevens Institute auditorium, a benefit recital drew nearly a full-house of attendees who were entertained by various musical artists including three who called San Francisco their homes: sopranos Mrs. Benjamin Lathrop and Miss Lillie Lawlor, and Miss Elizabeth Ames, a cellist. Also performing was Miss Kitty Cheatham, a popular singer remembered for her contributions to childrenâ€s music that entertained thousands in Europe and the United States and for organizing childrenâ€s concerts for the N.Y. Philharmonic and other orchestras.

The Evening Journal newspaper, in concert with the “Citizens Committee,” publicized and

encouraged reader donations to a trust fund administered by the Treasurer of the Commercial Trust Company. Just two weeks after the earthquake struck San Francisco, over $9,000 had been contributed to that fund and donor names, large and small, were published in the newspaper, including $25 donations each from Jersey City Mayor Mark Fagan and Oscar Schmidt, the owner of a local musical instrument manufacturing company. The smallest donations were 25 or 50 cents, some of those collected by classes of school children, while among the largest were donations of $125 to $500 collected by employees working at the Andrew J. Corcoran manufacturing company, the James Leo box factory and Mullins & Sons home furnishings, all located in Jersey City. 

Speaking as one who bonded and banded together with neighbors in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, showering next door where there was hot water and sharing generators via bright orange extension cords that snaked from yard-to-yard, may we keep faith with our fellow Jersey residents whose losses were so severe and whose problems are far from over with the start of the New Year. 

 Maureen Wlodarczyk is a fourth-generation-born Jersey City girl and the author of three books about life in Jersey City in the 1800s and early 1900s:  Past-Forward: A Three-Decade and Three-Thousand-Mile Journey Home, Young & Wicked: The Death of a Wayward Girl and Canary in a Cage: The Smith-Bennett Murder Case.  For info: www.past-forward.com. 

 

 

 

The post Hudson Then . . . Again-1906 Disasters and Charity first appeared on River View Observer.

by: Maureen Wlodarczyk

 In my last column, I wrote about Simon “King” Kelly, a fixture in Weehawken politics in the second half of the 1800s, and a person known for his charity, some of that evidenced by his visits to the Snake Hill Almshouse dressed as Santa Claus and bearing gifts for the young poorhouse inmates. That discovery was more than enough to rekindle my interest in the Snake Hill “community,” a societal island of lost and mostly forgotten souls comprised of the mentally ill, desperately poor, tuberculosis and smallpox patients and incarcerated criminals, and I got to wondering about the decades of Christmases spent there by thousands of Hudson County citizens.  

In the 1870s, the Snake Hill complex in Secaucus included the Almshouse, Penitentiary and “Lunatic Asylum.” Newspapers from those years reported politicians arranging for Christmas turkey and chicken dinners at Snake Hill accompanied by live music and even some dancing. The children of the Almshouse were treated to candy, fruit and cake and, according to the press, the convict population was permitted recreational time in the prison corridors, prompting some to break into song.

By 1890, a Quarantine Hospital was also in operation at Snake Hill. Christmas activities included visits by Catholic priests and Protestant ministers who led religious services and the singing of carols. Dr. George W. King, the medical superintendent at the Asylum oversaw entertainment for the patients in that institution. One of the wardens, a former member of a Civil War Zouave unit, led a military drilling presentation for the entertainment of the residents. The Freeholders of Hudson County provided toys and candy for the children of the Almshouse and the people of Hudson County were asked to donate toys, nuts, fruit or childrenâ€s books to assist in the effort to bring some Christmas joy to those unfortunate youngsters.

In 1899, as the 19^th century gave way to the 20^th, it was reported that poultry dinners would be served to the Penitentiary inmates “for the first time in years.”  Among those inmates were convicted murderers James K. Brown and Edward Clifford, facing execution and perhaps contemplating what could be their last Christmas meal. Before and after eating, prisoners performed a vaudeville show for their own entertainment. At the Almshouse, a charitable committee provided dolls for the little girls and toys for the boys and a priest, Reverend Oâ€Connor, arrived with fruit, candy, bread and a ham that was carved and served on sandwiches. 

It was not until 1908 that the Almshouse at Snake Hill had its first Christmas tree, provided by the newly-appointed Almshouse Warden James McKee at his own expense when the County did not appropriate funds for that purpose. The Warden also purchased miniature lights and ornaments to decorate the very large tree. The tree was brought into the recreation room and was decorated by McKee, his wife and several other staff members, all without the knowledge or notice of the inmates of the Almshouse, creating the desired happy surprise when they came into the room to discover it. The following Christmas, in 1909, Warden McKee outdid himself with a tree measuring 14 feet tall and reportedly decorated with 100 “miniature electric bulbs in the shapes of flowers and fruits.” The Warden also arranged for a concert including Almshouse inmates who displayed their vocal talents and musical instrument skills and a Christmas dinner of roast chicken and pumpkin pie made with pumpkins grown at the farm at Snake Hill. 

For these patients and inmates, a single day of charitable kindness and a special meal couldnâ€t erase the other 364 days of distress, deprivation, physical and mental suffering or the knowledge that it was unlikely they would ever be able to leave Snake Hill and resume their independent lives. Still, it provided some brief respite and a sense that the world had not completely forgotten them. 

Maureen Wlodarczyk is a fourth-generation-born Jersey City girl and the author of three books about life in Jersey City in the 1800s and early 1900s:  Past-Forward: A Three-Decade and Three-Thousand-Mile Journey Home, Young & Wicked: The Death of a Wayward Girl and Canary in a Cage: The Smith-Bennett Murder Case.  For info: www.past-forward.com. 

 

 

 

 

 

The post HUDSON THEN…AGAIN -An After Christmas Story-CHRISTMAS AT SNAKE HILL first appeared on River View Observer.

 Over the years, Iâ€ve heard any number of men including my husband describe the benefits and healthful effects of drinking beer. Just this past week, my husband shared a printout of “The Buffalo Theory” with me. That piece of wisdom, attributed to the TV show “Cheers” and a conversation between bar regulars Cliff and Norm, equates survival of the fittest in buffalo herds to a similar process whereby beer drinking results in the death of oneâ€s weakest brain cells, thus leaving the drinker with a more fit mind as a happy side effect of imbibing.

Long before Cliff and Norm entertained us on the small screen, Hudson County liquor distributors had advertised the important health effects to be derived from beer, especially for women. In 1911, a local liquor distribution company ran an ad in a Hudson County newspaper titled “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle Rules the World,” featuring the image of a young mother gazing lovingly on her infant as she rocks the baby in a wicker cradle. The caption stated the following:

“The ever increasing strength and power of our Great American Nation depends largely on the physical condition of our children. Not only the strength, but also the very life of the child depends upon its proper nourishment in infancy. Good, pure, clean beer more fully supplies just the correct nourishment – in every sense of the word – that mothers require.” 

In the early days of the 20^th century just before the dark clouds of Prohibition blew in, Hudson County was home to multiple thriving wholesale liquor houses. Among those were the Hoboken firms of Wachtel & Muller, Charles F. Kaegbehn, Paul Seglie, and Italian-born Angelo Podesta who established his liquor business in 1876. Union Hill was home to the liquor house of German-born H.F. Drewes who first trained in the spirits business in his native land at the age of 14 and whose enterprise also included 4 retail locations in Union Hill and Jersey City. Jersey City was the location for Krause & Co., Michael B. Holmes & Co., McArdle & Co., Lewis Fischer & Brother and Loewus Brothers & Co., the most prosperous of all the competing liquor houses, headquartered at 84 Montgomery Street with retail locations in Jersey City and Bayonne.

Loewus Brothers, established in 1890, was not one of the oldest firms of its kind in Hudson County but it was the most successful when it came to the measure that counted: sales. Gustave and Charles Loewus, the firmâ€s founders, were born in Bohemia and came to America in their late teens, each getting some early experience by working in liquor houses in New York before launching their own company. Their product line included beer, ale, California wines, cordials, whiskeys, champagnes, sherries and ports sold to saloons, hotels, druggists, grocers and private individuals. It was said that in the 20 years between 1890 and 1910, the companyâ€s sales increased with each successive year.

The Loewus brothers were described as being among the smartest businessmen in Hudson County, expert in the selection of staff, trusted and admired for their character, business acumen and “logical minds,” and known for a directness and “absence of sentiment” in their business dealings. Case in point: In 1910, when the financially-troubled Bayonne Opera House failed to pay a $300 bill for liquor provided to its café by Loewus Brothers, the brothers quickly retained a local law firm and took legal action against the Bayonne Amusement Company, the owner of the Opera House. 

In 1914, a newspaper article reported that Hudson County would have strong representation at the Liquor Dealers State Convention to be held in Atlantic City. Among the notables from Hudson County was Charles Loewus, president of the Wholesale Liquor Dealers†Association of New Jersey. Whether by design or not, the article immediately above that reported on the upcoming “aggressive campaign” planned by the Anti-Saloon Party and local Prohibitionists, including charges that Hudson County officials routinely ignored numerous complaints about chronic violations of existing liquor laws.  The struggle over alcohol was heating up and the dry days were on the horizon.  

Maureen Wlodarczyk is a fourth-generation-born Jersey City girl and the author of three books about life in Jersey City in the 1800s and early 1900s:  Past-Forward: A Three-Decade and Three-Thousand-Mile Journey Home, Young & Wicked: The Death of a Wayward Girl and Canary in a Cage: The Smith-Bennett Murder Case.  For info: www.past-forward.com.

 

  

 

 

The post Hudson Then Again…Hudson County Liquor Businesses in Early Days of the 20th Century first appeared on River View Observer.