This 1955 photo shows the demolition of one of Elizabeths elegant mansions. All that remained was the dining room fireplace topped with a mural of a yachting scene, reflecting the wealth of the original owner. Built in 1870, the mansion deteriorated over the years with a succession of owners and vandalism. It was purchased by an auto dealership and demolished to expand the business. The fireplace stands as a sad monument to Elizabeths golden age of architecture. The 1950s represented the tipping point for the survival of the citys Victorian homes. The wealthy residents moved to the suburbs, leaving the homes with a bleak future. A few survived as funeral homes or were used as offices by non-profit agencies. Others were converted to rooming houses, reflecting the shift to a transient, lower income population. But most of these grand homes were razed to make way for gas stations, office buildings and dull looking apartment buildings. The city never took the initiative to setup historic preservation districts as did many other cities in the U.S. Arnold Samuelsen: Hersh Ford moved from 23 Westfield Ave. to 655 Newark Ave. about 1955. The remains of the home pictured may be that at 659 Newark Ave. which was occupied by Aaron Woodruff Kellogg (1824-1911) from 1876 or earlier until his death. From about 1913 it was the home of Rev. Dr. Louis Burton Crane (1869-1934), who was pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church from 1910 until his death. His widow Mary Schuyler Crane died in this house Jan. 21, 1953. The Ford dealership later operated under the names Nappa Ford and Key Ford. The nearby homes at nos. 667 and 647 Newark Ave., which no longer exist, also have interesting history according to Arnold Samuelsen: The house at 667 Newark Ave. dates to at least 1876 as the home of Martha B. Crane Kellogg (1810- ), the second wife of Elijah Kellogg (1784-1856), and some of her grown children and step-children and their families. Isaac Kellogg was a merchant in Elizabeth, coming here in 1815 from his native Norwalk, Conn. He had 14 children, nine by his first wife Anne Morris Woodruff Kellogg, who died in 1831. Both wives had Elizabeth roots going back to the Revolution. Prominent among the Kellogg children was Augustus Clark Kellogg {1819-1895), an 1840 graduate of Princeton University who lived at 667 Newark Ave. until his death. Afterward it was the home of John C. Rankin Jr. (1854-1903), the mayor of Elizabeth from 1890-98 and a stationer and printer in New York (John C. Rankin Co., 38 Cortlandt St.). His widow Ann Althea Rankin lived there until her death in 1926. The address 667 Newark Ave does not appear in city directory listings after 1926. John C. Rankin Sr., the mayors father and a Presbyterian minister, had been a Princeton classmate of Augustus Clark Kellogg. According to his obituary in the New York Times Nov. 23, 1895, Kellogg was an officer of the National State Bank where he spent 40 years, was for nine years manager of the Elizabethport Glue Works and recently had been an incorporator of the Standard Rope and Twine Co. of Elizabeth, a reorganization of the National Cordage Trust. With other brothers, he was a member of the Land Improvement firm of Crane, Tubbs & Co., which developed much of North Elizabeth. The land for what is now known as Kellogg Park was willed to the city by Edward Nash Kellogg (1815-1867). The house at 647 Newark Ave. was still occupied in 1959. It was later replaced by a supermarket and is now Foreman Mills, a discount clothing outlet. Living there in 1880 was William H. Tutt (1823-1898), a native of Augusta, Ga., who lived here for a few years while working as a druggist in New York. His son Louis D. Tutt (1859-1892}, also a druggist, drowned with his guide while hunting in the Adirondack Mountains. Thomas R. White Sr. (1850- ), a lawyer in New York, moved to this house in the 1890s and his daughter Olga White Bizzell (1890-1988) and her husband Carey K. Bizzell (1894-1970) were living there as late as 1959.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 03:44:16 +0000
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