The Somerville Academy

On July 4th, 1801, in observance of Independence Day, some number of men from Somerset County gathered in Somerville to celebrate. Among them was Colonel Peter D. Vroom of Hillsborough and his nine-year-old son of the same name. The festivities of the day included public speeches - including one on the discovery of America given by the son of J.R. Hardenburgh, Esq. and one on the death of George Washington by young Peter.

Plan of Somerville showing the location of the Academy.
From the 1850 map of Somerset County

Colonel Vroom, who had served under Washington during the Revolution, was no doubt moved by his son's tribute to America's first president - but he was bothered by something. After the orations were complete, the men adjourned to the local hotel and the subject of education came up. Vroom and many of the others had sons between eight and twelve who were bright and would need to be educated beyond the log cabin schoolhouses of the rural county. They decided that day to establish a classical school - one where Latin and Greek, as well as the usual academic subjects, would be taught in preparation for a college career. On July 18th the group met again and adopted a constitution. Abraham Messler describes it in his book, "First Things in Old Somerset":

"[On] the eighteenth of July, at another meeting, a constitution was adopted, which provided for the erection of a building and the organization of an association aiding in its support and patronage. The preamble recites that 'whereas, an attempt made by the inhabitants of Somerville and vicinity, to raise by subscription in shares of ten dollars each, a sum sufficient to erect a suitable building for a classical school, had succeeded so far as to warrant the commencement of such building; that, therefore, it had become necessary to form a constitution for the government of the said association. The first article fixes its name as "The Proprietors of the Academy of Somerville", and defines it as an institution expressly set apart for the instruction of youth in the learned languages, the English, the arts and sciences, and public speaking.'"

 

At their December 1801 meeting, they fixed the price of tuition at $4 per quarter and authorized an additional $50 to attract a teacher. By March of the next year, the school building was nearly complete and the school had hired its first teacher, an Irishman by the name of Luca George.

Newspaper ads for the Somerville Academy from 1811, 1824, and 1833.

The only other "high school" in the area was the academy at Basking Ridge (known today as the Brick Academy). The school building was located on the west side of North Bridge Street (then called Jersey Street) between Main Street and High Street. Many scholars attended the school in the more than 50 years of its existence, including that nine-year-old boy - Peter Dumont Vroom - who grew up to be governor of New Jersey.

The school was discontinued in 1855 and the property sold to prominent landholder S.S. Hartwell.

Suburban Somerville, New Jersey (1891 - 1909)

Somerville is one of Central New Jersey's great original suburban towns. Beginning in the last quarter of the 19th century right up through the middle of the 20th, the Somerset County boro was promoted as ideal for the New York commuter.

Besides feature stories in the daily and weekly newspapers, four publications sought to increase the migration of  "city folk" to Somerville. These were the booklets "The Towns of Somerville and Raritan, Illustrated" (1891) and "Somerville As It Really Is" (1909); the newspaper supplement "Illustrated Somerville" (1907), and the monthly publication "The Suburbanite" (1903-1913).

Altamont Place Looking West -
Towns of Somerville and Raritan (1891)

Articles extolling the virtues of suburban living featured alongside photos of the streets and homes (and churches, schools, and businesses) that one could expect to find in Somerville. Please enjoy this look at residential Somerville from more than a century ago, first from the booklet "Towns of Somerville and Raritan" which focused on the newly opened Altamont Place.

The Captain G S Cook Residence, Altamont Place -
Towns of Somerville and Raritan (1891)

The Colonel John T Van Cleef Residence, Altamont Place -
Towns of Somerville and Raritan (1891)

The Edwin Scott, Esq. Residence, Altamont Place -
Towns of Somerville and Raritan (1891)

The J H Mattison, Esq. Residence, Altamont Place -
Towns of Somerville and Raritan (1891)

The J Harper Smith Residence, Altamont Place -
Towns of Somerville and Raritan (1891)

In 1907 the Unionist Gazette published a "Business Souvenir Supplement" titled "Illustrated Somerville". Some of the photos therein were reprints of houses pictured in the 1891 "Towns of Somerville and Raritan", but many appeared for the first time.

The Clara Lindsley Residence, West End Avenue -
Illustrated Somerville (1907)

The H N Hartwell Residence, location unknown -
Illustrated Somerville (1907)

The Joseph W Ballantine Residence, location unknown -
Illustrated Somerville (1907)

The Mrs. D K Craig Residence, North Bridge Street -
Illustrated Somerville (1907)

The W H Long Residence, possibly Mountain Avenue -
Illustrated Somerville (1907)

The Alvah A Clark Residence, Mountain Avenue -
Illustrated Somerville (1907)

"Somerville As It Really Is" contributes two photos of suburban Somerville to our collection. We wonder what influence W J Kirby had with the publishers for his house to be the only private residence featured!

Mountain Avenue Looking South from High Street -
Somerville As It Really Is (1909)

The W J Kirby Residence, East Main Street -
Somerville As It Really Is (1909)

High Street -
Somerville As It Really Is (1909)

"The Suburbanite" was published monthly from 1903 to 1913 by the Central Railroad of New Jersey. One of their obvious goals was to encourage development in the towns along their main and branch lines by featuring the joys of suburban living in Westfield, Plainfield, Bound Brook, and Somerville, among others. The country along the Flemington Branch (South Branch) through Hillsborough and Branchburg even got a few mentions over the years. Here are the streets and homes photographed for "The Suburbanite".

Unknown Location -
The Suburbanite (July 1904)

Altamont Place -
The Suburbanite (October 1905)

A Typical Country Home, West Summit Street  -
The Suburbanite (April 1907)

Unknown Location -
The Suburbanite (April 1907)

A Typical Somerville Residence, West Summit Street -
The Suburbanite (September 1909)

The Somerville Carnival - circa 1907

We all remember the sights and sounds of the summer carnival. Whether to benefit a local hospital, church, volunteer fire company or, as with the Hillsborough Rotary Fair of today, a civic organization, the annual carnival in Somerset County dates back to the 19th century.

The Somerville Firemen's Carnival circa 1907

In the early years of the last century, many Central New Jersey organizations, including the four Somerville volunteer fire companies, engaged the Excelsior Carnival Company to provide the rides and entertainment for a week of fun. Excelsior, under manager W.S. Miller, was in business for at least a couple of decades and sometimes billed themselves as a circus - but there were some important distinctions. Traveling circuses in those days usually came with elephants and menageries and trapeze artists and most importantly equestrians - the royalty of the circus. A company like Excelsior, on the other hand, while employing many "tent acts" did not have nearly the spectacle of a real circus. But that doesn't mean they didn't employ top-name entertainment.

A typical Excelsior Carnival setup circa 1906

Filling the gaps left by the lack of elephants and horses were many interesting and entertaining vaudeville acts. A look at Excelsior's roster for the 1905-1908 period gives us a clue as to what one could expect at the carnival.

The Somerville Firemen's Carnival circa 1908

Here are a few of the lesser-known featured performers: Prairie Flower, fortune teller; C. Lowe, electric palmograph; Jas. D. Bell, monologist; Charley Hopper, singing clown; J.V. Graybill's rifle range; Miss Edna, lightning crayon work; Billy Sheppard. character work; Aiken, juggler; Mrs. Astra, levitating illusionist.

Professor H.S. Maguire and Mascot

Of course, the nationally known acts were the real draw to the carnival. First among these was Professor H.S. Maguire and his "educated" horse, Mascot. Mascot was famous for being able to add and subtract and they had a long career in carnivals and vaudeville.

Don and Dot Ford poster collage

Excelsior usually had an escape artist on the show, most notably during this time period Don and Dot Ford. They performed all of the usual escape stunts - handcuffs, straitjackets, even water submersion. They would even accept challenges to break out of the town lock-up which they pulled off in great style during the 1906 tour in Plainfield, Morristown, and Somerville!

Don Ford before a jail cell escape

One of the most famous acts to ever appear with the Excelsior Carnival Company was Gus White's Punch and Judy Show. Punch and Judy shows were being performed for 100 years before Gus White saw one as a young man and realized he could do better. He built all of his own puppets and elaborate stage sets and soon had the best-known show of its kind in America.

Gus White's Punch, trade card

While there is no reason to believe that Somerville's fairgrounds or shows were segregated, we do know that some of what our great-grandparents found entertaining would be highly objectionable today - minstrel shows and other black-face entertainers were common during the period and were employed by Excelsior.

Chief Long Feather

Perhaps somewhat less objectionable was the archery act of Blackfoot Indian Chief Long Feather who, during the era of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Shows, toured with Excelsior.

In 1907 the carnival was in Somerville from July 3rd through July 13th. There was record-breaking attendance on Saturday, July 8th, and great weather for the entire run. And the best news, each of the four fire companies received a net profit of $100!

Somerville High School

For most of the 19th century, a New Jersey high school education was primarily for academically-minded students who were continuing on to college - and before 1871 high schools were nearly all private institutions, further discouraging attendance.  It was in that year that the New Jersey Legislature passed an act that made all public schools, including public high schools, free.

The 1856 Somerville Public School, pictured in 1891.

At that time there were very few public high schools in the vicinity of Hillsborough - the ones in New Brunswick and Plainfield were about the closest. Somerville began adding classes for high school students in the mid-1880s, perhaps some being held in the 1856 Public School on West High Street pictured above. A high school building - pictured below - was also opened in 1894. The left side of the building shown here was later connected with the 1912 school which also fronted on West High Street.

The 1894 high school pictured in a 1909 photo.

There were twelve students in the first graduating class of Somerville High School in 1888. The most notable among them - because he later became a teacher at the high school and then served as the Somerville tax collector for 25 years - was Hillsborough Township lad Charles Hamilton. 

1888 Somerville High School graduating class.
Charles Hamilton is standing at the rear, center.
Photo courtesy of Mary Margaret Hamilton Tripp

Charles was the first member of the first alumni association for the high school when it was formed in the 1920s and was again the first member of the re-formed alumni association in 1959!

1888 Somerville High School graduate Charles Hamilton,

 13 November 1959 Courier News

It is possible that Charles Hamilton attended the building shown below in a postcard from 1905. This iteration of Somerville High School was directly behind and attached to the rear of the 1856 Public school. This building still stands today, connected to the current middle school by an enclosed walkway.

Somerville High School circa 1905.
Note the public school in the rear.

While the three buildings shown above are certainly fine examples of 19th-century public school architecture, they are not what could be called modern buildings. The first truly modern Somerville school building was the aforementioned 1912 school shown in a circa 1915 postcard view below. This building was to the west of the 1856 Public School and connected to the 1894 high school just behind it.

The building on the left was completed in 1912.
The high school was on the second floor.

I include the 1912 school in this survey because in the early 1920s the second floor was used for the high school. As a testament to its modernity and functionality, the school was still being used for elementary school students through 1998, and then for another decade as a public preschool before being demolished in 2009.

The "new" 1924 high school facing Cliff Street,
 now the Somerville Middle School

On November 4, 1922, approximately 1,200 Somerville school children took part in the ceremony to lay the cornerstone of a brand new high school - on the same block as the other schools, but this time facing Cliff Street. Students sang "America" and "The Star-Spangled Banner", and helped bury a time-capsule. The school was dedicated on February 22, 1924, with 1888 grad Charles Hamilton acting as emcee. Two weeks earlier the Somerville Girls' Basketball team won the first-ever game played in the new gym.

Student Train Pass, September 1927

As one of only two area high schools - the other being Bound Brook - Somerville had already been accepting students on a tuition basis from nearby municipalities for decades. Hillsborough, Millstone, Branchburg, Bridgewater, and even Readington Township in Hunterdon County sent students to Somerville. Students such as Margaret Quick took the train each morning at 5:55 a.m. from Neshanic Station to Somerville, returning to Neshanic Station at 5:25 p.m. Now that's a long school day!

The state of the regional, consolidated, and tuition high schools in 1960.

In the 1960s overcrowding at the high school became an issue. Bridgwater built its own high school around 1960, relieving the pressure somewhat. But by the mid-60s Somerville was no longer accepting Hillsborough's ninth-graders and eventually decided not to accept any new students from Hillsborough - although those already attending would be permitted to remain and graduate. After Hillsborough opened its own high school in 1969, Branchburg was left as the only town still sending students on a tuition basis to Somerville - and that continues to this day.

Plan for a new high school, 11 March 1969 Courier News

In 1968, after 44 years on Cliff Street, the Somerville school board began talking about building a new high school in a new location. Contracts for a $3.1 million school to be located at Davenport and Orchard Streets were awarded in March. This school - designed for 1,300 students - opened in October 1970. Apart from a small addition constructed on the south side of the building about 20 years ago, the footprint of the high school remains essentially unchanged.

12 October 1970 Home News

Today Somerville is one of the top 50 high schools in New Jersey as ranked by US News and World Report, serving just under 1,200 Somerville and Branchburg students.

Ruth St. Denis, Purposely Under-dressed

When the Bridgewater Township farm girl who grew up to become the First Lady of American Dance was facing bankruptcy in 1910, the newspapers quipped that she certainly didn't spend it all on costumes! For Ruth St. Denis the skimpy outfits she wore in a series of "Oriental Dances" beginning in 1906 were not just an artistic decision, but a life choice - as she described the next year in a column that ran in newspapers across the country.

Ruth St,. Denis in costume for a dance she performed just once in 1912

"I am going to live to be 100 years old, and I make this statement in all sincerity and truth. The reason why I'm going to live to be 100 is because I refuse to accept the mandates of fashion which, in its utter indifference to comfort and health, demands that women garb themselves in clothes, which per se, promote ill health. I will not wear corsets, the use of which interfere with the natural functions of the body, and act as a barrier to the proper working of the respiratory organs and defeat the purpose for which God intended the pores of our skin. I will continue to be under-dressed, instead of over-dressed, and thereby eliminate the dangers of sudden changes in temperature. I will wear loose fitting shoes that do not tend to interfere with the circulation of the blood in the lower limbs. I will take long breaths, filling every cell in my lungs. I will eat such food as is calculated to make muscle and blood. I will deny myself high spiced cooking, and I will follow a diet that made the ancient Egyptians the long lived people they were. In fact, I will get back to nature."

Ruth St,. Denis in costume for a dance she performed just once in 1912

She went on to compare modern women's ailments with healthy aspects of "ancient days", and then concluded:

"The highest menace to woman's health is tight lacing, tight shoes, tight clothes, too many clothes, and wearing six or seven thicknesses of garments around their chest, and going out in the cold in low shoes, thin silk hose, their necks and shoulders bare, and everything else to invite ill health. 

"They take no exercise, do not believe in a constant current of fresh air in their sleeping apartments and have the steam radiators going at full tilt all the time. In my declaration of independence as regards dress I will carefully avoid all things, and so conduct my life as to make the most out of it so far as health is concerned, and there is absolutely no reason why I cannot live to be 100 as well as my sisters who thrived in the days of ancient Sparta and ancient Egypt."

Ruth St. Denis died in 1968 at the age of 89.

Kate Claxton - Roots in Somerville, and in the Arts

For the thirty year period between 1875 and 1905 there was probably no actress in America more famous than Somerville, New Jersey's Kate Eliza Cone - known to the world as Kate Claxton. She was born in the nascent boro in the summer of 1848 in the Greek Revival style house still standing at the corner of Altamont Place and Middaugh Street.

Birthplace of Kate Elizabeth Cone, from the 1857 map of Somerville, NJ

Her grandfather, Spencer Houghton Cone, also dabbled in the theater, but is best known as New York City's preeminent Baptist preacher of the early 1800s. He presided at the 1843 wedding of his son Spencer Wallace Cone to Josephine Martinez - a union which produced Kate and her four sisters and one brother.

Spencer Wallace Cone was a journalist and a writer of prose and poetry. Although ten years his junior, it is said that Cone's work was an influence on Edgar Allan Poe. In 1861, at the outset of the Civil War,  he was put in charge of the 61st NY Militia with the rank of Colonel. The regiment saw action in many of the major battles of the war.

Detail form 1882 map of Somerville - Kate Claxton birthplace at west end of Cliff St.

Despite his artistic leanings, Cone was not eager for his daughter to become an actress. The one positive outcome of her disastrous 1865 marriage to New York businessman Isadore Lyon was that it emancipated her from her parents' control, and allowed her to pursue her dreams of the stage - first in Chicago in 1869, and then in New York.

The circa 1837 Greek Revival House at the corner of Altamoint and Middaugh Sts.

After that  - she found a role, survived a fire (or two), got divorced, got married, got divorced, and used a keen business sense to secure one of the longest and most productive careers in the history of theater.

Somerville "In the Future"

A popular postcard genre of the first decades of the 20th century was the "In the Future" card. Many different publishers put out cards of this type, typically consisting of a standard street scene of small town - or big city - America with futuristic illustrations overlaid. You can search "in the future" postcards or get a head start by viewing at the link here.

I was pleased to find that Hillsborough's neighbor town of Somerville wasn't overlooked by the turn-of-the-century futurists. The 1909 image depicted above shows the south side of Main Street looking west, with the addition of an airship, and a subway entrance. Truthfully, I find this postcard interesting for the close view of the trolley, never mind the future!

In the postcard above, circa 1957, the view is from further east nearer to the courthouse. Aside from the automobiles, not much had really changed! No dirigibles or subways in sight! The paved over trolley tracks even appear to be visible.

It took a couple more years for Somerville to go all sci-fi. Compare the streetlamps in the 1957 postcard to the monstrosities from the 60s in the postcard above! Wow. Still no airships however.