The "Bridge Street" Bridges of Hillsborough

A 1923 editorial in the New Brunswick Home News concerning the movement to change the name of Somerville's Bridge Street posited, "[T]oday, there are many streets leading from the main street across a bridge over the Raritan. Today, Bridge Street has no significance whatsoever. It is merely a habit." If the writer won his point then, he would surely win it doubly now as not only are there still other Somerville roads that lead to bridges but Bridge Street - or South Bridge Street as it is now known - leads to no bridge at all! Instead, it terminates at Route 206, where a left turn brings motorists to an eight-lane highway that poses as a Raritan River Bridge. Drivers at cruising speed in either direction may not know that they are on a bridge at all.

The Old Covered Bridge at Bridge Street (1822-1887).
Painting by Davis Gray, 1971.

In the post-revolutionary period, when wagons crossed the Raritan from Hillsborough to the settlement that would become Somerville, drivers took care on the narrow chain bridge. When a loaded grain wagon caused the bridge to collapse in 1822 it was replaced by a covered bridge. In those days, Bridge Street went straight through where the D&C Electric parking lot is today [2019] and then turned slightly east to cross the river at the narrowest span. The old covered bridge was much loved for many reasons, not the least of which was because it shielded boys at their favorite swimming hole from the travelers on the bridge. Swimming costumes were practically non-existent in the wardrobe of a mid-nineteenth-century youth!

The Iron Bridge at Bridge Street (1887-1930).
Postcard circa 1915.

Eventually, progress and increased commerce dictated a new modern, wider iron bridge be built. The Somerset County Freeholders budgeted $13,000 for the 300-foot span in 1886 with the bridge opening to traffic the following year.

The Concrete Highway Bridge of Route 31/206 (1930-2002)
Photo from 1999.

The construction of Route 31 - now renamed Route 206 - in 1929 called for a modern concrete auto bridge over the Raritan River. This was a major project requiring the use of a temporary wooden bridge at the site where a gigantic concrete mixing machine moved back and forth on tracks. The architecturally significant bridge opened in August 1930 and was in use until 2002.

The Eight-Lane Route 206 Bridge under construction.
28 March 2002 Courier News

Garden State Lounge (1966 - 1968)

When Garden State Lanes burned to the ground on January 21, 1963, the Wengryn brothers - George, Walter, and Daniel - not only lost the valuable bowling alley on Route 206 in Hillsborough but also their investment in a liquor license. At least temporarily.

24 December 1965 Courier News

The Wengryns had been trying for years to add a proper cocktail lounge to Garden State Lanes which opened in 1957. After finally getting township approval for a liquor license transfer from the defunct Sourland Mountain Tavern/Amwell Inn at the beginning of 1963, and quickly opening the bar, it all went up in smoke three weeks later.

8 January 1966 Courier News

While the brothers kept their options open as to whether or not to rebuild the bowling alley, they received approval in 1965 to build a cocktail lounge on the site to be named Garden State Lounge. The cocktail lounge opened on New Year's Eve 1965 with an official grand opening eight days later. Live music and dancing to the likes of Walt Wengryn's own orchestra (foxtrot, rumba, cha-cha, waltz, and polka) were the featured attractions during that first year.

16 December 1966 Courier News

In 1967 the lounge added go-go girls and rock groups to their lineup. The Treble Tones and Duff & The New Disciples were Friday night regulars. 

Newspaper ads for Garden State Lounge

Garden State Lounge might have remained in business for years if not for a "special event" held on Monday, February 12, 1968. Usually, there was no admission fee or cover charge at the lounge, but for this event, for which the entire audience consisted of 75 middle-aged men, tickets cost $10. In addition, patrons parked off-site and were transported by bus to the club.

15 February 1968 Franklin News-Record

Even though the party had been planned for about a month, local police were tipped off on the night of the event that something different was going down on Route 206. When the twelve municipal, county and state police officers arrived about an hour into the show, they found two nude women, professional strippers from New York,  on the stage.

Ultimately, charges for the proprietors and organizers of the event were reduced to disorderly conduct, and the New Jersey Alcohol Beverage Control Board revoked the liquor license. 

The Wengryns sold the property later that same year to the group that developed Hillsboro Plaza on the site.

Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen (1817 - 1885)

On the morning of August 9, 1894, friends, family, and dignitaries both local and national gathered at Newark's Military Park to pay tribute to and unveil a statue of one of the 19th century's most prominent Americans, Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen. The keynote speaker was US Ambassador to Germany Theodore Runyon who spoke for a full thirty minutes on the extraordinary life of the Hillsborough Township native.

Statue of Frederick T. Frelinghuysen at Newark's Military Park. Photo circa 1900.

Frederick T. Frelinghuysen was born on August 4, 1817, in Millstone, NJ into one of the most storied families in Somerset County history. He was descended from Rev. Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen who emigrated to America from Holland in 1720 and organized nearly all of the early Dutch Reformed Churches in Somerset, Hunterdon, and Middlesex Counties. The Reverend's second son was Rev. John Frelinghuysen who was instrumental in starting the school that became Queen's College, now known as Rutgers University. John Frelinghuysen's son, the grandfather of our subject, was General Frederick Frelinghuysen - a graduate of Princeton University in 1770 where he was a classmate of future President James Madison, an artillery commander at the battles of Trenton and Monmouth, and a member of the continental congress.

The Frelinghuysen homestead in Millstone

General Frelinghuysen had three sons. The youngest, Frederick, the father of our subject, was educated at Princeton and practiced law in Millstone. He died suddenly in 1820 at the age of thirty-two, leaving his widow the former Mary Dumont (daughter of wealthy Hillsborough landowner Peter B. Dumont), three daughters, and two sons - the youngest being Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen, just three years old.

Frederick T. Frelinghuysen

The young boy was soon adopted by his uncle, the General's second son Theodore Frelinghuysen. He could have wished for no better mentor as his career closely followed the path of his distinguished uncle.  "Fred", as he was known to his friends, entered Rutgers as a sophomore and graduated in 1836 at the age of nineteen. After a further three years of study in his uncle's law office in Newark, he was admitted to the bar in 1839. 

Frederick T. Frelinghuysen

Well known for his commanding oratory, Frelinghuysen inherited his uncle's law practice and made a great success representing the New Jersey Central Railroad Company. In 1842 he married Matilda Griswold and together they had three daughters and three sons. He was appointed to a six-year term as New Jersey Attorney General in 1861, and then appointed by Governor Ward, to fill the unexpired term of US Senator William Wright in 1866. In 1871 he was elected by the NJ legislature to a full six-year term as senator. 

Members of the 1876 Electoral Commission

Frelinghuysen's time in the Senate was filled with contentious debate over Reconstruction, the impeachment of President Johnson, and the contested 1876 presidential election results. His strong patriotism, and his enduring Christian faith, along with his skills in rational argument, served him well during his Senate career.

President Chester A. Arthur

A change in the political makeup of the New Jersey legislature from Republican to Democrat denied Frelinghuysen a second full term in the senate but in 1881 after the assassination of President Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, in one of his first acts as president, appointed Frelinghuysen as Secretary of State. It was during these years that he played host to the president on several occasions at his 150-acre Hillsborough Township estate. The property, inherited from the Dumont side of his family, is on the south bank of the Raritan River on River Road and is the wooded lot now owned by Duke Farms. It was here that President Arthur courted Frelinghuysen's daughter, Tillie, leading to rumors that marriage was certain. However, it was not to be.

Arthur decided not to run for reelection in 1884, and Frelinghuysen retired to his home in Newark upon the inauguration of the new administration in March 1885. Almost immediately upon his return he fell ill and lapsed into a coma, dying peacefully in his home on May 20, 1885. The city of Newark, in combination with its leading citizens, commissioned a bronze statue of Frelinghuysen to be placed near his home in Military Park. Hartford sculptor Karl Gerhardt designed the nine-foot-tall statue which sits on a granite pedestal twelve feet high. A fitting monument to a great statesman.

Polish Falcon Camp (1933 - 2017)

The Polish Falcon Camp on the appropriately-named Falcon Road in Hillsborough Township, New Jersey can trace its roots back to the opening of the Polish-American Home on August 31, 1930, in Manville. More than 6,000 attendees enjoyed a parade, evening dance, and festivities celebrating Polish heritage.

Polish Falcon Camp, Hillsborough - postcard

With such a tremendous turnout, it wasn't long before there was talk of organizing a local chapter of the Polish Falcons of America. The Polish Falcons - begun in 1863 with the first American "nest" forming in 1887 - is a fraternal organization with a strong emphasis on physical fitness.

2 September 1930 Courier News

William Mazur of South River, who had been connected with other Falcons chapters in New York and New Jersey, and was a physical fitness buff himself, pushed for a new Manville area chapter. The unit was finally organized in March 1932 with Edward Knitowski elected as the first president.

1950s and 1960s ads for events at the Polish Falcon Camp

Organizers immediately set about looking for land to build a camp where they could have swimming and other outdoor recreational activities necessary for their mission, while also providing buildings for indoor entertainment and meeting space. In 1933, 80 acres of farmland on Weston Road - soon to be renamed Falcon Road - was purchased and buildings were constructed. 

Polish Falcon Camp, Hillsborough -  postcard

The camp was dedicated on Sunday, July 16, 1933, as Polish Falcon Camp, District 1. Stormy weather didn't prevent 2,000 people from attending the festivities. When the organization was incorporated the next month it was expressed that the aim of the club was, "social, athletic and civic in its scope of cementing love of their parent homeland in Polish Americans."

1970s ads for events at the Polish Falcon Camp.

The Polish Falcon Camp quickly turned into a popular entertainment destination for both members and non-members. For decades patrons could enjoy a night out with dancing and music by such notables as the Gaines Orchestra, the Kryger Brothers, Stan Skawinski, Jimmy Sturr, and Stanky and His Pennsylvania Coal Miners.

Polish Falcon Camp, Hillsborough - postcard

But of course, physical fitness and recreation remained a primary part of the Polish Falcons. There was always the annual summer camp and swimming in the pool. 

Long-time area residents will remember the fire Christmas morning of 1966 which destroyed the main building of the camp. An overnight snowstorm left volunteer firefighters with the task of first digging out their cars before they could respond to the firehouses. A Somerset County snowplow proved to be one of the most valuable pieces of equipment on the scene.

Barbara Zukowski, Miss Falcon 1969 - and Lisa Formus, Miss Falcon 1991

A new community center was completed in May 1968 and the camp continued for another five decades with all of its regular activities, including the annual Miss Falcon contest.

By 2017, with interest in ethnic heritage organizations on the wane, the owners of the property, Polish Falcons of America, rebranded the camp as Falcon's Nest - a modern catering facility with meeting, dining, and activity rooms as well as an outdoor stage.

Golf Land (1996 - 2002)

In the summer of 1995 Larken associates received Planning Board approval to build a driving range and miniature golf course on Hillsborough Road just east of Route 206 and the Conrail overpass. At that time the Hillsborough Township Committee was still promoting the idea of an expressway named Corporate Way through that section of the municipality, and Planning Board members liked the idea of a facility of this type in the area, with Board President Thomas Bates noting that a driving range might be an "incentive for corporations to move to Hillsborough."

5 May 1996 Courier News

Initial plans called for a 40-tee year-round driving range, a state-of-the-art miniature golf course - no windmills here - batting cages, a pro shop, and a snack bar. Shortly after ground was broken in the spring of 1996, PGA club pro Robert Mauer was brought on to direct the golf operations - which included setting up driving and miniature golf tournaments, conducting golf seminars and providing lessons.

1 August 1996 Courier News

Before the grand opening in July, it was announced that the recreation center would also include a pro shop and a snack bar. Freeholder Director Peter Biondi got a sneak peek at the facility a few days before opening when he beat out Thomas Bates and Mayor Ken Scherer in a driving competition by being the only player to land his ball on the green.

13 April 1997 Courier News

By the time Golf Land opened the snack bar had evolved into a separate concession called Cafe on the Greens owned and operated by Wayne and Dawn Blauth who also owned the Pennington Bagel Experience. The cafe, which received favorable reviews, was open every day early for breakfast and closed late at 10 or 11pm depending on crowds.

3 July 1997 Home News

In 1997 Golf Land expanded by adding a second tier of 20 stalls to its driving range. It was noted that all of the 40 stalls in the lower tier were lighted and heated for year-round use.

31 August 1997 Courier News

Robert Mauer used all of the latest late-90s technology in his lessons, including videotaping his students' swings. He also predicted that virtual reality was the future of teaching golf and was looking forward to bringing it to Hillsborough.

29 September 1997 Courier News

After the initial excitement of the first few years, Golf Land settled down to steady business at the range, mini-golf, and batting cages. It was a popular destination for parties and club activities.

13 June 2002 Courier News

In 2002, Golf Land was demolished and the land was purchased for the Route 206 Bypass project.

Tine's Greenhouses - NJ Botanical Gardens (1891 - 2004)

John Tine was just 21 years old when he purchased an eight-acre property tucked into the northeast corner of the triangle formed by the intersection of the South Branch Railroad and what was then called Woodville Road, but today is known as Duke's Parkway. The year was 1891 and Tine's idea was to do something different with farming employing greenhouses.

10 September 1936 Courier News

The initial business consisted of propagating and selling vegetable plants to area farmers. Indeed, Tine considered himself to be a farmer and continued with this business model for many years, making deliveries by horse-drawn wagon.

A portion of a 1932 map showing the location of the Tine property.

In 1893 Tine got a new neighbor when tobacco tycoon James B. Duke began buying properties to the north, east, and eventually all around the eight-acre nursery to assemble his Duke's Park. Whether Duke was spurned in efforts to buy out the nursery, or simply did not deem the effort necessary, it appears he simply ignored the Tines. In fact, he located one of the main entrances to the park, the Eagle Gate, directly across from the greenhouses.

27 July 1941 Courier News

As the management of the business passed to Tine's son John V.A. Tine they began to move away from vegetables and started to offer geraniums, petunias, ornamental plants, and flowers. In the 1930s and 40s, they operated a successful flower shop on Main Street in Somerville.

1 June 1935 Home News

Before the days of plastic sheeting, running a business that depended on a couple of dozen glass-covered greenhouses could be hazardous. In one particularly devastating May 1935 hailstorm, the Tines lost 400 panes of glass. Doris Duke lost about 200 panes in the same storm. Three years later, Doris Duke set off the damage when dynamiting to remove her father's spectacular fountain terraces caused shock waves that again shattered a number of Tine's greenhouses.

1 August 1975 Courier News

In the 1970s with the business now being run by grandson Clifford Tine and wife Madge, they changed their name to New Jersey Botanical Gardens. In the 1970s and 1980s, the nursery became widely known across the state and hosted many special events - including appearances by legendary WOR radio host Ralph Snodsmith. By 1987 the nursery consisted of 14 greenhouses with 5,000 varieties of plants.

Third generation proprietors Clifford and Madge Tine,
 18 October 1987 Home News

Clifford Tine passed away in 2004 and the property was sold to Duke Farms in 2007.

Faith Lutheran Church

Rev. Robert H. Loucks was something of an expert - not just in the Bible, but also in getting new churches up and running. So when the Lutheran Church in America was looking to organize a new congregation in Hillsborough in 1965, they knew who to call. Rev. Loucks had developed St. Stephen's in South Plainfield in 1955, and lately had served as pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Topton, PA. Now the Camden native was ready to come back to New Jersey and lend his guiding hand to a new Hillsborough church.

10 July 1965 Courier News

He spent the first two months in Hillsborough knocking on doors - 1300 doors to be precise - trying to find Lutherans or non-churchgoers who would be interested in supporting a Lutheran church in the township. Before long he reached his goal of sixty adults and forty children, and, with financial support from the New Jersey Synod of the Lutheran Church, Rev. Loucks held his first church service on October 10, 1965, at the Hillsborough Consolidated School (HES).

10 October 1966 Courier News

Exactly one year later, Faith Lutheran Church was officially organized as a congregation of the Lutheran Church of America. Now numbering 136, the congregation that had come together from 28 different area churches set their first goal - raising the first $1,000 for a church building fund. The Lutheran Church in America soon acquired 18 acres of land on the corner of Beekman Lane and what was then Amwell Road (now South Branch Road). Five acres were partitioned off for a church site.

19 May 1969 Courier News

In January 1967, Faith Lutheran Church purchased that 5 acres from their national organization and redoubled their fundraising efforts. To that end, the church employed a professional capital funds counselor and set an $8,000 "must" goal and an $11,000 "venture" goal - both soon surpassed. Groundbreaking for the initial structures at Faith Lutheran Church took place in May 1969.

15 December 1969 Courier News

The finished building consisting of a chapel and a classroom wing was dedicated on December 14, 1969. The contemporary church was designed by Michael Meloni. A major addition to the church was begun in 1992 and there has been yet another addition in recent years.

Aerial View from Google Maps

Faith Lutheran Church celebrated 50 years in Hillsborough in 2016, and will soon celebrate 50 years at its familiar location on Beekman Lane.

Belle Mead Baptist Church - Fellowship Bible Church

As befitting the decentralized nature of the governing structure of the Baptist Church in the U.S., the Belle Mead Baptist Church didn't get its start as a mission project, or with permission from any regional church authority but rather, as explained by first pastor Rev. Harry B. Morris, "as a result of the spontaneous action of local people who felt a concern for the spiritual needs of their own area."

24 June 1967 Home News

The year was 1964, and Hillsborough residents who wanted to worship in a Baptist church found themselves having to travel miles to other towns. That, combined with the rapid growth of Hillsborough, almost guaranteed that a new church in Hillsborough would be a success. 

13 May 1967 Home News

The first Sunday service for the new church was held on November 22, 1964, at Hillsborough Fire company No. 2 on Route 206. The church also made use of the Rescue Squad building on Amwell Road, the Hillsborough Consolidated School (HES) and the Flagtown School. The church was officially incorporated in February of 1965 and one of its first acts was to establish a building fund.

18 November 1968 Courier News

In June 1966 the Belle Mead Baptist Church bought the 5 1/2 acre site at the corner of New Amwell and Auten Roads. It was correctly predicted that this site would be right in the middle of an anticipated housing boom. A year later, with the architect's plans and drawings in hand, the church launched a building drive to acquire the final funds needed to construct the $72,000 building.

7 March 1970 Courier News

Groundbreaking for the brick-veneered colonial style 36 by 92-foot building took place in November 1968, and the church was dedicated in March 1970. In 1976 the church changed its name to Hillsborough Baptist Church. In 2001 the church was renamed again to Fellowship Bible Church, possibly, as many Baptist congregations did during that time, to distance itself from the more fundamentalist Baptist churches in America.

Google Maps view

The nearly 50-year-old modest church building remains a treasured local landmark in Hillsborough.

The South Branch General Stores (circa 1840 - 1975)

In the first half of the 19th century, most of the Hillsborough Township village of Branchville - now known as South Branch - was owned by the Amerman family. They owned the mill and nearly every property on both sides of River Road north of the Quick farm and south of the covered bridge. When Gilbert and John Amerman donated the land for the Reformed Church in 1850, they had already been operating a general store south of the church property for some time.

19th-century photo of Bowman's original store,
as reprinted in the South Branch Reformed Church 150th anniversary book

James Bowman, along with his wife and son, James Jr., emigrated from Scotland to Hillsborough in the late 1830s. Bowman was a tailor and soon set up shop in Branchville north of the Amerman property directly across from the bridge approach. It wasn't long before the Bowmans branched out into general merchandise, and by 1860, tiny Branchville had two general stores on River Road, the only avenue.

Detail from the 1860 map of Philadelphia and Trenton vicinity,
showing the location of the two general stores.

James Jr. began as a clerk and soon took over the store from his father, who continued to provide tailoring services. Meanwhile, the Amermans gave up their store, Branchville changed its name to South Branch, and the village acquired a post office located in Bowman's store.

Amerman's store after it was relocated to the site of Bowman's store,
from a postcard circa 1907.

The decades passed to a new century, and James Jr. passed the store and post office to his son Dewitt. In the early morning of March 22, 1903, a mysterious fire destroyed the store, swept to some adjoining buildings, and threatened the entire village. With a bucket brigade and some providential rain, the village was spared - but the store and post office valued at $20,000 - almost $600,000 today - was a complete loss. Within weeks, the 200 resilient residents of South Branch came up with a plan to get their store and post office back. They used wheeled planks to move the disused but sturdily built Amerman store up River Road from south of the church onto the Bowman property.

Borsmann's store and post office circa 1931

After Dewitt Bowman left the retail business in 1918, the store had a succession of owners. Marvin Sheets, who had previously run a store at Three Bridges, had the place from 1918 to around 1930. It then passed to Herman Borsmann, who turned the place into more of a grocery store before retiring around 1940. At about this time, the fourth class Post Office was discontinued for a diminished volume of mail. At the time the Post Office was reinstated in 1947, the establishment was known as the Abercrombie General Store.

2 December 1964 Courier News

The next owner of note was Robert Thomson, who operated a small lending library out of the building until the US Postal Service prohibited it. He sold the store to James Amey in 1965 but stayed on as postmaster until 1967. In 1970, South Branch residents began to be concerned that the long-planned Raritan Confluence Reservoir - which would put most of the village under water - was imminent. Seeking protection for their many significant historic buildings - including the general store - the villagers requested a historic designation for their hamlet. The village was placed on the state and national historic registers in 1972.

James Amey and Mrs. MacArthur
29 July 1973 Home News

Many Hillsborough residents today fondly recall Amey's Store of the late 60s and early 70s. But by 1975, Amey had sold his store to the state of New Jersey in anticipation of the reservoir. He couldn't have realized at that time that a few years later, local opposition to the reservoir would be successful in killing the plan. Unfortunately, the vacant, heavily vandalized store had become an eyesore in the community - the mayor called it "a pile of junk" -  and the historic designation, unwittingly, made it difficult for the state to raze it. However, after several attempts to sell the store at auction, it was finally demolished on April 29, 1981.

1981 demolition