Post by Freehold Resident on Sept 13, 2006 12:09:37 GMT -5
Pre-Civil War Freehold map a window on town’s history
By dick metzgar
Staff Writer
JERRY WOLKOWITZ Randall Gabrielan, executive director of the Monmouth County Historical Commission, displays an 1855 map which shows the layout and property owners of Freehold. The Monmouth County Planning Board is selling copies of the map for $1.20.
FREEHOLD — Old maps can provide a wealth of information concerning the history of a community.
A very rare old map, produced in 1855, has been resurrected and copies reproduced by the Monmouth County Planning Board. The map shows in great detail what the borough, then as now the county seat, looked like less than a decade before the Civil War.
The map lists property owners, residences and businesses in what was then a small village surrounded by farms.
"You cannot really know what Freehold was like in the mid-19th century without a map such as this," said Randall Gabrielan, executive director of the Monmouth County Historical Commission. "This map is the greatest aid to knowing Freehold at that time, block by block, building by building and business by business."
Now home to a business in Freehold Borough, the former home of the Hon. William H. Conover is featured on an 1855 map of the community.
The map was surveyed and published by Ezra A. Osborn, a Middletown surveyor and conveyancer, and Thomas A Hurley, a Freehold surveyor who, according to the map, lived on Brown Street, which is now Spring Street.
The map includes reproductions of daguerreotypes of a dozen prominent buildings, both residences and businesses of the day. Daguerreotype was an early photographic process in which an image was formed on a silver-coated metal plate.
The map also includes a list of subscribers, both residents and businesses, who presumably helped pay for the project.
An original print of the map was provided by Freehold Township-based attorney Edward C. Eastman.
"I found the map, the only original one of its kind that I’ve seen, at a local antique dealer about 1981 or 1982," Eastman said. "Back then I used to collect old maps of the area with the help of title companies and local historical associations. I even tried to track down the daguerreotypes used for the buildings on the map by contacting old lithographic companies, but without success."
Eastman said he gave county historians permission to reproduce the map.
"My copy of the original map is in great shape and I want to commend the county planning board for treating it with great respect and care while reproducing it," he said.
Copies of the map can be obtained for $1.20 each at the Planning Board’s offices in the Hall of Records Annex on East Main Street, according to Gabrielan.
An inset in the map gives the following description of Freehold in 1855:
"Freehold, the County Town of Mon-mouth County, is pleasantly situated within two miles of the Battle Ground, at the Terminus of the Freehold and Jamesburgh Agricultural Railroad, and upon the line of Travel from the cities of New York and Philadelphia, to Long Branch and the other prominent watering places in the county. It is noted for great Business activity, the excellence of the seminaries of learning, beauty of appearance, its social qualities, and revolutionary history.
"It has an extensive trade in marl from the famous Squancum Pits, with different parts of the State; the surrounding country is rich with agricultural resources, and both as a place of Business and Residence, Freehold is unsurpassed.
"It is fifty miles from New York by Railroad and Steamboat, fifty miles from Philadelphia by Railroad and Steamboat, and sixteen miles from Long Branch, Manasquan and Deal."
Gabrielan said the mission of the county’s nine-member historic commission is to promote the preservation of the history of the county, which includes a preservation grant program for municipally owned historic buildings, and those owned by nonprofit organizations.
The members of the county historical commission are Brooks Von Arx, Mary Louise Strong, Richard C. Colarusso, Mary Ellen Connelly, Barbara Kolarsick, Elizabeth S. Poinsett, Robert E. Schoef-fling, Herbert F. Strucek Jr. and Lydia Wikoff. George Moss is the county historian.
"We get $65,000 annually for the preservation of these historic buildings," Gabrielan said. "These are matching grants with a maximum of $5,000 each. The next deadline to submit an application for such a preservation grant is Oct. 31."
One of the historic buildings shown on the Freehold map at 83 South St. still exists and is perfectly preserved.
Now housing the Leadership Alignment Spa, at the time the map was published the home was the residence of the Hon. William H. Conover.
"This map was a rare and valuable find," Gabrielan said.
By dick metzgar
Staff Writer
JERRY WOLKOWITZ Randall Gabrielan, executive director of the Monmouth County Historical Commission, displays an 1855 map which shows the layout and property owners of Freehold. The Monmouth County Planning Board is selling copies of the map for $1.20.
FREEHOLD — Old maps can provide a wealth of information concerning the history of a community.
A very rare old map, produced in 1855, has been resurrected and copies reproduced by the Monmouth County Planning Board. The map shows in great detail what the borough, then as now the county seat, looked like less than a decade before the Civil War.
The map lists property owners, residences and businesses in what was then a small village surrounded by farms.
"You cannot really know what Freehold was like in the mid-19th century without a map such as this," said Randall Gabrielan, executive director of the Monmouth County Historical Commission. "This map is the greatest aid to knowing Freehold at that time, block by block, building by building and business by business."
Now home to a business in Freehold Borough, the former home of the Hon. William H. Conover is featured on an 1855 map of the community.
The map was surveyed and published by Ezra A. Osborn, a Middletown surveyor and conveyancer, and Thomas A Hurley, a Freehold surveyor who, according to the map, lived on Brown Street, which is now Spring Street.
The map includes reproductions of daguerreotypes of a dozen prominent buildings, both residences and businesses of the day. Daguerreotype was an early photographic process in which an image was formed on a silver-coated metal plate.
The map also includes a list of subscribers, both residents and businesses, who presumably helped pay for the project.
An original print of the map was provided by Freehold Township-based attorney Edward C. Eastman.
"I found the map, the only original one of its kind that I’ve seen, at a local antique dealer about 1981 or 1982," Eastman said. "Back then I used to collect old maps of the area with the help of title companies and local historical associations. I even tried to track down the daguerreotypes used for the buildings on the map by contacting old lithographic companies, but without success."
Eastman said he gave county historians permission to reproduce the map.
"My copy of the original map is in great shape and I want to commend the county planning board for treating it with great respect and care while reproducing it," he said.
Copies of the map can be obtained for $1.20 each at the Planning Board’s offices in the Hall of Records Annex on East Main Street, according to Gabrielan.
An inset in the map gives the following description of Freehold in 1855:
"Freehold, the County Town of Mon-mouth County, is pleasantly situated within two miles of the Battle Ground, at the Terminus of the Freehold and Jamesburgh Agricultural Railroad, and upon the line of Travel from the cities of New York and Philadelphia, to Long Branch and the other prominent watering places in the county. It is noted for great Business activity, the excellence of the seminaries of learning, beauty of appearance, its social qualities, and revolutionary history.
"It has an extensive trade in marl from the famous Squancum Pits, with different parts of the State; the surrounding country is rich with agricultural resources, and both as a place of Business and Residence, Freehold is unsurpassed.
"It is fifty miles from New York by Railroad and Steamboat, fifty miles from Philadelphia by Railroad and Steamboat, and sixteen miles from Long Branch, Manasquan and Deal."
Gabrielan said the mission of the county’s nine-member historic commission is to promote the preservation of the history of the county, which includes a preservation grant program for municipally owned historic buildings, and those owned by nonprofit organizations.
The members of the county historical commission are Brooks Von Arx, Mary Louise Strong, Richard C. Colarusso, Mary Ellen Connelly, Barbara Kolarsick, Elizabeth S. Poinsett, Robert E. Schoef-fling, Herbert F. Strucek Jr. and Lydia Wikoff. George Moss is the county historian.
"We get $65,000 annually for the preservation of these historic buildings," Gabrielan said. "These are matching grants with a maximum of $5,000 each. The next deadline to submit an application for such a preservation grant is Oct. 31."
One of the historic buildings shown on the Freehold map at 83 South St. still exists and is perfectly preserved.
Now housing the Leadership Alignment Spa, at the time the map was published the home was the residence of the Hon. William H. Conover.
"This map was a rare and valuable find," Gabrielan said.
