Morgan, New Jersey

Ye Old Spye Inn in December 1976 After the Fire and Before Demolition. Photos Courtesy of Robert Bender.

The more I think about what was the essence of Morgan, as I knew it from growing up in it, the more I think it was the Old Spye Inn.  Combined with what I have learned in my now nearly three years of research, it appears that Morgan “started” in the area right around where the Old Spye Inn was located.  In its original configuration, Cheesequake Creek emptied into Raritan Bay a few hundred feet away to the east.  To the west was where Crossways / Back Creek emptied into Cheesequake Creek from present day Oak Tree Village.  It was and still is between the site of the Old Spye Inn, and the bluff immediately next to it, where what is now Old Spye Road transitions from Cheesequake Creek’s sea level elevation to the 30 to 40ish feet of elevation at the top of the road in front of the Morgan Fire House.  For many decades until the 1926 opening of what is now the north bound lanes of present day Route 35, the main pathway from all points north to the shore lines of Monmouth County, indeed all of the Jersey Shore from Sandy Hook south, ran right past the Old Spye Inn.  With immediate access to a sheltered area right next to the mouth of Cheesequake Creek, the most logical place to put a building was right where the Old Spye Inn was located.  If it wasn’t the first building in Morgan, it certainly was, until the time of its destruction in 1976, the oldest.

This posting doesn’t contain – still – the definitive history of the Old Spye Inn.  I still don’t feel like I have accumulated a sufficient amount of factual information about this beloved structure.  I did manage to acquire a copy of the 1975 book by Stanley L. Wojcik about The Old Spye Inn but still don’t want to read it until I feel comfortable being able to differentiate  the fact from the fiction I assume it contains.  Kids in the neighborhood during my time there had known and passed down the name Abe Mussey as being the name of the spy for whom the building was eventually named.  We heard he had been hung on a tree next to the Inn.  We heard he had been doing some form of signaling to British ships in Raritan Bay when he was caught.  What he was signaling, who caught him, what form of trial – if any – occurred, who was the judge, was there a jury, did he actually do what he was accused of, what was the date, how old was he, where was he from, and many other specific questions remain to be answered.  Hopefully we’ll be able to eventually find this out.

When it actually became known as Ye Old Spye Inn vs. whatever it had been known as previously, when it was built, whether it was actually was the Morgan family that built it originally – and when – I don’t yet have confirming documentation.  Of the on-line research I have accumulated, the most interesting web site to read is New Jersey History’s Mysteries.  No doubt some of the information contained in it is true and I already know that some of it isn’t accurate but the real challenge is in knowing which is which.

The December 1976 photos contained in this posting are brought you courtesy of Mr. Robert Bender.  Mr. Bender, a longtime resident of the Morgan area, recently sent me three very faded slides taken by his father containing the originals of the images in this posting.  Mr. Bender also recalled finding mortar shells at the Samsel School sight on Ernston Road near the Sayrewoods Shopping Center as well as the building of the Sayrewoods Shopping Center.  At the time the shopping center was built, Route 9 was only a one lane road each way. Mrs. Bender is from Morgan and remembers the graves in the Morgan Family cemetery as well as the old chicken farms.  I am enormously grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Bender for sharing their Morgan memories and artifacts with all of us so they could have been posted on this web site.

I’ve been hearding what I hope to be only rumors regarding the possible paving of Old Spye Road with asphalt.  That would be truly sad – at least for me.

Drawing of the Front of Bayview Manor. Image Courtesy of the National Archives.

In the April 24, 2010 posting on this Morgan-NJ.org web site, we were left with a nagging question regarding where Bay View Manor was located.  Bay View Manor was a three story mansion located in Morgan which was built sometime around 1860 and destroyed as a result of the catastrophic destruction of the nearby T. A. Gillespie Loading Company plant during what was to become the closing phase of World War I.

Thanks – AGAIN – goes to two of my school friends, Frank Ludlow and Joe Grabas.  I’ll cite Frank’s contribution in a bit.  Thanks to Joe for providing me with the 1916 to 1923 Wessco Reality maps which show the planned layout and residential lots for nearly all of the Morgan, NJ streets east of South Pine Avenue between present day Christ Church Cemetery and Midland Avenue.  Joe didn’t realize it at the time but one of these charts clearly showed the exact location and dimensions of the ruins of the “Steuerwald Residence (Main Walls)”, also known as “Bayview Manor”, “Manor Crest”, or the “Conover Homestead”.

I received these maps just before my trip to NJ for our August 27, 2011 Morgan Historical Tour, Visual Presentation and Dinner.  On that morning, before the tour started, I went to that location and did indeed discover that the location continues to be the highest point of land within that 159 acre patch.  While there are no remains of that original structure in the current residential neighborhood, there is a very old and very tall tree at this location right next to where the building would have been located.  While it would make a nice story for that tree to have been there at the time of the mansion’s destruction, 1930’s aerial photography show no trees at that spot.

Portions of these maps were incorporated into my visual presentation and I was all set to reveal the manor’s long ago location at Morgan’s Teddy’s Bar but Hurricane Irene made sure I didn’t have the chance to!

According to testimony from the 1919 & 1920 Subcommittee of House Committee on Appropriations of the US House of Representatives, there were two significant items of information regarding this mansion located in Morgan:

“It was built by an old sea captain at a place where it commanded a view of a wide sweep of the ocean [he meant bay], clear around to Sandy Hook and all that section of the ocean.”

“There were originally 169 acres, and this old sea captain gave 10 acres to a church for a cemetery, right alongside him, leaving 159 acres.”

The 10 acre cemetery referenced is present day Christ Church Cemetery which was established in 1856 and is located at the very northern boundary of Morgan, where it borders South Amboy, on present day South Pine Avenue.  Logically this would have meant that Bay View Manor would have been contained within the remaining 159 acres, presumably and logically located on the highest point of land.  Ironically, it seems that none of the family of “this old sea captain”, who I believe to have been Thomas Anderson Conover (see May 2, 2010 posting), were buried in Christ Church Cemetery.

Comparison of the Drawing of Morgan’s Bayview Manor Compared to a Photo of the Ruins of Bayview Manor Destroyed by the T. A. Gillespie Loading Company Catastrophe of October 1918. Images Courtesy of the National Archives and the Archives of The Thomas Warne Museum & Library of The Madison Township Historical Society in Old Bridge Township, NJ.

While doing research on the T. A. Gillespie Loading Company at the National Archives with Frank Ludlow, another school friend who I hadn’t actually seen since we graduated from Sayreville War Memorial High School (just a few years before), we encountered blueprints and drawings of the mansion.  Descriptive information about the mansion was also found in the minutes of the October 21, 1919 2^nd Gillespie Explosion Claims Board – which occurred just a few days past the first anniversary of the plant’s destruction.  This second claims board appears to have been the result of a request by US Senator Joseph Sherman Frelinghuysen, Sr. to the Secretary of War to review and address the amount the government was offering to reimburse Charles L. and Ethel B. Steuerwald for damages to the building.  It appears that the Steuerwald’s did not agree with the amount which was proposed by the first claims board and contacted the senator from nearby Raritan, New Jersey to help get their concerns considered.

In advance of me being able to get to the Archives, I must note here that Frank did an incredible job of locating a lot of info about the Gillespie explosion which will make it to this web site over time.  You probably noticed that postings don’t happen as often as they once used to or as often as any of us would like for them to but we’ve reached the point where every posting takes a lot of research and writing time.  Frank has my enormous gratitude for his efforts on our behalf!

Bayview Manor Basement Layout. Image Courtesy of the National Archives.

Here are snippets of descriptions of the mansion as [mostly] stated in the testimony from the October 21, 1919 2^nd Gillespie Claims Board.  They are primarily from Mr. Oscar M. Mundy, a Carpenter and builder hired by the Steuerwald’s to make repairs on the mansion; they had moved into it on June 1, 1918, only a few months before.  Ironically Mr. Mundy was nearly complete with finishing up repairs on the building (“… general overhauling, plastering inside, repairing the roof, taking down partitions, straightening up the floors…”) when the Gillespie plant blew itself up:

• …there was some material in that building which cannot be duplicated these days, and the character of the building was such, as is evidenced by the ruins of what is left of it, that although an ancient building, nevertheless it was a better building than we find today.  There was certain trim in that building and there was certain hard woods; there were certain doors and windows which could not be duplicated today for the reason that some have gone out of fashion and the facilities for making them do not exist and if an attempt were made to reproduce them, it would be like reproducing a piece of art work or an antique… For instance, there were expensive floors, hardwood floors, at thicknesses that are not made today…
• Well-built brick building.
• Walls was a double layer of brick composed of an 8 inch brick wall, an air space of 8 inches, then another 8 inch brick wall on the inside.
• The two brick walls were tied together by brick about every four feet.
• Built so that it offered a circulation of air from the basement up to the roof.  This not only allowed for temperature regulation, before the days of modern thermal insulation materials were available, as well as a perfectly dry building on the inside.
• The basement had four (4) finished off rooms and a boiler room that was in the hall.
• There was a cellar attached to the basement for coal and another small cellar.
• Blueprints additionally show a wine cellar.
• The image of the destroyed building shows some type of underground arched bricked roof. Could this have been the coal cellar or the wine cellar?
• There was a porch on all four sides of the building.  Remnants of where it connected to the brick walls can be seen just below the second floor windows in the photo of the ruined building.
• On the 1^st story were 4 rooms and a back stairway going up from the basement.
• House interior trim – called back band trim – was of pine.
• White pine floors.
• Parlor: Decorations or cornice work in the parlor.
• 9” wide white pine trim. It had about 5 members to it built up and was a continuation of the base board. “Member trim”.
• Parlors done up in white enamel.
• Decorations over the windows and doors and attached to these were ornamental heads – they were flower designs of presses brass – very thin.
• In the double parlors, they extended and formed a sort of cornice over each window.
• Wood ornament attached to the ceiling in each parlor – four feet square large design. Matched by smaller one in the dining room.
• Fancy black walnut pole curtain holders built over the windows in the parlor, dining room, bed rooms.
• 4 bedrooms on the 2^nd story.
• Curtains hung right back.
• Lighted by gas during Conover’s time, 12 years before. There were fixtures and a gas plant in the cellar next to the boiler room.
• Heavy 2 ½” thick doors; some were oak, some white pine and some were decorated with black walnut in the panels.
• Very expensive and large black walnut staircase continuing from the 1^st floor to the attic. George A. Shipman said [in 1919], “The staircase could not be replaced today [i.e., 1919] for $3000”.
• Black walnut treads, risers and railing.
• Dining Room: Built on a circle and finished off on a circle. Finished off in hardwood with center piece and cornice. Not paneled.
• Finished in white pine, studded around in a circle and the piece went around the casing.
• Two regular built in closets (not china closets), one in each corner, and the same style trim that was in the other rooms on that story.
• Wall base and so forth was finished in wood.
• Walls were plaster – hard finished wall.
• Studding inside the walls.
• Lathed and plastered.
• White pine base board trim.
• White pine door casings.
• White pine doors, some trimmed with walnut.
• Some were veneered oak “built up door”.
• Small wood ornament attached to the ceiling – matched the four feet square large design ones in the parlor but smaller.
• Front hall was tiled
• Tile floor laid from the front to the rear, 8‘ wide x 5/8” thick on cement floor with boarder around edge.
• Relaid lately [in 1918], some of the tile was loose and had been taken up and relaid.
• 12 fancy fire places
• Some built of marble and some of slate with cast iron backing.
• Parlor one was marble.
• Dining room fire place was replaced with a larger one made of pressed brick.

Here is some of what would have been needed in order to rebuild:

• 375,000 brick in itemized statement, no allowance for reuse of existing brick.
• Need a new foundation.
• The foundation there is practically all gone and is unsafe.
• You would have to take it down (remove all existing brick) and replace with new brick.

Bayview Manor First Floor Layout. Image Courtesy of the National Archives.

The following is a portion of the testimony from the May 21, 1920 hearing before the BCommittee of House Committee on appropriations (no, I don’t know what a “BCommittee” is – that isn’t a typo):

One is the case of Ethel B. Steuerwald, where the original claim was $40,900.76.  It was appraised at $21,109.46. Senator Frelinghuysen asked the Secretary of War for a review of that case, and a hearing was held.  They were afraid that this board was not inclined to do them justice and would not give them a proper hearing.  Gen. Williams delegated Col. D. M. King as his personal representative to sit with the board to see that they had a proper hearing. They had a proper hearing, and from all that could be determined at that time, it would cost more than $39,000 to replace that building.  It was a very old brick house…

Portion of Page 106 from the June 9, 1919 “Damages to Private Property at Gillespie Plant” report for the 66th Congress, 1st Session, US Senate Showing the Original Amount of the Claim for Structural Damages for Ethel B. Steuerwald’s Bayview Manor.

It was a double-walled house, and very solid.  You could not replace it for anything like that amount in these days.  They did agree to accept $27,500.   There was a $6,000 insurance policy on the house, which being deducted left the amount of $21,500 which they would accept.  There was appropriated $21,500 which they would accept.  There was appropriated $21,109.46, leaving a balance there of $390.54, and the personal losses of Mrs. Steuerwald for her personal property, jewelry, etc., which ran up pretty close to $5,000, but that was not adjudicated at all by the former board.  We have allowed $3,000 for that, so that the total allowance by the board to Mrs. Steuerwald, in addition to the amount already appropriated, was $3,390.54.

Bayview Manor Second Floor Layout. Image Courtesy of the National Archives.

I believe the illustrations of the building shown in this posting were created specifically for the Gillespie Claims Board.  If they were indeed the ones referenced in the testimony, then they were prepared by Mr. Jensen, an employee in the Ordnance Department prior to the explosion by the request of Mr. North or Major Peasley.  According to the testimony:

• Plan substantially represents the building as it stood before the explosion
• Stairway shows the platform and not the winders.
• On the east end there was one more window than it shows on the plan.
• Does not show the cornice.

Bayview Manor Third Floor Layout. Image Courtesy of the National Archives.

This building and the 159 acres of land was reportedly acquired for $49,000 from the executors and heirs of the late Richard Stevens Conover, son of Captain Thomas Anderson Conover (see May 2, 2010 posting). Subsequently, 25 acres were sold to the city of South Amboy for $25,000.  I don’t know at this time which portion of present day South Amboy this corresponds to, perhaps it is the area south of Bordentown Ave, east of South Pine, north of Christ Church Cemetery and west of Raritan Bay?  The remaining acres were eventually all divided up and now make up the neighborhoods surrounding, as well as the land containing, Jesse Selover School.

Bayview Manor Blueprint. Image Courtesy of the National Archives.

The images of the mansion, except where otherwise mentioned, and the minutes from the 2^nd Gillespie Claims Board, which described the interior of the mansion, were all provided by the National Archives.

Bayview Manor was Located Here! Image Courtesy of Joe Grabas.

According to the testimony of the 1920 Subcommittee of House Committee on Appropriations of the US House of Representatives, “the house could not have been more than 300 yeards from where the fire took place, and it is supposed that it was set on fire by a flying shell, because at the time of this explosion the air was filled with those things… There is no question of this being a total loss.”  According to the testimony of Mrs. Steuerwald at the 2^nd Gillespie Explosion Claims Board, the building was destroyed when, “It took fire during the last explosion…between ten and twelve on Saturday morning, Oct 5^th [1918].”

As I said in the November 25, 2011 posting, many thanks to my school friends Joe and Frank for providing various tidbits which, when tied together, revealed the answer.

I was so looking forward to telling everyone in Teddy’s Bar that Bayview Manor was located a mere 700 feet away from where we all were that night!

Note that now that location contains private residences on private property.  I have to say that I was very much expecting for it to have been located right near Christ Church Cemetery as opposed to being so close to Selover School.  Having said (or written that), I always remember that this portion of Woodland Avenue always felt higher up than the surrounding area.  Guess I always knew where it was but didn’t listen to my inside voice.

Regis Philbin, Mrs. Mary Beninato, Cyndi Garvey and Marvin Hamlish at Club Bené. Photo Courtesy of Donna and Tommy Andrejewski.

Sometime after it opened its doors for Broadway-like productions on October 8, 1968 with Carol Bruce in ‘Gypsy’ – after having previously been a bowling alley – the amazingly talented Marvin Hamlish appeared at Club Bené in little ole Morgan, NJ. A child musical prodigy, one of the early jobs of this living legend was as the rehearsal pianist for Barbra Streisand. Since then Mr. Hamlish has accomplished what only one other person, Richard Rodgers, has achieved, namely being awarded an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, a Tony and, finally, a Pulitzer Prize.

As was the unique and very personal custom at Club Bené, Mrs. Beninato, wife of Club Bené and Joe’s Kozy Bar founder Joseph Beninato, made dinner for and had a photo taken with the featured guests.  According to the above photo, one show or series of shows included Marvin Hamlish, Regis Philbin (see posting from 27 January 2010) and Cyndy Garvey (co-host with Regis on A.M. Los Angeles from 1978-81 then The Morning Show from 1983-1984 on New York’s WABC).  I have not yet been able to pinpoint the exact date(s) of this Club Bené event or, with such a unique combination of talent, the content of the show.  If any of you know, please post a comment below.

My wife and I had a phenomenal experience last evening (22 October 2011) at LA’s famous and fabulous Greek Theater.  We got to see Marvin Hamlish!  Good thing since I missed him when he was in Morgan long ago!  For the first part of the show, Mr. Hamlish conducted the Pasadena Symphony in a musical medley of songs from his Tony award winning Broadway musical, A Chorus Line.  He next played variations of a theme of Happy Birthday using the iconic styles of Bach, Mozart then Beethoven on piano.  He makes playing the piano seem truly effortless and fun.  Finally, in tribute to the featured performer who was to appear after the intermission, Mr. Hamlish conducted the Pasadena Symphony in another medley, this time from My Fair Lady.

Marvin Hamlish and Idina Menzel perform at the Greek Theater on October 29, 2011

After the intermission, the phenomenal Idina Menzel took the stage with Marvin moving fully into the conductor role.  Ms. Menzel is best known – so far – for her role as Maureen Johnson in the ground breaking off-Broadway play Rent, and especially for her unforgettable role as Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, in Wicked.  The rest of the evening was a magical combination of her singing and humor with Marvin’s conducting of tunes arranged by the very talented Rob Mounsey (Idina’s Musical Director who also accompanied on the piano). The pallet of arrangements included some tunes from Rent and Wicked as well as the encore finale of Marvin’s The Way We Were.  It was an unbelievable combination of stars under the stars on a crystal clear and very temperate evening in one of LA’s truly great outdoor theaters.

Morgan Family at the Morgan Family Cemetery in Morgan, NJ. Left to Right: EJ Campbell, Pam Campbell, Ed Campbell, Diane Brown, Richard Brown, Polly Petersen, Richard Petersen, and Tom Purcell.

One of the many highlights for me from my trip back to  Morgan this past August was actually getting to meet members of the Morgan family!

Eight members of the family joined us on the tour of Morgan and were kind enough to not only let me take their photo but also allowed for me to put the photo on this web site.  The group includes the direct descendants of Carel “Charles” Morgan, the patriarch of the family who purportedly came to Gravesend, New Amsterdam in “The New World” (present day Brooklyn, NY) from Wales in 1641 (see postings from February 13 and May 20, 2011) and some of their spouses.

Though I have been in correspondence a few of them since I started this web site in 2009, this was the very first time that I actually met any of them!  I went through my entire childhood and most of my adult life without ever having met anyone affiliated with the cemetery right near my childhood home!

Ironically no one in this photo or currently associated with the ancient and historic family cemetery in Morgan, NJ retains the last name of “Morgan”.  Perhaps there are others still with the “Morgan” surname from other branches of the family who descended from the first Charles Morgan.  In either case, we would love to hear from anyone who is part of the extended family with or without the “Morgan” surname.  It would be an excellent way to get in touch with their very distant cousins.

I would like to again give a big THANK YOU to everyone in the photo and express my appreciation for everyone’s help with this web site and especially their support and presence on August 27.  It was awesome that they came that day and opened up the family cemetery for us – especially since Hurricane Irene was about to hit the area and some had to drive a long way to be with us.

1710 Deed for Charles Morgan. Material from the New Jersey State Archives and Located by Joseph Grabas, CTP.

Morgan-NJ.org is excited to be able present this portion of the May 7, 1710 deed which transferred a big part of what is now Morgan, NJ to Charles Morgan.  For those that have trouble deciphering the handwriting, transcribed below are some of the important sections including information indicating what some of the phrases mean as well as what we now consider to be misspellings:

This Indenture made this twenty seventh day of May in ye Ninth Year of the Reign of our Soverein Lady Anne by ye grace of God Queen of Great Britain… between Richard Townley a resident of Elizabeth town in the County of Essex & province of New Jersey… & Elizabeth his Wife… and Charles Morgan of Westchester in the County of Westchester and province of New York, Yeoman…

… and in consideration of… of four hundred & fifteen pounds pure money…

… all that certain tract of Land, scituated Lying & being within the province of New Jersey aforesaid on Southerly side of Raritan River, commonly called and known by the name of Cheesequakes, beginning at the mouth of the creek towards the Bay & from thence running North West Fifty Chains (3300 ft) to a Spanish Oak Marked on three sides with PC [Property Corner] thence  West South West one hundred and Twenty Chains (7920 ft) to a walnut tree marked on four sides with PC, thence South South East Fifty Three Chains (3498 ft) to W P Creek, & from thence as up same Creek runnes to the place where it began.

Containing by estimation with allowance for Barnes swamps & Highways, Five Hundred acres of Land & marsh, adjoining to W.P Land, be the same more or Bit less & bounded on the West and North by Bowen Lands, North East by the Bay, & South East by the Creek;

A huge thanks goes to my school friend, Joe Grabas, one of only a handful of New Jersey Certified Title Professionals, for going to the New Jersey State Archives and retrieving a copy of this deed (B-B-B-54) which transferred a big part of what is now Morgan, NJ to Charles Morgan.  If you look at the “Simple List of Morgan Family Members Across the Generations” posting from 13 February, 2011, you will see that the Charles Morgan who purchased the property would have been Charles III, father of James Morgan, Sr.

It is also interesting to note that this deed was entirely hand written, unlike later deeds which appear to have been either typed or used a movable type printing press.  This also makes it harder to read!

In order to get a perspective of the boundaries defined by this deed, Joe also highlighted them on the below 1876 map.  Note the roads of Morgan which were already present as of 1876.  Today they would be known as Old Spye Road, Route 35, South Pine Avenue, Lorraine Ave, and part of Ernston Road.

1876 Everts & Stewart Map Showing the Boundaries of the 1710 Charles Morgan Deed

The next task: Determine exactly who was Richard Townley.

“A Curve on the Central, South Amboy, N. J.” Picture Post Card, Circa 1907, Courtesy of Joyce Elyea.

Here is a post card, post marked July 12, 1908, which struck pretty close to home for me – literally.  It shows the curve of the Central New Jersey railroad in Morgan, NJ, specifically just about in my childhood back yard.  Not only does it show the trestle and bridge of the Jersey Central Traction Company trolley line, which ran through Morgan in the early part of the 20^th Century, the far left side also appears to show the dredge which did a touchup on the Cheesequake Channel from July 17 to August 21, 1907.  According to the 1908 Report of the Chief of Engineers United States Army, the 8,236 cubic yards of “excavated material was dumped on the flats on the west side of the west jetty.”

The below photo is approximately the same location as of 29 August 2011, the day after Hurricane Irene blew through Morgan, some 104 years later.

Some of the obvious changes are the catenary overhead wires and poles for this now electrified railroad, the Pratt truss bridge of the north bound lanes of Route 35 crossing over the tracks in the same location where the Jersey Central Trolley Company trestle bridge used to be located, and the extension of the land fill with corresponding vegetation on the bay side of the railroad tracks.

Present Day “A Curve on the NJ Transit North Jersey Coast”.

If you look very closely on the south bound tracks, you will see a thin layer of rust which formed on the very top part of the tracks. This was caused by the rare occurrence of trains not running on the tracks for a few days combined with the rain and humidity of the hurricane.

The two tallest buildings in New York City as seen over Staten Island and through the railroad catenary wires from the Heights of Morgan, NJ. Left to Right: Mount Loretto Chimney on Staten Island, Empire State Building, 1 World Trade Center (Under Construction), and Steeple of Mount Loretto (Staten Island). Interestingly enough, the Chimney and Church Steeple are only 500 feet apart. Photo Taken on August 29, 2011.

On the beautiful day which came the day after Hurricane Irene blew through Morgan, I was able to look across the bay for the first time in two years (I live in California and was in Morgan for the tour, photographic presentation and dinner – see posting from 4 September 2011).  Rising up approximately where the twin towers of the World Trade Center used to be (see the photo in the 29 December 2009 posting) was the new 1 World Trade Center tower currently under construction.  I’m told they were working around the 72^nd floor on 29 August 2011, the date of the photo.  The building was nearly 1000’ tall and already the tallest structure in Lower Manhattan.  When complete, the structure will be 1776 feet tall.  I honestly didn’t know that construction had even started.  It is hard to believe that 10 years has already passed since that tragic day.

In addition to what would have been my father’s 90^th birthday, today is also the 235^th anniversary of another event which occurred near to Morgan and Manhattan’s Ground Zero but in 1776 – the year corresponding to the height of the new building.  On September 11, 1776, a Peace Conference intending to put an end to the American Revolution was held on Staten Island.  To learn more about this conference, see the Morgan-NJ.org posting from 12 September 2010.

Images of the construction of 1 World Trade Center and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum can be found here.

Relief Effort in South Amboy following the Explosions at the T. A. Gillespie Loading Company.

Located just one mile from the many blasts which occurred between October 4 and 6, 1918, here is a place the citizens of South Amboy and nearby Morgan, NJ should recognize.  It took me a few minutes to realize where it was then took me nearly two years before I could go there and snap a photo of it.  On this most recent trip to Morgan, during the last weekend of August 2011, I took the below photo showing what this location looks like today.  The above photo was taken during the relief effort which took place in the aftermath of the Morgan located T. A. Gillespie Loading Company destruction in the waning days of World War I.  Here we see a person on a stretcher being put into an ambulance.  Note the military uniform and the blown out windows and doors.  Martial Law was declared and everyone ordered to evacuate the town.  The magnitudes of the blasts were so great that windows were blown out as far away as Manhattan some 23 crow flying miles away!

Figured it out yet?

Present Day South East corner of South Pine Avenue at Bordentown Avenue.

It is the south east corner of the intersection of South Pine Avenue and Bordentown Avenue in South Amboy.  This photo is looking northeast across South Pine Avenue toward present day Jacqueline’s Florist and Gifts, my mother’s favorite local flower shop.