{"id":769,"date":"2013-09-23T04:44:13","date_gmt":"2013-09-23T04:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/?page_id=769"},"modified":"2013-10-25T06:18:39","modified_gmt":"2013-10-25T06:18:39","slug":"morgan-beachcheesequake-creek-circa-1910-ish","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/sample-page\/morgans-people-places\/places\/morgan-beachcheesequake-creek-circa-1910-ish\/","title":{"rendered":"Morgan Beach\/Cheesequake Creek Circa 1910-ish"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Morgan Memories \u2013 Morgan Beach\/Cheesequake Creek Circa 1910-ish<\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_768\" style=\"width: 941px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/contentdir\/uploads\/2013\/09\/1910ish-Morgan-Beach-PPC2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-768\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-768\" alt=\"Early View toward Morgan Beach Circa 1910\" src=\"http:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/contentdir\/uploads\/2013\/09\/1910ish-Morgan-Beach-PPC2.jpg\" width=\"931\" height=\"586\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/contentdir\/uploads\/2013\/09\/1910ish-Morgan-Beach-PPC2.jpg 931w, https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/contentdir\/uploads\/2013\/09\/1910ish-Morgan-Beach-PPC2-300x188.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/contentdir\/uploads\/2013\/09\/1910ish-Morgan-Beach-PPC2-624x392.jpg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 931px) 100vw, 931px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-768\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">View from the Heights of Morgan toward Morgan Beach and the Keyport-South Amboy Road Bridge Over Cheesequake Creek Sometime Between 1910 and 1912.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.714285714; font-size: 1rem;\">A beyond huge THANK YOU goes to Diane Norek Harrison not only for providing me with the original version of the above picture postcard image showing what Morgan Beach\/Cheesequake Creek looked like at the turn of the last century but for her always interesting articles typically about the local history of the areas around the Morgan area. Seeing this image for the first time blew my mind! Subsequent to the original posting of this image, I managed to acquire an original copy, shown above, which has much better image quality.\u00a0 Enjoy!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This incredible picture post card shows what the Morgan Beach area looked like just over 100 years ago.\u00a0 Here are my observations; please let us know your observations in the \u201cComments\u201d section at the end of this posting:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>While I don\u2019t have the exact date of this photo, we know it is sometime between when the Jersey Central Traction Co (JCT) opened trolley service on March 16, 1905 and when this swing bridge over the Cheesequake Creek was removed in 1912.<\/li>\n<li>Using some additional information provided by the late <a title=\"Preview of Mr. Eid\u2019s book \u201cStreetcars of New Jersey: Atlantic Coast\u201d\" href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=M7TTr4i-YBQC&amp;pg=PA10&amp;dq=jersey+central+traction+company+book+by+eid&amp;hl=en&amp;ei=hXjbTN9UkLSwA86HyeUD&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=book_result&amp;ct=result&amp;resnum=1&amp;ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\">Mr. Joseph F. Eid, Jr.<\/a>, who was probably the foremost authority on the subject of the Jersey Central Traction Company and had authored numerous books on the subject of trolleys of New Jersey including the quintessential book \u201cJersey Central Traction Co., Trolley to the Bayshore\u201d, we were able to narrow this date range down a little further.\u00a0 Shortly before he passed away, Mr. Eid examined this photo and zoomed in on the JCT car located just to the left of the bridge.\u00a0 He did this because he monitored Morgan-NJ.org but mostly because he was enormously passionate about the JCT!\u00a0 Based on the number of windows on the side of the car (12) and the railroad roof type, Mr. Eid concluded this was one of four cars ordered from the J. G. Brill Company of Philadelphia, PA and delivered in March 1910.\u00a0 So, this photo was taken some time between March 1910 and late 1912!\u00a0 Thank you, Mr. Eid!<\/li>\n<li>If the Jersey Central Traction Company trolley was going toward South Amboy, then it was about to start the incline on the trestle leading to the truss bridge over the New York &amp; Long Branch railroad.<\/li>\n<li>The trolley is next to a building marked \u201cTrolley Waiting Room\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>The railroad tracks at the bottom right are from the New York &amp; Long Branch Railroad.\u00a0 This railroad opened in 1875.<\/li>\n<li>The road in the picture post card was known as the Keyport-South Amboy Road.\u00a0 It was also known as the \u201cCounty Road\u201d.\u00a0 To the right of where it crossed the railroad tracks (out of frame) is present day Old Spye Road (see the to-be-reposted write-up).<\/li>\n<li>The dirt Keyport-South Amboy Road is on top of the 532 feet long sheet-pile revetment dam which was put in place in 1883 as part of the effort to redirect the flow of Cheesequake Creek into Raritan Bay (see the to-be-reposted write-up).<\/li>\n<li>The marsh area on the left side of the dam was the original mouth of Cheesequake Creek (see the to-be-reposted write-up).<\/li>\n<li>The bridge over Cheesequake Creek pictured was built in the late 1890\u2019s in the closing days of horse pulled wagons, i.e., it wasn\u2019t designed for motorized trucks or those new fangled automobiles.<\/li>\n<li>The redirected 1883 Cheesequake Creek channel to Raritan Bay is not fully visible and is located to the left of the swing bridge (see the to-be-reposted write-ups).<\/li>\n<li>The mounds of dirt on the right side of the road next to the railroad (and later land fill on the left side of the road) eventually became the site of Henry Luhrs\u2019 boat companies Morgan Yacht Basin and Henry Luhrs Sea Skiffs (see the to-be-reposted write-up).<\/li>\n<li>Also previously located on that land fill was the Morgan Dancing Pavilion, which was also a bar and a boarding house, and <a title=\"William Lockwood's Boat Rental on Cheesequake Creek\" href=\"http:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=yimlsJiPfLcC&amp;pg=PP1&amp;dq=images+of+america+sayreville&amp;hl=en&amp;ei=SYPbTKKdEIa4sQPJpOTkAw&amp;sa=X&amp;oi=book_result&amp;ct=book-thumbnail&amp;resnum=1&amp;ved=0CDEQ6wEwAA#v=onepage&amp;q=lockwood&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\">William Lockwood\u2019s Boat Rental<\/a>.\u00a0 My mother\u2019s two grandfathers used to sell bait to Mr. Lockwood!\u00a0 Ultimately Mr. Lockwood moved a little down the road and now <a title=\"Lockwood Boat Works in Morgan, NJ\" href=\"http:\/\/www.lockwoodboatworks.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Lockwood Boat Works<\/a> is the largest marina in Morgan.<\/li>\n<li>You can\u2019t see most of Cheesequake Creek as it runs parallel with the road and is occluded by the mounds of dirt.<\/li>\n<li>The waterway seen heading toward the top right is called Stump Creek.\u00a0 This portion of Stump Creek was filled in and the creek redirected when the current Morgan Bridge was built in the early 1940\u2019s (see the to-be-reposted write-up).<\/li>\n<li>Morgan Beach was (and still is) located on the right side of the bridge.<\/li>\n<li>By 1919, a colony of bungalows had sprung up on Morgan Beach (see the to-be-reposted 1919 &amp; 1930 maps write-up).<\/li>\n<li>The original Morgan [train] Station was located at the intersection of the Keyport-South Amboy Road and the railroad tracks.\u00a0 People used to take the train from the northern New Jersey cities, stop at Morgan Station, then walk over to Morgan Beach (\u201cThe Jersey Shore\u201d).\u00a0 My mother, her parents, brother, aunts, uncles and cousins used to come from Jersey City to their bungalow on Morgan Beach.<\/li>\n<li>I don\u2019t know what the buildings on Morgan Beach in the photo were but would like to!\u00a0 If you know, please let us know in the \u201cComments\u201d section at the end of this posting.<\/li>\n<li>By World War II, the first building next to the bridge was Kaisers Pavilion.\u00a0 This was where my parents met during the war.\u00a0 If they had not met there at that time, you would be reading some other web site right now!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I first encountered Diane Norek Harrison\u2019s work in the summer of 2009 when I was doing preparation work for this Morgan-NJ.org web site.\u00a0 The subjects Diane wrote about were in the same flavor as what I had in mind for the web site.\u00a0 In fact, one of the greatest things about her articles was that it led to me to someone in Morgan who had taken a New Jersey history class at RutgersUniversity and who wrote a paper on the history of Morgan!\u00a0 Awesome!\u00a0 Even more incredible for me was that she ended up living only a few houses away from the house I grew up in!\u00a0 Because of Diane\u2019s writing, I got to meet my separated-by-time neighbor and I look forward to seeing her and her husband again \u2013 and hopefully meeting Diane \u2013 one of these next times that I\u2019m in Morgan.<\/p>\n<p>Diane\u2019s columns can be seen on the <a title=\"Atom Tabloid &amp; Citizen-Gazette website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.njtoday.net\/\" target=\"_blank\">Atom Tabloid &amp; Citizen-Gazette website<\/a>.\u00a0 In the SEARCH section which it says \u201cSearch &amp; Hit Enter\u201d, type \u201cRemembering the Past\u201d then press the Enter key.\u00a0 You will see a treasure trove of local history.<\/p>\n<p><i style=\"line-height: 1.714285714; font-size: 1rem;\">Originally posted on November 7, 2010.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Morgan Memories \u2013 Morgan Beach\/Cheesequake Creek Circa 1910-ish &nbsp; A beyond huge THANK YOU goes to Diane Norek Harrison not only for providing me with the original version of the above picture postcard image showing what Morgan Beach\/Cheesequake Creek looked like at the turn of the last century but for her always interesting articles typically [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":979,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"page-templates\/full-width.php","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-769","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":772,"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/769\/revisions\/772"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}