HERE’S A PAIR OF HISTORIC 1881 DOCUMENTS OFFICIALLY CREATING “HALL AVENUE” IN THE CITY OF PERTH AMBOY, NEW JERSEY –
THE DOCUMENTS ARE SIGNED BY VARIOUS PERTH AMBOY POLITICIANS OF THE DAY, INCLUDING AN AUTOGRAPH DOCUMENT SIGNED BY FUTURE US CONGRESSMAN FROM NJ,
RICHARD WAYNE PARKER
(1848 - 1923)
US REPUBLICAN PARTY CONGRESSMAN FROM PERTH AMBOY, NEW JERSEY 1895-1911, 1914-1919, and 1921-1923,
MEMBER OF THE NEW JERSEY STATE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE (ASSEMBLY) 1885-1886
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GRANDSON OF NEW JERSEY CONGRESSMAN, MAYOR OF PERTH AMBOY and SLAVERY ABOLITIONIST JAMES PARKER (1776-1868), SON OF CORTLANDT PARKER (1818-1907), and BROTHER OF ANTHONY Q. KEASBEY (1824-1895), BOTH NOTED NJ JURISTS.
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THIS HISTORIC PAIR OF DOCUMENTS ARE ALSO SIGNED BY PERTH AMBOY POLITICOS, INCLUDING 1880s COUNCILMEN and ‘ALFRED HALL,’ WHO THE AVENUE IN PERTH AMBOY WAS NAMED AFTER!
THE DOCUMENTS CONSIST OF TWO SEPARATE PAGES, AS FOLLOWS:
1. THE ORIGINAL PETITION DOCUMENT TO THE CITY COUNCIL, DATED JULY 15th 1881, and SIGNED BY RICHARD WAYNE PARKER, and ALFRED HALL.
2. THE DOCUMENT GRANTING THE PETITION TO OPEN HALL AVE. SIGNED BY TWO MEMBERS OF THE PERTH AMBOY CITY COUNCIL, JOHN G. RATHBUN, EDWARD KEASBEY, and ALDERMAN MILTON A. EDGAR.
NOTE THAT ALFRED HALL and KEASBEY WERE PROMINENT BRICK, TERRA COTTA and BUILDING MATERIALS MANUFACTURERS WITH FACTORIES ON OR NEAR HALL AVENUE.
Both documents are in very fine condition.
A FINE ADDITION TO ANY NEW JERSEY POLITICAL HISTORY AUTOGRAPH, MANUSCRIPT & EPHEMERA COLLECTION.
*PROVENANCE: THESE DOCUMENTS CAME OUT OF AN ARCHIVE OF LETTERS/DOCUMENTS FROM THE LAW OFFICE ESTATE OF NOTED 19th CENTURY NJ LAWYER, NEW JERSEY STATE SENATOR AND CIVIL WAR AUTHOR, JOHN STILLWELL APPLEGATE. HE WORKED WITH CIVIL WAR NOTABLES INCLUDING GENERAL T. T. ECKERT IN RAILROAD/TELEGRAPH COMPANY LITIGATION.
HE ALSO WROTE A RARE BOOK ABOUT HIS FRIEND, COLONEL ARROWSMITH WHO WAS KILLED IN ACTION AT GETTYSBURG IN 1893 TITLED: "Reminiscences and Letters of George Arrowsmith of New Jersey, Late Lieutenant-Colonel of the One Hundred and Fifty-seventh Regiment, New York State Volunteers" Col. Arrowsmith was KIA at Gettysburg from a bullet to the head. (Red Bank, NJ: John H. Cook, 1893. 254 p.).
A FINE ADDITION TO ANY NEW JERSEY POLITICAL HISTORY AUTOGRAPH, MANUSCRIPT & EPHEMERA COLLECTION.
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BIOGRAPHY OF THE HONORABLE
RICHARD WAYNE PARKER
Richard Wayne Parker (August 6, 1848 – November 28, 1923) was an American Republican Party politician from New Jersey who represented the 6th congressional district from 1895 to 1903, the 7th district from 1903 to 1911, and the 9th district from 1914 to 1919 and again from 1921 to 1923. He was a grandson of James Parker, also a Representative from New Jersey.
Biography
Born in Morristown, he graduated from Princeton College in 1867 and from Columbia Law School in 1869. He was admitted to the bar of New Jersey in 1870 and commenced practice in Newark. He was a member of the New Jersey General Assembly in 1885 and 1886 and was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the Fifty-third Congress.
Parker was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-second and to the seven succeeding Congresses, holding office from March 4, 1895 to March 3, 1911. During the Sixty-first Congress, he was chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1910 to the Sixty-fifth Congress and resumed the practice of law in Newark. He was then elected to the Sixty-third Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Walter I. McCoy, was reelected to the Sixty-fourth and Sixty-fifth Congresses, and served from December 1, 1914, to March 3, 1919. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1918 to the Sixty-sixth Congress and was a delegate to the 1916 Republican National Convention. He was elected to the Sixty-seventh Congress, holding office from March 4, 1921 to March 3, 1923, and was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1922 to the Sixty-eighth Congress.
Parker died in Paris, France, in 1923, and was interred in St. Peter's Churchyard, Perth Amboy, New Jersey.
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HALL AVENUE IN PERTH AMBOY, MIDDLESEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY
Hall Avenue is a neighborhood centered on Hall Avenue east of the NJ Transit train tracks. The street itself, Hall Avenue, is no longer the commercial strip it once was. However, there is a recently built strip mall on the corner of Hall Avenue and State Street called the "Firehouse Plaza." There is also a "Banco Popular" branch of the bank headquartered in Puerto Rico. However, Hall Avenue is now primarily residential. Most of the homes are aging apartments, but there are also some newly constructed homes. Hall Avenue remains a traditional Puerto Rican neighborhood, and it hosts the city's annual Puerto Rican Day Festival, which is held on the same day of the historic Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City. Rudyk Park is north of Route 440 and features the Roberto Clemente Baseball Field and an industrial park.
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HISTORY OF PERTH AMBOY
Perth Amboy is a city in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. The City of Perth Amboy is part of the New York metropolitan area (The city ranks as the 758th-most-populous in the country). Perth Amboy is known as the "City by the Bay," referring to its location adjoining Raritan Bay.
The earliest residents of the area were the Lenape Native Americans, who called the point on which the city lies "Ompoge". Perth Amboy was settled in 1683 by Scottish colonists and was called "New Perth" after James Drummond, 4th Earl of Perth; the native name was eventually corrupted and the two names were merged. Perth Amboy was formed by Royal charter in 1718, and the New Jersey Legislature reaffirmed its status in 1784, after independence. The city was a capital of the Province of New Jersey from 1686 to 1776. During the mid-1800s, the Industrial Revolution and immigration grew the city, developing a variety of neighborhoods which residents from a diverse range of ethnicities lived in. The city developed into a resort town for the Raritan Bayshore near it, but the city has grown in other industries since its redevelopment starting in the 1990s.
Perth Amboy borders the Arthur Kill and features a historic waterfront. The Perth Amboy Ferry Slip was once an important ferry slip on the route south from New York City; it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The Raritan Yacht Club, one of the oldest yacht clubs in the United States, is located in the city. Perth Amboy is connected to the Staten Island borough of New York City via the Outerbridge Crossing.
Charter and incorporation
Perth Amboy was formed by Royal charter on August 4, 1718, within various townships and again by New Jersey Legislature on December 21, 1784, within Perth Amboy Township and from part of Woodbridge Township. Perth Amboy Township was formed on October 31, 1693, and was enlarged during the 1720s to encompass Perth Amboy city. Perth Amboy Township was incorporated as one of New Jersey's initial 104 townships through the Township Act of 1798 on February 21, 1798. The township was replaced by Perth Amboy city on April 8, 1844.
Provincial capital
Proprietary House
Elizabeth (then known as Elizabethtown) was designated in 1668 as the first capital of New Jersey. In 1686, Perth Amboy was designated as the capital of East Jersey, while Burlington was the capital of West Jersey. After the two were united as a royal colony in 1702, the two cities alternated as the capital of the Province of New Jersey until November 1790, when Trenton was designated as the unified state capital, chosen based on its location midway between New York City and Philadelphia.
A few of the buildings from this early period can still be seen today. Most notably, the Proprietary House, the home of William Franklin, the last Royal Governor of New Jersey and estranged son of Benjamin Franklin, still stands in the waterfront area of the city. Architect John Edward Pryor was hired in 1761 to design and construct the building, which was completed in September 1764, years late and over budget. Franklin preferred his alternate home in Burlington. Franklin finally moved in 1774 into the Proprietary House. Franklin's father, Ben, tried unsuccessfully to convince his son to support the Colonial cause. William Franklin was arrested and detained at Proprietary House in 1776 until he was tried and convicted of treason.
Perth Amboy City Hall was first built as a court house for Middlesex County in 1714, having been designated as the county seat the previous year. The building was later used as the home of the East Jersey Provincial Assembly. The building was destroyed by a major fire in 1731 and rebuilt in 1745. Another fire was deliberately set in 1764, forcing a rebuilding that was completed in 1767. It is the oldest city hall in continuous use in the United States. On November 20, 1789, City Hall was the site where the New Jersey General Assembly met to ratify the Bill of Rights, becoming the first state in the nation to do so.
Market Square, located across from City Hall, is a park that had been an outdoor marketplace during the Colonial era. Market Square includes a replica of the Liberty Bell, a statue of George Washington and the Bill of Rights Arch, which commemorates the fact that New Jersey was the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights.
St. Peter's Church, which held its first service in 1685 and received a royal charter in 1718, has been recognized as the first Episcopal congregation in the state. Its current building, dating from the 1850s, is surrounded by a graveyard of early inhabitants and displays a collection of stained-glass windows with religious scenes as well as early depictions of New Jersey receiving her charter and a meeting between William Franklin and his father, Ben.
Perth Amboy was New Jersey's primary inbound port for African slaves.
The Kearny Cottage is a remaining example of 18th-century vernacular architecture. Operated as a historic house museum and operated by the Kearny Cottage Historical Society. Built in 1781 on High Street, the house was moved to Sadowski Parkway in the 1920s, and was later relocated to its current site at 63 Catalpa Avenue, just inland from the mouth of the Raritan River.
During the colonial period and for a significant time thereafter, Perth Amboy was an important way-station for travelers between New York City and Philadelphia, as it was the site of a ferry that crossed the Arthur Kill to Tottenville, Staten Island. The first ferry operated in 1684 and regular service began operating in 1709. This ferry became less important when the Outerbridge Crossing opened in 1928, but continued to operate until 1963. In 1998, the Perth Amboy Ferry Slip was restored to its 1904 appearance. A replica of the ticket office has been constructed and is used as a small museum.
On March 31, 1870, Thomas Mundy Peterson became the first African-American in the United States to vote in an election under the recently enacted provisions of the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Peterson voted in an election to update the Perth Amboy city charter.
Industrialization and immigration
By the middle of the 19th century, immigration and industrialization transformed Perth Amboy. Factories such as A. Hall and Sons Terra Cotta, Guggenheim and Sons and the Copper Works Smelting Company fueled a thriving downtown and employed many area residents. Growth was further stimulated by becoming the tidewater terminal for the Lehigh Valley Railroad and a coal shipping point. Perth Amboy developed tightly-knit and insular ethnic neighborhoods such as Budapest, Dublin, and Chickentown. Immigrants from Denmark, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Russia, and Austria quickly dominated the factory jobs.
In 1903, the Perth Amboy Public Library, one of the first Carnegie libraries in the state, made possible through grants from Andrew Carnegie and donations by local philanthropists, opened to the public.
In 1914, Perth Amboy hosted a minor league baseball team called the Perth Amboy Pacers, who played as members of the Class D level Atlantic League. The Atlantic League folded after one season.
In late August 1923, an estimated 6,000 persons rioted, breaking through police lines after the Ku Klux Klan attempted to organize a meeting in the city.
The city was a resort town in the 19th century and early 20th century, located on the northern edge of the Raritan Bayshore. Since the early 1990s Perth Amboy has seen redevelopment. Small businesses have started to open up, helped by the city's designation as an Urban Enterprise Zone. The waterfront has also seen a rebirth. The marina has been extended, and there are new promenades, parks, and housing overlooking the bay.
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Keasbey is an unincorporated community located within Woodbridge Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. It is located on the western outskirts of Perth Amboy. Through its proximity to Perth Amboy, and through natural outflow, attraction, and migration, Keasbey is also home to many Hispanic or Latino families.
Keasbey was originally known as Florida Grove due to its picnic areas and beaches on the Raritan River. Florida Grove operated until the turn of the nineteenth century when it was abandoned to the clay and brick industries.
The town is named after
the Keasbey family, whose home in Morristown is now a museum named Macculloch
Hall. One of the brick manufacturers established in
Keasbey was a Keasbey family company.
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