Here’s an 1902 ALS by NY Tammany Politician

EDWARD STANLEY ATWOOD

(1842 – 1926)

TAMMANY HALL ERA SUPERINTENDENT OF THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF DOCKS and FERRIES 1895-1898,

EARLY MEMBER and PRESIDENT OF THE MARITIME ASSOCIATION, POPULARLY KNOWN AS THE MARITIME EXCHANGE 1892-1895,

TRUSTEE OF THE MONMOUTH COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 1900s, and TREASURER OF THE “WATER WITCH CLUB” IN THE ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, MONMOUTH COUNTY, NEW JERSEY

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MASONIC WORSHIPFUL MASTER.

Atwood’s ancestors were among the early settlers of the Plymouth, Massachusetts Colony, some of them participating in the first division of lands in that colony. Their descendants took part in the French and Indian War and the War of the Revolution.

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HERE’S AN AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED BY ATWOOD, 3pp., DATED AT NEW YORK, FEB. 8, 1902 - SIGNED WHILE ATWOOD WAS SERVING AS TREASURER OF THE ‘WATER WITCH CLUB GROUNDS,’ WRITING A DETAILED LETTER CONCERNING HIS INABILITY TO COME UP WITH A VALUATION FOR SOME LAND.  THE LETTER IS WRITTEN TO HIS NJ LAWYER

SEN. JOHN STILLWELL APPLEGATE

(1837-1916)

INFLUENTIAL 1880s NJ STATE SENATOR, 1^st MAYOR OF RED BANK, NJ, LAWYER, CIVIL WAR NJ TROOP RECRUITER and AUTHOR, GENEALOGIST, BANK PRESIDENT and PRESIDENT OF THE MONMOUTH COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

*PROVENANCE: THIS LETTER CAME OUT OF AN ARCHIVE OF LETTERS/DOCUMENTS FROM THE LAW OFFICE ESTATE OF NOTED 19^th 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, VICE PRESIDENT GARRET HOBRT.  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 pp.).

NOTE: THE LETTER MAKES A NUMBER OF REFERENCES TO:

 FERDINAND FISH

(1851 – 1926)

AN IMPORTANT FACTOR IN BUILDING OPERATIONS IN AND NEAR LOWER BROADWAY and RESIDENTIAL SETTLEMENTS IN THE NYC METROPOLITAN AREA,

ENGINEER, ARCHITECT and LAWYER,

EXPERT FOR THE MANHATTAN ELEVATED RAILROAD FOR OVER TEN YEARS,

FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF THE HIGHLAND BEACH IMPROVEMENT COMPANY - BUILDING THE EXCURSION RESORT OF HIGHLAND and NAVESINK BEACH (NOW SEA BRIGHT) ON THE NEW JERSEY SHORE,

FOUNDER, BUILDER and LEADER OF THE EXCLUSIVE “WATER WITCH CLUB” SUMMER RESORT SETTLEMENT AT THE SUMMIT OF THE ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS OF NAVESINK, NEW JERSEY, OVERLOOKING SANDY HOOK, THE NAVESINK and SHREWSBURY RIVERS and THE ATLANTIC OCEAN!

Source: Ferdinand Fish Biography in “A History of Long Island," Vol. III, 1905

The ALS measures 5” x 8” and is in very fine condition.

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BIOGRAPHY OF EDWARD STANLEY ATWOOD

EDWARD STANLEY ATWOOD, son of Francis and Mary Snow Atwood, was born in Boston, Massachusetts on December 5, 1842. He was prepared for college at Kimball Union Academy, and was graduated at Williams College in 1863, and took his degree of A.M. three years later.

His early business career began in a large shipping house in Boston. He came to New York City in 1869, and since then has been engaged in the copper and metal business. He was one of the early members of the Maritime Association, popularly known as the Maritime Exchange, and was its President from 1892 to 1895. Since then he was Superintendent of Docks in the Dock Department of New York City where he resided.

During the first years of his business life, Atwood was a resident of Brooklyn, New York, where he was well known in religious and Masonic circles. He was connected with the Second Presbyterian Church, since united with Dr. Van Dyke's Church. He was one of the most active members of Montauk Lodge No 286 F & AM and served two years as Worshipful Master, besides filling other important positions. He moved to East Orange, New Jersey in 1873 and for more than twenty years was identified with the religious and public interests of the township. He purchased the property at 289 William Street, and subsequently purchased adjoining property on both sides. He erected two attractive cottages and made other improvements. He sold to the Trustees of the Methodist Church, the property on which the Calvary Methodist parsonage now stands.

Atwood is well known as a public spirited citizen, who has always interested himself in the affairs of the township, and in its growth and prosperity. He was one of the most active in the movement and was chairman of the committee appointed by the citizens of the township to raise funds for the purchase of the property on which the East Orange depot of the D., L. & W. R.R. now stands, one of the most important improvements ever made in this locality. He was a charter member of Ashland H. & L. Co., No. 1, the parent organization of the excellent Fire Department of East Orange, and was its first and only Treasurer up to 1895.

In his church relations, Atwood was identified with the First or what is known as the Munn Avenue Presbyterian Church. He served nine years as an elder of the church, and was six years Superintendent of the Sunday school, and has been more or less identified with all the measures which have resulted in the present material prosperity of the church.

Atwood married on September 19, 1871, Mary E., daughter of Daniel T. Leverich of Brooklyn, a descendant of Reverend William Leverich, who landed at Salem, Mass. in 1633, and afterwards settled at Sandwich, Mass. He was leader of the colony which landed at Oyster Bay, Long Island in 1653, and after successful labors there and at Huntington, was settled as Pastor of the church at Middleling, now Newton, L.I. His descendants have been prominently identified with the public affairs of Long Island for more than two hundred years. Daniel T. Leverich, referred to, was Financial Secretary of the Society of Old Brooklynites. His wife was a director and actively interested in various benevolent organizations in Brooklyn.

Source: “The Founders and Builders of the Oranges: Comprising a History of the…,” 1896

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EDWARD S. ATWOOD, Past Master And Secretary.

Bro. Atwood is a veteran in masonry, though to all appearance a youth in years. For more than eighteen years he has devoted his time and energy, as well as contributing liberally to the promotion of Montauk Lodge, and for fifteen years has occupied an official position in it. He was made an Entered Apprentice Nov. 16, 1870; passed to the degree of Fellowcraft Dec. 7, 1870, and raised to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason January, 1871. He served for a time as Senior Deacon, and in 1873 was elected Junior Warden; in 1874, Senior Warden, and in 1877 was elected Worshipful Master, and was unanimously re-elected the following year. He has served as Secretary for three years, and was a trustee for five years. On retiring from the East he was presented by the Lodge with an elegant Past Master's jewel, which carried with it the highest encomium of praise for his able administration of the important duties of that office.

The ancestors of Bro. Atwocd were among the early settlers of Plymouth, Mass., some of them participating in the first division of lands in that colony. Their descendants took part in the French and Indian War and the War of the Revolution.

Bro. Atwood was born in Boston, 5 Dec. 1842. He took a preparatory course at Kimball's Union Academy, Meriden, NH; matriculated at William's College, 1859; was graduated in 1863, and took his degree of A. M., three years later. He is a member of the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity. He soon after entered a large Boston shipping house where he laid the foundation of his successful mercantile career. He has been the resident agent in New York of the Revere Copper Co. of Boston for the past twenty years. He became a resident of Brooklyn in 1869, but removed to East Orange, NJ, in 1873, and maintained a summer home in Water Witch by the New Jersey shore. In September 1871, he married Miss Mary E., daughter of D. T. Leverich, Esq., of Brooklyn. He is still a regular attendant and an active supporter of Montauk Lodge. Bro. Atwood has a taste for natural science, and is a member of the American Society of Microscopists, and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is also identified with the leading organizations, social and otherwise, in the Oranges, NJ, where he resides.

Source: History of the Third Masonic District Grand Lodge of the State of New York

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Edward Stanley Atwood

Birth	1842
Death	1926 (aged 83–84)
Burial	Green-Wood Cemetery Brooklyn, Kings County (Brooklyn), New York

MIDDLETOWN1331-7-6Edward S. Atwood House 37 Monmouth Hills

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Commissioner of Docks and Ferries of the City of New York

The Commissioner of Docks of the City of New York was the head of the Department of Docks created by New York State's 1870 revision of the city charter, which returned numerous powers to the city that had previously been taken by the state. This version of the city charter was known as the "Tweed Charter", after William M. Tweed, the main force behind it. He was widely known as "Boss Tweed", and controlled much of local New York City politics via the Tammany Hall political club. At the time the charter revision passed, he was a New York State Senator representing the Fourth District, in Manhattan.

The Commissioner of Docks originally consisted of "a board consisting of five persons... appointed by the Mayor... who shall hold office for a term of five years." Their duties were established and defined by the commissioners of the sinking fund, which was responsible for all aspects of the city's borrowing and debt. Money for the repair and construction of wharves, piers, and slips was originally limited by the charter to $350,000, but the loose wording in this section of the charter allowed for many other expenses that quickly opened the commission to accusations of corruption, as was the case with numerous other city agencies that were controlled by Tammany Hall.

In 1873, the state legislature passed a charter revision, making the dock board a three-member commission.

Accusations of poor oversight of the docks and piers, and of the department's finances, were made from time to time, but in 1889, a scandal erupted. Two of the Dock Commissioners were charged by Mayor Hugh J. Grant with three counts of corruption – "neglect and malfeasance in office", "failure to observe and enforce provisions of law...", and "failure to acquaint themselves with the duties and necessities of the Department of Docks..." The accused commissioners countered that they had acted no differently than previous commissioners had done for decades, and that the mayor, who was a Tammany Hall crony, did not charge the third dock commissioner because he was also a Tammany Hall colleague. They were not removed from their jobs, and accusations others not collecting rents from leases of piers continued over the years.

THE WATER WITCH PARK & CLUB

Ferdinand F. Fish, the moving spirit behind the Water Witch Club, was born on March 24, 1851, in Brooklyn, New York, his father, Paul, was 48 and his mother, Eliza, was 41. He married Mary Loxley Taylor in 1873. They had five children in 15 years. He died in Larchmont, New York 1926. READ a detailed biography of Ferdinand Fish in “A History of Long Island, Vol. III, 1905.

Monmouth Hills  - Water Witch Park & Club

Water Witch Park was conceived in 1895. As envisioned, it was to include all the land presently known as Monmouth Hills and the property to the northeast located between Navesink Avenue (present-day NJ Route 36) and Sandy Hook Bay. The Monmouth Hills portion of the Park was ultimately established by the Water Witch Club, a private summer club organized by a group of New York businessmen and architects led by New York real estate entrepreneur, Ferdinand Fish.

Prior to this venture Fish had been instrumental in establishing the communities of Highland Beach and Navesink Beach located at the north end of what is today Sea Bright.

The Park was named after a novel of the same name by James Fenimore Cooper, who is known to have visited the Highlands area in the 1830s. The romantic novelist Cooper described the areas as “the most beautiful combination of land and water in America.”

Park Development
Initially, all of the land today containing Monmouth Hills was owned by the Highlands of Navesink Improvement Company (HNIC) established by Fish in the spring of 1895. Later, in that same year, Fish established the Water Witch Club, an entity that would ultimately be the driving force behind the development of the park. Immediately after its formation, the club purchased the southeastern half of the Monmouth Hills portion of the Park property from the HNIC. Architecture played an important role in this portion of the Park, which was patterned after New York's Tuxedo Park, established in 1886. Originally, there were 50 charter members of the Club many of which were architects or engineers. The Club's 1st Board of Governors had 4 architects and 2 civil engineers on it. Some of the original architects involved during the planning stages of the Club were Ehrick Rossiter, Frank A. Wright, Hugh Lamb, Charles A. Rich, Frank E. Wallis, F. L. Ellingwood, John H. Duncan, Charles H. Humphreys, Charles Eaton and the Constable Brothers. Others, such as Austin W. Lord, Lyman A. Ford, Ernest M. A. Machado and Frederick P. Hill joined the club shortly after its creation. Many of these men had already been actively working at the Jersey Shore as well as throughout the metropolitan area in the rapidly developing New York suburbs. All of the original 40 summer cottages at the Water Witch Club were built between 1896 and 1909 and designed by architects. These architects involved themselves in many aspects of the Club's business from the time they joined.

The various architects affected the stylistic development of the Park. The constitution of the Club made provisions fro the construction of many community buildings. Designs for these buildings were published in a promotional booklet in 1895. They included a gatehouse, a boathouse and water station, stables and a bowling/billiard house, and a clubhouse by Lamb & Rich. However, only the Colonial Revival clubhouse made it off the paper.

Summer Cottages
The majority of the summer cottages of the Club were revival styles, predominately combinations of the Shingle Style and Colonial Revival Style. A few were constructed in the Tudor, Swiss Chalet, Italian Renaissance and Spanish Eclectic Styles. The Club's Shingle Style summer cottages with colonial Revival elements also incorporated newer styles such as Craftsman. Most were very eclectic and of more simple design than was commonly associated with the Victorian period. A total of 40 cottages were built within the Water Witch Park, in the area that is today known as Monmouth Hills. All were constructed within the 1st 15 years following the Park's creation in 1895. The 1st house was built in 1896 and the last was built in 1909.

Park Promotion
By 1895, Ferdinand Fish had launched a sophisticated campaign for the development of Water Witch Park. He created and published the Oracle, a monthly paper to help promote the Park and his other real estate ventures (Highlands and Navesink Beach). The paper was printed on high quality paper and included colored illustrations and photographs. Charles Humphreys, architect and son-in-law of Fish, was its illustrator and R. R. Warley, a New York business manager, assisted with its content. Both Humphreys and Warley were members of the Water Witch Club.

The purpose of the club was outlined in the constitution, a portion of which reads: “To buy, improve, and apportion land among its members; to provide suitable club buildings, water, lighting, and sewerage systems, to promote social intercourse among its members, and to encourage aquatic and athletic sports.”

Road Work
Civil Engineer, F. Adelbert Dunham of Plainfield, New Jersey was brought on board and by November 1895 he had made surveys of both the lands of the Club and of those of the HNIC. He divided the property into several lots all fronting on curvilinear roads. The 1st map filed with the County Clerk's Office of Water Witch Park showing the proposed roads and lots was drafted in December of that year. Much of the present-day road network of Monmouth Hills was laid out by Dunham. Only minor changes to the entrances have taken place due to widening of Navesink Avenue over the years. The 1st 2 lots of the Water Witch Club's property (southeast portion of Monmouth Hills) were officially sold to Ferdinand Fish on April 22, 1896. The 1st 3 houses erected within the Water Witch Club portion of the Park are believed to be the Frank A. Wright House, the Livingston Middleditch House and the William B. Taber House. All 3 were completed and occupied by June 1896. Development within the HNIC portion of Monmouth Hills was not planned until around 1898.

Clubhouse Construction
Construction of the 1st clubhouse of the Water Witch Club was started in the summer of 1896 and finished on June 15, 1897. It was designed by Richard Lamb and Charles A. Rich of Lamb and Rich. The opening day register from the clubhouse, dating from July 1897, indicates that the clubhouse functioned as a community center for the Club. In addition to maintaining any guests of the Club, many of the residents themselves signed in for meals and social events.

In 1898, Ferdinand Fish and others of the HNIC began promoting the development of the remaining portion of present-day Monmouth Hills. It appears as though they wanted to develop this portion of the Park as a separate entity to be known as the Navesink Country Club. The organization plan was very similar to that of the Water Witch Club. In fact, several of the architects connected with the Water Witch Club planned to be part of this new venture. Plans for the Navesink County Club included a Club-hotel, tennis courts, croquet grounds, a beach clubhouse and a boathouse. The 1st sale of the lots took place in May of that year.

However, there appears to have been rifts among the majority stock holders (Ferdinand Fish being one of those) of the HNIC and by the close of 1899, Fish had given up his interests in the development of the Navesink Country Club. In 1900, the Navesink Country Club merged with the Water Witch Club, a situation that became official on May 1, 1901.

In 1800, the year before the Navesink Country Club and the Water Witch Club merged, the Water Witch Club had 70 members, most being New York businessmen. By this time, 14 cottages had been constructed and 5 more were being built.

Committee
In 1901, a committee was appointed to investigate the feasibility of building a new clubhouse. Although a competition was held and 6 sets of plans were submitted, nothing further was done for the next 2 years. In June 1904, another committee was appointed to look into raising funds to build “a casino and a small lodge.” The Board's recommendations, similar to those in 1902, were to move the present clubhouse to the north side of West Twin Road and make it an annex to the new Casino. On September 16, 1904, it was resolved to move the clubhouse across the road and build a casino. It was designed by Frederick P. Hill and constructed in the following year. The Casino and the original clubhouse (now relocated) are show on a Sanborn Map of Water Witch Park in 1907. At this time, the Club community contained 39 cottages. In 1911, the original clubhouse was destroyed by fire. In that same year, Lyman A. Ford designed and built a large addition to the Casino that would serve as the new clubhouse containing a dining room, sitting room and 5 bedrooms.

Water Supply
Prior to the 1920s, only a few members used their cottages year-round. During the winter, the Club's main water supply was turned off and those residents who did say had cisterns built to collect water from their roofs. By the mid-1900s, however, a few homes began to be supplied with metered water service from the Borough of Highlands. By 1940, all of the cottages were equipped with metered water supplied by the Monmouth Consolidated Company, who re-installed the water mains below the frost line.

The Great Depression
As was the case with many Americans, the Great Depression of the 1930s changed the social life of the Club members and the composition of the community forever. Unable to maintain 2 residences, some members sold their townhouses and winterized their summer homes, while others are likely to have sold their cottages all together. By the late 1940s, the Water Witch Club became a year-round community, but with less of a recreational emphasis. It did, however, continue to function as a club and the spirit of club life continues in the community to this day with the Club Casino as its foci.

By 1950, out of the 40 cottages originally built within the Water Witch Club, 26 remained extant. In 1957, Monmouth Hills, Inc. purchased all of the remaining property of the HNIC situated within present-day Monmouth Hills. It was around this time that the 1st new house was built within Monmouth Hills. Since that time, approximately 18 additional new houses have been constructed and 4 more of the original cottages have been razed (3 destroyed by fire and 1 demolished). Today, the Water Witch Club entity has been replaced by the Monmouth Hills, Inc. The Water Witch Club Casino, now owned and managed by the Monmouth Hills, Inc., is still used for recreational purposes. Presently, a total of 22 of the original cottages still exit. Many have been altered to facilitate year-round living, but the area still retains it essential historic and natural character.

The Water Witch Club Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

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