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Since moving to Fair Lawn 18 years ago, I have found Paterson's Eastside neighborhood fascinating. One home in particular interests me more than any other and it's the one located at what I believe is 81 East 39th Street. From Google maps, it says that a firm called "Youth Consultation Services" is housed there now but for years, it has been largely abandoned. It is a home located above/behind the Paterson Charter School (formerly Paterson Catholic). The home must have been very opulent at one time and who ever owned it had a lot of money. If you take a drive to see it, go over to 11th Avenue and you will see that there is a gatehouse for this home. The gatehouse facility looks like it is occupied and in decent shape.
Due to the fact that Paterson and Fair Lawn overlap, you can see the house that I am talking about about 2/3 of the way up the photo near the Broadway bridge. There is a line of trees that run parallel to eachother running down the property and I would guess that before Route 20 was built, probably ran all the way to the Passaic River. This photo shows that the property included the land that Paterson Catholic/Charter school was eventually built on.
Does anyone have any information on this home or know where I can find out more? I would love to know when it was built (I am guessing anywhere from 1900 to 1915) and who built it.
You could also check with The Paterson Museum on Market Street (by the NJ Transit bus garage) in Paterson. I am familiar with that part of Paterson. I am wondering if you are referencing the old "Benedictine Academy" structure. Is it on a small hill? If it's not that building, then it must be the home of one of the older textile giants from when Paterson was originally called the "Silk City". Ask for the museum curator....he would definitely know.
You could also check with The Paterson Museum on Market Street (by the NJ Transit bus garage) in Paterson. I am familiar with that part of Paterson. I am wondering if you are referencing the old "Benedictine Academy" structure. Is it on a small hill? If it's not that building, then it must be the home of one of the older textile giants from when Paterson was originally called the "Silk City". Ask for the museum curator....he would definitely know.
It is on a small hill. Judging from the aerial photo, the address 81 East 39th Street was actually the back of the building originally; the original entrance was on 43rd street, and it appears part of the original driveway is serving a new building on the property (the former Catholic High School, I believe). The hole in the street grid does not appear in the 1872 map of Paterson here: http://mapmaker.rutgers.edu/1872Atlas/Paterson_1872.jpg
(but I suspect that map was made well in advance of the territory)
I cannot tell you how great it was to finally find out more information on what must have been a beautiful house. The Google book search confirmed it in my mind because it says the estate originally covered 60 acres running all the way to the Passaic River. From the aerial shot from 1962, you can see that there were trees planted parallel to each other running east toward the river down from the home. Route 20 was built in the 1930s I believe so when this house was built, it's conceivable that they owned the property all the way to the river. Paterson Catholic (now the Paterson Charter school) was built around 1967. I assume whomever owned the property then sold the parcel of land to the Catholic diocese.
The "photo" in the book found thru the Google books link doesn't look real but it does seem to be the home because of its place near the bridge connecting Elmwood Park and Paterson.
Thank you so much for the info. If you have anything else, please share.
ONE other thing: do you have any information on the Paterson Country Club? Years ago I read that it was actually in Elmwood Park (then called East Paterson) and was where the K-Mart and the large shopping center just west of it is now. I've been able to find nothing on it but when I read about it, they said people would ride their horses over the bridge into Eastside Park. Can you imagine that.
At least in 2007, the mansion itself was privately held; there's an article there about the owner attempting to prevent it from being designated a landmark:
Have you had a chance to do so? I have found locally run history museums to be great sources and extremely friendly...I am sure they would be eager to find answers to your queries. And I bet they (and you) would be glad to share on a personal basis rather than through the internet.
On a side note, I didn't know Paterson Catholic had closed! A shame, Paterson sure could use plenty of options for quality education.
Regarding the Paterson Country Club, I found an article in the NY Times dated September 24, 1950 which describes the groundbreaking done for the shopping center built in East Paterson (Elmwood Park). The photos are of the old shopping center that had an office tower and this was torn down a few years ago (I can't remember when but it was there when I moved into the area in 1994). In the article it states that a E. Robert Coven & associates acquired the country club property overlooking the Passaic River several years ago. So clearly there was a country club at the location at one time but what it was called and when it closed, I don't know.
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