From Farm to Suburb: The Birth of College Hill

College Hill is one of Maplewood’s most clearly identifiable neighborhoods due to its roster of collegiate street names: Amherst, Bowdoin, Colgate, Harvard, Oberlin, Rutgers, Wellesley and Yale. (Cornell was in the plans, but later dropped.) However, the use of the moniker “College Hill” only dates back to the 1990s, when a group of neighbors formed the College Hill Association. This section of town, like many in Maplewood, began originally as a farm, in this case a dairy farm worked for three generations by the Courter family. In the late 19th century, as American society began to change and many sought to leave crowded, industrialized cities for the country, developers began to buy and divide up land in places like Maplewood with easy access to roads and railroads. In 1898 the Trimpi brothers, two successful businessmen in Newark and New York, purchased much of the Courter acreage and began to transform it into the suburban Trimpi tract, which they named Valley View. The first seven houses, designed by architect W. Frank Bower in the Queen Anne and Four Square styles, were scattered throughout the development. Over subsequent decades, other individuals and developers bought lots and built houses in popular early and mid-20th c. styles and knit together the neighborhood we know today.

Newark Through the Ages

As the City of Newark prepared to celebrate its 350th anniversary in 2016, Elizabeth Del Tufo, President of the Newark Preservation and Landmarks Committee and one of Newark’s best-known civic activists and ambassadors, did a presentation on the city's history at Durand-Hedden House.

Newark is the nation's third oldest city. Much of America’s history can be seen in the streets of Newark, from its founding through the years of immigration and migration, development of industry and commerce, and the unrest of the 1960s to its present role as it begins to take its place as a destination city, proud of its rich history and promising future.

Ms. Del Tufo talked about landmarks which illustrate each period, including Old First Church, Washington Park, The Ballantine House, Branch Brook Park, Forest Hill, The Rock, Newark Penn Station, Terminal One, James St. Commons, NJPAC, and Prudential Tower. There are 75 buildings on the State and National Registers and six historic districts in Newark.

Reflecting Back on 160 Maplewood Avenue

Susan Newberry, Maplewood township historian and Durand-Hedden president, writes about the Maplewood post office.