The
History of Fair Lawn's Street Names (Part II)
By Jane Lyle Diepeveen, Borough Historian
The
first part of this history of street names brought us to the turn of the
twentieth century. Development started in 1903 on Raphael and Rosalie
Grunauer’s
Warren
Point
development and following the custom of the time, the streets were named
for them. The fourth street was
Hartley Place
(origin unknown).
Several
subdivisions filed with the County early in the century were not built
until much later, but the street names were kept when building commenced.
One of these maps, filed by W. A. Demuth for land west of
River Road
, showed
Bergen
and Passaic Avenues, named for the two counties. The latter street was
never developed, but
Bergen Avenue
remains.
Part
of the Romaine property along
Berdan Avenue
on both sides of the railroad was a subdivision originally called
“Pleasant Cottage Sites”. Besides
Romaine Street
, this included
Kipp Street
, probably after either a partner or a builder, since it is known that Mr.
Kipp had a house in the development until recently.
Cadmus Place
was after the Cadmus family which had a house on the property as early as
1867.
Peter
D. Henderson laid out a subdivision on his farm in 1912.
Lake Street
was adjacent to Henderson Pond. Central Avenue ran down the middle of the
property. Other streets were named for woodland greenery: Oak, Cedar,
Forest
, Fern, Myrtle and Maple. The last (now
Weber Place
) was a short street connecting
Lake Street
to
Paterson
and
Ridgewood Road
– now
Maple Avenue
.
Henderson Boulevard
is obvious, but the origin of
Chester Street
is unknown to the author.
“Paterson
Park East” was another early subdivision (1918) which was developed in
sections much later, but the street names – Philip, Eugene, Karl,
Dorothy, John and Elizabeth, probably after family members, remain today.
Pershing and Wilson took their names from our World War I general and
president, and Monroe and Grant followed suit.
Paterson Street
took its name from the proposed development.
The
Kuiken family built many homes in the 1920s on Edward, George and Arnold
Streets off of
Hopper Avenue
, then extended through the former Peter Hopper and Adam Hopper farms. The
streets were named for Kuiken family members.
In the 1920s, Andrew De Boer developed new streets adjacent to
Heights Avenue
in the area known as
Columbia
(originally
Columbus
) Heights.
Albert Avenue
was named for Albert Outwater who had previously owned this part of the
development;
Katherine Avenue
was for Katherine Kalff whose family previously owned part of the
property; and
Pomona Avenue
was named after the section of
Jersey City
where Andrew De Boer got his start in business. Smith Avenue, laid out in
1924, was undoubtedly in honor of Fair Lawn’s first Mayor, Robert Smith.
Lakeside Avenue
led to Alyea’s Pond which extended along
Smith Street
.
A
map made for
Fair Lawn
’s Golden Anniversary Journal shows the streets as they existed in 1924.
Apparently there was a move to rename all the streets and avenues with
numbers, starting with
1st Street
at the
Passaic
River
and
Fair Lawn Avenue
– designated as
14th Avenue
. Many of these streets retain their numbers today, but the numbering of
Avenues and major streets like
River Road
was fortunately discontinued. Along
Bellair Avenue
, where land extended west of
1st Street
, the streets were designated as ‘West A’ through ‘West E’. These
were later given names: Arnot, Bush, Canger (in honor of Borough Engineer
and civic leader Michael A. Canger), Dewey and Essex.
Part
III of this “where did the streets get their names?” history will
continue in the next edition with Radburn and other developments.
Author’s
note: I would be happy to hear from residents who may know how their
streets were named or who could fill in the gaps in my research. I would
like to acknowledge the kind assistance of Evelyn De Boer Tomasi who
provided me with the information on her uncle’s development in
Columbia Heights
. Other sources used for this piece include:
Atlas
of Bergen County, 1776-1876, A.H.
Walker, compiler, 1876
Map,
Township of Saddle River, from Atlas
of Bergen Co., N. J., George S. and Walter W. Bromley, 1913.
Map,
Borough of
Fair Lawn
, 1924, prepared by The
Engineering Dept. of the Borough of Fair Lawn and Michael A Canger III,
from the anniversary journal Fair
Lawn, 50 Years of Progress,1924-1974.
Development
Map of Borough of
Fair Lawn
, Fair Lawn
Engineering Dept. 1973
.
Bergen
County
Historic Sites Survey,
Fair Lawn
,
Bergen
County
Office
of Cultural and Historic Affairs, 1982-1983.
Records
and notes of the author taken in 1952 and 1953 from subdivision maps and
records filed in the Bergen County Court House.
See Jane
Lyle
Diepeveen's Previous Articles:
History
of Fair Lawn's Street Names: Part I (Spring 2005)
How
Fair Lawn Got Its Name (Winter 2005)
Ackerman-Naugle
Family and Their Houses (Fall 2004)
Mysterious Disappearance of George
Morlot.
(Summer 2004)
