50 YEARS AGO TODAY ….
n a very snowy day, Feb. 12, 1975, I moved my family from the Borough of Queens, N. Y., to the Borough of Lebanon.
O This February, on Lincoln’ s Birthday, it snowed again, reminding me of the salt and snow that the movers tracked in 50 years earlier. They couldn’ t help it, but we had spent three weekends refinishing the floors. Since that day of anguish, the borough has changed quite a bit, I decided to reprise what has changed here since then.
Fifty years ago, the site of Bourbon Street Liquors, on the east end of Route 22 in Lebanon, was vacant. The entire area that is today Corporate Park was a meadow and softball field. A 700-foot strip opposite what is now the Lebanon Plaza was the site of Kirk’ s Diner, it was demolished a few years later.
The building that today houses Metropolitan Seafood was the home of Hunterdon Lighting with a large inventory of lighting fixtures. Originally it was an International Harvester dealership. Continuing west, the next building was Voeges’ Plumbing and Hardware. The next two properties, service stations, are pretty much the same today as then. The Werner Way development with the County Storage Facility. The Self Storage and the Black Office building were vacant land.
The site of Hunterdon Hills Plaza was a small farmette owned by Mr. Schubiger.
Jumping across Rt. 22 to the eastbound side was Herman Daub’ s Nursery. Herman grew beautiful irises and sold small trees and shrubs. The bank building at that time housed First Jersey Central Bank— it did not have an ATM. The office building just east of it had not been built. Crossing Cokesbury Rd., the first building was Thul’ s Auto and the large building that is now the Lebanon Plaza was the Eclipse Sleep Factory. The Exxon station was an old ESSO station, it has been completely replaced, and the H & R Block building / Dance Studio was vacant land.
Continuing east, there was an old building and an gas station. Both of these structures have since been demolished and the Superior Towing business this year received an approval for a new building. Last on this side was a carpet store that was totally renovated to become La Bella Salon.
On Main St., the empty lot across from the Lebanon Pub( the old Lebanon Hotel) was a luncheonette that burned down in the early 1980s.
The location with the chiropractor, 89 Main St., was an antique store and furniture restoration business owned by the Borough’ s tax assessor. I spent many happy hours there.
The little building on Sutton Place had a barber shop in the front half and the borough clerk’ s office in the back. Meetings were very cozy then since the room was around 16 square feet. Most meetings included baked goods made by the town clerk, Leona Burton. In 1976, the borough purchased 96 Main St. for Borough Hall. It was renovated with help from the Bi- Centennial Committee. The thinking at that time was now that the borough owned an entire building, we would never again lack space.
That idea lasted until the late 80’ s when our K-6 grade school was faced with a very expensive upgrade required by the State. Voters approved the building of a new school, and the old school became the new Borough Hall.
Continuing east on Main St, 112 was the Young Insurance Agency. Further east at 148-152 was a stately old four family home and an ancient grist mill. The mill became Heller’ s Auction Gallery, where all sorts of history was sold every Monday. The Grist Mill Village was an empty field. Hesco( Hunterdon Electrical Supply) was at 153 Main. The Doll House Factory was located at 157 Main, selling doll houses and furnishing made by the owner.
The site of Presidential Place on the north side of Rt. 78 was mostly vacant except for two houses. The site of Lebanon Commons was a 30-acre farm which some years had angus cows and in other years corn. The Commons required the construction of a sewer system and the large number of new homes lured Elizabethtown Gas Co. to our sleepy little borough. The Heights of Lebanon had merely a house and a Belgian block business that salvaged and recycled block from the streets of Philadelphia when they removed the trolley tracks. Chestnut Place was a mostly vacant parcel with a large barn that housed a thousand chickens. Walter Faulks sold eggs and if he wasn’ t there you could weigh and box them yourself and leave the money in a cigar box. If you weren’ t home, Mr. Faulks would come into your house and leave the eggs in your fridge and leave you a note.
Our front door didn’ t have a lock! That is quite a bit of change, but I suspect it is not over yet. By Joe Hauck
Lebanon Borough Sewerage Authority Fourth quarter payments are due Dec. 30.
Please include the correct account number or the sewer service address or the Block, Lot( qualifier if applicable) on your payments.
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