Some Rhinesmith children were born in this house in Stonetown in the late 1800s. The photo was taken in 1949 by Harry Rhinesmith, who was born there in 1892. (Photo provided) Looking back: Rhinesmiths lived at Stonetown The late Mary Maud Rhinesmith Fredericks (1888-1980) is an example of strong women who faced obstacles while living in a... Columns 11 Jun 2025 | 12:08
Visitors look at home heating products displayed by Mayor Wilbur Fredericks at the Community Fire Company of Newfoundland and Oak Ridge Country Fair, which ran annually from 1950 to 1994. (File photo by Ann Genader) Looking back: Mayor Fredericks and the fair Businessmen looked to the annual Community Fire Company of Newfoundland and Oak Ridge Country Fair as a prime source for... Columns 04 Jun 2025 | 11:00
Interior of a Morris County iron mine, 1859. (Photo courtesy of Ron Dupont) Sussex County History Today: Route 80 blues This week, this column was written by my friend Vernon historian Ron Dupont. Sinkholes on Route 80 in Wharton have caused... Columns 24 May 2025 | 11:19
Members of the Jefferson Township Volunteer Fire Department march in a parade along Route 23 in Newfoundland en route to the 1962 country fair, organized by the Community Fire Company of Newfoundland and Oak Ridge Fire Company No. 1. (File photo by Ann Genader) Looking back: Newfoundland Fair For 44 years, the Community Fire Company of Newfoundland and Oak Ridge Fire Company No. 1 organized an old-fashioned country... Columns 28 May 2025 | 11:20
John F. Mathews (1871-1934) of the Apshawa section of West Milford, with three of the five children born to him and the late Martha Gormley Mathews (1882-1958). From left are Verina Agnes, Anna Elizabeth and Albert Vincent. They are in front of the family farmhouse on Weaver Road about 1905. (Photo provided) Looking back: Mathews family history The surname of an area family sometimes is spelled with two tt’s while others use just one. Ancestors of the Mathews family... Columns 21 May 2025 | 12:24
Kathleen Mazza with her third-grade class at Marshall Hill School in 1985. (File photo) Looking back: West Milford in 1985 West Milford had administrative changes in 1985, with Township Manager Jack Terry, Recreation Director Gary Webb and Treasurer... Columns 14 May 2025 | 11:27
West Milford Police Chief John Moeller, left, and Capt. Jack Ryan check the teletype machine at Police Headquarters. which was in the balcony of the current West Milford Museum, in the early 1950s. (File photo by Ann Genader) Looking back: Early police communications In the 1930s, the New Jersey State Police’s Statewide Police Teletype System was developed to provide instant communications... Columns 07 May 2025 | 11:42
Noble Rhinesmith and his wife, Lillie MacGregor Rhinesmith, are pictured when he served as chairman of the Township Committee. He was a committee member from 1940 to 1957. (Photo courtesy of Ann Genader) Looking back: Rhinesmiths were early settlers Some ancestors of the Rhinesmith family, one of the earliest families to come to the United States from Germany, settled... Columns 30 Apr 2025 | 10:58
Nathan Sanders, standing at left, is honored as the township’s oldest living man during West Milford’s 125th anniversary celebration in 1959. He was born in 1871. Laura Cole Sisco, seated at right, was the oldest resident. She was born in 1868. Seated at left is Adrienne Wooley, secretary to Township Clerk George Eckhardt. Standing, from left, are Noble Rhinesmith, a former mayor, and his wife, Lottie. Welfare Director Henry Vreeland and his wife are in the middle and Hans Widmann, event chairman, is at right. (File photo by Ann Genader) Looking back: Stable boy, then stagecoach driver Nathan Francis Sanders (1871-1971) was a descendant of one of the West Milford’s earliest colonial families. The Sanders... Columns 20 Apr 2025 | 03:04
Relda Vreeland was a founder of the Macopin Volunteer Fire Company Ladies Auxiliary. She congratulates fellow officers after an election in 1965. From left are treasurer Leslie Weeden, first vice president Vreeland, second vice president Mrs. John Kachler, president Mrs. Walter Bal, secretary Mrs. Walter Bilenski and sergeant at arms Mrs. Ernest Giannini. (File photo by Ann Genader) Looking back: Memories of Relda Vreeland To have been one of the lucky people who had a lifelong friendship with Relda Vreeland is my special treasured gift. Relda,... Columns 16 Apr 2025 | 11:37
The Charlotteburg Hotel was still standing in the remains of the iron-producing community in the 1940s. (File photo) Looking back: Early settlement in Charlotteburg Traveling northwest on congested Route 23 past the north gate of Smoke Rise and crossing a bridge that separates Morris and... Columns 09 Apr 2025 | 11:29
Police Chief John Moeller, left, and Capt. Jack Ryan, who became chief when Moeller retired, at the desk of the first cramped police quarters. It was in the balcony of the former Methodist Episcopal Church that was the first West Milford Town Hall. The building now is the West Milford Museum. (File photo by Ann Genader) Looking back: Police involved in shootout A year before Jack Ryan was hired as West Milford’s second full-time police officer in 1942, lone lawman John Moeller may... Columns 02 Apr 2025 | 11:54
When West Milford celebrated its 100th birthday in 1934, the ‘special police’ on duty included Waldo Fredericks, Jack Ryan. Arthur Sisco, Billy Struble, Walter Card, John Moeller Jr., John Moeller Sr. and Les Fredericks. Sommer Stites was chief of the group. Others in the photo are unidentified. They are in front of Brown’s Hotel at Greenwood Lake. (Photo by Charles Rotsaert) Looking back: Police on motorcycles Before West Milford had a full-time police officer or bought its first police car, two “special police” officers patrolled... Columns 26 Mar 2025 | 11:50
Verina Mathews Genader, who received her K-8 education at the one-room Echo Lake School before a second room was added, became a teacher there. She is seated in the back of the primary-grade classroom with first-, second- and third-graders in 1949. (Photo provided) Looking back: A benefit of self-education Children who were educated in the small rural country schools in the West Milford until the mid-1940s, when the last of these... Columns 19 Mar 2025 | 09:30
Newfoundland School seventh- and eighth-graders with their teacher Luella Crowley Kemble in 1949 in the third classroom. In the front row, from left, are Carl Cahill, Patricia Beam and Dawn Jennings. Second row, from left, John Fredericks, Jean Cahill, LeRoy Tice and Mildred Hannah. Third row, from left, Jane Meyer, Carl Stickle, Phyllis Chadwick and Walter Crane. Back row, from left, Bill Reynolds, Shirley Jennings, Wayne Post, Peggy Weaver and M. VanderStad. (Photo provided by the late John Fredericks) Looking back: School turned into restaurant The Grasshopper Irish Pub, located between the north- and southbound lanes of Route 23 off the Clinton Road intersection,... Columns 12 Mar 2025 | 02:15
