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
The Community Fire Company of Newfoundland and Oak Ridge took pride in the equipment they purchased before fire companies in West Milford received financial assistance from the municipality. Chief John McCormack is on the truck with his arm raised. (Photo provided) Looking back: Community Fire Company Originally known as Community Fire Company Number 1 Inc. of Newfoundland and Oak Ridge N.J., the volunteer fire company with... Columns 05 Mar 2025 | 10:25
Mayor Wilbur Fredericks with retiring Road Department employees at their retirement party 60 years ago at Pine Village Grove in Oak Ridge. From left are Fredericks, Theodore Sisco, Thomas Cahill and Clarence Bossard. (File photos by Ann Genader) Looking back: Retirement party in 1965 Clarence Bossard, who started his job with the West Milford Road Department in 1936, remembered when he and his colleagues... Columns 26 Feb 2025 | 10:11
ICE1 West Milford farmers who worked at the Echo Lake ice business are, first row from left, Martin Decker, Edward Decker, Walter Whritenour, Norman Fredericks, superintendent Arthur Kane, Henry Fredericks, Issac Morse, M. Sisco and Charles White. In back row, from left, are Charles Vreeland, Frank O’Dell, Daniel Morse, Ernest Fredericks, Raymond Fredericks, John Kimble, Lewis Sisco, Frank Price, Ernest Zabriskie, Robert Babcock, Thomas Cahill and M. Fredericks. (Photo courtesy of Ann Genader) Looking back: Smaller ice companies Along with the large-scale winter ice businesses at Greenwood Lake and Lake Hopatcong, smaller operations existed at some... Columns 19 Feb 2025 | 10:02
A photo taken nearly 100 years ago at the Mountain Ice Co. business at Greenwood Lake shows workers and a building where the ice was stored. (Photo courtesy of Ann Genader) Looking back: Ice harvesting Before the invention of refrigeration, ice from North Jersey lakes initially was the main source for keeping food fresh.... Columns 12 Feb 2025 | 10:58
A bridge usually covered by water is visible in the Oak Ridge Reservoir in Jefferson on Nov. 18. The water level was lowered for maintenance work and does not reflect the effects of the drought. (Photo by Nick Horton, www.thepathfinderstudios.com) Sussex County History Today: ‘Ghost bridge’ reappears Much of history is subtle and it usually takes some digging in the library to understand the situation. In most times, monuments... Columns 15 Feb 2025 | 05:07
The note on a cake honoring school nurse Eileen Upton, right, in 1973 says, ‘Congratulations to someone special.’ The cake was presented by Marshall Hill School PTA president Charlotte Steifel. (File photo by Ann Genader) Looking back: Doctor, nurse who cared for community The kindness, concern and care that two medical professionals showed for families living in West Milford 50 years ago and... Columns 05 Feb 2025 | 11:29
