Members of the Italian American Club of West Milford at their first social function at the Beach Cliff Hotel in Upper Greenwood Lake in 1966. The cake has flags of the United States and Italy. Seated, from left, are Joseph Oddo, club president; Henry Cantaluppi; and Anthony Tucci. Standing, from left, are John Errico, James LaGreco, James Morreale, John Grecco and Frank Licursi. (File photo by Ann Genader)
In 1720, when George Kanouse arrived in America from Holland, people from Europe were finding their way to the area that officially became the Township of West Milford in 1834.
Kanouse paid for his passage by selling his time and labor for about two years after his arrival. He later acquired 30 acres of land in Newfoundland. His son, Jacob, was born in 1762, and his daughter, Elizabeth Kanouse Brown, became the mother of John P. Brown, proprietor of the famous hotel/tavern across from the Newfoundland train station, where the first township meeting was held.
The history of Peter Hasenclever bringing 535 men from Germany to America to work in the iron mining business between 1764 and 1767 and the resulting birth of Charlotteburg, Long Pond and other settlements is well-known.
However, one can only wonder about the families who managed to adjust to an isolated foreign land who suddenly were left without sustenance just five years later when the mines where they worked no longer were profitable and closed.
The people who came from Europe to work in the mines had various skills. They were carpenters, masons, woodcutters and mechanics, and some had the ability to operate gristmills and sawmills.
Each person apparently had some type of talent to use as a means of survival. William Blanchard, for example, established a wood-turning mill, using the power from the abandoned Bloomingdale forge, sawmill and gristmill. Blanchard’s mill was typical of shops that produced architectural detailing for both exterior and interior use.
Food was a major need for everyone, so some people became farmers. There also was a need for shops and there were people who could create these too.
As years went on, people became proud property owners. The Marions, one of the original iron-working families from Germany, by the 1920s owned the land where St. Joseph Church is located and they had their home across the road (now Germantown Road) from the church.
Among the Marions’ gifts to the church community was the land for St. Joseph Church and Cemetery. Dedication to their religion and church continued through the generations, with the late Jim Marion, a builder, volunteering his carpenter skills when the school and convent were built.
Verina Mathews Genader was a descendant of the Marions, and when St. Joseph Church needed to have an exit from the upper cemetery, she and her husband, Arthur, donated property they owned on Fountain Road to make an exit from the cemetery to Germantown Road.
The Marions were one of the families affected by eminent domain, which forced them to sell their homestead land to Newark at a price determined by the watershed. That occurred when the land was designated as necessary for watershed protection when the city created its reservoir system.
More year-round residents
By the mid-1950s, many lake communities were established by people who left their city homes to spend their vacations in the country. They returned to their permanent residences for the rest of the year.
As years went by, people wanted to live in the country year-round, and they put heating systems in their vacation homes, dug deeper in the ground with water lines so the pipes did not freeze in winter, and made other changes for the conversion from summer to year-round use.
This is when growing pains started in the township. After people settled into their year-round homes in the country, they wanted the facilities and protective laws they had in the city.
The new full-time residents, who before long outnumbered the longtime residents, ran for public office and were elected to make changes they felt were needed to improve the community.
In 1930, the year-round population of 1,901 people had increased by 7.8 percent from 1920. The population was 2,501 in 1940, 3,650 in 1950 and 8,157 residents in 1960.
By 1980, West Milford had 22,750 residents. That grew to 25,850 in 2010. By 2020, the population fell 3.8 percent and has continued to decrease. The projected population this year is 24,240.
The lives of the year-round residents descended from Peter Hasenclaver’s iron mine workers and others who came to the communities early changed forever with the growth that took place after the mines closed.
Needs for new services were addressed. The rural schools were outdated and closed, and Hillcrest consolidated school was built with all students from the township going there for their kindergarten through eighth-grade education.
Butler High School
Butler High School continued to educate students from all area towns, including West Milford, until the towns built their high schools.
In 1950, the graduation class had just a few more than 200 graduates from Butler and eight other towns. Just 31 students in the Class of 1950 came from West Milford.
In the 2023-24 school year, there were 937 students in grades 9-12 at West Milford High School.
In March 1966, bids for construction of the Upper Greenwood Lake School were received. A new 10-room school was expected to open the next year. A twice-defeated school district budget was sliced by $17,000 by the Township Committee, reducing it to about $2.2 million that year.
Lifelong West Milford residents were not accustomed to worrying about laws regarding their property because there were few laws in existence. Things changed greatly after the large population increases.
The many controversial subjects in the news in 1966 included the initial organization of the West Milford Municipal Utilities Authority (MUA), construction of sewage treatment plants, and a mandate for people with septic systems to abandon them and hook into sewer lines if they were installed on the street in front of their homes.
Board of Health president and Councilwoman Mollie McFarland asked that sewer lines be installed past a new industrial area on Airport Road so “clean industry could be invited to locate in the township, bringing ratables to help us all pay for the increase in school and township budgets.”
Lawsuits initiated included one filed by a group of taxpayers who wanted the Superior Court to block the MUA from issuing revenue bonds worth about $3.6 million for construction of a sewer system and a sewage treatment plant.
Residents continued to fill the town hall meeting room to capacity and stood in the hallways and vestibule when seats were filled. They complained about the MUA and its plans.
Resident Herb Wolters presented the governing body with 300 signatures of people (collected in just 23 hours) who wanted the MUA abolished.
After public hearings at separate meetings of the Township Committee and Board of Health at the end of January 1966, both bodies unanimously voted to repeal the mandatory sewer-connect ordinances adopted a year earlier.
Meanwhile, other new laws to bring West Milford up to date were passed. In March, for instance, the Township Committee created an Office of Civil Defense, house numbering was required, and street lighting and collateral bond filing were required in new home developments.
Social activities
While all the action was under way in town hall, residents were busy developing other aspects of the community. The Italian American Club of West Milford was formed in 1966. Louis Meyer, proprietor of Great Oaks Inn, started a money tree to benefit children’s projects planned by West Milford Elks Lodge 2236.
Upper Greenwood Lake Property Owners Association president Tom Bruce presented Upper Greenwood Lake (UGL) Fire Company president Fred Steinman with a 25-year lease to the firehouse property, with the volunteers planning to put an addition on the firehouse.
The UGL firefighters were scheduling a firemen’s fair to crown Miss Siren. Patrolman John Cox became president of West Milford PBA with Patrolman Bill Genader as vice president.
Carol Van Anglen was elected president of Moe Mountain Stitchers, with Denise Wood as secretary. Cadette Girl Scout Pat Shenise led the flag salute at the organization meeting of the West Milford Council.
E.C. Champenois headed the West Milford Chamber of Commerce with George Weiss as vice president. Rollie Conklin was elected chief of the Greenwood Forest Fire Company for a fourth term with Fred Babcock as first assistant chief and George Lillman as second assistant chief.
Dr. Karl Fiesser was commander of the West Milford American Legion Post 289. Frank Kelly of West Milford Lakes was chairman for a venison dinner planned by Our Lady Queen of Peace Church Holy Name Society.
John and Clara Crum celebrated a Mass at St. Joseph Church honoring them on their 50th wedding anniversary.
Irene Kolakowski of Locust Court, guest at a meeting of Cadette Girl Scout Troop 499, demonstrated hair arrangement and beauty culture at the home of Ethel Kenny at Gwinear Farms.
Members of Brownie Troop 336 of High Crest Lake made Cinderella puppets at a social for mothers at the home of Mrs. John Drish.
Times were good!
To contact Ann Genader, send email to anngenader@gmail.com