Montville Township Historical Society
Members
- Kathy Fisher, President
- Robert Blasi, Vice President
- Betty Pyontek, Refreshments
Chairperson
- Benjamin Zabel, Treasurer
Meetings: Second Monday of each month, 7:30
PM, Montville Township Public Library. No meetings in July,
August and December.
Montville Township
Museum: 6 Taylortown Road, Montville NJ 07045. Open
Sundays 1 - 4 PM except July & August.
Located on Taylortown Road just down the street
from Route 202 is a red brick building with a sign out front
proclaiming it the "Montville Township Historical Museum".
Within its walls are articles, pictures, tapes, and memories that
will carry you back through the years to times long past.
The building was constructed following the Civil
War, in the year 1867. It was one of the first one-room schools in
the area. The land was donated by the eastern district superintendent
of the then-thriving Morris Canal, one of the many waterways then in
existence to help promote trade and travel in America.
William Hixson gave the land to the town for public
purposes, with the stipulation that it could be reclaimed if used for
a purpose with which his family disagreed.
The building began serving Montville as a one-room
school heated by a potbellied stove. It also served as an auxiliary
to the local Methodist Church. It became the gathering place for the
local temperance league in the 1890s, and was the scene of many
temperance meetings in the town.
Forty-four years after being erected, it changed
from a school to the center of political activities as the town hall.
It was the town hall until 1939, when it became the town's post
office. It served as such until 1961, when a post office was
constructed close by (Taylortown Rd. & Route 202).
After the postmen moved out of the building, the
township considered selling the property to a business concern but
the original Hixson agreement was recalled, and the building remained
unused - until the celebration of New Jersey's 300th Anniversary.
At that time, a Tercentenary committee was founded in the Township to
help celebrate the anniversary and the Committee decided to make the
establishment of a museum its main project. Armed with donations from
local residents, committee members renovated the building and
reopened it in 1963 as a museum.
Today, as you enter the museum, you walk into an
entrance foyer. Probably once used to hold the boots and coats of
school children, it is now an entrance hallway. The door to the main
room is to the left, and upon entering, you step into
history.
Specific items on display in the museum include
antique farm tools, a magic lantern, a candle snuffer, wooden butter
ladle, foot warmer (for winter wagon rides and meetings in unheated
buildings), oil lamp, an American flag made when the United States
consisted of 39 States; a bedspread, handsewn in 1824,
"candlewicked" in design; ledgers of the town doctor
proclaiming bills for services - "Visit and Sundries ...
88ยข", and a three foot barrel hollowed from a tree trunk- said
to be one of the two existing in the state.
An organ stands in a corner, thought to have been
used in the First Dutch Reformed Church before 1880. In the adjacent
corner, stands a grandfather clock, hand built in the 1700s as proven
by the fact that Australia is designated "New Holland" as
it was known in the 1700's on the clock's face. The exhibit
includes the winding stairway and the mantle piece from the Hanie
House on Hook Mountain Road, which was demolished in 1965 to make way
for Route 80. Also on display are a collection of local minerals, two
spinning wheels, old chairs and dishes, a mahogany baby cradle dating
back to the 1700s, Indian arrowheads and a tomahawk.
Photographs of the Morris Canal, early township
residents and almost every historic home in Montville line the walls,
with a slide presentation and accompanying tape available to tell
their histories. A miniature model of a Morris Canal
"Plane" with canal boat and cradle are also on
display.
The museum has a file of township homes over 100
years old. Also on tap are documents, records, maps, post cards,
books, artifacts and costumes reflecting the town's
history.
A cannonball from the Civil War and found in the
township can be seen in the display case. Also an antique ribbon case
used to display colorful ribbons in Mair Fogelson's General Store
(which used to be near the Columbia Inn on Route 202) can be
seen.
All these museum items stir thoughts of what it
must have been like to live a century ago.
If you can not make the scheduled visiting hours
from 1 to 4 PM on Sunday, you can schedule an appointment by calling
(973) 334-3665 or (973) 394-0554.
The Museum is a wonderful way to spend a few hours
in thoughts of life as it must have been long
ago. The history of Montville Township is available
to anyone interested enough to note a phone number or keep a Sunday
afternoon free.
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