Moments in Montclair’s history by Mike Farrelly, Montclair Township Historian
1. The area on what is now Edgemont Park and Valley Road used to be a cow pasture. It became a golf course in the 1890s. It was used by the new homeowners in Erwin Park. The golf club moved to West Orange. Erwin Park was named for Jared Erwin Harrison, who lived in the big yellow house at 249 Valley Road.
2. Rev. Amory Bradford invited Booker T. Washington, the great African American educator to Montclair in 1898. Bradford wanted him to be the grand marshal of the 4th of July parade, but many citizens didn’t want him to be in the parade. He spoke at Bradford’s church: 1st Congregational on South Fullerton. Booker T returned to Montclair in 1905. A group of firemen refused to march if Booker T was going to be in the parade. Instead, he gave the July 4th speech at the High School, which was then on Orange Road.
3. Everybody knows about ice cream at Applegate Farms. Many people also remember the Awful Awful milkshakes at Bonds on Valley Road. Some old-timers remember Grunnings on Bloomfield Ave., but there was another great place to get ice cream: Woods Dairy in the South End and Rudd’s Dairy before that. You used to be able to get ice cream at some pharmacies, especially at the Elm Pharmacy on Bloomfield Ave, the first African American pharmacy in town; owned by Thomas Womble.
4. Wally Choice owned a drugstore on Bloomfield Ave. He is probably best known for starting the Montclair Grass Roots organization for kids, but some people remember him as a player for the famous Harlem Globetrotters.
5. Montclair’s first mayor (actually, the chairman of the township committee) was Amos Broadnax, who lived on Valley Road. Many of Montclair’s oldest houses don’t look as old as they really are. That’s because rich businessmen who came here in the middle of the 19th century renovated them. In fact, Amos Broadnax lived in one of the oldest houses in town, but it was torn down to the basement and built back up in 1881. It is 771 Valley Road.
6. Montclair has been home to a couple of former governors of New Jersey. James Fielder was president of the state senate in 1913 and became acting governor when Woodrow Wilson left for Washington. He was then elected governor. He moved to Montclair in the 1930s. Franklin Fort, who was governor from 1908 to 1911 spent summers here.
7. Montclair has been home to several senators: Frank Lautenberg, Bill Bradley, Albert Hawkes… It was home to a couple of congressmen: Edward Townsend and William Gray, who was a minister at Union Baptist Church. Although, he didn’t become a congressman until after he moved to Philadelphia. Robert Liddell, a wealthy textile manufacturer, inventor and member of the English Parliament, lived on Upper Mountain Ave. for a couple of years, while applying for American and Canadian patents.