Historic sites of Cranford
Mastodon Site
Two tusks (one measuring 4 feet 3 inches (130 cm)) and several bone fragments from an ancient American mastodon were found in June and August 1936 north of Kenilworth Blvd in what is now Lenape Park (other sources name the swampy area directly behind what is now the parking lot of Union County College's main building). [10] Two Works Progress Administration workers digging an artificial lake in Lenape located the bones. [11] [12] The bones discovered are believed to have belonged to a young male that lived 12,000 years ago and probably washed down from farther north. They are the only known Ice Age mastodon specimens found in Union County, New Jersey. [13]
Great Minisink Trail
Certain Native Americans lived most of the year in the Delaware Valley, and came to the coast only at certain seasons to hunt and fish. [14] The Great Minisink Trail was a path for Lenape travel that stretched from to the Council Fire of Minisink Island on the Delaware River to the tidal area of Claypit Creek Park in Navesink not far from the beaches of Sandy Hook, New Jersey. [15] In the Cranford area, the trail, which stayed west of the Rahway River, passed over Nomahegan Brook near where today's Lenape Park meets Echo Lake Park. It then traveled south, keeping east of the pond at Fairview Cemetery. Inside the Cranford line, it passed near a spring on what is now Indian Spring Road over what was once the farm of Gideon Ludlow off Gallows Hill Road. [16] The Lenape called the Cranford area Wawahakewany or 'place where eggs are found.' [17]
The Old York Road
The Cranford Pepperidge Tree
At the side of the Old York Road grew "Old Peppy", the official tree of the Township of Cranford in what is now Lincoln Park (formerly the 1899-era grounds of the Cranford Golf Club, now moved to Westfield and called the Echo Lake Country Club). Felled in April 2015 out of safety concerns, the tree was a Nyssa sylvatica, also known as a black tupelo, tupelo, black gum, sour gum or pepperidge tree. A cross section of its trunk is preserved in a gazebo in Lincoln Park. Apparently in connection with the controversy surrounding the removal of "Old Peppy," a copper commemorative plaque was stolen from Lincoln Park. The plaque had been mounted by the Cranford Historical Society on a rock near the tree and was originally placed in 1964. Since the removal of the tree on April 21, 2015, the plaque was all that remained to remind Cranford of the tree's history. [18] [19]
The Rock
Boundary rock etched by surveyors in 1699 during the grant of the "West fields" in Nomahegan Park.
Crane's Mills Site
A component of the Rahway River Parkway just north of the North Union Avenue bridge, this was the site of the two Crane family mills that gave the village its first name; "Crane's Mills." A gristmill was located on the north bank of the river in what is today's Sperry Park. A sawmill was located on the south bank behind today's Gray's Funeral Home. [20] Both mills flanked the c. 1720 dam known later as "Hansel's Dam" because it was behind the home of Charles Hansel (today's funeral home). Archaeological digs at both mill sites in the early 1970s uncovered foundations, machinery mounts, clay pipes, bottles, buttons and tools. Today, the annual rubber ducky derby, held in Sperry Park as a fundraiser for the Hanson Park Conservancy, races over the little falls at Hansel's Dam.
Crane Farm and Village Site
In 1971, the Cranford Historical Society marked the farm and village home of Josiah Crane, Sr. (1791–1873) in what is now Josiah Crane Park on the Rahway River at the corner of Springfield and North Union Avenue. [21] Crane, Sr. built what is now the Crane-Phillips House as a honeymoon cottage for his son, Josiah Crane, Jr.
Crane's Ford Monument
Located on Riverside Drive at Springfield Avenue, the monument marks the site of Crane's Ford, the low-water crossing place on the Rahway River. Tradition has it that in the Revolutionary War mounted sentinels stationed at this site carried warning of the approaching British to Washington at Morristown. The Township takes its name from this spot. The Cranford Historical Society erected the tablet to Crane's Ford on July 4, 1929, which was unveiled by Cranford's oldest living Civil War veteran at the time.; [22] [23]
Cranford Canoe Club
The Cranford Canoe Club, also known as the Cranford Boat & Canoe Company, is one of the oldest canoe clubs in the United States. Its current location at 250 Springfield Avenue and the corner of Orange Avenue is considered one of the earliest Canoe Clubs. Founded in 1908, the establishment has gone through numerous private owners. A map from 1922 shows two Canoe Clubs. The second canoe club was erected across the street where a current park and tennis court exists.
In 1990, Cranford purchased the facility and property with Green Acres funding. The property was agreed to be purchased from Frank Betz of Westfield in 1990 with the transaction closing in 1992. Mr. Betz owned the facility for 20 years and created one of the largest retail small boat dealerships in the country. Betz purchased the facility in 1972 from Cranford resident George Apgar. Cranford's nickname as the "Venice of New Jersey" makes it only fitting that it has a canoe club operating in the township. The township has leased the property and livery service to a third party that still functions today, renting canoes and kayaks on the bank of the Rahway River.
Revolutionary War Cantonment Site
Located at Sperry Park on Riverside Drive, a marker commemorates the winter of 1779-80 cantonment of Continental Army troops during the Revolutionary War along the river here, part of a 2,000 man front protecting George Washington's troops at Morristown. Here, Brigadier General William Irvine established headquarters of the forward defense line on January 1, 1780. The front stretched in an arc from Newark to Perth Amboy, with Crane's Mills (Cranford) in the center. Several Continental Army generals headquartered here. Alexander Hamilton visited the Crane's Mills cantonment and Hessian prisoners are known to have passed through here. [24] [25] The marker was placed by the Crane's Ford Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1977.
Revolutionary Hospital Site
An American Revolutionary War army field hospital was located in the northwest portion of Crane's Mills from 1777 to 1780. The site is now part of the Union County College campus, near Princeton Road, roughly at the site of the Kenneth Campbell MacKay Library. [26] The hospital was a log building similar to the reconstruction that can be seen today at Morristown. [10]
The Old Red Schoolhouse
Located at the corner of the Old York Road (now Lincoln Avenue East) and South Union Avenue, a historical plaque erected by the Cranford Historical Society in 1935 marks the location of Cranford's first school built in 1805.
Lost structures of Cranford
IBM office
A modernist branch office for IBM was constructed in Cranford according to designs by architect Victor Lundy; [27] The building has since been demolished.[ citation needed ]
Cranford Opera House Block
Erected by James Walter Thompson in the 1890s and designed by Frank Townsend Lent this structure, containing a theater for various performances was owned by William Miller Sperry before it was destroyed in a fire.
