Oradell is fortunate to have some dedicated folks who have seen to safeguarding its past. George Carter (Borough Archivist) and  Frank Vierling (Borough Historian) spearhead efforts out of the Library that have worked to tirelessly assemble, organize and make accessible documents that tell the story of the community. An example of these efforts may be found in the images of July Fourth. There are virtually hundreds that span the decades. In communities that lack such imagery, the stories from the past are left to the pen or keyboard. The pictures and images to be found in Oradell’s archives …

We started these Journeys into Oradell some time ago by relating the story how New Milford was in modern day Oradell before it became the name of the area today known as the Borough of New Milford. Similarly, we’ve spoken some of the name Oradell, and about the origins of the name Kinderkamack. We’ve even looked back at the old Delford Hotel, which sat gracefully at what is now Schirra Park. But until now there was at least one glaring omission – the name Delford. According to Oradell: Biography of a Borough, Hiram Bellis is credited with coming up with the name Delford. Bellis was part of a …

Many words have been written of the significant role parts of River Edge played in the Revolutionary War. New Bridge Landing, the Van Steuben House are names familiar to us all. Old Bridge, also to the south in River Edge, played an important role too, because as with New Bridge landing, it provided a crucial link across the Hackensack River. Just next door in Paramus is where Washington is said to have slept and his troops refreshed themselves at what is now called the Washington Spring in Van Saun Park. Less publicized is the history of the period that was made in Oradell. If you’re headed …

We recently shared with you a classic picture of the Shell Station on Kinderkamack dating back to 1934. But there were other filling stations along the main road as well. And, thanks to George Carter and his tireless efforts in preserving the history of Oradell, images of are available that give us a glimpse of what the town looking like years ago. Are you are able to recognize these gas stations from another era? We have provided contemporary shots so you can compare Oradell now and then.  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Thanks to Borough Historian Frank Vierling for his guidance. And, a special thank you…

Driving along Kinderkamack Road this past week, we noticed the sign down at Badlands Taco. It is, after 14 years, suddenly gone, added the eatery to a list of stores once important but now no more. Hagler’s, Kinderkamack Pontiac and the old Grand Union are but three that immediately come to mind. As we contemplated this inevitable change over time, it got us to thinking of an unassuming place along the main road that manages continue,  even  as so much has come and gone  around it. The Shell Station just to the north of the Town Square has the appearance of a modern gas station. To some this …

Not too long ago in these pages, we wrote about the bridges of Oradell Avenue, and how they more than once had been washed away by flood waters. The recent visit of Hurricane Irene and the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee have brought us a good bit of flooding around town. It has also conjured up thoughts of what the flooding has been like over the years. For example, the signature event -the washout of 1903 – comes to mind. We share with you some photographs taken in the aftermath of that storm. The images may be fuzzy and the natives clad attire from another era, but one can, nonetheless, …

For the first part of the 20th century one of the mainstays of Oradell was a man described as in local histories as “indispensible”. He was Frank Preis, and for many years he was Oradell’s only barber. In his 1969 book, "Oradell: A Biography of a Borough," J. Irving Crump goes to great lengths to describe Preis and his impact on the community. Preis, his wife, and six-week-old son first came to town in 1898. He did business there until his death in 1940. In between, he served customers downstairs in the old Delford Hotel, and then at a shop in the living room of a home his father built at 358…

Over the past few months we’ve related how Oradell was once a resort community along the shores of a pristine Hackensack River, and how that all changed when the river was dredged to create what is now the Oradell Reservoir. We’ve come across some images that help tell the story (Courtesy of J. Irving Crump’s Oradell: Biography of a Borough, 1969). The first gives an indication of how the river looked during its heyday as a recreational destination. According to local histories, swimming, canoeing and fishing were activities that drew participants from near and far. It was considered as nice …

With gas prices still high and unlikely to ever go back down to levels we once thought as normal, there is much talk these days about necessary changes in how we get around. Increased rail service on the Pascack Valley line is one example of how folks are trying to anticipate and promote these necessary changes rather than try to react after the fact. It is interested to see, however, that when one detrains at the classic Oradell Station, travel options are locally are quite limited. There is a driveway for pickups. N.J. Transit and Rockland Coaches have bus stops accessible just beyond the …

It might be a bit difficult to fathom within the context of today’s 24-7 wired media world, but one of Oradell’s most distinguished citizens into the mid-twentieth century was its telephone operator. Her name was Lena Miller Haring. She first came to town as Lena Miller around the turn of the century (1902) from  her home in Brooklyn to visit her aunt, Mrs. Charles Engel. In Oradell: A Biography of a Borough (1994 by J. Irving Crump) she writes of how she decided upon that visit that she “wanted to live in a little town like Oradell”….so (she) stayed. Lena married and became Mrs. John V. …

Today it s something we all take for granted - Oradell is, well,  Oradell. But it was not always that way. Much as it is not known by many that Kinderkamack Road in town was once known as Linden Avenue   (then the town’s Main Street too), similarly it comes as a surprise to some to learn that Oradell was not always Oradell Oradell was originally formed on March 8, 1894, as the Borough of Delford. Delford was constructed from from portions of Harrington Park, Midland Township and Palisades Township, at the height of phenomenon described as “Boroughitis”, then sweeping through Bergen County. …

At least for now there’s an old building with history still standing on the southeast corner of RidgewoodAvenue and Kinderkamack Road. It’s one of those places that one gets attached to. It’s quirky and one of a kind – structures they don’t build anymore. It’s also a place with a history. The present day brick building, now home to Felice Restaurant, was long known as the site of Hagler’s, a local hangout. Its bar, mural and food were known to generations. But the now vacant diner was there before the bar/restaurant. Our historian friends at the Oradell Library tell us that the original diner…

We’ll take time to pause on this day to think of Memorial Day, as we always do,  to recall those who lost their lives in pursuit of freedom for our country. Locally, a brief parade will wind its way through Oradell’s streets up to Memorial Field at the intersection of Prospect and Park. There, as a community,  those from here will who sacrificed their lives for their country will be remembered. The origins of Memorial Day come out of the Civil War, whose beginnings 150 years ago are being marked through 2011. There is little in local history to indicate whether and how local residents …

Recent Spring flooding has had some folks take a look back in time as to how the river has treated Oradell over the years. This year’s floods are neither the first nor the most notorious. The most recalled flood in local histories took place our in the 20th century. The year was 1903. A new stylish stone arch bridge on Oradell Avenue spanned the river. The bridge had been completed some eight years earlier, replacing an earlier series of wooden bridges. The idea at the time was for the new stone bridge to be able to withstand the occasional thaw floods that had wreaked havoc with the earlier …

Oradell has been blessed to have had a number of distinguished citizens come from its midst. Golfer Jim McGovern and football coach Bill Parcells are two that immediately come to mind. Ellsworth Kelly is another citizen of distinction from an earlier time whose story, among others, we hope to share with you in the future. If you were around the area in the early 1960’s, however, one name would likely top your list as it did ours. Walter Marty Schirra, Jr. (March 12, 1923 – May 3, 2007) was one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts chosen for Project Mercury, America's first effort to put …

It’s Oradell’s Main Street. In fact, it is the main thoroughfare connecting the County Seat to the Pascack Valley. Kinderkamack Road today stretches from just south of Route 4 to the New York State border. It is also a name of the area that is now known as Oradell. The name goes back centuries. Long before Europeans invaded the area, the road parallel to the Hackensack River had been a much traveled Indian trail. This and other trails became the foundation for the roads we travel today. The riverside trail was widened by the settlers as they established farms along the river banks from New …

Today it is Oradell’s town square. In an earlier time, it was the center of town. There, at what is now Schirra Park,  once stood the Hotel Delford. Like many communities along the Hackensack River Valley, Oradell’s initial growth can be attributed to its connection with the river and the railroad. As the railroad came to communities, hotels would be built near the depots – many structures of the Victorian era. The Hotel Delford was one such establishment. It was built by Isaac D. Demarest, and over the years was also known as “Wortendyke’s-Westervelts-Kaplans”. Resembling the great resorts …

Stop and look at an old map of the area (circa late 1800’s) and you’ll find New Milford there – along Kinderkamack Road between River Edge and Oradell. Turns out that New Milford was in Oradell before it became known for its association with the area to the east of where it is known by that name today. Back some 115 years ago (1894), New Milford was the designation of a stretch of land to the west of the Hackensack River and wholly within the bounds of Midland Township. It went from Midland Avenue north to Ridgewood Avenue, and from just west of Prospect Avenue to the Hackensack River, …