Phillipsburg Historic Sites Survey

We’ve almost completed the design for the wiki that we’ll use to make the survey available to the general populace. We have four-color photos of each site, and we’ll pick up a map from Google Maps to provide a location. The wiki will be searchable by any number of fields, including address, street, architectural style, even key words like mansard roof or cornice. The information will need a lot of fact-checking (mostly for spelling errors) and we certainly actively seek input, including old photos, from our readers.

The sample screen from the wiki is too large a file to post here right now, but if you’ll contact me, I’ll send a version via e-mail.

We held our second orientation session on Saturday, July 31, and met four new people–Eva Baranowski, who is from Bloomsbury and will be surveying the Valley View development; Joe Fisher will begin with Howard Street; Dominick Vangeli, who is from Alpha, will take on Sitgreaves Street; and Joe Clark is picking up Brainerd & Randall Streets. Chester Richards didn’t sign up for any specific area (yet), but he has a wealth of knowledge of old P’burg, and we’ll get him out surveying soon.

We’ve already received several survey forms from Rich McIntyre (with photos) of Reece Street and Hanover Street. He did some research and found some really old images of Reece Street. Bernie Rooney signed up for large portions of South Main and Front Street; Rich Backes is taking Mercer Street; Ed Saultz has Stockton and Heckman; Jim Lee Jr. took responsibility for the Morris Canal/Lock Street down to the river and the arch, and Bill Woodall is looking for old road signs throughout the town and immediate area.

When you see any of these people, ask them about their experiences and what they are finding. I believe you’ll be surprised at what’s in Phillipsburg. There’s still lots left, so we need additional volunteers.

Call me (Frank) at (908) 827-1778 or send me an e-mail–flg@guidedlearning.com if you’d like to help.

On July 7 we started the survey off, with our first training session.

(pictured: Jim Lee, Bernie Rooney, Ed Saulz, Rich Backes, Rick McIntyre – not pictured – Frank Greenagel, Sue Brooks, Bill Woodall)

Training was held in the Roseberry house – on one of the hottest days of the year, those stone walls kept the interior reasonably comfortable – but we didn’t stay inside for long! After a brief lecture and discussion, it was down Warren Street, looking for example structures:
This duplex qualifies for survey inclusion – dormers in the attic suggest the attic was intended for occupation (not just storage); size and closeness to the road make it worth a further look. Sanborn insurance maps show this duplex from 1903 onwards.

Across the street we found this concrete-block multi-family dwelling; The incised lintels and gambrel profile slate roof warrants a bit more of a look as well, so we’ll likely put this one on the survey. The building probably was built 1910-1920.

We’ve started the survey.

Our first training session was held Wednesday July 7, at the Roseberry Homestead. We’ll be holding additional training sessions over the next several weeks, and expect to have the data-gathering phase substantially completed by the end of September.

Please see the “About” section for an explanation of our purpose, and “Resources” for some important information.

We’ll be updating this blog frequently with announcements and interesting discoveries.