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We
plan on featuring a few notable local buildings each issue, including
a map from Google in case you'd like to check out the site. If you
have suggestions, and especially if you have a bit of the history of
the building, we'd like to hear from you. |
The
Seigle-Apgar House on Route 627 in Pohatcong was recently
featured in the 15th Annual Tour of historic buildings there. It's
adjacent to the
Seigle Log House, which is a must-see building. The Seigle-Apgar House
actually consists of two separate buildings, later joined together.
The older
part was
built
about 1790. There are several other old structures on the property—a
barn and cistern, as well as the Log House. And, for those who might need
a bit of refreshment, the place is adjacent to the Alba Vineyards, which
is housed in an 1830s barn. |
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Google
map here
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St
Philip and St James Catholic Church is located on South Main at Stockton
Street
in Phillipsburg. The congregation was organized in 1838, and their
first
church was
erected about 1860. It was very similar to the catholic churches in
Bound Brook and Boonton, almost certainly built from the same plans.
The present church was begun in 1873, but construction was suspended,
probably due at least in part of the Financial Panic of 1873 (which
continued for several years). Construction resumed in 1881, suspended
again and restarted in 1886, and completed (except for the tower clock
steeple and the facade) in 1889. The original architect was Patrick
Keely, one of the leading church architects of the period—Keely
was responsible for more than a three hundred Catholic churches on
the east coast.
The present brickcoating was done in 1972, when the clerestory was
covered up; a year later the interior underwent a substantial remodeling.
Anne Ford-Kline wrote an informative history of
the church which was published by the Metuchen diocese in 1990.
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|
 The
original bridge at Riegelsville was a wooden structure built in 1835.
It was destroyed by a flood on October
10, 1903. The following year, the current bridge, a three-span suspension
bridge with a steel deck was constructed in place of the destroyed
bridge by John A. Roebling & Sons of New York. A plaque on top of
either side of the bridge identifies S. A. Cooney as the engineer.
There
is
a structure resembling a toll house at the western (Pennsylvania) end
of the bridge, by the anchorage for the south cable, but the bridge
is free to cross. It is supported by toll money from other crossings
of the Delaware River maintained by the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge
Commission. The suspension system consists of two cables, clamped one above
the other on either side of the bridge.
Cables pass over cast iron saddles at the top of each tower. Not including
the steel deck, there are 166 tons of steel in the superstructure, except
for the cables which total 12 tons.The existing bridge, constructed in
1904 by John A. Roebling's Sons Company of New York, is a three-span suspension
structure with a total length of 577 feet. The open-grid steel deck provides
a roadway width of 16 feet between steel rubrails. A timber-plank sidewalk
is supported by a king post floor beam system, cantilevered on both ends
of the bridge. The sidewalk railing is actually a double-warren truss,
assisting in strengthening the bridge roadway. The substructure, masonry
piers originally built in 1835, were raised and built up in 1904. The pier
nearest the Pennsylvania approach was almost completely demolished in the
flood of 1936 and was subsequently rebuilt using reinforced concrete.
Riegelsville
was originally
known as Hunt’s
Ferry, and was the site of a gristmill built by the Hunts in the late 1700s.
In 1823 it
was purchased by Benjamin Riegel. His son, John L. Riegel, took over the mill
and converted it to a sawmill, and then to a paper mill. In the late 1850s, the
Belvidere-Delaware Railroad came through and shortly after that the general store,
which is now being renovated, was erected. It housed the Musconetcong
Post Office until the early 1970s.
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The
Lutheran church in Stewartsville was organized in 1851, probably by
people who been members of the Straw church, the Presbyterian church
in Greenwich and the Union church in Finesville. It was built in that
year
in the Greek
Revival style, which was then very popular, and can be seen in a more
authentic form across the street in the Presbyterian church, also built
in 1851. This is a variant on the in antis plan (recessed
entry with two columns, flanked
by pilasters)
that
we first see in the state in Trenton—the fine First Presbyterian church—in
1836. Notice the shallow slope to the roof and the the broad cornice.
The facade
was considerably
altered
in the 20th century.
There
were at least 20 churches built in a virtually identical style in the
state between 1836 and 1856, most of which still survive (many in Somerset
county). The
Reformed church was particularly attracted to this style, but Methodists, Baptists
and African Methodist Episcopal congregations all adopted it, too. An architect
was probably not involved in this church, but very likely a set of plans had
been published which encouraged several builders/contractors to erect very
similar churches in Newark, Colts Neck, Mt Holly, Chester, Harlingen, Griggstown
and Cokesbury, to mention just a few.
The town gained its name from the Stewart family
who settled here, and then grew with the construction of the Morris Canal, which
passed through nearby, linking the Delaware and Hudson rivers, a distance
of 102 miles. About this same time (18540s-1850s) the Central Railroad of New
Jersey
was completed and the combination of these two means of transportation
speeded up the growth of this community.
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