written by Robert J. Wilson, Jr.
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| "Early" Colonial Terraces |
The connection between my immediate family and the neighborhood my mother always loved, and called "the Housing Tract"- and which the developers called "the Garden Spot of Newburgh"- began in October, 1925, when, just married, Robert J. Wilson, a sales clerk at the DuPont Fabrikoid Works, and the former Margaret “Marg" Jackson set up housekeeping in one of the four apartments at 19 Norton Street in the Colonial Terraces.
In Aug. 1926, my sister, Barbara "Bunny" Wilson, was born at St. Luke’s Hospital, and shortly thereafter, the family moved to 23 Bush Avenue. Then, in about 1930, they moved again, to 161 Fullerton Avenue. Near neighbors there who became family friends were "Blondie" and "Allie" Reed and their son, Ron. Blondie was a fireman, and ultimately became Chief of Station at the firehouse on Dubois Street, near South. Family stories relating to our stay on Fullerton Avenue include my sister breaking her leg somehow, when she was about three years-old, and a pet Cocker Spaniel named "Ginger," who one day ran out into the street and was totaled by the car of an NFA student hurrying to school (or at least that’s how the story goes).
By early 1934, expecting an addition to the family (me), the Wilsons moved to 29 Bush Avenue, the first home that I knew after having been born at St. Luke’s in December, 1934. A month later, Geraldine Ferraro was also born at Newburgh, at her family’s home at Dubois and First Streets, and not in the hospital. Ferraro-Zaccaro confirmed this fact via a chance meeting with me at LaGuardia Airport in 1986.
I guess that I became aware of life beyond the walls of our home in early 1937, and first knew that I lived on an especially interesting street in a great neighborhood. But one of my early memories is still not a pleasant one...before my eyes, my sister sat on, and fractured, my little wooden "kiddy car" on which I used to tear up and down the sidewalk in front of our home. Happily, my parents replaced it quickly with a real metal tricycle. The storm had turned into sunshine!
Another early memory from 1937 or so: looking up into the sky from my front yard one summer day, toward the sound of engines revving, I saw for the first time a mighty dirigible heading south toward New York. Was it possibly the "Los Angeles", the "Akron," "Macon," or maybe even the "Hindenburg?" I don’t know, but the sight was so overwhelming to me as a three-year-old, that I never have forgotten it!
My best friend in those early days was a little black and white dog named Peppy (short for Pepper), who belonged to our next-door neighbors, the Schneiders. Our relationship blossomed to the extent that I have been a dog-lover every since.
Beyond my front yard and sidewalk, the world slowly emerged. Our immediate next-door neighbors at 29 Bush were the Schneiders and the "Hobie" Lent family. Further north on Bush, at the corner of Bennet, were the Dederick family, whose son Bobby, who later in life was a reporter for "The Newburgh News," was an early pal. Bobby comforted me once, during the onset of a thunderstorm, saying that it was only "the fairies bowling." Ironically, Bob now lives in Ulster County, near the Catskills, where Hudson’s sailors bowled, according to the legend of Rip Van Winkle, creating the thunder that the early lowland settlers heard.
In the same row-house building as the Dedericks, came in 1938, I think, young Lothar Marks, a refugee from Nazi oppression in Germany. Lothar quickly adapted to life here, and became a good pal. I was pleased when my mother gave Lothar a basketful of Easter egg candies (which, frankly, I didn’t like the taste of), when the occasion came up. Lothar later became a classmate at West Street School, and he and I both enjoyed drawing warships and ocean liners in Miss Sally Tweed’s first grade classroom.
The Herbert family lived at the northwest corner of Bush and Norton. Mr. Herbert worked for the Roosa Furniture Company on Broadway. The Herbert’s had two sons, Stewart and Richard, several years older than me. Richard was my boyhood idol, and my parents always said that I patterned my way of walking...when I was just learning to walk... after Richard’s gait. I still walk that way. Richard resides at Sylcox, as of this writing.
On the east side of the upper Bush Avenue block in those days, lived the Carey family at the corner of McKinstry Street, and next to them, in the two-family frame house, lived the Evarts and Nelbach families. Mr. Evarts was a math teacher at NJHS, and his daughter Jane was a friend of my sister’s. Mr. Nelbach was in the automobile business in Newburgh. Their children were Dorothy and Art, Jr. Mrs. Nelbach, I adored. She took a liking to me, and used to sing "Three Little Fishies in the Itty-Bitty Pool," to me, to my great delight. I think I even may have been in love with Mrs. Nelbach. She was a bright, vivacious and attractive lady, indeed. On the northeast corner of Bush and Norton lived the Ernst family, who owned two tiny Pekinese dogs who "yip-yipped" all day long if agitated.
On one-block McKinstry Street in "the Housing Tract" in the later 1930’s lived two families that I remember: the Lyles and the Stocks. Jim Lyle was a pillar of St. Mary’s Church and a member of the Knights of Columbus. That duly impressed my young self, as I imagined gatherings at a Round Table, exciting tilting contests, and Arthurian romance. I somehow doubt this was the way these Knights in Newburgh spent their time! The Stocks had a son named Harry, many years older than me, who was a bit mentally challenged, and was another great pal. Harry responsibly delivered the "Newburgh News" throughout Colonial Terraces for many years. Harry was teased occasionally by some of the other, older kids in the neighborhood, but I remember that I liked and respected Harry a great deal. I think he liked me, too. He unfailingly reminded me, at about naptime in the early afternoon when he would see me, that it was "time for beddie-bye, Bobby." I’ll never forget Harry for his friendship with me.
On upper Norton Street, next to the Ernsts, lived the Merediths, who had two young daughters, Jane and Susan. Jane was about my age and Susan quite a bit younger. They had a great porch-swing, and I used to scheme up ways to have Jane invite me over to use it with her. Across Norton lived the John Hopper family, with their children, Jo, Jimmy and Judy. Jo was my sister’s age, and was a friend. Judy was a year older than me and was a frequent playmate with Janie Meredith. John, the father, worked with my dad at the Dupont Fabrikoid plant. The Hoppers had a great toy that I admired, which was usually placed in a corner of their living room. It was a small (but large to me) stuffed toy bear mounted on wheels, and ride-able. Wow, did I envy Judy for being able to ride it at will!
Further up on Norton, just below Farrell on the south side, lived the Stimpson’s. Ed Stimpson was also an employee at the "Fabby." His wife, who all of us kids in the neighborhood called "Auntie,” was great, and I took advantage of that. I would frequently appear at her door, usually with someone, and ask her if she had any Ritz crackers to pass out. They were a favorite of mine, and still are. Soon, Annie got to calling me "Ritz Crackers" when she saw me at the door. What a wonderful lady she was! Also on Norton then, next to the Meredith’s lived the Poinsett family. I always wondered if they or anyone in the family had anything to do with the naming of the Christmas flowering plant. Were there possibly botanists in my old neighborhood?
Around the corner from Bush, on Bennett Street, was, and still is, a two-family frame house across the street from the tennis courts. There lived the McNair and the Coppola families. I remember the Coppola’s very healthy young son, Junior, and his pet parrot. Others tell me that the Coppolas once held a wake for a family member on their enclosed front porch, with the deceased on prominent display there. I confess that I do not remember this memorable event in the neighborhood. It must have happened after our family temporarily moved away from the "the Housing Tract" during the early W.W.II years.
Although Lilly Street parallels part of Bush Avenue on the west, I don’t remember the names of many families on Lilly in the late 1930’s...with one exception: the elderly widowed sisters, Margaret McNeal Wilson and Susan McNeal Worden, who shared a home on the west side of Lilly for a few years in the mid-1930’s. Mrs. Wilson was the only grand-parent I ever knew and Great-Aunt "Su-Su" was my only great-aunt. They were wonderful people: I think my "Nanna" favored me a bit, and "Su-Su" favored my sister, but they were both great to both of us. My grandmother had been widowed since 1903, and Aunt Su-Su, since 1912. Since then, they had taken various apartments and homes in Newburgh, usually together, and after Lilly Street, moved to a bay-window apartment on Montgomery Street, across from Zillig’s Funeral Home, which featured a magnificent view of the harbor, the river, the bay, and the mountains behind Beacon and Cornwall. But that’s another story, and another neighborhood.
Below Norton, on the west side of Bush, at the southwest corner, lived the Eulers and their young daughter Nancy. In later times, the Elders (Bill was an athletic coach and teacher at NFA) lived in this house. On the southeast corner of Bush and Norton lived the Cheneys. They had two sons named Clark and Dick, who was nicknamed "Owl". The Cheneys had a nonpareil family talent: they were all wonderful tune-whistlers and Mrs. Cheney was best of them all.
I got to know most of the folks on Bush Avenue below Norton better in the 1943-1949 period, but there was one family who was very important to me and who lived and worked there before 1941. This was the Gee family, and "Wattie" (for Watson) ran the variety store at the far-down corner of Bush and Fullerton in those years. Wattie was every Colonial Terrace’s kid’s friend around about 1939 and 1940, because there was where you could get penny pretzels, soda from the fountains, and find comic books. I used to try to work my charms on Wattie to buy a pretzel on credit, and more often than not, he let me (if I were alone). Maybe he did this for too many kids, because a few years later, he closed the store and went back to work for the Erie Railroad in the Maybrook Yards.
In early 1941, we were forced to move from 29 Bush Avenue, because our landlady had to sell the house, and we couldn’t afford to buy it then. My mother was crushed- no other vacancies were available in "the Tract," so we moved into temporary exile, to Gedney Way, to another great neighborhood in old Newburgh. But we would return in 1943, to Farrell Street at Norton, right in the midst of another part of "the Housing Tract."
Our landlord at 2 Gedney Way was Stanley Johnson, the Orange County District Attorney. He decided to sell this house in 1943, and encouraged my parents to buy it (the price was $3,000). However, my mother was most anxious to move back to the Terraces, and a unit was available at 11 Farrell Street, at the southwest corner of Norton Street, a house owned by Otto Brown, the Newburgh Buick dealer. With no hesitation, we moved back to "the Housing Tract" in November 1943.
I’ll not mention the Gedney Way years here again, except to recount an unusual circumstance. My mother was called to County Jury duty in Goshen during that time. It was for a murder trial involving a man named Warden who had allegedly murdered his wife. The judge was Graham Witschief, the defense attorney was Henry Hirschberg, and our Gedney Way landlord, Johnson, prosecuted the case. I don’t know why mother was not dismissed. At any rate, the jury unanimously declared that they agreed with Hirschberg that his client was guilty only of temporary insanity, and my mother and other jurors received a grateful Christmas card from Warden for many years afterwards. Maybe Johnson should have called for her dismissal after all.
Our immediate next-door neighbors in our "new" old neighborhood on Farrell Street were the Gene Lavarellos, whose children then were Gene, Jr., Joan, and Anne. Gene was a pal of mine, and the girls were a bit younger. Gene, Sr. was a partner with his dad and brother in a grocery store on the north side of Broadway. A lot of the store’s business required delivery of orders phoned in, and a treat for Gene, Jr. and me back then was to be allowed to ride in the back of the open-sided delivery van and help his dad with unloading the groceries. I got to know many parts of Newburgh neighborhoods, such as Willett Avenue, Shipp Street, Larter Avenue, Nicoll Street, and Benkard Avenue, for the first time. Once I had gotten my first man-sized bike in 1946, these earlier trips made it easier for me to explore other interesting "new" neighborhoods that were part of the pre-post-war Newburgh scene.
On the west side of Farrell, south of the Lavarellos, lived the Bill Swains. He was in the liquor sales business and always had trunks full of promotional items for liquor stores and bars that were obsolete and slated for disposal. The best treasure I obtained from Swain was a huge, full-color framed wall map of the world, "During World War II." It had only a modest logo of Carstairs or Seagram’s in the lower right corner, and the map was sure neat. I learned most of the geography I know today from that map...certainly more than I ever learned from Miss Smith of the 5th Grade at West Street School in 1944. Next to the Swains lived the Smith family, which included three sons: George, Jr., known as "Snuffy," "Buddy," and young Bobby.
The Kavanaugh family, with youngsters Connie and Bill, lived just south of the Smiths. In fact, Bill Kavanaugh still lives in that home. The late Connie, who later became the wife of Bill Volpe, was my one of my sister’s best friends for more than 45 years. The Kavanaughs had a large doghouse just behind their back yard, which the neighborhood boys used occasionally as a hiding place during "Kick the Can" or "Hide and Go Seek" games.
The Templetons lived next to the Kavanaughs, in the last dwelling on the west side of Farrell Street, near Third. They had a young daughter named Carol. Carol innocently snitched on a group of us boys when we once not so innocently broke into a home around the corner on Third Street we thought unoccupied or abandoned. That earned us a brief visit to the Police Station in the custody of Officer Cullum, also a Farrell Street resident, fortunately. Our trip there turned out to be facilities tour in the basement of City Hall. You can be sure that that action cured us of our uncivilized curiosity, and reformed us thoroughly.
Crossing Farrell to the east, or apartment building side of Farrell, and going north from Third Street, the first eight-unit structure was owned by the Max Thomfordes, an "older" foreign-born couple who also lived in one of the units. Those of us in the neighborhood often targeted "Maxie" for pranks on Halloween Eve. I don’t remember the names of any other tenants of that building in the 1940’s, unfortunately.
In the next building, a four-unit structure, lived Hartmann Schmidt, a Dupont Fabrikoid executive, and his elderly mother. The Pudner family, with children Peter and JoAnne, also lived there, and Mary Noble and her two sons, Dick and Bob. Dick was nicknamed "Snowball." When he and I were both at North Junior High, several times he and I played hooky and went down to the Ferry and rode back and forth all day. Once we even got off on the Beacon side, and were playing near the cable crossing buoy there when we were chased away by a Ferry engineer, "Chol" McCullough, a cousin of my mom’s. He spotted us there dangerously close to a high voltage warning sign. I didn’t know who he was, but he sure knew who I was. I guess he never told my mom about it.
Bob Noble had acquired an ancient Model-T Ford, and Dick and I once went on a ride with him across the river and down to "Dick’s Castle" near Cold Spring. The car was so old, we had to stop occasionally and Bob would open the compartment to the "magneto" and file the carbon off its electrical terminals. It was a great adventure.
In the four-unit apartment across from the head of Norton Street lived the Hotaling, Kenney, Porter and Van Alst families. Young Billy Hotaling was a pal of mine, and we used to spend hours playing "catch" on the broad lawn in front of the building. The Kenneys had a young daughter who succumbed to leukemia shortly after Christmas 1948, I think. It was a sad event for the neighborhood indeed. "Minnie" and Al Porter were relatives: Agnes "Minnie" was my mother’s youngest sister, and J. Albert "Al", was a draftsman at the Fabrikoid plant. They were childless, had lived out on Little Britain Road for several years, and they always had show-dog quality wire-haired terriers named "Tess" as part of their family. The Van Alsts included Jean and her aunt, Mrs. Van Duser. Jean later married Ed Kohl of Newburgh, and they lived across the street on Powelton Circle from my sister’s family for many years. The Kohls still live there.
The intersection of Farrell and Norton Streets, with its three storm sewers, was a great play area for us in the neighborhood, on the lightly traveled streets of those days. We played "Kick the Stick" there, an easy game. We angled a short stick against the sewer on the northwest corner, facing it south toward Third Street. Whoever was up kicked the stick toward the defense and attempted to reach first base (the manhole cover at the southwest corner) before being tagged with the stick. The next goal for the runner was to reach second base, the sewer on the east side of Farrell. I think we had to create third base out of loose stone in the gutter, north of second, and equidistant from second to home, counterclockwise. The manhole that was home plate for "Kick the Stick" was also home for "Kick the Can."
The great blizzard of December 27-28, 1947, dumped several feet of snow on the neighborhood, as well as everywhere else, and creating forts, engaging in snowball fights, and sledding all the way down Norton Street, or turning left onto Bush from Norton, and trying to reach Fullerton Avenue, gave us great sport for what seemed like weeks.
Further north on the east side of Farrell, in the next four-unit apartment, lived three families that I knew: the Weltziens, with attractive daughter Barbara; the Rechtschaffners; and the Wileys, Mary and Howard, who were my mother’s older sister and her husband. The Wileys actually moved there in about 1948, and only lived at that location for a short time. But for a brief period in 1948-49, all three of the former Jackson sisters and their husbands were living no more than three dwellings from one another.
The last apartment building on the north side of Farrell was an eight-unit structure, and I only knew two families who lived there: the Taylors, with Johnny and Joan, and the Cullums (mentioned earlier- he was a Newburgh police officer). Johnny was a pal of mine an done of the neighborhood gang, and his sister was just a bit older than me. I recall that she was active in dramatics at NJHS.
Going south from McKinstry Street on the west side of Farrell, the first building is an eight-unit apartment house. There lived the Lewis family, whose sons Bill and Bob (Bucky) served in W.W.II. Bucky was an old friend of our family and introduced my sister to her husband-to-be in 1947 or so. Bucky owned an ancient Rolls Royce at that time that was the talk of the neighborhood. If it got two miles to the gallon of gas, it took a quart of oil to go the same distance. Also in this building lived an elderly lady named Ella Johnston, who was terrified of our dog "Blitz," who was all bark and no bite. Also in this building lived the Warren Kimball family, whose son Larry was one of the neighborhood gang. When he got to NJHS, Larry took up the tuba, which fascinated me. Billy Hotaling, Larry, Gene Lavarello and I were the usual participants in the drawing or comic-reading sessions on my front porch during the summer seasons.
Next south, in the two-unit building, lived a lively family of Irish descent whose name I have completely forgotten, even though they had two sons just a bit younger than me. I remember the house well, though, because in a corner of its back yard was a cherry tree that bore tasty fruit each year without fail. Next door to the south lived the Hess family, with sons Richard and Bob. Bob was an on-and-off beau of my sister just before the war years, and was a very popular and good-looking fellow whose resemblance to a movie star of that time spurred his friends to nickname him "Gabe." After the war, Bob worked for awhile at the Coke Bottling Plant up at Broadway and Grove, and when any of u would go to Crystal Lake to swim, and if Bob were working in the filling room there next to the window, he’d pass us out a few just-filled small bottles of warm Coke. It couldn’t have tasted better!
Next to the Hess family lived the Scotts, who had a daughter about my age, and next to them, on the northwest corner of Farrell and Norton, lived the Terpennings, Charles and Helen, and their son, Charles, Jr., who was in the U.S. Marines as an officer during W.W.II.
Down the north side of Norton, from Farrell, the Ward family occupied the next dwelling. The father, who bore a bit of a resemblance to Governor Thomas Dewey, was the minister of the church next to the old library on Grand Street. The Ward children were Bobby and Timmy. Bobby was a frequent playmate. He once owned a little tin Bond Bread Sheriff’s badge, which somehow ended up one day in my pocket. I must have swiped it from him after being defeated in a neighborhood snowball fight.
Next to the Wards, going west, lived the Poinsetts, whose family at some point may have been involved with the discovery of the popular Christmas season plant. They were a rather elderly couple, and I believe that he had worked at the Fabrikoid plant for many years and was retired. The next house, across the driveway, was where the Merediths lived for many years, and with whom I had contact when I lived in Bush Avenue.
On the south side of Norton, going west from Farrell, lived the Stimpsons, and next to them, the Becker family, including son Russell. Next came the Westcott family and next to them the Hoppers. Next were the Comegys family, and next to them and just behind the Cheneys on Bush Avenue, lived the Hazletts.
To the west of Bush on Norton lived the Baxters, with children Carol, Mary Anne, and Billy. I cannot recall the name of the inhabitants of the frame house next door. Then came two eight unit apartment buildings facing each other across Norton between Lilly and Norton. I don’t recall the names of their occupants, other than having been aware that my parents once lived at Number 19.
On Lilly Street I remember the Tooheys (son "Red" and a daughter), and the Stantons (Billy, John, and Betsy were their kids.) The Stantons were one of the first families in the Housing Tract to own a television set. It had a very small screen, and a large liquid-filled lens was deployed to enlarge the picture. A couple of us boys used to sneak into their yard and peek through the living room window, just to catch a glance at the fascinating TV picture. Remember- this was back in 1946 or 1947.
Back to Bush Avenue. Next to the Cheneys, on the east side below Norton lived the Kubinas. The Kubinas’ sons were Charles and John. The younger son, John, owned a motorcycle and wore a black leather jacket when riding it.
Next came O. Roy Greene and his wife. Rev. Greene was the pastor of St. George’s Church, and his wife taught piano in her home. Next to them were the Bill Kennedys. Bill, "Gin," Terry and Dennis were very close family friends. Bill was a local attorney who also ran a taxi business for awhile with another Newburgher named Johnny Genter. Bill was a great friend for anyone to have. He served a term as City Manager during a most difficult time in the 1950s, and this work wore down his constitution. He passed away much too early in life.
The Merald Orths lived next to the Kennedys on the north end of the four-unit brick structure down on Bush Avenue. Merald was the print-shop instructor at NFA, and was part owner of a print shop on Broadway. His wife was Helen, and their children were Diane and Don. Merald, or "Shorty," as his poker-playing cohorts called him, was from Oswego. His daughter married Mike Gilligan of Prospect Street, one of Bill Kennedy’s many nephews, and the Gilligans later lived around the corner on Norton Street.
Next were the C. Everett Stevens family, consisting of "Stubby," his wife, Annie, and their son, Charles. Stubby was the football coach and later athletic director at NFA in the 1940’s. They were great friends of my parents. They were originally from Walden, and for several years we would go out to Walden with the Steven’s to watch the 4th of July fireworks there.
Next to the Stevens lived the elderly widow, Minnie Ward, and later the Bill Browns. Bill was a science teacher at NJHS and later at NFA, and eventually became a part of the Newburgh Board of Education administration. He was a great science teacher, and a favorite of mine, even though he was a tough disciplinarian. In 1936, he let me join the NJHS Science Club- I was the only 7th Grader allowed in. I was really honored. (What they did mostly was run the film projectors in various classrooms and the auditoriums... not quite science, but what the heck, it was fun.)
At one time the Browns lived in the house next door to the Minnie Ward house. Before them, the O’Brien family lived there. They had a charming teen-age son named Jack. I don’t know what happened to them after Bush Avenue in the mid-1940s.
The last building on the east side of Bush Avenue, just before Third Street and facing what is now Clinton Square, held four dwelling units. On the north end lived the Bligh family, which included father Bill, mother "Pete", and son Bob, who was a splendid athlete in his NFA days. Other families in this building were the Frank Mastersons (he was the older brother of George "Lanky" Masterson, the celebrated NFA basketball coach. Frank sold radios and later, TV sets for Schoonmaker’s department store.), and the Schwarz family, whose son Vic was an aspiring artist and a member of the NFA class of 1950.
On the west side of Bush between Norton and Fullerton lived the Bill Elder family, whose daughter, Carolyn, was one of the teen-age belles of the neighborhood. I don’t remember too many of the other families, but believe there was one named Shuck, three doors down from the Elders. Past the driveway entrance in the lower part of the block lived Mrs. Benedict, a kindly, elderly widow, and the other three units in the building housed the Gee family and the DeKay family on the south end of this building. The DeKays had three sons, Ken, Don, who worked in the Color Room of the Fabrikoid Plant before he went into the service during W.W.II, and Dick, just a year or two older than I.
The last building on the northwest side of Bush, as it bent toward its end on Fullerton Avenue, housed apartments over four commercial stores. I don’t recall who lived there, but one of the stores was a small grocery, and the other a beauty salon. Wattie Gee’s store was right on the corner.
We now go back up the Third Street hill to Prospect Street; we travel down the north side to Fullerton. The first house predated the Colonial Terraces, and I believe was used as sales or rental office when it first opened just after W.W.I. On the northeast corner of Third and Prospect lived the Dugans, with children Lorraine and Johnny.
I don’t remember who lived in the two-unit clapboard structure on the northwest corner of Third and Farrell, but I do remember that a stout stone retaining wall framed the front yard of these two units. It was fun to walk along the top of this wall, just as we used to do on the masonry wall of the Broadway School at Broadway and Robinson.
Next were the O’Donovans, Al and "Lou," who had many children including Bobby, Judy, and Patty, who were near my age. Al worked for the Quaker Oats Company and played poker with my dad. "Lou" was a homemaker who occasionally played bridge with my mom.
Now I lose track of who lived in which unit as the hill descends toward Bush Avenue. Among the folks there was the Bellinger family. "Hickey" Bellinger was an old high school pal of my dad’s, and was said to have deliberately stayed back at NFA to continue play football. That’s what my dad always told me, anyway.
The Sullivans, who had a son, Brian, and a daughter, Barbara, lived on the right side of the last frame dwelling on Third. Next to them lived the Fred "Fritz" Pelin family. "Fritz" was a manual arts teacher at NFA and had a son named Jacky. The Pelins moved away, and by the early 1970’s, their dwelling had a new tenant: my cousin Jack Wiley, his two sons, Mike and Jack, daughter Joan, and his second wife, the former Nancy Covert.
On the east side of Fullerton, from Bush all the way up to South Street, I didn’t know too many of the families. Near Wattie’s store lived the Habers, whose daughter Thelma was my classmate at West Street School and NJHS. Also in this block was a family named Welch, who had a son named Bobby.
Above Norton, I remember a family named Zimmerman, and the Dr. Ed Fitzgerald (the eye doctor) family. The Fitzgeralds, friends of my parents, were Ed and Fran, and their children, Ann and David. Ann was another Colonial Terraces teen-age belle. Fran Fitzgerald died suddenly of a heart attack when she was in her early 40s, a real neighborhood tragedy. The last two freestanding houses before South Street were not part of the Colonial Terraces dwellings, but I do remember that a Mrs. Stubley, who was related by marriage to the Kennedys of Bush Avenue, lived in the corner house.
On the west side of Fullerton between Third and Norton, I remember only the Hermans and the Heroys. Ray, or "Ray-Ray," was a couple of years older than my gang, but he occasionally played in our street football or baseball games. I believe he was the youngest son, and had at least one older brother and sister. The Hermans I knew only slightly. All that I know about people who lived between Norton and South I described earlier.
Wilson Street: on the corner of McKinstry lived the White family. They had two attractive teen-aged brunette daughters. We used to drive Mrs. White crazy playing baseball in the little park at the northeast end of Bush Avenue. The problem was that we used a real baseball, not a tennis ball, and she feared for her windows. I did once break a window of an apartment building on Farrell Street- that happened in 1949 on the very last day our family lived in Newburgh. The custodian, Oscar Carangi, was not too happy about that either.
I believe that there were three or four dwellings on the west side of Prospect Street, just south of South Street that were technically part of the Housing Tract, but I never knew who lived in any of these.
That completes the tour of the people and their homes in the Colonial Terraces, between 1935 and 1949, at least as the writer remembers. I haven’t mentioned our playgrounds or gathering places other than the street corner at Farrell and Norton, but I do recall having fun in the back lots of the three garage parking areas that are still there, behind the homes on Bush Avenue and Norton Street. We also liked to roam through the jungle of "The Steamers," which is what we called the wetland low grounds that rimmed the creek that ran behind Fullerton Avenue between South and Third Streets. Anywhere else that we spent any time was a bit further removed from the neighborhood, such as the NFA grounds, the Recreation Park, Snake Hill and Crystal Lake...and of course, that great downtown of Newburgh, the late and lamented Water Street.
May the memory live on through these pages!
