The Mail-Journal, Volume 13, Number 25, Milford, Kosciusko County, 14 July 1976 — Page 10

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Bth of a series — 1,200 live in borough of Milford, New Jersey

Our Bicentennial item of the week features the history of the small borough of Milford. N J., as furnished by Lois Mason of the town's Bicentennial committee In the early 1700's Milford was located in one whole proprietary in Kingwood and Alexandria There were only two houses and a mill where Milford now stands One of these houses stood in the southwest corner of the property now ow’ned by Herbert D. Stem and was designated “Ferry House” The Ferry house is plainly marked and is at the site of the present river bridge The other structure was on the east side of the creek near the margin on the upper side of the road and marked “Brocks House ” The road, then as now, crossed the creek where the bridge now stands The larger structure which was marked "Mill" was located in the bed of the creek some 30 yards above the

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crossing In the early years the mill burned and the place took the name of "Burnt Mills.” In the year 1784. Thomas Lowrey purchased 968 acres'. In a deed of conveyance made in 1805 by this man. the creek was called "Burnt Mills Creek" and the land he purchased “The Burnt Mills Farm." which included Thompson's Hill overlooking the Delaware River Col Lowrey built a new milt and several houses by the, river and the village took the name of Lowreytown. The mill was the first flouring mill and was completed by the year 1800 He also built a residence, later used as a hotel, known as the Gibson House, which was located at the site of the First National Bank drive-in annex A flouring milb and a saw mill were erected in 1803 by Julius Foster and the place became Millford. which was later converted to Milford

Col. Lowrey's wife did not like the location of her first home, so the following year he constructed another Milford had by this time, besides the three mills, three dwellings and a store. In 1805 Thomas Lowrey sold the mills and part of the land to Jacob Housel. his son-in-law. The flounng mill was sold to Auron Vansyckel in 1822 and again in 1853 to Wilson and Edward Thomas. In 1863 Wilson Housel. son of Jacob, rebuilt the saw mill first erected in 1788 and at his death it was purchased by W. and W E Thomas, who again rebuilt it in 1869 W Egbert Thomas operated the flour mill for a number of years and sold it to Little. Wilson and Deats, who later disposed of it to other parties. During the changes of. the mill, the town grew in size and importance and by the year 1869 it had three churches, four stores, two hotels, two gristmills one iawmill. one drugstore, one hardware, one tin and stove store, two cabinet makers, one carriage shop, two blacksmiths, one post office and the railroad depot. Railroad The Belvidere and Delaware railroad arrived in Milford in the year 1853 and leased to the Pennsylvania railroad in 1871. It thus connected the town with Phillipsburg and Stroudsburn to the north and Lambertville and Trenton to the south. At one time the railroad was a very busy passenger service line, but due to advent of the automobile, the passengers dwindled and the last run was made on October 26, 1960 The first means of transportation across the Delaware River was byway of “Burnt Mills Ferry," changed to “Lowreytown Ferry" and then to "Milford Ferry." In 1840 the first bridge was constructed. In was of wooden shed in design In 1903 flooding was very* hard on this bridge and in 1933 the joint bridge commission removed it and replaced it with a modem one of steel. r By the 1900's the town also had telegraph, telephone, electric lights and an excellent water supply The water was supplied by two wells, one was electrically pumped for 18 million gallons a year. The other pump was activated by an overshot waterwheel. The old fashioned waterwheel was installed in Milford's waterworks building,in 1911. The raceway behind the waterworks building was then filled with stone and gravel and the dam was removed to eliminate flooding on Water street. Newspaper At this time the town had a newspaper called The Milford Leader, published and edited by W. H Farrand Also found in the town in the early 1900’s was a grammar school, the Milford Presbyterian church and the Milford Chrisitan church, later changed to the First United Church of Christ In 1908 Riegel Paper Corporation began its operations at Milford Mill with approximately 75 employees Established In 1911 Milford, within the limits of Holland township, was established as a borough on April 15. 1911. It was during this year the first town council was

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organized and W. Egbert Thomas became the first mayor. Milford was not properly incorporated until March 13. 1925. In 1910 Thomas Walters offered to furnish the borough with an electric generating plant. In 1926 the borough sold this system to New Jersey Power and Light Co. On December 29. 1948. municipal court was established in the borough of Milford. In 1952 the townships of Kingwood. Alexandria and Holland and the boroughs of Frenchtown joined Milford to establish a joint municipal court held in the Milford borough hall A 50th anniversary celebration was held in 1961. The first historical booklet of Milford was printed at this time with the help of the towns people. The celebrations began with the combination of all three churches having services A block was held in the bank's parking lot and various politicians spoke Commencing the event was a fireman’s parade and a display of fireworks in the evening. It was decided in November of 1965 that there was need for a public sewage system, due to the rapid increasing population, poor percolation, inadequate septic systems and the poluting of the Delaware River. A tract of land was purchased by the borough from Harvey Schiable in October of 1968 for the treatment plant. On May 9.1970. the system was completed and in operation for both the borough of Milford and a section of Holland township ,■ By November of 1969 the construction of a new library was begun. This was completed and ready for use in 1970. The new modem building is located opposite Milford school. By the year 1975 Milford had grown into a very prosperous town. The borough is mainly controlled by the mayor and six members of council, but everyone dwelling in Milford shares a large part in its growth and welfare. Milford Today Milford today is a borough of 1.200 people covering 1.3 square miles along the Delaware River. They have their own elementary school, a VFW hall. Lions club, Brownies, Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts The shopping district boasts a dress store, cheese shop, appliance store, supermarket, 5 and 10, gift store, bicycle and hobby shop and a national food store Webster, N.Y. was Penfield Webster, N. Y.» was formed from the town of Penfield on February 6,1840. when Governor William H. Seward signed the bill that set as»s(e a portion of the town of Penfield to be known as the town of Webster It was named for Daniel Webster, the great orator and statesman who was elected to the US Senate by the state legislature of Massachusetts in 1827 and who served as secretary of state under three presidents The town claims to have been the home of many important people, but Dr. L. Emmett Holt brought great fame to the town since he was an outstanding

figure in pediatrics and has been considered one of the greatest physicians and educators in the US. In 1889. he helped to found Babies hospital in New York city, the first of its kind to deal exclusively with infants and their illnesses. His book "Diseases of Infancy and Childhood," was long used as a textbook and "The Care and Feeding of Children" served as a guide to mothers in the US and abroad with translations in French, German, Spanish. Russian and Chinese. Webster's area is 32.2 square miles which contains approximately 21,468 acres of land and 612 acres of water. Only about 24.7 per cent is in farmland. There are town parks of about 200 acres in addition to a large county park on Lake Ontario. The population in 1973 was 25.998. There are 911 residents over 65 years of age. Formerly Ag Town Webster was formerly an agricultural town, but in the 1950's there was a great increase in residential development. The town has now become a suburb of Rochester. N. Y., and is following a master plan to serve as a guide to an orderly community development. The Xerox Corporation was started there in 1961 and has made a teriffic growth. It owns 958 98 acres of land within the township. This has been one reason for the residential growth and much building. There are also other smaller commercial firms. As of January 1974. there were 28 industrial properties. 222 fommerical properties with 6637 single family dwellings. 125 two family houses and 11 three family houses. A total of 1398 apartment units were developed or under construction. A total of 6.914 parcels were listed, 7,465 households with 3.35 persons per household. Os the total acres, k 1.535 were zoned industrial and SOS were zoned commercial. There are two high schools, two junior highs and eight elementary schools as well as two parochial schools and six nursery schools. The public schools have a registration of 8,859. The parochial schools have 758 pupils. There are 14 active churches. Webster, according to a report from the town’s historian Esther A. Dunn, has always been a town of churches since the early pioneer days. / There are 40 civic and fraternal organizations and a number of separate ones under the headings of garden clubs, veterans posts. Boy and Girl Scouts, campers and hikers, mothers clubs and senior citizens. This does not involve the many church groups. Ski club gives show As a part of the annual Wawasee Flotilla activities, the Wawasee Ski club gave a ski show at the Fish Hatchery, Saturday, July 3. from 7 p.m. until dark. The show was dedicated to Fay Ensminger and his wife Marion who started the ski club 25 years ago. The couple also built the first ski jump in Indiana on the

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lake and originated ski shows which were given each Saturday night in front of the South Shore hotel at the time. Mrs. Ensminger was presented with a bouquet during the show. Many acts were presented by approximately 40 members of the Wawasee Ski club who have worked for the past month preparing the show. A para-sail behind a boat was performed by Ken Frey. Indianapolis. And Al Platcher did a kite fly act. A color guard on skis was presented by Rose Easley, Sonia Soicher. Brazil exchange student; Cathy Popp, Joan Buletty, Sue Boylan and Jenni Sari. Performers in the water ballet were Toni Gronendyke. Peggy Goebel. Sue Sandler. Terri Sari and Angie Long. A pyramid on skis was formed by John and Bob Goebel with Mary Collins on the top. f Two pairs performed in the doubles act, the team of Mike Ensminger and Sue Sandler and the team of Jeff Fall and Julie By la nd. The hitchhiker act was done with Dave Ensinger and John Goebel. Harley Chaulk skied around a boat in another act. Dave Ensinger. Bob Goebel. Jamie Tulley and Eric Poppleton performed in the men's jump. Tricks and riding a saucer over the jump were demonstrated by Mike Ensminger. The men's clown portion was presented by Brian Simmons, Mike Davis. Charlie Freicks and Jeff Fall. Eight barefooters also performed for the spectators consisting of Dave’Boylan. Bob Day. Jerry Dahm, Brian Simmons, Jeff Fall. Pete Freirichs, Jeff Banker and John Goebel. In the junior boys jump Pat Boylan. Chuck Cleinrichert. and Casey Call jumped The junior talent group consisted of Aaron Deder. Mike Collins and Pat Boylan. A deep water barefoot was demonstrated by Bob Day. The Ski Scats group also performed with club members Pat Boylan. Chuck Cleinrichert and Mike Sandler. And the show also included a performance by the club's youngest skier, Blakely Roby, six. Barefoot specialty acts closed the show. Kevin Banker did a barefoot through fire and Charlie Freicks with Jerry Dahm did a jumper over a barefooter through fire. Boats were furnished and driven by Allan Tehand and Jack Dever Dockworkers for the show were Susie Davis and Jan Goebel. And the announcer for the show was Jim Adams. Bike-a-thon winners are named Members of the Lakeland Kiwanis club have, through their president Sherman Bryant and vice president-elect Richard Long, announced winners in the recent bike-a-thon. Under 15 years of age — Terry Popenfoose. Lisa Allen, Scott Galloway, Kevin Walker, Travis Harris, Lonnie Sieglinger. Kevin Templeton, Chris Ba use. Tim Beer, John Millburn. Carol Walker. Scott Badskey, Neil Wilkey and Mark Walker. Over 15 — Max Broekers, Carol Tillett. Norma Hendricks, Dixie Pryor. Phil Fidler and Stu Bryant TRAFFIC EASED East Germany on Dec. 22, 1970, removed obstructions that had blocked traffic to West Berlin for four days.

Syracuse Lake Association to host annual dinner meeting

Syracuse Lake Association will have its annual dinner-meeting at Smith-Walbridge camp this Saturday, July 17. Guests are welcome. Serving for the buffet dinner will begin promptly at 3:30 p.m. Following dinner will be the business meeting. It is the one time of the year when all members can assemble for the good of the association and its input to the community. Interesting to both members and guests will be the briefing of the past year's pursuits and projections for the future. It is the time when every member has a voice. The association has the good fortune to be host to Mr. and Mrs. William E. Bishop this year. “Bill” was on Dr. Cameron Gifford’s team when the 1971 chemical and bacteriological survey was taken of Lakes Wawasee and Syracuse. It was this experience which inspired him into advanced studies, consequently, now within grasp of his PhD. degree in en-

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vironmental health at Purdue university. Bill is presently directing summer classes at the Earlham Biology station, Dewart Lake. nostalgic attraction to Syracuse-Wawasee lakes helped to persuade Bill to take time out from his busy schedule to visit the Saturday night meeting and say a few words. A personable individual, well-acquainted with the working man’s world. Bill’s scope of knowledge is by on means confined to the classroom. It has been the experience of those who have talked with Bill and wife Barbara to come away feeling refreshed. Mr. and Mrs. Bishop are an intelligent, hardworking young couple where neither has lost the good, old American sense of humor. It is hoped the young people of the community as well as those of long standing will attend the nieeting. If done promptly, reservations may be made by phoning the association’s secretary Virginia Putt.