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HILLSBOROUGH: People, places from yesteryear come alive again

Township hall’s display case revitalized by historians

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
   Hillsborough’s history goes back to the earliest days of the New Jersey colony, much due to its crossroads along routes between New York and Philadelphia.
   Today, aspects of it come alive in one of the most crisscrossed public places in the township: the foyer of the municipal building.
   The township Historic Preservation Commission has revitalized a display case just inside the front doors to the township complex.
   The history case had been an underutilized resource over the last decade, said Greg Gillette, chairman of the commission.
   Its four displays demonstrate how the members hope to use it to present elements of historic people, places and projects.
   In one case are several shelves of photos and newspaper clippings about opera singer Anna Case, arguably the most famous Hillsborough resident who has ever lived, Mr. Gillette said.
   Other shelves tell the story of how the intense debate over annual renewal of a license for the Woods Road Tavern, which stood for two centuries at the intersection of what is today Amwell Road and Route 206. Authentic reproductions of documents from the state archives display the 1861 handwritten petitions for and against renewal along with a typed list of familiar family names that appeared on either — and sometimes both — petitions.
   In the lower center case are displayed items — like a yolk, chains, ornamental wood and even a bottle of whisky — found during the 2011 restoration of the Ditmar-Polhemus farmstead building that sits along southbound Route 206 at Raider Boulevard.
   A fourth area uses photos to show how a 1830-ish farmhouse was revitalized while modernized by the Beezer Homes land development company in the 1990s. The historic original part of the home was left intact while a newer addition brought a modern kitchen and second-floor master bedroom, Mr. Gillette said.
   The home lies within the development off Mountain View and Featherbed Lane, and is an example of “adaptive reuse,” Mr. Gillette said, who said he considers the house one of the most beautiful in a 173-home development.
   A 4-by-5-foot map of the farmsteads that comprised the township in about 1860 fills the recessed middle portion between the cases.
   Mr. Gillette compiled the material for the display of Ms. Case, whose humble life as the daughter of a village blacksmith in South Branch caught the national media’s fancy even before she took the Metropolitan Opera stage in 1909, he said.
   Mr. Gillette, who writes a local history blog, said Ms. Case was Thomas Edison’s favorite singer. When she married telegraph tycoon Clarence H. Mackay in 1931, the story was on the front page of every paper in the country, he said.
   If people have photos or artifacts that tell a story about local history, Mr. Gillette encouraged them to contact the Historic Preservation Commission.
   ”It’s important for the newer residents moving in to know what a rich history we have here,” said Tim Stollery, a commission member who assembled the display on the dueling tavern petitions. He’s the one who got copies of the handwritten letters from the state archives.
   History allows people to see what problems and solutions have worked, or failed, over the centuries, Mr. Gillette said. In today’s fast-paced world, he said, local history often is disconnected from “where you are right now” and is important “to who you are.”
   History also gives people a chance to preserve things for future generations.
   ”You can’t be so selfish to think this world is only for you, right now,” Mr. Gillette said.
   Some of it is right in front of you, in display cases, as you pay your taxes or go to the library. Stop and take a look.