By MICHAEL NUNES
Staff Writer
SOUTH RIVER – South River has a wealth of history, which was on display to residents during the March 12 South River Main Street Walking Tour.
“History is very important. You never know where you’re going unless you know where you’ve been,” said Brian Armstrong, president of the South River Historical Society.
The crowd of around 30 people followed Armstrong, who regaled them with old stories of the borough, while they strolled down Main Street.
The event was organized by the South River Cultural Arts & Heritage Commission(CAHC).
At one stop, at the opening of Ferry Street, Armstrong explained to the crowd the borough’s history of political brawls.
South River was popular during the prohibition era due to liquor smugglers using it as a port to distribute alcohol to the surrounding area, according to Armstrong.
“There was a small boy who would stand by the water and they would pay him a nickle and he would watch for the coast guard boats,” Armstrong told the group.
“There’s an old story in my family about a politician in town who had given grief to the bootleggers, and in retaliation, he woke up one morning and there were empty bottles all over his lawn,” Armstrong continued.
That time in the borough’s history also saw brawls between the Democratic and Republican parties in the borough.
“A lot of it is very typical of other towns, but looking back, it had to do with the people who came here. The Republicans tended to be more of the original Protestants who lived here. A lot of the Democrats tended to be more of the immigrants. Looking back, most of the barkeepers tended to be Democrats because they believed in alcohol where the Republican Party tended to be more of the Prohibition party,” Armstrong said, continuing that the illogical differences led to fight between the two parties.
On lower Main Street, by the river, there were two bars called the East Brunswick and the Washington Hotel. The bars, which were across the street from each other, were politically affiliated with Republicans and Democrats, respectively.
“Back in 1899 you had a situation where the Democrats were all built up on one side and the Republicans were on other side and they were yelling things back and forth. One of the Republicans threw a firecracker into the Democratic crowd. No one was hurt by the firecracker but the Democrats surged over and started fighting with the Republicans. … It was something out of a John Wayne movie,” Armstrong said.
“The next day, 500 men of South River either had black eyes, bruises or scratches.”
It was common in the late 1800s that if there were a dispute in the borough, both parties would go to the corner of Ferry and Main Street, according to Armstrong.
“It’s something that we’ve never had before. People see the town as it is and don’t realize what the town was like,” said Kathy Acs, a longtime resident of the borough who attended the walk with her husband.
Acs and her husband, Eric, live in a home that was built in 1886.
“They told me when we bought the house that back in 1986 that the house was still heated by coal. … The lady who owned it never put any new heating in,” Eric Acs said.
“That’s why we are interested in the history of the borough, because we live in a historic house,” he said.
Despite the violence and struggle in the borough’s history, one could also find times when the community came together and that is something that hopefully will continue on into the future, said Armstrong.
“The one thing to take away front South River’s history is that you had people in the community that were building businesses and institutions and assisting each other. That’s something that permeates to the current era where you hope that the same type of thing happens,” Armstrong said.
The CAHC is also planning on hosting several events later on in the year, including a tour of the historic Washington Cemetery and Renaissance Fair.
Contact Michael Nunes at [email protected].