HELP SAVE a piece of Fairfield Avenue history!!

RE; Another piece of 19th Century West Caldwell History soon to vanish

An early 1800’s farmhouse and barn at 12 Fairfield Avenue West Caldwell is due to be demolished and the site paved for additional parking and access by the adjacent West Caldwell fire department.

The site was the original home of three-term West Caldwell mayor C.A. Harrison, whose son J. Monroe was Tax Collector and founding member of the very same fire department.

I sent several letters and emails to the town and fire department officials and received little interest from anyone concerning both the history of the site and of possible toxic materials remaining on the site. An auto repair shop operated on the site for a century. I grew up next door and still remember the pervasive odor of oil and grease. As a young boy I watched the elder DeGraw restore antique auto body parts by applying and sanding repeated coats of toxic red lead.

That additional parking may be needed is not in dispute, but it seems a bit myopic to completely erase the history of this site. It abuts a field that was donated to the town by my great grandfather, Mayor Caleb A. Harrison, as “a playground for the children”, and was originally designated Harrison Park. While originally a sign designated the playground as Harrison Park, other names have appeared at the park since then. At one time or another six generations of the Harrison family resided at #12, #16, #18, #22 and #26 Fairfield Avenue. The original pasture land of the Harrison Dairy now holds over 150 buildings including houses, several large apartment buildings and numerous businesses.

I respectfully request that the history of the original Harrison Family Dairy and the DeGraw Auto Repair business be given a small piece of that land for some sort of memorial site. These structures contain two century old timbers that could be reclaimed for some sort of structure on the site instead of being discarded like so much trash.

In addition, there are historic stained glass windows in storage at the Crane House, now the West Caldwell Historical Society, that were removed from the former Presbyterian Church a block down on Fairfield Avenue. Perhaps they might be incorporated in some such structure on the site as well.

Do not these remnants of our early history deserve more than being buried in a land fill?

I ask anyone who believes in the importance of our history to lend their voice in preserving a bit of our past. Thank you.

Steven Harrison

Coventry RI

[email protected]