Searching the Past

Mayor Dina M. Grilo

A historian wears many hats.  Starting with being a detective, then a researcher, and you can throw a bit of a ghost chaser too.

The town next to Kearny where I live, is East Newark. It is the second-smallest municipality in New Jersey by total area.  Its population is about 2400 and operates under a Borough form of government with a mayor and council. East Newark was established in 1895, which at the time was a heavy industrial area.

Dina M. Grilo is the Mayor, she’s also the first woman elected Mayor of East Newark. In the past, as a member of the American Legion of the borough, for years, I often addressed the town for various holidays like Veterans Day, the 9/11 Remembrance and Memorial Day. 

When Mayor Grilo was elected, she asked me to be the Borough’s Historian.  History is a passion of mine, so it’s no surprise I jumped at the opportunity.  Putting on my Sherlock Holmes deerstalker hat I immediately started digging into the town’s vault where I uncovered unmarked photographs and newspaper articles.

The Holy Grail was the Borough’s Meeting Ledger for the first year, first recorded on July 25^th, 1895.

The researcher kicked in when I was trying to place buildings spoken about in the Ledger and their addresses.  Unfortunately, most of those buildings have been torn down or repurposed.  Some places were referred to by name, however, they never recorded the actual address of the place.

The only school in the Borough, is an elementary school built on or about 1895 and it still stands today and looks much like it did back then. In a meeting that was held on August 14^th, 1895, the council discussed the construction of the school. They agreed that the cost would not exceed $20,000 with an extra $1500 for steam service. They went into great detail of what they expected the school to have, the classrooms, the exterior facade even the entrance location and on what street the doors would face. 

They reached out hiring the teachers needed: the Principal, Mr. W. DeLauren, at a salary of $1100.00 per year, Halter Lee of Honesdale, PA 1^st grade $500.00, Cassia Balcom of Oxford, NY 2^nd grade $275.00 and Florence Trawbrigg of Camillas, NY 3^rd grade $425.00.  Even the furniture had to be part of the financial planning. One example; 100 desks at .75 each totaling $81.50

Lastly, the ghost part.  I find myself wandering the local cemeteries and making enquiries looking for these forgotten souls of the Borough. It took months before I found the grave of the first Mayor, Edward Kenny at a cemetery in East Orange.

I’m always researching the soldiers of the Borough who served in the wars, whose names are listed on plaques, mounted on the Borough’s outside walls. Where did they live? Is their house still standing and who lives there now? Where are they buried? When I find the answers, was it luck on my part or was it help from “the other side?”  My work continues.

The real hero to me is Mayor Dina Grilo.  Over the many administrations of the Borough, she was the only mayor who felt the Borough’s history was important.  Because of her, many of the historic photographs that were stored in musty boxes, have been identified and many are now properly displayed in the Borough Hall.

 When new events happen, photographs are being taken and stored in proper binders with the details of the event marked on each.  In the future, there will be no question of identifying events that are taking place now, because we’re already answering the questions they may have tomorrow.