Landmarks Committee preserving township, one memory at a time in Randolph

By CLAIRE KNAPP, Contributing Writer
RANDOLPH TWP. – Township historians are capturing the memories of a bygone era and preserving them for future generations through an oral history program.

Since the oral history program began in 1999, more than 30 lifelong residents who spent 50 or more years living in Randolph Township have told their stories of what life was like for them growing up in what was then a rural farming community whose population swelled with visitors escaping the city heat during the summer months just as it does in seashore communities today.

The Landmarks Committee, comprised of volunteers appointed by the Township Council, is looking for people who spent at least 50 years of their life in Randolph Township, all of whom would remember the open, rolling farmland and wooded areas that existed before the first wave of major developments arrived in the 1970s.

Since then houses, ever larger in size, have replaced the cows and other farm animals that once prevailed and the miles of cropland that produced corn, wheat, and a wide variety of vegetables.

“Many of the oral histories we have collected were done by students,” said Joan Brembs, a Landmarks Committee member. “The histories are kept at the Randolph Museum and are available to the public during museum hours.”

Many of the old farming families have left the area as it became too costly to farm and people in the new residential developments preferred cultivated lawns to the sounds and smells of a working farm. But quite a few descendants of those old farming families have remained, adjusting to the new community lifestyle, and are possibly able to provide a link to the past.

That was the case of Madalyn Hulbert.

While in her 90s and living in Florida, Hulbert’s granddaughter recorded her memories of growing up in Randolph and gave a copy to the Landmarks Committee. Hulbert may have left, but her house still stands along Sussex Turnpike at the intersection with Millbrook Avenue. It is the house with an inviting, many windowed sunroom directly across from a traveler waiting on Millbrook Avenue for the traffic light to change.

The oral history collection includes people like life-long resident Peter Knoethe, whose farm stand is still a source of fresh produce on Millbrook Avenue. Knoethe’s memories are not only about farming. His memories of the World War II era are also a treasure.

Not all of the farmland is now covered by houses. The township has preserved some of the old farms, like that of Al Cohn’s farm on Center Grove Road for use as open space, or the old Brundage farm where children now play on the recreation fields at Freedom Park and a variety of other activities at nearby Brundage Park.

The recollections of Cohn and Edna Brundage have been preserved.

The memories of a former mayor, Sol Messer, tell more of the story of Randolph as does that of Stanley Saltz, whose parents owned the Saltz Hotel on Sussex Turnpike. Both have also been preserved.

“From the 1930s to the 1950s you couldn’t even drive easily down Sussex Turnpike in the summer because there were so many people out walking,” said Brembs. “At one point there were 10 hotels and 30 to 40 bungalow communities filled with summer residents.”

The oldest and longest operating of the hotels was the Saltz Hotel in Mount Freedom. Upon moving to Mount Freedom from New York City in 1903, immigrants Sarah and Baruch Salts purchased farmland and began renting rooms to summer visitors to supplement their income. It grew into a well-known hotel establishment under the guidance of their grandsons, Sidney and Morris, and flourished under their management until it was sold in 1978. Sidney Saltz died in 1990 but his wife, Sara, celebrated her 100th birthday last year and their children maintain strong roots in Randolph.

Brembs, spokesperson for the Landmarks Committee, has been involved with the oral history project since it began. While employed in several different secretarial positions at town hall, including administrative secretary to the township manager, she was often the one who transcribed the oral histories friends and families donated. After 24 years, Brembs retired in 2004 but has remained intricately involved in the community.

Some of the oral history collection was used by Brembs and Sheila Lacouture when they co-authored 51 articles printed in The Randolph Reporter as part of Randolph Township’s bicentennial celebration in 2005.

The histories also help bridge the gap of decades for students interested in Randolph’s history, offering a personal view as opposed to simply scholastic.

The oral history project is ongoing. With each passing decade more and more of the older residents are leaving or have died, but even if some have moved away their memories are still valued. The Landmarks Committee is unable to travel all over the country to retrieve those memories but as in the case of Hulbert, family members or friends can record the memories and send them to the Landmarks Committee.

Anyone with knowledge of the whereabouts of anyone who experienced life in Randolph Township for 50 or more years is encouraged to contact the chair of the Landmarks Committee, Meg Sullivan, at (973) 886-3211.