Sayreville book captures fading town memories

From clay mines to suburban sprawl
SAYREVILLE — Jason Slesinski spent 18 months sifting through archives at the Sayreville Historical Society Museum and reviewing oral history presentations from residents, but for the sixth-generation borough resident, it was a labor of love.
The result is his book, “A Cultural History of Sayreville,” a collection of maps, pictures and oral memories that takes readers on a journey from Sayreville’s beginnings to the sprawling suburb it is today.
“I feel it’s important to capture those memories, because if we don’t, they will be gone,” said Slesinski, vice president of the Sayreville Historical Society. “Sayreville is such a vastly different place today than it was before World War II. I think by capturing those memories, it helps us to understand why we live the way we do today. I think it will encourage people to visit the museum. It’s also a way to showcase the thousands of items at the museum that, because of limited space, are not on display.”
The 222-page historical publication will be released officially at Thursday’s meeting of the Sayreville Historical Society. The meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Sayreville Senior Center, 423 Main St. The book will be sold at a discounted price of $30 at the event only. It is available at Ultramediapublications.com and can be purchased after the event at Amazon.com and at the museum for $34.95. Those attending the event also are asked to bring items of historical significance for a show-and-tell.
Slesinski, 27, who hold a bachelor’s degree in history from Montclair State University and a master’s degree in American studies from Rutgers University, said he got the idea for the book after curating the Sayreville Oral History Project.
“After interviewing 18 people, there were a lot of trends that became apparent,” he said. “People had a lot of the same recollections about industry and their relationships with the land. Their lives were just so different from what Sayreville is today.”
Although their stories contained similarities, their lives were very different depending on where they lived in town, said Carol Kadi, past president of the Sayreville Historical Society.

Slesinski said the book follows the lives of those 18 people and their experiences in Sayreville.
“It has snippets from the oral history project intertwined with documented information found at the museum and scholarly analysis,” he said.
Prior to World War II, the borough was made up of seven little neighborhoods, all surrounded by clay mines, Slesinski said.
“They were very small and tight-knit communities,” he said. “People’s lives were very intertwined. Everyone walked and everything was in your neighborhood. People would garden in their yards and neighbors would share their food. With all the open space, their was a lot of blueberries in the woods, all of which are gone today. During the Great Depression, children would go out with buckets, pick blueberries, jar them and sell them in their neighborhoods.”
The book includes information about how during World War I, Sayreville became an industrial hub for such business as Hercules, DuPont and the T.A. Gillespie shell-loading plant.
The book also includes information on the explosion at the Gillespie plant in the Morgan section in 1918 that killed more than 100 people and left many more homeless.
But life and the lay of the land changed after World World II, Slesinski said
“After World World II, as the clay industry declined and New Jersey became suburbanized, Sayreville became the perfect place to live,” he said. “In many ways, the identities of these little neighborhoods disappeared.”
The clay pits were transformed into sprawling housing developments, which were spurred on by the construction of the Edison Bridge in 1939, he said.
The book also contains information about the borough’s first big housing development — Pershing Park Homes, where homes originally sold for $9,490.
Stories include one of a child taking a Public Service bus to school before there was a regular school bus and pictures of actual school tickets used to get on the bus.
“The book includes memories of the trolley that ran from New Brunswick to South Amboy and stopped in Sayreville,” Slesinski said. “It includes a picture of the trolley bell, which is on display at the museum, and a map of the trolley line.”
The book was funded in part by the Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission, Middlesex County Board of Freeholders, the New Jersey Historical Commission/Department of State and local donations. It is published by Ultra Media Publications. All the profits from the book will go the museum.
Slesinski, who hopes to secure employment in a museum or archive, said the Sayreville Oral History Project is ongoing, and anyone interested in participating may call the museum at 732-390-7048. The museum, 425 Main St., is open from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Sundays.
Slesinski said the book follows the lives of those 18 people and their experiences in Sayreville.
“It has snippets from the oral history project intertwined with documented information found at the museum and scholarly analysis,” he said.
Prior to World War II, the borough was made up of seven little neighborhoods, all surrounded by clay mines, Slesinski said.
“They were very small and tight-knit communities,” he said. “People’s lives were very intertwined. Everyone walked and everything was in your neighborhood. People would garden in their yards and neighbors would share their food. With all the open space, their was a lot of blueberries in the woods, all of which are gone today. During the Great Depression, children would go out with buckets, pick blueberries, jar them and sell them in their neighborhoods.”
The book includes information about how during World War I, Sayreville became an industrial hub for such business as Hercules, DuPont and the T.A. Gillespie shell-loading plant.
The book also includes information on the explosion at the Gillespie plant in the Morgan section in 1918 that killed more than 100 people and left many more homeless.
But life and the lay of the land changed after World World II, Slesinski said
“After World World II, as the clay industry declined and New Jersey became suburbanized, Sayreville became the perfect place to live,” he said. “In many ways, the identities of these little neighborhoods disappeared.”
The clay pits were transformed into sprawling housing developments, which were spurred on by the construction of the Edison Bridge in 1939, he said.
The book also contains information about the borough’s first big housing development — Pershing Park Homes, where homes originally sold for $9,490.
Stories include one of a child taking a Public Service bus to school before there was a regular school bus and pictures of actual school tickets used to get on the bus.
“The book includes memories of the trolley that ran from New Brunswick to South Amboy and stopped in Sayreville,” Slesinski said. “It includes a picture of the trolley bell, which is on display at the museum, and a map of the trolley line.”
The book was funded in part by the Middlesex County Cultural and Heritage Commission, Middlesex County Board of Freeholders, the New Jersey Historical Commission/Department of State and local donations. It is published by Ultra Media Publications. All the profits from the book will go the museum.
Slesinski, who hopes to secure employment in a museum or archive, said the Sayreville Oral History Project is ongoing, and anyone interested in participating may call the museum at 732-390-7048. The museum, 425 Main St., is open from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Sundays.