Metuchen Collectible Figures
Only $15.00 each (plus shipping if applicable), with all proceeds benefiting the historic Old Franklin Schoolhouse.
These wooden block figures make delightful gifts for past and current resident. Each one-inch-thick wooden figure measures 6 inches wide by 4 inches tall (depending on the figure’s orientation) and features a description and history on the reverse.
OLD FRANKLIN SCHOOLHOUSE: Metuchen's first schoolhouse, named for Benjamin Franklin, was constructed ca.1807 with land donated by local residents. It was renovated and expanded in 1842, then retired in the 1870s when a larger school was built further south on Middlesex Avenue. The Borough Improvement League formed in 1901 and soon after purchased and restored the building for use as a clubhouse. Now more than two centuries old, the Old Franklin Schoolhouse continues to serve as the home for the B.I.L. and as a gathering place for the community.
FRANKLIN SCHOOL: Built in 1909 by Walker & Morris Architects, this was the third school building in Metuchen to be named for Benjamin Franklin, following the Old Franklin Schoolhouse and a wood-frame Franklin School built in 1870. Several additions were made to the building and it survived a fire in 1957, but it held its last class of students in 1985. It was used by the Board of Education for several more years then sold and demolished in 1999 to make way for the Franklin Square condominiums. The fan window over the front entrance was salvaged and now hangs inside the ca. 1807 Old Franklin Schoolhouse.
METUCHEN PUBLIC LIBRARY: Constructed from 1935 to 1937 under the direction of architect Aylin Pierson, the Metuchen Public Library is a Key Contributing site in the Middlesex Avenue-Woodwild Park Historic District, listed in the New Jersey & National Registers of Historic Places in 2017. Built using a combination of funds from the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) and donations from the public, this Colonial Revival building is an excellent example of a federally-sponsored construction project intended to relieve the widespread unemployment brought on by the Great Depression. In the early 1970s, a modern addition designed by architect Charles Fitch was constructed, set back on the west side of the building, largely under the direction of Metuchen resident and Poet Laureate John Ciardi, who lived nearby on Middlesex Avenue and was very involved with the Library operations at the time. It remains one of Metuchen’s most important local cultural institutions in the “Brainy Borough.”
FREEDOM PLAZA: Freedom Plaza is a memorial dedicated to the more than 3,000 citizens of the United States and other countries who died on September 11, 2001 when terrorists attached our country. Although worldwide in scope, it was a personal tragedy for our state and community. The names on these walls list the nearly 700 New Jersey residents who perished on that day. The clock stands as a timeless symbol in remember of those who will not be forgotten.
ST. LUKE'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH: St. Luke’s was established in 1864 and in 1868 construction began on the building, which is a prominent landmark along Middlesex Avenue. Designed by the noted ecclesiastical architect Richard Upjohn, St. Luke’s Church is a fine example of a Carpenter Gothic Church. The cast-iron watering trough cost $450.00 to build, and funds for it were raised through ball games and minstrel shows. The structure originally included a fountain that provided water for horses and dogs.
METUCHEN FIRE DEPARTMENT & WASHINGTON HOSE COMPANY: The Metuchen Fire Department consists of two volunteer groups- the Eagle Hook and Ladder Company, formed in 1882, and the Washington Hose Company, organized in 1897. The Washington Hose Company’s brick building was dedicated February 23, 1903. The Eagle Hook and Ladder Company building, constructed in 1885, is at 398 Main Street. Currently both companies are housed in the same building, the former borough garage, remodeled in 1953 to serve as Metuchen’s only firehouse. We thank the firefighters who volunteer their time and service to our community.
323 MAIN STREET: Constructed ca. 1860, this Eastlake Victorian home served as the residence for members of the Boynton, Daniels, & Ayers families prior to being acquired by the Jessens as part of their Victorian Office Rentals, a complex providing office space in carefully preserved historic buildings within a park-like setting in downtown Metuchen. From the early 1960s until 2021, it served as the headquarters of the Metuchen Area Chamber of Commerce.
CENTENARY CHURCH & VENTURE THEATRE: The Centenary Methodist Church in Metuchen was organized in 1866, as were many others in the country, on the centenary anniversary of the first Methodist meeting held in 1766. The Metuchen congregation’s first church building, a small frame structure on the southeast corner of Middlesex Avenue and Main Street, was completed in 1869. This building was later moved 20 feet off the site, and converted for use as a Sunday School. A new church, the one depicted here, was constructed on the site in 1919. In 1952, classrooms were added, but the congregation continued to grow and in 1959 purchased land on Hillside Avenue on which to build a larger facility. The new Centenary United Methodist Church at 200 Hillside Avenue was finished in 1964 and this old building was sold in 1967. It was then converted for use as a movie theatre, operating under names such as “Theatre 6” and “Venture Theatre.” Many local residents remember the “haunted houses” hosted there in the Fall. It was demolished in 1981.
EDISON MEMORIAL TOWER: The Edison Memorial Tower, built in 1937, is located on the site of Thomas Alva Edison’s Menlo Park laboratory and commemorates the momentous events that took place there between 1876 and 1882. The Art Deco monument, designed by Messena and DuPont, Architects, was donated on behalf of the Edison Pioneers. Over 130 feet high, the tower features notable masonry artist John J. Early’s innovative concrete facing incrusted with glittering quartz and ceramic. The large bulb atop the tower, made by Corning Glass Works, is the first circular casting working produced by the glass industry.
METUCHEN POST OFFICE: Early residents of Metuchen retrieved their mail from stops along the post road and public places such as Campbell’s Tavern. In 1832, Lewis Thomas was appointed the first postmaster and operated out of his store on Main Street. For the next century, the location of the post office moved to various spots along Main Street, including Robins Hall, the Burroughs Building, and the Commonwealth Bank Building, dependant upon who was the politically-appointed postmaster at the time. By the early 1930s, efforts were being made to appropriate federal funding under the Public Buildings Act of 1926 to construct a new, permanent home for the post office. A site close to the train station was specifically selected and construction finally began in May, 1939, under President Roosevelt’s “New Deal.” The architectural plans followed a standardized federal post office design created under the supervision of the Office of the Supervising Architect (OSA), headed by Louis Adolphe Simon. Built in the Colonial Revival style favored for public buildings during that time, its cupola was intended to reflect that found atop the Old Franklin School on Middlesex Avenue. It opened and was officially dedicated on February 10, 1940. In 1942, Harold Ambellan’s plaster sculpture, “Gardeners,” was installed on the interior north wall. Ambellan was an internationally recognized sculptor whose New York City loft was a meeting place for early blues and protest singers such as Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger. The Metuchen Post Office was listed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places on June 25, 2007, and the National Register of Historic Places on April 2, 2008, as an intact example of federally-sponsored construction projects intended to relieve the widespread unemployment brought on by the Great Depression.
THOMAS PARK & TOMMY'S POND-SOLD OUT: Thomas Park was donated to the Borough of Metuchen in 1929 by the grandchildren of David Graham Thomas, an early landowner for whom Graham Avenue and Thomas Street are named. Although less than two acres in size, this beautiful park at the corner of Lake Avenue and Franklyn Place offers recreational opportunities such as an annual fishing derby, a Halloween pumpkin float, winter ice skating and sleigh riding, year-round observation of duck life, and benches for reading and quiet rest. Under the management of the Borough’s Environmental Commission, a long-term landscape management plan was developed for the park, the half-acre pond was deepened, and an aerator fountain was installed.
METUCHEN RAILROAD STATION - SOLD OUT: In 1836, the first train came through the village on the newly laid line of the New Jersey Railroad, and schoolchildren were given an extra hour at noontime to see the amazing “iron horse” make its way down the tracks. The first station was near New Durham Road and Middlesex Avenue, but soon another was built at Main Street and Woodbridge Avenue, which residents considered to be the center of town. Other 19th century village stations included the Robinvale Station at Grove Avenue and the two-story Lake Avenue Station, built 1870. In 1871 the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) took over the line, and the Easton and Amboy Railroad also laid tracks via a deep cut roughly parallel to Amboy Avenue. Later operated by the Lehigh Valley Railroad (LVRR) and now the Middlesex Greenway, that line had a station and connection with the PRR at Lake Avenue. In 1888, the PRR’s Lake Avenue station was pulled down, the tracks were elevated over Main Street, and the current station was built for just over $6600 using a standard PRR design, “#2665B, Brick Station and Dwelling.” Originally, the station had a slate roof, cresting, and an exterior with half-timbering, brick, clapboard, and scalloped shingles. It received a Determination of Eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, was renovated in 1979, and remains at the center of a thriving community on NJ TRANSIT’s Northeast Corridor, with over 4000 passengers and 100 train stops daily.
METUCHEN BOROUGH HALL-SOLD OUT: The first municipal structure in Metuchen, Borough Hall was designed by acclaimed local architect Clement W. Fairweather, Sr. It was constructed for $25,000, with the contract awarded to contractor David Rossa and mason Thomas Winters. The cornerstone was laid on Memorial Day, 1924 and it was formally opened to great fanfare on January 1, 1924. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001, but soon after demolished by the Borough to make way for a new building.
FORUM THEATRE -SOLD OUT: James Forgione, the manager of the Metuchen Theater, and H.A. Rumler, a local entrepreneur, established the Forum Theater, naming it by combining the first three letters of their last names. The Theater opened on March 6, 1928, and showed movies for over 50 years. In 1983, a nonprofit professional theater was established in the building.
TAPPEN HOUSE (259 Main Street) - SOLD OUT: Ann and Luther H. Tappen were likely the builders and first owners of this wonderful Queen Anne house that sits at the corner of Main and Spring Streets. Built between 1876 and 1880, it features a Syrian-arched porch, Eastlake detailing, oculi, and a round third-story turret room. Luther was the son of a farmer and storekeeper of the same name from Bonhamtown, and he and his wife had three sons and three daughters. The large two-story barn at the rear, once filled with antiques, burned down in the 1970s.
ST. FRANCIS CATHEDRAL -SOLD OUT: St. Francis Parish has a long history dating back to a mission church dedicated to Saint Joseph in the late 180~. Groundbreaking for the present building took place nearly one hundred years later. The cornerstone was blessed and dedicated on May 19, 1963 by Bishop George W. Ahr. This dedication coincided with the 50th anniversary of the ordination of Msgr. John J. Foley, the pastor at the time. When pope John Paul II established the Diocese of Metuchen 'in 1981, St. Francis Church was chosen as the Cathedral for the newly formed Diocese. ***Some figures may be available through the Cathedral's gift shop***