Honoring Cranford’s History with Three New Cranford Keepsakes
The Mr. Local History Project (MLH) has been preserving and promoting local history since our non-profit organization was established in 2019. The all-volunteer group started a wooden miniature keepsake program to share history and artwork in partnership with the world-famous Cat’s Meow Village Company of Ohio. We learned that the Cranford Garden Club had over 16 similar wooden collectibles that ended years ago. We want to support New Jersey’s local history and include some of Cranford’s history in our new collection.
The Additions are Coming!
We asked the Cranford community, and they spoke with authority. When we asked them to vote for the next one…..they picked three. So how can we disappoint? We’re NOT. We will do ONE production run of these three new keepsakes honoring Cranford: The Cranford High School, the Riverside Inn, and the Cranford Hotel. All are now available for pre-order and will be delivered in late February 2025.
Current Cranford Keepsakes
The Cranford Canoe Club and the Cranford Cinema were created a few years ago and are still available.
Now, you can order all five (5) Cranford Collectibles at a discount. Details here
Congratulations, Cranford, New Jersey
We are supporting Cranford, New Jersey’s history via our MLH keepsake project, and we hope the community will strongly support interest in Cranford’s history. The idea was made possible by then 501c3 non-profit Mr. Local History Project and Brooks Betz, a Trustee whose family once owned the Cranford Canoe Club. The keepsakes bring awareness to historic icons in town as Betz plans to one day nominate the Cranford Canoe Club to the State and National Registries of Historic Places (a complicated process). The group is a non-profit 501c that relies on fundraisers like this to expand our history programs, so every time you grow your collection, you’re supporting our non-profit efforts to grow the collection out.
Cranford Village Keepsakes
A custom art rendering of each location is on the front, and our researched history is laid out on the back. Each collectible is approximately 4″ high by 8-10 inches long and 3/4″ wide, painted on a wood block. Support your local history and start a Cranford collection of your own. Each piece is handmade in the USA. The Mr. Local History Project sinks all proceeds into growing the program to offer more keepsakes as we’ve now grown the New Jersey Historic Village Collection to 35 keepsakes, including iconic venues in Newark, West Orange, Keyport, Bedminster, Basking Ridge, Bernardsville, Cranford, Westfield, Far Hills, Peapack & Gladstone with more coming. Proceeds from each keepsake go into making more historic icons to add to the collective Jersey Village.
How Do I Get One?
The New Jersey Historic Village Collectibles are only available online. While we’d love to sell them via retail outlets, the production cost is just too high to allow a retail establishment to make a modest profit. MLHP has an underwriter to cover the cost of producing batches for us, which we repay once we’ve sold the run. If we didn’t have this support, we couldn’t afford to start the keepsake program. If there are any profits, they return to the program to create new keepsakes. This is the way we get history into the home!
So we’ve created simple online ordering.
Just click the store icon and the keepsake you’re interested in.
UPDATE:
Many have written us about a previous Cranford keepsake collection. The Green Thumb Garden Club started the Cranford Landmark Series in the early 2000s. Gerri Livelli started it as a fundraiser for the Club, and it paid for the “Fountain” that sits outside of the Post Office Plaza in Cranford and other small gardening projects throughout town over the years. All our pieces are long retired and out of production.
Get Your Village Started Today! Current Availability in Real-Time
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