As with all Mr. Local History retrospectives, we often update the post when we learn stories and are sent photos from our community. We will continue to expand this piece as information becomes available. If you have any stories to share, please post in the comments section at the end of the piece.
Mr. Local History Project
Just south of the hamlet of Union Village in eastern section of Warren Township sits a tiny house on the northern side of the road. The 32 Hillcrest Road structure has interested passerbyers for years as it certainly isn’t a regular residence, it’s built at the end of a stone wall, and it certainly seems out of place. So what was it? Who built it?
The Mr. Local History Project read a post in a Warren Township Facebook group asking if anyone knew the history of the cottage. Looked like a perfect challenge for MLHP.
Warren History
The area’s noted 3,000 acre tract was originally purchased by William Docwra in 1690. Warren Township was officially recognized in 1806 separating from Bridgewater and Bernards Township. Later North Plainfield, Watchung, Green Brook would separate leaving Warren as it is today. The present township contains almost 20 square miles. Villages, in various parts of the municipality include Mt. Horeb, Springdale, Mt. Bethel, Smalleytown, Union Village, South Stirling, and Warrenville. The township is named after Bunker Hills noted hero Joseph Warren, Joseph Warren who died on that hill that June 17,1775; he became the embodiment of the young nation’s sacrifice.
The sleepy township stood quiet until the construction of Route 78 carved thru the township in the 1970s. Since the early 1700s, the area was a a rural farming community that later in the 20th century drew a large contingency of German jewish farmers who escaped WW2 in Europe looking to start new simpler lives. The space went on to become a country retreat, much like the nearby Catskills, catering to families from New York City looking for a weekend in the cooler-temperature and spacious New Jersey countryside. In 1982, there were still 150 working farms in Warren, but now almost all are gone-victims of the very charm of the surroundings that have attracted so many newcomers.
Source: Otley, Van Derveer, and Keily
In Union Village, Hillcrest Road back in the 1820s was known as “Dug Way Road.” The name still exists as Dug Way south on Hillcrest Road in Watchung. The property now is known as Block 207, lot 6.01 in the Union Village section of Warren Township, New Jersey. It wasn’t until 1878 when the train arrived to nearby Stirling just to the north and the population remained steady over the early 1900s. In 1875, the population of Warren was only 1,097 and actually declined in 1,083 in 1920. It was post WW2 that showed tremendous growth with a post-war housing boom.
The Property – Troubled Past
MLH went on a deed search down at the Somerset County records office and dug thru a number of deed books researching the property. If you’ve ever done a deed search, the biggest obstacle is reading the handwriting in the deed books. We got as far back to 1868 when we located the Hillcrest Road record that the ” Isaac V. Brower Homestead” was purchased for $200 back on March 30, 1868.
We then fast forward to April 13, 1909, where it was noted in the Somerset County records, Sheriff Frank T. Ross deeded the property for $995 to William Mirnaugh.
In the late 1930s, on August 2, 1939, the property was sold again at a Sheriff’s sale. Thomas C. Vail, Sheriff of Somerset County, sold the property with the gatehouse to Liberty Building & Loan Association of Plainfield for $2,706.82. The property was foreclosed from Sebastian and Rose Liberty on Feb 10, 1928. Mentions the neighboring plot previous owner Samuel Most describes a map “Map of Rogers Tract” Stony Hill (c1914) Plot #1 in Union and Somerset Counties. Shown on map as Plot #4 on August 1914.
Again on Dec 12, 1944 the property again was sold and liquidated by Liberty Building Supply to Empire Mortgage Liquidation.
Ask the Historian
The MLH Project caught up with author and Warren’s local historian Alan Siegel and asked him about the gatehouse at the 32 Hillcrest Road property.
I did mention the property briefly in my book Warren A to Z. In the 1920s and 30s, the site was once a Jewish summer camp. The break in the wall was the driveway entrance to the camp.
Alan A. Siegel, Warren local historian and author
Also take a look at the history of Camp Harmony in nearby Mt. Bethel in Warren, a similar tale.
Side Story – Free Acres
We love when one story’s research leads to another. Just to the east of the Gatehouse on Hillcrest Road is the area known as Free Acres. The 75-acre wooded community of 85 households is just to the east on the property next to the Warren gatehouse. Among the early residents of Free Acres were author Thorne Smith and his wife Celia, and actor James Cagney and his wife Billie. Learn more about Free Acres and see pictures.
What we have learned from Free Acres is that this structure is not, and has never been part of the Free Acres homestead.
MLH will NOT give up. We have requests out to Berkeley Heights HS and other groups and will keep digging. If you find something or have a clue, drop us a note. Rory Britt won’t give up either!
Mr. Local HIstory Research Team
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Their is a similiar structure across from high school and cianellia property. I do not know if its still their. Look for Linda Apgar about 72 yrs old she lived in that house for awhile.
Thank you for sharing article.