Newark Street Jail

 

 In Newark stands the rapidly deteriorating symbol of a bygone era. The Old Essex County Jail Complex, also known as the Newark Street Jail, is the county's oldest public building. It was built 1837 along the banks of the newly constructed Morris Canal to house both county and city lawbreakers.
Original plan for the Essex County Jail called for a two-story square building along New Street, with a wing of cells along Wilsey Street. Both were built using brick and local brownstone. They were placed on an acre and a half of property situated in an almost campus like setting.
Today the Essex County Jail remains abandoned and derelict, home to only the occasional drug dealer or vagrant. Although it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991, no efforts have been made to preserve it. Essex County seems to be practicing "demolition by neglect," or in other words, waiting for the remaining structures to burn or collapse so they can redevelop the site. Even in its present state, however, one can be still be drawn to the unique and picturesque 19th century buildings in the middle of a modern 21st century city.

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House of Diacetylmorphine

 

The  House of Diacetylmorphine, located in New Jersey provided the following services: Continued Care Community and Senior Community. Not much more information can be found on this location.

Retreat House

Benedictine Monks Retreat House was founded in 1924 under the leadership of Father Heinlein, a monk of the German Arch abbey of St.Ottilien. The major purpose of this foundation was to recruit and train American men to help carry out the monastic and missionary traditions of the Congregation of St.Ottilien. The foundation was placed under the patronage of Therese of Lisieux, and known as Little Flower Monastery. The monastery developed rapidly, becoming a simple priory in 1928 and a Conventual Priory in 1936. Father Michael served as superior of the monastery for seventeen years. In 1947 Father Coriston was elected first Abbot of Benedictine Monks Retreat House. He served as abbot until 1966 when Father Hinches was appointed prior-administrator. In 1970 Father Augustine was elected as the second, and present, Abbot of the community. The work of the community of Benedictine Monks Retreat House has varied over the years, and continues to change. The major concerns of the young foundation in the 1920's was agriculture and developing community life in the Spirit. Later a minor seminary was established and operated for over 30 years. Today the monks are engaged in a variety of activities. Several monks also teach or work at other activities in different schools in the area. Helping in local parishes on weekends, hospital work, the care of guests, and a myriad of other jobs keep the members of the community actively involved. Several monks of the community have been serving in the missions in East and South Africa. 

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The Water Works (June 2012)

 

 It is a rare and remarkably intact testament to American ingenuity. But now The Water Works, a time capsule of 19th-and 20th-century technology that faithfully served the burgeoning population  for nearly a century, is threatened by a county proposal to demolish virtually this entire intact industrial complex in order to create an artificial "ruin." The main issues of The Water Works are the stewardship of public resources, environmental concerns and the ability of the people to safeguard their heritage.

 

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The Church of The 13Th Apostle (Feb. 2012)

Built in 1870, The Church of the 13th Apostle is perhaps the best example of Gothic Revival Architecture.  The church's design reflects the philosophy of "ecclesiology" that played an important role in mid 19th century church design.

The Church was originally built as a church for a rural parish in the City of Bergen. As the community developed and grew, the Church became the largest Congregation in the State of New Jersey. It became known as the "Millionaire's Church," as it catered to Hudson County's wealthiest professionals.

Decades later, as the demographics of the neighborhood began to change, the church began to minister to a largely minority working class population. During this area, The Church was known for the political activism of its then pastor.

Today, The Church still stands, but precariously. Vacated by the diocese in 1994, it has now been abandoned and left to the elements. Preservation New Jersey recognized the precarious situation and naming it to its 10 Most Endangered List in 2004. In 2006, the Episcopal Diocese allowed a salvage crew to brutally strip the church's interior of its valuable artifacts and fixtures. To date, the Diocese has failed to take basic precautions against further damage or water infiltration.

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Tuberculosis Sanitorium Infirmary (Jan. 2012)

 

 In 1907 the State of New Jersey opened The TB Sanitarium. This facility was the only sanatorium owned and operated by the State. The TB sanatorium was intended to be a model institution, largely educational in character, which would give a practical demonstration of up-to-date methods of treating tuberculosis, providing individual and public health benefits. The sanatorium was expected to handle about 500 cases annually and to arrest the disease in its incipient stage and discharge the patient in such condition that, with the aid of the instruction he receives while at the institution, he may be reasonably certain of being able to effect his own cure.

From 1907 to 1929, 10,313 patients were treated at the state tuberculosis sanatorium, with an average of 600 patients per year reported in 1929. By the 1920s, the sanatorium's mission was broadened and the effects of long-term care assessed. Even though the original intention of the institution was to treat incipients, or curables, the scope was broadened to incorporate cases in all levels of severity, in light of the advanced stages of some patients' cases at the institution at that time.

 Sanatorium treatment of tuberculosis remained relatively unchanged until the development of streptomycin at Rutgers University in the 1940s, which was in general use by 1953. The desire for isolation hospitals began to diminish, despite the fact that the new drugs only played a part in the cure. Bed rest, good nutrition, and isolation at a sanatorium were still important in the cure, but the public interpretation of the disease had shifted. It was true that mortality rates from tuberculosis had declined by the 1960s; however, the morbidity rates were rising. Nevertheless, public interpretation had shifted and the sanatorium cure was losing popularity. "By the early 1960s, tuberculosis institutions remained in nine New Jersey counties; general hospitals or the state sanatorium handled patients from counties without specific facilities. A number of the former tuberculosis hospitals were converted to service a wide range of illnesses once the concept of isolation become obsolete.

 

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