Watts & Campbell (Mar. 2012)

 

 Watts & Campbell Co., located in Newark NJ, was formed in 1851 and was family-owned and in continuous operation until a few years ago.  Their principal product was steam engines, although they also made some machine tools.  When the manufacture and sale of  steam engines was no longer economically viable,  Watts & Campbell did maintenance work and jobbing.  The original foundry is gone, but the machine shop remains. 

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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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BioTech Inc.

In July of 1906 New York City opened a tuberculosis sanatorium and kept horses on site for their blood, which could be used for vaccinations. The sanatorium is long gone, but the unit has been retiring police horses here since the early '80s, according to city officials. The Antitoxin Laboratory was associated with but a separate entity from the sanitarium. They developed anti toxins and various vaccines for Diphtheria and Tetanus especially during WWI.

In 1983, the city sold the land, but included a covenant in the lease that required the buyer, Biotech Inc., to care for the old horses for as long as the city maintained mounted patrols, plus 10 years.

In return, the company could draw horses' blood for biological products. The company took blood samples from them for their research. The company planned to develop a synthetic blood substitute, But their research did not pan out and the company folded a few years ago. 

I don’t know if there are any plans for the former BioTech Inc. laboratory, but as of right now, it’s still sitting vacant.