Spring Lake, Revisited

Introduction

by Patrick Smith

A Brief History Of Spring Lake

Spring Lake was formed from five towns, and these towns rose from the development of several farms.

The Walling Farm and land that was known as the “Ludlow tracks” formed Brighton in 1873.

The Osborn Farm formed Spring Lake Beach in 1875.

The Reid Farm and The Rogers Farm formed Reid's Villa Park and Rogers' Villa Park, also in 1875, and subsequently merged to form “Villa Park” in 1888.

The farmland north of the town of Brighton to approximately St. Clair Avenue formed North Brighton in 1881.

The Morton and Curtis Farms formed Como, also in 1881.

As these towns developed, they began to join together:

In 1884, Brighton, North Brighton, and the Ludlow Farm became North Spring Lake.

In 1892, Spring Lake Beach and the eastern part of Villa Park became Spring Lake.

In 1899, Como was annexed by North Spring Lake.

In 1903, North Spring Lake (now comprised of Brighton, North Brighton, and Como) joined Spring Lake (now comprised of Spring Lake Beach and the eastern part of Villa Park) creating the town as we know it today.

The land surrounding the area of the lake was recorded circa 1760. Through subsequent sales, it was ultimately owned by Captain Forman Osborn. At this time, the lake was known as Fresh Creek Pond. After a stay at the Osborn Farm, a Scottish Presbyterian minister, Reverend Alphonso A. Willits (1821-1913), saw Spring Lake's potential as a beautiful location for a resort. He persuaded affluent Philadelphians to form The Spring Lake Beach Improvement Company which, in 1875, purchased the Osborn Farm and laid the plans to develop the area and create a seaside resort to be named Spring Lake Beach.

Philadelphia architect Frederick Anspach surveyed and laid out the town. Almost immediately, on May 26, 1875, construction of a hotel, The Monmouth House, began. It opened a little over a year later on June 10, 1876. The Monmouth was four stories high, had two hundred seventy rooms, a one thousand seat dining room, and two huge parlors overlooking the ocean. With the opening of this hotel, the resort of Spring Lake Beach became a destination for the affluent and famous.

The 1889 Wolverton Atlas mentions that the name of the lake, “Fresh Pond,” was changed to “Spring Lake.” A newspaper account at the time described it as a deep, freshwater lake that was “so clear,” you could recognize a coin at the bottom of its deepest part.

~ • ~ • ~ •~ • ~ • ~

There were many people and events that collided to create Spring Lake and guarantee its place as a pearl on the Jersey coast. During the years surrounding the nation's centennial in 1876, the area's development was benefiting from the enthusiasm surrounding the event. In fact, many of the first homes in Spring Lake were dismantled and moved by rail from The Centennial Expo in Philadelphia to the town.

The Jersey coast seemed to hypnotize everyone who came in contact with it, and Spring Lake's humble beginning had its origin with the visions of numerous individuals. Passionate hard work by these people insured its success. Those responsible for the town's beginning are many.

Investors such as John Reading, James Hunter, Paul Thurlow, and S. D. Button and companies such as The Spring Lake Beach Improvement Company, The Lake House Company, W. Hotchkiss & Barber, and The Spring Lake Realty Company saw the town's promise and furnished plans and investment capital.

Engineers, such as Frederick J. Anspach, surveyed the town and designed an outline that kept its tranquil character, making the lake its heart and the inexhaustible ocean its pulse.

Famous architects, commissioned all the way from Philadelphia, designed beautiful homes and cottages, many of which are still standing today. So began Spring Lake's great architectural offerings that would continue into the early twentieth century.

Scores of laborers and craftsman worked to create the first great hotel, The Monmouth House, in 1876 and The New Monmouth after the fire of 1900.

Great individuals, such as Martin Maloney, created pride by donating one of the great icons of Spring Lake, St. Catharine's Church; he was also a force behind developing many of the town's businesses, sharing his vision, business sense, and shear determination.

Last but not least, tourists, some affluent, some famous, continued to return generation after generation making the town a legendary resort and refuge. State of the art hotels such as The Monmouth and The Essex and Sussex held a place in many hearts.

Disasters, tragedies, and the long, off-season months created a unity of spirit among business owners and local residents, and people began to care about the town year round. They began to realize how the town and its short history could be threatened by fires and weather like hurricanes or nor'easters. Tragedies, like the death of Catharine Maloney (which prompted her father to donate Saint Catharine's), brought people together. Through the Depression and other obstacles, residents and business owners forged ahead to make a better life for themselves and their families. Being a seasonal community, business owners and workers made the most of their income in the summer months and lived modestly during the off-season; this as well contributed to the town's strong sense of unity. During hard times, many businesses would extend credit of goods and food to their neighbors knowing they would not get paid until the end of the following season.

These people and events, all living and taking place at the same time, collided to become Spring Lake's own “little big bang,” creating momentum and success in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These people did not know what mark, if any, they would leave when they passed on.

How This Book Came To Be

Presented in this book is the collection of postcards and photographs of my grandfather William Schreck, hard working husband of Rosemary Schreck. My grandparents were the owners of two hotels in Spring Lake. They originally purchased The Letchworth Hotel (now The Grand Victorian Hotel) and then The Sandpiper Hotel, eventually selling The Letchworth.

My grandfather collected everything from coins and stamps to Broadway Playbills, postcards, and photographs. Interestingly, he only collected postcards of two towns in New Jersey: Newark and Spring Lake. This collection, like many other things he collected, was compiled with some of his sons and daughters knowing of it, and in some cases, contributing to it. The grandchildren, like myself, did not know about these collections until his passing in 1991.

The collection came to my attention at family gatherings when five worn portfolios would be brought out holding hundreds of postcards and photographs. I used to look at them just for the pictures of The Monmouth and The Sandpiper because they held my fondest recollections of living in Spring Lake and working at The Sandpiper during the summer months.

Soon, looking at the pictures of the beautiful hotels and beach and lake scenes led to looking at the postmarks on the back of the postcards, which led to looking at the one cent stamps, which finally led to reading the letters from people telling their relatives and friends that they had never visited such a place as beautiful as Spring Lake. I also found that there was much history preserved in these writings. People wrote of how places, hotels, and names had changed as well as of tragic fires and horrific tales, like the burning of the Morro Castle.

I began to get so caught up, I couldn't put them down. I burdened my family with having them look at every picture and listen to every neat story I discovered. I soon began to wonder what were the things my grandfather thought about in compiling this collection: maybe he understood the significance and power these images would hold as a resource for Spring Lake's future; maybe he collected them because he just loved the town. In either case, his collection, and possible motivations, had me hooked.

I became concerned about damage to the cards and photographs from constant handling—many were nearly one hundred years old—so I began to digitize and enlarge them to show more of the detail. Pretty soon I had over two hundred images of old Spring Lake blown up to 8" x 10". I showed them to people who I thought would appreciate them. Soon I was getting requests for copies and getting advice on how to put the collection together as a whole.

I received the name of a publisher, George Valente, from friends and proceeded to show the collection to him. I thought the meeting was going to be cordial with George saying “thanks but no thanks” and sending me on my way. As George paged through the collection, I did not hear a word from him for almost twenty minutes. When he finally spoke, he said that he had just been transported back in time. I knew then that he was taken with these images as much as my grandfather and the rest of the Schreck family.

~ • ~ • ~ •~ • ~ • ~

The history of this town, as presented in this book, is not meant to chronicle the town's existence as would be written in a standard, chronological history book. Instead, it is intended as a portal to a simpler time, a book for viewing pleasure. (For more complete histories of the town, please to refer to the bibliography at the back of this book.)

It is my hope that those who view these images find themselves taken back to a different time. It is my hope that these photographs revive memories of the way things used to be and a desire try to protect some of the values that were practiced back then. It is my hope that this book creates a deeper affection for Spring Lake and motivates people to take more interest in its history. More importantly, it is my hope that these photographs will inspire people to protect the vanishing vestiges of the town that are being torn down and replaced at an alarming rate— without any appreciation for their place in Spring Lake's history. We should attempt to maintain and preserve the icons of Spring Lake that we can and replace the ones we cannot with buildings that are becoming of this great town. We should endeavor to leave our mark by remembering the marks left by others and demonstrate our respect by improving and maintaining the Spring Lake we have now. We must support the keepers of the history and the people who champion the cause of preserving the fragile historical remnants of Spring Lake such as the volunteers at The Spring Lake Historical Society.

It is my hope that I have paid tribute to my grandfather by sharing a small portion of his history through this collection.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to William and Rosemary Schreck. While researching and writing this book, I sensed my grandfather's presence and felt his inspiration; I hope I can do his memory justice. I still sense him every time I view these images. Thanks, Pop.

Thanks to the entire, extended Schreck family, who have been extremely supportive during this whole process. Special thanks to the Schreck daughters: Ann, Kathleen, and Helen, who gave their permission for the content of this book to be used; this collection of postcards was passed on to them by my grandfather after his passing.

Special thanks to all the people who helped in the research of this book, including: the entire staff at The Spring Lake Historical Society; Dr. Charles D. Wrege; Carol Fischer Megill; Patricia Colrick (whose advice and discussions about old Spring Lake Beach were invaluable—I felt like a student under her tutelage every time we spoke); Richard Reilly and Alex Estelle, whose anecdotes of the town's growing pains not only added great information and perspective but were thoroughly entertaining as well; all of our local historians and people who contributed their pictures and documents; all of the authors of papers and books about the town throughout its existence—their work keeps the appreciation of and passion for Spring Lake alive.

Special thanks to my editor and publisher George Valente, who confirmed that my emotional pursuit to share and explain these images of Spring Lake was well founded.

Special thanks to: the Larkin Family for all their help in my research; to the staff at the Spring Lake Library for their assistance in the research of this book; to the Barlow Family who recommended I contact George Valente and Jersey Shore Publications; to Jules Plangere whose heritage and contributions speak for themselves; to the Nabb Family for their help in researching the Maloney property; to Tony Valpone and family who kept my spirits up during the creation this book; to Tony Sofia who mentioned a long time ago that he would buy all the postcard images if they were in a book someday; to Henry Wright and Frank Mathews for preserving The Parker House; to the Matthews Family and the Sabaitis Family for their help in understanding the architectural and structural problems that the oldest buildings are suffering from in Spring Lake; to Dennis Kaloostian, owner of the Ocean House; to Harvey Mell, owner of The Sandpiper Inn. Thanks to all the unmentioned Spring Lake residents for saying that this had to be done and for pushing me to finish this book.

Thanks to all the forefathers of the town, the surveyors, and the builders; to our great residents, like Martin Maloney, who strove to make Spring Lake, once a jewel in the rough, become a first rate town for residents and vacationers; to all the generations of families of tourists who have vacationed here and continue to amuse and entertain locals with their stories of days gone by.

Thanks to God, from whom all good things come.

Finally, thanks to my wife, Colleen, our two children, Kaitlyn and Megan, and all of our immediate family, for encouraging me during the creation of this book. Thank you for giving me your support and opinions even when you didn't want to. And thanks for not walking away whenever I once again asked, “Do you have some time to talk about the book?”