HILLSDSALE—The challenge intrigued, its aims ambitious: “We are seeking help to create a logo that will be used for a variety of purposes, including the website, correspondence, social media platforms, signs, etc. Help us create a logo that reflects what we love about our borough and its unique characteristics.”
That was the call, a year ago, from the Borough of Hillsdale 125th Anniversary Celebration Committee, excited to announce a logo contest open to residents. The final design would stand proud, embellishing a year of special events, mementos, and signage, and it would enter a time capsule bound for the year 2048.
Now we have a winner:
Congratulations to Kaitlyn Zimmerman, a sixth-grader at George G. White Middle School, who produced what a panel of expert judges said by unanimous decision was the superior entry: an illustration, in warm, earthy tones and a golden note, of the town’s historic police booth, standing sentry on a verdant hilltop, middle ground between viewer and the suggestion of a rising sun. Ringed in fluttering banners is proclaimed “Hillsdale — Celebrating 125 years.”
Kaitlyn submitted the logo in Kristin Puff’s art/digital media class as a final project of the year.
“The whole class did it,” Kaitlyn told Pascack Press on Jan. 12. “I was surprised I won.”
She said she produced the work with Google Drawings diagramming software. “First I had a different idea. I wanted to do a hill. But then I decided to do the police hut because it’s in the center of town, and it’s really old, and we’re celebrating how old the town is.”
This March marks the Borough of Hillsdale’s 125th anniversary. The committee said Kaitlyn’s logo “incorporates the iconic police booth located in the center of town and reflects the character of our community.”
The police booth, built by John Henry Olley, has stood in Hillsdale since 1925. At that time it was the center of police action, serving as the headquarters before one was created at the borough hall in 1931.
The booth stood in the roadway at Broadway and Hillsdale Avenue. Years later it was moved off the roadway to the sidewalk.
Before the police booth stood, officers had the benefit of a telephone on a pole at the corner of Park Avenue and Broadway. A resident named Beck donated a beach umbrella to be placed next to the telephone so that officers could shelter. (The phone was moved inside the booth; the umbrella was retired.)
At a recent school presentation, Kaitlyn received a framed certificate (that’s now up on the family’s mantel), a $100 gift that went right into the bank, and, naturally cheers.
All the kids, she said, “wanted to know how much money I got. That was, like, the first thing,” she said.
The contest invitation said the top submissions would be selected by a panel of community members with design experience, and then presented to the committee for a final decision.
In announcing the winner, the committee delivered special thanks to sponsor Jim Frantin Plumbing, Heating & Electric LLC.
Kaitlyn, who has a twin brother, and and a brother at the high school, is perhaps a perfect representative of Hillsdale as it reaches toward the future. She participates in her school robotics program; Destination Imagination, which sees students work in teams to solve open-ended STEAM challenges designed to teach the creative process; and plays town and club lacrosse.
Kaitlyn’s mom, Liz, told Pascack Press, “She has big plans. She likes science and engineering, she wants to get into STEM programs that’ll get her where she wants to be.”
Liz also says Kaitlyn was “born lacking vision in her right eye. She does everything with her left. And she’s so outgoing.”
Events taking shape
Geraldine Beatty, a 125th Anniversary Celebration Committe chairperson — along with police Capt. Sean Smith, a local historian — told Pascack Press on Jan. 12, “The logo contest was a wonderful thing to try to bring some of the community together. The anniversary committee was excited that it was a kid that won, because that’s the whole future of the town.”
She said, “My kids were very involved, 25 years ago, when we did the centennial, so that was one of the thing we were looking to do — include kids.”
She said the committee was meeting — at press time — to finalize the year’s festivities and official website, and promised details presently.
In a brief phone interview, in which she juggled a boisterous granddaughter and an alert pup, she was excited to share a few events top of mind:
Smith will present on Hillsdale history at the public library on Tuesday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. (A U.S. Marine and longtime member of American Legion Post 162 of Hillsdale, Woodcliff Lake, and Old Tappan, Smith is author of “Hillsdale: Images of America” with Zoltán Horváth.)
March 3 will see a townwide square dance, called by Steven Hingis, at Hillsdale United Methodist Church.
March 25 is the date for “a birthday bash celebration at Pascack Valley High School. We’ve also got ‘Hillsdale’s Got Talent,’ and that’ll be open to everyone in the community.”
The committee is also “tagging on” to events the town is running this year, Beatty said, and promised interviews and photo opportunities in support of the production of an anniversary book.
There’s an evening gala in fall/winter, and an addendum to the centennial journal, bringing the living story of Hillsdale current, with a focus on eight or so “Hillsdale Gems,” venerable movers and shakers.
“I’ll send you what we have after the meeting. There’s so much. We think it’s going to be very well received. We hope so,” she said.
History recapped on the borough website explains in part, “Residents of ‘Hillsdale,’ who had adopted the name from a school built on Pascack Road in 1856 and opened in 1870, for a separation from Washington Township, petitioned the legislature to incorporate Hillsdale Township. The act passed on March 25, 1898.”
— With thanks to Kristin Beuscher’s “Back In Time.”