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BY KRISTIN BEUSCHER
OF NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
It might look like a scene from the Wild West, but this is how downtown Tenafly looked about 110 years ago. This is the north side of Washington Street from the intersection with West Railroad Avenue. The railroad depot would be behind the photographer.
The building at the far right is still standing today, although it can be easy to miss with a modern storefront at ground level. However, the roofline on the building is still the same. Back around 1908, as the sign above the door states, this was the Southern Pacific Tea Co., purveyor of groceries, coffees and teas.
It took some research to figure out the meaning behind the sign on the side of the building, “Tom Keene.” This was an advertising sign for a popular cigar brand at the time.
Next, second from right, the building behind the man with the horse and wagon was Charlie Wenger’s bakery and luncheonette. In summer months it was a favorite ice cream spot, but at this time of year the warm baked goods were what drew customers. Today there’s a three-story brick apartment building in that spot.
Next up, there is a building that has a peaked roof on the left side and a flat roof on the right. This was the livery stable of James Taveniere and Darius Johnson. The business partners had two locations: this one, and another livery stable in Closter. This was a place where buggies, horses, wagons and sleighs could be rented. Back then, many people traveling to Tenafly would have arrived by rail. Once in town, one would have visited the livery stable in order to rent a horse and carriage to get around—just like a car rental service today. In this photograph there are a couple of carriages located out front. For local residents going out of town, horses could also be boarded at Taveniere & Johnson’s for days, weeks or months. The building was destroyed by a huge fire in 1924.
Finally, the man standing in the road with the horse and wagon was not a Tenafly merchant, but was actually John Slusemann, the local butcher in Norwood, making his delivery rounds.
Slusemann’s butcher shop was part of Norwood’s modest commercial district at the turn of the 20th century, standing at the corner of Broadway and Livingston Street near the present-day Bank of America building.
When this photograph was taken in 1908, about 2,200 people lived in Tenafly, compared with over 14,500 today. The borough had water mains, gas mains and electric lights, but the streets were still dirt roads, there were no home telephones and houses were not yet numbered.
