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BY KRISTIN BEUSCHER
OF PASCACK PRESS
WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J.—Today this location at the corner of Broadway and Highview Avenue is home to carpet retailer Faber Brothers Broadloom Company, but going back nearly 150 years it was one-stop shopping for almost any need a local could have.
The structure was built in 1870 by Nicholas B. Ackerman, back when the area now called Woodcliff Lake was still known as Pascack. The business was a general store, a grocery store and, for many years, also served as the town’s post office. As can be seen by the Esso sign and gas pumps visible on the circa-1940s postcard above, vehicle needs could also be met at the site. There was additionally a coal yard and a mill there, both owned by Ackerman.
Ackerman was also responsible for the construction of the borough’s train station, which—not at all coincidentally—sits across Broadway from the building.
Ackerman was one of a number of businessmen of the time who saw the railroad as an opportunity to increase revenue. Accordingly, he was also a director of the Hackensack and New York Extension Railroad Company. The extension opened in 1871 with Pascack on the line, and Ackerman, wanting to make sure he would be well positioned to take advantage of this new technology, had the station constructed at his own expense directly across the street from his store.
Would he have guessed that 150 years later the station and store would each still be in the same location?
One of Ackerman’s sons, John H. Ackerman, served as the town postmaster from his family’s store for 70 years. The post office remained there until July of 1959. Nicholas’ younger son, Garret, was Woodcliff Lake’s mayor from 1916 until 1929. Garret and his own son, Nicholas B. (named for his grandfather), are in the store’s delivery wagon in the circa 1894 photo at bottom right.
