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BY KRISTIN BEUSCHER
OF PASCACK PRESS
Powhatan Park was the name of a bungalow colony of summer homes developed in Montvale in the 1910s. Today, its grounds would include Waverly, Forest and Westmoreland avenues, off the north side of East Grand Avenue.
In 1915, one could purchase a 100-by-175-foot building lot in the colony for $450, or a plot with a house already built for $1,800.
These summer homes were heavily advertised to people living in New York City. While today Montvale is the quintessential suburban town, a century ago it was sparsely populated (just 522 people in 1910) and something of a summer resort, complete with boarding houses.
The advertisement above came out of a 1910 magazine called The Craftsman. “The place to live for people who know how to live,” it states, describing Powhatan as a veritable utopia of pure water, perfect drainage, fine schools, the best neighbors and a mosquito-free (and malaria-free!) existence. If you’re wondering about the McAdoo Tunnels, this was an early name for the PATH train, so named for William Gibbs McAdoo, who helped direct its construction.
