WESTWOOD/HILLSDALE––Yates Bridge, as residents of older days called it and historians refer to it today, is the crossing over the Pascack Brook where Westwood Avenue in Westwood meets up with Demarest Avenue in Hillsdale.
In the early 20th century, nearly 100 years before email and texting would become the public’s preferred way to write to friends and relations, postcards were enormously popular for drafting a quick note. Hundreds of scenes from Westwood were committed to postcards over the years, many of which were hand-colored, like the ones above. The picturesque Yates Bridge was a common subject.
In earlier days Yates Bridge was even more integral than it is today, because Kinderkamack Road ended at Five Corners (the intersection with Westwood Avenue). That meant if you wanted to get from Westwood to many parts of Hillsdale, this bridge was the way to do it.
Yates Bridge dates back to the 1780s, when it accompanied a mill that Garret Demarest built on the brook near the corner of Westwood Avenue and Dean Street. At one point, Demarest operated a saw mill, grist mill and store at the location.
The mill passed down through the Demarests until 1864. Later it was acquired by Robert Yates and was known as Yates’ Mill at Overbrook. The mill was in ruins by the turn of the century, but residents may still recognize the name Overbrook. Proximate to this location is Overbrook Place in Hillsdale and a small park in Westwood near the brook was named Overbrook. In 1915, Overbrook Country Club was also constructed at the site and was a favorite location to unwind in the Roaring Twenties until it burned down as a result of arson in 1931.
Pictured above:
1 – Yates Bridge by moonlight, circa 1910.
2 – A young girl rides a bicycle across Yates Bridge while others follow in a pony cart at the turn of the 20th century.
3 – A little over a century ago, Yates Bridge was a dirt path connecting Westwood with Hillsdale.
4 – Yates Bridge as seen from the banks of the Pascack Brook, 1907.