September 8, 2026

Back in Time

Kristin Beuscher, columnist and president of the Pascack Historical Society, takes readers on a journey back in time through the Pascack Valley and Northern Valley’s rich history. Her “Back In Time” column offers a glimpse into the bygone days of these communities, shedding light on the lives of the people and the places that have shaped the area. With a keen eye for detail and a deep appreciation for local heritage, Kristin brings to life stories of the past, helping residents connect with their roots and gain a greater appreciation for the unique history of their towns.

RIVAL TICKETS: Ballots from Park Ridge’s first school board election, held July 20, 1894, show the competing People’s Party—dubbed the “Hayseeds” by its opponents—and Citizens’ Party, representing the borough’s newer commuter population. A six-way tie for the final five seats ultimately was settled by drawing the candidates’ names.

‘Hayseeds vs. Commuters’ in Park Ridge school election

July 19, 2026 Kristin Beuscher

PARK RIDGE, N.J.—Park Ridge broke from Washington Township and began life as a borough in 1894. With that came its own school district, and the first election of school board […]

‘Downtown’ Westwood in the 1870s. This view looks across the intersection of Railroad Avenue and Main Street (Broadway and Westwood Avenue) toward the Westwood House hotel, built in 1869. This location is now the Westwood Gallery.

Fury from above: The summer when ice wreaked havoc at Pascack

July 13, 2026 Kristin Beuscher

PASCACK VALLEY—Last week’s severe weather certainly put a damper on the Pascack Valley’s Fourth of July plans. A heat wave that saw temperatures soar into the triple digits was broken […]

The sale was widely advertised in New York City newspapers, an enticement for businessmen to bring their families to the suburbs and become commuters. For the convenience of New Yorkers, free rides by touring car went back and forth between Cresskill and the Dyckman Street ferry boats on the New Jersey side.

When the heart of Cresskill hit the auction block

July 7, 2026 Kristin Beuscher

CRESSKILL, N.J.—This week we go back 95 years to the creation of a Cresskill neighborhood. On July 9, 1921, a crowd gathered under a massive tent at the center of […]

Photographs were made during the enormous parade that took place on July 4, 1953. The images were provided to the Pascack Historical Society by Gregory Wieting of Emerson, who scanned and color-corrected the Kodachrome slides.

Kodachrome nostalgia: Emerson’s 50th anniversary parade

July 7, 2026 Kristin Beuscher

EMERSON, N.J.—“Emerson wound up its 50th anniversary celebration last Friday and Saturday with events which attracted the largest crowds ever seen in the borough,” wrote the Westwood Chronicle on July […]

It’s all fun and games in Hillsdale 110 years ago this week. The annual Firemen’s Carnival was held July 1–8, 1916, on the field (now a residential neighborhood) at Magnolia Avenue and Cross Street. The hand-printed sign on the left advertises land for sale at $400 an acre.

July, 1916: Hillsdale Goes to the Carnival

June 27, 2026 Kristin Beuscher

HILLSDALE, N.J—There’s no Zipper, Tilt-A-Whirl, or dizzying Round Up ride to be seen in this photograph from the Hillsdale Fire Association’s annual carnival held July 1–8, 1916. Generations of Pascack […]

Top to bottom and left to right: Grace Noonan, Sagred Piatt, Edward Hatten, Henry Wilke, Margaret Marshall, Myrtle Engle, Edmund Brennan, Ronald Busse and Edward Emerick; in the bottom row, Anna Bellefori, John Marshall, Jack Eldridge, Robert Bates, Edward Birdsall, Peter Belnay, James Davis, Marcel Bonhote, Samuel Peskanowitz, and Albert Collina. Pascack Historical Society’s John C. Storms Museum

Meet Montvale’s Teens of the (Nineteen) Twenties

June 21, 2026 Kristin Beuscher

MONTVALE, N.J.—Bobbed hair, knickers, and knee socks were the height of middle-school fashion when Montvale’s seventh and eighth grades posed for this photograph outside the borough’s grammar school in the […]

This grave is among the oldest in the cemetery that lies just north of the Pascack Reformed Church in Park Ridge. It belongs to Peter G. Haring, who, along with his wife Elizabeth, was a founding member of this church in 1813. He was also a veteran of the American Revolution.

Featured Local Patriot to Get ‘250th’ Honor

June 21, 2026 Michael Olohan

PARK RIDGE, N.J.—As the nation marks the 250th anniversary of American independence, Park Ridge officials are planning to honor a Revolutionary War veteran whose service had largely been forgotten for […]

The First Methodist Episcopal Church of Montvale, on Summit Avenue east of Spring Valley Road, as it appeared around 1900. A stable behind the church allowed congregants to leave their horses during services. Montvale was then a farming community of about 400 residents. Today, the roughly 140-year-old structure serves as a private residence.

Bees drove congregation from Montvale church

June 14, 2026 Kristin Beuscher

“The congregation of the Upper Montvale Church was driven out by a swarm of bees last night when the regular weekly prayer meeting was being held, and the services had […]

The Westwood Reformed Church, founded in 1886, was constructed the following year on the site of an earlier chapel at Third and Park avenues. This image dates to the early 1900s, not long after the church had been wired for electric light. It was quite an exciting moment when the lights were turned on for the first time during the Sunday evening service on Sept. 28, 1902.

Westwood’s Parkside Community Church at 140

June 7, 2026 Kristin Beuscher

WESTWOOD, N.J.—Standing outside the Parkside Community Church building at the corner of Third and Park avenues, one would never guess that this contemporary house of worship has a 140-year history. […]

‘THAT GOOD GULF GASOLINE’: Park Street in Montvale circa 1930.

An unchanged corner of Montvale

May 16, 2026 Kristin Beuscher

MONTVALE, N.J. Montvale sure has changed over the past 95 years. The population has grown from about 1,200 to 8,500. With that growth, acres of farmland and forest became homes […]

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