TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON—Years before a shovel hit the dirt to construct the large shopping center on Pascack Road in the Township of Washington, there was the Washington Center. The structure, originally built in the late 1940s as a grocery with apartments above, is still standing as a Verizon store and Axia Creations. Long ago, in a much different Township of Washington, this place planted the seed for business in this section of Pascack Road.
James “Vinnie” Farrell owned this store for nearly 30 years before he retired in 1973. Farrell was a decorated Army veteran of World War II who had received the Bronze Star for combat in France. After coming home, he built this store on Pascack Road in the late 1940s.
It was the beginning of a transformative period for the Township of Washington. Slower to develop than its neighbors due to being off the beaten path from the railroad, by 1940 fewer than 500 people lived in town. After the war, the Baby Boom saw folks looking to buy houses in the suburbs, and hundreds of new homes sprang up in multiple developments. By 1950 there were 1,200 people in town. By 1960, that had risen to over 6,600.
Farrell’s Washington Center was not an easy sell with the town officials. Early in 1946 he had applied for a permit to construct his store, but he was rejected on the grounds that zoning in the township was strictly residential—and many people wanted to keep it that way. He got 87 residents to sign a petition urging the creation of a business zone on Pascack Road. Eventually the town relented, and Farrell constructed his shop with two apartments above in 1947. He lived in one of the apartments and rented out the other.
“Country Store to Open in Township” was the Westwood News’ headline on Oct. 16, 1947.
“A far cry from the country general store of bygone years is the store to be formally opened by James V. Farrell Friday, Oct. 17, on Pascack Road. Large, orderly, and spotlessly clean, this new enterprise, known as Washington Center, presents a most inviting appearance. Mr. Farrell will offer the folks of the community a wide variety of merchandise, including fruits and vegetables, groceries, delicatessen, candy, ice cream, cigars, and cigarettes.” In short order Farrell’s liquor license was approved and he added wines and spirits to his store’s shelves.
Farrell also ran a post office within his store. It was a branch of the Westwood Post Office, which at the time served the much smaller township. This satellite office was a welcome convenience for local residents.
In our main photo, a Coca-Cola delivery truck laden with wooden crates of glass Coke bottles makes a stop at the Washington Center. We can place this photograph before 1952, the year when an addition on the north side of the building added a second storefront.
The same rezoning that had enabled Farrell’s store also made way for the creation of the township’s first shopping center across the street. James J. Leone, a real estate developer, bought the 11-acre site on Pascack Road in 1958 and began building an Acme supermarket. As demand for other types of businesses increased, Leone added onto the strip mall in stages. A drugstore moved in, as did a dry cleaner and baker. By the early 1960s, the second section of the center was being built with space for a luncheonette, bank, hardware store, jewelry store and second supermarket.
— Kristin Beuscher is president of Pascack Historical Society