RIVER VALE—One of River Vale’s stateliest homes was the Blakeney mansion, which once stood at 270 Rivervale Road.
Jacob M. Blakeney moved to River Vale (then still part of the Township of Washington) from New Brunswick in 1873, purchasing a large plot of land along Rivervale Road.
Around 1879, he constructed a large new home on the site, as pictured above. The property reportedly had about 600 feet of frontage extending from Rivervale Road to the Hackensack River, with grounds characterized by an expansive lawn and flower gardens.
Jacob was a well-known and respected citizen in River Vale and was active in local politics. He was elected as a county freeholder in 1906 and served in that capacity for many years.
He and wife Senora Mabie Blakeney had one son, Alfred, who was born in the mansion in 1879. Alfred grew up in River Vale and attended the one-room schoolhouse that stood at Rivervale Road and Piermont Avenue. As the little rural school had only five grade levels, he finished his elementary education at Hackensack—which required walking or riding to Westwood and then taking the train. In 1900 he married a girl from Westwood, Miss Adeline (Addie) Brickell, the daughter of Mayor Thomas E. Brickell.
Alfred followed in his father’s footsteps to become an active politician and one of River Vale’s most prominent citizens.
From the town’s formation in 1906 until the mid-1970s, voters elected officials to a five-person town council, and then the council, in turn, selected one of its members to serve as mayor. Alfred Blakeney won election to the town council every year from 1914 until 1954. For nearly all those years, he was selected to serve as mayor. In 1957, he died in the same house where he was born.
By the mid-20th century, the face of River Vale was changing. What had been a quiet and out-of-the-way rural community just decades earlier was transforming into a busy suburb, with forests and fields giving way to newly created streets and hundreds of new homes. The township had entered the 1950s with a population of about 1,700 people. By 1960, there were 5,600. By 1970, nearly 9,000 people were living in town.
The Blakeney mansion, a symbol of an older way of life in River Vale, fell victim to the building boom. The estate was sold to a developer in June 1960.
Before the old house was demolished, it was burned in a practice drill for area firefighters. Over 125 firemen participated from River Vale, Westwood, Old Tappan, Emerson, and Hillsdale. A large crowd of residents came out to watch the blaze.
In the photo above, Alfred’s daughter-in-law, Florence Blakeney, stands in front of the home just days before it was burned. Florence was married to Charles Blakeney, Alfred’s nephew whom he later adopted and raised as a son. Charles was a firefighter, scoutmaster, and police officer in River Vale.
As part of the development, streets including Florence Road, Charles Court (each named for family members), and Blakeney Place were created from the grounds of the Blakeney estate.
Editor’s note:
We are impressed with all of Kristin Beuscher’s “Back In Time” and Relics primary sources, but one stands out this week: the late Pascack Valley historian Robert L. Secor, who, with Dwight de Stefan and Helen Whalen, penned the lively “History of River Vale.” In that text, and in his blog, Secor, born in River Vale in 1929, says he will be “forever grateful for the experience of growing up in early River Vale.” In 2012 he posted of the Blakeney estate that “it is surely another of the fine properties that stood out in River Vale. It was located on the east side of River Vale Road with the property boundary starting at the easterly end of Cleveland Avenue and running south for several hundred feet, all the way to what was then the Spencers’ house. The property ran back to the Hackensack River and was one of the nicest parcels of property in the entire town.
The house was a majestic looking place, always with very well maintained grounds with a big white stone driveway that went back to a couple of well-kept barns or garages. The house itself was a three story place of masonry construction. It was a place that anyone passing by would certainly notice and be impressed.
For as many years as I can recall, the place was maintained by a Steve Bickoff, who was a former Russian soldier in World War I.
About 1960 the place was razed to make room for “progress” —needless to say, some of us “natives” did not consider this “progress.” Was kinda sad to see it being demolished.”