BY MICHAEL OLOHAN
OF NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
TENAFLY, N.J. —— Alice Rigney, a Tenafly native, artist, and the borough’s second-ever historian, has used her artistic talents and words to help paint a more complete picture of the borough’s history for several decades, most recently as the official borough historian since 2007.
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In fact, one of her many paintings – a painting of a pond at Tenafly Nature Center – hangs prominently in the Richard D. Wilson Committee Room in Borough Hall.
But Borough Historian Rigney is retiring at the end of this year and Councilman Paul Stefanowicz, a longtime local history buff and assistant historian since 2008, was officially appointed as her replacement at the Nov. 20 council meeting.
Mayor Peter Rustin said Rigney “served us well” and a letter from Rigney told the council members that she could only retire “knowing that there’s somebody in the wings who is totally qualified and will do a spectacular job” referring to Stefanowicz.
Rigney worked closely with Tenafly’s first borough historian, Virginia Mosley, who served as unofficial and then official borough historian from the mid-1960s through 2005, said Stefanowicz.
During her decade as borough historian, Rigney collected and curated historical photos, and wrote “Images of America: Tenafly,” along with help from Stefanowicz.
Coincidentally, Stefanowicz’s role with local history efforts began when he saw an article on Rigney working on “Images of America” and offered to help.
Previously, Stefanowicz said his interest was piqued when he read Mosley’s book, which was compiled to celebrate Tenafly’s centennial in 1994.
In addition to compiling and writing the book on Tenafly, Rigney spearheaded a group that restored the Huyler Park bandstand to its original architectural design in 2011. Stefanowicz said she was particularly proud of the accomplishment because it involved the combined efforts of so many local people.
Reached Nov. 21 via phone, Rigney recalled the efforts to rebuild the bandstand in Huyler Park as a major achievement. She said: “The money was all raised from the public and it was completely rebuilt the way it was originally.”
Asked if she had any advice for Stefanowicz, Rigney said she felt he would do well without too much advice.
“Paul will bring a lot of things to it,” she said. “This job should be brought more into the, I’m not sure how to say it, maybe modern age,” she added.
In her time as historian, Rigney also self-published a book – “The Unidentified Photographer” – that used approximately 100 photos taken around Tenafly circa 1900.
These photos were from a collection of old glass slides that were given to Rigney by Bob Fuller, a Tenafly native.
Someone had given them to Fuller years before after they were left behind by the original photographer. Fuller had put them away and forgot about the slides until he gave them to Rigney.
Stefanowicz said Rigney won a Bergen County Historical Society award for the project to preserve the photos and produce a book with them. In the book, Rigney weaved in research on photography and information she had discovered about families that lived in Tenafly during the period.
Rigney was involved with the Historic Preservation Commission since Tenafly established it in 1990.
As a local artist, she designed murals, catalogs, window displays, as well as painting and sketching.
For years, Rigney operated The Stone House Studio from her home on Knoll Road.
She also helped raise funds for the restoration of the local railroad station, which is listed on state and national registries of historic places.
When Mosley’s collection of historical material, comprising 44 years of borough history was donated, Rigney joined in to help sort the archive over an 18-month period. In 2007, she was appointed as borough historian to continue the work.
“Her interest in the community was sparked by living in one of the two historic houses on Hillside Avenue which her grandfather, Adolf Renner, built in the early 1880s,” states a biography that accompanied an art show she produced at Tenafly Library in 2009.
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File photo