PARK RIDGE—The first week of August 1903, Park Ridge was the place to be in the Pascack Valley. Folks from all over flocked to the little town, then home to just 900 people, for a week-long fair with music and games. The event was a fund-raiser for a place that will be unfamiliar to most of today’s Park Ridgers: St. Mary’s Church.
The cozy little church at the end of Hawthorne Avenue is now long gone, but back in 1903 it was just getting started.
St. Mary’s was founded in 1901 as a mission church of St. Andrew’s in Westwood. Early on, the parish included the towns of Harrington Park, Montvale, Old Tappan, Park Ridge, River Vale and Woodcliff Lake.
For two years the founders of St. Mary’s held various fund-raisers with the goal of building a church. October 1902 brought a card game and Halloween dance at Foresters Hall on Kinderkamack Road, then another dance on the eve of Thanksgiving. The biggest effort, however, was the week-long fair in August 1903.
Carnivals and fairs still bring big crowds in the Pascack Valley today, but 120 years ago they were even more important. This was a time before movies, before television, and even before homes had radios. Phonographs were around, but they were expensive, and so were the records they played. A fair such as the one in Park Ridge would draw people from all over, even at that time before automobiles. They would come by foot, by bicycle, and by horse and wagon for a day of entertainment.
The fair opened with a ball on the evening of Saturday, Aug. 1, 1903. Music was furnished by the Franco-Neapolitan Quintet of Paris, which had been brought to America by the famed Delmonico’s restaurant in New York. Just how they became involved with Park Ridge is a detail lost to history.
Tuesday, Aug. 4, brought more music, this time from the house orchestra from the Metropole Hotel of Hackensack. The proprietor of the Metropole was Mr. Joseph Tucoulat, a former resident of Park Ridge. This was Mr. Tucoulat’s second time helping out St. Mary’s. Months earlier he raffled off an Edison phonograph, netting $30 for the building fund.
Wednesday evening brought children’s entertainment, followed by another ball on Friday. Various contests and competitions boosted interest throughout the week.
The Westwood juniors baseball team “went on a lark” to attend the Park Ridge fair on Aug. 1 and spent all their money, “which was about $2.50,” according to one local news brief. It added, “The team is now broke.”
“Several of the young people spent Saturday evening very pleasantly at the Park Ridge fair,” read another report out of Etna (Emerson).
All of this fund-raising was a success: the building committee gathered the $4,000 necessary to build the church. That’s about $140,000 in today’s money.
The dedication of St. Mary’s Church took place in November 1903 and was another big event in the little town. Catholics and non-Catholics alike were invited. Rt. Rev. Bishop O’Connor of Newark presided over the dedication. A large delegation from Holy Trinity R.C. Church of Hackensack took the train up to Park Ridge, including Father Joseph J. Cunneely, who conducted the high mass. Joining him was Professor Henry Klaas, organist and choir director, and all the members of the Holy Trinity Church choir.
Population growth in the first half of the 20th century eventually rendered St. Mary’s too small to house the congregation, which had reached 400 families by 1950. In 1960 the construction of a new church began at the corner of Pascack Road and Fremont Avenue. This was to become Our Lady of Mercy. Its doors opened on Christmas Eve in 1961.
St. Mary’s Church was demolished in 1968 to make way for a housing development.
— Kristin Beuscher is president of Pascack Historical Society