WESTWOOD—Crash photos are captivating, and we expect this one got people talking when it appeared on the cover of the Westwood News on Oct. 20, 1955.
The Country Store has stood at 729 Rivervale Road in River Vale since the 1920s, and many have fond childhood memories of heading over there on their bikes for penny candy and sodas. Despite all the nostalgia surrounding this place, few folks around today will remember this incident.
In what the Westwood News dubbed a freak accident, a woodie station wagon went off the road and plowed into the store at around 3 a.m. on Oct. 15, 1955. The driver was a 19-year-old from Hackensack, and his passenger was an 18-year-old from the same town. The River Vale police issued a summons for reckless driving. The boys sustained only scrapes and bruises.
As for the store, the crash caused damage inside and outside that amounted to about $2,500 at the time—equivalent to about $30,000 today.
— Kristin Beuscher is president of Pascack Historical Society.