Sayreville Pumping Station

I first noticed this small complex of brick buildings while running errands for work. I noticed a sign that said "Old Water Works Road". I wondered if the road's namesake was still around. Sure enough it was, and the buildings appeared to be in really bad shape. I soon returned to find out what was left of the facility.

It turns out all the old pumping equipment was removed some time ago. Both of the larger buildings were just brick shells being used to store mulch and woodchips.

The facility used to be fed by its own railroad spur, which still streches from the pumping station to the main freight line nearby.

The buildings and wells all had this terra cotta cartouche of the town seal somewhere on their facades.

The old iron removal plant had the most interesting design. The inside had a pressed tin ceiling, but the interior had little resemblance to its former function.

I was disappointed that there wasn't more left behind, but it was still cool to find a small piece of history hidden off the main road. Since the buildings are so badly deteriorated I'm sure they will be demolished at some point. I just hope the building materials are salvaged, as the brick and glazed terra cotta were probably manufactured at the nearby S&F Brickyards which makes them especially significant to the town of Sayreville.

New Jersey State Lunatic Asylum

In 1844 Dorothea Lynne Dix toured New Jersey's almshouses and prisons and was appalled by what she found. The conditions were deplorable, and many mentally ill people were locked up without any level of proper care. Dix petitioned the state to open a dedicated lunatic asylum as part of her countrywide campaign to establish similar facilites. At the same time a very important man named Thomas Story Kirkbride and several other doctors founded the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane (now the American Psychiatric Association). One year later the state senate passed the resolution for the asylum, and before long construction began

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The original building at the New Jersey State Lunatic Asylum followed the "Kirkbride" plan, which was a progressive protocol for the construction and operation of psychiatric institutions. The buildings themselves have large gender-specific wings protruding from behind a central administration building. Patients would be placed in the wings with the furthest tips reserved for the most violent, with the goal being to work ones way towards the center and eventually out the front doors.

The architect chosen for the project was Philadelphia's John Notman. Notman had mainly worked on churches, but he took great care in designing the premier "Kirkbride" Hospital. William Phillips and Joseph Whittier were responsible for construction of the edifice. Phillips & Whittier also worked together on the New Jersey Statehouse. The Greek Revival building featured a large central dome and tall columns supporting a triangular pediment. The new hospital opened in 1848, and had a capacity of 200 patients. The building even had an apartment dedicated to Dorothea Dix for all her efforts. Twenty five years after opening, the administration building was expanded from the rear. A new 300 person chapel was part of this addition, complete with a full pipe organ  Three years later in 1866 the wings of the facility were extended, doubling its capacity. Eventually it made more sense to annex the complex instead of adding to the Kirkbride, so in 1871 a commission was formed in order to seek out land for a new hospital. Five years later a second Kirkbride building was built in Morris County. The new building would eventually be known as Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital.  On October 31st, 1876 two hundred and ninety-two patients were removed from the Trenton facility and moved to Greystone. A few years later Dorothea Dix returned to the hospital. She moved into her apartment in 1881, and continued to champion charitable causes from the hospital until she eventually passed in 1887.

That same year the Kirkbride building was overcrowded once again. An annex building was constructed on campus over the next two years to ease the density in the main structure . The new structure, designed by Trenton architect Charles F. Anderson, was built in a similar style as the Kirkbride. The building was intended for chronic patients.

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In 1893 the hospitals name changed from "The New Jersey State Lunatic Asylum" to "The New Jersey State Hospital". That same year two new Dining Hall structures were built in front of the Kirkbride. These new additions were tied to the front of the main building's wings through two narrow hallways. Three years later a laboratory building was built, along with two greenhouses.

1897 was a year that saw significant change to the campus. The central part of the main building was also once again rebuilt. A new extension properly connected the original 1848 administrative portion to the addition from 1863. The old chapel was turned into an amusement hall, and the third floor became the new chapel. The space could now hold up to 500 worshipers. The pipe organ installed in 1863 was also reinstalled in the new chapel. The existing amusement hall was converted into a library.

By the turn of the century electric lighting was becoming more popular in commercial and public buildings. In 1901, a handful of structures on the campus were wired up to accommodate the revolutionary new technology. Four years later fire escapes were added onto several buildings as well. Two large wings were added onto the annex building in 1907, adding space for 400 more people. Instead of sticking with a floorplan that mirrored the Kirkbride, the wings of the annex went straight back at a perpendicular angle from the end of the original wards. Also in 1907 tuberculosis was spreading rampantly throughout the country, so a dedicated sanatorium was constructed in the mountains 30 miles north west of the state hospital. However the state would also go on to construct another sanatorium building on the Trenton campus just two years later.

1907 brought a new medical director named Henry Cotton to the facility, all the way from Danvers Massachusetts. His legacy is a dark one, and includes the idea that mental illness could be caused by defective body parts. He and his staff would remove teeth and certain organs from patients as he saw fit and then they would lie about the success of their experimental treatments on hospital records.  He retired in 1930, but it wasn't until thirty years later that these treatments were put to an end. Dr. Cotton died three years after retiring as medical director of the facility.

The next few decades saw many changes to the campus and the buildings themselves. The wards of the Kirkbride were substantially re-arranged in the early part of the decade. 1912 saw an addition made to the laboratory, and one year later a building devoted to the criminally insane was built. A modern power plant was constructed in 1915, and with it came the necessary infrastructure upgrades. A cafeteria was added to the annex building, as well as several other new structures. "Psychopathic" buildings for men and women were constructed, as well as a dormitory for attendants.

As is the story with almost every psychiatric hospital I have written about, the 1950's saw the most significant change to the hospital. Anti-psychotic medications were becoming widely available and were showing tremendous results for the patients. The patient population slowly began to dwindle. The awful practice of removing teeth and organs from the patients had still been going on, but finally ceased in 1960.

By this point the wards of the Kirkbride were being drained of patients. Some sections of the structure were retrofitted to be used as offices. Between the late 1960's and early 1970's several horrid changes were made to the campus. After the annex building was emptied of patients it was partially reopened as a standalone forensic psychiatric center. The central part of the building was completely gutted and rebuilt with a "gymatorium" on the first floor.

New modern buildings were erected behind the ward for the criminally insane. In 1971 the gorgeous administration building of the Kirkbride was senselessly demolished and replaced with the ugly "Stratton" building. Considering the administration building is the most important part of any Kirkbride, the value of the structure was significantly reduced. This thoughtless action is still being lamented by architectural historians almost 50 years later. The same year the facility was given its current name, Trenton Psychiatric Hospital.

The adolescent unit of the state hospital was shuttered in 1987 after the Slocum V. Perseley case which ruled the death of one of the minors was due to a culture of physical abuse and over medication. This applied to other facilities too, like the Brisbane Treatment Center 40 miles east. In 1995 the forensics center vacated the annex building and moved into a new facility built on what was formerly baseball fields and the asylum's old railroad spur. Three years later the program was renamed the Ann Klein Forensic Center.

On July 10th 2002 a welder fixing a gutter accidently set the the roof of the female wing on fire. The Trentonian newspaper ran the story with the headline "Roasted Nuts". This drew criticism from many, including the National Allience for the Mentally Ill (NAMI). They called the headline "one of the worst examples of prejudice and discrimination toward people with mental illnesses in recent memory." The newspaper published a short apology the next day, but it did little to fix the damage.

Today the Trenton Psychiatric Hospital campus stands peppered with neglected structures. Nearly every building constructed since 1848 has been retained. However, these buildings stand behind a secured, fenced perimeter. The property is off limits to the public without the written consent of hospital administration, and entering the buildings is strictly forbidden. The NJ Department of Human Services police regularly patrol the property, and those found wandering the grounds without proper authorization have been cited for trespassing.

The DHS police have their own building near the Ann Klein Center. In addition the grounds are also home to the CRAF Center which is operated by the Department of Corrections. The DOC employees are equally unwelcoming to unauthorized guests. These images are old, some dating back to 2011. I would absolutely not advise anyone try and visit the property without consent.

St. Marks Church

Rahway's St Mark's parish was founded in 1871. Their church was constructed in 1885 in the period appropriate Carpenter Gothic style. Few Roman Catholic churches from this time period survived as long as St Mark's had, as many sanctuaries were rebuilt or lost to fire. The congregation at this time was mostly German immigrants.

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Despite the long run, the parish had an uneventful history. At some point the structure was heavily modernized. Most of the building's original charm was lost during this process. The St. Marks parish merged with the nearby St. Marys Parish in 2010. St Marys was a larger, more wealthy congregation. St Marks was operating with a $70,000 deficit. At the same time the St. Mary's parish had a $20,000 surplus. The merger did not go smoothly though, as many from the St. Mark's parish felt their wishes were not being catered to. Services were slowly and quietly phased out at the aging sanctuary.

Demolition started in the spring of 2018 when the stained glass windows were removed. A small portion of the building itself had been demolished when work suddently stalled. However it only lasted long enough for myself and a few other to be able to document the sanctuary. Demolition was completed in 2019.

St. Lucy's Church

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The St Lucy's Parish was an Irish parish formed in Jersey City in 1884. However, it wasn't until 1895 that their iconic sanctuary was completed. The beautiful new building was designed in the Romanesque Revival style by local architect Jeremiah O' Rourke. O'Rourke was best known for designing Roman Catholic churches, most notably the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark.

The relatively poor parish got a strong start, but in the 1920s a large chunk of homes were demolished in order to build the Holland Tunnel. A large percentage of those displaced by the construction were parishioners of St Lucy's. By this time Roman Catholicism had spread throughout the country, and as a result the city was peppered with other large Catholic churches. The now- diminished St. Lucy's parish no longer needed such a large worship space.

In 1930, a statue of St. Jude was moved outisde the church building and a Perpetual Novena to St Jude was started. A "perpetual novena" is an anual 9 day prayer event intended to go on forever. This drew catholic pilgrims from all over the region. Many came from New York City, through the Holland Tunnel which had opened a few years prior.

At some point the inside of the building was almost entirely painted white. This was likely the result of roman catholic leadership wanting to dress down some of their more impoverished parishes churches all across rhe country. Many more wealthy parishes could afford to keep their worship sites looking palacial, but not all were so lucky.

By 1986 the church campus was closed. The school building was converted into a homeless shelter, and the statue of St Jude and the associated novena were moved to St. Michaels Church in Newark (also designed by Jeremiah O'Rourke). The closure did not sit lightly with the St Lucy's parishioners. Services were held outside the the building in protest. However the archdiocese of Newark upheld the closure, and the doors of the structure were closed for good.

As the decades passed the building deteriorated heavily. Holes began to appear in the roof, windows were broken and boarded up, and the property became a magnet for garbage and drug paraphenalia. I visited the building for the first time in 2017 and the structure was already in a severe state of decay. Preservation New Jersey named the cluster of buildings to its 10 Most Historic Endangered Places in 2018. Shortly afterwards plans came foward for a 20 story glass tower on the St Lucy's property. The church building is supposed to be incorporated into the new development, but the plans are being opposed vehemently by many locals. Even if it is incorporated I'm sure it will be gutted beforehand. Im glad I was able to document the structure before anything else happens to it.

The Morton Street School

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The earliest mention I found of a school on Morton Street is on a map from 1873.  It shows the parcel occupied by the "13th Ward Public School". Within the next decade the name would be changed to Morton Street School, in keeping with the Newark tradition of naming school buildings for the streets they sit on.

By 1898 the Morton Street School had undergone a major rebuild. A large new section was added to the rear of the existing school, on parcels that formerly held houses.

Ten years later, the original building was demolished and a large, state of the art addition designed by Ernest Guilbert replaced it. The new construction, carried out by the E.M. Waldron Company, seamlessly matched the 1898 structure. The new space included a handful of luxuries. The building was so extravagant that several newspapers ran articles about it. The nearly 65,000 square foot addition included  an incredibly ornate 750 seat auditorium, a gymnasium, 35 classrooms and a large playground on the roof.

The $240,000 addition also included 2 kindergarden rooms, each with a stained glass window.

The stained glass tray ceiling over the auditorium was a true work of art. The gigantic display covered three quarers of the room.

One August night in 1912 the school roof was open to the public so everyone could enjoy the facilities. A concert was held, as well as athletic contests for guests to participate in. It was such a success that the school was once again in the news.

Anyone familiar with Newark knows how critical the Central Ward of the city was during the rebellion of 1968. The Morton Street School stood right in the middle of one of the hardest hit areas of the event. During the unrest a man named Junius Williams stood outside the Morton School alongside another man named Eulis "Honey" Ward. Mr. Ward was a democratic leader in the central district, and Mr. Williams was a young civil rights advocate. The two men watched as looters ran through decimated storefronts along Springfield Avenue as the unrest was unfolding. Mr. Williams would go on to become one of the most well known witnesses to the rebellion. His writings tell of the true causes of the uprising, which were often obscured by racist interpretations and speculation in the decades that followed. At the time this article was published, Mr. Williams was serving as the head of the Newark Historic Preservation Commission.

A century after being completed, the Morton Street School was closed by the district. At first the building was maintained and used for storage by the school district. However, after repeated break ins and storm damage, the school was quickly being destroyed. A 2013 assesment by the school district deemed the school to be in very poor condition.

Unfortunately in 2017 some local fame-hungry instagram accounts posted photos of the school, drawing hundreds of similar brainless fools to the building. With that came more local foot traffic, including grafitti artists and assorted vandals. A 2018 appraisal report recommends demolishing the school, and since it's already in such bad shape I can't imagine anything else happening to the building.