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25 Years of Saving
Newark’s Heritage: An Exhibit Celebrating
the Silver Anniversary of The Newark Preservation
& Landmarks Committee
Second Floor Gallery
December 1998 - January 1999
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Starting and Staying the Course
Back in the spring of 1973 a few concerned Newarkers
began talking about what they could do to save the
city’s dwindling number of buildings with unique
designs or rich pasts. The movement gained momentum
rapidly, and the Newark Preservation & Landmarks
Committee was formally organized at a meeting November
26, 1973, at the Plume House. This nonprofit citizens
group has weathered many strains and is still the only
private organization devoted entirely to saving and
promoting Newark’s past. Supported by dues from more
than 200 members, contributions from foundations and
businesses, and bequests, the Committee pursues its work
with volunteers and consultants. The most important, most
persistent work has been nominating significant sites for
the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places.
Thanks largely to NPLC, four districts and 60 individual
places - houses, churches, factories, statues, parks and
cemeteries - are now on the Registers. Some two dozen of
them bear the Committee’s plaques, which quickly
tell passersby about their significance. As it begins a
second quarter-century, the Landmarks Committee is
looking ahead as well as backward - planning more
nominations, plaques and projects, and always preparing
for new battles to save endangered buildings or
neighborhoods.
Winning and Losing
During its first quarter-century the Newark Preservation
& Landmarks Committee has scored some significant
victories, but also suffered stunning defeats. Through
the committee’s efforts the city’s grandest
mansion and its oldest synagogue have been saved from
demolition. Historic designations arranged by the
Committee have opened the door to state restoration
grants, and spurred the sale and rehabilitation of fine
old homes. Thanks to a long campaign by the Committee,
the City has established its own commission to help
identify and safeguard landmarks. Members of the NPLC
have spoken out at public hearings and taken to the
streets to try to stop the wrecking ball. But splendid
old churches and other buildings have been razed, and
author Stephen Crane’s birthplace memorial was
bulldozed. Worse still, the Committee could not save the
only landmark it ever owned, the Lloyd Houses. But the
city might have even fewer great buildings and even more
parking lots if the NPLC had never been born.
Looking and Lauding
The Newark Preservation & Landmarks Committee has
handed out many honors and staged many events to
encourage efforts to save and enhance the city’s
most precious buildings. Recognition Awards have been
given out every year since 1975 to individuals and
organizations that have advanced the cause of
preservation. Tours through the entire city and various
neighborhoods have given hundreds of people new awareness
of the beautiful and distinctive structures and areas in
out city. Exhibits, forums, meetings and receptions have
been held to help educate the public about the importance
of landmarks in our lives - and just to give the varied
people in this common cause a chance to get together for
good talk and good times.
Spreading the Word
During the last 25 years the Newark Preservation &
Landmarks Committee has issued a variety of publications
- from hard-cover books to bumper stickers - to help
spread knowledge and appreciation of the city’s
historic treasures. The Committee’s newsletter,
“Yesterdays’ News,” has evolved greatly in
format as it chronicled the carried fates of local
landmarks. A series of tour guides has described the
noteworthy buildings and sites in James Street Commons,
Lincoln Park, Forest Hill and the Ironbound. Greeting
cards depicted city scenes through the 1890’s
drawings of C. Durand Chapman. New note cards, just
published for NPLC’s 25th anniversary, feature brand
new sketches of local landmarks by Richard La Rovere.
NPLC helped sponsor a handsome map of Branch Brook Park.
But the Committee is proudest of its biggest publishing
venture - “Tales Without Hate,” the memoirs of
William Ashby. Revered as “A Living Landmark,”
he died in 1991 at the age of 101.
For further information, write or call:
Newark Preservation & Landmarks Committee
PO Box 1066, Newark, NJ 07101
Telephone 973-622-4910
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