Days gone by

In the 112 years since Middlesex – previously known as Lincoln – was incorporated as a borough, there have been highs and lows, good times and struggles. Anyone wanting a deep dive, or just a quick lesson on events that occurred along the way, can visit the Middlesex Library to view related historical documents and items starting next week.

The library will officially unveil its new Local History Room at 6 p.m., Monday. June 16 at the facility, located on Mountain Avenue. The public is invited. 

Only about 6% of the roughly 10,000 historical items (artifacts, photos and documents) that the library has amassed will be displayed at any one time. The goal is to periodically rotate the room’s displays, according to library director Chrissy George.

The public can also view items via digitized online data base, with details to be discussed at the opening, George said. She and library staff have been digitizing and cataloguing historical material for the past two years. The work is ongoing. 

Items available online will include copies of the defunct, but beloved weekly newspaper, The Middlesex Chronicle.

Inside – Middlesex previewed the Local History Room several days before the planned opening. For lifelong residents, the room and related historical collection is a name-dropper’s delight. 

Remember that kid you sat next to in high school algebra? You might see his dad’s campaign literature from when he ran for Borough Council. Or, you could see a vintage photo from one of the local elementary schools. It might not show your class, but was possibly taken in a room where you once sat.

For newer Middlesex residents, there’s plenty to learn. That street you live on might have been named for one of the town’s Founding Fathers. The flooding problem that bedevils the borough? It’s not a new phenomenon.

There’s other stuff like Pop Warner football programs, Middlesex Fire Department documents and school district items. There’s a Parker School photo from 1922, a Watchung School newsletter from 1938, and a 1920 document approving the construction of Pierce School.

A telegram that British leader Winston Churchill sent to borough officials on March 5, 1963 thanks Middlesex residents for their “good wishes.” It was apparently spurred by an earlier message sent his way. The following month, Churchill was presented with honorary United States citizenship by President John F. Kennedy.

The Watchung School Creed from long ago is displayed, too. It has students pledging to be “respectful” to teachers, “diligent” in their studies, and maintaining “good order.” There’s also documentation of what the power company charged to bring electricity to Middlesex back in 1914. No surprise, it was infinitely less than what customers pay today.

Above all, the documents show that Middlesex – like the rest of the United States – was a much different place in decades gone by.

Certain documents drive that point home.

On Sept. 14, 1917, members of the Middlesex Home Guard signed a document acknowledging receipt of a rifle, bayonet and cartridge belt from the mayor and council. 

That’s right. The governing body armed a group of citizens 108 years ago. It was a apparently an effort to safeguard the homeland against foreign adversaries during World War I.

Thirty Home Guard members listed the serial number of their weapon and pledged to return it on demand “in as good condition as received.”

Other items show that a few things have remained the same. There can be objectors to even the most benign municipal initiative. The history room has decades-old correspondence to the mayor and council from those opposing the town’s name change from Lincoln to Middlesex.

The Local History Room’s genesis was two photo books published roughly 20 years ago, edited by the Middlesex Heritage Committee. The committee’s members were: Mary Diskin, Peter Diskin, Catherine Ferris, Robert Ferris, Mary L. Johnson, Edward J. Johnson Jr., Alex Morecraft, and Peter Staffelli.

While working on the books, the editors solicited photos from the community and collected a treasure trove of old material. Some of it still rests in filing cabintets at the library waiting to be reviewed for possible display in the history room.

In recent years an effort got under way by a group of volunteers to find a place to display the material. What is currently the new Local History Room was formerly the library’s Board of Trustees meeting room.

George credited the board with supporting creation of the history room. The mayor and council have also backed the effort, she said, and the Department of Public Works has helped with the set up.

“This has been primarily a library project and the board has been excited about it,” George said. 

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