Still more gleanings from Warwick’s past
Editor’s note: This is the latest in an occasional series of essays from the Warwick Historical Society. This piece was penned by Warwick Village Historian Jean Beattie May.
Farming has always been Warwick’s principal industry, from its earliest beginnings when it was a part of the Wawayanda Patent owned by Benjamin Aske who, in the early 1700’s began dividing his acreage into parcels “from his farm.”
Nearly a century later Dr. Henry Bradner (1848-1931) recalls in his memoirs that in the 1850’s “there could not have been more than two hundred inhabitants and not over fifty houses in the village …” when he and his family moved to their 138-acre farm.
The Bradner house still stands on the corner of Maple Avenue and Locust Street.
“I well remember seeing cows and other animals lying in the middle of the street directly in front of where the National Bank stands (it was then located on the corner of Main and West Streets)… South Street was not known then as a road; it was only used by the mule drivers when the Raynor mine was opened and ore was carted from the mine to the railroad station after there was a railroad” (1862).
John Welling’s life and home
At the time of the village’s incorporation in 1867, the Bradner farm was one of several that existed within the village limits. Another was that of John L. Welling, with 140 acres on the west side of Oakland Avenue, as shown on the 1863 farm map.
John’s brother, Samuel Welling, owned 145 acres on the east side of Oakland, both inherited from the nearly 1,000 acres which had once been part of their pioneer ancestor Thomas Welling’s holdings. Part of Samuel’s land was purchased in the 1850’s by E. B. Taylor, who laid out Galloway, Clinton Avenue and Linden Place and lived on Linden Place.
John Welling’s farm house at 36 Oakland Ave. is the graceful Greek revival building still standing on the corner of Oakland and Campbell Road. It has weathered well over its 160 years and is now the Dautaj Restaurant, named for the family that bought it in 2006.
The village was incorporated by an act of the Legislature passed on April 15, 1867. The first meeting was held at the National Hall, part of the National Hotel, which was destroyed by fire in 1863 and replaced by the Demerest House with its large hall.
When the time came to vote for the first President of the Village (the title used instead of mayor), a tie ensued. At a special election held in June of that year, John L. Welling was elected. He had already served as supervisor of the Town of Warwick from 1854-56.
Obviously the right man for the job, he was also president of the first board of directors of the First National Bank of Warwick which had been organized three years earlier in 1864, as well as a director of the Warwick Valley Railroad, to which board he had been elected at its organization meeting in 1859. It was an important time in the Village’s history and several members of Welling family played prominent roles.
Frank Campbell’s horses
John Welling died in 1889 and that same year his house and property were sold to Frank H. Campbell, who died a year later. In his obituary, Campbell was described as “a man of vast and varied business interests, ranking among the largest farmers of the region. He owned and had under his personal control about ten farms, located in different parts of the town and in northern New Jersey, aggregating nearly 2,500 acres in total, well stocked and productive.”
Frank Campbell was also engaged with S. N. Knapp of Sugar Loaf, in the wholesale milk business in New York, handling the milk of many dairies. Campbell was known for “buying droves of cattle in the West for dairy purposes, and selling them in various localities, always keeping herds for sale at his farms.”
He also ran a livery and sold horses. An 1884 ad in the local newspaper notes that “Frank Campbell has arrived with a fine lot of horses which may be seen at his stables: fine matched teams, ordinary farm teams, fine carriage teams, stocky work horses and clear bred Normans.”
Although his time in the Oakland Avenue house was short, his obit notes that “he remodeled the old farm house in a most thorough style, transformed the lawn, moved and enlarged the barns.“
His wife continued to live there as did their son Lewis Jayne Campbell who had returned from serving in the military in the Philippines. They named the property “Afterglow.”
Opening Campbell Road
One of their accomplishments was opening up and naming Campbell Road. Several acres of lots were offered for sale for village homes in the center of which, on Welling Avenue, was to be the new high school, built in 1910 and later razed when the High School on Park Avenue was built.
After his father’s death, Lewis Campbell continued to manage seven farms within a radius of a few miles belonging to the Campbell estate. With a total of 325 cows, he was selling 60 cans of milk per day.
By 1902 Mrs. Campbell had sold or leased some of her land to the Red Swan Inn, which was completed a year later on the site of the present Warwick Country Club. At about the same time, the first Warwick Valley Country Club was formed with 41 original members who used the facilities of the Inn. With a membership charge of $25.00 plus $10 a year for use of the grounds and club room, members also had the free use of the tennis courts, grounds and attendance at concerts. The Inn became the center of Warwick’s social life with frequent dances, tea parties and entertainment. Mrs. Campbell leased the nine-hole golf course to the Inn which eventually bought it in 1930.
‘The Shadow Lawn’
Sometime after Mrs. Campbell’s death in 1925, the house was purchased by Dr. Francis Baird Sanford, the son of George Washington and Frances Baird Sanford of Warwick. Sanford had grown up on his father’s Maple Terrace Farm at the north end of Maple Avenue, still farmed today by George’s great grandson, John W. Sanford, III, and great great granddaughter, Dottie Sanford.
A graduate and later trustee emeritus of Rutgers University, Dr. Sanford practiced law in New York for more than 50 years. He was a senior director and former counsel of the American News Company for many years, a former president of the New York Bible Society and the Board of Education of the Reformed Church in America, as well as a member of the Consistory of the Reformed Church in Harlem.
Dr. Sanford married the former Sara Welling, a daughter of Thomas Welling. She was born on the Welling farm just south of the Oakland Avenue house. It must certainly have pleased the Welling parents to have their four daughters living within shouting distance of each other. On the corner, across Campbell Road Carrie and her husband, Dr. Alva Edsall, lived in a house designed by the popular architect, Ernest George Washington Dietrich; sister Marianna married J. E. V. Miller and lived on the corner of Oakland and Linden Place; Martha, married Clinton Wisner and for a time, lived next door at “The Anchorage” before moving to the corner of Linden Place. All four of the sisters could stand on their porches and call to each other. They named the property “Shadow Lawn,” which can be seen in this photo used as the Sanford’s Christmas card one year. The family used the house as a weekend and summer retreat until Mr. Sanford’s death in 1949.
‘The Warwick Inn’
Following the Sanfords, the John Wilson family purchased the house in the 1950’s and converted it to an inn, called “The Warwick Inn” which served as a place to stay as well as a restaurant until it was purchased by the Datauj family.
Since the time when Oakland had only a few houses, it continues to be one of Warwick’s most beautiful streets, with Victorian era houses for the most part, set back from the road, with neat lawns and stately trees. Former President of the Village Clinton Wisner, working with the architect E. G. W. Dietrich, built the Anchorage and Dulce Domum in the 1880’s on the west side of Oakland. Later they worked together on several other residences, the Red Swan Inn and the Reformed church in the Village. Samuel Welling’s large white house still stands on the east side of Oakland and several of the Wisner/Dietrich cottages still enliven Clinton Avenue and Linden Place with their charming English character.