By KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer
METUCHEN — A public hearing has been scheduled on the proposed first historic district in the borough that was incorporated in 1900.
Councilman Jay Muldoon said the meeting is open to the public and not just the property owners in the Middlesex Avenue-Woodwild Park Historic District.
“Every property owner [in the district] received a letter of the meeting,” he said.
The district includes 256 private and public properties located on Middlesex Avenue, Oak Avenue, Linden Avenue, East Chestnut Avenue, Maple Avenue, Elm Avenue, Library Place, Rector Street, Clarendon Court, Highland Avenue and Hillside Avenue.
The meeting is set for 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 7 at Borough Hall.
Muldoon has said being part of the register would not place any restrictions on private property owners.
In July 2016, the Borough Council approved the draft of the Middlesex Avenue-Woodwild Park Historic District, which was prepared by the Metuchen Historic Preservation Committee.
Muldoon said it was submitted for the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places, revisions were made and then a final submission was submitted to the state in Dec. 2016.
At the meeting, state officials will provide a brief presentation on the nomination of the district, registration process and answer any questions from the public.
The review of the nomination by the New Jersey Review Board made up of historians, architects, archaeologists and more at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection will be held March 9.
“They will review and make recommendations whether or not [the district] should be on the list for the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places,” said Muldoon.
The proposal for the borough’s first historic district has been six years in the making with help from small grants upwards of $2,300 from the Middlesex County Cultural & Heritage Commission with matching funds from the borough.
The overall character of the Middlesex Avenue-Woodwild Park Historic District is suburban with mostly residential houses set amid large lawns with mature trees and plantings.
The architectural classifications include mid 19th-century Greek revival, late Victorian — Gothic, Queen Anne, Italianate, late 19th- and early 20th-century revival — colonial revival, tudor revival, mission and late 19th- and early 20th-century American movements — bungalow and craftsman.
The oldest site in the district is the Old Franklin School house built circa 1807 followed by The Metuchen Inn built circa 1840. St. Luke’s Episcopal Church was built between 1868 and 1869.
Included in the nomination is the borough’s Historic Preservation Committee’s uncovering of the battle for the Brainy Borough title between Glen Ridge in Essex County and Metuchen in 1914 and 1915. The committee had previously created a booklet of the battle, which they released in 2015 falling in line with the 100th anniversary of the battle.
For more information, visit metuchennj.org.
