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Speer Cemetery

1852 establishments in New JerseyCemeteries in Hudson County, New JerseyHistory of Jersey City, New Jersey

Speer Cemetery is located at 145 Vroom St in the Bergen Square neighborhood of Jersey City, New Jersey, between Bergen Ave. and Van Reypen St. Speer Cemetery is frequently confused with the present day Bergen Cemetery owned and operated by Old Bergen Church, a portion of which also fronts on Vroom St but is further east, at Tuers Ave. The two cemeteries always operated independently of each other. The land Speer Cemetery sits on was originally part of apple orchards owned by the Van Waganen family of Apple Tree House fame. After title to the property was transferred from the Van Waganens to Matthias DeMott, it became the Bergen DeMott's family burial ground. The Bergen DeMotts were early settlers to New Netherland first in Esopus(present day Kingston, NY) and later, Long Island, NY before later generations, including Mathias, settled in Bergen, New Netherland(present day Bergen Square, Jersey City) in the 1770s.Speer cemetery is named for Jane Speer and her husband, Abraham Speer, the local undertaker and former sexton of Old Bergen Church during the mid-1800's. They bought the land from the De Mott estate in 1857 and made it a public cemetery, selling burial plots for $16 each. Despite Mr. Speers' affiliation with Old Bergen Church, one did not have to be affiliated with any church or religion to be buried in Speer Cemetery. Speer Cemetery was abandoned in the early 1900s and the Speer family records have never been published. The cemetery has been maintained by volunteers for over ninety years. The volunteers' motto is, "Caring For The Forgotten". Cataloging of names from headstones and historical records, including individual deeds and burial records collected by neighbors and volunteers, make it possible to now verify many who are buried in the cemetery. Additionally, underground sonar was conducted to locate unmarked graves. Contact the Bergen Square Historical Society via their Facebook page for more information. In addition to hundreds of non-denominational interments, Speer Cemetery is the final resting place for dozens of patients of Snake Hill(Laurel Hill) Sanitarium. They were interred in one of the two large Speer catacombs during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It's rumored that DeMott family members are interred in the second catacomb, though many DeMott headstones are above ground. The earliest surviving gravemarker in the cemetery is dated 1756. Headstones indicate the burial of the veterans of the American Revolutionary War, War of 1812, American Civil War, and the Spanish–American War. Its last interments occurred during World War I. Plans to construct a building on a lot adjacent to the remaining cemetery grounds have been met with opposition, since it is believed that the land being developed was once part of the burial ground and contains human remains, possibly dating back to the 1660s; the developer has been ordered to hire an archeologist to validate that belief.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Speer Cemetery (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Speer Cemetery
Vroom Street, Jersey City

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N 40.7284 ° E -74.0678 °
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Vroom Street Evangel Free Church

Vroom Street 155
07306 Jersey City
New Jersey, United States
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Bergen Section, Jersey City
Bergen Section, Jersey City

The Bergen Section of Jersey City, New Jersey is the neighborhood on either side of Kennedy Boulevard between Saint Peter's College/ McGinley Square and Communipaw Avenue in the Bergen-Lafayette section of the city. The name Bergen, used throughout Hudson County, is taken from the original Bergen, New Netherland settlement at Bergen Square. While there was discussion of building a county long road as early as the 1870s, the Boulevard was officially opened in 1896. In the early automobile age it became part of the route of the Lincoln Highway and one of the busiest roads in the state. Bergen Avenue is a major north-south thoroughfare in the city running south from Journal Square along the ridge of the diminishing Hudson Palisades known as Bergen Hill. Monticello Avenue, which takes its name from mid 19th "suburban" development, is a shopping district lined with many turn-of-the-century buildings with storefronts being brought back into use. As its name suggests West Bergen overlaps this neighborhood. The section retains much of the character that at one time made it the premiere 20th century residential district of the city. A variety of architectural styles can be found along the Boulevard, Bergen Avenue, and sidestreets including 19th-century rowhouses, Victorian and Edwardian mansions. Many of the multi-family buildings are pre-war, built during the period of expansive growth in the 1920s and 1930s, sometimes Art Deco style. including The Hague, residence of one of the city's best-known mayor, Frank Hague. Among the many landmarks in the area are the Fairmount Apartments, Temple Beth-El, and the former Jersey City YMCA. Lincoln the Mystic, a statue of a seated Abraham Lincoln by James Earle Fraser is situated at the entrance to the park which bears the president's name. and is one of the Hudson County's largest public green spaces.

McGinley Square
McGinley Square

McGinley Square is in Jersey City, New Jersey, located near the middle of the city, south of Journal Square. The square itself is at the intersection of two of the city's major thoroughfares, Montgomery Street (which runs from Downtown at Exchange Place to West Side), and Bergen Avenue (which runs between Greenville and Journal Square). The area was named after Monsignor Roger McGinley, the builder of St. Aedans Church. Hudson Catholic Regional High School, the Jersey City Armory, the Jersey City YMCA, St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church, and Bergen Square are all within a short walk from the square.By the late 2010s, the area around the square was planned for development. and was chosen by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to receive a $250,000 Choice Neighborhoods grant to explore ways to develop the area into a mixed-use neighborhood. Residents formed the McGinley Square Redevelopment Plan, which called for the construction of affordable and workforce housing, retail outlets, restaurants, and entertainment facilities. Large blocks of the neighborhood belong to Saint Peter's University, which in March 2016 received approval to build a 21-story mixed use tower at 688-700 Montgomery Street, which included three levels of retail and entertainment space, including a movie theater and 300-car parking garage. Another proposal included a building taller and larger in scope, with three levels of retail and parking for 600 cars, half for the college, at its base. Three 11-story towers for housing - one for student dormitories, one for moderately priced housing, and one for market-rate rentals or condos - would rise above it. Plans were mired in a controversy regarding the use of eminent domain, but were nonetheless approved. Construction had been set to begin in August 2012, with completion set for 2016; as of 2018 it had not yet begun.Several community organizations are active in the McGinley Square area. Bergen Communities United is a non-profit organization responsible for community planning in McGinley Square and the neighborhoods immediately to the south. The McGinley Square Partnership is a business improvement district, with local business owners using dues and NJ Urban Enterprise Zone funds for improvements to the commercial area. The Highland Avenue Block Association advocates for residents' interests.