Summit Fact of the Week

Before she became Mayor, Ellen Dickson hosted a number of discussion programs on HomeTowneTV. Below find a sampling of them.
Summit Fact of the Week

Kent Place School

January 10, 2012

Kent Place School was founded in 1894 by a group of influential Summit gentlemen who wanted their daughter to enjoy the same intellectual opportunities their sons did when attending the prestigious small prep schools in New England. The rented William H. DeForest’s mansion on Kent Place Boulevard. Sixty students attended that first year and were taught by eight teachers.

Summit Fact of the Week

The French Ovens

January 3, 2012

In 1781, General Washington’s men built large ovens to feed 3,000 troops encamped on what is now the Summit Municipal Golf Course and the Short Hills Mall. They quickly left, though and tricked the British into thinking that they would attack New York City. Instead, they defeated them in Yorktown, Virginia in what was to to be the last mjor battle of the Revolutionary War.

Summit Fact of the Week

Old Guard

December 27, 2011

Begun in the Depression, the club’s purpose was to help businessmen who had lost their jobs. The name came from Napoleon. When saying goodbye to his faithful troops he fondly called them his “old guard.”

Summit Fact of the Week

Mabie Playground

December 20, 2011

The author of 28 books, Hamilton Wright Mabie was considered “the high priest of our American culture” in the early 1900s. An American essayist, editor, critic and lecturer, he spread his love of reading throughout America. Instrumental in starting Kent Place School, he also convinced Andrew Carnegie to finance the Public Library. Mabie Playground is named for him.

Summit Fact of the Week

Our Lady of Smile

December 13, 2011

Located outside of Memorial Hall at St. Teresa’s Church, Our Lady of Smile is a sculpture that honors the memory of those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. A piece of the Twin Towers is buried below the statue.

To honor the 10th anniversary, Summit will have a 9/11  Memorial Service on the Village Green on Sunday, September 11 at 8:30 a.m. It will conclude with a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., the time at which the first plane struck the towers.

Summit Fact of the Week

Summit’s Nobel Laureate

December 6, 2011

Dr. Daniel C. Tsui, a former Summit resident, received the Nobel Peace Prize in physics in 1998. He was rewarded for his work which helped develop an understanding of the quantum structures in space-time throughout the universe.

 

Source: It’s All About…Summit

Summit Fact of the Week

Willie Wilson, Summit’s Star Athelete

November 29, 2011

When Willie Wilson graduated from Summit High School, he had over 200 college football scholarships. Instead, he chose to play baseball and was the number one draft choice of the Kansas City Royals in 1974. He won the American League batting title in 1982 with a .332 average. Known for his speed, Wilson stole 668 bases and was on the American League All-Star team in 1982 and 1983. Wilson ended his career playing with the Oakland Athletics and the Chicago Cubs.

Summit Fact of the Week

Summit Noted in Harper’s Magazine in the early 1960s

November 22, 2011

Harper’s magazine compiled 53 towns in the United States as being the most influential. This 1960s article included Summit along with Englewood, Caldwell, Millburn, South Orange, Maplewood, Montclair, Ridgewood, Princeton, Teaneck, Ridgewood, Westfield and Tenafly.

Summit Fact of the Week

The Nike Battery NY-73 and the Missles of October

November 15, 2011

Met with much protest, this Nike missile site was completed in 1958. It was only in operation for a little over 4 years; the cables connecting the launch site with the controller were cut off just days before the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Today, the Watchung Stables sit atop the former launch site. Little bits of the barbed-wire fence remain. The former access road to the site (off of Glenside Avenue) is now frequented by runners and bikers.

 

Source: Defending Gotham: Nike Missile Defenses of the New York Metro Area, 1954-1974 by Donald E. Bender  (http://alpha.fdu.edu/~bender/NY73.html)

Summit Fact of the Week

The Summit Diner: Hemingway Ate Here (or Did He?)

November 8, 2011

Summit Diner has been a favorite of locals since opening in 1938. Diners were designed as a modification of a horse-drawn lunch wagon; not a railroad car which is a common misconception. The Summit Diner is believed to be the setting for Ernest Hemingway’s short story, “The Boxer”.

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  • State of the City 2012

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    Did you miss the Mayor’s State of the City address? Watch it here. (just under twelve minutes)
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  • Summit Fact of the Week

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