From the President...

...Of the Verona Historical Society...
Farewell Old Overbrook

One of Weird N J’s most famous North Jersey sites is on the brink of extinction. The Essex County Hospital Center on Cedar Grove’s historic Fairview Avenue has been relocated to a new site on Grove Avenue, about a half-mile or so east of its original site.

The Center, formerly “Overbrook” (that name derived from its being over the tiny Peckman River), was established as an Essex County psychiatric facility around the turn of the twentieth century by the Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders. The previous hospital was located in the city of Newark’s West Ward, where West Side High is now. Eventually, the Overbrook facility housed well over 3,000 patients at one time and was regarded as a progressive and up-to-date treatment center for mentally ill residents of Essex County (there are only six of New Jersey’s twenty-one counties that operate psychiatric hospitals). The introduction of the so-called “wonder drugs” for the treatment of brain disorders over the last half-century or so meant the deinstitutionalization of hundreds of patients in psychiatric centers across the nation. Gradually, the Essex County hospital lost most of its patients and started its long decline into ruination and decay.

As a member of the board of trustees of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (N.A.M.I.), Essex County chapter, I along with my colleagues advocated about ten years or so ago for the improvements at Overbrook and, finally, for the closing of the outmoded Victorian facility and the building of a state-of-the-art psychiatric hospital on county owned property in suburban Cedar Grove. Knowing that the old hospital was beyond repair, our county officials tried to relocate the center to Newark’s West Ward, ironically where it had operated in the nineteenth century.

Now, I am proud to have been born and raised in good old Newark, New Jersey’s largest city. Unfortunately, the site chosen for this madcap plan was in a rather depressed neighborhood that would not have provided a safe and therapeutic atmosphere for the Center’s few hundred remaining patients. To make a very long story short, our N.A.M.I. chapter spent about $30,000 or so in legal fees to block this disastrous and politically motivated scheme. Our efforts were successful, and in April of 2006 a beautiful new Essex County Hospital Center opened its doors to patients and staff of what was once Overbrook.

The very large old center’s grounds were desolate and poorly maintained, and after the transfer and abandonment, many stories appeared in good old Weird NJ about Overbrook, and there was much confusion between the hospital’s site and neighboring sites were other county institutions once stood. There were pieces on the tunnels, the abandoned medical equipment, hauntings, persons trapped in long closed wards, etc. Unfortunately, there were many trespassers roaming about, entering windows and doors, and playing “chickie” with the cops and security forces patrolling the old place. Even though Mark and Mark constantly warn their loyal readers about trespassing, it is still rampant along the ghostly, weed infested lawns and pathways.

Originally, the entire Overbrook site was slated for development by a large outfit specializing in upscale housing. These ancient public tracts were sold piecemeal to the so-called “developers” at fairly ridiculous prices considering the very high prices for property in toney West Essex. The entire west side of Fairview Avenue, where the old firehouse stands, is now privately owned and is aggressively patrolled by a security force that will not hesitate to turn interlopers over the local police for prosecution. I heartily advise my fellow history lovers to stay off this acreage!

Interestingly enough, the eastern half of old Overbrook (the same side as the administration building), was also slated for sale to the voracious builders with their smoking bulldozers and deep pockets, but, lo and behold, in January of this year our county executive, Joseph DiVincenzo, Jr., announced that the deal was off and that ninety-plus acres across of the former Overbrook would be developed into an Essex County park.

“Glory be!” shouted the local historians and environmentalists at this news, including me. The offended developer is now crying in his beer (or should I say his Chablis?) and is planning a breach of contract lawsuit against the County of Essex. My advice to him is to remember the old adage: “You can’t sue city hall!”

Once again, I’d like to caution readers of this fine publication to avoid trespassing on this eastern half of the old place. Essex County Sheriff’s Department deputies also extensively patrol it 24/7. Don’t go where you are not supposed to, my friends. Crime does not pay, even when exploring broken down and often dangerous old structures.

As many readers know, the Overbrook parcel slated for park purposes contains many unusual and very weird old buildings. As the president myself of a local historical society in nearby Verona, I hope to meet with other historians and conservationists to discuss the planned changes to the site, along the lines of collaborative efforts to identify and hopefully conserve parts of this very historic property. We all hope that when the new park is created, many readers of Weird NJ will visit the place. Hopefully, our efforts will be successful and we should be able to secure and preserve buildings or sites of historical importance and interest. Good things are definitely worth waiting for!

In closing, please realize that Overbrook and the Essex Mountain Sanatorium were two very different facilities. Up and over Second Mountain is the Hilltop Reservation, bordering Verona, Caldwell, and North Caldwell. The several hundred acres of this lovely reservation are the former site of the Essex County Mountain Sanatorium, a treatment facility for victims of tuberculosis. Closed in the 1970s, this famed treatment institution rotted away and was vandalized for decades. Now cleared of all structures, it is developing into a prime recreation and nature study reservation.

Just to the south of this reservation is the soon to disappear Essex County Jail Annex. Originally named the Essex County Penitentiary, the “Pen” was opened in 1872 and closed four years ago when the state of the art Essex County Correctional Facility opened in Newark. Efforts to preserve the facility’s impressive brownstone façade were unsuccessful and demolition is underway to make room for even more McMansions. If any place were truly haunted, it would have to be this site, where thousands of penitents paid their dues to society for almost a century and a half. Oh boy, if only THESE walls could talk.

Note: I had the pleasure of serving as therapeutic activities volunteer at the Essex County Hospital Center from 1983-1985 on half a dozen wards, but mostly with a female geriatric unit. In 1986 and 1987 I served as a part time adult basic skills teacher at the Essex County Jail Annex in Caldwell. In 1968, while attending Montclair State College, I worked several months as a corrections officer at the ancient Newark Street Jail in Newark. But that, my friends, is another story! –Gerald Caprio, President Verona Historical Society

Overbrook Preserved Forever (On Film)

During its last days of existence, Overbrook has been immortalized on film, as it serves as a major location in the film Choke, based on the book by Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk. The Star-Ledger covered the event and offered up some insight into events in Overbrook history that any mental hospital fan will surely enjoy:

“The filming is the last hurrah for the sprawling collection of red- brick wards that are to be sold at the end of the month to homebuilder K. Hovnanian. In the movie, it will be called St. Anthony's.
That, however, is likely to be lost on filmgoers unfamiliar with the facility once known as the Essex County Asylum for the Insane and later simply Overbrook…

…In 1978 alone, there were 150 reports of missing patients, one of whom walked off in his pajamas, broke into a Cedar Grove home, took a carving knife and hammer and tried to abduct the housewife while stealing her car. He was later arrested in Pennsylvania.

By the end of August, (county executive Joseph DiVincenzo, Jr.) said, the sale of the complex to K. Hovnanian should close and the contents auctioned off. In the meantime, Essex County was picking up $1,000 a day in fees - for nine days of shooting - from the film company for ‘Choke,’ an Angelica Houston movie.”

After shooting, the film crew told chilling tales of the ghostly encounters they had had while at the hospital. You can read more about their experiences here.

Even AFTER the aformentioned rash of trespassing arrests occurred in the summer of 2008, Essex County again rented the hospital out to another production company, this time from the Travel Channel. They came to film a show called Extreme Ghost Adventures, in which a group of "Ghosthunters" stalk around the abandoned hospital in search of apparitions.

www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/0 ... _sell.html

This is also about the sale not happening


Essex County opts not to sell Cedar Grove property to housing developer K. Hovnanian

Posted by brtedesc January 17, 2008 18:48PM
Jim Pathe/The Star-Ledger



Part of the 90 acre old Essex County Hospital Center at Hilltop in Cedar Grove that will become a county park. The buildings will be demolished.




The sprawling 90-acre campus of the old Essex County Hospital Center on the Hilltop in Cedar Grove will be preserved by the county as parkland instead of being sold to a housing developer.

Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo announced today the county has opted not to follow through on a $20 million deal to sell the land to homebuilder K. Hovnanian.

"Our decision to preserve the last remaining Hilltop parcel as parkland is a direct result of listening to the public's desire for more open space," DiVincenzo said.

Cedar Grove's elected officials -- who joined DiVincenzo at the noon press conference outside the hospital's abandoned 1906 administration building -- were stunned.

"Somebody really has to pinch myself and my council colleagues today," said Cedar Grove Mayor Peter H. Tanella.
Jim Pathe/The Star-LedgerCedar Grove Councilman Robert O'Toole (right) speaks at a press conference announcing a commitment for the 90 acre old Essex County Hospital Center at Hilltop in Cedar Grove to become a county park. O'Toole has been an advocate for the park for 12 years. Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo is at left.

By his side was Robert O'Toole, a councilman and one-time mayor who last month appeared before the Essex County Board of Freeholders with Tanella, asking that the property be preserved instead of transferred to the Essex County Improvement Authority to follow through on the sale.

His son, state Sen. Kevin O'Toole, described his father as one of "the lone voices in the wilderness" who pushed to retain the acreage as open space. On Dec. 27, the freeholders unanimously voted against the transfer, keeping the land in the county's possession.

Over the years, Hovnanian, in discussions with Cedar Grove officials, had floated ideas ranging from a massive retirement complex to a cityscape design featuring closely bunched townhouses with front stoops and small back yards. But Cedar Grove rejected idea after idea, holding out for just the right mix of houses and open space.

Hovnanian spokesman Doug Fenichel said the Red Bank-based developer won the rights to purchase the property in competitive bidding process.

"We have a contract with the county," Fenichel said. "We expect the county to meet all of its obligations."

Early last year, Essex County moved the last of the patients out of 16-building complex to a new $83 million hospital less than a mile away. Now, the county intends to begin demolition of the old campus this spring. In the meantime, it will lobby New Jersey Green Acres and the county open space trust fund for grants to do so.

Hilltop -- which stretches across pieces of Caldwell, North Caldwell, Cedar Grove and Verona -- was first pegged for development in 1995 when the county sold the land to the Essex County Improvement Authority to plug a budget gap.

The deal was unpopular, but after years of wrangling over what would be built, a deal finally was reached with builders in early 2002. In all, six of the seven parcels comprising the Hilltop were sold, ultimately enough to pay off the debt.

"Here we are, putting open space back on the map," Freeholder Linda Lordi Cavanaugh, whose district includes Cedar Grove, said.