Look Back From the Future
Ronald Weinger, HSofBH
Have you ever wondered what the house your parents grew up in looked like? What about the house where your grandparents lived? Was it a private house, an apartment in a city housing project, or an apartment above a store. Did they own or rent? Did they have a yard to play in or have a playground? Maybe there was an empty lot next door, or they played in the street. Was the building new or already old when they lived in it. Have you ever wondered? Do you think your children would wonder when they grow up, and would their children wonder?
The Historical Society of Berkeley Heights is starting off 2024 with a Look Back From The Future campaign to photograph every building in the Township as it looks today so your children and grandchildren, and people who will live in the town a century from now, will be able to see Berkeley Heights as you see it.
History does not stand still. Very little of Springfield Avenue looks today as it did at the turn of the century, only one generation ago. How many remember what the Kings Supermarket, the Berkeley Cinema and the Berkeley Plaza looked like? Or the Pizza Hut where the CVS now stands? How many remember the Auberge Swiss Restaurant? History starts anew every second, and if it is not recorded it is lost, one second at a time.
The Look Back From The Future campaign is intended to record Berkeley Heights of today, before too many seconds go by. All that is requested is just one house photograph from each household. It can be a stark B&W documentary or colorful holiday decorated picture of your house. How would you want your grandchildren to see it? Of course, additional town photographs would be appreciated, but, if we received just one of each home by the end of the year, we would have the most thoroughly documented collection in Union County. We already have 200 photographs; only about 13,000 more are needed.
The Society is not requesting any personal information, only the house street and number. Submitters do not even need to identify themselves. No information will be sold or distributed or used for commercial purposes. The photographs will be indexed numerically by street and digitally stored in the Society’s archive. No other information will be maintained. All photographs will become the property of the Historical Society of Berkeley Heights. No compensation, either monetary or in any other form is offered. Photographs should be sent as a .jpg attachment to HSofBH@comcast.net.
The Historical Society of Berkeley Heights is a non-profit 501c-3 corporation. It is not affiliated with the Berkeley Heights Historic Preservation Committee, a Township government agency.
