The Butler Museum is housed in the former New York Susquehanna and Western Railroad station. Constructed in 1888, it was remodeled in the 1890’s and in 1907, when a freight room was added to the northwestern end of the building. A major restoration took place from 2011 to 2015. Purchased by the Borough of Butler for a museum just in time for the Bicentennial Celebration in 1976, the museum houses a large collection of artifacts of local and regional significance.
The Butler Fire and Police Department artifacts.
Exhibits highlight the social, educational, fraternal, political, and business life of the community. Unique to the Butler Museum are artifacts pertaining to the Statue of Liberty, statue designer Frederic Bartholdi, and his friend Richard Butler, for whom the town is named. Mr. Butler was an important member of the committee that raised the funds to construct the statue’s pedestal (Pathways to History of Morris County website).
The Statue of Liberty exhibition.
Displays also include products manufactured by the American Hard Rubber Company, the area’s largest employer from the 1880’s to the late 1950’s. Development of items such as Ace Bowling Balls and Ace Combs can be traced from blueprints and salesman samples to the finished products.
The Ace Company exhibit
The resource center presents the opportunity to view past copies of local newspapers, almost a century of Butler High School yearbooks, and a pictorial history of Main Street, Butler.
The Butler Museum main gallery with the Ace Rubber exhibition as well as the Butler Fire and Police departments. The displays represent years of tradition in the town.
The Butler Museum main gallery. The Ace Company exhibition.
The Butler Museum’s local town history display.
The Printing industry of the town of Butler, NJ.
The display of vintage clothing.
The museum has a wonderful display of artifacts that tell the story of the town and show the progression of the town’s growth. The docents do a nice job of telling that story of the town they love so much. It is a very fascinating museum when you tour all the interesting things that the museum has in its collections.
The Bergen County Historical Society at New Bridge Landing in River Edge, NJ.
Christmas time at the Bergen County Historical Society.
The student consultants from Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc (Bergen Community College-Paramus Campus), who were part of my Business 101-Introduction to Business class on the Lyndhurst campus, marketed the Bergen County Historical Society for tourism both domestically and internationally. They created a complete marketing plan for the BCHS along with new special events for Halloween and Easter and a fundraiser to raise $25,000 for the new museum. These are their ideas. Team Two won the contest.
The John DuBois Maritime Museum at 949 Ye Greate Street in Greenwich, NJ.
I visited the John DuBois Maritime Museum when I was visiting the Gibbon House and the Carman Prehistoric Museum when I was visiting Greenwich, NJ. What a nice little museum explaining the maritime history of not just New Jersey but the local area as well.
The museum is one large gallery broken down into sections of the history of the area. The main gallery is well organized by section to explain the shipping history of the region.
The decoys and rafts that are part of the collection.
The nautical instruments to guide your way through the stars. These were part of the long voyage.
The Shipping display
The sign for the Oyster Dredge display
The Oyster Dredge display
The Oyster Dredge display explores the important of the oyster industry in the area’s waters and what an important source of food they were to the local population. It also showed their role in keeping the waterways clean and the water well circulated.
The Ship Building display
Ship building and the creation of the shipping industry’s planning on future boat was another important part of the economy before the Civil War.
The Ship’s Mascot greets all of her guests at the front of the museum.
The History of the Museum:
The John DuBois Maritime Museum houses a large collection of Southern New Jersey Maritime related items from the 19th and early 20th centuries. A large and unique collection of builders models of local craft, show the plans used to build a new ship from the model itself.
The anchor outside the museum
Exhibited are tools used to carve ribs, planking, masts and booms. Also displayed are many blocks, ‘deadlines’ and ‘rigging’. The museum is proud to have one of the largest collections on the East Coast of caulking tools. Videos are available to view by the New Jersey network on oyster schooners including an interview with John DuBois who donated most of the artifacts in the museum.
Also exhibited are early maritime engine parts, most from the Hettinger’s of Bridgeton, one of the first manufacturers in America of marine motors.
The Shipping displays in the heart of the collection.
Open: Sunday 2:00pm-4:00pm/Monday-Tuesday/Closed/Wednesday 2:00pm-4:00pm/Thursday Closed/Friday 2:00pm-4:00pm/Saturday/Closed (check the website for additional open hours)
The Hackettstown Historical Society at 106 Church Street.
The welcome sign of the Historical Society
I visited the Hackettstown Historical Society on a recent trip to Downtown Hackettstown and this small historical society is packed with interesting information on the history of the town and the local town of Mansfield, NJ that has more information but they do not have their own building for a society of their own.
The historical information on Mansfield Township, NJ
The other exhibits on the first floor are on the history and clothing of the “Gibson Girl”. It shows how women were progressing in society during the late 1800’s after the Civil War. It shows how women gained more independence after the war years and showed it in their clothing, physical activities and schooling.
The “Gibson Girl” exhibit
The first-floor exhibition also had a display on the first Miss America from New Jersey, Bette Cooper, who was Miss Bertrand Island. She won the award and then ran away from the award. She never wanted to participate in the Miss America Foundation and because of her, there was a contract put together for future winners to participate in activities for the organizations. The Cooper family resided in Hackettstown, NJ at the time of her being a winner.
Another exhibit explained the transportation for Hackettstown and its influence in the outside community.
The Transportation exhibit in Hackettstown, NJ.
Another popular exhibit especially with the kids is the toy manufacturing displays. Toys were based on careers as girls played with tea sets, dollhouses and dolls while boys played with trucks, cars and sporting goods. This set of displays showed the items that were made in the area of Hackettstown, NJ.
The Toy Company exhibition on the first floor.
The Beton (Bergen Toy and Novelty) Manufacturing Company display. The company manufactured at the turn of the century in Hackettstown, NJ.
On the second floor, the museum has displays on the businesses of the community. There were many manufacturers of items such as carriages, farm equipment and of course the M & M/Mars Company.
The Business display on the second floor.
Another exhibit was on how a households were run at the turn of the last century and what went into keeping house in those days. From equipment to clothing you could see how a woman’s time was taken up on a daily basis.
The Household Exhibit on the second floor
The Kitchen exhibit on the second floor.
The attitudes towards children after the Civil War and during the Victorian period changed as well as more affluence and change of attitude wanting children to be in school and out of the workplace. There was also more time for children’s play as we see in the sophistication of playthings. Things have not changed that much in that time.
The Children’s Exhibit on the second floor.
The Children’s display of games, toys and dolls.
Life in Hackettstown was also on display with a Civil War exhibit and the Hackettstown Fire Department. How people added to their communities and supported causes has not changed much to today.
The Hackettstown Fire Department display
The Civil War display on the second floor.
Life was not simpler in the turn of the last century but productive in a different way. People lived and contributed to their communities. Hackettstown citizens took a lot of pride in their community and you can see in the business development and the investment in town activities.
The Hackettstown Historical Society does a nice job telling the story of the town and its progress in building the community over the years.
The History of the Hackettstown Historical Society:
The main gallery of the first floor of the society.
The Hackettstown Historical Society was organized on March 6th, 1975. The chapter members, numbering 72 signed the incorporation papers on September 4th, 1975. In December of 1975, permission to use a vacant town-owned building was procured from Hackettstown Common Council. It is currently leased from the town. This building located at 106 Church Street and built in 1915 for the Theodore G. Plate family is the Society’s museum and headquarters.
The Miss America exhibit of first New Jersey winner, Bette Cooper, who ran away from the crown.
The Hackettstown Historical Society is dedicated to the preservation of this area’s historic heritage. The objectives of the Society are to collect, catalog, preserve and display these artifacts, mementos and memorabilia for present and future generations and to hold meetings and exhibits that will inform members and interested persons of the Hackettstown area’s proud past.
The Centenary University exhibit (the local univerity) at the society.
Visiting a Museum: The Unique, Unusual, Obscure and Historical 