A Street by Any Other Name…

YOU DRIVE downhill along Godwin Avenue, stop at the light on Lincoln Avenue and turn left on South Monroe Street. Then, you pass Washington Place on your right and Varian Fry Way on your left. Congratulations! You’ve found the shortest route from the southern Midland Park border to the Woman’s Club of Ridgewood Woman’s Club and gotten a brief jaunt through Ridgewood (and American) history without cracking open a book.

You can recite the names of these and other roads without a thought, but who are all the people they’re named for? Some are obvious. Others may surprise you.

For example, the aforementioned Lincoln Avenue, South (and North) Monroe Street and Washington Place were all named for the U.S. presidents you likely imagined. And if you guessed Franklin Avenue was named after a prominent leader from Colonial days, you’d be right. Probably not the one you thought, though.

No, Franklin Avenue (originally Franklin Turnpike) was not named after Founding Father Benjamin Franklin. However, Ben was the actual father of William Franklin, the Royal Governor of New Jersey for whom the road was named before the first musket ball of the American Revolution was ever fired. According to Revolutionary War New Jersey, the son of one of America’s original patriots served, and remained loyal to, the crown throughout his life. His refusal to support the Colonists caused a rift from which the relationship between father and son never recovered.

Many other namesakes might be revelations to you, as well. A bonafide O.G. patriot and a hero of the Holocaust are among them. Let’s start from the beginning, literally.

VAN EMBURGH AVENUE

Though he did not hold a lofty government office like William Franklin, in a sense you could say that Johannes Van Emburgh was the patriarch of Ridgewood’s first family. As noted in the History of the Village of Ridgewood, Van Emburgh recognized the value of a plot of land in the village before there was even a village. He bought 250 acres in 1698, and, two years later, erected the first home in what later became Ridgewood.

GODWIN AVENUE

Before Ridgewood was Ridgewood, the National Historic Database tells us, it was called Godwinville. Both the later-renamed town and the current Godwin Avenue were named for Abraham Godwin, an honest-to-goodness patriot who played an important role in New Jersey and early U.S. history.

Born in 1763, young Godwin served as a fifer and, ultimately, a fife major in George Washington’s Continental Army. As the war wound down, he became an engraving apprentice and, later, a surveyor.

It was in the latter role that he worked under Alexander Hamilton to assess the viability of building manufacturing facilities around the Passaic Falls—better known today as the Paterson Great Falls.

With time as a boy soldier and a regional pioneer on his resumé, it’s no surprise that his fellow citizens elected Godwin to the New Jersey General Assembly, where he served from 1802 to 1806. In that role, he voted on legislation to gradually end slavery in the Garden State.

World events wouldn’t allow him to settle into private life for very long after he left the legislature. When conflict with Britain arose again, Godwin answered the call and led soldiers into battle as a brigadier general in the War of 1812.

According to the National Historical Marker Database, Abraham Godwin “passed to the greater life” in 1855 after leaving an indelible mark on the community. Besides Godwin Avenue, a marker bearing his likeness and the inscription “Soldier, Statesman, artist, poet, engraver, musician and gracious host” still stands at the corner of East Ridgewood Avenue and Van Neste Square.

ACKERMAN AVENUE

The history of Ackerman Avenue is a bit murky, though not for any scandalous reasons. There are simply too many related early Ridgewood families to be certain which one is the namesake.

The most likely candidate may be early Bergen County politician John Ackerman, who the Washington Township website points to as the first elected leader in its history. (Ridgewood was part of a larger area in the early days, encompassing parts of Washington Township, Paramus, Midland Park and other neighboring towns.)

The Ackerman–Van Emburgh House, so named because it was built by John Ackerman in 1785 and later owned by the Van Emburgh family, sits on East Glen Avenue. Two abodes known as the Ackerman House, according to Images of America: Ridgewood, exist on what is now Doremus Avenue and Lincoln Avenue. They were built in 1787 and 1810, respectively, by Ackerman’s descendants.

DAYTON STREET

Clearly, there’s some crosspollination in the origins of Ridgewood streets. So, it is with Dayton Street, which can serve as a nexus of Ridgewood landmarks.

According to a Brief History of Ridgewood, in 1853 the expansive Van Emburgh estate was divided up for sale into smaller tracts. One was snapped up by Samuel Dayton, who wanted to trade New York City life for one of a “country” farmer. Ultimately, he broke up his own plot into smaller chunks, selling some to sons-in-law Benjamin Franklin Robinson and Samuel Graydon (remember that name!), who established their own estates.

GRAYDON TERRACE

While Graydon Terrace may be prized for its leafy environs and charming homes, it’s overshadowed in name by Graydon Pool. Both are named for Samuel Graydon, grandson of the Samuel Dayton who bought property on the Van Emburgh estate.

According to a Brief History of Ridgewood, it was Graydon’s idea while head of the Shade Tree Commission to create a park and swimming hole by damming off part of the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook. The pool cost $23,000 to construct and opened in 1929.

VARIAN FRY WAY

Finally, let’s fast-forward to the honorary name of a portion of South Monroe Street. Ridgewood dedicated Varian Fry Way in 2005 to honor Varian Fry, within sight of George Washington Middle School and West Side Presbyterian Church, both of which Fry attended early in the 20th century. As noted in Ridgewood History, during World War II, Fry devised a plot to help roughly 2,000 Jewish and non-Jewish artists, writers, philosophers and families escape Nazi-controlled France at the height of the Holocaust.

In 1994, nearly 30 years after his death at age 60, Fry was granted the title Righteous Among Nations by the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem. From first families to Founding Fathers and right up through a 20th century international humanitarian, there’s a literal roadmap of history winding through your town. You can find all this information and more at the Bolger Heritage Center at the Ridgewood Public Library. Visit their website at https://localhistory.ridgewoodlibrary.org.

BY HARRIS FLEMING