Let’s take a trip back to the Roaring Twenties in the Garden State. New Jersey looked and operated much differently back then. It’s interesting to see what has changed and what remains the same. First, a little background before the photos. The 1920s were a prosperous time and cars were becoming more common. The Benjamin Franklin Bridge and Holland Tunnel were built, making major cities easily accessible to all New Jerseyans. Prior to 1927, ferries were required to cross the Hudson River.
Less accessible was alcohol – New Jersey was the first state to ratify prohibition. Despite the lack of (legal) alcohol, people had much more time to relax. The mass availability of electricity made conveniences like washing machines, refrigerators, electric irons, and sewing machines more common and innovations in food preparation (like Campbell’s Condensed Soup) meant meals could be made quickly and easily. In their spare time, people enjoyed going to the movies or listening to the radio.
Speaking of radios, a boy and his mother are listening to one while pop loads hay into an ox-drawn wagon near Butler.
Prints and Photographs Division (883,356)/Library Of Congress
City life was different than farm life. Tony, just 9 years old, works as a shoe shiner in Newark.
National Child Labor Committee collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Roland, eleven years old, sells newspapers in Newark. Both boys can expect to make up to $1 a day, about $13 in today’s dollars.
National Child Labor Committee collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
The American Red Cross in Hackensack holding a clinic in 1920. Mothers bring their children to be weighed, measured, and examined.
ARC Hine/Library of Congress
The USS Los Angeles, the world’s largest dirigible at the time, arriving at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in 1924.
Underwood & Underwood/Library of Congress
Newark’s famed Centre Market. Opened in 1924, it cost $5,000,000 to build and was labeled “The Finest Retail Market in the World.” It once was filled with fresh produce, meats, and fish - now it’s an unrecognizable office building at 1100 Raymond Boulevard.
Library of Congress
Miss America 1922, Margaret Gorman and Hudson Maxim dressed as Neptune in Atlantic City.
George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress)
War brides and their children arriving in Hoboken from Germany in 1920. WWI soldiers fathered children across the world, many brought the mothers home to the US and made them their brides.
ARC. Atlantic Division/Library of Congress
At least 7 presidents vacationed in Long Branch. Pictured is President Garfield’s cottage circa 1926.
Library of Congress
The New Vernon volunteer fire department in the 1920s. New Vernon, in Morris County, was ranked by Forbes Magazine as one of the 25 most expensive zip codes in the country. Notable residents have included William O. Baker, former chairman of Bell Labs and Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge, an art collector and philanthropist.
Richard/Flickr
Do you have a favorite photo? Would you like to learn more about New Jersey’s history? Let us know in the comments and be sure to check out these 15 classic photos of New Jersey in the 1970s!
Prints and Photographs Division (883,356)/Library Of Congress
National Child Labor Committee collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
ARC Hine/Library of Congress
Underwood & Underwood/Library of Congress
Library of Congress
George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress)
ARC. Atlantic Division/Library of Congress
Richard/Flickr
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