Field behind Pasadena?
- Thread starter gopher
- Start date
It's a rye strip. Land cleared/planted by the state to provide deer a place to eat and hunters a place to shoot them.
Nope. Incidentally, most of the ruins at Pasadena/Wheatland (aside from the brick factory) are across the road.
Gopher:
There are at least two filed plans at the Ocean County Courthouse for Pasadena and one for Wheatland. Reviewing these will provide you with information on what the promoters planned for the community. TeeGate--do you still have those electronic versions of the plans I gave you some years ago? Can you put them here on Ben's site for Gopher to look at?
Best regards,
Jerseyman
There are at least two filed plans at the Ocean County Courthouse for Pasadena and one for Wheatland. Reviewing these will provide you with information on what the promoters planned for the community. TeeGate--do you still have those electronic versions of the plans I gave you some years ago? Can you put them here on Ben's site for Gopher to look at?
Best regards,
Jerseyman
http://www.njpinebarrens.com/teegat...DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2001&g2_serialNumber=1
http://www.njpinebarrens.com/teegat...DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2003&g2_serialNumber=1
http://www.njpinebarrens.com/teegat...DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2005&g2_serialNumber=1
http://www.njpinebarrens.com/teegat...DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2007&g2_serialNumber=1
Guy
http://www.njpinebarrens.com/teegat...DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2003&g2_serialNumber=1
http://www.njpinebarrens.com/teegat...DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2005&g2_serialNumber=1
http://www.njpinebarrens.com/teegat...DownloadItem&g2_itemId=2007&g2_serialNumber=1
Guy
Thanks, Guy, for making those filed plan images available to gopher and others interested in the subject.
Best regards,
Jerseyman
Best regards,
Jerseyman
I thought there was stuff back there too. I searched the area twice. Now I know why I came up empty.
Well, cellar holes. They're along some of the roads that go into the woods on the other side of Pasadena Rd.
There are no ruins as substantial as the brick factory, though.
Wheatland was a failed development owned by the wheatland clay manufacturing and land improvement company. The development, originally called wheatland, started in the 1870s/80 s and ended in the 1910s. it was later called pasadena.
scott w
That map of Wheatland would be cool! I have one in storage. When I research my MA Thesis, I tried to clarify the story of the "Pasadena Terra Cotta Company." Through that research I discovered the full history of the clay industry in that region. Two competing brick and terra cotta companies existed in the 1850s, the Neill Fire Brick Co., and the Townsend Clay Manufacturing Company. The Neill company later became known as the "Union Clay Works" and was a division of the Brooklyn Clay Retort and Fire Brick Company, owned by Joseph Keasbey Brick of Brooklyn, NY. The Townsend Company, after taking on significant investors, incorporated as the Wheatland Terra Cotta Company.
Wheatland was a successful business; it had railroad access, owned vast clay deposits, and had a strong distribution base. The company also was run by a man very knowledgeable about the clay industry. However, he eventually died and the company was left in the hands of wealthy investors and bankers. So, what are a bunch of bankers going to do with 1600 acres of land in the pine barrens? The answer is that they will plan a development.
The original development was known as Wheatland. It was comprised of small lots, and actually managed to sell several hundred. However, these sales were never for cash, but instead all required mortgages; and, the number of sales were not that good. So, to help boost sales, the developers tried promoting Wheatland as "Pasadena."
Plot plans were filed for both Wheatland and Pasadena, and are on file at the Ocean County Courthouse. A comparison of the two plans show basically the same configuration.
Eventually, Pasadena failed as a development, but lived on as the local legend that drove Beck's folklore.
So, in a nutshell, there is the brief history of Wheatland and Pasadena. And, as many on this list know, the ruins that Beck identified were not those of the Pasadena, Wheatland, or Townsend works, but instead a completely different business venture call the Brooksbrae Brick Works. The ruins of the Townsend / Wheatland terra cotta companies are actually a mile northeast from the Brooksbrae site up the railroad. In fact, the base of several muffle kilns are still discernible in the landscape.
Scott W.
Wheatland was a successful business; it had railroad access, owned vast clay deposits, and had a strong distribution base. The company also was run by a man very knowledgeable about the clay industry. However, he eventually died and the company was left in the hands of wealthy investors and bankers. So, what are a bunch of bankers going to do with 1600 acres of land in the pine barrens? The answer is that they will plan a development.
The original development was known as Wheatland. It was comprised of small lots, and actually managed to sell several hundred. However, these sales were never for cash, but instead all required mortgages; and, the number of sales were not that good. So, to help boost sales, the developers tried promoting Wheatland as "Pasadena."
Plot plans were filed for both Wheatland and Pasadena, and are on file at the Ocean County Courthouse. A comparison of the two plans show basically the same configuration.
Eventually, Pasadena failed as a development, but lived on as the local legend that drove Beck's folklore.
So, in a nutshell, there is the brief history of Wheatland and Pasadena. And, as many on this list know, the ruins that Beck identified were not those of the Pasadena, Wheatland, or Townsend works, but instead a completely different business venture call the Brooksbrae Brick Works. The ruins of the Townsend / Wheatland terra cotta companies are actually a mile northeast from the Brooksbrae site up the railroad. In fact, the base of several muffle kilns are still discernible in the landscape.
Scott W.
I guess we should say those kilns are on private property so anyone who thinks of looking for them should resist that urge.
I should also correct myself and say the map I have shows where the Wheatland property is and not the development layout itself. I will look this afternoon for it.
Guy
I should also correct myself and say the map I have shows where the Wheatland property is and not the development layout itself. I will look this afternoon for it.
Guy
Just a little extra info the trail with the cellar holes.It was a narrow gauge railroad.I found some small spikes and track materials.
The Townsend / Wheatland clay operations, and the Brooksbrae operations all utilized small steam-powered narrow gauge railroad engines called either "mule" or "donkey" engines. These were small engines that ran on narrow rails (easier to pick-up and move when necessary) whose main utility was to convey raw clay and sand from local areas nearby to the factory. The raw materials were even moved around the factories by these small railroads. In addition, due to the later date of the Brooksbrae Works (ca. 1905), the company utilized an internal rail system that would convey raw materials as well as green, dry, and fired bricks around the operation. These small rails would even carry the bricks to a siding for loading onto rail cars.
Scott W.