Flash Point

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
5,054
3,327
Pestletown, N.J.
How did you know where it was Scott? I went on street view to see what is was when I first posted.
I have been Waterford Township's Planning Board Planner since 2020, Bob and I am always doing something Waterford Township-related at work during the week. I am looking at aerials, tax maps, sewer maps and zoning maps all the time and could easily see that you were on Atco and 4th on your posted map, even without the street labeling.

The site has a long history and the current owner is one of our Board members. His daughter has the flower business and she is the most talented and nicest flower purveyor I have ever met. My wife buys from her seasonally and her arrangements are amazing.

I believe the smoke stack was part of the heating system for the greenhouses. In Historic Aerials, you can see what is more than likely a furnace room attached to the base of the stack and furnace room is attached to a run of greenhouse. This can be seen in Historic Aerials throughout many years, starting in 1931.
 
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bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,658
4,834
Pines; Bamber area
I have been Waterford Township's Planning Board Planner since 2020, Bob and I am always doing something Waterford Township-related at work during the week. I am looking at aerials, tax maps, sewer maps and zoning maps all the time and could easily see that you were on Atco and 4th on your posted map, even without the street labeling.
As I drive on street view, I see a lot of very nice older homes in great shape on Raritan Ave and Atco Ave. Clean spacious yards and all. Surprised me, cause I only know Atco from driving towards Berlin on Jackson Road beyond the dragstrip, and I always thought that area did not cast Atco in a good light at all.
 
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Broke Jeep Joe

Explorer
Mar 8, 2006
781
476
Waterford Twp
As I drive on street view, I see a lot of very nice older homes in great shape on Raritan Ave and Atco Ave. Clean spacious yards and all. Surprised me, cause I only know Atco from driving towards Berlin on Jackson Road beyond the dragstrip, and I always thought that area did not cast Atco in a good light at all.
The Richards Mansion is on Atco Ave also
 

enormiss

Explorer
Aug 18, 2015
607
409
Atco NJ
Not much info on the mansion, best took me back here :)
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,658
4,834
Pines; Bamber area
Coincidentally, my brother who lives in Louisiana purchased this book online. After reading it he sent it to me. I enjoyed it. Mostly photos of old places and things, but she writes very well and often gives great historical perspective.

1690327070947.png


She starts off with the Oberlin Smith Machine Factory. Two chapters later she highlights an abandoned greenhouse, and it happens to be the one in this thread. But I was given a twist. I went on Google Street view to confirm it's the same one. I was trying to confirm the auxillary building next to the greenhouse, and Google showed me this red one in street view.

1690326736983.png


I was confused because it's not the same one, but the chimney definitely was. I went about 10 feet down the street on google and all of a sudden it turned into the correct one in the book (below). So they had it rehabilitated into a dutch barn. It's odd that Google went down the same street twice with quite a few years in between, and the view is split at this point.

1690326499943.png
 
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RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
5,054
3,327
Pestletown, N.J.
Coincidentally, my brother who lives in Louisiana purchased this book online. After reading it he sent it to me. I enjoyed it. Mostly photos of old places and things, but she writes very well and often gives great historical perspective.

View attachment 20330

She starts off with the Oberlin Smith Machine Factory. Two chapters later she highlights an abandoned greenhouse, and it happens to be the one in this thread. But I was given a twist. I went on Google Street view to confirm it's the same one. I was trying to confirm the auxillary building next to the greenhouse, and Google showed me this red one in street view.

View attachment 20329

I was confused because it's not the same one, but the chimney definitely was. I went about 10 feet down the street on google and all of a sudden it turned into the correct one in the book (below). So they had it rehabilitated into a dutch barn. It's odd that Google went down the same street twice with quite a few years in between, and the view is split at this point.

View attachment 20328
The wife of the owner will soon be serving homemade baked goods and farm products there and the daughter will be selling her floral arrangements.
In reviewing their application for the business, I researched several Sanborn maps to put a little historic background in my report. I stored some of the high res photos from the Library of Congress and ran them through our plotter and gave one to the owner. The family plans to display it inside the shop.

Sanborns are an invaluable tool for doing Phase I Site Assessments and I find them fascinating. And don't even get me started about Hexamer maps !:)

Try this link. It is amazing to me that these maps are available to download at ridiculously high resolution. 141MB Tiff is what I used to print a 30" x 42" map.
 

smoke_jumper

Piney
Mar 5, 2012
1,606
1,164
Atco, NJ
The wife of the owner will soon be serving homemade baked goods and farm products there and the daughter will be selling her floral arrangements.
In reviewing their application for the business, I researched several Sanborn maps to put a little historic background in my report. I stored some of the high res photos from the Library of Congress and ran them through our plotter and gave one to the owner. The family plans to display it inside the shop.

Sanborns are an invaluable tool for doing Phase I Site Assessments and I find them fascinating. And don't even get me started about Hexamer maps !:)

Try this link. It is amazing to me that these maps are available to download at ridiculously high resolution. 141MB Tiff is what I used to print a 30" x 42" map.
That’s very cool Scott. That map stops just short of covering my family’s property. I grew up 2 blocks from those greenhouses. Also, there used to be two smoke stacks there. One used to be attached to the barn that they restored which is depicted in the map as well.
 
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bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,658
4,834
Pines; Bamber area
The wife of the owner will soon be serving homemade baked goods and farm products there and the daughter will be selling her floral arrangements.
In reviewing their application for the business, I researched several Sanborn maps to put a little historic background in my report. I stored some of the high res photos from the Library of Congress and ran them through our plotter and gave one to the owner. The family plans to display it inside the shop.

Sanborns are an invaluable tool for doing Phase I Site Assessments and I find them fascinating. And don't even get me started about Hexamer maps !:)

Try this link. It is amazing to me that these maps are available to download at ridiculously high resolution. 141MB Tiff is what I used to print a 30" x 42" map.
In that link, did you see the photo of the Apple Picker kitchen? What Kind of stove is that? What a contraption. (library of Congress photo).

1690337707328.png
 
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RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
5,054
3,327
Pestletown, N.J.
That’s very cool Scott. That map stops just short of covering my family’s property. I grew up 2 blocks from those greenhouses. Also, there used to be two smoke stacks there. One used to be attached to the barn that they restored which is depicted in the map as well.
Check out Plate 2 John and look at the area where the post office is now. It was the "Broom Factory". My wife used to play in the remnants of that place when she was a kid. Hard to figure why they needed so many structures.
 
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smoke_jumper

Piney
Mar 5, 2012
1,606
1,164
Atco, NJ
Check out Plate 2 John and look at the area where the post office is now. It was the "Broom Factory". My wife used to play in the remnants of that place when she was a kid. Hard to figure why they needed so many structures.
I played in there too. I used to have a few brooms from in there too. I never realized there was that many buildings there. Also notice 105 Atco Ave. That was my great grandfathers house. He used to work for the railroad. He used to take the train to work everyday. When they dismantled the turntable in Camden he brought home the wood on the train and built that garage with it. I also never realized the post office used to be where the township parking lot is by the tracks.
 
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