90 years ago this month - April showers bring November open houses

90 years ago

Published April 3, 1936 - the "seed" that would grow into Meadowbrook.... just a little mention about a potential new neighborhood on an old estate in the zoning minutes brought forward by Mr. Wells.

Here it is in the context of the newspaper page, one little pebble in the pond, rippling

Then April 16, 1936. This was the follow-up from the 3 April snippet with more details known as plans developed.

The later half of the article is interesting that they mention George Wells starting the building in North Plainfield, "if he is held up", which reads as not the ideal plan.

Also neat is their testing the purchasing "appetitite" by building only 1 or 2 homes at a time, especially as so close after the Great Depression, as well as the function of the new FHA 30 yr mortgage.

21 April, 1936, an official Netherwood Farms Corporation notice mentioning the "Mali Tract"

28 April, 1936 - the first map of Meadowbrook

Now, I don't know about you, but this concept map seems "over ambitious" from the start.

The Brook Ave cul de sac is a neat early interpretation, with a road extending through over to Netherwood. The cul de sac at the top right off Mountain Ave was to be known as Thistle Lane, until finally removed from the city planning ~20 years later in 1955 and never built. Still can see Deforest Ave, Ivy Lane, Greenock, Anworth, Abbotsford on this map. A funny little hoop of a street was going to be call Strafford Circle. And obviously not a Wells Road, but portending there in the drawing all the same.

Here is the map in context of the newspaper page

By the end of the month, 30 April 1936 there was some front page, first column scuttlebutt 

it continued to another page less take up the full front page...

And by July fthe first shovels started in, good times.