Pierre Mali of Mali Drive

I moved in a few years ago and thought, 'hmm, I wonder why this is named, 'Mali Drive'?" I did some research and I found Mr. Pierre Mali, born August 19, 1856 in Belgium He passed away 4 October 1923. (I meant to post this earlier in the month of October and forgot; sorry, my bad.)

from his passport....

Pierre helped as the Belgium Consulate General in NY with getting aid to Europe during World War 1.

He is on the far right in this image....

So then how did Pierre get a road in central NJ with his last name on it?

Well, Pierre married Frances "Fanny" Johnston May 1, 1892.

They were married at the family home in NYC

Well, "Fanny", as she was known, her dad was John Taylor Johnston (JTJ). He was the First President of the Met Museum but that was more of "side hustle"... his "day job" was being the President of the Central Railroad of NJ. He connected "the road" as they called it, from PA, through Somerville, to Communipaw Terminal in Jersey City. He also made improvements, like elevating the tracks in Plainfield and moved the train station at Scotch Plains to a new a station called... can you guess where from these 1860 articles?

Gosh, if I owned a railroad, I might name a new station after a family member.... hmm.....

JTJ also owned a large summer estate and farm in NJ called, the Netherwood Estate, but often was referred to as the Johnston Estate. When he died, he passed the Estate down to Frances and because she was married to Pierre the Estate was then known as... The Mali Estate. You can read more about it here.

Pierre passed away 101 years ago, 4 October, 1923... here are some neat obit details written about him.

Pierre and Frances now "reside" near Woodland Ave you can see their large boulder monument from the road but it easier to just stop in and say hi at Hillside Cemetery in Scotch Plains.

Frances Mali passed away December 7, 1928 so I'll put something up then about her later in the year. The Mali heirs continued to live in Manhattan and in 1936 they sold the Estate to be developed into what is today our neighborhood, as well as the Watchung Square Mall, all the way up to Johnston Drive in Watchung. But thanks to Pierre's last name, we have a unique name for a rounded road...

... you might say, after viewing this 1956 photo, that we've come "full circle".

In memory of George E. T. Wells, President of Meadowbrook Inc

Published this day 27 September, 1947 in remembrance of George E. T. Wells, architect and President of Meadowbrook Inc. ...

(a quick note: here is a link to the post about George from last year that has his formal obituary, bio, and some different images, like the "sibling" neighborhood Washington Park in Maplewood and his days in between these residential NJ projects designing hotels in Miami.... )

This 1 year earlier (1946) bio of George was published for his nomination to lead the local realtors...

But this pretty much was a rough draft for his obit, which you can read here in last year's commemorative post. Note the home address is where the former Mali Mansion stood that he lived in and operated out of while Meadowbrook was being built. Here's a photo comparisson of the old Mali / Johnston mansion published mid 50s

 another view (and article about the Netherwood area)

As irony would have it, about 6 months earlier April 1947, George was giving the Mali family heirs one last tour of the family homestead before it was torn down... (dun dun dun...)

Here's what the neighborhood looked like from a satellite image the year George passed, 1947.

and a closer zoom of the Mali Drive loop showing the east side incomplete and various imprints of the prior depression era WPA Gardens and community Victory Gardens of WWII

.... and a cute ad 2 years later from 1949 for the lots left to build still...

Keeping the irony going full steam, this ad was also published same day, selling built homes in the neighborhood but also empty lots above what is today Watchung Sq Mall along Johnston Drive...

so, as the advertisement suggests, "Do not wait for tomorrow for tomorrow never comes." Here is one of the original brochures of the Meadowbrook neighborhood with George's name on the bottom right.

Various ads for the neighborhood here As you can maybe tell, the neighborhood didn't quite turn out as planned either...

The Mali Estate during the Great Depression 1929-1933

It is tricky to find much detail about the goings-on of the hundreds of acres of the former Mali Estate that today make up our neighborhood, also portions of Route 22 (formerly Route 29),and even the Watchung Square Mall.
But this was a very interesting article to read that was published on this day in 6 September 1933, just 3 years before the first shovels would start our neighborhood. 

   

Pierre Mali passed away unexpectedly in 1925, Frances Mali (heir to John Taylor Johnston) just 3 years later in 1928, and so the Estate was managed by the Netherwood Farm Corporation which was essentially the Mali children heirs.  And shortly after their passing, in September 1929 the Great Depression occurred which impacted everyone.  4 years later in September 1933 this article frames the still ongoing struggles the economy was experiencing.

1952 follow-up of the Subdivision Divisions

As a follow-up to the July 1952 post, here are articles about the subdivision divisions and the resolutions that were made that outline the final decade of home building in Meadowbrook as well as the portending end of the entity known as Meadowbrook Incorporated later that year in 1952.

Of note is the recognized flood water line along Green Brook and to "provide land suitable for playground purposes sufficient to accomodate the needs of the entire Meadowbrook development"

Also the attempt to enforce deed restrictions during the remaining construction, with a slow build schedule of 3 houses at a time, we know now was a quite failed attempt at not being very neighborly to say the least.

The newspaper put out their published opinion on the matter shortly after, on 2 September 1952, which I've included here as well.

Published earlier in the month, after the first round of disputes, on 6 Aug 1952 was an opinion piece from one of the home owners directed at "choosy neighbors in the Meadowbrook section" who were derisive against many of the Veterans there.

... and in Dec 1952, just barely over three months later, Bankers Trust Company throws in the towel and advises they will dispose, "of it's holdings and the Corporation", thus the end of "Meadowbrook Incorporated"

It will then be various builders, Ferrara, Amy Builders, W.L. Bird, and others who complete the neighborhood. ... I'm still trying to figure out who put forward the idea of the name "Wells Road" as a nod to George E. T Wells legacy leading Meadowbrook Inc. at the start.

That's that me, Meadowbrook Esso...

... thinkin' 'bout me every night, oh
Is it that sweet? I guess so
Say you can't sleep, baby, I know
That's that me, Meadowbrook Esso...

So, in all seriousness, what is fun to me about these clippings for the "Meadowbrook Esso", like similarly named businesses that have gone away, such as the "Meadowbrook Hardware" store which was also on 2nd street, is the importance of naming.

When looking back before Meadowbrook, everything nearby was previously Netherwood-this-or-that, mirroring the name of the road, train station, nearby neighborhood, which were all inspired by the Netherwood Estate and Farm, the formal names of John Taylor Johnston's Estate, later known as the Mali Estate, or once into development, the Mali Tract.

1928 details about Route 29 mentioning Netherwood Farm and Mali Estate

Yet, when the newest fangdangled thing came along, in this case, Meadowbrook, the name signaled proximity to a new place, a new history for that era.  Interestingly the Hardware store didn't "borrow" its name of Meadowbrook until 1958 when under new ownership, renaming from "Drake's".

Opened 1958, closed 1965.... Meadowbrook Hardware

This group of shops on second street was even highlighted on the Meadowbrook brochures for housing before the Meadowbrook Village apartments were built.

Zoom in view of shops on lower right side of the above image....

So if a song of summer or history gets stuck in your head and you can't stop thinking about it, just keep humming along and go with the beat.   History, like pop music, may not repeat, but it sure does rhyme.

If it does repeat likely your CD or your record is scratched... don't even get me started on cassettes and rewinding with pencils 

Meadowbrook Back to the Future: "Where we're going, we don't need roads" (spoiler alert: we do)

Published this day 7 August 1937, nine months after the grand opening ceremony, discussing roads opening on the Somerset County side of the Green Brook...

This ad was also published on 7 August 1937

This article excerpt was published in the NYTimes 8 August 1937

This next article was published 14 August, 1937, it talks about the roads opening on the Union County side of the neighborhood which was not built so these roads, like Willow Avenue and Boatcroft Lane, do not exist today.

This 1949 map still shows some of the proposed but unbuilt roads in Meadowbrook
(hint: there are 4 here but missing IRL)

... and six years later Marty McFly would be back in 1955 and Thistle Lane will disappear...

... coincidence?

1952 Many Fight Subdivision; Property Owners Protest New Meadowbrook Housing

Published 30 July, 1952, just over 16 years after the neighborhood started. Take a read through the articles, click to enlarge, but here is the TLDR gist of it all ...

The "fight" and "protest" of the home owners in 1952 was that Meadowbrook Inc was going to put up smaller sized homes on even smaller lots, contrary to original plans. The confusion and frustration in these articles really comes across, but gets lost in the sauce of technical details.

Ultimately with help from various Borough and County officials they were able to preserve the lot setbacks and sizes for the neighborhood as submitted in the surveys originally within boundries of Farragut (west), Mountain (north), Netherwood (east), the Green Brook / county border (south). 

However, any influence about imposing or retaining "deed restrictions" of by-gone-eras was thoroughly abandonded as new homes were built for a new generation that included everyone.

As you can read in this excerpt there was clearly some hand wringing and standing outburst attempts to conflate lot sizes and house sizes with "deed restrictions".  The Norwood Homes (confusing as the company building them was named Norwood, not on Norwood Ave) were being built nearby Meadowbrook neighborhood on the north side of Mountain Ave and in similar areas that once upon a time were part of the Johnston/Mali Estate.  But as you can see in the confused outburst these were never part of Meadowbrook Inc., as those lands remained in ownership by the estate heirs under the Netherwood Farms Corporation.  Netherwood Farms Corp. would sell land to Meadowbrook Inc as pieces were built or completed, but that didn't mean the entire former estate was Meadowbrook... 

In 1952, these new homes were built to mirror demand for returning veterans and the VA Loans did not follow prior "deed restrictions" that were included in earlier era FHA loans when Meadowbrook neighborhood (to include Meadowbrook Village apartments in 1938!) was initially started.   After WWII, lessons learned, these new 30-year mortgages and homes were for everyone, and without restrictions.  And to this day thankfully anyone can live in Meadowbrook.

Stay tuned, there's an update to this article at the end of 1952's August with all the particulars decided upon...

... also, this was published 6 August 1952, residents of the Norwood Homes did not care for the opinions of the "choosy" Meadowbrook neighbors. Interesting notes on the veteran population as well as inflation of the time period and its effects.