Saturday, September 13, 2014

Winfield Park: born of war, a battle to build

If you look through the trees along the northbound side of the Garden State Parkway northbound, just before exit 136, you might notice an enclave of small dwellings, many connected to each other. These nicely kept one- and two-story buildings look a bit like modular housing, yet there's an air of permanence to the entire area.

You've just passed the town of Winfield, a proud enclave of just under 1500 people on a triangular 0.177 square miles of land bordered on two sides by the Rahway River. It's basically a sliver of land between Cranford, Linden and Clark, so small there are only two roads in and out of town. Many in Union County know it as a tight community where generations of families have lived in what was originally built as temporary defense worker housing during World War II.

That's partially true: residents have always been close-knit, and the town was built for defense workers, but the houses were always intended to be permanent. And Winfield holds a unique distinction among American towns: it's the only defense housing project to be established as a separate municipality.

Winfield has its roots in the months before America entered World War II. The U.S. Government's Federal Works Agency had created the Mutual Ownership Defense Housing Division to build suitable dwellings for the multitudes of workers who were being hired by manufacturers and shipbuilders supplying the armed forces and America's allies. The low-cost, permanent housing would be a boon for people who lacked enough money for a down payment: the government planned to sell the developments to their resident-owned and operated housing corporations.

Need for housing was particularly acute for employees at the Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Company on Kearny Point, and the FWA set to work to find a large enough piece of land on which to build 700 housing units. Another 300 were built in nearby Newark and Harrison.

Actually locating the development wasn't easy, for both logistical and political reasons. The ideal location would be close to utility networks but in a community where those facilities were underused and land was inexpensive. Open tracts in and immediately around Kearny were largely marsh and easily ruled out as too difficult to develop quickly, forcing the FWA to look farther afield. Ultimately, they investigated seven different communities as possible locations.

Nearly 20 miles away, a small bit of land by the Rahway River in Clark looked ideal. Then the political challenges emerged. While Clark officials had courted the project, their constituents were concerned that the influx of new residents would change the town's character. Taxes were anticipated to double as the cost of services would increase while no new rateables would be built with the community. The issue became so contentious that the entire slate of officials who'd encouraged the project were voted out.

With local government now led by sympathetic officials, opposition leaders then came up with a plan to ensure the defense worker community would have no impact on the town's finances. If they couldn't stop the project, they'd find a way to get it declared an independent town with its own budget, taxes, services and public works obligations.

That's exactly what happened. Just after construction began on the project in June 1941, one of Union County's state assemblymen introduced a bill to establish Winfield Park as a municipality. Through legislative sleight-of-hand, the bill was rushed through both houses without opportunity for discussion or public comment. Governor Charles Edison refused to sign it into law, declaring it to be counter to the needs of national defense, but his veto was easily overturned. For better or worse, Winfield Park was now a municipality -- the only one in New Jersey owned lock, stock and barrel by Uncle Sam.

Opponents inadvertently helped create a sense of camaraderie and self-determination among Winfield residents, starting when the first pioneering 145 families moved into the incomplete town in November 1941. What they found when they arrived was less than ideal -- shoddily built homes with inconceivably poor plumbing, muddy roads and sidewalks, and no electricity -- but they made do. After residents went on a rent strike to underscore their grievances, Federal investigators found the contractor guilty of fraud and bid manipulation, forcing the FWA to hire a new company to finish the project.

Still, Winfield Park residents soldiered on, creating a town from scratch. Defense workers headed to work on a government-supplied bus (when it wasn't broken down) as their families got to know each other. Friendships grew and clubs formed, along with a volunteer ambulance squad and co-op grocery store. A grammar school opened to much fanfare in 1943. And as was originally envisioned, the Winfield Park Mutual Housing Corporation purchased the entire town from the U.S. government in 1950, paying off the mortgage in 1984.

Inevitably, with the arrival of the Garden State Parkway and greater suburbanization, the land on which Winfield sits became more valuable than the homes and small commercial area sitting on it. Though developers have periodically approached community leaders with various proposals for redeveloping the area, the residents have always said no. It appears that they like where they live and who they live with. Why change it now?


15 comments:

  1. Great story...spent a lot of time there in the summers when I was growing up with the Kelly family who have lived there since I'm sure the 40's!! And as the story says..their family still continues to live in Winfield Park!! Loved the history lesson!
    Linda Dalton Neupauer

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    1. Thanks so much for your comment, Linda! I'm glad you enjoyed the story -- I certainly enjoyed researching it.

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  2. As a member of one of the familys' who still live there I truly enjoyed your article! Though I have lived else where for 35 years This town still plays a part in my life! THANKS SUE

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  3. Great story. As a resident and life long member, I still like hearing the history of my town. my mother was one of the ORIGANALS to move in. We have survived many obstacles and loses and still come together as friends, neighbors and a caring community. Thank You.

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  4. I am a third generation Winfielder and my father still lives in the house he grew up in. Though quaint and removed from the perils of the "outside" world, the town becomes more of a trap--- due to the low cost housing, most people never leave.

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  5. Great story. I moved to PA in 2005 but I grew up in Winfield and I think I had a great childhood. Because of the town's close knit community everyone is basically family. I may never move back but I will always be a visitor. I love my family the Kelly's. See ya soon Winfield!

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    1. The Kelly's? Are you related to Mary Lou? She and I were best friends growing up together on Wavecrest Avenue. Thanks for the memories Winfield Park. If you are related to her please tell her that Joanne Polaski is looking for her. Thanks!!!

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  6. Grew up there until we moved in 1970. The best place to grow up. Still have friends in town.

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  7. Grew up in Winfield Park until we moved in 1970. It was the best place to grow up. Still friends with classmates, and still have friends in Winfield.

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  8. Great Article that tells the early story of Winfield very well. My Grandmother was one of the original residents who went to Washington, DC - to negotiate the purchase of the Township from the Federal Government.

    The Winfield Mutual Housing Corporation was formed to facilitate the sale.

    It was a great place to grow up. We considered the surrounding Rahway River & its County run park system to be our playground. It was a moat that held back the outside world from invading what we considered our exclusive space.

    Hello Sis D. - How goes things on Riverview Terrace? :)

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  9. Thanks for the story. It helps provides background on the lives of the Coop and Hoag families I am researching.

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  10. I live in Winfield have been here for 10 years never did I have any problems just a great small town

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  11. I grew up on the other side of Stiles Street on the Linden side during the '60s. A bunch of us also used the Rahway River as our playground (built a three story tree house on an island upstream of Valley Road about '65-'67). Always found Windfield Park to be a totally different world, in a good way,from the rest of NJ. To this day I'll reminisce driving through Winfield in my vintage C2 Corvette to remember how it was - it really hasn't changed, which is good. Thanks, Ron

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  12. Ted Coulton...I grew up in Winfield Park, my parents were one of the original people there. I lived at 7C Gulfstream Ave next to the school. Many fond memories still linger. After the military I moved to Tom's Rive then to Sea Girt. I now live in a small central coast town of Morro Bay California.

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