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"HISTORIC WATER COMPANY SITE ON NEW JERSEY REGISTER - July 2001"

Press Release by Water Works Conservance, Inc.

Assistant Commissioner Wild stated that the Hackensack Water Company site is ?a rare example of early water treatment and distribution technology. It is apparent that this property is an important site architecturally, in its contribution to the suburban growth of the area and the technological contributions of this industrial plant.? ? Moreover,? Asst. Commissioner Wild continued, ?the site has been designated by the Save America's Treasure program and has received a matching grant from the New Jersey Historic Trust.?

In a letter announcing her decision to include the Hackensack Water Company in the New Jersey Register of Historic Places, Asst. Commissioner Cari stated, ? I feel that the strong documentation of the Hackensack Water Company nomination reflects the importance and significance of this property. I understand your [Bergen County?s] concerns for the enormous stewardship responsibility required for maintaining an industrial resource of this nature. The staff at the Historic Preservation Office will be available to assist you as you formulate plans to facilitate optional use and preservation of the complex.?

On March 26, 1997 the nomination application for the New Milford
Plant of the Hackensack Water Company was favorably recommended
by the New Jersey State Review Board of Historic Sites. In May,
1997, Jim Hall, former Assistant Commissioner of Natural and Historic Sites temporarily postponed consideration of the property for New Jersey and National Register listing pending the County Task Force report. On May 7, 2001 a request form the Water Works Conservancy was received by the Historic Preservation Office (HPO) to reactivate the nomination application for listing in the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places.

The Water Works Conservancy(WWC) has proposed a full preservation plan to Bergen County and offered to restore the site at no cost to the Bergen County taxpayers. The WWC?s five-part proposal to restore and preserve the site includes plans to create within the historic buildings: New Jersey?s first Smithsonian Affiliate museum of history, science and technology; an Education Center; an Environmental Center; a Cultural Wing; and a Hackensack River
Research Center.

WWC?s proposal has received support both statewide and nationwide. On June 6, the NJ Historic Trust Fund Board voted to "table" for one year any action on the $575,000 grant to Bergen County for stabilization of the Pump House, which was due to expire. This action made the grant available to the County to stabilize the site and to WWC should WWC gain possession of the site within that year. The Board encouraged the County to stabilize the site to protect it from further damage until the ownership is decided. Further, the Board sent a Resolution to County Executive William Schuber and the Board of
Chosen Freeholders that: as the site was an important historical site, as the site was an Official Project of the Save America's Treasures, and as this site was important to the State of New Jersey as well as the nation, that the County of Bergen consider quite seriously a full preservation effort. On June 8, the New Jersey Historic Commission awarded the WWC a $60,000 GOS Grant, contingent on WWC gaining possession of the site. On June 19, the
Oradell Borough Council passed a second Resolution urging Bergen County to negotiate with WWC to preserve and restore the historic site.

Bergen County Executive William Schuber has announced a new plan which consists of leaving up a few sections of the walls of the pump house, and using some of the equipment as "sculpture pieces" in a garden like setting and creating an amphitheater. Barbara Mitnick, the Chair of the NJ Historic Trust Fund Board, termed this proposal the creation of ?a ruin.? Ms. Mitnick warned of a ?firestorm of criticism he [Schuber] will unleash nationally if he attempts to bulldoze this ?American Treasure.? These sites, designated by Save America's Treasures, are chosen very carefully and are heavily scrutinized. They are very important sites historically. This is not just some little local or County historical site. You don't just knock down ?an American Treasure,? without making every effort to save it."

The historic Hackensack Water Company site located on Van Buskirk Island in Oradell, NJ, an Official Project of Save America?s Treasures, has been the center for six years of a grass-roots historic preservation battle. Mr. Schuber?s plan has galvanized a major outcry of dismay from historical preservationists, historical organizations and citizens throughout the state and nation, including Oradell?s favorite son, USN Captain Walter M. Schirra, Jr., one of the original seven US Astronauts. Supporters of the WWC?s proposal for preserving the Hackensack Water Co. site include: the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Preservation New Jersey, Save America?s Treasures, Architects League of Northern New Jersey, the Bergen County School
Principal?s Association and the Superintendents Association, the
International Society for Industrial Archaeology, the Bergen County Historic Sites Advisory Board, Bergen County Historical Society, Oradell Historic Committee, Leonia Environmental Commission, to name a few, as well as hundreds of individual citizens. A recent independent poll in Oradell showed that 67.1% of the voting population supported the WWC plan.

The Hackensack Water Co. site is an intact state-of-the-art 19th Century water treatment and filtration plant with red brick, Romanesque architecture dating from 1882, containing rare and unique steam equipment that was the backbone of the Industrial Revolution. Robert M. Vogel, Curator Emeritus of Engineering and Industry of the Smithsonian Institution, has described the pump house at the historic site as ?the history of the Industrial Revolution in one building from steam to electricity.? According to the WWC proposal, the site, located on the Hackensack River - one of the 12 most endangered
rivers in America - would become a major regional resource for research and education on water use, the cutting edge issue for the 21st Century.

For further information on this major preservation and environmental issue, please contact the WWC, Inc, Phone: 201-967-0133; Fax: 201-967-7517; Webmaster at: Http://www.HWWC.org