Jersey City Art School: Back Yard Project

So, I’ve been frequenting the excellent film series, Sunday Night Film Forum which is held at the Jersey City Art School, at 326 Fifth Street and got to talking with Thomas John Carlson, an artist who is the director of the school, although his precise title may be something else.

This side of Fifth Street runs along our famed embankment, the vestiges of our railroad past. Sadly, it doesn’t look like they’ll rebuild this fine freight train line any time soon. Thomas and a group of friends have been excavating this back yard, transmuting it into a semi-public garden, where he hopes to hold outdoor drawing classes, poetry readings and other events, sort of a mini-amphitheater. The images above are this work in progress. Doesn’t that embankment look grand, the ivy covering the brick, it’s a beautiful space. There is a shed of sorts in the back of the yard area, behind which is a fence and alley way. I guess it’s a valuable piece of property, but I wondered that maybe back in the day, it was a great deal less valuable—being right next an active freight-line. I don’t think building the proposed condo project would enhance the aesthetics or value of existing property.

Thomas, an artist in his own right – www.tjcarlson.com – conducts arts classes and he told me they’ve gained a following. Classes are for adults and kids, although the adult sessions, age 25 and up, are the most popular. The building was fallow before the School took it over. In the basement he found dozens of pretty good quality 78s among some other artifacts.

In the back yard, a pile of sea shells, more than a bucket’s worth were found. On closer inspection the shells were oysters and clams, not fossils either. The party was of a more recent vintage. Also, there was a fragment of a rosary: crucifix, short chain, three or four beads.

Anyway, I became interested enough to indulge my favorite hobby— a visit to the New Jersey Room at the Main Branch of the Jersey City Library. This initial investigation yield scant results but what I found out was interesting.

According to phone book records, which go back only to the 1970s, this was the meeting hall for the Catholic War Veterans. In addition to the phone number for that organization at this address, there were two other names with phone numbers, presumably residents there. It’s a three or four story structure, and even though the ground floor is an open area, where classes and the aforementioned film series are now held. The upper floors are living quarters. The Catholic War Veterans still had a phone number there as late as 1986. In 1989 the building was sold, and the records describe it as a “club house.”

Going to the street maps—and if you ever have the opportunity to look at these, do so. They go back to the early decades of the 19th century. This address, 326 Fifth Street has been a recognized "lot" since the 1830s. These maps have only small drawings—tiny icons really—representing structures. It appears that the current structure has been there since 1928 or so. An earlier map – the maps are not every year, but every few years – from 1908 or so, showed a slightly different structure and no shed apparent at the northern end, in the back yard. It is possible this address existed before the train line, but I haven’t done that research and it is not even clear whether or not it is the same structure. According to the Manager of the New Jersey Room, who aided me with the research, since it is a wood frame house, it could easily have been modified or knock down and replaced or some combination modification, demolition and rebuilding.

I could find no additional mention of the Catholic War Veterans at this address. The New Jersey Room has a substantial amount of material, especially folders on specific subjects. There was no folder for this organization. There was a mention of them winning an award in August of 1969, but the article only mentioned the Hudson County chapter, not the Jersey City. I’m not sure if this was the headquarters for the county organization, or a chapter of that chapter. I could also not find what year the organization was first housed at this fifth street Club House, just that it was there in the 1970s and 1980s. How long before the age of Nixon I could not determine.

Obviously, for most the 20th century, Roman Catholics were predominate in Jersey City. Our city’s men went to war by the thousands. World War I, World II, Korea, Vietnam and Gulf War I. (Am I missing any?). To be a member of the Catholic War Veterans, you only had to have been in the armed services, not necessarily having served during war time.

One of the first official Veteran organizations, the Catholic War Veterans is one of only 45 Veterans Service Organizations to be granted an Official Charter by the U.S Congress, which happened in 1935, when the organization was founded. It originally served veterans of World War I. The organization grew after World War II. I remember they sold special crosses for Veterans Day and special Christmas Wreaths—both were to be displayed on graves of young ones—after masses when I was growing up. I was thinking about that 1935 – seven years before, the first Catholic candidate for president, Al Smith, a great politician was attacked in the press for being Catholic. His religion was an issue. The KKK vehemently opposed Smith and held a famous march on Washington that year, tens of thousands in their horrible robes and hoods openly marched. Only seven years later, Congress sanctioned a veteran’s organization. By 1960, anti-Catholic sentiment was still present when JFK ran for president, but not at the same level. Some of the credit for making the country more tolerant towards religion has to go to an organization like the Catholic War Veterans. And, apparently in Jersey City at least, their get-togethers included shell fish.

I am predisposed towards hearing the echo of the past. Looking at the semblance of this outdoor space being formed—what a cool space for art or a poetry evening or say, stopping by while on the city’s studio art tour— the potential is obvious. Another Fifth Street chapter begins. Finding out only a fragment of this past seems to bode well for this backyard project. The echo has a new home.

Visit: http://www.jcartschool.com/