HANOVER TOWNSHIP — 2020 is Hanover Township’s Tricentennial Year, so you’d think that the “big” things in our Town’s History would be known and well understood.  They are not.  One big thing – well, three of them – are the Brickyard Ponds in Bee Meadow Park.   Between 1880 and 1930 clay from them made tens of millions of bricks.

The memory of the Brickyard hides silently in all the walls built from its bricks.  Rare ones have been found with finger or toe marks left by a workman. Memory is also submerged in large, water-filled holes. These are the remnants of the work done by the sweating men of the Hanover Brick company. They dug clay until the company closed, and the holes filled with water.  We now call them ponds.

Hanover Township is now building a walking trail around the ponds. During construction, a backhoe broke into one of the remaining tunnels in the Brickyard. The tunnel is made of brick, five feet tall, and shaped like a keyhole.  The round sides of each end are foot-wide shelves, two feet high. At the bottom of the tunnel, tracks remain.

These tunnels are mostly remembered by locals as, “there were a lot of them,” and “we played in them as kids.”  No one knows what they were for, how many there were, or where they all were. There are no maps of the Brick Yard, but we are looking for old ones.

Some say the tunnels carried water; or they were used to haul clay from the bottom of the pits. Another idea is the tunnels followed veins of clay. There is also a rumor they were used to bake bricks — but how would this have worked?  The tunnels extend far from the Brickyard’s chimney. Were there multiple furnaces, or just the one?

There are other mysteries associated with the Brickyard. Legend maintains that its clay was both wonderful for brickmaking and uniquely colored.  Does it extend under many of our Hanover Township backyards?

Unknowns also surround why the brickyard closed in 1931. According to legend, the pit got so deep it hit a spring, and the pit filled in overnight and forced the company to close.  How deep are the ponds?  Are there digging machines at the bottom?  More likely, the Great Depression at that time caused the demand for bricks to plummet.

Those who attend Recreation’s summer concerts will see the mouths of two, sealed tunnels remaining on Bee Meadow field. We are told that there once was a vault under the parking lot.   We don’t know — it’s another mystery.

The recently exposed tunnel has been secured for safety reasons, but the Landmark Commission is looking to develop plans to expose it and give a view of a remnant of our history and to remind everyone of time from a past era when a “good job” meant making bricks out of clay. The brickmaking-profession is thousands of years old and even mentioned in the Bible by Moses. Our historic brickyard is ‘modern’ by comparison to biblical times.  You’d think by now we’d understand how ours operated.

Landmark is seeking information from anyone who can solve the Brickyard’s mysteries so that our history will be made clearer. This is not just for our Tricentennial, but also for children in years to come to give them an understanding of our heritage of hard work.

If you have any information that might help the Landmark Commission solve the mysteries of the Brickyard, contact Landmark Chair, Mike Czuchnicki by e-mailing him at [email protected].

Be sure to check the Township website, and local newspapers for future articles about your community’s historic treasures and plans to commemorate the Township’s Tri-centennial later this year.

HANOVER TOWNSHIP — New Jersey Housing Resource Center has an affordable home for sale available to interested in an income-restricted home purchase.  The three-bedroom moderate-income home has become available at 3806 Boxwood Drive, Whippany, for $216,427.  Priority will be given to households that require three bedrooms.

Interested parties that would like to set up an appointment to view this home, contact Carol Mugele at [email protected] no later than 4:00 p.m. on Friday, May 29, 2020.   She will be taking names only at this time.  Information on viewing this home will be given at a later date.

Once you have viewed the home if you are interested in purchasing it, applicants must complete the preliminary application to be included in the random selection lottery.  A pre-approval from a bank that will finance income-restricted homes will be required as part of the preliminary application.  The random selection lottery will determine the order applications that will be processed for certification for a specific home.  The first household certified as income-eligible will have the opportunity to continue with the purchase of the home.

• Applicants are required to have a 5% down payment.
• If an application is received after its due date that application will automatically be moved to the end of the list.
• If you decide you are not interested in buying this home you do not need to respond, your name will remain on the waitlist.

If you have not taken homebuyer education you should begin taking the online class, to learn about the buying process and start to prepare for homeownership.  Information on these classes can be found by clicking here.  There is a $25 discount for the class by using coupon code HP25.

Additional details on this property are available by clicking here.

Maximum Income for Morris County listed below:

*Child Support, Alimony, Social Security Benefits, Interest and Gross Salary for all persons over 18 (except full-time students) are counted as income.)

HANOVER TOWNSHIP — A permit for the demolition of the structures at 20-26 Parsippany Road (Block 4202, Lot 3 and Block 4204, Lot 1) was issued on May 4. Mobilization and preliminary demolition activities commenced thereafter. The demolition of the structures will include the on-site crushing and re-use of suitable concrete. The precise schedule of the concrete crushing is subject to change due to weather and/or other factors.

The following protocols to ensure environmental safety precautions shall be in place for the management of the on-site crushing and recycling of the concrete in connection with the demolition of the existing structures.

• The property is in the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) Site Remediation Program. The Licensed Site Remediation Professional (LSRP) of record is Richard S. Werner of Environmental Consulting, Inc., who is overseeing the remediation of the property in accordance with the NJDEP’s Technical Requirements for Site Remediation.
• The structure’s concrete was sampled and analyzed and documented in a technical report submitted to the NJDEP. The results of the concrete sampling and analysis determined the areas of clean concrete, which includes the slab, foundations and footings, that will be crushed on-site using a crusher. The clean crushed concrete will be reutilized as on-site fill material for the ultimate development of the project.
• Concrete that does not meet NJDEP safety requirements will not be crushed. The contaminated concrete and soil will remain on-site and placed beneath an asphalt roadway and capped in compliance with NJDEP technical requirements and policies for site remediation. A Deed Notice will also be filed with Morris County at the completion of the project that will document the cap along with other applicable activity and use limitations for the property.
• The concrete crusher is equipped with a dust suppression system located in the crushing chamber and along the conveyor belt discharge. The suppression system utilizes water that will be connected to on-site water supply to mitigate dust from getting into the air.
• Environmental Consulting, Inc., will perform real-time air monitoring during the crushing activity utilizing a particle counter instrument. The site conditions will be monitored along with visual observations of the work area around the crusher.
• If necessary, based on the instrument readings and visual observations, additional dust suppression measures will be implemented to maintain sufficient moisture conditions to mitigate dust generation during crushing activities.
• If meteorological conditions are not conducive for crushing operations (e.g., excessive wind or excessive dry conditions), then the crushing operations will not be performed on those days. A log will be maintained on-site to document the site conditions during the crushing operations.