Linked History: Toms River Community Theatre Built by Beachwood Man

Today we spotlight the work of Beachwood man Joseph Jerue, who was a builder, World War II veteran (along with both of his sons – one of whom, John, was lost during battle) and mayor of the borough.

Joseph Jerue in his official World War II service photo. This photo originally hung along those of other Beachwood servicemen in the Beachwood Circle Shop during the war.

In 1937, Mayor Jerue, then 41 years old, was named the builder of a prominent cultural site on Washington Street in downtown Toms River, the Community Theatre. To our benefit, its construction and featured amenities were detailed in an issue of Box Office Magazine in August of that year. Below you’ll find that article in full. We hope you enjoy this look back to an era and its architecture that one particularly prolific Beachwood resident helped make possible.

Reprinted material courtesy Ken Bacon and Box Office Magazine.

A MODERN THEATRE IN THE COLONIAL MANNER

Toms River Community Theatre as it appeared after its construction, in 1937. Today it has been renovated into shops and eateries.

A new modern theatre with a seating capacity of 1,000 persons was recently erected on Washington Street in Toms River, New Jersey. Definitely out of the ordinary in design and decor, the new edifice reflects the most contemporary expressions of architectural composition.

It is operated by the American Community Theatres, Inc.

Unlike most modern theatres, with their brilliantly lighted marquees and  electric signs over the entrance, this theatre with its simple Colonial front presents a decidedly novel appearance. Its architectural simplicity is pronounced.

The theatre is set back 30 feet from the sidewalk and the intervening portion of the property in front of the theatre is beautifully landscaped and circumvented by a flagged walk of unique design which serves as a delightful approach to and departure from the theatre.

The Washington Street facade is of red facebrick with white joints, in front of which is a beautifully designed Colonial portico done in wood and painted white.

The ticket booth is situated in the center of the entrance screen of doors. Lattice work above the entrance doors and the circular windows above the lattice work are constructed of wood and glass. All portico in wood and painted white, against the masterly executed red and white masonry background presents a simple but beautiful facade.

In the evening this facade is illuminated by flood lights which increase the beauty and interest of the architectural simplicity to a spectacular degree. The same simplicity of design is followed throughout the interior of the auditorium.

The sidewalls are of acoustical plaster integrally colored to a neutral shade. Subtly concealed vertical lighting troughs along the sidewalks are provided with varied colored lamps, lending a beautiful and variable color scheme to the interior.

The foyer, promenade, ladies’ cosmetic room and the men’s room are also of simple modern design, the beauty of which is greatly enhanced by exquisite lighting fixtures, carpets and furnishings.

The auditorium is provided with exceptionally wide chairs spaced to provide the maximum comfort for the patrons. The floors are carpeted with rich, heavy, exquisite carpet which helps to promote finer acoustical treatment for sound reception.

Particular attention was given to the gradient of the auditorium floor to insure every patron a perfect view of the screen, no matter where he is seated.

A new modern ventilating system was installed to assure the occupants of a healthful and comfortable atmosphere while they are being entertained. The projection room and sound equipment in this theatre are of the finest known to modern science.

The Toms River Community Theatre is a delightful example of the modern functionally furnished theatre. It was designed and erected under the supervision of Thomas W. Lamb, Inc., architects. The builder was Joseph E. Jerue, of Beachwood, N. J.

The Community Theatre's billing was found in this photograph taken in Disbrow's Market, on Beachwood Boulevard, one year after the above article was written - August 1938.

M. Eileen Heeley, Beachwood Citizen of the Year 1989

The next in our series of borough fire department related coverage for appreciation of their service (and of October being Fire Prevention Month), we present to you an article printed August 2, 1989 in the Asbury Park Press detailing the recognition of one borough resident’s quarter century of service to both the fire department and first aid squad.

Beachwood Woman Cited for Service Beyond the Call

by Kathie Reed
Press Staff Writer
Asbury Park Press
Wednesday, August 2, 1989

When M. Eileen Heeley moved to Beachwood with her family, she didn’t know many people.

So she joined the borough First Aid Squad and became involved with the Beachwood Fire Co. auxiliary.

Because of her more than two decades of service to both groups, Mrs. Heeley recently was named Beachwood’s Citizen of the Year.

“I still go to the building and help out, but I don’t run anymore with the ambulance,” said Mrs. Heeley, who became a member of the First Aid Squad in 1964. “I did run with the ambulance for about 24 years.”

The Heeleys moved to Beachwood from Emerson in 1962, and Mrs. Heeley, who had four school-age children at the time, took first aid courses with another woman in town.

After passing the course, she joined the squad.

“I was one of the main day people,” she said. “We had more calls than the night people because there was more going on” during the day.

She never tired of the work, and every day was different, she said.

“During the day, you could run from 10 to 15 (calls) or maybe just one,” she said.

“I remember one February, we had a storm, and I think every person in town slipped out their front door (and fell). I don’t think I got home that day at all.”

Summer was always the busiest season, however, with the influx of people and swimming and motor vehicle accidents, she said.

“When we started, we worked by telephone. They didn’t have pagers like they do today.”

“The sheriff would call one person and that person would call two more and you would go.”

Mrs. Heeley also was commended by Beachwood Police Chief John Moody a number of years ago for reviving a man using cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Although the man was initially saved, he died a few days later, she said.

Some other residents, including Genevieve Romer and Joseph Victoria, also have been members of the First Aid Squad about as long as she has, she said.

“I could never have done it without my children and my family helping me,” she said. “You have to have your family behind you.”

Her husband, Paul F., also was named Beachwood’s Man of the Year in 1980 and 1981. The title used to be Man of the Year or Woman of the Year before it was changed to Citizen of the Year.

He was honored for his service as an ambulance driver with the First Aid Squad, volunteer fireman, special policeman and civil defense volunteer. Today, he is an exempt fireman with the Beachwood Fire Co.

One of the Heeleys’ four children, Mark, also a Beachwood resident, is following in his parents’ footsteps as a volunteer with the Beachwood Fire Co.

Their other children are Paul H., Tuckerton; Martha R., Bloomfield; and Susan Kuriger, Mystic Islands.

Mrs. Heeley joined the Beachwood Fire Co. auxiliary about the same time she joined the First Aid Squad.

The auxiliary conducts fund-raisers for the fire company and helps out in other ways, such as providing coffee and food for firefighters at a fire if necessary.

“Years ago, they had a lot of big forest fires, and they would be out for hours and hours,” she said.

“When we came down here, Beachwood only went back about seven blocks. Now, there are about 15 or 16 blocks. It used to be like a forest back there.”

For the past 10 years, she also has been on the Local Assistance Board, which meets four or five times a year. She currently chairs the board.

Being named Citizen of the year is not the first honor Mrs. Heeley has received this year for her volunteer work.

In honor of Women’s History Month in March, she also was one of more than 30 women in the county to be named Hidden Heroines in recognition of their community involvement.

A month later, “Mrs. Heeley Day” was celebrated at Pine Beach School and one of the trees the students planted on Arbor Day was in her honor.

Mayor William T. Hornidge praised Mrs. Heeley’s dedication to others and the town, adding at least once a year she visits him and tells him about problems in the town.

“We’ll discuss things that she has seen or become aware of that could be a problem and almost always will have a recommendation for a cure,” he said.

One year, she brought to his attention that several streets in the borough were becoming unsafe.

“Upon inspection, in 99 cases out of 100, she was right,” he said, and the problems were corrected.

“You get a lot of people who complain about something,” he said. “She’s offering to help resolved potential problems, and that’s unique.”

“She’s that type of person. She cares.”

Mrs. Heeley passed away on August 11th, 2007, at the age of 83, after having retired to Whiting in 1993.

The above entry was compiled from items donated by the McCormick family.

Local Founders Profile: Henry and Marie Gamp

From the pages of his own 1924 Beachwood Directory and Who’s Who, here is what William Mill Butler wrote about original residents Mr. and Mrs. Henry S. Gamp. This particular entry has been enhanced by multimedia not included in the original directory, having been provided this week by the Gamps’ great-granddaughter, a current resident of the borough.

Click on all the embedded links for a broader understanding of their lives and background:

Undated; possibly circa 1920s.

Gamp, Henry S., south corner Barnegat Boulevard and Spring St., Block D-25.

Born in New York City, 1867. Business, investments, 305 Broadway, New York.

Mrs. Gamp as a young adult, 1893.

Wife, Mrs. Marie Evelyn Gamp; children, all married, Stephan Henry Gamp, Louis Frederick Gamp, Mr. Carrie Katherine Nalen and Mrs. Marie Evelyn Campbell. President and treasurer The Margam Company; president Harclip Realty Corporation; member Bronx Chamber of Commerce, Dirigo Lodge No. 30, F. and A.M., Bronx County Yacht Club, and St. Paul’s Evangelical Reformed Church, Bronx, New York.

Gamp Bungalow, 1924. As has been the 21st Century trend, it was recently demolished for two massive homes. The home of the borough's second mayor, Edwin Collins, still stands behind it on the corner of Forepeak and Spring.

Mr. and Mrs. Gamp are both members of the Beachwood Property Owners’ Association.

The Gamps' 1917 tax bill, as certified by Frank McCraigh, first borough tax collector and proprietor of the borough's first business, a general store, originally located on Beachwood Boulevard.

Local Founders Profile: Edward and Annie Robinson

From the pages of his own 1924 Beachwood Directory and Who’s Who, here is what William Mill Butler wrote about original residents Dr. and Mrs. Edward Percy Robinson. Click on all the embedded links for a broader understanding of their lives and background:

Circa 1924.

Robinson, Edward Percy, M.D., west corner Beachwood and Barnegat Blvds., Block D-40. Other address, 420 Nuber Avenue, Mt. Vernon, N.Y.

Born in the parish of St. James, Island of Barbadoes, of English parents, his father being  planter. Educated in private schools there and in the Coleridge School, an academy. Heard much about the United States and at the age of seventeen came to this country, and became a drug clerk in Philadelphia. He had studied the British Pharmacopoea before leaving home and now applied himself also to the study of American Pharmacopoea. In 1892 he was registered as a pharmacist in New York City, where he remained several years and became chief apothecary of the Presbyterian Hospital before he had attained his majority, being technically put on “probation” a year on this account. About 1903 he entered Bellevue Hospital Medical College, graduating in 1897 [ 2009 BHA Ed. note: it can be assumed that these dates are reversed; Robinson likely entered in 1897 and graduated in 1903].

Robinson home, circa 1924.

Engaged in general practice for several years and then entered the New York Post Graduate Medical School and Hospital in New York, and studied diseases of the nose and throat. For a time he was assistant to the chief of clinic in rhinology and laryngology at this institution, and he also served as assistant in the genito-urinary clinic at the Presbyterian Hospital Dispensary. His practice having reached a point requiring all his time, he gave up hospital and dispensary work.

Robinson home, Winter 2009.

For the past eighteen years or more Dr. Robinson has devoted his studies to the nature of the cell, and from these researches he wrote the epoch-making hypothesis on the cause of cancer and his reasons for the use of potassium nitrate in its treatment. His contributions to medical publications include: Use of Paraffin in Surgery, New York State Journal of Surgery, May, 1902; Artificial Cell Proliferation with Horse Serum in the Treatment of Burns, Annals of Surgery, March, 1917; A Plea for Potassium Nitrate in Cancer, Medical Record, May 4, 1918; Does Analogy Exist Between Animal and Vegetable Tumor? Medical Times, August, 1918; Does the Cure of Cancer Depend Upon Oxidation of the Tissues? Medical Record, July 5, 1919; The Influence of Potassium Nitrate in Nephritis, Medical Council, May, 1919; Is the Endamoeba Buccalis the Real Cause of Pyorrhea? Dental Cosmos, October, 1919; Electrochemism in the Etiology and Therapeusis of Cancer, Medical Record, July 24, 1920. Other important contributions since.

Dr. Robinson was married to Miss Annie Reinacher in New York, 26 years ago. They have one son, Beverly Kerr Robinson, who served in the infantry overseas during the war, as a runner, carrying messages in the thickest of battles, without being harmed. Dr. Robinson is a member of the College of Pharmacy in New York. Is a charter member of the Polyhue Yacht Club, at present serving his second term as Commodore. Also a member of the Property Owners’ Assn. His son is also a charter member of the Polyhue Yacht Club.

Original Polyhue Yacht Clubhouse.

Local Founders Profile: John Jacob and Martha Ellen Nolze

From the pages of his own 1924 Beachwood Directory and Who’s Who, here is what William Mill Butler wrote about original residents Mr. and Mrs. John J. Nolze. Click on all the embedded links for a broader understanding of their lives and background:

Circa 1924.

Nolze, John Jacob, west side Longboat Ave., near Atlantic City Boulevard. All-year resident of Beachwood. Born in Texas. Business, contractor and builder; also member Goodrich, Weeks & Nolze, real estate and insurance. Was elected a borough commissioner of Beachwood in 1920, and is director of streets and public improvements, parks and public property.

John Nolze, Beachwood Fire Co. No. 1, circa 1924.

Wife, Martha Ellen Nolze; children, Florence M., Anna M., Dorothy G., Edythe H., John E., and Charles H. Nolze. Member Polyhue Yacht Club, and Volunteer Fire Company No. 1.

From 1924.

Local Founders Profile: Frank O. and Mary F. Price

From the pages of his own 1924 Beachwood Directory and Who’s Who, here is what William Mill Butler wrote about original residents Mr. and Mrs. Frank O. Price. Click on all the embedded links for a broader understanding of their lives and background:

Circa 1924.

Price, Frank, west side Spar Ave., between Elm and Chestnut Sts., Beachwood Heights, Block C-29. Other address, 478 Washington Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. Born in Kempt, Owens County, Nova Scotia; American citizen. Head of Architectural Engineering Department, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, N.Y.; consulting engineer for architectural firms of W.B. Tubby and J.V. Van Pelt, New York City. Wife, Mrs. Mary Florence Price; four daughters, Urania Roe, Elizabeth Florence, Ethel Frances and Marsia Anne Price.

Prof. Price is a graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an associate member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He was director of finance of the first board of commissioners of Beachwood. He is at present assessor of the borough. Also secretary of the Beachwood Property Owners’ Ass’n., and of the board of trustees, Beachwood Religious Association. Mrs. Price is also a member of the Property Owners’ Ass’n.

More Info: Hollow Tile Architecture

Local Founders Profile: Warren T. and Mary F. Burnett

From the pages of his own 1924 Beachwood Directory and Who’s Who, here is what William Mill Butler wrote about original residents Mr. and Mrs. Warren T. Burnett. Click on all the embedded links for a broader understanding of his life and background:

Burnett, Warren T., west side Beachwood Boulevard, Block B-28. All-year resident.

Mr. Burnett was born in Seneca Falls, N.Y. His parents removed to Yonkers, where he attended the public schools. At sixteen years of age he struck out for himself at Maplewood, N.J., where he started in the oil business and succeeded on a capital of $5. He told us the story in his quiet, humorous way, and it is so good that we shall try to reproduce it as an example of what a plucky and honest American lad can do.

“I wished to get up a route to sell kerosene oil,” he said, “but I had no horse or wagon. I happened to read in a paper the advertisement of a man in Orange Valley who wanted to sell a rig. So I went to see him and told him I would like to buy the horse and outfit. ‘But,’ said I, ‘I have no money.’ ‘Neither have I,’ he replied, ‘and the horse is starving. Have you any feed?’ I said no, but I would get some. ‘All right,’ he then said, ‘take and try him for two weeks, and if you like him you can pay me fifty dollars for him, wagon and harness and all.’ Then I went to a farmer and said, ‘I want 500 pounds of hay, but have no money to pay for it just at present.’ He replied, ‘All right, back your wagon up and pay me when you can.’ So I got the hay, but how about feed? I went to the mill and said I needed either a bag of feed or a bag of oats. The miller replied, ‘you can have both.’ ‘But,’ I said, ‘I have no money to pay for them yet.’ He looked at me and said, ‘You look as if you would pay for them; you can have them.’

“So far so good. Then I drove down to Newark and saw Mr. McKurgen, what was in the oil business there, and I bought a barrel of oil. It cost me $4.38, and as my entire capital was only $5, it nearly ate it up. I had to have a faucet, but the man in the yard said, ‘We have several lying around here that are not in use and you can have one.’ Then I bought a measure and a funnel for sixty-two cents cash and had twenty cents left. I worked hard and at the end of a whole week I found I had sold just one quart of kerosene; but I had some promises and kept right at it and at the end of another week I found I had sold three barrels. I felt like a young Rockafeller.”

And Warren T. Burnett kept at it for six years, and while he did not amass a fortune like John D., he was able to marry at the age of twenty-three, Miss Mary F. Van Riper, of Newark. After that, with Mrs. Burnett, he removed to Ocean Grove and Asbury Park, where he worked as a carpenter for a time and afterwards became a builder. Later he removed to Newark, and while there went on an excursion to Ocean Gate, with the result that he purchased lots at this resort and opened a store in 1918. In 1921, however, upon seeing Beachwood he and Mrs. Burnett decided to settle here, and they built a two-story dwelling and store combined on Beachwood Boulevard.

Wife, Mrs. Mary F. (Van Riper) Burnett: children, Milton T., Warren F. and Florence Edna Burnett.

Milton T. Burnett, of East Orange, married Cynthia Morris, and their daughter married Jack Wines, of East Orange, and they have a son, Milton, thus making Warren T. Burnett a great-grandfather. His second son, Warren E., of Newark, married Lizzie Richards; they have three children. Florence Edna Burnett married Eugene L. McKee, and they have one child and reside at Gray, in the State of Maine. Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Burnett are members of the Beachwood Property Owners’ Association; Mr. Burnett is a member of Volunteer Fire Co., No. 1, and a trustee of the Fireman’s Benefit Association.

Local Founders Profile and Photo Essay: Dr. and Mrs. Dwight S. Spellman

Today we present you with a photo essay and comment on Dr. Dwight S. Spellman and his wife, Mrs. Mary E. McGlone Spellman, original founders and residents to Beachwood, courtesy of their grandson, Mr. Dwight Boud of Barnegat.

Following this will be the 1924 Who’s Who entry on Mrs. Spellman (as you’ll find, her husband died before the book was published) and a short account on the events surrounding Dr. Spellman’s untimely death. Afterward is a biography of Dr. Spellman’s life and further details surrounding his accident as recorded by the American Medico-Psychological Association for their 76th annual meeting held in Cleveland, Ohio, on June 1-4, 1920.

~~~

“[This] is a photo of my maternal grandparents, Dr. D. S. Spellman and his wife Mary, outside their new bungalow on Forepeak Avenue in Beachwood. The only date I can provide is that it was taken before Dec. 18, 1919 [the date of Dr. Spellman's unfortunate death].”

“[This] photo shows Dr. Spellman and his wife, Mary E. McGlone Spellman from Sligo Ireland, standing beside their new Beachwood bungalow.”

“[This] one shows Dr. Spellman alone in the same spot.”

“[Here is] the front of the bungalow in the snow. The person is not clearly identified, but I believe it’s my grandmother.”

“[This] is the bungalow from across the street. Note that it appears to stand on cement blocks. When I lived in the house during WWII, it had a cellar, so it seems a cellar (and foundation) had been built under the house.”

“[This one] shows Dr. Spellman on the ice with his dog (name unknown). Ironically, my grandfather died from a skating accident. He was skating on the river when a neighborhood youngster fell through the ice. When he went to help, he, too, fell through the ice. He was hot from skating and the sudden plunge into the cold water caused a heart attack from which he died.”

“Dr. Spellman was on staff at the New York Hospital for the Insane on Ward’s Island in the East River, NYC. His wife had been a nurse (presumably at the same institution). They had built their bungalow as a vacation home, but after he died, my grandmother decided to live there full time.”

- Dwight Boud

~~~

Beachwood Directory and Who’s Who 1924 -

1919

“The second drowning accident in Beachwood took place on December 18th, when Dr. D.S. Spellman, a prominent New York physician and summer resident, broke through the ice while skating off Buhler’s Point. Arthur Hoffman, son of Jacob J. Hoffman, also broke through the ice with Dr. Spellman, but managed to clamber out and was saved.”

From the Resident Directory

Spellman, Mary E., north side Forepeak Ave., near Beachwood Boulevard, Block D-40. Other address, 2508 Seventh Ave., New York City, N.Y. Widow of Dr. D.S. Spellman, a lover of Beachwood, whose untimely death, by breaking through the ice on the bay, took place on December 18th, 1919.

~~~

American Medico-Psychological Association Biography:

DWIGHT S. SPELLMAN, M. D.

Dr. Dwight S. Spellman, senior assistant physician, Manhattan State Hospital, was accidentally drowned in the Tom’s River, New Jersey, December 18, 1919. He was spending the day at his bungalow on the Jersey coast, and while walking across the frozen river to procure a Christmas tree for his family, broke through the ice and was submerged in the freezing water. A boy of thirteen who accompanied the doctor also broke through, but fortunately was able to reach solid ice and extricate himself. His cries brought help, but it came too late to rescue Dr. Spellman. Dr. Spellman was born at Rootstown, Ohio, in 1867. He attended the public school of his native village and the high school at Minerva. His medical education was obtained in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Baltimore, Md., from which he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1889. He accepted a position as assistant physician in the New York City Asylum in’ 1890, and the remainder of his life was devoted to the care of the insane in the same institution, which in 1896 became the Manhattan State Hospital. His work for years was among the more acute forms of psychoses, and he was considered a pyschia- trist of sound judgment and keen acumen. He kept in close touch with the latest developments in pyschiatric science and although he published but few of his observations, and consequently was not widely known, his ability was recognized by his colleagues and his service in the Manhattan State Hospital was greatly appreciated.

He was a member of the American Legion of Military Surgeons, the American Medico-Pyschological Association, the Masonic Order and several local medical societies. He was commissioned as captain during the war and was stationed for several months at Plattsburg, N. Y.

Dr. Spellman’s sudden death came as a shock to his many friends in the state hospitals, as well as to his wide circle of acquaintances in other walks of life.

~~~

The B.H.A. thanks Mr. Boud for sharing his family’s Beachwood history with us and looks forward to more past or present residents that would like to share their stories, photographs and artifacts for presentation here on our website.

Posted in Online Resource, Origin Story, Photo Folio, Resident Profile | 4 Comments »