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History
The
Name "White Meadow"
The name "White
Meadow" was recorded officially in 1774, when there was returned
to the Board of Proprietors of Eastern New Jersey a survey
of some 1500 acres covering the White Meadow Tract. Since
this survey bounded and listed parcels of land within it,
for which ownership went back as far as 1753, the name was
no doubt already given to the area by the first settlers.
Tradition has that the name "White Meadow" is said to have
been suggested by the formation of a white morning mist. People
of the present generation believe this is the mist they recall
as hanging over a treeless meadow area extending from the
present club house to our business district. However, since
old maps show either all swamp or a small body of water surrounded
by swamp covering the comparatively level ground that is now
the bed of the present lake, it is reasonable to assume that
this area would have have a morning fog or "white meadow".
But there is also another story that the name came from beds
of white flowers that grew in the swamp.
Maps of 1858 and 1868 show a pond within the site of the present
lake, surrounded by a swamp. Older residents recall the name
"Muir's Pond" (A Col.Thomas Muir moved into White Meadow about
1825 and resided there until his death in 1855). However,
in the Morris County Atlas of 1887, the pond disappears and
White Meadow Brook is traced from Mt. Hope through swamp land
where the lake exists today. It was not until the very last
part of the last century or early this century that the White
Meadow Fish and Game Club built a dam at its present site
and formed a "lake". And then, but not until then, the name
"White Meadow Lake" came into being.
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Early
Political Boundaries
White Meadow was first
part of Eastern New Jersey. As the country developed White Meadow
became part of an enormous county known as Pequannock. When
this County and others were split up, White Meadow, in 1738,
became part of Morris County. In 1844, Morris County split up
some of its large townships and formed Rockaway Township. White
Meadow was in that township. It still is. Though territory was
taken from Rockaway Township to form Rockaway Borough in 1894
and Denville Township in 1913, it is still a township of unusual
size. |
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Iron
Mining
To understand how
White Meadow was settled and exploited by the white settlers,
it is necessary to know how and why this particular part of
New Jersey came to be developed.
Geologically, White Meadow lies in that part of the world that
is the oldest land on earth. Once as high as the Alps, this
ancient land has been worn down to its present height by the
erosion of some 500 million years. A black iron, known as magnetite,
was formed in these mountains and when they weathered down to
today's dimensions, this iron was at or very near the surface.
When the white man came, he found the native Americans knew
this ore well. They called it Succasunna, or "black stone".
Iron ore production and iron working were the chief support
of settlers and workers in this area almost from the beginning.
It is estimated that this area, now known as the Dover District,
had a total iron production of 26 million long tons up through
the year 1950, worth $100 million. In a historical sketch
published by the Freeholders of Morris County in 1937, it was
stated that the stores of iron in Northern New Jersey, chiefly
in the County of Morris, were sufficient to provide all the
iron the nation could use in 350 years. Most of this reserve
of iron is in Rockaway Township.
Since the iron ore mined and actively worked in this district
was among the first in America and for many years the most substantial
in production of its kind, this area made an early and significant
contribution to the industrial development of our country and
to our industrial independence from England prior to and during
the Revolutionary War.
This area was particularly suited for this development, since
it not only had iron ore, but hardwood forests for the production
of charcoal needed for smelting, and streams that could be dammed
to provide water power for the operation of iron forges and
furnaces.
Of course, land around here was also farmed. In fact, the earliest
land grants recorded in this immediate area were the farmable
lands (Rockaway Valley). This was in 1715, as transactions between
William Penn and the Delaware Indians, who called themselves
the Lenni Lenape. (The name "Rockaway" itself is said to have
been derived from the Dutch designation of an Indian sub-tribe
as "Rotegevel"). Streams were also dammed to provide water power
for sawmills and grist mills.
All over this area there are small artificial ponds, with miniature
falls, which had been created for these mills.
For the operation of an iron forge, however, the reservoir of
water had to be large enough to keep the forge going throughout
the summer. Nearly every lake or large pond in the Township
is artificial, created by dams for the water power required
to operate iron forges. Rockaway Township also had three blast
furnaces, located at Hibernia, Mount Hope and Split Rock. The
only one still standing is the Split Rock Furnace, located below
the dam of the Split Rock Reservoir. This furnace is said to
have been the last in use in the State.
Since the Rockaway River was a natural source for the water
power required to operate forges, many were built along its
course. The earliest one on the river in this immediate area
was constructed in Rockaway Village about 1730 by Job Allen.
Known later as the Stephen Jackson Forge, it was located on
the present site of the Harris Lumber Yard. There were many
other forges, not only on the Rockaway River but on its many
tributaries: White Meadow Brook (which flows "through" White
Meadow Lake), Beach Glen Brook, Meriden Brook and Den Brook.
Iron was an important factor in the Revolutionary War, the War
of 1812 and the Civil War. The output of Hibernia, Mount Hope
and other mines, possibly including White Meadow, made this
area the principal source of iron for the American Revolution.
The Mount Hope Furnace was built in 1772 and turned out large
amounts of cannon, shot and iron utensils. The Hibernia works
also produced iron and iron products. It is interesting to note
that in 1777, fifty men at Mount Hope and twenty-five at Hibernia
were exempted from military duty.
Slitting and rolling mills were added to furnaces and forges
during the 18th century. However, the fortunes of the iron industry
declined from the time of the Revolutionary War until the War
of 1812. |
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Early
Transportation
By 1800, the old Indian
trails used for pack horse travel were widened for wagon service.
In 1831 the Morris Canal was in operation from Dover to Newark.
In the following year it provided regular service from Rockaway
to Easton, PA. This helped the iron industry by providing anthracite
coal from the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania to replace the charcoal
supply which had been almost exhausted by heavy timber cutting.
Shortly after
the Canal was opened, it was widened and deepened to handle
70-ton barges to replace the former limit of the 25-ton size.
This and the fact that sections of Pequannock and Hanover
Townships were split off to form Rockaway Township in 1844
- just twelve years after the Canal was opened - is evidence
of the development of settlement and industry at the time.
Rockaway Village, as it was then called, was an important
loading and unloading junction for iron ore and coal. It was
considerably larger than Dover.
Important as the
Morris Canal was in the early stages of commercial transport,
by the middle of the century the growth of many small railroads
took away profitable traffic in iron ore, iron and other freight
from this gigantic waterway enterprise. The trip from Easton
to Newark took five days by canal. By railroad it took only
eight hours, and a railroad could operate all winter long.
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Population
Growth
In 1850 the Township
occupied 31,204 acres, only 10,000 of which were described as
improved. The development, decline and redevelopment of the
Township during the last 110 years is reflected in the following
census figures.
Population
of Rockaway Township 1860 to 1990
| Year |
Inhabitants |
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| 1860 |
3,552 |
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| 1880 |
7,366 |
Beach
Glen 195, Denmark 134, Denville 388, Greenville 429,
Lower Greenville 20, Lower Hibernia 943, Upper Hibernia
750, Lyonsville 141, Meriden 94, Middletown 144, Mount
Hope 537, Rockaway 1,052 |
| 1900 |
4,528 |
Rockaway
Village split away in 1894 to become Rockaway Boro |
| 1910 |
4,835 |
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| 1920 |
3,506 |
Denville
Township split away in 1913 |
| 1930 |
3,178 |
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| 1940 |
2,423 |
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| 1950 |
4,418 |
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| 1955 |
7,290 |
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| 1960 |
10,356 |
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| 1970 |
18,955 |
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| 1980 |
19,850 |
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| 1990 |
19,520* |
Projected |
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* The reason the population chart shows a decline of inhabitants
projected for 1990 is that although there are more homes in
the area, fewer people are inhabiting those dwellings. Some
reasons for this are migration of offspring and smaller family
units. These figures were determined by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
The decade from
1930 to 1940 was a very low point indeed in the Township's
history. The 1,034 dwelling units counted in 1940 were far
more than were needed for a total population of only 2,423.
Some 72% of these dwellings did not have a private bath. There
were only 83 farmers. Less than 23% of the population were
of foreign birth, indicating how the influx of settlers had
dwindled. In 1939, an American Guide Series author described
Rockaway Village as "the gateway to an almost abandoned section
of the state". Hibernia's population had dwindled from 3,000
just before 1912 to only 200.
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Industrial
Development
The closing of
the Hibernia Mines in 1911 and the general decline of the
mining industry in this area affected the Township severely.
Mining land was sold to local residents and summer visitors.
The Mt. Hope Mine was reopened with Hungarian workers, and
in 1946, after another war, it had new facilities and was
one of the three producing iron mines in the country. However,
getting at the now deep veins of the high-grade ore became
increasingly costly. In the 1950's Shahmoon Industries started
to sink a shaft less than a mile away from the Katherine D.
Malone School, but the work was stopped abruptly. Both the
Richard and the Mt. Hope mines were closed by 1959.
The growth in
importance of Picatinny Arsenal, established in 1879, and
of the Navy Ordnance Depot, established in 1891, eventually
revived some of the Township's economy. Today, industry has
become diversified and includes golf courses and ski slopes,
newspaper publishing, a wide range of corporate and manufacturing
activities and a major shopping mall.
One of the phases
of the Township's development centered on its natural residential
attractions for the suburbanite, the summer visitor, and the
increasing permanent local population required for growing
industry and corporate development. The lakes resulted in
the development of Green Pond, Lake Telemark and White Meadow
Lake as resorts. There is reserved for further natural recreational
facilities the large but as yet undeveloped Farny State Park.
The seasonal character
of the population in the Township's recreational areas changed
under the pressure of suburban expansion and industrial growth.
Today nearly all of Lake Telemark's and White Meadow's population
is permanent and there has been for some years extensive residential
development of the rest of the Township.
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White
Meadow Beginning
The earliest date
recorded for a deed covering land in White Meadow is 1753. The
man who acquired the land was David Beman. Beman later also
obtained several other plots of land in White Meadow. It is
quite certain that he and Thomas Miller, another landowner in
the White Meadow Tract, built a forge at White Meadow, since
in 1769 a mortgage was given by John and Aaron Bigalow on one
half of the forge "which was built at a place called White Meadow".
The location of
the White Meadow Forge is unknown, but it has been traced,
together with White Meadow land transactions, from the Bigalows
to Col.Thomas Muir, covering a period of 50 to 60 years. The
absence of any mention of it after Col.Muir's time coincides
with the disappearance of Muir's Pond before 1877 and the
abandonment of White Meadow mines before 1873. It is obvious
that when the mines were abandoned, no effort was made to
keep in repair a dam for water power that was no longer needed.
By the 1770's
the Bigalows owned not only the White Meadow forge but considerable
other White Meadow property. Abraham Kitchel bought into this
tract after 1774 but prior to or during the early years of
the Revolutionary War. Abraham Kitchel as far as we know was
the first White Meadow resident at least the first White Meadow
landowner known to have built a home here. He was one of the
key men to integrate the facilities of the iron mines, forges,
power mills and the budding iron works of the county to make
them available for colonial purposes. It was said of him,
"If Washington was the Noah of the Revolution, Abraham Kitchel
was the Ark". An historical NBC broadcast of some years ago
stated that he "operated from the secluded basis of White
Meadow". His iron operations in White Meadow alone were extensive
enough for him to acquire the Guinea Forge, located on the
White Meadow Tract at the junction of White Meadow Brook and
Green Pond Road. The present Sanders Road, which is also near
this junction, was known as Guinea Forge Road and ran parallel
to the brook up to White Meadow until very recent times.
In 1792 Abraham
Kitchel sold his house and White Meadow property to Bernard
Smith. Smith sold the property to Israel Canfield in 1802.
Canfield lived in Morris Plains, but there was a school teacher
in Rockaway very much interested in White Meadow, if not actually
living there. This teacher, George Stickle, had married the
daughter of David Beman, thereby becoming the son-in-law of
the first landowner at White Meadow. He is said to have cut
and ranked a cord of wood on the White Meadow Tract each day
before school, taught ten hours of school and then cut another
cord of wood. In this way Israel Canfield became indebted
to him for the sum of $600.00. Stickle took promissory notes
for this sum and used them as first payment on the whole tract
for $12,000, with forge, ore and charcoal in stock, on condition
that all iron be sold to Canfield. The price of iron went
up and by hard work and good management he soon had the tract
paid for.
It was from the
Stickle family that Col.Thomas Muir, who came to operate the
Mt.Hope Mine shortly after 1814, purchased the White Meadow
Tract, including the White Meadow and Guinea Forges. He made
his residence at White Meadow sometime after 1823, occupying
the house built by Abraham Kitchel.
Little is known
about the real production of the mines in White Meadow. The
Geological Surveys of New Jersey covering the Dover District,
published in 1910 and in 1957, estimate the total production
did not exceed 5,000 long tons. This is only a few days' run
today for such a mine as Mt. Hope. Before 1840 the mines were
known as the Kitchel & Muir Mines. In 1841 Col.Muir incorporated
the White Meadow Iron Company. In 1853 the mines were leased
to the Boonton Iron Co. and the state surveys report that
the mines were actively operated between 1855 (the year Col.Muir
died) and 1868. Thus the White Meadow Mines were operated
intermittently for about 100 years and have been dormant for
about 100 years. Col.Muir left an estate of about 1,700 acres
to his son Peter, his daughter Ann Jane Hoagland and his son-in-law
Mahlon Hoagland. Ann Jane Muir married Mahlon Hoagland in
1846. This couple lived at White Meadow until the death of
Mrs. Hoagland in 1893. They had seven children. After the
death of his wife, Mr. Hoagland moved to Rockaway. He leased
the estate to the White Meadow Fish and Game Club, which built
the dam to form the lake in its present size. Mr. Hoagland,
as landlord, stocked the new lake with small mouth bass. The
Club was exclusive, limited to fifty members. It included
many New Yorkers.
Upon the death
of Mahlon Hoagland in 1907, his son Tom purchased the shares
of four other surviving children in the estate and promptly
refurbished the old mansion. To the original house built by
Abraham Kitchel more than a century before, with its porch
facing the dam, there had been built an addition facing White
Meadow Road. The house contained 14 rooms. By 1909 Tom Hoagland
had started the new Hoagland Mansion, now our Club House,
at the behest of his wife. The old house of Abraham Kitchel
was torn down but the addition that had been made to it was
moved to where it still stands near the present nursery school
building. It was used to house chauffeurs, caretakers and
farmers for the estate and is now the home of the caretaker
of White Meadow Temple. Tom Hoagland built the sunken gardens
on the Club House lawn, near the dam, to mark the site of
the old mansion, of which he was personally very fond.
Tom Hoagland lived
at White Meadow until his death in 1928, after which his mansion
was occupied by the family of his daughter Evelyn, who had
married Chester Bayles. In 1942, the estate was sold to the
Warren Foundry and Pipe Company, operators of the Mt.Hope
Mine, who hoped to extend mining operations into White Meadow.
When they discovered that the property would not yield sufficient
high quality iron ore to make it pay, they sold it to National
House & Farms Association, Inc., owned by Benjamin Kline.
The Kline family contracted to purchase the original 1,127
acres on July 6, 1945 and took title on August 28, 1945. Other
acreage was added from the George W. Stickle estate and from
George S. Oram and the John Spear family until they had assembled
over 1,500 acres.
On Labor Day weekend
in 1946, when the development was officially opened for sale,
Benjamin J. Kline, whose hobby was horseback riding, suffered
a fall while riding on the property. He fractured his hip
and was forced into semi-retirement. Though confined to a
wheel chair and forced to use crutches, he remained active
in guiding the development of the property until 1950. Mr.
Kline, who died in 1953, lived long enough to see White
Meadow Lake become an extremely popular and successful community.
He was succeeded by Morton and Norman Kline.
A "lake" property
was no longer unique or a novelty when White Meadow first
appeared on the market. Competition was quite keen and numerous
other properties were being offered in both New York and New
Jersey. The Klines knew that they had to offer greatly superior
facilities to attract the limited market in those days. They
therefore invested heavily in the Club House, its furnishings
and facilities, and developed extensive plans for three beaches,
boat docks, beautification of the club grounds, and superior
roads. Lots sold quickly because of their easy terms policy.
However, by May 1949, while they had sold over 900 lots to
individual owners, only 100 homes had been built and occupied.
In June of 1949
they inaugurated the Day Camp, a surprise "extra" which had
not been planned originally. The KIines subsidized its cost,
including those of the two swimming pools, the playhouse,
counselors, equipment, etc., from 1949 until all facilities
were turned over to the Country Club in 1954. The Klines believed
that the Day Camp and its facilities, more than anything else
in the community, were primarily responsible for the start
of the large building program which took place during the
1950's. Later the Property Owners Association built the Athletic
Field which it maintains, while the camp became a self supporting
entity under the aegis of the P.O.A.
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The
Development of White Meadow Lake
Formation of the P.O.A.
When the White
Meadow Lake Property Owners Association was formed in 1948,
fewer than 25 families lived year round at the Lake. There
was no bus transportation for school children. Only party
line telephones were available, and as many as eight families
had to share one line. Not all the sections were open nor
did the Country Club then own all the common properties,
title to which was still vested in National House &
Farms Association, Inc. (the developers). It was agreed
that the Country Club would own these properties and that
the Class B stock previously issued would be cancelled and
the Class A become the sole stock, with voting rights. Even
so, many lots and homes were purchased under contract so
that neither property deed nor stock certificate in the
Country Club would be issued until the purchase price was
paid in full. As late as 1953, in fact, only one out of
every four property owners actually possessed a Class A
stock certificate. It would not have helped much then to
have given Class A stockholders the right to vote if the
only organization in which voting could be done was in the
Country Club corporation. Since it was stipulated in the
deed that the Country Club could operate under the supervision
of a property owners association, it was logical to form
such an organization as a membership corporation. The right
to vote and to hold office in the Association, or membership
corporation, was not governed by ownership of stock in the
Country Club. All that was necessary was evidence of the
purchase of property in the White Meadow Lake development.
On the one hand, the developer held control of the Country
Club corporation and reserved transfer of the common properties
to it as long as he operated them at his own expense. On
the other hand, a property owners association could develop
in experience and in strength until a time could be set
for the Association to take over and manage community property
and facilities. Since the membership corporation gave every
property owner voting rights, with this corporation acting
as agent or governing body of the Country Club corporation,
all property owners would have effective control of the
Country Club properties. Thus, when the Association's Executive
Board began negotiation with National House and Farms Association,
Inc., for an agreement on the transfer of common properties,
the agreement had to be between the Developer, the Club
and the Association. To strengthen its position, the Association
wrote its first constitution and by-laws and ratified them
on August 26, 1951.
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TriPartite
Agreement
On November 6,
1952, the "tripartite agreement" was signed by the National
House and Farms Association, Inc., the White Meadow Lake and
Country Club, Inc., and the White Meadow Lake Property Owners
Association, Inc. This important document listed all of the
common properties to be transferred to the Country Club and
set the date for that transfer. It provided for the cancellation
of the Class B stock and the registration of all Class A stock
as the only stock, with full voting rights, plus the limiting
of the Class A stock issue to 3,500 shares. The date for the
turnover was extended for two years to December 31, 1954 and
standards were established whereby National House and Farms
Association, Inc. would maintain the common properties for
that period.
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Athletic Field Acquired
The effort of the Association to obtain land for an athletic
field also bore fruit in this agreement. The ground for our
athletic field was given to the Country Club provided the
Association drained, filled and graded it within five years.
So in 1953, at a general meeting of the membership, the residents agreed to an assessment of $25.00 per homeowner for the improvement of this land. The work went ahead immediately. This became the first common property managed by the Association. The developer had no responsibility for this property other than to transfer title by December 31, 1954.
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The
Boom of the 50's
The Tripartite Agreement
was negotiated during a period of booming growth. A total of
616 homes had been opened by the end of 1952, 160 having been
completed in 1952 alone, a record which has never been broken.
Free school bus transportation became available in 1951. Rural
free delivery of mail also started in that year. Rockaway Township
took over the roads at the beginning of 1952 (except for Valley
View Drive, which had not been completed). Also in that year
the Rockaway Township Committee was increased from three to
five members and White Meadow Lake residents were active in
the election campaign. It was estimated by the Association's
Committee for Political Activity in January of 1952 that White
Meadow Lake contributed 23% of the total township tax. Water
during a very dry summer was getting scarce but new storage
facilities were being built. The chief lag in community service
at the time was in telephone facilities. |
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The
Day Camp Decision
In 1954, with
the deadline for the transfer of properties facing them,the
Executive Board drafted a referendum on the general budget that
now had to be approved to operate our common properties. At
a general meeting it put to the members the question of whether
or not the Day Camp operation should be included in a general
budget or in a separate budget defrayed by Day Camp participants.
The residents voted decisively for excluding the Day Camp from
the general budget, setting the pattern which has prevailed
since the general budget became part of our community business. |
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The
P.O.A. on it's Own
In 1955, the transfer
of properties having been completed (except for an undeveloped
acreage tract), the Executive Board drafted and submitted its
second revision of the Constitution and By- Laws. This was ratified
on August 7, 1955, in time for new elections at the end of August
and the replacement of an Executive Board of rather limited
powers with a Board of Directors having powers roughly equivalent
to that of a municipal government. We were at this time a community
of 900 homes; community business was becoming too complex to
be handled at membership meetings. |
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Streamling
the P.O.A.
The changes in the constitution were important. The number
of board members became seventeen and instead of electing
six officers and eight members-at-large, the property owners
now elected the President, two Vice-Presidents and the Treasurer
for a one year term. The Board elected its secretary from
among its own members. Instead of six general membership meetings
during the year, there were now only two. Instead of action
being approved by majority vote of the membership at such
meetings, all business except the approval of a budget was
now administered by the Board of Directors.
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The
Issues
The years following
the changeover were difficult. The replacement of the "town
meeting" format by a governing board and the rise in dues as
the POA took over operation and upkeep of common properties
were difficult for some residents to accept. A major problem
was deciding whether White Meadow Lake was a "Country Club"
or a regular community. Several times through the fifties and
sixties, the question of building a community center, with indoor
recreation facilities such as a pool and gymnasium, was hotly
debated and ultimately defeated because of the expense and seasonal
nature of the community. In 1959, as a reaction to rising dues,
a constitutional amendment was proposed mandating caps on dues
and flatly eliminating certain recreational facilities from
compulsory assessment. This too was voted down, establishing
the community as neither an exclusive country club nor a typical
year-round residential community.
Over the past
twenty years, several legal rulings have confirmed the right
of the P.O.A. to establish its dues structure, its authority
to enforce its collection of dues, and even its requirement
of homeowner membership within the organization. Initially,
a group of homeowners sued in an attempt to limit the amount
of dues assessed. When the court required this question to
be voted upon by the membership of the Association, it was
handsomely defeated. Later suits brought before the Appellate
Division of the New Jersey Supreme Court established the right
of the P.O.A. to sue for dues when delinquent even though
homeowners were denied the use of facilities during the years
for which dues were unpaid. The Appellate Court also ruled
that based upon the original agreements establishing the community
of White Meadow Lake, the White Meadow Lake and Country Club,
Inc., and the White Meadow Lake Property Owners Association,
Inc., all homeowners were required to join the Association.
The Court further upheld the Association's methods of establishing
the budget and determining the dues. To date, every legal
challenge to the Association's methods of dues collection
has been overruled.
When homeowners
become delinquent, judgments are entered against them, collections
are aggressively pursued and further judgments are entered
against their properties. If present or past dues are unpaid
at the time a property is sold, they are collected from the
new owners. A dues collection committee of limited membership
attempts to identify legitimate hardship accounts and work
out special arrangements with persons suffering from exceptional
problems.
In the years since
these decisions were made, the community changed in makeup
as more year- round homes were built. Today far more residents
are year-round than are seasonal and activities are held year-round
to accommodate their needs. The decisions described above
which were made by early residents have determined the community's
character, however, and elements which made White Meadow attractive
to summer residents initially make it attractive to year-round
residents today.
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Our
Accomplishments
As we reflect back on our inception and a few years beyond,
we see how the growth of this community has made a dynamic
impact on the entire Township.
In 1950 there
were no school buses, rural mail delivery, garbage collection,
firehouse or schools within White Meadow Lake. A small White
Meadow Temple was constructed in 1952 and dedicated in the
Fall of 1953. The library was what is now the Esther Chesney
Room on the upper floor of the Clubhouse. Yet in 1955 White
Meadow Lake was the most concentrated center of population
in Rockaway Township. In 1961 all but that section of White
Meadow Lake sliced off by Interstate 80 was in one election
district (the smallest in area and the largest in population).
A second ballroom and bar were added and the office was moved
upstairs. In 1991, the White Meadow Lake dam was rebuilt.
We have come a
long way since then. We have free school buses transporting
our children to school, mail delivery, and the existence of
a zoning ordinance. There are 8 election districts and 3 wards
in White Meadow Lake:
Ward 3 in 2 districts
Ward 4 in 3 districts
Ward 5 in 3 districts
Expansion necessitated
the further enlargement of White Meadow Temple and the last
addition was rededicated in September of 1984. Our rapid expansion
has benefited the Township, for within our boundaries we have
the Stony Brook Elementary School built in September 1962
and the Copeland Middle School built in September 1969. Bonds
had been voted for these schools in public elections. Our
school population is such that some districts within White
Meadow Lake attend elementary schools outside our boundaries
but within Rockaway Township. We have endorsed and nurtured
the Township's, large, well-equipped modern library which
was completed in 1981 in conjunction with our Municipal Building
and Police Department.
In 1982, the "Old
Municipal Building" on Mt. Hope Road was transformed into
a Senior Citizen Center for all of Rockaway Township. In 1987,
a Senior Citizen Housing Development opened on Mt.Pleasant
Avenue, making it possible for senior citizens who once owned
homes in White Meadow Lake to remain in the Township.
White Meadow Lake
has it's own firehouse with it's own ambulance and fire apparatus.
At one time we depended upon our neighboring firehouses at
Mt. Hope, Hibernia and Marcella. At that time we boasted about
having fire hydrants with excellent water pressure. Many of
the fire trucks in the township had to rely on water tanks.
Today, most of
White Meadow Lake has sewerage and the rest will be sewered
in the near future; then we no longer have homes and businesses
depending on septic tanks.
We in White Meadow
Lake support a small business district that covers our daily
conveniences. In 1989, there were a total of 2,209 homes and
379 lots which may or may not be developed.
The Lions Club
of Rockaway Township has been publishing a yearly Residential
Directory and Business Guide since 1956 as part of their fund
raising and as a service to White Meadow Lake. We as a community
strongly support the Lions Club which generates revenues for
the Morris County Society for Crippled Children and Adults,
needy Rockaway Township families during the holiday season
and at times of crisis, and to Camp Marcella, the New Jersey
Camp for Blind Children located in Rockaway Township.
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