Historic Preservation Committee
Oral History -- Janet Borcherdt
Interview with Janet Borcherdt by Pat Kelleher for the Historic Preservation Committee of Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, April 18, 1996.
| PK: | My name is Pat Kelleher and I am a member of the Historic Preservation Committee in Mountain Lakes. Sitting here with me today, April 18, 1996 is Janet Borcherdt who was born and grew up in Mountain Lakes. Janet has graciously agreed to share her early memories of our town, which we will add to our collection of oral histories of Mountain Lakes. Welcome, Janet. | JB: Thank you. |
| PK: | Can you tell me where and when in Mountain Lakes you were born? | |
| JB: | I was born February 6, 1922 at 15 [several words unclear]. It wasn't even Mountain Lakes then. On my birth certificate it says Hanover Township. | |
| PK: | That's interesting. I didn't know that. And you grew up here your entire life? | |
| JB: | Yes, we-my high school class was the first class enrolled in the Mountain Lakes school [several words unclear]. | |
| PK: | My goodness. Are you married-you were married in town and lived here at that point in your life? | |
| JB: | I've been married twice, both times in Mountain Lakes and I have two children, [unclear] Ann McCabe, who lives in [unclear], and [unclear] Walter Borcherdt, who lives in Louisiana [unclear]. | |
| PK: | And can you tell me something of your parents? I guess they were here the whole time you were here for many years. | |
| JB: | My-both my sets of grandparents moved to Mountain Lakes [several words unclear] 1916, 1918. My mother was Margaret Wilson and my father, Ronald Post. They were married at 181 Boulevard and lived here their whole lives. | |
| PK: | Have you lived in more than one house then here? | |
| JB: | Yes, I've lived in four different houses here. | |
| PK: | Oh. | |
| JB: | I lived on [unclear] Road, then [unclear] Road, which my parents built, and then 236 Morris Avenue after I married-four different. | |
| PK: | That's the house that has recently passed into the next generation. The next hands are there now, I think. What are your special memories of growing up in Mountain Lakes, other than being in that first school that went all the way through? That was exciting. | |
| JB: | Oh, I remember [unclear] for a high school-in high school [several words unclear]. We all wanted a high school so we were out on the grounds of the grade school, Lake Drive School, where the collection was being held and we were-we had our placards. And there was someone who obviously didn't want this to happen. So they kicked us off the grounds. | |
| PK: | [laughs] | |
| JB: | We had to move over-I think we paraded in front of the club or something, but it was a prescribed distance from the [unclear] place. I remember sitting on the grounds of the Mountain Lakes Club before the pool was there as a teenager. We used to gather there every-practically every afternoon. I remember playing tennis on the courts. That's where I grew up playing tennis. Generally, probably went to school functions, dances, football games. Oh, I remember the first football game Mountain Lakes High School ever won we did a snake dance up the boulevard through the Denville Theater. | |
| PK: | [laughs] Oh, my goodness! | |
| JB: | We drove down Main Street honking madly. Everyone sort of smiled at us in a rather patronizing way. [unclear] Mountain Lakes had finally won a football game. | |
| PK: | [chuckles] Do you think that was about what-1940, maybe or- | |
| JB: | About 19-well, it was before then because I graduated in 1939 so- | |
| PK: | Oh. | |
| JB: | It was probably 1938. | |
| PK: | Uh-huh. And that was the first win. | |
| JB: | That was the first-we beat St. Bernard's School, a small-well, it still is a prep school, even smaller than I-as I remember, it was a football field there with surrounding cornfields. [chuckles] | |
| PK: | Uh-huh. What kind of girl sports did they have in the high school at that time? | |
| JB: | We didn't have any varsity sports. We had a tennis team and, aside from that, it was all [unclear] playing in school. We played, well, ball, basketball. We-back in those days there were three types of-two types of basketball. One was-three courts and the other court was divided in half, and we much preferred the half because it was a little more action. They always made me a guard because I couldn't shoot baskets. | |
| PK: | [laughs] | |
| JB: | I don't know. I went sleigh riding whenever we had snow. Back in those days they used to block off North Glen, which was then called Addington Avenue. And on really good snow you could not only go all the way down the hill but you could cross the boulevard, which sounds horrible today but [unclear]. | |
| PK: | Uh-huh, [unclear]. | |
| JB: | And they also on the other side of town they blocked off Pollard Road. The kids used to go sleigh riding there. | |
| PK: | Uh-huh. Right, from Morris Ave. down? | |
| JB: | From-let's see, I didn't go there very often so I think it was-let's see, Denville in the [unclear]. | |
| PK: | Uh-huh, right. | |
| JB: | And of course skating. We used to get up and shovel paths through the snow. We used to have-build-certain places we would build bonfires. I was no [unclear] skater. | |
| PK: | [chuckles] You were the one warming your hands by the bonfire. | |
| JB: | I was out there and my hand was [unclear]-anything else particular. | |
| PK: | Did they have dances at the high school? | |
| JB: | Oh, yes. | |
| PK: | Ya? | |
| JB: | We had dances at the Lake Drive School and the junior high school was at the boulevard of Lake Drive School. | |
| PK: | Oh. | |
| JB: | And we used to have dances in the auditorium there. | |
| PK: | The existing Lake Drive School? | |
| JB: | The high school wasn't built until 1936 [several words unclear]. | |
| PK: | Oh, so you were in one of the first classes. You were the first class to graduate, to go through. | |
| JB: | No, the first class to graduate was 1938. They had been away their sophomore year at [unclear] Morristown. | |
| PK: | Oh. | |
| JB: | We didn't have a senior class the first year of the high school. | |
| PK: | Oh, I see. | |
| JB: | [sentence unclear]. So, no, we-1939 was the first class. There were some of us who had gone all the way through. | |
| PK: | Did-where did your family shop? Was Del's Village there or- | |
| JB: | No. | |
| PK: | -were there other stores in Boonton or- | |
| JB: | Yaccarino's, which was-is the Mountain Lakes Market- | |
| PK: | Oh. | |
| JB: | -and was owned by a family who lived in Mountain Lakes. They used to-it was very nice. They had [several words unclear]. And of course in Boonton there was Del Signor's and then an A&P and [unclear]. | |
| PK: | Is that a restaurant, Del Signor's? | |
| JB: | No, that was a grocery store. | |
| PK: | Oh, really? Oh. | |
| JB: | And- | |
| PK: | They had A&P and- | |
| JB: | Well, they had-Del Signor's was privately owned and A&P [unclear]. | |
| PK: | Did they have the dry cleaner and the stationery store? | |
| JB: | They had a-Mountain Lakes-it was a drug store and a soda shop. We used to love to go there and buy ice cream. Sometimes we'd-at lunchtime in school we'd go down and buy real healthy lunches like Cokes and [unclear]. | |
| PK: | [laughs] | |
| JB: | And then, of course-and the post office was down- | |
| PK: | Where was it? I didn't know [unclear]. | |
| JB: | Down in the building below where the market is. | |
| PK: | Oh, down there. Not by Del's Village. | |
| JB: | And a cleaner was down there-Patsy Cleaning. There was a [unclear] a stationery store there too. | |
| PK: | This is all by the market, the little village. | |
| JB: | Ya, this was over in [unclear] too, the ones right on Midvale Road. The [unclear] now, well, a train station. | |
| PK: | Oh, okay. Okay. Well, let me see what else. You have a lot of good memories. | |
| JB: | Back in those days, of course, most of the fathers were [unclear] to New York. | |
| PK: | By train or- | |
| JB: | By train, yes. [several words unclear] in the morning and didn't get home-6:13 sometimes. | |
| PK: | And did their wives drive them to the station or were they all walkers at that point? | |
| JB: | No, most of the wives drove. My father worked in Boonton. So- | |
| PK: | Mm-hmm. He didn't have to do that. | |
| JB: | No. | |
| PK: | Did most families have a car that they- | |
| JB: | Yes, I think most families had one car [unclear]. | |
| PK: | Uh-huh. So the mother got to keep the car; Dad took the train. | |
| JB: | Ya, most of the kids did walk to school. | |
| PK: | Uh-huh. You didn't have school bus then. I think you were less than two miles. | |
| JB: | Yes. No, no school buses-just walking. And we had lunch. Of course, in lower school we had at least an hour off for lunch so there was time to walk home. | |
| PK: | Wonderful. Oh, you walked home for lunch. Oh, I see. | |
| JB: | [sentence unclear]. | |
| PK: | They had no hot lunch program in school then? | |
| JB: | No. | |
| PK: | No. | |
| JB: | You had to take your little lunchbox and sit and [unclear] by the school on those terrible steps in the gymnasium. And I was-the teachers in the school did not encourage people to do this, because they didn't want to bother. | |
| PK: | They didn't want a lunchroom duty. | |
| JB: | Yes, exactly. And-but I always-and there were a few whose parents-whose mothers worked and they had to [unclear]. And I always thought that was really fun-couldn't wait until my mother suddenly was going to go to New York City or something. I could go and take my lunch. | |
| PK: | Right. [chuckles] But that certainly has changed now. I don't think too many kids come home for lunch anymore. Were you aware that Mountain Lakes was really special? I mean, big houses and all-the lakes and the roads and- | |
| JB: | I don't know. I think we all kind of took it for granted. I don't think we really gave it much thought. Maybe it's just [unclear]. | |
| PK: | Now, did you say your grandparents moved here? | |
| JB: | Ya. My father's parents, Posts, lived in the house across the street from Wilson School out in front of Tower Hill, they called it. Well, I think they were the first persons who lived there. Then my other-the Wilson grandparents [unclear] Boulevard. | |
| PK: | And was it a summer home for either of those families first, or they just-they came here initially? | |
| JB: | No, they came here [unclear]. Ya. My mother-she'd tell a story that she told a [unclear] of hers that she was going to move to Mountain Lakes and explained to him where it was. And he said, "But you can't be moving there. I'm going hunting there. It's nothing but cranberry bogs." | |
| PK: | [laughs] | |
| JB: | So our lakes are flooded cranberry bogs. | |
| PK: | My goodness! I didn't know we grew cranberries here. I thought that was just south [unclear]. | |
| JB: | [unclear] what he called them. | |
| PK: | Ya, well, there probably was. Do you remember farming of any other nature when you were growing up? | |
| JB: | Not around here. Of course, most of [unclear] and most of Montville and surrounding country, Rockaway Valley was all farms. There were only four high schools in the area, Butler, Boonton, Morristown and [unclear]. So the kids in Mountain Lakes, they'd go to the high school [unclear] Boonton. | |
| PK: | Uh-huh. How about college? Did a lot of kids- | |
| JB: | It was always college oriented. | |
| PK: | [unclear]. Was it? | |
| JB: | Ya, in school I think. Most of them did go to college. | |
| PK: | So that hasn't changed too much over the years then? | |
| JB: | No. | |
| PK: | Now, there's a question here. Are you aware of any special laws in town that affected you differently than another town might have had? | |
| JB: | No, I don't think so. | |
| PK: | Was there a curfew? Something-I mean, like- | |
| JB: | No, we never had a curfew. We had a wonderful police chief when I was growing up, Harry Dennis, and one other policeman, Art Gitter, who were very nice. And I think some of us young people probably got away with things we couldn't have now. There was not the term juvenile delinquent in those days. | |
| PK: | Right. | |
| JB: | But we had-usually Harry Dennis would take the kid home to parents and say, "Now, will you do something about this or do I have to?" Most parents- | |
| PK: | Parents said they would. [chuckles] | |
| JB: | And it was such a small town in those days too that parents-all parents knew each other and they could get together and solve the problem. | |
| PK: | Ya, that's great. Ya. Good supervision system there, I guess. | |
| JB: | Well, you couldn't get away with much because all the adults knew who you were. | |
| PK: | Do you remember any special teachers that you had when you went to school here? | |
| JB: | Oh, well, yes. There was one [unclear]. She was Miss Birds for awhile and then Mrs. Corbett, and then she finally was the principal of the Lake Drive School. She taught fourth grade at [unclear] School. We all adored her and a Miss Wilcox and this was back in the days before many ladies changed the color of her hair. And it's very noticeable that she did because every so often the color would change drastically. And you never knew whether she was going to show up a redhead or blonde. [laughter] [unclear] was very nice. Earl Anibel was the principal for years. Irene Dunn was the school- | |
| PK: | Oh, yes. Yes, that's right. | |
| JB: | -secretary for years. She used-she probably ran the school. [chuckles] | |
| PK: | Secretaries have a way. [chuckles] | |
| JB: | Kay Phelan, the school [unclear] and Miss Bodine had a car I remember. I think she had a convertible [several words unclear]. The horn would go da, da, da, da. | |
| PK: | Oh, I remember that sound. [chuckles] | |
| JB: | And we would say, "Annie Bodine." [chuckles] | |
| PK: | [chuckles] Oh. How about-you were probably-well, maybe 11 years old during the Depression. Did that really affect your family and your neighbors? | |
| JB: | Yes, my father had been vice president of Boonton Rubber Company and it failed, and they were like shortly after building a house. And so they rented a house for awhile and we moved in with renters- | |
| PK: | Oh, uh-huh. | |
| JB: | -181 Boulevard until got straightened out again. | |
| PK: | Yes. | |
| JB: | I went to [several words unclear] by [unclear] growing up. A lot of people who suddenly departed in the middle of the night leaving their houses and debts behind, yes. There were a lot of empty houses. Mountain Lakes was hard hit. | |
| PK: | Ya, well, how about World War II? Did a lot of the men go off to that war? | |
| JB: | Yes, we lost a number of friends in that war. And we had local heroes that [several words unclear]. Miles Browning. My family knew him very well. | |
| PK: | Tell me a little bit about Miles. | |
| JB: | Well, he was an Annapolis graduate. He was a-he got to be a captain. I think he was-[unclear] the battle of Midway. He was Admiral Halsey's aide or something to that effect. He came from a large family, the Brownings, who lived right across the street from 181 Boulevard. | |
| PK: | Oh, all right. | |
| JB: | So [unclear] family was [unclear] family. | |
| PK: | Are these the same Brownings who are still- | |
| JB: | No. | |
| PK: | Are they the same family as-no, no. | |
| JB: | [unclear]. And General Castle, whom I did not know. [unclear] the sisters. | |
| PK: | General Castle was active in that war also? I don't know- | |
| JB: | He was-yes, he died going down in his plane over-I forget where it went down exactly but he stayed with it to avoid crashing it into [unclear]. | |
| PK: | Oh, wow! | |
| JB: | So he was [several words unclear]. That's the stories [several words unclear]. | |
| PK: | Did you have-you had brothers and sisters? Did you tell me that? | |
| JB: | I had a brother [unclear]. | |
| PK: | Uh-huh. But he wasn't old enough. I mean, your- | |
| JB: | He was in the Army but- | |
| PK: | He was? | |
| JB: | He was five years younger than I but he didn't get into any action. | |
| PK: | Uh-huh. Thank God. | |
| JB: | Yes. | |
| PK: | Uh-huh. What-are you aware of Jimmy Doolittle and Aircraft Radio? | |
| JB: | To some extent, I think I was. A lot of these electronics companies around Boonton started by friends of mine. | |
| PK: | Uh-huh. Really? | |
| JB: | So I knew Valentine, Bill Walkman, Russ Hall. I'm not too sure that I knew [unclear] at the time about Doolittle. I heard of him later. | |
| PK: | But Boonton was known for electronics industries? Was that- | |
| JB: | Mm-hmm, ya. | |
| PK: | Oh, I didn't know that. | |
| JB: | I think it was one of-I think it was [unclear]-don't quote me-invented or developed the throat microphone that was used by the airmen- | |
| PK: | Oh, really? | |
| JB: | -during World War II. | |
| PK: | For communications, ya. My goodness! | |
| JB: | But don't quote me on that. I'm not sure. [chuckles] | |
| PK: | Well, now, we won't publish this. [chuckles] | |
| JB: | Okay. I don't want to be- | |
| PK: | Did your mother stay home? Did she go to work? | |
| JB: | Ya, she stayed home. | |
| PK: | Every now and then so you could have lunch in school she went shopping or something. | |
| JB: | She went [unclear]. | |
| PK: | Right, I get it. | |
| JB: | Not many of the mothers in Mountain Lakes worked [unclear]. | |
| PK: | That was a nice time, ya. | |
| JB: | Yes, it was very lovely place [unclear]. | |
| PK: | Right. | |
| JB: | We were blessed. I don't even know [unclear] much we were blessed. | |
| PK: | Well, I guess not too many kids do now. We all-even our children take it for granted. | |
| JB: | Oh, yes. | |
| PK: | That's the nature of the beast. Are there any other special people that you remember other than the war people? Well, you've told me about your teachers. | |
| JB: | [several words unclear]. | |
| PK: | Did you use the lakes, just to- | |
| JB: | Oh, ya. We had- | |
| PK: | Did you have a sailboat or did you swim? | |
| JB: | No, my parents at one time had a canoe. I can remember they-every Fourth of July they would have a canoe tilting. Yes, and I can remember my father and his brother in the canoe tilting contest. [chuckles] I remember [unclear] they had the swimming races and [unclear] race. | |
| PK: | Uh-huh. And the fireworks that they still do now? Ya? | |
| JB: | Ya, and [several words unclear]. | |
| PK: | [laughs] | |
| JB: | Connie Carpenter, all these people. [chuckles] [sentence unclear] | |
| PK: | Was Island Beach still there too? | |
| JB: | It-when I was very young Island Beach did not exist. It was this point out there. There was a beach called Leonard's Beach, which was near the dam of Wildwood Lake. | |
| PK: | Oh. | |
| JB: | It was where Wildwood School [unclear]. And that was privately owned by Mr. Leonard and we used to have metal tags sewn on our- | |
| PK: | Sneakers? | |
| JB: | -woolen bathing suits. | |
| PK: | Oh, woolen bathing suits. [chuckles] Oh, sneakers, [unclear]. And Mr. Leonard allowed the town's children to use his private beach? | |
| JB: | Ya, well, he lived across the lake and- | |
| PK: | Oh. | |
| JB: | -this was actually a beach. It had a diving board and- | |
| PK: | Oh, how nice. Ya. | |
| JB: | -and lifeguards and the whole thing. Just-it's just not there anymore. | |
| PK: | No, there's a lot of homes I think in that area right now. | |
| JB: | [unclear]. It was a small beach. [unclear] a small-I don't remember exactly when Island Beach became a beach. There was no swimming-there was no beach up on Birchwood either. When I was growing up those lakes were known as the Fox Hill Lakes. | |
| PK: | Oh, really? | |
| JB: | I didn't-I don't [several words unclear]. | |
| PK: | So there was no swim team or anything-organized swimming? | |
| JB: | No, no. | |
| PK: | [unclear]. Like recreational? | |
| JB: | Yes. | |
| PK: | Well, I thank you very much. You've been very generous in sharing your memories. We can do this again if you come up with other things when you're talking with friends and you think of stories. You know. | |
| JB: | Yes. | |
| PK: | Is there any special story you'd liked to-that I haven't asked you that you're dying to tell me? | |
| JB: | Oh, well, I don't know. There are some that I probably shouldn't. [chuckles] | |
| PK: | Don't want to tell me. Okay. [chuckles] You can tell me; we can edit it. | |
| JB: | We had our share of-as I say, juvenile delinquency was not known as such and there were some rather mischievous kids. | |
| PK: | Uh-huh. | |
| JB: | Ya, [unclear]. | |
| PK: | Right. Did you drive as a teenager? | |
| JB: | Yes. | |
| PK: | Did the kids actually have cars? Ya? | |
| JB: | Ya, ya. We didn't have cars of our own. We had to use the family car. | |
| PK: | Complete with running boards or- | |
| JB: | Oh, I can-yes, yes. You talk about running boards, I can remember my father used to drive on the running board when he came home-ride on the running board when he came home from the beach because his suit was wet. | |
| PK: | Oh. [chuckles] | |
| JB: | And I always wanted to do it and I think one of the highlights of my childhood was the first time I was allowed to ride home. | |
| PK: | Oh, that's funny. | |
| JB: | Oh, I also remember the time the club burned down. | |
| PK: | Oh, do you? Tell me about that. | |
| JB: | I was-I don't know how old I was then but I remember it, as everyone probably has heard, was New Year's Eve. And I remember going-being driven out and standing on the [unclear] watching the fire. | |
| PK: | Was that the-I don't know much about this fire. It's new to me. Was it a crowded party? I mean- | |
| JB: | It was early in the evening before the party even started. | |
| PK: | Uh-huh. Oh, I see. | |
| JB: | And I think a bunch of us kids were standing around hoping maybe that the Lake Drive School might catch fire. [laughter] Isn't that awful? | |
| PK: | Well, no. Kids think that way. They don't think of far-reaching effects. | |
| JB: | So, obviously [several words unclear]. I don't remember how the fire started but the club was ruined. | |
| PK: | Wow! But the guests weren't there yet. | |
| JB: | No. | |
| PK: | So there were no injuries. | |
| JB: | No, I suppose it must have started in the kitchen. | |
| PK: | Right. Oh, my goodness. What did you do for New Year's Eve? Was that celebrated by the young people in town? I mean, that-any particular New Years Eve? | |
| JB: | No, not really. When we got older we went to the club dances. But-and we may have had parties [unclear]. | |
| PK: | So when you went to the club though, did you have mixed generations? The parents and their young adult- | |
| JB: | Ya, ya. | |
| PK: | -and teen-aged kids would all go? | |
| JB: | Ya. | |
| PK: | That's very nice. | |
| JB: | I guess we were older when [unclear] dances. Oh, [several words unclear] they used to have a New Year's Day tea dance [unclear] young people. | |
| PK: | And you had bands and all for the parties [unclear]? | |
| JB: | Ya. | |
| PK: | Well, ya. Thank you very much, Janet. We'll talk again. | |
| JB: | My pleasure. | |
| PK: | Okay. [tape turned off/on] We-since Janet and I are still sitting here chatting I decided to turn this back on for some informal chat. Listen up. [chuckles] Now, you were saying the store burned down. | |
| JB: | I was-we were out a bunch of us-I don't know, I suppose we were going to the movies or something. And we were-this was a school night and we were all supposed to be home reasonably early. And as we drove up in the [unclear] we saw that the stores were on fire. So, of course, we had to stand-sit around and watch this for an hour. In the meantime, our parents were sitting home waiting for us- | |
| PK: | Oh, my. | |
| JB: | -picturing us probably lying-bleeding to death in ditches somewhere. [chuckles] I think we all got lectured when we got home. | |
| PK: | Mountain Lakes had their own fire department then? | |
| JB: | Mostly a volunteer fire department. | |
| PK: | Uh-huh, right. | |
| JB: | There were a few paid [unclear] or a crew. | |
| PK: | Oh, really? The crew was recruited? | |
| JB: | Well, [chuckles] Harry Good and mostly volunteers. | |
| PK: | And you said two people burned in that-died in that fire? | |
| JB: | Yes. You know, [several words unclear]. | |
| PK: | Oh, I see. Ya, ya. Did they ever say how that started or anything? | |
| JB: | No, I don't remember. I probably knew at the time but I don't [several words unclear]. Okay, I'm fresh out of ideas now. [chuckles] | |
| PK: | Okay, bye. We're tuning out again. [chuckles] |
End of Interview
Transcribed by Tapescribe, University of Connecticut at Storrs, 2003, edited by Margarethe P. Laurenzi, coordinator, Oral History Project of the Historic Preservation Committee of Mountain Lakes, October 2003, with assistance from Jackie Burkett, Borough Archivist.