Nutley Historical Society and Museum

Founded 1945

65 Church Street, Nutley N.J. 07110
973-667-1528

A not-for-profit organization dedicated to serve the educational, cultural and historical needs of our community.

Fall Pumpkin Festival

Come join the fun for pumpkin painting and light refreshments

1 p.m. Sunday, October 15, 2023

Paint Your Real Pumpkin. All are welcome. Fun for children and families. The pumpkin festival is free. Step up for a tour of our second floor museum artifacts.  

Hosted by The Nutley Historical Society at Nutley Museum, 65 Church Street, Nutley, N.J.


Special Exhibit: Artwork of Carol Fortunato

Carol Fortunato, artist, Nutley NJ, Montclair, Martha's VineyardThe Nutley Historical Society will host an exhibition of the works of Carol Fortunato (1958-2022) on November 11 to November 19 at the Nutley Museum, 65 Church Street, Nutley, NJ. An opening reception will be held at 2 p.m. Nov. 11.

Fortunato resided in Nutley for many years before moving to Montclair in 1990. She was a Fine Artist in the Montclair area for many years. Carol’s paintings were exhibited in Dorset Vermont, and also in Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. After graduating from the School of Visual Arts in New York with a degree in illustration, Carol continued her studies at the Art Students League. During this time, she discovered an interest in chiaroscuro (use of light and shade) painting.

Carol joined The Christina Gallery – On the Island of Martha’s Vineyard in 2009, and her still-life paintings were admired by many. She had solo shows at the renowned James Beard House and French Culinary Institute.

Carol enjoyed her quiet time in the studio but also loved painting en plein air landscapes in Vermont. In 2013, she spent the summer in south central England painting the Cotswolds and fulfilling a lifelong dream.


NEW: Tales of Nutley History!

Nutley History Teaser

The Story of Annie Oakley and Her Time in Nutley

The Story of the Nutley Velodrome

The Artists of 16 Enclosure

Ryan Lui wanted to do something unconventional for his Eagle Scout project. He put his interest in video editing to produce three mini documentaries that tell Nutley history. Lui enlisted fellow scouts in Nutley BSA Troop 147, other video editors, members of the Nutley Historical Society and local historians and together they produced three separate films about Nutley history. Lui is a 2023 graduate of Nutley High School and will attend Montclair State University in the fall.

YouTube videos will open in a new link


WW2 Memorabilia Donated to Nutley Museum

"A letter on a record"

NFSB WW2 Memorabilia donation to Nutley Museum, letters on vinyl

Among items that turned up for sale at the Nutley Family Service Bureau Thrift Shop recently were a small collection of vinyl discs from about 1944, when in addition to military V-Mail, certain locations had a special booth where one could record a letter to send to a loved one. The Thrift Shop donated the items to the Nutley Museum.

In some cases, a new mom would send a record of a baby's first words to a spouse serving overseas. Other times it would be a spoken letter to a loved one just to hear that voice again. During World War Two, there were no smart phones or video chats, and V-Mail was iffy - i.e., none for a while, then a bucket reaches the serviceman. 

One of the donated A Letter on a Record" was made at a USO Club operated by the National Catholic Community Service. According to the vinyl disc well-worn paper cover, This "Letter on a Record" is one of the many services offered to those engaged in the defense of their country. They are available at USO Clubs or centers operated by the National Catholic Communities Service. This, and a wide variety of other services, help to make every USO Club operated by NCCS a "home away from home."

The USO "Letter on a Record" was sent from San Diego to Clendenny Avenue in Jersey City.

Another vinyl recording, "Compliments of GEM" was "made for you with the compliments of GEM Clog-pruf RAZOR and GEM blades. Gem Division, American Safety Razor Corp., 315 Jay Street, Brooklyn. The flip side bears the label "Slow Burning Philco Safety Record. Use Philco recording needles to make this record."

A third recorded disc, Capitol Recording Disc arrived in Jersey City with $1.49 postage due COD, despite two 9-cent stamps. Oddly enough it was sent to Jersey City from Vincent Recording Service, 272 New Jersey Avenue, Union, N.J.

To play those vinyl records, one need a phonograph and needles, to say the least. The NFSB Thrift Shop donation included two needle envelopes. "For Better Reproduction Use Cactus Thorn Needles. 35-cents for 12 needles. Package of twelve genuine Cactus Thorn Needles." This envelope was empty save for another envelope.

Still sealed the NFSB Thrift Shop included "Duotone Filter Point, 35 needles, 25-cents. Macy's New York." According to the label, "Lower record wear filters scratch high fidelity. Made by New Process, Plays 12 to 15 records. Points will not break."

These latest items will complement the Nutley Historical Society war era items including Blue Star Mothers bound collections of WW2 military newspaper clippings. 

The Thrift Shop offers new and like-new clothing, shoes, accessories, small furniture, and household items at affordable prices. All funds from Thrift Shop purchases support Nutley Family Service Bureau programs.

See more photos


NHS Meeting Room Available for Rental

We are happy to announce that our meeting room is now available for rentals. To inquire about availability and rental fee, please call 973-667-1528 and leave a message for our caretaker, Kerry Flynn. 

Rent the historic first floor of the Nutley Museum for your event

Call Kerry Flynn, caretaker to rent the hall: Call 973-667-1528

PLEASE CALL AND LEAVE A MESSAGE BEFORE YOU EMAIL FOR RENTAL AVAILABILITY INFO - Thanks

Seating for up to 70 people. Meeting room is handicap accessible

Rent the historic first floor of the Nutley Museum for your event

More information on the Nutley Museum, and meeting room rental with photos.

Save time, download forms:

Hold Harmless Agreement

2023 Rental Agreement

For Room Rental: Call 973-667-1528


Nutley news and historical archives

Nutley Ameteur Circus, Annie Oakley Poster, Nutley MuseumNutley History, from General George Washington's Retreat Route

to Annie Oakley to the Morris Canal on Our Western Border

to Quarry Town and Speed Racing Velodrome

to our Golfer's Heaven and Old Military Hall

to Presidential Visits and Professional Wresting

to Cold Ice Cream to our Cold War Anti-Aircraft Radar Camp

to the Arrival of Route 21 ... 

Read all about it and more!

Article Index


Did you know Annie Oakley lived in Nutley NJ?

Annie Oakley: Little Sure Shot by Gary Erbe

"Annie Oakley: Little Sure Shot" by Gary Erbe


Ice Cream for History, Thursday, June 1

The Nutley Historical Society is hosting its Annual Ice Cream for History night and museum tour at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 1, at the Nutley Museum, 65 Church Street, Nutley, N.J.

The Society is especially happy to welcome children to the museum along with their parents who will enjoy Nutley's rich history, including serving ice cream to Annie Oakley and Mark Twain more than 100 years ago.

Ice cream is free, and all are welcome to tour the Nutley Museum on the 2nd floor.

Ice Cream for History Night Celebrates Guthrie’s

 If you wanted “iced cream” on a hot summer day, you had no choice—you went to Guthrie’s. Out-of-towners traveled miles to try some. Locals, like Annie Oakley, enjoyed it too! ... Local legend has it that Mark Twain tasted his first ice cream soda at Guthrie’s!

Seven-foot Baron Made Nutley's Firts Ice Cream

Together with Mark Twain, H. C. Bunner, the witty editor of “Puck,” Frank Stockton and an array of artists and writers from The Enclosure and Nutley Park, many strange characters moved through the quaint setting of the Guthrie store.

None was more striking than the exiled Baron de Saint Mart, who stood 7 feet tall in his cavalry boots and had been exiled from his homeland for having killed a man in a duel. With monocle screwed into his eye, he turned the handle of the first ice cream freezer ever used in Nutley while his wife, a daughter of the De Neuville family from the French court of the Bonapartes, painted miniatures in one of the great rooms upstairs.


'A Walk In The Park' 2023 Historic Tour

“A Walk in the Park” is an annual historic tour held on Memorial Day Weekend  sponsored by the Nutley Historical Society.   

Led by Nutley Museum director John Simko, the tour begins at 9 a.m. on Sunday, May 28, at the Mud Hole (near the intersection of Passaic and Vreeland Avenues) and follows township history along the Third River.

Simko will talk about the Yantacaw River’s role in Nutley history as a source for early industry, as inspiration for world-class artists, as a symbol of civic pride, as an important boundary marker, and as a fitting memorial to our war veterans.

Visit the sites of three former mills, see the pre-Revolutionary War Van Giesen homestead, find out why the Yantacaw, or Third, River, splits in two, learn about the beginnings of our hundred-year-old Carnegie Library and even older Town Hall, and walk through one of Nutley’s oldest cemeteries.

“A Walk in the Park” ends at approximately 10:30 a.m., inside Nutley’s first brick schoolhouse which is now the Nutley Historical Society and Museum.

“A Walk in the Park” is free but is limited to a dozen people and requires registration. Register for the tour by emailing johnsimko1014@gmail.com or by calling 973-752-8984 and leaving a message and your phone number or e-mail address. You will receive confirmation via e-mail or a phone call.

Simko began the "A Walk in the Park" history tour more than 10 years ago and it is as popular as ever!

The Nutley Historical Society hopes you’ll join us for this fascinating walk through a beautiful setting while learning about Nutley history.

Event photos

John Simko leads history talk Walk In The Park in Nutley


Colonial Taverns of New Jersey, Libations, Liberty, Revolution, The History PressHistoric Book Launch May 12

‘Colonial Taverns of New Jersey...'

by Michael Gabriele

 The Nutley Historical Society will host New Jersey author Michael Gabriele for a program on his newest book: “Colonial Taverns of New Jersey – Libations, Liberty and Revolution,” published by The History Press. The book-launch event will be Friday, May 12, 7 p.m. at the Nutley Museum, 65 Church Street, Nutley. The program is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served and books will be available for sale.

Read All About Colonial Taverns Here

See Event Photos Here


Arbor Day at the Nutley Museum

Saturday, April 29, 2023

Featuring:

*Memorial Tree dedications in memoriam to past board members

Past President Ed Stecewicz, Annie Oakley expert trustee Nancy Gruelich, Van Riper historian Patricia Williams, and trustee Michael Slomkowski.

*Arbor Art featured by local Artists including Nutley Students

*free tree seedlings to first 50 guests

*refreshments will be served

Sponsored by Nutley Historical Society, Township of Nutley, NJ, Arbor Day Foundation, and Nutley Tree Rescue

Nutley Historical Society Memorial Trees for Trustees

See Event Photos Here


The Rooming Houses of Nutley, NJ

Railroads brought growth to Nutley and workers needed boarding houses for a safe place to call home. Read about the many rooming houses in our hometown. Rooms for rent


Dutch Introduced Skating as Nutley Winter Sport

Few alive today would recognize most of the Nutley backwoods and ponds described in this memoir sixty-odd years ago. Bearskin Brook, Rusby's Pond, or Hillside Park ring a bell in your olde Nutley memories? Compare your memories.


When Bicycling and Auto Races Were Popular

When Sunday afternoon trotting races on a mile straightaway in elm shaded Washington Avenue were the town’s favorite diversion, bicycles captured Nutley’s favor. The wheel led to bicycles which led to the Nutley Velodrome which was the ancestor of the Tour of Nutley bike racing classic. Read all about it.


Artists of Nutley

Letter to Mark Twain:

“There isn’t much that is prettier than this end of New Jersey. It is all upland, tumbling into shallow valleys and bright sunny reaches along the Passaic River, and hillsides white as snow with the daisies, and everywhere trees, in little clumps or in long lines by the roadside.... You come. I’ll drive you around on Sunday and show you some views that will do your heart good. I’ll row you up the Passaic. I’ll give you a chance to play tennis.... Don’t be afraid. You can’t play worse tennis than I do.... The mosquitoes are very small this summer—few over an inch long...
Continue reading


25 Nutley Sights You Can No Longer See

Many of these Nutley, New Jersey locations have been gone for generations. A few would appear in some more recent memories by those of us walking these tree-lined streets.

The Nutley Historical Society is dedicated to serve the educational, cultural, and historical needs of our community. That would include keeping a door open to our past structures and other sights that may no longer exist but played a part in making Nutley what it is today.

Here, we offer a brief glimpse of twenty-five Nutley sights you can no longer see. Check it out


Nutley Was Born in Strife, Strategy and Secession

Franklin, NJ Officially Becomes Nutley, NJ on March 5,1902

Read more


The Lady, or The Tiger

Nutley Author Frank R. Stockton wrote The Lady, or The Tiger, and Rudder Grange; Nutley Library ‘Lady or Tiger’ Room Is Opened for Youngsters, Named for Frank Stockton, Noted Local Author


Nutley Museum Online Tour

Nutley NJ, Nutley Museum online tour with John Simko

Nutley Museum Director John Simko's online tour of the Nutley Museum, recorded December 5, 2020. Simko spotlighted the Annie Oakley collection and other select items featured throughout the Nutley Museum. Projects by the Nutley Historical Society were also highlighted.

Nutley Museum Online Tour video


Patricia Williams, Van Riper Historian, Nutley Historical SocietyPatricia Williams Passes

Long-time Nutley Historical Society Trustee Patricia E. Williams, 79, passed away on March 18, 2023. Born in Passaic, she was a lifelong resident of Nutley. Her sister, Connie Iannicelli, said Patty loved everything about Nutley and collected books about its history.

Patty, a 1961 graduate of Nutley High School and a graduate of Fordham University, put her love of learning towards saving the Van Riper House on River Road from demolition and had been on hand to see the renaissance of its restoration all these years later. As past president of the Van Riper Restoration Trust, she provided a connection among local historical groups, serving as the historical society's Van Riper Historian for many years.


Post-Covid Lockdown Nutley Museum Big Plans, New Exhibits

A recap of the many changes implemented during the lockdown. Be sure to stop in to check out our new exhibits!

■ Won’t You Join the Nutley Historical Society and Museum? We invite you to become a member of the Nutley Historical Society. It’s easy and fast to join. Membership Form

Nutley Historical Society

Founded 1945

65 Church Street, Nutley N.J. 07110
973-667-1528

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2023 Calendar

October 15 - Fall Festival, Pumpkin Painting

November 11 - Artwork of Carol Fortunato

Subject to change

All events are free of charge. By renewing your membership, your support helps us to be able to continue to offer these programs to our community.


Got Historic Nutley Stuff?

Our trustees and docents continue to itemize, catalog and preserve as much Nutley history as we can. If you have an item tied to our town's history, please consider donating it to the Nutley Museum. Give us a call 973-667-1528, or email us for more information.

Nutley Museum gains bound copies of Nutley Sun

Red Cross vice-chairman portrait donated to Nutley Museum


 NUTLEY Yesterday - Today, edited by Ann A. Troy

NUTLEY Yesterday - Today - Ann Troy & Vivian Noyes Fikus

Where all great study of Nutley history begins

The importance of history in general cannot be doubted. It sets before us striking instances of virtue, enterprise, courage, generosity, patriotism and, by a natural principle of emulation, encourages us to copy such noble examples. History displays the dealings of God with mankind. It often leads us to view with awe His darker judgments and again it awakens the liveliest emotions of gratitude for His kind and benignant dispensations.

In 1945 the founders of the Nutley Historical Society wrote into its constitution the statement that:

“It shall be the purpose . . . of this association to do all in its power to collect all the available historical material connected with . . . the history of Nutley and carefully to preserve the same. . . . This shall mean ultimately the writing of the history of the town. . . Down through the years, work on this project continued until the present volume has been prepared.

So now, since History never stops, we in the Nutley Historical Society in 1961—like those who wrote the first History of Nutley in 1907— pass on the torch to those coming generations who at some future time will feel the need to once again issue a . . .

“HISTORY OF NUTLEY”

Robert F. Heald

First President 1954 to 1961

March 5, 1961 The Nutley Historical Society

From the Foreword

Hardcover keepsake copies are available at the Nutley Museum


Nutley Historical Society

Membership Benefits

As a member, you and your family are welcome to participate in any or all of our upcoming events. When you join or renew your membership, the Nutley Historical Society will be able to continue and expand our work to bring you interesting, informational and fun programs throughout the year. By making our history available and known to those who visit the museum, we continue to move forward by knowing about and appreciating our past. We can only accomplish this with your help.

Join Now

Now is a great time to join or renew your Nutley Historical Society membership.

Thanks to all our members who supported the Nutley Historical Society’s events and activities.

If you are interested in volunteering to be on one of our committees or for any additional information, please call 973-667-1528.

Membership Form


Nutley Historical Society Celebrates 75th Anniversary

Thanks to all who joined us to raise a toast in celebration of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Nutley Historical Society on March 5, 2020. Events included cake cutting and a birthday toast, an update on recent museum acquisitions and activities, and a special tour of museum highlights by the museum director.


Nutley NJ Town Hall, Nutley High School, Bank of Nutley, Arthur J Elder artist, C. 1910-1912

Rent the historic first floor of the Nutley Museum for your event

Call Kerry Flynn, caretaker to Rent the Hall: Call 973-667-1528

PLEASE CALL AND LEAVE A MESSAGE BEFORE YOU EMAIL FOR RENTAL AVAILABILITY INFO - Thanks

Seating for up to 70 people. Handicap accessible

More information on the Nutley Museum, and meeting room rental with photos.

Save time, download forms:

Hold Harmless Agreement

Rental Agreement

For Room Rental: Call 973-667-1528

St. Paul's Church, Arthur J Elder artist, C. 1910-1912, Nutley NJ

See the 1910 artist's view of Nutley in person in the Ann Troy Gallery on the first floor meeting room!


Also of Interest in Nutley, N.J.

Kingsland Manor

Van Riper Trust

Nutley Little Theatre

Nutley Historic Preservation Committee

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The Nutley Historical Society is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to serve the educational, cultural and historical needs of our community.

65 Church Street, Nutley N.J. 07110
973-667-1528

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Web Master/Social Media: Anthony Buccino

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Nutley Notables in two volumes: 

The men and women who made a memorable impact
on our home town, Nutley, New Jersey

     Nutley Notables:  The men and women who made a memorable impact on our home town, Nutley, New Jersey  Nutley Notables, Volume Two by Anthony Buccino  Nutley Sons Honor Roll, Remembering the Men Who Paid for Our Freedom   Belleville NJ and Nutley NJ in the Civil War: A Brief History

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