Montclair
New Jersey
Montclair History Center News - February 24, 2025
Arts and Entertainment
February 25, 2025
From: Montclair History CenterHistory News at Montclair History Center
New Oral History Released!
The Caggiano Sisters
Barbara Caggiano Artale and younger sister Susan Caggiano Altieri were born and raised in Montclair. Their Caggiano grandfather and his brothers came from Italy in 1903. Their grandfather opened a butcher shop, then a liquor store following the end of Prohibition, Caggiano’s Liquor Store. Their cousins own Caggiano Memorial Home for Funerals, established by their father’s brother. They share memories both of Upper Montclair where they lived, including playing in Anderson Park, ice skating on Edgemont Pond, Bond’s, Lempert’s, and Bellevue Theater. But they also have memories from the Pine Street neighborhood where they spent time at the family’s liquor store; these memories included stores in the neighborhood, such as Andolino’s Market and feasts at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church.
New Oral History Released!
David Conrad
Coming from St. Louis, David Conrad’s family moved to Montclair when David was only six months old when his father got a job at the New Jersey Teachers College at Montclair, today’s Montclair State University. He attended Montclair public schools, grew up alongside another Montclair resident, Buzz Aldrin and participated in the Drama Club throughout high school and in various other drama clubs later on. He remembers when Applegate Farms still had cows on the property, right over the back fence of the home his family lived in on Overbrook Road at the time. While going to the Baptist Church, he was invited by a friend to join their playgroup, the Pilgrim Players, which is where he met his wife, Marilyn Russo.
New Oral History Released!
Marguerite DeCarlo
Marguerite DeCarlo was born and raised in Montclair at homes on Orange Road and later on Grove Street, and has lived nearby for most of her life. She is a member of the large DiGeronimo family that immigrated from Italy in the early 1900s. Growing up, she recalls walking uptown to stores on/near Bloomfield Avenue, and activities such as the movies, skating at Edgemont Pond, going to Bond’s, and high school choir. She discusses favorites shops like Hahne’s, with its beautiful grand staircase, and Walenski’s, “where everyone got their dungarees.”She discusses her career as an educator and, in her retirement, her volunteer activities with Montclair’s Fourth of July Parade and CASA, assisting children in the foster care system.
New Oral History Released!
Molly DiGeronimo
At 99 years old (today 106!), Mary “Molly” DiGeronimo DeCarlo may have been one of the most senior interview subjects for this oral history project when it was conducted in 2018. Her maternal and paternal grandfather and her father emigrated from Italy. Her mother was born in the United States in 1894. She has fond memories of growing up in Montclair, first on Willowdale Avenue and later on Orange Road. The neighborhood included Black families and many of her DiGeronimo cousins. Molly recalls the trolley cars that ran along Bloomfield Avenue to Newark, and the stores at which she and her family shopped in Newark and in Montclair. Her family has been involved in Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Catholic Church since the parish was formed.