The Buildings Are Gone But Their Footprints Remain
by Jim Brown, photos by Jon Koons
As the demolition of the Village was nearing the end, we began to see that gravel was being poured over the bare dirt where the floor slabs of the buildings once were. What a surprise it was to see a footprint of the various buildings — a sort of floorplan of the Village start to emerge. I began to get excited about the prospect of visiting the site once all the demolition equipment and workers left and walk a virtual tour of the village aided by the footprint in gravel.
A friend Jon Koons who took the pictures and I went to the site in the Fall of 2025 and it was as if all the buildings and the long main corridor were still there — only now in the form of a footprt of gravel. We walked "into and around almost every building and down the long corridor." We stayed on the gravel areas as if the walls were still there. I gave a vivid descriptions of everything I was seeing in my mind's eye as Jon was only able to see a vast field of nothing but trees, grass, and the gravel that marked the buildings. He was not a child of the Village. Pictures of some areas that we went to came up missing, but we did walk nearly avery building's footprint.
Join us now as we take you on a virtual tour of the Village. Hopefully some of your own memories can be superimposed over these photos. Stay with us till the end when we show some of the last objects from the Village left behind on the site.
Click on the photos to see an enlargement using a built in viewer called FloatBox.
INSTRUCTIONS
We started our exploration at the Infirmary and the Senior Girls Cottage. In front of us is the senior girls playroom. This photo and the many to follow clearly outline each building, thus making it easy to know just where your are in the Village. That is if you have an equally good memory. Lets continue on our tour and if you also have a good memory, this tour should be quite an experience.
All on-site photos by Jon Koons
As we start down the long main corridor we look across at the Administration Building. The small linking corridor is seen to the left. Behind the row of trees is where Klopman Mills Headquarters once was before it was converted into the Jewish nursing home.
Across from the Administration Building is the Intermediate Girls Cottage.
Proceeding down the long main corridor till we get to the hall leading into the Administration Building.
I lead Jon behind me along the smaller connecting corridor and into the Administration Building which is marked by that wide patch of gravel ahead. The reception desk and the old style telephone switchboard with its cords and plugs would have been just to the right of where the corridor meets the building at the center of the picture.
This panarama is looking towards the grassy area between the Intermediate and Junior Girl's Cottages.
Turning around 180 degrees we face the connecting corridor into the Chapel. That tree just left of center is the one behind the back of the Chapel behind the alter. We did go into the Chapel, but unfortunately those photos were somehow lost. That is especially regrettable, since they would have held special meaning for those to whom the Chapel was an important and cherished place.
This is my second time ever in the Convent which was private for the nuns. The first time was when leading a tour group into there and later being scolder for doing so. Here we enter the door from the main corridor.
In the center of the Convent, we see this patch of what looked like broken up marble. It was a mystery what it actually was and why was it there on top of the recently spread gravel. Oviously nothing to do with the Village but interesting none-the-less. More on that at the end when we show artifacts found on the site.
We are now standing at the intersection of the main corridor and the connecting corridor leading to the Cafeteria and Maintenance Building. Although somewhat distorted by the panoramic camera, we can see the main corridor on the left extending toward the girls’ end. Slightly left of center is the corridor that connects the Cafeteria on its way to the Maintenance Building. Just right of center, we see the main corridor again — this time leading toward the boys’ end. Mother Evangelista School is visible at the far right. The cluster of trees just left of the sun marks the area between the dining rooms and the Maintenance Building. I planted one of those trees when it was only three feet tall.
We are standing about center court in the Gymnasium looking towards the school with the small library off to the right along the main corridor. The Barbara Givenaud Cottage is far behind the Library in this picture.
Turning a bit to the right we are looking toward the stage in the Gymnasium. Behing that is the band room and then the two other rooms used for things like parent visitation. The wood shop was on the right side with a corridor running down the middle. At the fathest point on the other side of the main corridor was the Kindergarden Room.
At this point I was puzzeled by something starnge. It apeared that the gravel stoped short of including the entire Gymnasiun and projection boot at the back end. It should have gone a lot closer to the service road along the edge of the property.
This is the grass area that should have had the gravel marking the footprint of the rest of the Gymnasium. After pondering over this for a while, we figured that for some unique reason they did not put gravel here.
On the left side is the Swimming Pool and behind those trees is the Junior Boys' Cottage. Of-course we could not go seimming that day.
I stoped here to tell Jon how we watched construction of the pool and awaited its grand opening with a musical program sungs by the children such as 'By the Beautiful Sea'
Moving on down the main corridor past the pool we come to the Junior Boys' Cottage.
Just after the Junior Boys' Cottage look back up the long corridor.
Turning around we see that there is a long way to gobefore reaching the Senior Boys' Cottage. Are are aproaching the Intermediate Boys' Cottage on the right.
Off two the left is the large field that was the expansion pad where it was originally planned to build more cottages if funds and population warranted it.
We are now standing in dorm four of the Senior Boys' Cottage. I am holding what may have been the last remaing brick from the Village that we found earlier on our walk. In the background is a building constructed during the years that Bergen County had special human services programs on the site. It was not demolished as the county may still decide to use going forward. It stands on what was once a sports field for the Village. For a short time Mr. Lamperts football team practiced there.
I told Joh that this spot is where my bed in dorm-four—bed-three was when I first arrived at the Village. He said to go lie on it, so I did.
He just had to get a closer shot. I was starnge laying there were I slept so many years ago.
Heading back out of the Senior Boys' Cottage we get this view of the large field from the playroom. The end of the main corridor is just in front of us.
There's that amazing view from the end of the long main corridor looking all the way up to the Infirmary at the other end. We are about to walk it one last time as I did every day back in the mid 1960s when I was a resident at the Village.
Many decades have passed since children first walked this corridor that seemed to stretch into infinity. One day, the footprint of the Village will be covered by a new health care campus, but its memory will endure in the hearts and lives of those it touched.
St. Joseph's Village was once home to dependent children but it is now home to nature and wildlife — like this deer that was was dining in the Village cafeteria.
Artifacts Found on the Site
We collected a few objects that remained behind after the remains of the village were carted away. Numbered objects are identified in the photos to follow. Now this will get somewhat "nurdy".
#1 This piece of BX cable was found in the area of the Chapel. Within this cable was five very small guage wires within their own PVC casing sugesting that this was not for carrying power but rather for either the internal telephone system or the annunciator call chimes. The paint of the outside is a pinkish color — not any color that was in the Chapel, but perhaps in a nearby room or bathroom where the cable was not contained within a wall.
#2 This redish and smooth piece is a mystery as it is smooth on the bottom and does not apear to be a piece broken off a brick. Certainly not the kind of brick on the exterior. A piece of mortar is stuck onto it. We grabed it up anyway.
#3 Again, not something from the building itself but perhaps from the landscaping earth.
#4 A wall switch plate. Some may remember that these often had switches that needed a special Z shaped key to prevent childern from playing with the lights.
#5 This may have been a thin coating of plaster like cement used on a wall or ceiling in the Chapel area — not any color within the Chapel main room. The greenish surface is a single layer of paint sugesting that it was always this color.
#5 The back side of the previous piece.
#6 #7 Earlier we showed you a small pile of white stones that at first looked like chunks of marble within the Convent area. It was on top of the newly spread gravel sugesting that it may not have been anything having to do with the Village. But because it seemed strange that it was there we took some samples to try and identify it. Using AI image recognition we found that most likely it is Calcite CaCO3, an abundent carbonite mineral. Look carefully and you will see many crystal like parallel layers. Also there are several specks of a mica like material that are quite soft and very silvery and reflective in color. How it got there is a mystery.
#6 #7 Here we get a better view of the crystal layering.
#6 #7 A better view of the mica like specks.
#8 A portion of rusty half inch rebar found in the Chapel area. Definately a part of the Chapel walls or floor slab.
Having toured the entire site in hopes to find at least one remaining brick, we finally found this pair of orange bricks beside a tree just waiting for us to rescue them. I was happy to now own a piece of this place I once spent some of my early teenage years. Glad to share it here with those who also have memories rooted here.