Chester's Rockefeller Center In Line For For New Historic Grant

CHESTER, NJ — A new round of funding from the New Jersey Historic Trust is set to benefit nearly two dozen historical sites and nonprofits in North Jersey, including one in our own backyard.

The borough's Rockefeller Center is in line to receive $45,610 from the Preserve New Jersey Historic Preservation Fund.

The trust, which is part of the state Department of Consumer Affairs, has recommended that nearly $15.8 million from the Garden State Historic Preservation Trust Fund be released to fund 65 projects across New Jersey.

According to a statement issued by the Morris County Board of Commissioners, the money requires legislative appropriation and approval by Gov. Phil Murphy.

“I am grateful that we were able to fund so many worthy projects this year, especially when you consider the challenges our historic sites have endured over the past few years,” said New Jersey Historic Trust Executive Director Dorothy Guzzo. “These projects will create jobs to bolster the economy and sustain our heritage for years to come.”

The Chester Historical Society requested a grant for the building, which was constructed around 1868.

According to Edward Ng, vice president of the historical society, Chester's Rockefeller Center name came from a Rockefeller family unrelated to the famous Rockefeller family of New York City, but well-known to Chester.

Chester's Rockefellers were active members of the community, with one running a general store and another managing a hotel.

Chester's own Rockefellers were trailblazers, with John Carlos "Rocky" Rockefeller, the city's only police officer at the time, and his wife Gertrude Lillian Dean, a police dispatcher and police matron. Between 1955 and 1969, the couple used the building to house their gift shop and named it "Rockefeller Center."

When a building expansion was required next door to its previous location on Main Street, the historic structure was relocated to Municipal Field in 1996, where it has remained ever since.

Following the move, the Chester Historical Society raised funds to repair the building and later reopened the Rockefeller Center as an information center for nonprofit organizations.

“This is an important first step in the process, as well as an enormous boost to our own efforts to preserve, protect and restore historic sites throughout Morris County. These state dollars will supplement grants we already approved from our Morris County Historic Preservation Trust Fund to protect these same sites,” said Morris County Commissioner Stephen Shaw, the board’s liaison to the Office of Planning & Preservation.

Before it was owned by the Chester Historical Society, the building was used as a barbershop, gravestones shop, post office, cattle/horse office, gift/antiques shop and bicycle shop.