Historical Newark Home For Sale Has Link To Civil Rights Leader

NEWARK, NJ — At first glance, it’s an eye-catching, single-family home with a brownstone façade in the Forest Hill neighborhood of Newark – interesting enough on its own merit. But there’s a deeper history behind a property now for sale in New Jersey’s largest city, its owner says.

Recently, a single-family home at 50 Abington Avenue hit the market for $749,000. See the listing here.

Among other features, the home has a link to the Rev. William Hayes Ward, a leading civil rights champion from more than a century ago.

Here’s some background information about the home’s historical significance, according to its seller:

“This house, built in 1875, was the home of the Rev. William Hayes Ward (1835-1916) from 1875 until 1914. A leading neo-abolitionist and Congregationalist clergyman, Ward joined the staff of The Independent (New York, NY), an abolitionist newspaper, in 1868 and was editor-in-chief from 1896 to 1913. Ward championed African American rights through education, integration and voting rights. He was a leader of the American Missionary Association which established and supported black colleges and secondary schools in the South. Ward was an original organizer and a keynote speaker at the first National Negro Conference in 1909 at which the NAACP was formed. This northeastern-most corner of Newark’s North Ward was first marketed to the public as Forest Hill in 1890. The house was designated as a ‘Key’ property in both nomination reports that were submitted to and approved by the National and State Registers of Historic Places in 1990. Forest Hill is the second largest residential historic district in the State of New Jersey. Less than 8.5% of the homes in the Forest Hill Historic District are categorized as ‘Key,’ the highest level of architectural distinction and historical value.”

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