Perth Amboy evening news., 1919-11-21
Merritt Property Would Give
City Valuable Holdings On
Waterfront 0r Development

Purchasing by the city of the Mer-
r1tt water front property adjoining
thai now owned by the city would
mean another step in the advance
ment of tho Create Perth Amboy
Idea as his additional acquisition
along the Staten Island Sound would
give the city a strip 400 feet long.
There is no doubt among city officials
but hat this property is needed and
SHOULD be purchased but the price
asked by the Merritt estate will de-
eide whether or not the city car an
mex this aluable waterfront prop
erty.
The matter has been talked of for
several years and in May of last veal
the Board of Harbor Commissioners
took its first definite action when ii
arranged for an inspection of 1.-THE
property by its members and decided
to bring the matter of purchasing 1t
before the Aldermen.
James F. Mcclure. for two years
president of the Harbor Board, was
always enthusiastic over the POSSIBLE
ties of improving Perth Amboy's wa
ter-front and advocated the purchase
of the Merritt in an interview given
the EVENING NEWS in February,
1917.
In speaking of the waterfront har-
Dor improvement of this city at that
time Mr.. MCGUIRE said:
"All Seaports in the country about
the size of Perth Amboy are facing
most serious problems in the matter
of expansion and developments of
harbor facilities. They have made a
fatal mistake in permitting private
transportation corporations to buy up
all available water front and strangle
completion and barring new lines
from free access to various shipping
ports.
II have always felt hat we should
have Merritt's property to avoid the
same difficulty that other seaports are
meeting at the present time"
Mr.. McGuiref who made q thor
ough study of waterfront conditions
and secured data from all parts of the
Atlantic coast with reference to mu-
nicipal docks, piers and warehouses,
declared that about 10000 vessels
arrive in the port of Perth Amboy in
a year. At the Lehigh Valley coal
piers he said there arrive from 1000
to 5000 boats q year while at the
other water front docks including the
drydocks, Atlantic Terra Gotta, Roess-
Ter & Hasslacher Chemical Company
and others, about 1900 vessels are
handled.
These 10000 vessels, Mr.. Mcclure
pointed out then, are responsible for
approximately 10000 people landing
along our waterfront and buying in
our city the necessities of life and al
SO supplies for their vessels.
THE business men of Perth Am
boy" Mr.. Mcclure pointed out, "can
realize how advantageous it is for our
city no have first class water front.
Owing to the congested conditions
round Jersey City and in fact in all
the railroad yards and terminals from
Bayonne right along the Jersey shore
as far as Hoboken, the railroad com
panieS are in continual difficulty with
their freight and ] do not hesitate to
say that Perth Amboy will have to be
used as q terminal to relieve the con-
gestion at the above points. Tar you
imagine If the New Jersey ship canal
from the Delaware River to Morgan
on Raritan Bay was completed and
the oyster beds or fats between south
Amboy and Perth Amboy were elimi-
mated and our municipal piers on the
Gregory property were erected and
ready to receive some of the freight
that would pass through the canal,
what a magnificent terminal Perth
Amboy would have with three rail-
roads like the Lehigh Valley, Pennsyl-
vania and New Jersey Central?"
The offer of the Merritt estate to sell
to the City of Perth Amboy a strip of
property with a frontage of 175 feet
on Staten Island Sound, and adjoining
the property now owned by the city
and utilized az a city dock, is now be-
fore the Aldermen for action. They
have decided to confer with the Har-
Dor Commissioners and the City En-
gineer to discuss the matter. No
price to be asked the city for this
property has been mentioned as yet
but it Is this item which make many
of the prominent city officials some
what pessimistic over the likelihood
Of the city buying he property at
present.
1t is generally admitted here that
the acquisition Of the Merritt prop
erty would be a great thing for the
city but the monetary consideration
involved in such a transaction may
again prevent the city from carrying
out its extension plans.
A city dock with a 400 foot 'front.'
age, would be a~-Wenderful asset to the
city and with the city being in a posi-
ton to build at a later date ware
house on the property between Front
street and the Water there is no doubt
but what some of the biggest ships
coming to Atlantic ports would dock
here.
The possibilities of a railroad belt
line running to the city dock and
warehouses have been pointed out
wildly by believers in the improve
ment of the water front of Perth Am
moy. The receiving of goods from
coast and overseas ports at the city
dock, their storage in the cunicipal
warehouse and shipment from the