Becoming a Community of Families
Over 10 million cars were on the roads of America. This was the death knell to the trolley industry. America had 17,000 miles of track in cities where walking was the only other option. Then cars at intersections made trolleys miss their schedules and collisions became common. In 1925, Sea Girt police asked trolleys to only make stops at designated places, losing the convenience of hopping on or off wherever you like. Trolley service through Sea Girt was replaced by a bus service at higher fares in 1927, which was not going to fix the problem.
The good times of the 1920s allowed the borough to finish grading the roads, plus extended the water and sewer connections to the growing town. There were wooded sections, but lot sales were brisk.
The Civic Association met to discuss the construction of a boardwalk. The Borough Council preferred the boardwalk down to the Stockton Hotel versus extending the road, which was nearly impossible given the erosion. Several owners fronting Crescent Park wanted nothing in front of their homes. Borough Council opened debate but did not immediately propose an ordinance. Public comment was both for and against. Major Charles Duncan the former Freehold Military School Director was President of the Civic Association, and the Civic leaders sat down for the first time with the mayor and Council. They considered themselves neighbors, not adversaries. For the first time, it wasn’t summer visitors vs. ‘full-timers’.
This was part of a letter by “Taxpayer” that appeared in the Spring Lake Gazette regarding the boardwalk.
“There are some people who believe that a boardwalk will be a good thing for the community; that it will be an improvement to the beach; is needed and that it will materially increase real estate values. On the other hand, there are those who see nothing but a menace in a boardwalk; a place for undesirables to congregate, thereby adding materially to the already difficult problem of properly policing the community. There are many people who believe the desirability of Sea Girt is largely due to the fact that its development has been gradual along natural lines, emphasizing its quiet beauty and charm. The trees, shrubbery, the birds and wild life so prevalent here, are lost in most other communities, as they develop.
Therefore, Sea Girt's glory is more in what it is not, rather than in what it is. It is generally conceded, however, that the building of a series of jetties is urgently needed to protect our beach from further damage. Many feel that the approaches to Sea Girt the inlet, railroad station and grounds, etc. should be given prior consideration and that these improvements would enhance property values along more aesthetic lines."
As Sea Girt was being completed, the next wooded area to the south in Manasquan & Brielle was ready to be built out. “The 100 acres owned by William G. Schanck of Spring Lake, lying between the New York and Long Branch railroad and the "Glimmerglass," popular name for the meadowland and tributary to the Manasquan River, south of East Main Street, here, is to be developed, it was announced by the owner, last night”.
Munroe Hawes and James B. McAfee were secured as the selling agents and opened an office near Main Street on Rt. 71. The firm started with a selling office on the boardwalk at the North End Hotel, Ocean Grove. Some of their new homes would have water access, and the Manasquan Beach was a short drive or bike ride away.
Hawes was born in Chicopee Massachusets and was descended from Daniel Baird Wesson—of Smith and Wesson fame. He went to MIT for Chemical Engineering.
The two friends moved to Florida to feed the early 1920s real estate boom. When the great Miami hurricane devastated the state in 1926, they came back to New Jersey to sell Shore real estate, which they did for the rest of their lives. The third generation Munroe Hawes will still be at the company when Hawes and McAfee hits its 100th year next year.
Munroe Chapin Hawes and his wife Alexandra and their five children would make a huge impact on the social fabric of Sea Girt. They settled on Boston Blvd.
‘Alex’ was from the West Indies and trained in theater in New York as a girl. In the 1930s and 1940s, hiring entertainment for many events became fiscally impossible, but Alex led the local women in putting on shows, and costumed affairs to raise money. She was often a performer, writer, director, and producer. This greatly enhanced the profile of the Women’s Club where she was president and leader of several committees.
Her creativity was on display everywhere. An example, at the PTA in 1940, (the children attended Spring Lake’s Elementary School) she put on a session called, “How best to listen to the radio” where she wrote and performed a radio play, and broadcast it to the PTA meeting live, where another mother instructed the audience on appreciating the output of the home radio for family listening.
She was also President of the Community Club and later the Holly Club as well as involving the women of the community, including her three daughters, in the Governor’s Day festivities at the Guard Camp.
Munroe and James McAfee were both early members and then served as President of the new Manasquan River Country Club, founded in 1922. The nine-hole course was laid out in 1923, and then they convinced the government to deposit the sandy spoils from the dredging of the Manasquan River to help add the second 9. It was an excellent alternative to the Spring Lake Golf Club which had a long wait list for members.
Their affable daughter Aimee Hawes Ferguson (1923-2021) was president of the “In-betweeners”, a teen offshoot of the Sea Girt Women’s Club in the early 1940s. She wrote her memories of growing up in Sea Girt in the 30s and 40s for the borough’s 100th celebration in 2017. By that time she was 94.
Aimee’s, Diane Raver of Boston Blvd is still as active in the community as her grandmother, serving as President of the Holly Club, and ‘Angel’ of the Sea Girt Elementary Drama Club. Like her Aunt Elizabeth ‘Tottie’ Hawes, who was a production assistant and actress in the early days of television, Diane was drawn to film.
Diane married M. Carroll Raver, an award-winning cinematographer. She founded the Garden State Film Festival in his memory in 2002. It is one of the largest independent film festivals in the country.
Today she is Executive Director of the New Jersey Film Academy, building the workforce development program for the film and TV sector in New Jersey.
Many families of this era passed their homes in Sea Girt on to children and grandchildren, and the names like Mueller, Schweir, Lake, Bossett, Height, Hawes created a continuity of community and familiarity that still echoes small town vibes.
